Wild Western Scenes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 361 pages of information about Wild Western Scenes.

Wild Western Scenes eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 361 pages of information about Wild Western Scenes.
of glass, and made to be secured at a moment’s warning, by means of thick stone shutters on the inside.  The fire-place was ample at the hearth, but the flue through which the smoke escaped was small, and ran in a serpentine direction up through the northern wall; while the ceiling was overlaid with smooth flat stones, fastened down with huge iron spikes, and supported by strong wooden joists.  The furniture consisted of a few trunks, (which answered for seats,) two camp beds, four barrels of hard biscuit, a few dishes and cooking utensils, and a quantity of hunting implements.  Many times did Joe shake his head in wonderment as this house was preparing for his reception.  It seemed to him too much danger was apprehended from without, and it too much resembled a solitary, and secure prison, should one be confined within.  Nevertheless, he was permitted to adopt his own plan in the construction of a shelter for the horses.  And the retention of these animals was some relief to his otherwise gloomy forebodings, when he beheld the erection of his master’s suspicious tenement.  He superintended the building of a substantial and comfortable stable.  He had stalls, a small granary, and a regular rack made for the accommodation of the horses, and procured, with difficulty and no little expense, a supply of provender.  The space, including the buildings, which had been cleared of the roots and stones, for the purpose of cultivating a garden, was about one hundred feet in diameter, and enclosed by a circular row of posts driven firmly in the ground, and rising some ten feet above the surface.  These were planted so closely together that even a squirrel would have found it difficult to enter without climbing over them.  Indeed, Joe had an especial eye to this department, having heard some awful tales of the snakes that somewhat abounded in those regions in the warm seasons.

One corner of the stable, wherein a quantity of straw was placed, was appropriated for the comfort of the dogs, Ringwood and Jowler, which had been presented to Glenn by his obliging friend, after they had exhibited their skill in the bear hunt.

When every thing was completed, preparatory for his removal thither, Glenn dismissed his faithful artisans, bestowing upon them a liberal reward for their labour, and took possession of his castle.  But, notwithstanding the strange manner in which he proposed to spend his days, and his habitual grave demeanour and taciturnity, yet his kind tone, when he uttered a request, or ventured a remark, on the transactions passing around him, and his contempt for money, which he squandered with a prodigal hand, had secured for him the good-will of the ferrymen, and the friendship of the surrounding emigrants.  But there was one whose esteem had no venal mixture in it.  This was Mary, the old ferryman’s daughter, a fair-cheeked girl of nineteen, who never neglected an opportunity of performing a kind office for her father’s temporary guest; and when he and his man departed for their own tenement, not venturing directly to bestow them on our hero, she presented Joe with divers articles for their amusement and comfort in their secluded abode, among which were sundry live fowls, a pet fawn, and a kitten.

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Wild Western Scenes from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.