adiness, while they
peered anxiously into the brush from which the threatening sound had
come.

"I declare to you," whispered Peleg, "that there is some one following
us."

"Verily," whispered James Boone, although he did not turn away his eyes
from the forest as he spoke.

The alarm of the two young guards was not unnatural, as has been said.
On the lower slopes of the mountain great trees were growing, but as
the band of emigrants had steadily climbed, the timber diminished, and
even underbrush had become somewhat thinned. Still, on every side of the
trail there were sufficient bushes to hide the presence of an enemy that
might be following the pioneers. Both boys knew that game of many kinds
abounded in the wilderness. Many a time their skill had been tested long
before they had left their homes on the Yadkin.

That their perils would be increased as they withdrew into the region in
which the foot of no white men except Daniel Boone and his comrade had
ever trod they both were well aware. On this September day the advancing
settlers had been moving in a much longer and thinner line than had been
adopted the preceding day. The difficulties of the ascent and the
frequent great rocks in their way made their progress over the mountain
more difficult and different from the easier march through the valley on
the opposite side. Only an occasional white man had been seen since they
had left their homes, and there was constant fear of the red men, almost
all of whom were exceedingly hostile at this time and very jealous in
guarding their own domains from the incursions of the whites.

Perhaps not unnaturally most of those who were in Boone's party looked
upon the Indian as a natural enemy. Few were mindful of the fact that
the red men were but doing their utmost to defend their own homes and
retain their hunting grounds from the trespassing whites, who, they were
fearful, would soon push them from the region, unless by determined
warfare the Shawnees and other neighbouring tribes might be able to
prevent their entrance and settlement.

It was well known that the region into which Daniel Boone was leading
his company on that September day was considered by the Indians to be
the best of all their hunting grounds. There the buffalo and the deer
abounded. Wild turkeys were so numerous that the report which Daniel
Boone had brought scarcely had been credited by his friends. There were
times in the autumn when great flocks o