breakfast.

His friend stopped and pointed to Daniel and himself. The old woman
nodded. With a sharp stick, she lifted a piece of meat from the pot.

The Indian boy took a broad leaf from a near-by bush. The woman dropped
the hot meat on it.

Now Daniel knew what to do. He, too, found a leaf. The woman gave him
some meat. Soon the hungry boys had finished their lunch.

That afternoon they swam in the clear, broad river. Then they lay on
the bank in the sunshine. Daniel had never been so happy. However, he
knew he must soon go home. His mother would worry if he did not return
before dark.

"I must go now. I must drive the cows home," he told his Indian friend.

The boy frowned. "Women's work," he told Daniel.

Daniel laughed. "It may be for the Indians, but it's not at the Boones'
house. I think I'd like being an Indian. An Indian boy has more fun
than a white boy."

"There is much for an Indian to learn," the other told him. "We must
learn to hunt, track animals, fish, and find our way in the
wilderness."

"Those things are not work. They are fun," Daniel told him. "I wish I
were an Indian. I believe I'd make a better Indian than a white boy."

When Daniel reached home at last, his mother scolded him.

"You should not have gone off with that Indian boy. You can't trust the
Indians," she told her son.

"He was a good boy. I liked him," Daniel said.

His mother shook her head. "Indians are not like us. We think
differently from them."

Daniel said nothing. But he thought his mother was mistaken.

"_I believe I can think like an Indian_," he said to himself. "_Except
for color, I'm more like an Indian than a white boy._"

Moving On

Several years went by. Then Father Boone called the family together.
"Pack your things," he told them. "We are leaving here. Boones never
stay long in one place. Besides, our farm land is worn out. We can buy
rich land cheap to the southwest of here. We will settle there."

Sixteen-year-old Daniel was happy. "I'm glad we are going," he said. "I
feel crowded here. There are too many houses and too many people. And
the game is getting scarce."

Father Boone made ready for the journey. He got out the big wagon and
hitched two horses to it. Mother Boone packed clothes, quilts, dishes,
pots, pans, and kettles. She would fix food for the family along the
way. Daniel tied a cow behind the wagon.

The family said good-by to the neighbors and to their old home, and
star