MIKE FINK, THE KEELUOATMAN. 173 



glared upon the jeering crow«l likr a fiend ; his chest 

 swelled and heaved until it sconied that he must sutlb- 

 cate. 



No one noticed tliis emotion. All were intent upon 

 the expKut tliat had so singularly deprived Joe of his 

 warlock; and, smothering his wrath, he retreated to 

 his associates with a. consuming fire at his vitals. He 

 was a different being from wliat he had been an hour be- 

 fore ; and with that desperate resolution on which a 

 man stakes his all, he swore, by the Great Spirit of his 

 forefathers, that he would be revenged. 



An hour after the disappearance of Joe, both he and 

 Mike Fink were forgotten. The flatboat, which the 

 latter had deserted, was got under way, and dashing 

 through the rapids in the river opposite Louisville, 

 wended on its course. As is customary when night sets 

 in, the boat was securely fastened in some little bend or 

 bay in the shore, where it remained until early morn. 



Long before the sun had fairly risen, the boat was 

 again pushed into the stream, and it passed through a 

 valley presenting the greatest possible beauty and fresh- 

 ness of landscape that the mind can conceive. 



It was spring, and a thousand tints of green devel- 

 oped themselves in the half-formed foliage and bursting 

 buds. The beautiful mallard skimmed across tlic water, 

 ignorant of the danger of the white man's approach ; 

 the splendid spoonbill decked the shallow places near 

 the shore, v^hile myriads of singing birds filled the air 

 with fhrir unwritten songs. 



