high, planted firmly in
the ground, in close contact with each other, and sharpened at the top.
The fort was built close to the river, with one of its angles almost
overhanging the water, so that an abundant supply could be obtained
without peril. Each of the corner houses projected a little, so that
from the port-holes any Indian could be shot who should approach the
walls with ladder or hatchet. This really artistic structure was not
completed until the fourteenth day of June. The Indians from a distance
watched its progress with dismay. They made one attack, but were easily
repelled, though they succeeded in shooting one of the emigrants.

Daniel Boone contemplated the fortress on its completion with much
satisfaction. He was fully assured that behind its walls and palisades
bold hearts, with an ample supply of ammunition, could repel any
assaults which the Indians were capable of making. He now resolved
immediately to return to Clinch river, and bring his family out to share
with him his new and attractive home.

CHAPTER VI.

_Sufferings of the Pioneers._

Emigration to Boonesborough.--New Perils.--Transylvania
Company.--Beneficence of its Laws.--Interesting Incident.--Infamous
conduct of Great Britain.--Attack on the Fort.--Reinforcements.--Simon
Kenton and his Sufferings.--Mrs. Harvey.

The fortress at Boonesborough consisted of ten strong log huts arranged
in a quadrangular form, enclosing an area of about one-third of an acre.
The intervals, as before stated, between the huts, were filled with
strong palisades of timber, which, like the huts themselves, were
bullet-proof. The outer sides of the cabins, together with the
palisades, formed the sides of the fort exposed to the foe. Each of
these cabins was about twenty feet in length and twelve or fifteen in
breadth. There were two entrance gates opposite each other, made of
thick slabs of timber, and hung on wooden hinges. The forest, which was
quite dense, had been cut away to such a distance as to expose an
assailing party to the bullets of the garrison. As at that time the
Indians were armed mainly with bows and arrows, a few men fully supplied
with ammunition within the fort could bid defiance to almost any number
of savages. And subsequently, as the Indians obtained fire-arms, they
could not hope to capture the fort without a long siege, or by assailing
it with a vastly overwhelming superiority of numbers. The accompanying
illustration will give