hunters and wilderness warriors, he once and again took part in
expeditions into the Indian country, where they killed the braves
and drove off the horses. Twice bands of Indians, accompanied by
French, Tory, and British partizans from Detroit, bearing the
flag of Great Britain, attacked Boonesboroug. In each case Boone
and his fellowsettlers beat them off with loss. At the fatal
battle of the Blue Licks, in which two hundred of the best
riflemen of Kentucky were beaten with terrible slaughter by a
great force of Indians from the lakes, Boone commanded the left
wing. Leading his men, rifle in hand, he pushed back and
overthrew the force against him; but meanwhile the Indians
destroyed the right wing and center, and got round in his rear,
so that there was nothing left for Boone's men except to flee
with all possible speed.

As Kentucky became settled, Boone grew restless and ill at ease.
He loved the wilderness; he loved the great forests and the great
prairielike glades, and the life in the little lonely cabin,
where from the door he could see the deer come out into the
clearing at nightfall. The neighborhood of his own kind made him
feel cramped and ill at ease. So he moved ever westward with the
frontier; and as Kentucky filled up he crossed the Mississippi
and settled on the borders of the prairie country of Missouri,
where the Spaniards, who ruled the territory, made him an
alcalde, or judge. He lived to a great age, and died out on the
border, a backwoods hunter to the last.



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTHWEST