OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 227 
a strange and terrible smile. Her youngest born he 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 Booné, 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 
