e would not be found sleeping
or unprotected, at the springs. They shrewdly inferred that the
departure of so many men must greatly weaken the garrison, and that they
could never hope for a more favorable opportunity to attack
Boonesborough.

This formidable fortress was the great object of their dread. They
thought that if they could lay it in ashes, making it the funeral pyre
of all its inmates, the weaker forts would be immediately abandoned by
their garrisons in despair, or could easily be captured. An expedition
was formed, consisting of more than a hundred Indian warriors, and
accompanied it is said by two Frenchmen. Boone had sent three men back
to the garrison, loaded with salt, and to convey tidings of the good
condition of the party at the springs.

On the morning of the seventh of February, Boone, who was unequalled in
his skill as a hunter, and also in the sagacity by which he could avoid
the Indians, was out in search of game as food for the party. Emboldened
by the absence of all signs of the vicinity of the Indians, he had
wandered some distance from the springs, where he encountered this band
of warriors, attended by the two Frenchmen, on the march for the assault
on Boonesborough. Though exceedingly fleet of foot, his attempt to
escape was in vain. The young Indian runners overtook and captured him.

The Indians seem to have had great respect for Boone. Even with them he
had acquired the reputation of being a just and humane man, while his
extraordinary abilities, both as a hunter and a warrior, had won their
admiration. Boone was not heading a war party to assail them. He had not
robbed them of any of their horses. They were therefore not exasperated
against him personally. It is also not improbable that the Frenchmen who
were with them had influenced them not to treat their prisoner with
barbarity.

Boone, whose spirits seemed never to be perturbed, yielded so gracefully
to his captors as to awaken in their bosoms some emotions of kindness.
They promised that if the party at the springs would yield without
resistance--which resistance, though unavailing, they knew would cost
them the lives of many of their warriors--the lives of the captives
should be safe, and they should not be exposed to any inhuman treatment.
Boone was much perplexed. Had he been with his men, he would have
fought to the last extremity, and his presence not improbably might have
inspirited them, even to a successful defence. B