"Thus freed from school, he now returned more ardently than ever to his
favorite pursuit. His dog and rifle were his constant companions, and
day after day he started from home, only to roam through the forests.
Hunting seemed to be the only business of his life; and he was never so
happy as when at night he came home laden with game. He was an untiring
wanderer."

Perhaps it was not a very serious misfortune for Daniel Boone that his
school instruction was so scanty, for, "in another kind of education,"
says Mr. Peck,[5] "not unfrequent in the wilds of the West, he was an
adept. No Indian could poise the rifle, find his way through the
pathless forest, or search out the retreats of game, more readily than
Daniel Boone. In all that related to Indian sagacity, border life, or
the tactics of the skillful hunter, he excelled. The successful training
of a hunter, or woodsman, is a kind of education of mental discipline,
differing from that of the school-room, but not less effective in giving
vigor to the mind, quickness of apprehension, and habits of close
observation. Boone was regularly trained in all that made him a
successful backwoodsman. Indolence and imbecility never produced a
Simon Kenton, a Tecumthè, or a Daniel Boone. To gain the skill of an
accomplished hunter requires talents, patience, perseverance, sagacity,
and habits of thinking. Amongst other qualifications, knowledge of human
nature, and especially of Indian character is indispensable to the
pioneer of a wilderness. Add to these, self-possession, self-control,
and promptness in execution. Persons who are unaccustomed to a frontier
residence know not how much, in the preservation of life, and in
obtaining subsistence, depends on such characteristics!"

In the woods surrounding the little settlement of Exeter, Boone had