54 The Winning of the West 



Boone and Kenton have always been favorite he- 

 roes of frontier story, as much so as ever were 

 Robin Hood and Little John in England. Both 

 lived to a great age, and did and saw many strange 

 things, and in the backwoods cabins the tale of their 

 deeds has been handed down in traditional form from 

 father to son and to son's son. They were known 

 to be honest, fearless, adventurous, mighty men of 

 their hands; fond of long, lonely wanderings; re- 

 nowned as woodsmen and riflemen, as hunters and 

 Indian fighters. In course of time it naturally came 

 about that all notable incidents of the chase and 

 woodland warfare were incorporated into their lives 

 by the story-tellers. The facts were altered and 

 added to by tradition year after year; so that the 

 two old frontier warriors already stand in that misty 

 group of heroes whose rightful title to fame has 

 been partly overclouded by the haze of their myth- 

 ical glories and achievements. 







such occasions; but I hesitate to give them because Mc- 

 Clung is so loose in his statements. In the account of this 

 very incident he places it in '77, and says Kenton then ac- 

 companied Clark to the Illinois. But in reality as we know 

 from Boone it took place in '78, and Kenton must have gone 

 with Clark first. 



