CONCLUDING PICTURE. 297 



and returned to Austin, near which I purchased a farm, 

 and " settled down." 



This lengthy narrative of an adventurous career shall 

 conclude' with a picture of Peregrine Herne, farmer and 

 sportsman, at home. He has inclosed his fields, and 

 heaven has blessed his cultivating toil. Prosperity shines 

 around him. He has taken a wife unto himself, and, al- 

 though his house is a rude log-cabin, blithe Mary's presence 

 makes it a home indeeed. A little Peregrine gets into 

 mischief with his father's rifle, and will extract the bullets 

 from the pouch, in his absence. But he is the image of 

 his illustrious progenitor, and he must have toys of that 

 sporting kind. 



But Peregrine Herne, the elder, is not merely a farmer. 

 In the fall, he occasionally goes on a hunting expedition 

 over the prairies, and, to the great alarm of his anxious 

 wife, Mary, spends the night upon the wild plains, sur- 

 rounded by the hungry wolves. Here, smoking his pipe 

 by the red light of the fire, he recalls the past, in dreamy 

 pictures, which pass before him in the wreathing smoke. 

 He has drunk deeply of the perils and pleasures- of a 

 hunter's life he has faced death, in a hundred shapes, 

 while engaged in the chase ; but he has also felt the 

 bracing power of a free life, with but one hope that of 

 killing food enough for the morrow. 



38 



