When they found Station Camp deserted
and realized that their four companions had given them up for
dead or lost and had set off on the trail for home, even such
intrepid souls as theirs may have felt fear. They raced on in
pursuit and fortunately fell in not only with their party but
with Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, and Alexander Neely, who had
brought in fresh supplies of rifles, ammunition, flour, and
horses.
After this lucky encounter the group separated. Findlay was ill,
and Holden, Mooney, and Cooley had had their fill of Kentucky;
but Squire, Neely, Stewart, and Daniel were ready for more
adventures. Daniel, too, felt under the positive necessity of
putting in another year at hunting and trapping in order to
discharge his debts and provide for his family. Near the mouth of
Red River the new party built their station camp. Here, in idle
hours, Neely read aloud from a copy of "Gulliver's Travels" to
entertain the hunters while they dressed their deerskins or
tinkered their weapons. In honor of the "Lorbrulgrud" of the
book, though with a pronunciation all their own, they christened
the nearest creek; and as "Lulbegrud Creek" it is still known.
Before the end of the winter the two Boones were alone in the
wilderness. Their brother-in-law, Stewart, had disappeared; and
Neely, discouraged by this tragic event, had returned to the
Yadkin.
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