him on a like occasion before.  He soon found one convenient for the experiment, and availed himself of it, as before.  This hope was also disappointed.  His foe still hung with staunch perseverance on his trail.  He now perceived by their movements, that they were conducted by a dog, that easily ran in zig-zag directions, when at fault, until it had re-scented his course.  The expedient of Boone was the only one that seemed adequate to save him.  His gun was reloaded.  The dog was in advance of the Indians, still scenting his track.  A rifle shot delivered him from his officious pursuer.  He soon reached a point convenient for concealing his trail, and while the Indians were hunting for it, gained so much upon them as to be enabled to reach Boonesborough in safety.

At the close of the autumn of 1780, Kentucky, from being one county, was divided into three, named Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln.  William Pope, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Logan, were appointed to the important offices of commanding the militia of their respective counties.

During this year Col.  Clarke descended the Ohio, with a part of his Virginia regiment, and after entering the Mississippi, at the first bluff on the eastern bank, he landed and built Fort Jefferson.  The occupation of this fort, for the time, added the Chickasaws to the number of hostile Indians that the western people had to encounter.  It was soon discovered, that it would be advisable to evacuate it, as a mean of restoring peace.  It was on their acknowleged territory.  It had been erected without their consent.  They boasted it, as a proof of their friendship, that they had never invaded Kentucky; and they indignantly resented this violation of their territory.  The evacuation of the fort was the terms of a peace which the Chickasaws faithfully observed.

The winter of 1781, was one of unusual length and distress for the young settlement of Kentucky.  Many of the immigrants arrived after the close of the hunting season; and beside, were unskilful in the difficult pursuit of supplying themselves with game.  The Indians had destroyed most of the corn of the preceding summer, and the number of persons to be supplied had rapidly increased.  These circumstances created a temporary famine, which, added to the severity of the season, inflicted much severe suffering upon the settlement.  Boone and Harrod were abroad, breasting the keen forest air, and seeking the retreat of the deer and buffalo, now becoming scarce, as the inhabitants multiplied.  These indefatigable and intrepid men supplied the hungry immigrants with the flesh of buffaloes and deers; and the hardy settlers, accustomed to privations, and not to over delicacy in their food, contented themselves to live entirely on meat, until, in the ensuing autumn, they once more derived abundance from the fresh and fertile soil.