The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1853-10-22
TIE MYSTERIOUS HUNTSMAN,
4 TlII XiINOi,
CHAPTER |.

tilAPl ER |.
To him who has been pent up in the walls
of city during portion of his life. or to
him who has sailed for months upon the ocean
without bcholding land. there can be no sight
more beautiful. more refreshing. than the
prairie, between the months of May and Oc-
tohcr
We speak not otthc prairie which has been
described as low monotonous. and capable
of giving root and nourl>hment to naught but
tall coarse grass, but of the prairie as it real
" exists broad, fertile undulatng. covered
with a robe of the richest green, and orna-
mcntcd with a variety of the lovelest wild
tlowcr>-in short, of the prairie which the
first OF American poets has so beautifully de-
scribed, and which we have wandered over
in person, day after dav. with no companion
save our dog and gun.
Within few wears the population of the
praric> OF Illinois has increased with aston
i>hng rapidtv. The banks of all the princi-
pal rivers, which are borlcred for the most
part with thickctS and heavy oak trees, are
now inhabited bv cmi"rantS from almost eve
" portion of the world The timber is fall
en-, the deer is hunted from his native home.
and on the broad praireS which extend from
stream to stream. houses, barns, and fields of
grain appear.
| pom the banks of the Re,l,re 4es P1aincS.
several miles south of the famous Mount .Ju-
litt, which Schoolcratt has so ably described
there dwct, not many years AGO. a family
which had rmigratcd from Vermont. The
population at that time was somewhat thin
hood in which this ta-.lv resided, boaSted of
many respectable cmigrants from the Eastern
tcemcd than the family in question, and sure
" none possessed a finer locality or richer
lands. In short. Mr.. Austin was an ndu>tri-
Gus, cnterpri>n@ and benevolent man: his
wife. fit companion for such an individual
and the fair Ellen the worthy otf>princ of
an upright father, and once beautiful and
still good-ookin4 mother.
Besides Ellen, who was sixteen wears of
are Mr. Austin had another child-a son-
who had remained at the East to finish hi.
n.It, l.,
pens, was daily expected by his parents in
the West. This Young man was of a fer,
disposition. talented. but >clt-C onccitcd. head
strong. and above all, bitterly satrca
Not far from the residence of Mr.. Austin
which, aS We have said, was on the banks of
the DcS PLANES, there lived a vounr man of
an eccentric disposition about whose cyis
t"nrc sort of mystery hung. He was a
bout twenty-five wears of are, tall well made
dark complcXiOned, and possessed of mos
striking and expressive rountcnancc. which
If not handsome. was at least Identified anl
manncrIv. He lived alone upon the edg
of III" prairie. dividing his time between hunt
in". fishing and cuItivating small tract of
land which he had rurrhn>"d He was atIa
bic TO all: but there was only one hrin,
whose society he courtrd: and that one wa
Ellen Austin. In fact matters had been car
rlrd 50 far that it was rumorcd that Clintor
Grover and Ellen Austin were soon to b
united by bands which death alone can sever
1t is needless to say that Ellcn's companion
cautioned her against encouraging the ad
dresses of one she scarcely knew, and VIII
was apparently poor and tricndlcss. ITowey
er. there was something in Clinton's appear
ancc that dispeled all her doubts, and wo
her heart in spite of his poverty and myste
rious course of life.