1
Afar in the Forest
CHAPTER ONE.
OUR HABITATION IN THE FOREST--MY SHARE OF THE SPOILS OF THE DAY'S CHASE--UNCLE MARK COMMENCES HIS NARRATIVE--WHY MY UNCLES DECIDED TO EMIGRATE--LANDING IN SAFETY, THEY START UP COUNTRY--THEIR MEETING WITH SIMON YEARSLEY, AN OLD SETTLER--THE SETTLEMENT IS FOUND IN RUINS--LILY AND I RESCUED--UNCLE MARK PROMISES TO RESUME HIS NARRATIVE ON THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY--MY LOVE OF NATURAL HISTORY--UNCLE MARK CONTINUES HIS NARRATIVE--YEARSLEY GOES IN PURSUIT OF THE INDIANS--THE BURIAL OF LILY'S MOTHER--THE RETURN TO THE WAGGON--THEY REACH THE NEAREST SETTLEMENT-- ALARM OF THE SETTLERS UPON HEARING OF THE OUTRAGE COMMITTED BY THE INDIANS--UNCLE STEPHEN'S MARRIAGE--CONCLUSION OF UNCLE MARK'S NARRATIVE--LILY AND I GO BERRYING--WE ARE ATTACKED BY A WOLF--KEPENAU SAVES OUR LIVES--HIS PRESENT OF VENISON TO AUNT HANNAH--KEPENAU'S BELIEF IN THE GOODNESS OF THE GREAT SPIRIT--THE INDIAN'S ADVICE.
"Is Lily not Uncle Stephen's daughter, then?" I asked.
The question was put to my uncle, Mark Tregellis, whom I found seated in front of our hut as I returned one evening from a hunting excursion--it having been my duty that day to go out in search of game for our larder. Uncle Mark had just come in from his day's work, which had been that of felling the tall trees surrounding our habitation. He and I together had cleared an acre and a half since we came to our new location.
It was a wild region in which we had fixed ourselves. Dark forests were on every side of us. To the north and the east was the great chain of lakes which extend a third of the way across North Ame