to the scene of action, I thought it as well to remain where I was; so, enlarging the windows with my hands, I took a long look, and then jovially attacked the coffee without reference to noise, and fell back on the mattress to sleep, or to think the night’s work over.  “At last, I have got him:  his skin will be pegged out to-morrow, drying before the tent door.”  When my people came in the morning, they found me seated on the dead tiger.  Coolies were sent for to carry the beast, and I gave the pony his reins all the way back to the tent.

FRASER’S MAGAZINE

[Illustration:  ATTACK ON BOONESBOROUGH.]

ATTACK OF BOONSBOROUGH.

On the tenth of March, 1778, Daniel Boone, having been taken prisoner by the Indians, was conducted to Detroit, when Governor Hamilton himself offered one hundred pounds sterling, for his ransom; but so great was the affection of the Indians for their prisoner, that it was positively refused.  Boone’s anxiety on account of his wife and children was incessant, and the more intolerable as he dared not excite the suspicions of his captors by any indication of a wish to return home.

The Indians were now preparing for a violent attack upon the settlements in Kentucky.  Early in June, four hundred and fifty of the choicest warriors were ready to march against Boonesborough, painted and armed in a fearful manner.  Alarmed at these preparations, he determined to make his escape.  He hunted and shot with the Indians as usual, until the morning of the sixteenth of June, when, taking an early start, he left Chillicothe and directed his steps to Boonesborough.  The distance exceeded one hundred and sixty miles, but he performed it in four days, during which he eat only one meal.  He appeared before the garrison like one risen from the dead.  He found the fortress in a bad state, and lost no time in rendering it more capable of defence.  He repaired the flanks, gates, and posterns, formed double bastions, and completed the whole in ten days.

On the eighth of August, the enemy appeared.  The attack upon the fort was instantly commenced; and the siege lasted nine days, during which, an almost incessant firing was kept up.  On the twentieth of August, the enemy retired with a loss of thirty-seven killed and a great many wounded.  This affair was highly creditable to the spirit and skill of the pioneers.

THRILLING INCIDENTS OF BATTLE.

There is a man now living in East Dixfield, Oxford county, me, who actually caught in his mouth a ball discharged from a musket.  He was at the battle of Bridgewater, in the war of 1812, and, while biting off the end of a cartridge, for the purpose of loading his gun, was struck by a ball, which entered on the left side of his face, knocking out eight of his teeth, cut off the end of his tongue, and passed into his throat.  He raised it, went to the hospital, staid out the remainder of his enlistment, and returned home with the bullet in his pocket.