est, kept the fast,
drank the war-drink, and did not even leave the "medicine-ground."

The fast being over, they fired their guns, yelled, danced, and sang; and
in the midst of this noise the march commenced. The leading war-chief,
bearing the medicine-bag, or budget (as it was called), went before; the
rest followed in single file. Nothing but shouting and yelling, and the
noise of guns, was heard, as they passed through the village. When they
reached the woods, all the noise ceased; they were fairly on their march,
and that march was to be made after the Indian fashion, in dead silence.
For several days this dead march was kept up, Boone looking every hour
for his chance of escape. At length, early one morning, a deer dashed by
the line. Boone leaped eagerly after him, and started in pursuit. No
sooner was he out of sight of the Indians, than he pressed for
Boonesborough. He knew they would give chase, and therefore he doubled
his track, waded in streams, and did everything that he could to throw
them off his trail. Every sound startled him; he thought the Indians were
behind him. With no food but roots and berries, and scarcely time to
devour these, he pushed through swamps and thickets for his old home. Now
or never was his chance for liberty, and as such he used it. At length,
after wandering nearly two hundred miles, on the fourth day he reached
Boonesborough in safety.

CHAPTER V.

Before we go on, let me tell you of some of the curious customs which
Boone noticed among the Indians, during his captivity. He had a fine
opportunity for observation, and I think these strange customs will
interest you.

It is not wonderful that Indian men and women are so hardy; they are
trained to it from their youth: and Boone tells us how they are trained.
When a child is only eight years old, this training commences; he is then
made to fast frequently half a day; when he is twelve, he is made to fast
a whole day. During the time of this fast, the child is left alone, and
his face is always blacked. This mode of hardening them is kept up with
girls until they are fourteen--with boys until they are eighteen. At
length, when a boy has reached the age of eighteen, his parents tell him
that his education is completed, and that he is old enough to be a man!
His face is now to be blacked for the last time. He is taken to a
solitary cabin far away from the village; his face is blacked, and then
his father makes to him a spee