The Spirit of the Border
Chapter I.
"Nell, I'm growing powerful fond of you."
"So you must be, Master Joe, if often telling makes it true."
The girl spoke simply, and with an absence of that roguishness which
was characteristic of her. Playful words, arch smiles, and a touch
of coquetry had seemed natural to Nell; but now her grave tone and
her almost wistful glance disconcerted Joe.
During all the long journey over the mountains she had been gay and
bright, while now, when they were about to part, perhaps never to
meet again, she showed him the deeper and more earnest side of her
character. It checked his boldness as nothing else had done.
Suddenly there came to him the real meaning of a woman's love when
she bestows it without reservation. Silenced by the thought that he
had not understood her at all, and the knowledge that he had been
half in sport, he gazed out over the wild country before them.
The scene impressed its quietness upon the young couple and brought
more forcibly to their minds the fact that they were at the gateway
of the unknown West; that somewhere beyond this rude frontier
settlement, out there in those unbroken forests stretching dark and
silent before them, was to be their future home.
From the high bank where they stood the land sloped and narrowed
gradually until it ended in a sharp point which marked the last bit
of land between the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. Here these
swift streams merged and formed the broad Ohio. The new-born river,
even here at its beginning proud and swelling as if already certain
of its far-away grandeur, swept majestically round a wide curve and
apparently lost itself in the forest foliage.
On the narrow point of land commanding a view of the rivers stood a
long, low structure enclosed by a stockade fence, on the four
corners of which were little box-shaped houses that bulged out as if
trying to see what was going on beneath. The massive timbers used in
the construction of this fort, the square, compact form, and the
small, dark holes cut into the walls, gave the structure a
threatening, impregnable aspect.
Below Nell and Joe, on the bank, were many log cabins. The yellow
clay which filled the chinks between the logs gave these a peculiar
striped appearance. There was life and bustle in the vicinity of
these dwellings, in sharp contrast with the still grandeur of the
neighboring forests. There were canvas-covered wagons around which
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