The Indians
compelled the two white men to show them the location of their
camp, took possession of all it contained in skins and furs and
also helped themselves to the horses. They left the explorers
with just enough meat and ammunition to provide for their journey
homeward, and told them to depart and not to intrude again on the
red men's hunting grounds. Having given this pointed warning, the
Shawanoes rode on northward towards their towns beyond the Ohio.
On foot, swiftly and craftily, Boone and his brother-in-law
trailed the band for two days. They came upon the camp in dead of
night, recaptured their horses, and fled. But this was a game in
which the Indians themselves excelled, and at this date the
Shawanoes had an advantage over Boone in their thorough knowledge
of the territory; so that within fortyeight hours the white men
were once more prisoners. After they had amused themselves by
making Boone caper about with a horse bell on his neck, while
they jeered at him in broken English, "Steal horse, eh?" the
Shawanoes turned north again, this time taking the two
unfortunate hunters with them. Boone and Stewart escaped, one day
on the march, by a plunge into the thick tall canebrake. Though
the Indians did not attempt to follow them through the mazes of
the cane, the situation of the two hunters, without weapons or
food, was serious enough.
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