Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 167 



lacking even a solitary human habitation, every In- 

 dian must be regarded as a foe. 



The man who had accompanied Squire Boone was 

 terrified by the presence of the Indians, and now re- 

 turned to the settlements. The two brothers re- 

 mained alone on their hunting-grounds throughout 

 the winter, living in a little cabin. About the first 

 of May Squire set off alone to the settlements to 

 procure horses and ammunition. For three months 

 Daniel Boone remained absolutely alone in the wil- 

 derness, without salt, sugar, or flour, and without 

 the companionship of so much as a horse or a dog. 14 

 But the solitude-loving hunter, dauntless and self- 

 reliant, enjoyed to the full his wild, lonely life; he 

 passed his days hunting and exploring, wandering! 

 hither and thither over the country, while at night 

 he lay off in the canebrakes or thickets, without a 

 fire, so as not to attract the Indians. Of the latter 

 he saw many signs, and they sometimes came to his 

 camp, but his sleepless wariness enabled him to avoid 

 capture. 



Late in July his brother returned, and met him 



14 His remaining absolutely alone in the wilderness for 

 such a length of time is often spoken of with wonder ; but 

 here again Boone stands merely as the backwoods type, not 

 as an exception. To this day many hunters in the Rockies 

 do the same. In 1880, two men whom I knew wintered to 

 the west of the Bighorns, 150 miles from any human beings. 

 They had salt and flour, however ; but they were nine months 

 without seeing a white face. They killed elk, buffalo, and 

 a moose ; and had a narrow escape from a small Indian war 

 party. Last winter (1887-88) an old trapper, a friend of mine 

 in the days when he hunted buffalo, spent five months en- 

 tirely alone in the mountains north of the Flathead country. 



