Their suspense was short. The Indians approached, till within a short distance; they then halted, took deliberate aim, fired upon the logs, and rushed forward with scalping knife, to take the scalps of the dead. As soon as they were collected in a close body, more effectually to execute their horrid intentions, the party of the sergeant, with unerring aim, discharged their muskets upon the savages; not one of whom escaped destruction. [Illustration: 0260] [Illustration: 0261] ADVENTURES OF DANIEL BOONE, COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF THE WARS WITH THE INDIANS ON THE OHIO, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. [Illustration: 9261] T was on the first of May, 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness, and left my family and peaceful habitation on the Yadkin river, in North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country of Kentucky, in company with John Finley, John Stuart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool. On the 7th of June, after travelling in a western direction, we found ourselves on Red River, where John Finley, had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from the top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucky. For some time we had experienced the most uncomfortable weather. We now encamped, made a shelter to defend us from the inclement season, and began to hunt and reconnoitre the country. We found abundance of beasts in this vast forest. The buffaloes were more numerous than cattle on their settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on these extensive plains. We saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers around the salt springs were amazing. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every American kind, we hunted with great success until December. [Illustration: 0263] On the 22d of December, John Stuart and I had a pleasing ramble; but fortune changed the day at the close of it. We passed through a great forest, in which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, others rich with fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully colored, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavored; and we were favored with numberless animals presenting themselves perpetually to our view. In the decline of the day, near Kentucky river, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number of Indians rushed out of a cane brake and made us prisoners. The Indians plundered us and kept us in confinement seven days. During this time we discovered no uneasiness or desire to escape, which made them less suspicious; but in the dead of night, as we lay by a large fire in a thick cane brake, when sleep had locked up their senses, my situation not disposing me to rest, I gently awoke my companion. We seized this favorable opportunity and departed; directing our course towards the old camp, but we found it plundered and our company destroyed or dispersed.