The Prairie

clawing one another;

e varlet, Diomed, has

sh young knav

s and C

n and party-coloured livery of the fall.[*] The heavens were clothed in driving clouds, piled in vast masses one above the other, which whirled violently in the gusts; opening, occasionally, to admit transient glimpses of the bright and glorious sight of the heavens, dwelling in a magnificence by far too grand and durable to be disturbed by the fitful efforts of the lower world. Beneath, the wind swept across the wild

the autumn the "fall,

e

e on the margin of a little watercourse, which found its way, after winding a vast distance through the plains, into one of the numerous tributaries of the Father of Rivers. A swale of low land lay near the base of the eminence; and as it was still fringed with a thicket of ald

easier of approach than the general face of the eminence; and a little dwelling of cloth, perched on the apex of a small pyramid, that shot up on one angle of the rock, the white covering of which glimmered from a distance like a spot of snow, or, to make the simile more suitable to the rest of the subjec

base of the rocks, leaning on his rifle, and regarding the sterile soil that sup

d to become ruminators, instead of people used to the fare of Christians and free men. I reckon, Abiram, you coul

ed but little the forced humour of his kinsman; "and it is

edible efforts on emergencies, but who too seldom exerted continued industry, on any occasion, to brook a proposal that offered so little repose. "It may d

ntation, then, you have

u know I'm a man that very seldom enters into a bargain, but who always fulfils his agreements better than your dealers in wordy contrac

he look was understood and answered by the other; and by some secret influence, which operated either through their interests or fe

ve done, unless we thoroughly finish what is so well begun. Ay, that is the doctrine of the whole world, I judge: I heard a travelling preacher, who was skirting it down the Ohio, a time since, say, if a man should live up to the faith

eved the hung

lieving to tell what a roguish-And yet, Ishmael, the man might have been honest after all! He told us that the world was, in truth, no better than a desert, and

devil an hour? Harkee, friend; I'm not much of a husband-man, but this I know to my cost; that to make a right good crop, even on the richest bottom, there must be hard labour; and your snufflers liken the

gs, but as the furtive look quailed, immediately, before the unmoved, steady, countenance of the squatter,

erted on similar occasions, to leave him in any doubt of its extent, Ishmael c

scheme to make myself as good as before, by taking hoof for hoof; or for that matter, when a man is put to the

umour of the moment, four or five of his lounging sons, who had been leaning agains

to be seen," observed the eldest of the young men; "and she shakes her head, for an answer. Ellen is s

the side of the little tent, and at least two hundred feet above the level of the plain. Little else was to be distinguished, at that distance, but the outline of her f

ice a little above the rushing of the element. "Have you g

all stature admitted, seeming still to regard the unknown object; but her vo

shmael. "Why, Nell, girl, ar' ye deaf? Nell, I say;-I hope it is an army of red-skins she has in her eye;

confident sons while speaking, he drew their gaze from Ellen to himself; but now, when they turned together to note

ly one of the most phlegmatic of the you

, flaxen hair, and glowing cheeks of Ellen, had not been lost on the dull natures of the young men; and looks of amazement

slivered stone, and I have been thinking of tel

corner of the hill below?" cried Ishmael; "ha! who

and to relieve more than one sluggish nature from its unwonted excitement. As Ellen issued from beneath the folds of the tent, she advanced with a lig

"The girl is dreaming with her eyes open; and thinks she sees some of the

yes quickly upward again, where they were turned just in time to perceive that the cloth of the tent was agitated by a motion very evidently different from the

in is not lifted, I can see no b

oice that might easily have been heard by Ellen, had not her attention still cont

g down punishment on your own head? Why, Nell!-she has forgotten he

f remonstrance, it had sent forth its contents, in its usual streak of bright flame. Ellen started like the frightened chamois, and uttering a pier

his sons manifested, in an unequivocal manner, the temper with which they witnessed the desperate measure. A

rit, which was the more striking from being unusual, "that sh

nce in his eye that showed how little he was moved by the ill-concealed humour of h

t treatment in a man, tha

often boasted; but remember I a

l; and what so

he Siouxes. Be modest in speech, my watchful son, or you may have to

as if you knew of none, and yet you keep me down, as though I had not life and wa

