Daniel Boone. 71 



one opportunity of seeing and hunting with the famous 

 Colonel Boone, the Kentucky hunter, and hero of a mul- 

 titude of desperate adventures. On a particular occasion 

 Boone spent a- night under Audubon's roof, and related 

 some of his adventures, among others, the following. On 

 a hunting expedition in which Boone was engaged, the 

 wanderer was afraid of Indians, and he consequently 

 damped out his fire before falling asleep. He had not 

 lain long before strong hands were laid upon him, and he 

 was dragged off to the Indian camp. Avoiding every 

 semblance of fear, Boone neither spoke nor resisted. 

 The Indians ransacked his pockets, found his whisky 

 flask, and commenced to drink from it. While so en- 

 gaged a shot was fired, and the male savages went off in 

 pursuit, while the squaws were left to watch the prisoner. 

 Rolling himself towards the fire, Boone burnt the fasten- 

 ings which bound him, sprang to his feet, and after hack- 

 ing three notches in an ash tree, afterwards known as 

 " Boone's Ash," fled from the neighborhood. In years 

 after, an engineer in Kentucky made the ash a point for a 

 survey. A lawsuit arose out of a boundary question, and 

 the only chance of closing it was by identifying " Boone's 

 Ash." The hunter was sent for, and after some search- 

 ing he pointed out the free, in which the notches were 

 detected after the bark had been peeled away. Boone's 

 extraordinary stature and colossal strength struck Audu- 

 bon as remarkable among a remarkable race ; and the 

 dreaded foe of the red man was notable for an honesty 

 and courage that could not be questioned. 



