edoubled his efforts to throw the Indians off their guard. He sang
and whistled blithely about the camp at the mouth of the Scioto River,
whither he had accompanied his Indian father to help in the salt
boiling. In short, he seemed so very happy that one day Black Fish took
his eye off him for a few moments to watch the passing of a flock of
turkeys. Big Turtle passed with the flock, leaving no trace. To his
lamenting parent it must have seemed as though he had vanished into the
air. Daniel crossed the Ohio and ran the 160 miles to Boonesborough in
four days, during which time he had only one meal, from a buffalo he
shot at the Blue Licks. When he reached the fort after an absence of
nearly five months, he found that his wife had given him up for dead and
had returned to the Yadkin.

Boone now began with all speed to direct preparations to withstand a
siege. Owing to the Indian's leisurely system of councils and ceremonies
before taking the warpath, it was not until the first week in September
that Black Fish's painted warriors, with some Frenchmen under Dequindre,
appeared before Boonesborough. Nine days the siege lasted and was the
longest in border history. Dequindre, seeing that the fort might not be
taken, resorted to trickery. He requested Boone and a few of his men
to come out for a parley, saying that his orders from Hamilton were to
protect the lives of the Americans as far as possible. Boone's friend,
Calloway, urged against acceptance of the apparently benign proposal
which was made, so Dequindre averred, for "bienfaisance et humanite."
But the words were the words of a white man, and Boone hearkened to
them. With eight of the garrison he went out to the parley. After a long
talk in which good will was expressed on both sides, it was suggested
by Black Fish that they all shake hands and, as there were so many more
Indians than white men, two Indians should, of course, shake hands with
one white man, each grasping one of his hands. The moment that their
hands gripped, the trick was clear, for the Indians exerted their
strength to drag off the white men. Desperate scuffling ensued in
which the whites with difficulty freed themselves and ran for the fort.
Calloway had prepared for emergencies. The pursuing Indians were met
with a deadly fire. After a defeated attempt to mine the fort the enemy
withdrew.

The successful defense of Boonesborough was an achievement of national
importance, for had Boonesborough fal