The perils of such a venture, only conjectural to us at this
distance, he knew well; but in him there was nothing that shrank
from danger, though he did not court it after the rash manner of
many of his compeers. Neither reckless nor riotous, Boone was
never found among those who opposed violence to authority, even
unjust authority; nor was he ever guilty of the savagery which
characterized much of the retaliatory warfare of that period when
frenzied white men bettered the red man's instruction. In him,
courage was illumined with tenderness and made equable by
self-control. Yet, though he was no fiery zealot like the
Ulstermen who were to follow him along the path he had made and
who loved and revered him perhaps because he was so different
from themselves, Boone nevertheless had his own religion. It was
a simple faith best summed up perhaps by himself in his old age
when he said that he had been only an instrument in the hand of
God to open the wilderness to settlement.
Two years passed before Boone could muster a company of colonists
for the dangerous and delectable land. The dishonesty practiced
by Lord Granville's agents in the matter of deeds had made it
difficult for Daniel and his friends to dispose of their acreage.
When at last in the spring of 1773 the Wanderer was prepared to
depart, he was again delayed; this time by the arrival of a
little son to whom was given the name of John.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113