The Demon Trapper of Umbagog: A Thrilling Tale of the Maine ForestsThompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
General
The Demon Trapper of Umbagog: A Thrilling Tale of the Maine Forests
Thompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce)
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Maine -- Fiction; Trappers -- Fiction
To her great relief, however, she now soon reached and shot into the
still waters of the stream, and this trouble, at least, was over.
Here, after passing in out of sight of the lake, she drew up her oar,
and paused to reflect and conclude what should be her next movement;
when Claud, whose head was pillowed in the bow of the boat, and whose
eye was resting tenderly on her downcast countenance, soon read her
perplexity, and again asked to be informed of all that had happened,
and the object of her present movement. She told him,--with such
reservations as maidenly modesty and pride suggested,--she told him all
she had seen, and in conclusion proposed, as their enemy might ambush
them, and as it was now drawing towards night, and the lake would not
be quiet enough for some hours, at least, to permit them to proceed,
that they should row up the river till they found an eligible spot,
and encamp for the night. To this Claud readily assented; and they
again set forth up the gentle stream, that, as before intimated, here
came in from the southeast; and, after proceeding some distance, the
anxious eye of the maiden fell on a place on the left bank, where a
temporary shelter could easily be rigged up, under the wide-spreading
and low-set limbs of a thick-topped evergreen, which, of itself, would
be ample protection against the dews of heaven. Drawing up the canoe on
land near the tree, in the same manner as at the island, she proceeded
to gather large quantities of fine hemlock boughs, and dry, elastic
mosses, arrange them under the tree, in the form of bed and pillow,
and over the whole to spread Claud’s blanket; thus making a couch as
safe and comfortable as ever received the limbs of a suffering invalid.
Upon this, partly by his own exertions and partly by her assistance,
he was then, without much difficulty, soon transferred from the canoe;
when, with his light hatchet (she having brought all his implements
along with him in the boat), she soon erected neat, closely-woven
wicker walls of boughs, from the ground to the limbs above, on both
sides, providing within one of them a space for herself. She then
brought fuel, kindled a small fire in front, and took her position at
his side, to be ready for such ministering offices as his case might
seem to require. She found that he had again fallen into a profound
slumber, which she at first regarded as a favorable omen; and, in the
conscious security of the spot, in the belief that he had received none
of the injuries she had apprehended from the motion of the boat, and,
above all, in the indulgence of that overweening pride of affection
which covets all pains and sacrifices for the loved one, she felt a
satisfaction which was almost happiness, in her situation. But it
was not destined to be of very long duration. She at length began to
perceive a gradual reddening of his cheeks, and then, soon after, an
increasing shortness of respiration, and a general restlessness of the
system.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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