The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Forest King, by Hervey Keyes

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Title: The Forest King
Wild Hunter of the Adaca

Author: Hervey Keyes

Release Date: January 24, 2008 [EBook #24417]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOREST KING ***

Produced by Steven desJardins

[Illustration: The Forest King]

THE FOREST KING;

OR,

THE WILD HUNTER OF THE ADACA.

A Tale of the Seventeen Century

NEW YORK:
WHEAT & CORNETT, PRINTERS, NO. 8 SPRUCE ST.
1878.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
HERVEY KEYES,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

PREFACE.

To Mayall the Valley of the Mohawk was a land where flowers bloomed,
where one fair girl flitted about through green glades and virgin
forests, and lifted his mind to the supernatural, and he seemed to
listen to the voice of seraphs. Then sweet memory brought him again to
the morning of life, and he stood by his mother's knee, and leaned upon
the cradle where he was rocked to soothe his infant mind. Again he rose
to manhood. The power of the music of the groves, and the sweet voice of
Nelly Gordon, was the angel of the moment, that unlocked the harmony of
the universe. Her eyes appeared as pure as the first rays of morning, as
it danced on the heaven-kissed hills of Paradise. Her heart expanded
with thankfulness, as she thought how rich she was in everything that
made life desirable to Mayall, her lover. She longed to give out the
stores of her own happiness, and Mayall seemed to think this lovely girl
had a special claim on him for life, which he seemed proud to admit and
willing to accept, as the richest gift that Heaven could bestow upon man
was Nelly Gordon.

* * * * *

In writing this short history of Mayall and his family, the hunter and
trapper of the Valley of the Adaca, I have gathered the main facts from
the first settlers in my youthful days, who found him in this then wild
but beautiful valley, a place of bloom and shade, dimpled on the face of
creation with a smile that renders life pleasing in solitude. The song
of birds, a