ir parents; and they
all started joyously homeward. Mrs. Boone was delighted to see them. The
party had been so long gone, that she feared her husband and child were
alike lost to her for ever.

It is not surprising that when men found out that a settlement had been
made in Kentucky, others were soon ready to start off for that fertile
region. Accordingly, we find many arriving this year, and settling
themselves in the country. Harrod, Logan, Ray, Wagin, Bowman, and many
other fearless spirits, now threw themselves, like Boone, into the heart
of the wilderness, and made their forts, or stations, as they were
called. These were just like the home of Boone--nothing more than a few
log cabins, surrounded by pickets. Indeed, the country began now to
assume so much importance in the eyes of men, that the Governor of
Virginia thought proper to take some notice of it. When the legislature
met, he recommended that the southwestern part of the county of
Fincastle--which meant all the large tract of country west of the
Alleganies now known as Kentucky--should be made into a separate county,
by the name of Kentucky. The legislature thought it well to follow his
advice. The new county was made, and had the privilege of sending two
members to the Virginia legislature.

Nor is it surprising that the Indians began now to be more violent than
ever in their enmity. They had been unwilling before that a white man
should cross their path as they roamed over their hunting-grounds; but
now, when they saw clearings made, and houses built, they felt that the
whites meant to drive them for ever from that region. Their hatred
consequently increased now every hour. Another circumstance at this time
served to rouse them the more against the settlers. If you will think of
the period of which I am speaking (the year 1776), perhaps you may guess
what it was. The colonists of America in that year, you will remember,
declared themselves independent of Great Britain. In the war which
followed (known among us always as the Revolutionary War), England
struggled hard to subdue them; nor was she always choice as to the means
which she used for the purpose. She did not hesitate even to rouse the
red men of the forests, and give them arms to fight the colonists. They
were not only turned loose upon them with their own tomahawks and
scalping-knives, but were well supplied with British rifles and balls.
All the new settlements in the land were troubled with t