"'Tis a long journey down into Caroliny," said Dan's father. "If'n ye go with me, thar must be no laggin.'"

"I'll not lag," Dan answered eagerly.

Why, this was the chance of a lifetime! Ever since he could remember he had been wanting to explore farther and farther beyond the narrow country where they lived. But his mother had objected. "That wilderness land is no place to take a wee lad!"

"Wee lad!" the Squire had scoffed. "Tush! Can't ye see he's night growed? 'Tis time he traveled a spell from home to git the feel of his man's legs. I own a smart piece o' land in Caroliny, an' it'll take two to scout it out an' tell whether 'tis fit for us to move there." So Daniel Boone and his father, squire Boone, made a long trek from Pennsylvania down to the Carolinas.

This is a story of the days when the Alleghenies were still wild and unexplored, when the sound of the word "Iroquois" sent a shudder up a colonist's spine, and the French lurked in the backwoods, a constant threat to the English colonies along the coast.

This wilderness country had a hostile air; the very trees seemed to have watchful eyes. "Thar's Injins about," said the Squire. There were—a band of six young Cherokees, and Dan met them after he had met a white man, a personable young fellow by the name of George Washington who was surveying the wilderness country for Lord Fair Fairfax.

Into this thrilling tale are jammed the events in the early life of Daniel Boone of which historians know little. Alexander Key has deftly recreated the atmosphere of colonial America and the character of one of America's greatest heroes. Added to this, he has drawn 52 beautiful illustrations which are printed in green ink, together with the jacket and frontispiece in full color.

From the dust jacket