The sky had been dark all day. Now it was starting to rain. It rained and it poured. The rain came down and put out the fires. It filled the tubs and pails with water to drink. Everyone felt hopeful again.
When morning came, no Indians were in sight. Every single one of them was gone. They had disappeared into the forest. The fort was saved.
Daniel Boone's Reward
The Indian raids kept on all over Kentucky. When the American Revolution ended, the British stopped helping the Indians fight the settlers. Some tribes kept on fighting on their own, but finally the settlers defeated the Indians and forced them to sign a treaty. Things slowly became more peaceful.
More and more settlers came west. They came over the Wilderness Road that Boone and his men had made. They came down the Ohio River in big flatboats. These settlers killed game in the forest. They cleared land, grew crops, built houses, and started towns.
Daniel Boone was fifty years old now. One day he discovered that he did not own any of the land he had thought was his.
"This does not seem right," he said. "I was one of the first to come to Kentucky. My life was hard. I risked it for the people many times."
It was not right, but it was true. Boone had been too busy hunting and trapping to put his claims on paper.
Boone lost almost all his land. He tried to farm, but he was not a good farmer. He tried to keep a store, but his heart was not in it. His good wife, Rebecca, often took his place in the store, while Daniel worked as a guide showing new settlers the way down the Ohio River. And he held some jobs with the new government.