d his hatred of
bowie-knife men, Captain Finn had another reason for not following the
mail-road. He had business to transact at the celebrated hot springs,
and he had to call on his way upon one of his brothers in-law, a son of
Boone, and a mighty hunter, who had settled in the very heart of the
mountains, and who made it a rule to take a trip every spring to the
Rocky Mountains. The second day, at noon, after a toilsome ascent of a
few thousand feet, we arrived at a small clearing on the top of the
mountains, where the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the fowls
announced the vicinity of a habitation, and, ere many minutes had
elapsed, we heard the sharp report of a rifle.

"Young Boone's own, I declare," exclaimed Finn; "'twas I that gave him
the tool. I should know its crack amidst a thousand. Now mark me, chief,
Boone never misses; he has killed a deer or a bear; if the first, search
for a hole between the fifth and sixth rib; if a bear, look in the eye.
At all events, the young chap is a capital cook, and we arrive in good
time. Did I not-say so? By all the alligators in the swamps! Eh, Boone,
my boy, how fares it with ye?"

We had by this time arrived at the spot where the buck lay dead, and
near the body was standing the gaunt form of a man, about forty years
old, dressed in tanned leather, and standing six feet nine in his
mocassins. Though we were within a yard of him, he reloaded his rifle
with imperturbable gravity, and it was only when he had finished that
job that I could perceive his grim features beaming with a smile.

"Welcome, old boy; welcome, stranger; twice welcome to the hunter's
home. I knew somebody was coming, because I saw the pigeons were flying
up from the valley below; and as dried venison won't do after a morning
trip, why, I took the rifle to kill a beast out of my _flock_" The
hunter grinned at his conceit. "You see," he continued, "this place of
mine is a genuine spot for a hunter. Every morning, from my threshold, I
can shoot a deer, a bear, or a turkey. I can't abide living in a country
where an honest man must toil a whole day for a mouthful of meat; it
would never do for me. Down Blackey, down Judith, down dogs. Old boy,
take the scalping-knife and skin the beast under the red oak."

This second part of the sentence was addressed to a young lad of
sixteen, an inmate of the hunter's cabin; and the dogs, having come to
the conclusion that we were not robbers, allowed us to dism