1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



65 i 



beauty, activity, and resolution. He 

 has with him ateo .his wife's brother, a 

 kidnapper by, profession, a deep-dyed 

 scoundrel ; and an American naturalist, 

 whos;> purpose is to skim the cream of 

 the virgin territory a mere caricature. 

 Ishmael's motives for advancing some hun- 

 dreds of miles beyond the remotest settle- 

 ment are but obscurely developed, but by 

 degrees we learn he has with him also the 

 daughter of a wealthy Spanish settler of 

 Louisiana, kidnapped by his respectable 

 brother-in-law. 



At the first resting for the night, after 

 our introduction to the party, he en- 

 counters an old man, a trapper, with a rifle 

 and his dog. From him some information 

 is gathered of the state of the country, 

 and things appear to be not in the se- 

 curest state. A party of marauding 

 Siouxes are near, and precautions must 

 be taken against surprise. This old man 

 plays a very conspicuous part through 

 the whole piece. He knows perfectly the 

 country, the inhabitants, their characters 

 and manners, and from this perfect know- 

 ledge he is enabled at all times to draw 

 the truest conclusions from the doubt- 

 fullesfsigns almost prophetically. His 

 aged hound is scarcely less prescient. 



"By degrees assemble 'two or three 

 others, particularly a bee-hunter, a ran- 

 dom reckless fellow, between whom and 

 Ellen exists a clandestine attachment, and 

 for her sake it is that all of a sudden he 

 appears in the neighbourhood of Ishmael's 

 caravan. Then comes a young American 

 captain, the husband of the kidnapped 

 lady, who is traversing the Prairie in 

 search of his bride. He has got scent of 

 Ishmael, and he and his men, a small party 

 of dragoons, are chasing in all directions. 

 He encounters the old trapper, the bee- 

 hunter, and the naturalist 5 and a plan is 

 laid to surprise Ishmael's entrenchment 

 in his absence. They succeed ; discover 

 the bride, snatch her from thraldom, 

 and fly with her to some place of conceal- 

 ment Ellen also accompanying them. 

 Scarcely were they out of sight when 

 Ishmael returns. He believes himself be- 

 trayed by the old trapper, and prepares 

 for vengeance he had with him seven 

 stout sons one just murdered, as he be- 

 lieves, by this same old trapper. 



In the meanwhile the fugitives, seeking 

 for shelter, are surprised first by one 

 party of Indians, and then another j and 

 after a variety of marvellous escapes, 

 chiefly through the trapper's sagacity, 

 particularly from a circle of fire, which 

 the Indians had kindled around them, 

 they, together with a Pawnee chief, whom 

 ihey had conciliated, all fall into the 



hands of the ferocious Siouxes. Here are 

 ^new perils. The men except the o!d 

 trapper are all bound for instant torture 

 and death ; and the ladies, the chief 

 destines for his brides. The Pawnee 

 chief, at the moment when death seems 

 inevitable, hears the far-off war-whoop 

 of his tribe, and by a desperate effort 

 kills his tormentor, breaks through all 

 obstacles, and joins his friends. A fierce 

 conflict ensues between tiie hostile tribes. 

 In the meanwhile the old trapper cuts the 

 bonds of the captives, but before they are 

 capable of using their benumbed limbs, up 

 comes Ishmael and his party, and they are 

 bound again. 



- The battle over, old Ishmael proceeds 

 very gravely to the summary trial of his 

 prisoners. The captain and his lady are 

 first generously dismissed, and a safe con- 

 voy offered 5 but the captain has now his 

 own men at hand aud declines the honour. 

 More difficulty is made with the bee- 

 hunter and Ellen the one he hates, the 

 other he loves ; but on her avowing her 

 attachment for the bee-man, he dismisses 

 them both. Then follows that of the old 

 trapper, whom he believed to be the mur- 

 derer of his son. The murderer, however, 

 proves to be the old kidnapper and his 

 execution is therefore determined upon. 

 At first the rifle is raised for the purpose ; 

 but eventually he is kindly put into such 

 a position on the top of a rock, with the 

 branches of a lofty tree impending, that 

 he can conveniently hang himself which 

 the desperateness of his circumstances 

 soon compels him to do. 



The favourite character is the old trap- 

 per ; he is one of nature's master-pieces ; 

 untarnished by the vices of society; un- 

 enlightened, or rather unobscured by the 

 fancies of speculation j and indebted for 

 his wisdom solely to his sheer experience, 

 and a reasoning brain. He is at times 

 exceedingly prosing associating so long 

 as he has done with Indians, he might 

 have learnt to condense his thoughts a 

 little closer. Though sententious enough, 

 he is very far from laconic. His debates 

 with the naturalist, who is a mere philo- 

 sopher on system, an atheist, and gam- 

 bler, though meant to put philosophy to 

 shame, completely fails, and solely from 

 his making the representative of philo- 

 sophy an ass. The chiefs of the two 

 tribes are pieces of vigorous painting the 

 lines all too broadly marked : but with all 

 the writer's efforts to exhibit, en beau, 

 the delights of freedom, and the absence 

 of the shackles of society, the only effect 

 is to make us bless ourselves in our own 

 security. 

 4O2 



