Whether his supposition was true or not, and Henry thought it likely to be true, the Barrens were covered with buffalo, elk and deer.
In fact they saw buffalo in comparatively large numbers for the first time, and once they looked upon a herd of more than a hundred, grazing in the rich and open meadows.

Panthers attracted by the quantity of game upon which they could prey screamed horribly at night, but the flaming camp fires of the travelers were sufficient to scare them away.
All these things, the former salt-makers, and powder-makers that hoped to be, saw only in passing.

They knew the value of time and they hastened on to the region of great caves, guided this time by one of their hunters, Jim Hart, although Ross as usual was in supreme command.
But Hart had spent some months hunting in the great cave region and his report was full of wonders.
"I think there are caves all over, or rather, under this country that the Indians call Kaintuckee," he said, "but down in this part of it they're the biggest." "You are right about Kentucky being a cave region," said the schoolmaster, "I think most of it is underlaid with rock, anywhere from five thousand to ten thousand feet thick, and in the course of ages, through geological decay or some kindred cause, it has become crisscrossed with holes like a great honeycomb." "I'm pretty sure about the caves," said Ross, "but what I want to know is about this peter dirt." "We'll find it and plenty of it," replied the master confidently.

"That sample was full of niter, and when we leach it in our tubs we shall have the genuine saltpeter, explosive dust, if you choose to call it, that is the solution of gunpowder." "Which we can't do without," said Henry.
They passed out of the Barrens, and entered a region of high, rough hills, and narrow little valleys.

Hills and valleys alike were densely clothed with forest.
Hart pointed to several, large holes in the sides of the hills, always at or near the base and said they were the mouths of caves.
"But the big one, in which I got the peter dirt is farther on," he said.
They came to the place he had in mind, just as the twilight was falling, a hole, a full man's height at the bottom of a narrow valley, but leading directly into the side of the circling hill that inclosed the bowl-like depression.