r biographies of
Boone, cited in the Bibliographical Note at the end of this volume, the
author is indebted for the material contained in this chapter.

Daniel, no doubt supposing that a Syndic's rights were inviolable, had
neglected to apply to the Governor at New Orleans for a ratification of
his grant. He was therefore dispossessed. Not until 1810, and after he
had enlisted the Kentucky Legislature in his behalf, did he succeed
in inducing Congress to restore his land. The Kentucky Legislature's
resolution was adopted because of "the many eminent services rendered by
Colonel Boone in exploring and settling the western country, from which
great advantages have resulted not only to the State but to the country
in general, and that from circumstances over which he had no control he
is now reduced to poverty; not having so far as appears an acre of land
out of the vast territory he has been a great instrument in peopling."
Daniel was seventy-six then; so it was late in the day for him to
have his first experience of justice in the matter of land. Perhaps it
pleased him, however, to hear that, in confirming his grant, Congress
had designated him as "the man who has opened the way for millions of
his fellow-men."

The "infirmities" which had caused the good Syndic to seek relief from
political cares must have been purely magisterial. The hunter could have
been very little affected by them, for as soon as he was freed from his
duties Boone took up again the silent challenge of the forest. Usually
one or two of his sons or his son-in-law, Flanders Calloway, accompanied
him, but sometimes his only companions were an old Indian and his
hunting dog. On one of his hunting trips he explored a part of Kansas;
and in 1814, when he was eighty, he hunted big game in the Yellowstone
where again his heart rejoiced over great herds as in the days of his
first lone wanderings in the Blue Grass country. At last, with the
proceeds of these expeditions he was able to pay the debts he had left
behind in Kentucky thirty years before. The story runs that Daniel had
only fifty cents remaining when all the claims had been settled, but so
contented was he to be able to look an honest man in the face that he
was in no disposition to murmur over his poverty.

When after a long and happy life his wife died in 1813, Boone lived with
one or other of his sons * and sometimes with Flanders Calloway. Nathan
Boone, with whom Daniel chiefly made his ho