Soon Chief Blackfish came with over four hundred Shawnees. He called Boone to come outside the fort. Daniel Boone went out bravely.
"Why did you run away?" Chief Blackfish asked Boone.
"I wanted to see my wife and my children," Boone answered.
"You have seen them," the Chief replied. "Now come back with me. You and all your people."
"Give me a little time to think it over," Boone said.
He hoped that help would come from other forts. He waited and waited, but no help came.
"We shall defend the fort as long as a man is living," Boone told the people.
The fight began. The Indians fired at the fort. The white men fired back. Everyone worked hard. The women and the children loaded guns and carried food to the men. The white men were outnumbered, but the Indians did not know this.
The men did not stop fighting for eight days and eight nights. By then everyone was very tired. The Indians had shot flaming torches, and the roofs of the cabins were on fire. Not a drop of water was left in the fort.
"Look! Look!" someone shouted.