Fourty-Four Years, or, the Life of a Hunter. Meshach Browning
our discourse to other subjects, and too soon arrived at her home. We waited for the sun to go down, being bent on having the last minute of our time together; and in the meantime I apologized for hav- ing given her reason to think that I doubted her sincerity. She readily accepted my acknowledgment, and it seemed as if it had redoubled our affections to each other; indeed. I thought she was the sweetest creature in all creation.
Notwithstanding all our precaution not to betray our love to each other, out came the acknowledgment from both, accompanied by a promise not to make any different engagement without each other's consent, until we should be old enough to marry. We then parted; I going to my uncle's, and she to her home, fearful of being suspected by her father. But she afterwards told me that he never mentioned it to her.
My uncle then proposed a hunt and a fishing excursion
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to the Buffalo Marsh Glades. This place took its name from the fact that the carcass of a large buffalo had been found in the deep mud of the marsh by the first white men who, perhaps, ever set a foot in that beautiful glade. I agreed to accompany him; and we set out for the same house from which we fled when St. Clair met with his defeat, mentioned in my first chapter. When we arrived at the place, we found that the house had been destroyed by some mischievous hands; so we built a fire under a large oak, and there slept comfortably at night.
In the morning we set off for our sport, taking a small path that led to Deep Creek; and as we walked along 1 saw a very large buck standing within gun-shot of us. Having but one gun (for my sport was designed to be in fishing), the old man (who, bye-the-bye, was a poor shot) fired at and wounded the buck in the foot. A fine swift dog we had with us, soon ran the buck down, and he became our venison. The old man told me he would attend to the meat, and I should try my luck with the trout. I waded into the water, hip and thigh, with a piece of the venison for bait, believing that anything I liked so well would surely please a trout; and I was not mistaken; for just as fast as I could bait my hook, and let it into the water, I pulled out the largest kind of trout, till at length they refused suddenly, as is their habit, to give me another bite.
I gathered up what I had caught, and counted forty- seven, making as much of a load as I wished to carry in one hand. I then struck for our fire again, as the morni- ng was cold: there was a heavy dew on the grass, which was as high as a man's belt, and I was cold, wet, and hungry. The old man was in with his buck, and had some venison before the hot coals, which was nearly ready for eating. I handed over my long string of trout to the cook, who soon had as many as were necessary for our late
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breakfast, nicely fried in his little pan, and butter gravy swimming round them, until they were beautifully browned all over. Then we sat down to the finest kind of venison steaks, fried in the same way, and good light rolls, well buttered, all placed on pieces of chestnut bark just peeled from the tree. All this, together with a sharp appetite, made the meal, I thought, quite good enough for a Go- vernor, or even the President himself, if he were there, and as hungry as I then was. After helping ourselves to as much as we needed, we were satisfied with what we had done.
Our next business being to get home with our venison and fish, before they could get spoiled, our horses were saddled in haste. We loaded up, and off we went for home. We had about ten miles to travel, which we com- pleted by the middle of the afternoon. When we arrived at the house, who should be there with my aunt, for com- pany, but my little Mary! Well, said I, is not this good luck? I'll bet this has been done for me. I shall go part of the way home with her again, at all hazards; and we will keep it from the old man's knowledge the best way we can.
After taking a long and earnest look at her, and ad- miring her well-shaped form, which was about medium size—she then weighing one hundred and twenty pounds, and having well-proportioned shoulders and breast ; full, clear blue eyes, expressive of the wildness of a fawn in its most playful moments; and cheeks like roses, Lord! said I to myself, won't she be a prize for me some day, if I can only keep things as they now are, till the time comes ? But I think I can manage that, unless some enemy interferes between us, as I think they did at Wheel- ing. Yes, yes, I must let nothing of that Wheeling busi- ness come to Mary's ears, or she will be off at once, I reckon; and that would be the ———— indeed.
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I told my aunt to send Mrs. McMullen one dozen of the best trout, as a present ; and 1 requested Mary to hand them to her mother, and tell her that I caught every one of them myself, and that I sent them to her. My old uncle also sent a present of some of his venison; and the old people said, that if I was not too tired with walking, I ought to help Mary to carry her venison and fish home. I looked at her, and replied, that I had been walking so much lately, that it tired me but little to walk a whole day, and I did not feel the least tired now. Mary made no reply, but she gave me a mischievous look, and smiled, which almost fevered the blood in my veins.
In a few moments we set off for her home, and we related to one another how everything had worked for our advantage. She said: "After yourself and your uncle had gone, mother said, in the hearing of father, that Aunt Polly would be very lonesome there by herself; and that the late loss of her child made it still worse. 'Well,' said the old man, 'some of the children may go over and stay over night with her.' The old lady, however, said that it would be of little use to send the small children; and it was agreed that I should go. Whether mother thought of you or not, I can't say; but I expected every moment that father would think of you, and break up the whole plan."
"Very well, Mary," said I, "you think it fun to go where you will see me, do you ? "
"Well," she replied, "I know very well that if I don't think it fun, you do; and I don't think you will offer to deny it. Now let me see if you will deny it," said she. joking playfully in my face. "If you do, I will have to tell you, for the first time, that I don't believe what you say."
We were then at her father's fence, and had stopped to take leave of each other; but we delayed parting till the
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last hour of her allotted time, which was sunset; but when the time came, we parted with great reluctance, promising to take advantage of every opportunity to see each other.
It is of little use for parents to try to keep young peo- ple apart, after their affections are firmly settled on each other. They will seek each other's society, as it was in this case with Mary and myself. We were determined to see each other; and after all the old man could do, we did meet, somehow or other, every week.
I would advise parents to give good advice to their children; then let them take their own way, and let the responsibility be on their own heads. That has been my course through a long life, and under many trials; and I have never repented of it. So it was: we saw each other frequently, when no one suspected us; and so it continued till I went to the West again, which was in September. We then parted, with a hope of meeting again in a short time; for I had determined to endeavor to persuade my step-father and mother to move to Allegany; and I told Mary that, whether they came or not, I would return and stay at some place within reach of her, until we should attain a sufficient age, when she should be mine.
I again travelled to Short Creek, in the West, and joined my mother; but did not find it a hard task to persuade the old folks to move to Allegany, which they did in Oc- tober; and in a month's time my mother, step-father, and myself, were neighbors to the McMullen family, and were pleased with their new home.
Not long after we had settled in our new home, there fell a light snow, when I took my rifle, and calling a dog which I had brought with me from Wheeling, which was of the stock of old Mr. Caldwell's hunting-dogs, I went into the woods after deer. I had not travelled far before I found the tracks of four deer, which had run off; for they had got wind of me, and dashed into a great thicket
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to hide themselves. I took the trail, and into the thicket I went, where I soon saw the deer running in different directions. I got