Produced by David Garcia, Barbara Kosker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) [Illustration: In a twinkling I was by his side, and there saw that which caused the cold chill of fear to run down my back.--Page 40. _Frontis. On the Kentucky Frontier._] ON THE KENTUCKY FRONTIER. A STORY OF THE FIGHTING PIONEERS OF THE WEST. By JAMES OTIS [Illustration] With Six Page Illustrations by J. Watson Davis NEW YORK: A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER. Copyright, 1900, by A. L. BURT. ON THE KENTUCKY FRONTIER. BY JAMES OTIS. PREFACE. "Poor Simon Kenton experienced the bitter effects of wrong, ingratitude, and neglect. On account of some legal matters concerning his lands in Kentucky, he was imprisoned for twelve months upon the very spot where he built his cabin in 1775. In 1802, beggared by lawsuits and losses, he became landless. Yet he never murmured at the ingratitude which pressed him down, and in 1813 the veteran joined the Kentucky troops under Shelby, and was in the battle of the Thames. In 1824, then seventy years old, he journeyed to Frankfort, in tattered garments and upon a miserable horse, to ask the legislature of Kentucky to release the claims of the State upon some of his mountain lands. He was stared at by the boys, and shunned by the citizens, for none knew him. At length General Thomas Fletcher recognized him, gave him a new suit of clothes, and entertained him kindly. When it was known that Simon Kenton was in town, scores flocked to see the old hero. He was taken to the Capitol and seated in the Speaker's chair. His lands were released, and afterward Congress gave him a pension of two hundred and forty dollars a year. He died, at the age of eighty-one years, in 1836, at his residence at the head of Mad River, Logan County, Ohio, in sight of the place where, fifty-eight years before, the Indians were about to put him to death." (Lossing's "Field-Book of the Revolution.") CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. SIMON KENTON 1 II. BESIEGED 24 III. THE VENTURE 45 IV. PAUL SAMPSON 68 V. DOWN THE OHIO 91 VI. ASTRAY 114 VII. THE CAPTIVE SCOUT 131 VIII. AT THE RENDEZVOUS 161 IX. KASKASKIA 184 X. CAHOKIA 208 XI. HOMEWARD BOUND 229 XII. A NOVEL BATTLE 251 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.