SCHOOLMASTER HARGRAVE
Before breakfast had been prepared Peleg was aware of a certain partly suppressed excitement among the members of the band. The women, with tears in their eyes and with their children clinging to their skirts, frequently had been in conference with Daniel Boone or with other men of the party.
It was therefore not without some previous intimation that Peleg heard the scout summon the men to a new conference.
As soon as they were assembled Boone said, "It will not be possible for us to proceed at this time."
"Why not?" demanded Sam Oliver.
"The women are terror-stricken. I myself had not thought that we should so soon be attacked by the savages. I have reason to remember our stay on Cumberland Mountain——" For a moment the scout was silent, and an expression of sympathy ran through the entire assembly. Once more in control of his feelings, Boone continued: "It is not for myself, as you know, that I am asking this return. It is useless, however, now to go on with such fear among our womenfolk, and the redskins opposing us more strongly the farther we go into Kantuckee."
"Where can we go?" inquired one of the assembly.
"I have decided that our best plan is to return to the settlement on the Clinch River."
"How far is that from here?" asked the inquirer.
"About forty miles."