Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1853-02-03

watched and sought Tor him day and night
They call him the Black Wolf of the Prairie.
You have heard of him before but when we
meet-you will not hear Of him again =
The hunter clenched his rifle fercely. and
was silent. His companion sat mute and mo-
tionless.
cTAPTER Nv.
The boy had not sat thus many minutes.
however, listening 10 she low hard brea,hinos
Of his excited frielsA, when his attention was
arrested by the sight of familiar object float
ing upon the river. 1t was The large boat be-
longing TO the station, and rowed by an old
faithful negro. The futterng Of female
dress In the stern of the boat, revealed the
presence of his sister and his betro.hed. Thew
had come out to meet him on his return from
the chase. Jumping from the grass to hail
them, his steps were arrested by an occurrence
which struck him at once with terror and
amazement. The river bank, far below him,
was lined with thicket of young trees, matted
together by a luxuriant growth of vines and
creepers of every description. From the
thicket he beheld thin curl of smoke arise.
followed by the report of rifle and a single
war-whoop. Before he could move or speak,
the old negro had fallen heavily from his seat
into the water, and two savages were seen to
spring into the river, and with their rifles held
above their heads, gain the boat now drifting
with the current.
With a. cry of horror, the young man
grasped his rife, and rushing forward, would
have plunged over the precipice, had not the
strong hand Of the hunter, laid upon his shoul-
der, arrested his steps.
Stop, rash boy, or you will ruin every
thing'
Hands off, old man, | say! My sister
and Mary! must save them!'
You must, and you shall. Follow me at
once! If the Indians see you, they will push
across the river, and they will be lost forever
BY this time the Indians had placed them
selves in the bow and stern of the boat, and
were scnlling her along, keeping her in the
current. The boat was large and heavy, and
their progress was not rapid. But the young
man saw at glance that his companion was
right; and accustomed to yield implicit obedi-
ence to his dictates, he turned reluctantly and
followed him down the same narrow path that
had brought them TO the hut
Back, Snarl stay here, srrah! = said the
n. u =
them. 'And now, my boy, look to your tools,
we have work ahead
Away like blood-hounds on the trail, they
started down the rocky path. The sun had
set, and the twilight glimmer which was left,
served only to throw strange, dark shadows over
their rugged pathway but with the firm, un-
erring tread of hunters 'in mountain land,'
they dashed forward at full speed. The con-
trast between the two was great. The one fu-
rious, and half demenied at the idea that those
he Low ed best on earth were in the hands of the
brutal savages, grasped his rife with very
death-grip, and with clenched teeth, sprang
and bounded like wild deer startled from his
covert. The other, older, and more accus-
toned to restraining outward signs Of emotion,
went as swiftly, but with the long, measured
tread of pursuing panther, taking care, as he
went, to look TO the priming of his rifle, and
to loosen his long hunting knife in its scab-
bard. Few were the minutes (though they
seemed like hours to the youth) ere they
emerged upon the smooth level beach of the
cove. 1t was, as we have said before, little
pebbly place, few yards square, with hills
coming gently down to it upon three sides.-
On that side farthest, but only few yards dis
tant from the shore, lay giant oak, which had
been uProOted in some long previous storm,
and which now reclined, like fallen monarch,
in stern and silent majesty, with its giant arms
still lifted up towards heaven. Behind this
natural rampant the two hunters placed them
selves, with the long barrels Of their rifles sup
ported by its trunk.
The harvest moon had now risen in all its
splendor, shedding glorious flood Of light
over the scene. The river seemed one bed of
liquid silver. The fog was rising, and the
distant hills stealing through their hazy azure
mantle, seemed like ghostly sentinels or noun
tains in dream-land The nearest forests, as
they seemed to Chamber up the steep hill-sides,
were here tipped with silver, there wrapped in
impenetrable gloom. A little ridge which ran
out into the river from one end of the cove,
giving it its peculiar shape, was crowned by
bristling array Of young trees that stood out
with strange disti nctness against the clear sky.
Be still, bOyn said the old man, in whis-
per, as the youth moved uneasily in his posi-
tion. They will be here soon.' All was
still, indeed. The river did make low, rip
ping, splashing noise among the bushes that
hung down into its waves, and an owl in a
neighboring tree sent forth his long and mel
ancholy hooting, but all else was calm and
noiseless.
Curse that OWL muttered the old man,
forgetting his own injunctiohs 1t was just
that way he hooted this night five years ago.
The young man shuddered as the tale Of hor-
ror he had listened to, was thus brought to his
mind, and made him reflect how soon the same
fate might fall upon his sister and his bride.
A moment more, and the low splash Of oars
is heard another, and the boat swept rapidly
around the projecting point which formed the
upper end of the cove. In the bright moon
lioht every fcure was plainly discernihle II