“I don’t know what the folks at home will say of this,” he remarked, after a silence.
“I am truly sorry for ye, Joey, indeed I am. Let us hope it all turns out for the best.”
Again the party under Daniel Boone went forward, and two days later a small part of the Indians under Long Knife were engaged. Joe was in the thick of this contest, and had the satisfaction of bringing down one Indian, who was afterward finished by Boone with a hunting knife.
This was the end of the pursuit. From one of the Indians it was learned that another attack was contemplated on the fort at Boonesborough, and so the settlers returned to that vicinity, unwilling to remain away and leave the fort and the homesteads unprotected.
When Joe came back with the news brought in by Pep Frost and the others who had gone away the year before, there was a good deal of crying on the part of Mrs. Parsons and Harmony and Cora.
“The hand of Providence is surely against us,” said the Quakeress. “We have done wrong by coming here and settling on the lands of the Indians. Would that the others were back once more, and that we might return to the East.”
Harry had but little to say, but Joe understood his chum.
“It’s awful,” said Joe, when the two were alone in the garden. “I can’t imagine what is going to happen next.”
“Nor I,” returned Harry. “Perhaps mother is right and we did wrong to settle on these lands.”
“No. I can’t believe that. If we didn’t come, others would. There will be cities and towns without number here some day, Harry.”