. There, Chief Blackfish told Boone that
he wanted him for a son. He made Boone go through a long adoption
ceremony and gave him the name of Big Turtle.

Boone liked Chief Blackfish, but he did not really want to be a
Shawnee. He pretended to be pleased about becoming the Chief's son, but
he only pretended.

One day the Indians went hunting. While they were gone, Boone ran away
and started for Boonesborough.

The Indians followed him, but he was too clever for them. They lost his
trail. In four days he traveled one hundred and sixty miles.

Finally he reached Boonesborough.

"The Indians are on the way! Get ready to fight!" he told the people.

Soon Chief Blackfish came with over four hundred Shawnees. He called
Boone to come outside the fort. Daniel Boone went out bravely.

"Why did you run away?" Chief Blackfish asked Boone.

"I wanted to see my wife and my children," Boone answered.

"You have seen them," the Chief replied. "Now come back with me. You
and all your people."

"Give me a little time to think it over," Boone said.

He hoped that help would come from other forts. He waited and waited,
but no help came.

"We shall defend the fort as long as a man is living," Boone told the
people.

The fight began. The Indians fired at the fort. The white men fired
back. Everyone worked hard. The women and the children loaded guns and
carried food to the men. The white men were outnumbered, but the
Indians did not know this.

The men did not stop fighting for eight days and eight nights. By then
everyone was very tired. The Indians had shot flaming torches, and the
roofs of the cabins were on fire. Not a drop of water was left in the
fort.

"Look! Look!" someone shouted.

The sky had been dark all day. Now it was starting to rain. It rained
and it poured. The rain came down and put out the fires. It filled the
tubs and pails with water to drink. Everyone felt hopeful again.

When morning came, no Indians were in sight. Every single one of them
was gone. They had disappeared into the forest. The fort was saved.

Daniel Boone's Reward

The Indian raids kept on all over Kentucky. When the American
Revolution ended, the British stopped helping the Indians fight the
settlers. Some tribes kept on fighting on their own, but finally the
settlers defeated the Indians and forced them to sign a treaty. Things
slowly became more peaceful.

More and more settlers came west. They came over the Wildernes