ure of that
evil which Boone always considered the greatest annoyance of life. The
report of this family's prosperity had gone abroad. The young hunter's
fame in his new position, attracted other immigrants to come and fix
themselves in the vicinity. The smoke of new cabins and clearings went
up to the sky. The baying other dogs, and the crash of distant falling
trees began to be heard; and painful presentiments already filled the
bosom of young Boone, that this abode would shortly be more pressed upon
than that he had left. He was compelled, however, to admit, that if such
an order of things brings disadvantages, it has also its benefits.

A thriving farmer, by the name of Bryan, had settled at no great
distance from Mr. Boone, by whose establishment the young hunter, now at
the period of life when other thoughts than those of the chase of wild
game are sometimes apt to cross the mind, was accustomed to pass.

This farmer had chosen a most beautiful spot for his residence. The farm
occupied a space of some hundred acres on a gentle eminence, crested
with yellow poplars and laurels. Around it rolled a mountain stream. So
beautiful was the position and so many its advantages, that young Boone
used often to pause in admiration, on his way to the deeper woods beyond
the verge of human habitation. Who can say that the same dreamy thoughts
that inspired the pen of the eloquent Rousseau, did not occupy the mind
of the young hunter as he passed this rural abode? We hope we shall not
be suspected of a wish to offer a tale of romance, as we relate, how the
mighty hunter of wild beasts and men was himself subdued, and that by
the most timid and gentle of beings. We put down the facts as we find
them recorded, and our conscience is quieted, by finding them perfectly
natural to the time, place, and circumstances.

Young Boone was one night engaged in a fire hunt, with a young friend.
Their course led them to the deeply timbered bottom that skirted the
stream which wound round this pleasant plantation. That the reader may
have an idea what sort of a pursuit it was that young Boone was engaged
in, during an event so decisive of his future fortunes, we present a
brief sketch of a night _fire_ hunt. Two persons are indispensable to
it. The horseman that precedes, bears on his shoulder what is called a
_fire pan_, full of blazing pine knots, which casts a bright and
flickering glare far through the forest. The second follows at some
d