ne chose the wilderness as
his home. He was now completely the "man of the woods"--far away,
hundreds of miles from any white settlement. For the first time in his
life, according to his own confession, he felt lonely. His mind was
filled with the remembrance of his wife and children, and the thought
that he should never see them again. He knew, however, that sad thoughts,
when indulged in, will grow very rapidly, and therefore dismissed them.

For safety's sake now, he changed his camp every night, that he might
avoid the Indians. Sometimes he slept in the canebrake; sometimes he laid
himself by the side of a stream; sometimes in the caves of the rocks. By
day he was surrounded by his old companions the buffaloes and deer, and
at night was not unfrequently disturbed by the howling of the wolves. He
roamed over many a beautiful tract of country. Now he would ascend a
hill, and look down upon the scene spread like a map before him; now he
would trace some stream to its source, or, following the well-tramped
roads of the buffaloes, would find some spring bubbling in the forest. In
this way he moved over a large part of the country. At one time, he
struck the Ohio river, and wandered for days on the banks of that noble
stream. It is said, that in his rambles, he one day stood upon the spot
where the city of Louisville now stands. He learned to love the woods
more than ever. Long after this, he used to declare, that "no crowded
city, with all its commerce and noble buildings, could give him as much
pleasure as the beauty of Kentucky at that time afforded him."

Fortunately, he met no Indians. At one time he came in sight of a roving
party, but managed to escape from them. The mode in which he escaped will
show you his perfect self-possession. He had stopped one day to rest
under the shade of a tree, when suddenly he spied the party in the
distance. This was enough for him. He immediately commenced his course
through the forest, hoping that they had not seen him, and therefore
would not pursue. From time to time he would look back through the woods;
and at length became convinced, to his sorrow, that if they had not seen
him, they had marked his tracks, and were now on his trail. He pushed on
for more than two miles, trying in various ways to break the trail, and
thus put them out; still, as he looked back, he could see that they were
following him He was puzzled to know what to do. A happy thought now
struck him. He had jus