THE BORDER RIFLEMEN;
OR,
THE FOREST FIEND.
A ROMANCE OF THE BLACK-HAWK UPRISING.
BY LIEUT. LEWIS W. CARSON.
NEW YORK.
BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS,
98 WILLIAM STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
FRANK STARR & CO.,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
CONTENTS
[I. The Border Suitor—Cooney Joe] 9 [II. Minneoba’s warning] 15 [III. Black-Hawk Insulted] 22 [IV. Little Fox—Na-She-Eschuck] 29 [V. The Price of Treachery] 35 [VI. The First Blow] 42 [VII. Overboard] 49 [VIII. Melton’s Scout—A Bush Fight] 54 [IX. The Defense of the Island] 61 [X. The Forest Fiend] 68 [XI. Black-Hawk Keeps His Word] 75 [XII. Sadie’s Sacrifice] 82 [XIII. Guests Not Invited] 88
THE BORDER RIFLEMEN;
OR,
THE FOREST FIEND.
CHAPTER I.
THE BORDER SUITOR—COONEY JOE.
The sun was going down behind the western hills in a flood of yellow light, and a river dimpled on under the slanting rays, great fish leaping now and then from the placid surface, and the trees along the bank casting fantastic shadows into its depths. In a sheltered nook, near a spot where a little creek joined the river, a settler had built a cabin, which the hand of woman had beautified and adorned as only the hand of woman can. Bright flowers bloomed on each side of the rustic doorway and an English ivy vine clung to the walls and was rapidly spreading its delicate tendrils over the whole front. The cabin faced the stream, and behind it the hand of industry had cleared many acres which now showed heavy growths of cereals and roots, carefully cultivated. It was a silvan spot, and one upon which the eye of the artist would linger long and pleasantly.