_After Examination Henderson is licensed to practise Law.--Defeat of the Shawnees by the Virginians who claimed the Land south of the Ohio.--The Attention of Settlers directed to the Land beyond the Alleghanies.--Henderson resolves to form a Transylvania Company and colonize Ken-ta-kee.--Buys from the Cherokees twenty million Acres for ten thousand Pounds Sterling, March, 1775.--Bands of Earlier Kentucky Settlers, fleeing from the Indians, meet Henderson's Colonists.--His Advance, led by Daniel Boone, attacked by Indians.--Henderson appeals in vain to the Fugitives to return with him.--Arrival of the Colonists at the Site of Boonesborough.--Henderson's Anxiety regarding Virginia's Attitude toward his Purchase.--The Governor of Virginia sends a Force which overthrows the Colony.--Actual Settlers on the Purchase permitted to remain in Title.--Grants of Land made to the Company by Virginia and North Carolina in Return for their Outlay.--The Moral Effect of this Proof that the West could be successfully colonized._ RICHARD HENDERSON: THE FOUNDER OF TRANSYLVANIA [Illustration] IN early days in North Carolina, the young man who desired to practise law was compelled to get a certificate from the Chief Justice of the colony and to present this to the Governor; the latter examined the candidate, and, becoming satisfied as to his attainments, granted him a license. Almost a century and a half ago a youth presented himself to the Governor of that colony with the proper credentials and asked that he be examined for admission to the bar. His name, he affirmed, was Richard Henderson. His father, Samuel Henderson, had moved from Virginia in 1745, Richard's tenth year, and was now Sheriff of Granville County. Richard had assisted his father "in the business of the sherifftry," and, with a few books, had picked up his knowledge of law. All this the Governor of North Carolina learned with indifference, we can imagine, as he looked the broad-shouldered lad up and down. It may be that North Carolina had now a surplus of pettifoggers; at any rate the Governor was not granting licenses with a free hand to-day. The youth was not voluble, though his firm square jaw denoted both sturdiness and determination; perhaps he was somewhat abashed, as he well may have been, in the presence of the chief executive of the colony. "How long have you read law?" asked the Governor. "A twelve-month," answered the lad. "And what books have you read?" We can fancy there was the tinge of a sneer in these words. Henderson named his books. If the sneer was hidden until now, it instantly appeared as the young applicant was bluntly told that it was nonsense for him to appear for an examination after such a short period of study of such a limited number of books.