Scouting with Daniel Boone Part 20

With all my might, mind, and strength I am opposed to any cruelty to dumb creatures, and also to any wanton waste of the game in our forests.

I am sure I am giving voice to your convictions also when I say that we want no man within our settlement who does not have some such feeling as I have just described. Sometimes our boys are thoughtless and shoot perhaps more for the sake of killing than to secure provisions for our homes. We must be patient with them and strive to show them how mistaken they are. What I desire greatly just now is that a law shall be adopted to protect the game in our forests." The hunter took his seat and a murmur of applause at once came from the little a.s.sembly.

"Do you make that as a motion?" inquired Colonel Henderson.

"I do," responded the scout, rising and gravely bowing as he spoke.

The motion was seconded, and without one opposing vote the a.s.sembly agreed to the suggestion of Daniel Boone.

As soon as this motion was adopted the great scout once more arose and in his quiet and dignified manner again began to speak: "There is another matter in which I am deeply interested. I have never been able to understand how any man made in the image of his Creator could take his Creator's name in vain. In my experience I have noticed that profanity is limited to men who are either weak or vicious. I think, my friends, that you will agree with me that we want neither cla.s.s in our little settlement on the banks of the Kentucky. I therefore move that we adopt a law prohibiting profanity."

It was manifest that not every one in the a.s.sembly agreed with these sentiments of the hunter, and there was a moment of hesitation. Peleg, however, always ready to further the efforts of his friend, whom he admired more than he did any living man, promptly arose and seconded the motion, which then was pa.s.sed without any opposition, though not with the enthusiasm which had greeted the preceding motion.

Once more the tall scout arose and said: "I have still one other desire in my heart. As you all know, our little settlement has been unusually free from the brawls which occur in so many of the hamlets on the border. I am confident it is the desire of every one here that the same things shall continue to be true. If we must fight, then let us fight hard; but all petty quarrellings and brawls, let them not henceforth even be mentioned among us. With this peaceful desire in our minds, I greatly desire that a law shall be adopted to express the wish of this settlement that the Sabbath shall not be like other days. We surely toil so hard throughout six days of the week that if there were no other purpose in our minds we ought to rest on the Lord's Day. In order that this may be clearly understood, I move that a law be adopted which shall voice the sentiment of this community against the profanation of the Sabbath Day."

There was no openly expressed opposition to the desire of the scout, and Peleg having promptly seconded this motion, his third suggestion also was adopted.

Soon afterward, Colonel Henderson called upon the pioneer preacher to close the meeting with prayer, and the a.s.sembly dispersed.

Peleg, Israel Boone, and Henry departed together from the fort. The last named was now able to express himself in English and, though he was still reserved in his bearings toward the people in general, his friendship for Peleg and Israel had strengthened with every pa.s.sing day.

"I never know such man like your father," said Henry to Israel.

"He is the best man that ever lived!" broke in Peleg enthusiastically.

"He has been just like a father to me, and if he was my real father I should be the proudest man in all Kentucky."

"That would mean a great many people," suggested Israel with a smile. "I understand there are new settlers arriving every day. I have heard that Logan's Fort and Harrodsburgh are filling in very fast."

"So I have heard," responded Peleg.

"If the Indians would only leave us free!"

"But they will not," broke in Henry. "They say white people not make any more settlements, and it not long before they drive out those that are here."

"Let them try!" said Israel dryly.

"They have been trying," remarked Peleg. "There is not a day that we have not seen some signs of the Shawnees or Delawares prowling around the forts."

"They have not made any open attack for some time now," suggested Israel Boone.

Henry shook his head as he said: "That means they only wait. Pretty soon you see. They feel for white men like wolf feel for bear."

"And that is about the same love that a dog has for a cat," suggested Peleg with a laugh.

"That is it," acknowledged Henry soberly. "I never know why bear and wolf no like each other. They kill many other things, but when wolf find trail of bear he call to all his friends and they begin to chase Mr. Bear. One day I saw a pack of wolves chasing big bear."

"Was the bear running from them?" inquired Israel.

"Yes, he run much fast. By and by he come to place where he can go no more, then he stand up with his back to tree, and the way he cuff those wolves first one side, then on other, make me laugh."

"Yes," said Peleg, "I have seen the same thing myself. It is like the feeling that Sam Oliver says the otter has for the beaver."

