plunged into the woods, and after many days of hunting and
exploring, he reached the then far Western Ohio valley.

The scene so impressed Colonel Zane that he concluded to found a
settlement there. Taking "tomahawk possession" of the locality
(which consisted of blazing a few trees with his tomahawk), he built
himself a rude shack and remained that summer on the Ohio.

In the autumn he set out for Berkeley County, Virginia, to tell his
people of the magnificent country he had discovered. The following
spring he persuaded a number of settlers, of a like spirit with
himself, to accompany him to the wilderness. Believing it unsafe to
take their families with them at once, they left them at Red Stone
on the Monongahela river, while the men, including Colonel Zane, his
brothers Silas, Andrew, Jonathan and Isaac, the Wetzels, McCollochs,
Bennets, Metzars and others, pushed on ahead.

The country through which they passed was one tangled, most
impenetrable forest; the axe of the pioneer had never sounded in
this region, where every rod of the way might harbor some unknown
danger.

These reckless bordermen knew not the meaning of fear; to all,
daring adventure was welcome, and the screech of a redskin and the
ping of a bullet were familiar sounds; to the Wetzels, McCollochs
and Jonathan Zane the hunting of Indians was the most thrilling
passion of their lives; indeed, the Wetzels, particularly, knew no
other occupation. They had attained a wonderful skill with the
rifle; long practice had rendered their senses as acute as those of
the fox. Skilled in every variety of woodcraft, with lynx eyes ever