AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



281 



AN ADVENTURE. 



How direful are the effects of revenge.- 



It was on as beautiful an autumnal day, as ever ushered 

 in the Indian summer, that I made an excursion after game 

 among a groupe of mountains, or rather on a link in the great 

 chain of the Alleghany range, which runs in a north eastern 

 direction in that part of Pennsylvania, which bounds the 

 New York line. I had been a resident there for some years ; 

 and, when leisure from my arduous avocations permitted, 

 I always indulged myself with the favourite amusement of 

 hunting. 



I said the day was beautiful. When I arose from my 

 bed, the stars were yet twinkling in the azure space above, 

 while feebly, but most beautifully, the sparkling frost which 

 spread the earth as a woolly carpet, reflected back, like my- 

 riads of gems, its borrowed light to the heavens; not a 

 breath of air disturbed the fading leaves of the wood, and the 

 reigning silence was broken only by the monotonous tone 

 of a neighbouring cascade, while the pearly horizon of the 

 east, betokened the approach of that hour which was to give 

 life and activity to a slumbering world; my heart was light, 

 and nerved with youthful vigor, and the healthfulness of the 

 opening morn, I felt as though I could wield my rifle 

 with unerring aim. Ere the sun arose I eat my breakfast; 

 and after giving all necessary orders for the day, to the man 

 at my saw-mill, I accoutred myself for hunting and sallied 

 forth alone among the hills in search of game. Bending 

 my way towards some salt springs which were within a few 

 miles of my dwelling, I kept the mountain ridge with the 

 expectation of encountering some large game, until I found 

 it necessary to descend to that part of the valley which con- 

 tained the springs. A few years previous to the above pe- 

 4B 



riod, these springs were resorted to by herds of deer and 

 other animals, for the purpose of licking the saline sedi- 

 ment which every where adhered to the roots of those 

 trees, bushes, and stones that were washed by the salt water 

 while flovvfing down the vale, in consequence of which, 

 hunters for many miles around, made frequent excursions 

 to this spot, in order to lie in ambush for such animals as 

 might approach this salt-lick, until at last it had become so 

 notorious, and frequented by so many hunters, that a visit 

 here was sometimes attended with danger, and no longer 

 scarcely with success. This spot had been no doubt for 

 ages, and until within a few years, a place of resort, not 

 only for deer, but for other animals of the ruminant order, 

 such as elk, moose, &c. but as the country became popu- 

 lated by settlers, no traces of these animals (except the deer) 

 were left, other than here and there a horn of an elk or 

 moose was found, and preserved by the neighbours, and placed 

 over their fire places, as relics of days gone by. Here, too, 

 perhaps in ages past, the Mastodon in his majesty and strength 

 strode with giant step, uninterrupted in his course, the mon- 

 arch and terror of this then unknown wilderness. 



I had frequently in my hunting excursions, steered my 

 course for these springs in the same track which I took on 

 the above period, and mostly killed one or two deer before 

 I reached my destined spot, but always depended more on 

 my success when laying in ambush behind my favourite logs 

 near the spring, where I had for years killed many deer. 



The season, however, of watchfulness commenced usually 

 at twilight in the evening, as these animals seldom wander- 

 ed before that period, and as moonlight nights were prefer- 

 able for these ruminants to browse, and visit the salt licks, 

 it was not only more interesting to lay in ambuscade for 

 them, but insured a greater degree of success, and it frequently 

 happened, that when they visited the springs undisturbed, 



