The Keepers of the Trail: A Story of the Great WoodsAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Keepers of the Trail: A Story of the Great Woods
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Wilderness areas -- Fiction
It was his idea to seek some thicket at a distance and lie hidden there
until the next night, when he might achieve a fresh irruption upon the
enemy. He had succeeded so far that he was encouraged to new attempts,
and all the wilderness spirit in him came to the front. The civilization
of the house and the city sank quite away. He was for the time being
wholly a creature of the primeval forest, and while his breath was the
very breath of the wild he felt with it a frolic fancy that demanded
some outlet. He must sleep, but he would like to play a new trick upon
his enemies before he slept.
The spirit of the Faun, in which the old Greeks believed, was re-created
within him, and where could a better place for its re-creation have been
found than in this vast green wilderness stretching from east to west a
thousand miles, and from north to south fifteen hundred miles, a region
almost untouched by the white man, the like of which was not to be found
elsewhere on the globe.
He laughed a little in his triumph, though silently. As he strode along
a stray ray of moonlight fell upon him now and then, and disclosed the
tall, splendid figure, the incarnation of magnificent youth, the forest
superman, one upon whom Nature had lavished every gift for the life that
he was intended to live. Although his step was light and soundless, his
figure expressed strength in every movement. It was shown in the swing
of the mighty shoulders, and the long stride which without effort
dropped the miles behind him.
It was destined, too, that he should have his wish for another
achievement that night, one that would please the sportive fancy now so
strong in him. After recrossing the river he saw on his left an opening
of considerable size, and he heard grunts and groans coming from it. He
knew that a buffalo troop was resting there. The foolish beasts had
wandered into the Indian vicinity, but they would learn the proximity of
the warriors the next day and wander away. Meanwhile Henry needed them
and would use them. Now and then he reverted to the religious imagery
which he had learned when he was with Red Cloud and his Northwestern
tribe. Manitou had really sent this buffalo herd there for his
particular benefit. It was the largest that he had ever seen in
Kentucky. Fully five hundred of the great brutes rested in the opening
and he needed numbers.
He passed into the thick forest near them, and then with infinite
patience lighted a fire with his flint and steel. Securing long sticks
of dead wood he ignited them both until they burned with a steady and
strong flame. Strapping his rifle upon his back and holding aloft a
flaming torch in either hand, and uttering fierce and wild shouts he
charged directly upon the buffaloes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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