Then, allowing him to take turns
in riding their horses, they helped him to reach home in safety.
You might think that this bitter experience would have made Robertson
unwilling to risk another journey back through the wilderness. But, as we
have said, he was not easily thwarted, and the thought of what lay beyond
the mountains made him hold the cost light.
He gave such glowing accounts of the wonderful country he had seen that by
spring sixteen families were ready to go with him to make their home
there.
HOW THE BACKWOODSMEN LIVED
Let us in imagination join this group of travellers as it starts out to
cross the mountains. Each family has its pack-horse--perhaps a few
families have two--carrying household goods. These are not so bulky as
ours to-day, for pioneer life is simple, and the people have at most only
what they need. There are, of course, some rolls of bedding and clothing,
a few cooking utensils, a few packages of salt and seed corn, and a flask
or two of medicine. The pack-horse carries also the mother and perhaps a
very small child or two. The boys who are old enough to shoulder rifles
march in front with their father, ready to shoot game for food or to stand
guard against Indians.
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