il of Virginia. As a surveyor, and now
as a messenger between Fort Pitt and His Lordship, the Earl of Dunmore,
our royal governor, I had utilized this unique shelter more than once when
breaking my journey at the junction of the Monongahela and the Cheat.

I had come to look upon it with something of affection. It was one of my
wilderness homes. It was roughly circular and a good eight feet in
diameter, and never yet had I been disturbed while occupying it.

During the night I heard the diabolic screech of a loon somewhere down the
river, while closer by rose the pathetic song of the whippoorwill. Strange
contrasts and each very welcome in my ears. I was awake with the first
rays of the sun mottling the bark and mold before the low entrance to my
retreat. The rippling melody of a mocking-bird deluged the thicket.
Honey-bees hovered and buzzed about my tree, perhaps investigating it with
the idea of moving in and using it for a storehouse. The Indians called
them the "white man's flies," and believed they heralded the coming of
permanent settlements. I hoped the augury was a true one, but there were
times when I doubted.

Making sure that the priming of my long Deckhard rifle was dry, I crawled
out into the thicket and stood erect. As far as the eye could roam
stretched the rich bottom-lands and the low ridges, covered with the
primeval growths of giant walnuts, maples, oaks and hickory. Small wonder
that the heart of the homeseeker should covet such a country.

Groves of beeches, less desired by settlers, were noisy with satisfied
squirrels. From river to ridge the air was alive with orioles and
cardinals and red-starts. And could I have stood at the western rim of my
vision I would have beheld the panorama repeated, only even richer and
more delectable; for there was nothing but the ancient forest between me
and the lonely Mississippi.

Birds and song and the soft June air and the mystery of the Kentucky
country tugging at my heartstrings. I felt the call very strong as I stood
there in the thicket, and gladly would I have traveled West to the richest
game-region ever visited by white men. From some who had made the trip I
had heard wonderful stories of Nature's prodigality. There were roads made
through tangled thickets by immense herds of buffaloes smashing their way
five abreast. Deer were too innumerable to estimate. To perch a turkey
merely required that one step a rod or two from the cabin door. Only the
seri