Finding the Trail

At that moment Colonel Boone was in the forest, and nearly an hour passed before he came back; but the time was not wasted, because it would have been of little avail to set off in the night, and no one in the stockade would have thought of going on such an errand without Jemima's father to lead the way.

Immediately after Colonel Boone came back he called upon Samuel Henderson to lead him to the place where the canoe had been seen, and, taking with him four or five pine knots that he might examine the trail by aid of a light, he with a number of the men went away, leaving us women and children stupefied with fear and grief.

When Colonel Boone came back, he said that a small party of Shawnees had done the cruel deed; he could say to what tribe they belonged by the marks left by their moccasins, for he was indeed a skillful woodsman. At once everybody was astir, making ready for the men to set off in pursuit.

Not even Samuel Henderson dared ask Colonel Boone if he believed it possible to rescue the girls. I never saw Jemima's father look so enraged as he did then. His lips were closed tightly; his nostrils expanded and closed, as do those of a horse who has run a long race, while he seemed trying to shun all our company, except his wife, whose arm he gripped from time to time.