o Rebecca, going away all the time on such long hunting
trips. They even talked to Rebecca about her careless husband. But
Rebecca paid little heed, though she may have chided him in private for
returning so tattered. Sometimes his hunting coat, which was a loose
frock with a cape made from dressed deerskin, would literally be tied
together when he returned. Even the fringe which Rebecca had
painstakingly cut to trim his leggings and coat had been left hanging on
jagged rocks and underbrush through which he had dragged himself. His
coonskin cap, with the bushy brush of it hanging down on his neck, was
sometimes a sorry sight. One can hear Rebecca asking, as the hunter
removed his outer garments, "Were there no creeks on your journey?" His
leather belt he hung upon a wall peg after he had oiled it with bear
grease. His tomahawk which he always wore on the right side, and the
hunting knife which he carried on the left with his powder horn and
bullet pouch, he laid carefully aside. He inspected his trusty flintlock
rifle.... He had slept under cliffs, wrapped in his buffalo blanket with
his dog, with leaves and brush for a pillow. His thick club of hair had
not been untied in weeks. The chute bark with which it was fastened was
full of chinks. There was something worse. "What are you scratching
for?" Rebecca would pause from stirring the kettle at the hearth, to
survey her husband who was digging his fingers into his scalp. "Lice!"
gasped Rebecca. Instead of jowering, she would give him a good
scrubbing, comb out his matted hair, and clean him up generally and
thoroughly.

Daniel was a restless soul. And every time he returned home he was more
restless. So the Boones moved from place to place and each time others
went along with them. Daniel had a knack of leadership, but no sooner
would everyone be settled around him than he'd pack up and go to another
place. Daniel couldn't be crowded. He had to have elbow room no matter
where he had to go to get it.

In the twenty-five years he spent in North Carolina Boone cleared
ground, cut timber, and built a home many times--and all the while he
continued to hunt and explore.

Finally returning from one of his long expeditions he told glowing tales
of another country he had found. Bears were so thick, and deer, it would
take a crew of men to help him kill them and salvage the rich hides. He
persuaded Rebecca to come along with him and bring the children. Once
more Rebecca packed