"Or the mink for the ermine," suggested Israel.

"Both mink and ermine bad as they can be," said Henry, shaking his head.

"They kill all things not so strong as they."

"Yes," suggested Peleg, "I think the mink and ermine are about the worst animals alive. The mink is three or four times as big as the ermine is and has a good deal more strength----"

"But the ermine so quick," interrupted Henry. "He so quick," he repeated, "and he most bloodthirsty little animal in the forest. When he begin to fight he always fight on until either he is killed or mink is killed."

"Sam Oliver was telling me the last time he was in the settlement," said Peleg, "that last winter he was trailing a fox that was chasing a rabbit, and when Sam came to his trap-line he heard, away off to one side, a mink scream. He says you can hear a mink scream almost a quarter of a mile away. He was trapping minks and he thought he had one caught, so he turned and started for his trap. When he got there he saw, so he said, the biggest fight he ever saw in the woods. A mink was caught in his trap and an ermine was fighting him.

"Pretty quick he saw that instead of there being only one there were two of the ermine. They kept walking around the mink in a circle and kept going faster and faster until by and by one of them, quick as lightning, right in front of the mink, jumped for him, and almost at the same time the other ermine jumped in, too, and tried to get a grip on the mink's neck. They must have tried that same thing before, because this time he heard the mink scream, too, though he was doing something besides. For about half a minute Sam said he couldn't hear or see much of anything except the fracas. Then just about as swiftly as the two ermine had jumped into the fight, they jumped out and began to circle around the mink again. The next time they tried to get the neck hold only one of them slipped back. The other got his teeth fastened right where he wanted them, and you know they are like needles. Then the other ermine came back and he, too, got a throat hold. In just a few minutes the whole affair was ended and the ermine came out ahead. Sam said he could have walked up to them and picked them up, they were so excited, squeaking like mice, and trying to tear the dead mink all to pieces."

"Sam got the two ermine then, didn't he?" inquired Israel.

"Yes. I told him, though, I thought they had earned their right to live, but Sam never feels that way about such things."

The reference to Sam Oliver had brought a scowl to the face of Henry and caused him to become silent as long as the hunter was a topic of conversation.

In the succeeding days reports of the presence of Indians steadily increased. Several men toiling in the fields were fired upon by Shawnees who had crept up to the border of the forest.

Steadily the Indians showed their determination to do their utmost to prevent the settlers from making homes in their hunting grounds. The hostilities of the Shawnees became more marked with every pa.s.sing month.

Indeed, so many were the manifestations of their plan to attack the settlements that finally Colonel Clark, who at this time had been given the command of all military forces in Kentucky, became so convinced that there was a plan in the minds of the Indians to a.s.semble a great body of their warriors to destroy the border forts and their inhabitants that he begged the pioneer scout to act as a spy and to a.s.sume charge of other spies that were to be sent among the tribes to learn their numbers as well as their designs.

Daniel Boone, fully aware of the danger, and in spite of his desire to remain at home, responded to this new call because he looked upon himself as in a measure answerable for the safety of the people whom he had induced to come into Kentucky. At this time the region was known as the "dark and b.l.o.o.d.y ground," so many had been the attacks and conflicts between the incoming whites and their Indian foes.

Daniel Boone ordered his spies to start out in different directions, and after they had scoured the country for miles around, they were to meet at a time and place agreed upon and report what they had discovered and form their plans for the future.

Convinced at last that there was no immediate danger of a concerted attack by the Indians, the scout returned to Boonesborough and resumed his labours.

"Peleg," said Boone one day not long after his return, "we must have some salt. I shall take a party to Blue Licks. Will you come?"

"Yes, sir," replied Peleg promptly.

"I shall leave Israel at home to protect the family, but I shall want you and Henry to go with me. We ought to have a party of twenty-five or thirty men not only to make the salt, but to keep back the Shawnees, who are likely to make trouble for us if we are not strong enough to defend ourselves."

The following day Daniel Boone, together with Peleg and twenty-six other men, departed for the salt springs, or Blue Licks, as they were called by the settlers. Neither of the scouts, however, was aware that he was there to meet with the most thrilling adventure of his life.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CAPTURE

Several days of hard work followed the arrival of the party at the salt springs. Fireplaces had to be made, boilers arranged, and the water evaporated, leaving its deposit of salt, so necessary in the life of the people of Boonesborough.