Not daring to return home or to linger
in the neighborhood, for fear his crime would be discovered and he
himself arrested and hanged, he plunged into the wilderness and made his
way westward over the mountains, changing his name to Simon Butler.
The two or three years following were spent by him in roaming along the
Ohio valley, sometimes alone, sometimes with two or three companions,
and always surrounded by danger. On one occasion, his camp was surprised
by Indians, and he and his companion were forced to flee for their
lives without weapons of any kind, and with no clothing but their
shirts. For six days and nights, they wandered without fire or food,
suffering from the cold, for it was the dead of winter, and so torn and
lacerated that on the last two days they covered only six miles, most of
it on hands and knees. Staggering and crawling forward, they came out at
last upon the Ohio river, and by good fortune fell in with a
hunting-party and were saved.
Kenton's life was full of just such incidents. Daniel Boone found in him
a most valuable ally, incapable of fear and with a knowledge of
woodcraft surpassed only by Boone himself. Kenton was inside Boone's
fort whenever it was in danger, and on one occasion saved Boone's life.
Let us tell the story, for it is typical of the border warfare in which
both Boone and Kenton were so expert.
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