In passing to the stake, the procession went by the cabin of Girty, of whom we have already spoken.  This renegado white man lived among these Indians, and had just returned from an unsuccessful expedition against the whites on the frontiers of Pennsylvania.  The wretch burned with disappointment and revenge, and hearing that there was a white man going to the torture, determined to wreak his vengeance on him.  He found the unfortunate Butler, threw him to the ground, and began to beat him.  Butler, who instantly recognized in Girty the quondam companion and playmate of youth, at once made himself known to him.  This sacramental tie of friendship, on recognition, caused the savage heart of Girty to relent.  He raised him up, and promised to save him.  He procured the assemblage of a council, and persuaded the savages to relinquish Butler to him.  He took the unfortunate man home, fed, and clothed him, and Butler began to recruit from his wounds and torture.  But the relenting of the savages was only transient and momentary.  After five days they repented of their relaxation in his favor, reclaimed him, and marched him to Lower Sandusky to be burned there, according to their original purpose.  By a fortunate coincidence, he there met the Indian agent from Detroit, who, from motives of humanity, exerted his influence with the savages for his release, and took him with him to Detroit.  Here he was paroled by the Governor.  He escaped; and being endowed, like Daniel Boone, to be at home in the woods, by a march of thirty days through the wilderness, he reached Kentucky.

In 1784, Simon Kenton reoccupied the settlement, near Washington, which he had commenced in 1775.  Associated with a number of people, he erected a block-house, and made a station here.  This became an important point of covering and defence for the interior country.  Immigrants felt more confidence in landing at Limestone.  To render this confidence more complete, Kenton and his associates built a block-house at Limestone.  Two men, of the name of Tanner, had made a small settlement the year preceding at Blue Lick, and were now making salt there.  The route from Limestone to Lexington became one of the most general travel for immigrants, and many stations sprang up upon it.  Travellers to the country had hitherto been compelled to sleep under the open canopy, exposed to the rains and dews of the night.  But cabins were now so common, that they might generally repose under a roof that sheltered them from the weather, and find a bright fire, plenty of wood, and with the rustic fare, a most cheerful and cordial welcome.  The people of these new regions were hospitable from native inclination.  They were hospitable from circumstances.  None but those who dwell in a wilderness, where the savages roam and the wolves howl, can understand all the pleasant associations connected with the sight of a stranger of the same race.  The entertainer felt himself stronger from the presence of his guest.  His offered food and fare were the spoils of the chase.  He heard news from the old settlements and the great World; and he saw in the accession of every stranger a new guaranty of the security, wealth, and improvement of the infant country where he had chosen his resting place.