ginning when the Transylvania
Company sold boundaries of land to settlers, with Colonel Henderson, a
bright lawyer who had once been appointed Associate Chief Justice, to
look after the legal side of the transactions. The company asked only
thirteen and one third cents per acre for the land for one year and an
added half cent per acre quitrent to begin in 1780. At such a low rate
it was possible for a man to purchase a boundary of six hundred acres.
When Daniel talked it over with Rebecca they concluded he would not be
overreaching himself to invest in such an acreage.

The Transylvania Company did a land-office business. By December of the
first year after Colonel Henderson opened up his office for business in
Boonesborough 560,000 acres were sold. That was all right for the
company, but what of the purchaser? What with the squabbles and disputes
concerning title between Indian and settler, English and French, Boone
like others soon found himself with not a leg to stand on. He had bought
"wildcat" land. Land-sharks cleaned him out.

At the age of fifty-four, in 1788, Daniel had to start all over again.
With Rebecca at his side and a larger family he moved on.

Boone had scouted through the West Virginia country long before, when he
had passed a solitary winter in a hut on the Big Sandy. So now once more
he turned in that direction, pressing on until he reached the mouth of
the Great Kanawha River. He lived from place to place in the Kanawha
country, following his old pursuits of hunting and trapping, and as
usual absented himself from his fireside for long days at a stretch. But
Rebecca was used to his ways. She looked after the family, cooked and
mended. When Daniel returned home Rebecca always cleaned him up again
before he started on another hunting trip.

Eleven years passed without a word being said about land titles. Then
one day Daniel found himself facing the same situation that had robbed
him of his acres in Kentucky. A man of sixty-five, and with a family of
seven, three boys and four girls--two of their boys had been killed in
battle with the Indians--Daniel, though still a fearless hunter, didn't
want to be bothered with squabbles over land titles. He told Rebecca
there was an easier way around. There were places outside of the
jurisdiction of the United States altogether. "We don't have to be
beholden to anyone," he said boastfully.

Pioneer women followed their men. So once more Rebecca made ready for