The men march ahead
or alongside, keeping a keen eye open for Indian or other enemy
in the wild, their rifles under arm or over the shoulder. Squire
Boone, who has done with Quakerdom and is leading all that he
holds dear out to larger horizons, is ahead of the line, as we
picture him, ready to meet first whatever danger may assail his
tribe. He is a strong wiry man of rather small stature, with
ruddy complexion, red hair, and gray eyes. Somewhere in the line,
together, we think, are the mother and son who have herded cattle
and companioned each other through long months in the cabin on
the frontier. We do not think of this woman as riding in the
wagon, though she may have done so, but prefer to picture her,
with her tall robust body, her black hair, and her black
eyes--with the sudden Welsh snap in them--walking as sturdily as
any of her sons.
If Daniel be beside her, what does she see when she looks at him?
A lad well set up but not overtall for his sixteen years,
perhaps--for "eye-witnesses" differ in their estimates of Daniel
Boone's height--or possibly taller than he looks, because his
figure has the forest hunter's natural slant forward and the
droop of the neck of one who must watch his path sometimes in
order to tread silently. It is Squire Boone's blood which shows
in his ruddy face--which would be fair but for its tan--and in
the English cut of feature, the straw-colored eyebrows, and the
blue eyes.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47