go
out of sight of the fort, but they went anyway. They paddled down the
river and around the bend. The current drew them in to the opposite
bank.

"Let's land and pick some of those bright-colored flowers," one of the
girls suggested.

Jemima shook her head. "I'm afraid of the Indians," she said. "Those
Shawnees are mean."

By now the canoe had drifted near the shore. The girl at the bow shoved
with her paddle. The boat would not move. It was stuck fast in the mud.

All at once five Indians leaped from the underbrush. They grabbed the
screaming girls and carried them into the forest. They planned to take
them north to the Indian towns and keep them there as slaves.

Back at the fort no one missed the girls until after dark. Then someone
saw that the canoe was gone. When Daniel Boone heard this, he picked up
his gun and rushed toward the river. He did not stop to put on his
shoes.

He felt sure that Indians had taken Jemima and her friends away.

Three young men who loved the girls very much went with Boone. The men
took another canoe and began to paddle down the river. They could not
go far in the dark. Before long, they had to stop and wait for morning.

When the sun came up, Boone found the girls' trail. He thought the
Indians were taking them toward the Ohio River. He knew he must catch
them before they crossed it and went to the Indian towns in the north.

The white men left their canoe. They traveled all day through the deep
woods. Then they made camp and waited for the long night to end. At
daylight they started out again.

Boone took short cuts through the woods, but he always found the trail.
His sharp eyes saw what the girls had left for him to see. One had dug
her heels into the soft mud. Another had left bits of her dress here
and there.

Boone led the young men straight through the heart of the forest to
Jemima and her friends. About noon the men caught sight of the girls.
The Indians had stopped with them for their noon meal. The white men
crept up. Bang! Bang! Bang! went their guns.

"It's Father!" Jemima cried.

"Fall flat on your faces, girls!" Daniel Boone shouted.

The white men ran toward the Indians. They shot their guns as they ran.

The Indians were taken by surprise. One Indian threw his tomahawk. It
almost hit the girls. Two Indians were shot. The others ran away.

The men took the three girls back to Boonesborough. Later the three
girls married the three young men.