The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna

mes, to rule th

, with all his

louds, and st

ltivated, with a stream uniformly winding through each. Beautiful and thriving villages are found interspersed along the margins of the small lakes, or situated at those points of the streams which are favorable for manufacturing; and neat and comfortable farms, with every indication of wealth about them, are scattered profusely through the vales, and even to the mountain tops. Roads diverge in every direction from the even and graceful bottoms of the valleys to the most rugged and intricate passes of the hills. Academies and minor edifices of learning meet the eye of the stranger at every few miles as be winds his way through this uneven territory, and places for the worship of God abound with that frequency which characterize a moral and reflecting people, and wi

93, about seven years a

those settlements which

the power and conditi

ve al

narrow belt of country, extending for a short distance on either side of the Hudson, with a similar occupation of fifty miles on the banks of the Mohawk, together with the islands of Nassau and Staten, and a few insulated settlements on chosen land along the margins of streams, composed the country, which was then inhabited by less than two hundred t

ow that covered the earth, floated in a sky of the purest blue. The road wound along the brow of a precipice, and on one side was upheld by a foundation of logs piled one upon the other, while a narrow excavation in the mountain in the opposite direction had made a passage of sufficient width for the ordi

ed in every part of the

ocal use in the west o

y the Americans. The la

dge, and a sleigh, the

so subdivided into tw

there are the cutter,

to travel in the side

riven with a pole; an

temporary purposes in

s are elegant though t

ssened with the melio

the clearing o

ns led from the mouths of the horses to the hands of the driver, who was a negro, of apparently twenty years of age. His face, which nature had colored with a glistening black, was now mottled with the cold, and his large shining eyes filled with tears; a tribute to its power that the keen frosts of those regions always extracted from one of his African origin. Still, there was a smiling expression of good-humor in his happy countenance, that was created by the thoughts of home and a Christmas fireside, with its Christmas frolics. The sleigh was one of those large, comfortable, old-fashioned conveyances, which would admit a whole family within its bosom, but which now contained only two passengers besides the driver. The color of its outside was a modest green, and that of its inside a fiery red, The latter was intended to convey the idea of heat in that cold climate. Large buffalo-skins trimmed around the edges with red cloth cut into festoons, covered the back of the sleigh, and were spread over its bottom and drawn up around the feet of the travellers-one of whom was a man of middle age and the other a female just entering upon womanhood. The former was of a large stature; but the precautions he had taken

r bosom, when, four years before, she had reluctantly consented to relinquish the society of her daughter in order that the latter might enjoy the advantages of an education which the city of New York could only offer at that period. A few months afterward death had deprived him of the remaining companion of his solitude; but still h

ty in the ground, or was stopped by a view of the summit of the mountain which lay on the opposite side of the valley to which they were hastening. The dark trunks of the trees rose from the pure white of the snow in regularly formed shafts, until, at a great height, their branches shot forth horizontal limbs, that were

imid glances into the recesses of the forest, when a loud and continued howling was heard, pealing under the long arches of the wo

unds into the hills this clear day, and they have started their game. There is a deer-track a few rods ahead; and

in order to restore the circulation of his fingers, while the speaker stood erect and, throwing aside his

n the light bounding noise of an animal plunging through the woods was heard, and a fine buck darted into the path a short distance ahead of him. The appearance of the animal was sudden, and his flight inconceivably rapid; but the traveller appeared to be too keen a sportsman to be disconcerted by either. As it came first

t still sufficiently distinct to be known as the concussion produced by firearms. At the same instant that she heard this unexpected report, the buck sprang from the snow to a great height in the air, and directly a second discharge, similar in sound to the first, followed, when the animal came to

d the spot where the deer lay-near to which he was followed by the delighted black, with his sleigh; "b

a full-grown buck, with Hector and the slut open upon him within sound, with that pop-gun in your hand! There's plenty of pheasants among the swamps; and the snow-birds are flying round your own door, where you may feed them with

across the bottom of his nose, and again opened

"One barrel was charged with buckshot, but the other was loaded for birds only. Here are two hurts; one through t

him." said the hu

wo rifles fired-besides, who ever saw such a ragged hole from a smooth-bore as this through the neck? And you will own yourself, Judge, that the buck fell at the last shot, which was sent from a truer and a younger hand than your'n or mine either; b

e of his speech; yet he thought it prudent to utter the close of the sentence in s

e venison; but what will requite me for the lost honor of a buck's tail in my cap? Think, Natty, how I should triumph over that quizz

