had but two killed and four wounded. You may
judge, too, how industrious the savages had been, when I tell you that
the whites who wanted lead, commenced gathering their balls after they
left, and succeeded in picking out of the logs, and from the ground, one
hundred and twenty-five pounds.

Boone having thus successfully defended his settlement, determined now to
go in search of his wife. Accustomed to travelling through the woods, he
soon made his lonely journey to the Yadkin. They were amazed as he
entered the house of Mr. Bryan, his wife's father. The appearance of one
risen from the grave could not have surprised them more than that of
Boone--the lost man was among them, and great was their rejoicing. He now
remained here with his family for some time, and here we will leave him
for a little while, to talk of what happened in Kentucky during his
absence.

The Kentuckians, roused by the Indian hostility and treachery, determined
soon after he left to inflict punishment upon them; against the Shawanese
they were most provoked; it was among them that most of the plots against
the whites were formed, and the attack, therefore, was to be made upon
them. An army of one hundred and sixty men was soon collected, and the
command was given to a brave man named Colonel Bowman; they were to march
directly against old Chilicothe, the den of the savages.

In July of this year (1779), they started and reached the home of the
Indians, without being discovered. At daylight, the fight commenced and
continued till ten o'clock. Bowman's men fought bravely, but the Indians
had every advantage. Knowing all the woods about their settlement, while
one party fought openly, the other, concealed behind the grass and trees,
poured in a deadly fire upon the whites. He was forced at last to retreat
as rapidly as possible to a distance of thirty miles; but the Indians
pursued him here, doing more mischief than before. The savages fought
desperately. His men were falling around him, and but for Colonel Harrod,
every man of them might have been killed. Seeing the slaughter that was
continually increasing, he mounted a body of horsemen and made a charge
upon the enemy; this broke their ranks, they were thrown into confusion,
and Bowman, with the remnant of his men, was enabled to retreat.

This attack only exasperated the Indians. In the course of the next
summer (after doing much mischief in a smaller way in the meantime), they
gathered togethe