by Black Fish,
and little by little his liberty was extended. June 16,
while the family were making salt on the Scioto, preparatory
to another expedition against Boonesborough, Boone escaped
on the horse given him by Hamilton. After many curious
adventures, in the course of which he swam the Ohio, he
safely reached Boonesborough, June 20, having traveled, he
estimated, a hundred and sixty miles in four days. Boone's
wife and family, supposing him dead, had returned to their
old home in North Carolina, but Boone himself remained to
assist in the defense of Boonesborough against the impending
attack, of which he had brought intelligence.--R. G. T.

[11] This was William Hancock, who had, like Boone, been
adopted into an Indian family. Not so expert a woodsman as
Boone, he had consumed twelve days in the journey from
Chillicothe to Boonesborough, and suffered great hardships. He
arrived at the fort July 17. In consequence of Boone's escape,
he reported, the Indians had postponed their intended attack
for three weeks. The next day (July 18), Boone wrote to Arthur
Campbell, lieutenant of Washington County, Va. (the Holston
settlements, 200 miles away), that he expected the enemy in
twelve days, and that the fort was prepared for a siege of
three or four weeks; but relief would then be of infinite
service.--R. G. T.

[12] At the close of six weeks after Hancock's arrival, Boone
had become weary of waiting for the enemy, hence his expedition
with nineteen men--not ten, as in the text--against the Shawnee
town on Paint Creek, during the last week of August. It was the
5th of September when, undiscovered, he passed the Indian force
encamped at Lower Blue Licks, and the next day arrived at
Boonesborough.--R. G. T.

[13] About 10 A. M. of Monday, September 7,--Withers places
it a month, less a day, too early,--the hostiles crossed the
Kentucky a mile and a half above Boonesborough, at a point
since known as Black Fish's Ford, and soon made their
appearance marching single file, some of them mounted, along
the ridge south of the fort. They numbered about 400, and
displayed English and French flags. The strength of the force
has been variously estimated, from 330 Indians and 8 Fren