d only to watch a-nights, and he could shoot one by moonlight, through the cracks of the logs, no fear of his oversleeping himself neither, for the howling of the wolves was sartin to keep his eyes open. There's old Hector"-patting with affection a tall hound of black and yellow spots, with white belly and legs, that

cold and exposure had, together, given it a color of uniform red. His gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy brows, that over hung them in long hairs of gray mingled with their natural hue; his scraggy neck was bare, and burnt to the same tint with his face; though a small part of a shirt-collar, made of the country check, was to be seen above the overdress he wore. A kind of coat, made of dressed deer-skin, with the hair on, was belted close to his lank body by a girdle of colored worsted. On his feet were deer-skin moccasins, ornamented with porcupines' quills, after the manner of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long leggings of the same material as the moccasi

s during these movements, and now, without heeding

rely if the hit in the neck be mine it is enough; for the shot in the hear

h he took a small piece of greased leather and, wrapping a bail in it, forced them down by main strength on the powder, where he continued to pound them while speakin

ly to Natty's companion; "shall we toss up this dollar for the h

man, with a little haughtiness, as he leaned

he bench. There is Aggy, he can't vote, being a slave; and Bess is a minor-so I must even make the best

f his companion's hauteur; "for my part, I have known animals travel days with

returned the Judge with unconquerable good-nature; "but what

said the youth firmly but respect fully, and with a pronunciation and languag

le struck with the other's manner; "are

which he had appeared, "you know, sir, you fired in th

s in the bark of the pine, and, s

against yourself, my young

coat that he wore, and exhibiting a hole in his under-

ring from my hands without a murmur? But hasten-quick-get into my sleigh-it is but a mile to the village, where surgical aid can

be uneasy were he to hear that I am hurt and away from him. The injury is but slight, and the

in my woods, forever. Leather-Stocking is the only other man that I have granted the same privilege to; and the time

nto an air of pride during this dialogue, bu

"But if there's a law about it at all, though who ever heard of a law that a man shouldn't kill deer where he pleased!-but if there is a law at all, it sho

tty, the youth bowed his head silently t

have need of

"take it, I entreat you;" and, lowering his voice t

even through the high color that the cold had given to his cheeks, as

the cold air, she threw back the hood which conceale

ve him think that he leaves a fellow-creature in this wilderness whom his o

ensibly softened by this appeal, and he stood in apparent doubt, as if reluctant to comply with and yet unwilling to refuse her request. The Judge, for such being his office must in future be his title, wat

as if engaged in sagacious musing; when, having apparently satisfied his doubts, by revolving the subject in his mind, he broke silence. "It may be best to go, lad, after all; for, if the shot hangs under the skin, my hand is getting too old to be cutting into human flesh, as I once used to, Though some thirty years agone, in the old war, when I was out under Sir William, I travelled seventy miles alone in the howling wilderness, with a rifle bullet in my thigh, and then cut it out with my own jack-knife. Old Indian John knows the time well. I met him with a party of the Delawares, on the trail of the Iroquois, who had been down and taken five scalps on the Schoharie. But I made a mark on the red-skin that I'll warrant he'll carry t

ggage to hear him. Unable to resist the kind urgency of the travellers any longer, the youth, though still with an unaccountable reluctance, suffered himself to be persuaded t

heal the wound quicker than all his foreign 'intments." He turned, and was about to move off, when, suddenly recollecting himself, he again faced the party, and added: "If you see anything of Indian John, about the foot

prepared to urge his horses forward; "Natty-you need say nothing of

sn't lived fifty years in the wilderness, and not larnt from the savage

by the arm. "I will just get the shot extracted, and bring y

the straight trunk of the tree. The eyes of the group in the sleigh naturally preceded the movement of the rifle, and they soon discovered the object of Natty's aim. On a small dead branch of the pine, which, at the distance of seventy feet from the ground, shot out horizontally, immediately beneath the living members of the tree, sat a bird, that in the vulgar language of the country was indiscriminately called a pheasant or a partridge. In size, it w

better than all the foreign 'intments. Here, Judge," holding up the bird again, "do you think a smooth-bore would pick game off their roost, and not ruffle a feather?" The old man gave another of his remarkable laughs, which partook so largely of exultation, mirth, and irony, and, shaking his head, he turned, with his rifle at a trail, and moved into the forest with steps that were between a walk and a trot. At each movement he made his body lowered several inches,