38 The Winning of the West 



favorite hunting season, 25 the savages again filled 

 the land, and Logan was obliged to repeat his peril- 

 ous journey. 26 He also continually led small bands 

 of his followers against the Indian war and hunt- 

 ing parties, sometimes surprising and dispersing 

 them, and harassing them greatly. Moreover he 

 hunted steadily through the year to keep the sta- 

 tion in meat, for the most skilful hunters were, in 

 those days of scarcity, obliged to spend much of 

 their time in the chase. Once, while at a noted game 

 lick, 27 waiting for deer, he was surprised by the In- 

 dians, and by their fire was wounded in the breast 

 and had his right arm broken. Nevertheless he 

 sprang on his horse and escaped, though the sav- 

 ages were so close that one, leaping at him, for a 

 moment grasped the tail of the horse. Every one 

 of these pioneer leaders, from Clark and Boone 

 to Sevier and Robertson, was required constantly 



25 Usually early in November. McAfee MSS. 



26 Marshall, 50. 



27 These game licks were common, and were of enormous ex- 

 tent. Multitudes of game, through countless generations, 

 had tramped the ground bare of vegetation, and had made 

 deep pits and channels with their hoofs and tongues. See 

 McAfee MSS. Sometimes the licks covered acres of ground, 

 while the game trails leading toward them through the wood 

 were as broad as streets, even 100 feet wide. I have myself 

 seen small game licks, the largest not a hundred feet across, 

 in the Selkirks, Coeur d'Alenes, and Bighorns, the ground 

 all tramped up by the hoofs of elk, deer, wild sheep, and 

 white goats, with deep furrows and hollows where the saline 

 deposits existed. In the Little Missouri Bad Lands there is 

 so much mineral matter that no regular licks are needed. As 

 the game is killed off the licks become overgrown and lost. 



