r to the number of six hundred, and led on by Colonel
Bird, a British officer, came down upon Riddle's and Martin's stations,
at the forks of Licking river. They had with them six cannons, and
managed their matters so secretly, that the first news of their approach
was given to the settlers by the roar of their guns. Of course it was of
no use to resist; the pickets could not defend them from cannon-balls;
the settlers were forced to surrender. The savages rushed into the
station and instantly killed one man and two women with their tomahawks;
all the others, many of whom were sick, were now loaded with baggage and
forced to march off with the Indians. It was certain death to any one,
old or young, male or female, who became, on the march, too weak and
exhausted to travel farther; they were instantly killed with the
tomahawk.

Flushed with success, the Indians were now more troublesome than ever; it
was impossible for the whites to remain in the country if matters were to
go on in this way. The inhabitants at last threw themselves upon the
protection of Colonel Clarke, who commanded a regiment of United States
soldiers at the falls of the Ohio. At the head of his men and a large
number of volunteers, he marched against Pecaway, one of the principal
towns of the Shawanese; numbers of the savages were killed, and the town
was burnt to ashes. This was a triumph, but it was a triumph gained by
the loss of seventeen of his men.

In 1780, Boone again returned to Boonesborough with his family, bringing
with him also a younger brother. The elder brother (who had been in
Kentucky before, as you will remember) now returned also, and made his
home at a spot not far from the place where the town of Shelbyville now
stands. The settlers were all delighted to see their old friend Daniel
Boone once more among them; they now felt that their leader was on the
ground. Mrs. Boone too felt happy. Though she was again on "_the dark and
bloody ground_," her husband was with her.

In a little time his services were again especially needed. The want of
salt, their old trouble was upon them, and they looked to Boone to
procure it. Ever ready, he started off with his younger brother to the
Blue Licks, the place of his former trouble; here he was destined to meet
with trouble again. They had made as much salt as they could carry, and
were now returning to Boonesborough with their packs, when they were
suddenly overtaken by a party of savages; th