CHAPTER II.
A WARNING.
On the skirts of Dead-Man’s Forest, on the side opposite to that on which Cato the Creeper lived, was a small settlement on a hillside.
It was very small, numbering but about a dozen houses or cabins, and in the center on the hilltop was a small block-house.
The soil about the houses was somewhat cultivated and fenced, but the latter was hardly needed, for the settlers owned but few cattle and these were “kept up,” to protect them from the Indians which infested the country.
The settlement, being on a hill, overlooked a fine landscape. On one side, and in close proximity, lay Dead-Man’s Forest, with its acres of gnarled and towering trees, nestling knolls, and vast swamps—gloomy and specter-like, forbidding and haunted.
On the other side, the gazer looked upon a glistening river, winding its way through fertile and beautiful vales, dashing by bluffs and bickering down ravines. The hazy hills in the distance were tinted in the sunlight gloriously, and would be the envy of many a master artist.
On the same afternoon in which last chapter’s events occurred, a young girl sat before a cabin, larger and more tasty than the rest, dreamily gazing into the purple-tinted distance.
She was very beautiful, and her beauty was of the pure and holy kind—virgin.
In her deep, earnest brown eyes a wonderful mellow light played and gleamed, and at intervals she sweetly smiled to herself. Her hair was a rich red-brown and fell in glistening waves nearly to her waist, and was confined at the crown by a bit of bright blue ribbon. Her snow-white dress was short and displayed a charming ankle and the comeliest of little feet. Her hands were shapely, and though somewhat browned by the sun, had not lost their original beauty.