1 8 The Winning of the West 



to camp on the opposite shore. In the morning two 

 of them returned to pick up some things that had 

 been left ; they found that the alarm had been false, 

 for the utensils that had been overlooked in the con 

 fusion were undisturbed, and a negro who had been 

 left behind in the hurry was still sleeping quietly 

 by the camp-fires. 



On the 2Oth of the month they reached the Ohio. 

 Some of the boats then left for Natchez, and others 

 for the Illinois country ; while the remainder turned 

 their prows up stream, to stem the rapid current 

 a task for which they were but ill-suited. The work 

 was very hard, the provisions were nearly gone, 

 and the crews were almost worn out by hunger and 

 fatigue. On the 24th they entered the mouth of the 

 Cumberland. The Adventure, the heaviest of all 

 the craft, got much help from a small square-sail 

 that was set in the bow. 



Two days afterward the hungry party killed some 

 buffalo, and feasted on the lean meat, and the next 

 day they shot a swan "which was very delicious," 

 as Donelson recorded. Their meal was exhausted 

 and they could make no more bread; but buffalo 

 were plenty and they hunted them steadily for their 

 meat ; and they also made what some of them called 

 "Shawnee salad" from a kind of green herb that 

 grew in the bottoms. 



On the last day of the month they met Col. Rich 

 ard Henderson, who had just come out and was 

 running the line between Virginia and North Caro 

 lina. The crews were so exhausted that the progress 



