pioneers had smoked their pipes at his father's cabin fire, he had
heard many appalling accounts of bloody conflicts with the Indians,
of massacres, scalpings, tortures, and captivity.

David's father had taught him, very sternly, one lesson, and that
was implicit and prompt obedience to his demands. The boy knew full
well that it would be of no avail for him to make any remonstrance.
Silently, and trying to conceal his tears, he set out on the
perilous enterprise. The cattle could be driven but about fifteen or
twenty miles a day. Between twenty and thirty days were occupied in
the toilsome and perilous journey. The route led them often through
marshy ground, where the mire was trampled knee-deep. All the
streams had to be forded. At times, swollen by the rains, they were
very deep. There were frequent days of storm, when, through the long
hours, the poor boy trudged onward, drenched with rain and shivering
with cold. Their fare was most meagre, consisting almost entirely of
such game as they chanced to shoot, which they roasted on forked
sticks before the fire.

When night came, often dark and stormy, the cattle were generally
too much fatigued by their long tramp to stray away. Some instinct
also induced them to cluster together. A rude shanty was thrown up.
Often everything was so soaked with rain that it was impossible to
build a fire. The poor boy, weary and supperless, spattered with mud
and drenched with rain, threw himself upon the wet ground for that
blessed sleep in which the weary forget their woes. Happy was he if
he could induce one of the shaggy dogs to lie down by his side, that
he might hug the faithful animal in his arms, and thus obtain a
little warmth.