CHAPTER II.
_A shooting-match and its consequences_--_New friends introduced to the reader_--_Crusoe and his mother change masters_.
Shortly after the incident narrated in the last chapter the squatters of the Mustang Valley lost their leader.

Major Hope suddenly announced his intention of quitting the settlement and returning to the civilized world.

Private matters, he said, required his presence there--matters which he did not choose to speak of, but which would prevent his returning again to reside among them.

Go he must, and, being a man of determination, go he did; but before going he distributed all his goods and chattels among the settlers.

He even gave away his rifle, and Fan and Crusoe.