He was detained a couple of days by that commonest of frontier mischances, his horses straying; a natural incident when the animals were simply turned loose on the range and looked up when required.

[Footnote: This, like so many other incidents in the every-day history of the old pioneers, is among the ordinary experiences of the present sojourner in the far west.] He travelled in company with a large party of men, women, and children who, disheartened by the Indian ravages, were going back to the settlements.
They marched from fifteen to twenty miles a day, driving beeves along for food.

In addition the scouts at different times killed three buffalo [Footnote: One at Rockcastle River, two at Cumberland Ford.] and a few deer, so that they were not stinted for fresh meat.
When they got out of the wilderness he parted from his companions and rode off alone.

He now stayed at the settler's house that was nearest when night overtook him.

At a large house, such as that of the Campbell's, near Abingdon, he was of course welcomed to the best, and treated with a generous hospitality, for which it would have been an insult to offer money in return.