hen Daniel was about thirteen years old his father removed to North
Carolina and settled on the Yadkin River. There the boy grew to manhood.
After his marriage, at twenty, he built himself a hut far out in the
lonely forest, beyond the homes of the other settlers.

But he was a restless man and looked with longing toward the rugged
mountains on the west. Along the foothills other pioneer settlers and
hunters had taken up their abode. And young Boone's imagination leaped to
the country beyond the mountains, where the forest stretched for miles
upon miles, no one knew how far, to the Mississippi River. It was an
immense wilderness teeming with game, and he wanted to hunt and explore in
it.

He was twenty-five when he made the first "long hunt" we know about. At
this time he went as far as what is now Boone's Creek, in eastern
Tennessee.

Other trips doubtless he made which increased his love for wandering; and
in 1769, nine years after his first trip, having heard from a stray Indian
of a wonderful hunting-ground far to the west, he started out with this
Indian and four other men to wander through the wilderness of Kentucky.

For five weeks these bold hunters threaded their way through lonely and
pathless mountain forests, facing many dangers from wild beasts and
Indians.

BOONE GOES TO KENTUCKY

But when, in June, they reached the blue-grass region of Kentucky, a
beautiful land of stretching prairies, lofty forests, and running streams,
they felt well repaid for all the hardships of their long journey. It was
indeed as the Indian had said, alive with game. Buffaloes, wolves, bears,
elk, deer, and wild beasts of many kinds abounded, making truly a hunter's
paradise.

They at once put up a log shelter, and for six months they hunted to their
hearts' content. Then one day two of the party, Boone himself and a man
named Stewart, while off on a hunting expedition, were captured by an
Indian band. For several days the dusky warriors carefully guarded the two
white captives. But on the seventh night, having eaten greedily of game
they had killed during the day, they fell into a sound sleep.

[Illustration: Boone's Escape from the Indians.]

Then Boone, who had been watching for this chance, arose quietly from his
place among the sleeping Indians and gently wakened Stewart. The two crept
stealthily away until out of hearing of the Indians, when, rising to their
feet, they bounded off like deer through the dark woods