In the evening the people danced and amused themselves in the square.  Indians could not creep up and attack them.

When the men went out to feed the horses and cows they carried their guns.  They walked softly and turned their eyes quickly from point to point to see if Indians were hiding near.  They held their guns so they could shoot quickly.

The women and children had to stay very near the fort so they could run in if an Indian came in sight.

Daniel Boone had a daughter named Je-mi-ma.  She was about fourteen years old.  She had two friends named Frances and Betsey Cal-lo-way.  Frances Galloway was about the same age as Jemima.

One summer afternoon these three girls went out of the fort.  They went to the river and got into a canoe.  It was not far from the fort.  They felt safe.  They laughed and talked and splashed the water with their paddles.

The cur-rent carried them slowly near the other shore.  They could still see the fort.  They did not think of danger.

Trees and bushes grew thick down to the edge of the river.  Five strong Indians were hiding in the bushes.

One Indian crept care-ful-ly through the bushes.  He made no more noise than a snake.  When he got to the edge of the water he put out his long arm and caught hold of the rope that hung down from the canoe.  In a moment he had turned the boat around and drawn it out of sight from the fort.  The girls screamed when they saw the Indian.  Their friends heard them but could not cross the river to help them.  The girls had taken the only canoe.

Boone and Cal-lo-way were both gone from the fort.  They got home too late to start that day.  No sleep came to their eyes while they waited for light to travel by.

As soon as there was a glim-mer of light they and a party of their friends set out.  It was in July and they could start early.

They crossed the river and easily found the Indians’ tracks where they started.  The brush was broken down there.

The Indians were cun-ning.  They did not keep close together after they set out.  Each Indian walked by himself through the tall canes.  Three of the Indians took the captives.

Boone and his friends tried in vain to follow them.  Sometimes they would find a track but it would soon be lost in the thick canes.

Boone’s party gave up trying to find their path.  They noticed which way the Indians were going.  Then they walked as fast as they could the same way for thirty miles.  They thought the Indians would grow careless about their tracks after traveling so far.

They turned so as to cross the path they thought the Indians had taken.  They looked carefully at the ground and at the bushes to see if any one had gone by.

Before long they found the Indians’ tracks in a buffalo path.  Buffaloes and other animals go often to lick salt from the rocks round salt springs.  They beat down the brush and make great roads.  These roads run to the salt springs.  The hunters call them streets.