hed by the wily savage, and he seldom ventured
beyond the purlieus of his cabin, or the station where he resided. He
was now free to roam in safety through the pathless wilderness--to camp
out in security whenever he was overtaken by night; and to pursue the
game wherever it was to be found in the greatest abundance.

Civilization had not yet driven the primitive tenants of the forest from
their favorite retreats. Most of the country was still in a state of
nature--unsettled and unappropriated. Few fences or inclosures impeded
the free range of the hunter, and very few buts and bounds warned him of
his being about to trespass upon the private property of some neighbor.
Herds of buffaloes and deer still fed upon the rich cane-brake and rank
vegetation of the boundless woods, and resorted to the numerous Licks
for salt and drink.

Boone now improved this golden opportunity of indulging in his favorite
pursuit. He loved to wander alone, with his unerring rifle upon his
shoulder, through the labyrinths of the tangled forests, and to rouse
the wild beast from his secret lair. There was to him a charm in these
primeval solitudes which suited his peculiar temperament, and he
frequently absented himself on these lonely expeditions for days
together. He never was known to return without being loaded with the
spoils of the chase. The choicest viands and titbits of all the
forest-fed animals were constantly to be found upon his table. Not that
Boone was an epicure; far from it. He would have been satisfied with a
soldier's fare. In common with other pioneers of his time, he knew what
it was to live upon roots and herbs for days together. He had suffered
hunger and want in all its forms without a murmur or complaint. But when
peace allowed him to follow his profession of a hunter, and to exercise
that tact and superiority which so much distinguished him, he selected
from the abundance and profusion of the game which fell victims to his
skill, such parts as were most esteemed. His friends and neighbors were
also, at all times, made welcome to a share of whatever he killed. And
he continued to live in this primitive simplicity--enjoying the luxury
of hunting, and of roving in the woods, and indulging his generous and
disinterested disposition towards his neighbors, for several years after
the peace.

In the meantime, while Boone had been thus courting solitude, and
absorbed by the engrossing excitement of hunting, the restless spir