Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-11-01

the foor, there was the young mother, bear
ing marks Of cruel violence in her gashed
features and disordered dress, and pressing
to her breast the headless trunk Of her infant.
Pale was her countenance and the fixed,
CLASSY stare betokened madness in all its
horrid form.
Say screamed the trapper, rushing to
the side of his demented wife say how =
who has done this |!
Hush 7 replied Minamee DO you rot
see he sleeps 2
God Of heaven p-exclaimed he-'she's
daft-gone wild-mad 7 and scarcely ess
so himself, the strong, bold hunter howled
in his misery.
For days he was unable to learn the par
ticulars of the terrible catastrophe. At
length a change took place in the benitht-
ened reason Of his wife; but, like the re-
naming spark in the charred ember, il was
the last effort Of the mind ere death ex-
plunged its miseries.
1t appeared that at sunset Minamee was
preparing TO set out TO meet her husband,
after rolling her little charge in robe of
buffalo skin, and placing him on his bed of
straw, when the long shadow of a man was
cast suddenly into the entrance, and as
quickly disappeared. The deerhound sprung
from the floor, on which he had been lying,
and, as he eaped to the doorway, followed
by his mistress, the sharp crack OF a rife
was heard aud the noble animal fell dead at
her feet In an instant afterwards the form
of an Indian whom Minamee at once recog-
nized as the foiled assassin at her marriage,
bounded into the cabin, and despite the
mothers furious struggles, cluiched her
child from his little couch, and brandishing
his knife with savage yells, severed the
head from its body.
There, said he, pitching the corpse to-
wards the frantic mother, is my revenge
Blood to the red mans wrong is as water to
fire. am satisfied Farewell = and turn
ing upon his heel, he quilted the spot like
one who had accomplished a noble deed,
with a slow and naughty football.
The hitherto happy aud contented home
of the trapper was now desolated. II was a
long time since tears had fallen from Nick
Wolsey's eyes; but as he watched the sink
ing moments of his dying wife, they chased
each other down his furrowed cheeks in
streams, and showed the hoodgates Of his
heart were open. AS the sun rose, the spir-
it of Minamee fled.
'Revengep exclaimed the trapper, rising
from the side of the dead body of his wife,
over which he had mourned for hours. I'm
have such revenge, that in tale and story
none can equal. I'll be more bloody than
the panther; more cruel than beast or saw
age OF any kind or time. Revengel' con-
tnued he, with a conyusive laugh The
white mans vengeance shall at leas; match
the red
Mounting his small feet horse, caught
| from the wild prairie, the trapper turned his
head towards the west, and driving his heels
into his TANKS, galloped, like one reckless
of life and limb, to the valley of the Mo-
hawk. There, as he anticipated, he found
the tribe from whom his Indian wife had
been chosen. Brief was the horrid tale of
his wrongs, and as brief his demand for JUS
tice.
Give me- said the trspper, the murder
err and let me deal with him as list
The chiefs listened with that seeming APP.
athy with which they listen to every relation
of good or of evil and continued to send
volumes of smoke, curling upwards from
their lips, as they sat in circle about the
fire, without perceptible emotion Of any
kind At length the elder said, after long
silence, My white brother says well. Let
it be so. Deal with him as you list. Here,
take him hence.
The consent obtained, howl Of savage
delight burst from the trapper's breast as he
pounced like CALLED tiger upon his victim.
i You're mine cried he, clutching the re-
morseless wretch by the throat, and lifting
him from the earth in his brawny grasp like
a weak, puny child. You're mine re-
peated he; and as ye gave no mercy, none
shall be given ye
Winding long narrow strips of Unframed
hide round the shoulders, arms, and wrists
of the prisoner, he bound them tight TO his
body, and fixing one end to his rude stirrup,
threw himself upon his horse, to retrace his
steps at a slow and lesnrely pace. The
trapper appeared to select the path with care,
so that the prisoner might not be injured by
brake or briar in the progress.
In silence-without one word being spo-
ken in that long, long night-they contin-
, ued on through waste and wild. The UNI
ruliled Hudson reflected the clear rays OIL
I the moon, bright and onbroken as look
) ing-gass. The refreshing mists rolled along
, the sides of the high lands in graceful folds
: and nothing broke on the ear but the wasl
Of waters and the melancholy note Of The
, whip-poor.wil Just as the first tinge o
] light streaked the east, the trapper arrived
I at the door of his cabin and after securing
: the prisoner, beyond the chance of escape
9 to primeval willow hard by he at once be
gan the task of his unequalled, unheard o
4 revenge. With his Ratchet, he cut long ant
stout branches from the willow and tieint