"You well remember also what occurred on the 10th of October, when our company was attacked by the Indians, how I lost my boy, and how we all journeyed back to the settlement on the Clinch River."
"And now?" queried Peleg.
"And now," answered Daniel Boone, "you and I are to journey to the Falls of the Ohio. Our surveyors there are in great peril from the Indians. We shall, without doubt, find ourselves often in danger, and I am selecting you to accompany me because already I have found that I could rely upon you. You have been quick to learn what I have taught you, and I do not believe you will easily be taken unawares, because you have already learned how to prepare yourself for any event. Any one who has not learned that lesson can never become a successful man, to say nothing of succeeding as a scout."
CHAPTER VIII
PELEG'S ENCOUNTER
The following morning dawned clear and warm, and as no signs of Indians had been seen the two scouts renewed their journey with lighter hearts. At least a part of Peleg's fear was gone, though it was impossible for him to determine by anything his companion said whether or not he shared his feeling.
Without an open declaration of war, the Shawnees, Wyandottes, Cherokees, and Delawares were working more or less together at this time and were untiring in their determination to prevent the whites from entering and establishing homes in the region which the Indians believed was entirely their own.
The second day passed, and the progress of the two scouts was unbroken. Still Daniel Boone was using great caution, forbidding the discharge of guns except when food was required, and insisting upon the fire being extinguished as soon as the meals had been prepared.