The
buffalo were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements,
browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on those
extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant of the violence of man.
Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt
springs were amazing. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every
kind natural to America, we practiced hunting with great success until
the 22d day of December following.

This day John Steward and I had a pleasing ramble, but fortune changed
the scene in the close of it. We had passed through a great forest, on
which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, and others rich
with fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight.
Here she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of flowers
and fruits, beautifully colored, elegantly shaped, and charmingly
flavored; and we were diverted with innumerable animals presenting
themselves perpetually to our view. In the decline of the day, near
Kentucky River, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number of
Indians rushed out of a thick canebrake upon us, and made us prisoners.
The time of our sorrow was now arrived, and the scene fully opened.
The Indians plundered us of what we had, and kept us in confinement
seven days, treating us with common savage usage. During this time we
discovered no uneasiness or desire to escape, which made them less
suspicious of us; but in the dead of night, as we lay in a thick
canebrake by a large fire, when sleep had locked-up their senses, my
situation not disposing me for rest, I touched my companion, and gently
awoke him. We improved this favorable opportunity and departed, leaving
them to take their rest, and speedily directed our course toward our old
camp, but found it plundered, and the company dispersed and gone home.
About this time my brother, Squire Boone, with another adventurer, who
came to explore the country shortly after us, was wandering through the
forest, determined to find me if possible, and accidentally found our
camp. Notwithstanding the unfortunate circumstances of our company, and
our dangerous situation, as surrounded with hostile savages, our meeting
so fortunately in the wilderness made us reciprocally sensible of the
utmost satisfaction. So much does friendship triumph over misfortune,
that sorrows and sufferings vanish at the meeting not only of real
friends, but of the most distant acquaintanc