Wolf-Cap; or, The Night-Hawks of the Fire-Lands: A Tale of the Bloody Fort

A TALE OF THE BLOODY FORT
BY CAPT. CHAS. HOWARD, AUTHOR “ELK KING,” “WOLF QUEEN,” “MERCILESS MATT.”
NEW YORK: BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS, 98 WILLIAM STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by FRANK STARR & CO., in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
A small apartment, walled with rough logs, and blackened by smoke.
A substantial fire burns in an uncouth but serviceable fireplace, and a man reclines on the puncheons in the ruddy blaze.
His sole companion is a huge yellow dog of the mastiff species; and his master’s long black locks rest upon his shaggy coat.
It is nine o’clock at night, and the moon shines in an unclouded firmament.
Not a sound disturbs the stillness of the wood; but just at the edge of the meager clearing that lies before the cabin, a little river flows northward with a low noise, for it is almost bank full.
Man and dog are wide awake; the former gazes into the fire, the latter looks up into the hard, sunbrowned face.
The master is a great, strong man, whose looks, physique and voice, when he speaks, indicates a long frontier life. He is perhaps three and forty years of age. Some would say that he is fifty; but people must not judge age by certain crows-feet on the brow; troubles make young men old. His occupation is revealed by a quantity of animal traps lying in one corner of the room, and suspended from a rafter overhead hangs a bundle of skins, ready for the market at Fort Sandusky.
But he rises and looks at the dog, who bristles up and runs to the door, protected by a strong oaken plank.