124 WARWICK WOODLANDS. 



winter, and several calves beside ; and what had stirred espe- 

 cially the bile of the good yeomen, was that, with more than 

 customary boldness, they had the previous night made a descent 

 into the precints of the village, and carried off a fat wether of 

 Tom Draw's. 



" A slight fall of snow had taken place the morning I arrived, 

 and, this suggesting to Tom's mind a possibility of hunting up 

 the felons, a party had gone out and tracked them to a small 

 swamp on the Bellevale Mountain, wherein they had undoubt- 

 edly made their head-quarters. Arrangements had been made 

 on all sides forty or fifty stout and active men were mustered, 

 well armed, though variously, with muskets, ducking-guns and 

 rifles some fifteen couple of strong hounds, of every height 

 and color, were collected some twenty horses saddled and 

 bridled, and twice as many sleighs were ready ; with provisions, 

 ammunition, liquor and blankets, all prepared for a week's 

 bivouac. The plan prescribed was in the first place to surround 

 the swamp, as silently as possible, with all our forces, and then 

 to force the pack out so as to face our volley. This, should the 

 method be successful, would finish the whole hunt at once ; but 

 should the three-legged savage succeed in making his escape, 

 we were to hunt him by relays, bivouacking upon the ground 

 wherever night should find us, and taking up the chase again 

 upon the following morning, until continual fatigue should wear 

 out the fierce brute. I had two horses with me, and Tim Mat- 

 lock ; so I made up my mind at once, got a light one-horse 

 sleigh up in the village, rigged it with all my bear-skins, good 

 store of whiskey, eatables, and so forth, saddled the gray with 

 my best Somerset, holsters and surcingle attached, and made one 

 of the party on the instant. 



"Before daylight we started, a dozen mounted men leading 

 the way, with the intent to get quite round the ridge, and cut 

 off the retreat of these most wily beasts of prey, before the 

 coming of the rear-guard should alarm them and the remain- 

 der of the party, sleighing it merrily along, with all the hounds 

 attached to them. The dawn was yet in its first gray dimness 

 when we got into line along the little ridge which bounds that 

 small dense brake on the northeastern side upon the southern 

 side the hill rose almost inaccessibly in a succession of short 

 limestone ledges westward the open woods, through which the 

 hounds and footmen were approaching, sloped down in a long 

 easy fall, into the deep secluded basin, filled with the densest and 



