On the twentieth day of August the discomfited chiefs, Blackfish and De Quindre, withdrew their forces and took the route to the Indian country. They left with a very wholesome opinion of the prowess of the backwoodsmen, and of the people of Boonesborough in particular. In fact, that place was never again directly attacked by the Indians, who seemed to accept the idea that it was impregnable. The settlers were now justified in the belief that they would be left in peace for some months at least. Small bodies of marauding redskins might molest isolated individuals and families, but after such a crushing defeat as they had experienced the chiefs would not be willing to plant the war-post again for some time. Gladly the backwoodsmen, who detested confinement, went out to their clearings. There they found things in a sorry state. The Indians had burned the cabins, killed the cattle, and destroyed the growing crops. But these incidents the hardy frontiersmen accepted as part of the necessary conditions of their adventurous lives, and they set cheerfully about repairing the damage. Shortly after the siege the trial by court-martial, from which Boone emerged so triumphantly, took place. At its conclusion he set out alone upon the long journey to the Yadkin, with a view to bringing his family back to Kentucky. We may imagine the joy of the wife and children upon being reunited to the beloved one whom they had mourned as dead. XIV. KENTON’S STORY Simon Kenton’s boyhood--His fight for a sweetheart--His defeat and his victory--Flight into the wilderness--Three adventures in Kentucky--Attack by the Indians and the death of Strader--A terrible journey and a timely rescue--Kenton is captured by the Indians--He is tortured and made to run the gauntlet--He is sentenced to be burned at the stake--Girty saves his old comrade’s life--Kenton is sent to Logan’s village and befriended by the great chief--Again he is doomed to death by torture--And finds a new friend in a British agent--He goes to Detroit a prisoner of war--Escapes with the aid of a trader’s wife--And at last finds himself safe in Kentucky.