OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 227 



a strange and terrible smile. Her youngest born lie lay next 

 her heart, and to each, as he disposed the stiffening form in 

 order, he gave the last embrace and farewell kiss. This done 

 he stood on the side of the grave for some moments, gazing 

 silently down upon the home, the earthly heaven he had lost, 

 and then, without a word or groan, proceeded to fill up the 

 grave. His comrades waited until he had finished, and had 

 heaped a pile of stones to mark the place. They expected 

 him to return with them now to the new camp which had 

 been formed. He, however, took up his rifle, waved his hand 

 in solemn adieu, and without speaking, disappeared on the 

 trail of the Shawanees. 



Little was generally known, and less said about Smith, 

 from the time of this disappearance. It was generally be- 

 lieved that Boone, Harrod, and a few others, knew more 

 of him than they chose to tell ; the most that could be got 

 out of any one concerning him, was, a significant touch of 

 the forehead and shake of the head. Boone, in particular, 

 was believed to have frequent interviews with him, as he 

 would take with him at such suspected times a double supply 

 of powder and lead. 



For a year or two the mystery of his solitary life received 

 no elucidation whatever, until a Shawanee, having been made 

 captive by the people of Boones' Fort, they heard from him 

 a terrible story of an Evil Demon that had been haunting the 

 war-path of the Shawanees for nearly two years, and that 

 from the hunting-trail and war-path together, more than 

 thirty of their best braves, including several chiefs, had dis- 

 appeared. The Shawanees believed that the Great Spirit 

 was angry with them, and had sent a Medicine Spirit to 

 punish them. They were nearly determined on this account 

 to leave their hunting-grounds in Kan-tuck-ee forever. When 

 questioned as to whether they had ever got sight of this Medi- 

 cine, the answer was that they had never seen it distinctly, 

 but that of late their young men had pursued it often, and 