Go; you have title deeds signed and sealed to your hand. Few fathers portion their children bette

ce, seizing with avidity, an opportunity to interrup

ounded hollow and warning; "if you have tim

eep resentment upward; but which, the instant it caught a view of the object that now attract

acker and more shining than her robe, fell at times about her shoulders, completely enveloping the whole of her delicate bust in their ringlets; or at others streaming in the wind. The elevation at which she stood prevented a close examination of the lineaments of a countenance which, however, it might be seen was youthful, and, at the moment of her unlooked-for appearanc

felt on account of her companion, to remain concealed and to advance. She spoke, but her words were unheard by those below, and unheeded by her to whom they were addressed. The latter, however, as if content with the offer she had made of herself as a victim to the resentm

t to them, at least, the appearance of this extraordinary tenant of the pavilion was as unexpected as it was incomprehensible. At length Asa, in right of his years, and moved by the rankling impulse of the recent quarrel, took on himself the of

hen any thing worse may answer, but I never knew you to outdo yourself so thoroughly before. The newspapers of Kentuck have

Look to your own family, boy; look to yourselves. The very stumps of Kentucky and Tennessee cry out ag'in ye! Ay, my tonguey gentleman, I have seen father and mot

mouth, that caused him to totter, and which left the impre

ty with which the hand of Nature seems to have invested the pa

his tongue a wiser language, he had better part with it altogether, as the unruly member. I'm no

ice shall be done; it is enough. But you have said hard things ag'in me and my family. If the hounds of the law have put their bills on the trees and stumps of the clearings, it was for no act of dishonesty as you know, but because we maintain the rule that 'arth is common property. No, Abiram; could I wash my hands of things done by

ne whose passions were too sluggish to be long maintained at the point of ferocity. Not so with Abiram. While there was an appearance of a personal conflict, between him and his colossal nephew, his mien had expressed the infallible evidences of engrossing apprehension, but now, that the authority as well as gigantic strength of the father were interposed between him and his assailant, his countenance

recollection of her existence appeared to have vanished. A few ominous and secret conferences, it is true, were held apart, during which the direction of the eyes of the different

Ishmael shortly after, advancing towards them with a mien which he inte

n; the day is too good to be lost in words, like women i

ent might be made through a narrow cleft, which he had taken the precaution to fortify with a breast-work of cottonwood logs, and which, in its turn, was defended by a chevaux-de-frise of the branches of the same tree. Here an armed man was usually k

and such as belonged to the infancy of architecture; being simply formed of logs, bark, and poles. The area on which they stood contained several hundred square feet, and was sufficiently elevated above the plain greatly to lessen if not to remove all danger from Indian missiles. Here Ishmael believed he might leave his infants in comparative security, under the protecti

band. "My word! if I haven't to count the young ones every ten minutes, to see they are not flying away among the buzzards, or the ducks. Why do ye all keep hovering round the roc

olerance rather than of affection. "But the birds you shall have, if your own tongue don't frighten them to take too high a flight. Ay, woman," he continued, standing on t

ang out the cloth, if any of the red-skins show themselves, in time to give you notice. But, Ishmael, what have y

en the hawk you see s

at the beaver, my good man, and learn to be a provider. Why, Ishmael! I believe my soul," she continued, dropping the tow she w

rmer descended to the place where Esther had resumed her employment, she was content

brief and sullen in her answers, but care for her family soon rendered her more complaisant. As the purport of the conversation was merel

to the field. He warily included Asa and Abiram in his own party, well knowing that no authority short of his own was competent to repress the fierce disposition of his headlong son, if fai