Year: 1859

sidered peers---the class of interiors EN-
braced none but towards.


Presently the two rifles exploded with
simultaneous roar. Colonel Morton
gave prodigious bound upwards, and
dropped to the earth corpse. Deaf
Smith stood erect, and immediately be-
gan to reload his rife, and then having
finished his brief task, he fastened away
into the adjacent forest.


Three DAYS afterwards General Hous-
ton, accompanied by Deaf Smith and ten
more appeared in Austin, and without
further opposition removed the state pa
pers.


The history of the hero of the forego-
ing anecdote was one Of the most extra
ordinary ever known in the west. He
made his advent in Texas at an early
period, and continued to reside there
until his death, which happened some
two years ago; but although he had many
warm personal friends, no one could ever
ascertain either the land of his birth, or
single CLEAN of his previous biography
When he was questioned on the sub
ject, he laid his finger on mis- lip; and if
pressed more urgently, his brow writhed,
and his dark eye seemed to shoot sparks
OF livid FIRE! He could write with aston
ishing correctness and facility, consider
ing his situation; and although denied
the exquisite pleasure and princeless adj
vantages of the sense of hearing, nature
had given him ample compensation by an
eye quick and far seeing as an eagles,
and a smell keen and incredible as that ofa
raven. He could discover objects moving
miles away in the far-off prairie, when
others could perceive nothing but earth
and sky; and the rangers used to declare
that he could catch the scent of Mexi-
can or Indian at as great distance as
buzzard could distinguish the odor Of a
dead carcass. i'


1t was these qualities which fitted him
SO well for a spy, in which capacity he
rendered invaluable services to Houston's
army during the war of independence
He always went alone, aad generally OBJ
tanned the information desired. His
habits in private life were equally singu-
lar. He could never be persuaded to
sleep under the roof of house, or even
to use tent cloth. Wrapped in his
blanket, he loved to be out in the open
air under the blue canopy of pure ether,
and count the stars, or gaze with yearn-
ing look at the melancholy moon. When
not employed as a spy or guide, he sub
-.ctod pv hunting, vs..o ten ubsont ON
solitary excursions, for weeks ana oven
months together in the wilderness. He
was a genuine son of nature, grown-up
child of the woods and prairies, which he
worshiped with sort of Pagan adora-
tion. Excluded by his infrmities from
cordial fellowship with his kind, he made
the inanimate things of the earth his
friends and entered by the hearts own
adoption into brotherhood with the lumin-
aries of heaven. Wherever there was
land or water, barren mountains or
tangled brakes of wild waving cane,
there was Deaf Smiths home, and there
he was happy; but in the streets of great
cities, in all the great throughfares of
men, wherever there was tlattery or
fawning, base cunning or craven fear,
there was Deaf Smith an alien and an
exile.


Strange SOUL he hath departed on the
long journey, away among those high
bright stars which were his night lamps
and he hath either solved or ceased to
ponder the deep mystery of the magic
word, "life." He is dead; therefore let
his errors rest in oblivion, and his virtues
be remembered with hope.