hould we?"

"They were on the warpath for you!" said Israel. "It was lucky you got
away."

Boone laughed silently as he recalled the appearance of the Indians when
he had thrown the tobacco dust into their faces. "I am sure," he said,
"the Shawnees will remember what I said to them and how they were
treated by me. Perhaps it will do more good than it will to shoot them."

The months passed and the peace of the settlement remained unbroken. Few
even suspected the terrible struggle which was awaiting them.

The game in the forest was becoming somewhat scarce. The settlers,
increasing steadily in numbers, now were scattered from the Kentucky
River to the Ohio. It was commonly believed that the Indians had finally
accepted the coming of the whites as inevitable, and no longer were
ready to dispute their occupation of the western forests.

The one marked exception was Daniel Boone. To all the assertions of his
friends he replied by expressing his own conviction that the red men
were simply biding their time. No one was more familiar with the Indian
ways and thoughts than the scout and he was positive that they had not
forgotten the injuries which they had sustained at the hands of the
whites. Sooner or later they would strive to obtain vengeance and at the
same time unite in a supreme endeavour to drive the hated people from
the lands which they believed to be their own.

"I am more convinced than ever that trouble is brewing," said Boone one
day to Peleg and Israel, who now were his frequent companions. "I know
Simon Girty, and a worse man never lived. He is a renegade and a
traitor. He has given up living among the whites, and in everything but
colour and in their better qualities he has become an Indian. I am sure
that we shall hear from him before many months have passed."

Little the great scout dreamed that even while he was expressing his
opinion to the boys, runners at that very time had been sent by Simon
Girty to many of the northwestern tribes, urging them all to lay aside
the jealousy they felt for one another and unite in one common cause
against the white invaders.

The following spring the storm burst. As the pattering raindrops
sometimes fall at the beginning of a downpour, so among the scattered
settlements a renewal of attacks by prowling bands of Indians indicated
what was to follow.

One day when Daniel Boone returned to his home he was unusually cast
down. He explained that he had just learned