r lives, and is found, I will either
bring her back, or spill my life blood." The oath was no sooner uttered
than every individual of the males crowded round Boone to repeat it. But
he reminded them that a part of their number must remain to defend the
station. Seven select persons only were admitted to the oath, along with
the fathers of the captives. The only difficulty was in making the
selection. Supplying themselves with knapsacks, rifles, ammunition, and
provisions, the party set forth on the pursuit.

Hitherto they had been unable to find the trail of the captors. Happily
they fell upon it by accident. But the Indians, according to their
custom, had taken so much precaution to hide their trail, that they
found themselves exceedingly perplexed to keep it, and they were obliged
to put forth all the acquirement and instinct of woodsmen not to find
themselves every moment at fault in regard to their course. The rear
Indians of the file had covered their foot prints with leaves. They
often turned off at right angles; and whenever they came to a branch,
walked in the water for some distance. At a place of this sort, the
pursuers were for some time wholly unable to find at what point the
Indians had left the branch, and began to despair of regaining their
trail. In this extreme perplexity, one of the company was attracted by
an indication of their course, which proved that the daughters shared
the sylvan sagacity of their parents. "God bless my dear child,"
exclaimed Colonel Calloway; "she has proved that she had strength of
mind in her deplorable condition to retain self possession." At the same
instant he picked up a little piece of ribbon, which he instantly
recognized as his daughter's. She had evidently committed it unobserved
to the air, to indicate the course of her captors. The trail was soon
regained, and the company resumed their march with renewed alacrity.

They were afterwards often at a loss to keep the trail, from the extreme
care of the Indians to cover and destroy it. But still, in their
perplexity, the sagacious expedient of the fair young captives put them
right. A shred of their handkerchief, or of some part of their dress,
which they had intrusted to the wind unobserved, indicated their course,
and that the captives were thus far not only alive, but that their
reasoning powers, unsubdued by fatigue, were active and buoyant. Next
day, in passing places covered with mud, deposited by the dry branches