Gaut Gurley; Or, the Trappers of Umbagog: A Tale of Border LifeThompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
General
Gaut Gurley; Or, the Trappers of Umbagog: A Tale of Border Life
Thompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Maine -- Fiction; Trappers -- Fiction
"She has, both. Her father, one fall, when she was a girl of ten or eleven,
took her along with him to a city on the coast, where he went to sell his
furs and nice basket-work, and where she, some how, excited the lively
interest of a good family, and particularly of a wealthy gentleman then
living in the family. Well, the short of the matter is, that they persuaded
the chief to leave her through the winter; and, she becoming a favorite
with them all, they instructed her, sent her to school, and dressed her as
they would an own daughter, and would only part with her in the spring on
condition of her returning in the fall. And so it has gone on till now, she
living with them winters, and here with her father summers; for, though
they would like to take her entirely out of the woods, she would not desert
her father, who loves her as his life, and calls her the light of his
lodge,--no, not for all the gold in the cities."
"You must then be well acquainted with this Indian family, and can give me
their history."
"As far as is proper for me to tell, as well as anybody, perhaps. When I
was a young man, I at times used to live with the chief, who always made me
welcome to his lodge, and gave me his confidence. He was then but little
past his prime, and one of the smartest men, every way, I ever knew. He was
then worth property, and lived with his first wife, this girl's mother,
who, as I told you, was very good-looking and intelligent. But his second
wife was as homely as his first was handsome. As to Wenongonet himself, who
has now got to be, though still active, an old man, he claims to have been
a direct descendant of Paugus,--a grandson, I believe, of that noted
chief,--who was slain in Lovewell's bloody fight, and whose tribe, once
known as the Sokokis or Saco Indians, who were great fighters, it is said,
were then forever broken up, the most of them fleeing over the British
highlands and joining the St. Francis Indians in Canada. The family of
Paugus, however, with a few of the head men, who survived the battle,
concluded to remain this side of the mountain, and try to keep up a show of
the tribe on these lakes, where they lived till Paugus' son, who on the
death of his father became their sagamore or chief, died, when they
gradually drew off into Canada, leaving Wenongonet, the last chief's son,
the only permanent Indian resident, after a while, on these lakes. But
come, young man, enough of Indian matters for to-day: we must now be
stirring, or our day's work may come short. Help me to take my canoe up
here into the lake; and, within four hours, the time to which I will limit
my absence, we will see what can be done by each, in our different
undertakings."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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