Men and boys alike laughed over their trials, because they felt now all the joy of victory, and their rapid march south amid the glories of spring, unfolding before them, appealed to the instincts of everyone in the band, the same instincts that had brought them from the East into the wilderness.
They were passing through the region that came to be known in later days as the Garden of Kentucky.

Then it was covered with magnificent forest and now they threaded their way through the dense canebrake.

Squirrels chattered in every tree top, deer swarmed in the woods, and the buffalo was to be found in almost every glen.
"I do not wonder," said the thoughtful schoolmaster, "that the Indian should be loath to give up such choice hunting grounds, but, fight as cunningly and bravely as he will, his fate will come." But Henry, with only the thoughts of youth, could not conceive of the time when the vast wilderness should be cut down and the game should go.
He was concerned only with the present and the words of Mr.Pennypacker made upon him but a faint and fleeting impression.
At last on a sunny morning, whole, well fed, with their treasure preserved, and all fresh and courageous, they approached Wareville.

The hearts of Henry and Paul thrilled at the signs of white habitation.

They saw where the ax had bitten through a tree, and they came upon broad trails that could be made only by white men, going to their work, or hunting their cattle.
But it was Paul who showed the most eagerness.