hich has been
already mentioned) as he was on his journey to North Carolina, was now
able to purchase several locations of land. He had been compensated for
his military services by the Commonwealth of Virginia, to which Kentucky
still belonged. On one of his locations he built a comfortable log-house
and recommenced farming, with his usual industry and perseverance,
varying the pursuits of agriculture with occasional indulgence in his
favorite sport of hunting.

In 1783 Kentucky organized herself on a new basis, Virginia having
united the three counties into one district, having a court of common
law and chancery for the whole territory which now forms the State of
Kentucky. The seat of justice at first was at Harrodsburg; but for want
of convenient accommodations for the sessions of the courts, they were
subsequently removed to Danville, which, in consequence, became for a
season the centre and capital of the State.[50]

A singular and highly characteristic adventure, in which Boone was
engaged about this time, is thus narrated by Mr. Peck:

"Though no hostile attacks from Indians disturbed the settlements, still
there were small parties discovered, or _signs_ seen on the frontier
settlements. On one occasion, about this period, four Indians came to
the farm of Colonel Boone, and nearly succeeded in taking him prisoner.
The particulars are given as they were narrated by Boone himself, at the
wedding of a granddaughter, a few months before his decease, and they
furnish an illustration of his habitual self-possession and tact with
Indians. At a short distance from his cabin he had raised a small patch
of tobacco to supply his neighbors, (for Boone never used the 'filthy
weed' himself,) the amount, perhaps, of one hundred and fifty hills.

"As a shelter for curing it, he had built an enclosure of rails, a dozen
feet in height, and covered it with cane and grass. Stalks of tobacco
are usually split and strung on sticks about four feet in length. The
ends of these are laid on poles, placed across the tobacco house, and in
tiers, one above the other to the roof. Boone had fixed his temporary
shelter in such a manner as to have three tiers. He had covered the
lower tier, and the tobacco had become dry, when he entered the shelter
for the purpose of removing the sticks to the upper tier, preparatory
to gathering the remainder of the crop. He had hoisted up the sticks
from the lower to the second tier, and was standing on t