In the Current of the Revolution 49 



tribes for scalps and horses. One or two of Simon 

 Kenton's experiences during this year may be men- 

 tioned, less for their own sake than as examples of 

 innumerable similar deeds that were done, and woes 

 that were suffered, in the course of the ceaseless 

 struggle. 



Kenton was a tall, fair-haired man of wonderful 

 strength and agility; famous as a runner and wres- 

 tler, an unerring shot, and a perfect woodsman. 

 Like so many of these early Indian fighters, he was 

 not at all bloodthirsty. He was a pleasant, friendly, 

 and obliging companion; and it was hard to rouse 

 him to wrath. When once aroused, however, few 

 were so hardy as not to quail before the terrible fury 

 of his anger. He was so honest and unsuspecting 

 that he was very easily cheated by sharpers ; and he 

 died a poor man. He was a stanch friend and fol- 

 lower of Boone's. 45 Once, in a fight outside the 

 stockade at Boonesborough, he saved the life of his 

 leader by shooting an Indian who was on the point 

 of tomahawking him. Boone was a man of few 



45 See McClung's "Sketches of Western Adventure," pp. 

 86-117; the author had received from Kenton, and other pio- 

 neers, when very old, the tales of their adventures as young 

 men. McClung's volume contains very valuable incidental 

 information about the customs of life among the borderers, 

 and about Indian warfare ; but he is a very inaccurate and 

 untrustworthy writer ; he could not even copy a printed nar- 

 rative correctly (see his account of Slover's and McKnight's 

 adventures), and his tales about Kenton must be accepted 

 rather as showing the adventures incident to the life of a 

 peculiarly daring Indian fighter than as being specifically and 

 chronologically correct in Kenton's individual case. 

 VOL. VI. C 



