Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1849-01-05
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From. Holden'S Magazine.
The Mysterious EGunesman.
A TALE OF ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER |.

THE FAMILY OF THE RIVER DIES PLANES.
TO him who has been pent up In the walls
of CITY during a portion of his life, or to hum
who has sailed for months upon the ocean
without beholding land, there can be no sight
more beautiful, more refreshing, than the pral-
RE between the months of May and October.
We speak not of the prairie which has been
described as low, monotonous, and capaoie OF
giving root and nourishment to naught put
tall grass, but OF the prairie as IL redily
exists-broad, fertile, undulating, covered
with robe of the richest green, and ornamen-
ted with a variety of the loveliest wild flowers
in short, of the prairie which the first OF
American poets has SO beautifully described,
and which we have wandered over In person
| day after day with no companion save our dog
Nm gun.
Within few years the population OF the
prairies Of Illinois. has increased with aston
fishing rapidity. The banks of all the prlncI-
pal rivers, which are bordered for the most
part with thickets and heavy oak trees, are
now inhabited by emigrantS from almost eve
~ portion of the world. The timber is fallen,
the deer is hunted from his native home, and
on the broad prairies which extend from stream
10 stream, houses, barns, and fields of grain
appear.
Upon the banks of the ReUiere des PLANES,
several miles south of the famous Mount Jul
liet, which Schoolcraft has SO ably described,
there dwelt, not many years ago, a family
which had emigrated from Vermont The
population at that time was somewhat thinner
than at present. but still the nelghborhood IN
which this family resided, boosted OF many
respectable emigrants from the Eastern States.
OF these, none were more highly esteemed
than tie family In question, and surely none
possessed finer locality, or richer lands. In
short, Mr. Austin was an industrious, enter
priSing, and benevolent man; his wife, III
companion for such an individual, and the fair
ELLEN, the worthy offspring of an upright ia
cher and once be autiful and still cookbook
ING mother
Besides Ellen, who was sixteen years OF
age Mr.. Austin had another child-a SON
who had remained at the east to finish his ed
ncation, and who, at the time our story opens
was daily expected by his parents in the west
This Young man was of fiery disposition,
talented, but self-conceited, head-strong, and
above all, bitterly satIrlcal.
Not far from the residence of MIR. Austin
which. as we have said, was on the banks o
the Des PLANES, there lived young man o
aneccentric disposition, about whose existence
sort of mystery hung. He was about TWEEN
ty-6ve years of age, tall, well-made, dark com
plexioned, and possessed of a most striking
; and expressive countenance, which, III no
handsome, was at least dignihed and manly
lie lived alone upon the edge of the praire
dividing his time between hunting. fishing
and cultivating small tract of land which h
! had purchased. He was atfabe TO all (; bu
GAaere was olly one being whose society n
courted and that one vas Ellen Austin j
fact, matters had been carried - far, that J