1 48 JOURNEY HOME. 



last only a few miles separated us from our home. 

 With each advancing step my spirits rose, for soon I 

 hoped to clasp to my bosom my first and only love. 

 Over a distant margin of trees, that denoted the 

 boundary between forest and prairie-land, in the 

 direction in which our house was situated, my father- 

 in-law called my attention to what might be haze, or 

 possibly smoke : such is so common in the fall of 

 the year, or when squatters are clearing new land, 

 that I scarcely deemed it worthy of notice. The 

 ground being here firmer, and our horses probably 

 conscious that the sooner we got home the sooner 

 they would be fed, moved forward with quickened 

 pace. The nearer we approached, the denser became 

 the smoke ; and, from the direction, no doubt re- 

 mained upon our minds that it must originate in the 

 immediate vicinity of our dwelling. Still, any fear 

 that it was our house never occurred. The horses, 

 unpushed, pursued their own gait ; and at length 

 the wood was entered, the clearing broke into view, 

 and, to my dismay, volumes of smoke were issuing 

 through our shingle roof. With slack rein and spurs 

 driven well home, we both dashed forward. A couple 

 of hundred yards had but to be traversed, when the 

 head, arm, and shoulder of a woman appeared through 

 the window. A couple of rifle reports instantaneously 

 followed, and my wife (for it was she), throwing her 

 hands over her head, disappeared. 



' " Indians, by Heaven I" exclaimed my father-in- 

 law ; and both of us rushed forward with redoubled 



