Young George Burton suffered more than the others from the running vines, which were not always seen. Some of these wound along the ground, like fine wire, and, catching in front of his ankle, did not break, but threw him forward on his hands and knees. He had so slight a distance to fall that it did not hurt him, and he joined the others in laughing over his slips. But all the same, it was anything but pleasant.
"Hurrah, here is a path!" called out Will, who was several steps in advance of the rest.
"I wonder what it means?" said Jack, as he and George hurried up beside him.
All three, however, quickly saw the explanation. It was a track made by animals in going to and from one of the "salt licks," as they are called, which are quite common in many parts of that section.
You know how fond animals are of salt. Well, there are spots in the country which I am telling you about where the water which oozes upward through the ground is so salt that, if left alone, it makes quite a deposit of that mineral. The wild beasts soon find it out, and lick the ground, so as to get the salt. The spaces sometimes cover hundreds of square feet, where the earth has been made as smooth as a planed board by the tongues of the different creatures in their quest for salt.
In some places the salt is so plentiful that the settlers used to gather there and spend days in getting it ready for domestic use. Daniel Boone was once engaged in doing this when he was captured by Indians, and kept a prisoner for a long time.
From some of the salt licks you might have seen the paths of wild beasts radiating outward, until, as the animals fell away from the trails, they were gradually lost in the wilderness.
"We shall be likely to find some game there," was the remark of Jack, after the three had stood several minutes looking down at the ground, where the imprints of hoofs and feet were so numerous that none of them could be identified.
"That's what we have come into the woods for," replied Will, with a laugh.
"Yes, though you know that in Kentucky we are apt to find spots where there are more wild beasts than we can get along with comfortably."