ile they were speaking Boone had gathered up
in his arms a number of dry tobacco leaves. Rubbing them to dust, he
suddenly flung it into the faces of the Indians, filling their eyes and
nostrils. Then, while they were coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their
eyes, he escaped.

[Illustration: Boone Throwing Tobacco into the Eyes of the Indians Who Had
Come to Capture Him.]

These are but a few of Boone's dangerous adventures. From them all he came
out safe and for years continued to be the able leader of the settlers at
Boonesborough.

There he remained until after Kentucky was admitted as a State into the
Union (1791). Four years later he moved still farther west, led on by love
for the wild, lonely life of the forest, a life which never lost its charm
for him, even down to his last days.

He died in 1820, eighty-five years old, his long life covering a period of
very great change in the growth of our country. By that time we had become
a nation with broadly expanded boundaries.

It has been said that but for Daniel Boone the settlement of Kentucky
could not have been made for several years. However this may be, we know
that he was one of those fearless and daring men whose courage helped to
establish that part of our country long known as "the West."

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

1. What kind of boyhood had Daniel Boone?

2. Imagine yourself to have been in his place during the weeks when he was
alone in the Kentucky forests; give an account of what happened.

3. Tell about his second capture by the Indians and his escape. Why did
they admire him?

4. What did he do for Kentucky? What kind of man was he?

CHAPTER VIII

JAMES ROBERTSON

Another pioneer who lived in Boone's day was James Robertson. Like Boone,
he came from North Carolina, and he led the way for the settling of
Tennessee very much as Boone did for Kentucky. The story of those days
shows that he was one of the most forceful and successful of the early
English pioneers who led out settlements west of the Alleghanies.

[Illustration: James Robertson.]

Born in 1742, Robertson was ten years younger than Washington. But this
boy's early life was very different from young George Washington's, for
little James was born in a backwoods cabin, and his father and mother were
too poor to send him to school. So he grew up to manhood without being
able to read and write.

But he wanted to study, and was persevering and brave enough to learn th