the
Indian army should be instantly withdrawn. Boone did not confide in
the sincerity of the Frenchman, but he determined to gain the
advantage of farther preparation for resistance, by delaying the
attack. He consented to negotiate on the terms proposed; but
suspecting treachery, insisted that the conference should be held
near the fort walls. The garrison were on the alert, while the
negotiation continued, and did not fail to remark that many of the
Indians, not [195] concerned in making the treaty, were stalking
about, under very suspicious circumstances. The terms on which the
savage army was to retire were at length agreed upon, and the
articles signed, when the whites were told that it was an Indian
custom, in ratification of compacts, that two of their chiefs should
shake hands with one white man. Boone and his associates, consenting
to conform to this custom, not without suspicion of a sinister
design, were endeavored to be dragged off as prisoners by the
savages; but strong and active, they bounded from their grasp, and
entered the gate, amid a heavy shower of balls--one only of the
nine, was slightly wounded. The Indians then commenced a furious
assault on the fort, but were repulsed with some loss on their part;
and every renewed attempt to carry it by storm, was in like manner,
frustrated by the intrepidity and gallantry of its inmates.[14]

Disappointed in their expectation of succeeding in this way, the
savages next attempted to undermine the fort, commencing at the water
mark of the Kentucky river, only sixty yards from the walls. This
course was no doubt dictated to them by their French commanders,
as they are ignorant of the practice of war, farther than depends
on the use of the gun, and tomahawk, and the exercise of stratagem
and cunning. The vigilance of the besieged however, soon led to a
discovery of the attempt--the water below, was colored by the clay
thrown out from the excavation, while above it retained its usual
transparency; and here again they were foiled by the active
exertion of the garrison. A countermine was begun by them, the earth
from which being thrown over the wall, manifested the nature of their
operations, and led the enemy to raise the siege, and retire from the
country.[15]

In the various assaults made on the fort by this savage army, two
only, of the garrison, were killed, and four wounded. The loss of the
enemy, as usual, could not be properly ascertained: thirty-seven w