2   THE BoY HUNTERS OF KENTUCKY



wilderness south of the Ohio, and spent
many months there before the Revolution
broke out. The emigrants began flocking
thither as soon as it became known that the
soil of Kentucky was rich, and that the woods
abounded with game.
  Among those who went thither, towards the
close of the last century, were Thomas Gedney
and his wife Abigail. With a dozen other
families, they floated down the Ohio in a flat
boat, until a short distance below the mouth
of the Licking, when they landed, and, taking
the boat apart, used the material in building
their cablins.
  It happened at that period that there was
less trouble than usual -,.th the red men.
Some of the settlers believed that the Indians,
finding themselves unable to stay the tide of
immigration that was pouring over the west,
would move deeper into the solitudes which
stretched beyond the Mississippi. Instead of
putting up their cabins close together, a part
of the pioneers pushed farther into the woods,
and began their houses where they found Let-
ter sites. Most of them were near natural
"clearings," where the fertile soil was easily
made ready for the corn and vegetables,
without the hard work of cutting down the
tree3s and clearing out the stumps.