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' ■; ' ■ } POETP/J. Jrr FROM TUG N. T. MORNING CHRONICLE. STANZAS. “ And false the light o/i glory's plume” Moore. We may twine the green wreath round the brow of the brave, "VVe may tread in the footsteps of glory, And fame from oblivion a record may save That shallAaake us resplendent in story. Tot what is the wreath that the world holds so liigh ? Will it free vt; from care of the morrow ? Will it dry the big tear-drop in misery’s eye, Or soften the throbbings of sorrow ? No, not in this world must we look for relief, From the bright gilded pages of story; For the wounds that are made by the arrows of grief, Are ne’er hosted by the bandage of glory: But to brighten the cloud which may darken our brow, The hope of eternity’s given. Extract from Mr. Cooper's -Vere Novel, “ THE PRAIRIE.” CHAPTER III. “ Catnf, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood, as any in Italy: and as soon moved to be moody, and as totfi'seyaody to be moved.”—Romeo and Juliet. houglnthe trapper manifested some sur- he perceived that another hu- ^Yns npnroaching him, and that, r- djSPQtion opposite to the place ejfflSraat had made his encamp- * with the steadiness of one Ioj g to scenes of danger here gives offence, I am sorry; ana^ni @5 my way. It is more than likely that'when your young friend has told het story ,^-you ■trill Ko KoIIai* miron 4a KaIia«ta minn ^ . will be better given to believe mine. undo, iUpncle veu can call one who I’ll swear is no relation, has.hoppled his teams, and tell the oW man my mind now, as I shall be a year hence. You have tfnly to say a * Friend !’ said the youth, lifting a cap oF "siQgl^word,* tjncTffihe thing is done ; let him - . — V V. M _ .1 ..^ A Z 1— !~ X!ml*f_ a «A am iNwl as is a man/ he said, ‘ and one wb r . in his veins, or his step It will he well to he ready for^fiie worst, as the half-and-halfs that one white blood would be lighter. Jjgets in these distant districts,, are alto gether more barbarous that the real savage.’ ye raised his rifle while he spoke, and aspired himself of the state of its flint, as wnlas of the priming, by manual exarnina- Rut liis arm was arrested, while in thJbV’t of throwing forward the muzzle of tbUV,by the eager and trembling hands of b^companion. - ‘ FolGod’s sake, be not too hasty,’ she said, ‘ irfnay be a friend—an acquaintance— a neigh tbur.’ ‘ A firnd !’ the old man repeated, delibe rately r/leashig himself at the same time from hi grasp, ‘Friends are.rare in any land, aid less in this, perhaps, than in an other; \nd the neighborhood is too thinly settled i> make it likely, that he who comes towards i\sis even an acquaintance.* ‘ Rut th ugh a stranger, you would not seek his blood!’ The trapver earnestly regarded her anx ious and f;£ht< then he d; hi t-tt* ■features a moment* and butt of his l iflei pn foe t or himself \ i wmjnm'v iiini |[ iiiiiiii| * she is right; spilt, to store the life of 'eftfhpig^ useless, and so near his allotted time. iMUrn come on ; my skins, my traps, and jfefyeh mv rifle shall be his, if he sees fit to demand them.’ ‘ He will ask for neither—he wants nei ther,’ returned the girl; ‘ if he be an honest man, he will surely be content with his own, and ask for nothing that is the property of another.’ The trapper had not time to express the surprise h e felt at t!,e incoherent and con tradictory' language he heard ; for the man who was advancing, was already within fifty feet of the place whore they stood.—In the mean time Hector had not been an in different witness of-what was passing. At the sound of the distant footsteps, he had arisen from his warm bed at the feet of his master-; and now, as the stranger appeared in open view, he stalked slowly towards him, crouching to the earth like a panther about to take his leap. * Call in your dog,’ said a firm, deep, manly voice, in tones of friendship, rather than of menace; * I love a hound, and should be snrrv to do aJnjury to the animal.’ .‘ You hear what is said about you, pup?’ the trapper answered; ‘ come hither fool. His growl and his bark are all that is left him now ; you may come on, friend ; the hound is -toothless.’ The stranger instantly' profited by the in telligence. He sprang eagerly forward, and at the next instant stood at the side of Ellen Wade. A fler assuring himself of the identi ty of the latter, by a hasty but keen glance, he turned his attention, with a quickness and impatience that proved the interest he took in the result, to a similar examination of her companion. * From what cloud have you fallen, my good old man V ho said in a careless, off- hard, heedless manner, that seemed too natural to be assumed. ‘ Or do you actual ly live hereaway, in the prairies V * 1 have been long on earth, and never l hope nigher to Heaven than I am at this mo ment,' returned the- trapper; * my dwelling, if dwelling 1 may be said to have, is not far distant. Now may I take the liberty with you, that you are so willing to take with others ? Whence do you come, and where is your home?’ * Softly, softly, when I have done with my catechism it will be time to begin with yours. What sport is this, you follow by moon-light ? You are not dodging the buffa loes at such an hour !* ' ‘ I am, as you see* going from an encamp merit of travellers, which lies over yonder swell in the land, to my own wigwam; in doing so 1 wrong no man.' * All /air and true. And you got this -young woman to show you the way, because she knows it so well and you know so little about it.' * I met her* as 1 have met you, by acci dent. For ten tiresome years have I dwelt on these open fields, and never, before to night, have 1 found human beings with white fXUis on them at this hour. If my presenc- skins from his head, and running his fingers leisurely through a dense mass of black and shaggy locks, * if I ever laid eyes on the girl before to-night, may I—” ‘ You’ve said enough, Paul,’ interrupted the female, laying her hand on his mouth with a familiarity that gave something very -like the lie direct to his intended assevera tion. ‘ Our secret will be safe with this honest old man. I know it by his looks and kinds words.* * Our secret! Ellen, have you forgot—” * Nothing. I have not forgotten any thing I should remember. But still I say we are safe with this honest trapper.' ‘ Trapper! is he then a trapper! Give me your hand, father; our trades should bring us acquainted.’ .< ‘ There is little call for handicraftfrin this region,* returned the other, examining t||e athletic and active form of the youth, as he leaned carelessly and not ungracefully on his rifle; ‘ the art of taking the creatures of God, in traps * and nets, is one that needs more cunning than manhood ; and yet I am brought to practice it in my age I But it would be quite as seemly, in one like you, to follow a pursuit better becoming your years and courage.’ ‘ Me ! 1 never took even a slinking mink or padling muskrat in a cage; though I ad mit having peppered a few of the dark-skin’d devils, when I had much better have kept my powder in the horn and the lead in its pouch. Not I,, old man.; nothing that crawls the earth is for my sport.* ‘What then may you do for a living, friend; for little profit is to he made in these districts, if a man denies himself his lawful right in the boasts of the field.’ ‘ I deny myself nothing. If a bear crosses my path, he is soon no bear. The deer be gin to nose me; and as for the buffaloc, I have killed more beef old stranger, than the largest butcher in all Kentucky. ‘You can shoot then!’ demanded the trapper, with a glow of latent fire glimmer ing about his small, deep-set eyes, ‘ is your hand true, and your look quick V ‘ The first is like a steel trap, and the last nimbler than a buck-shot. I wish it was hot noon, now, grand’ther; and that there was an acre or two of your white swans or of black feathered ducks going south, over our heads; you or Ellen here, might set ycr.il- heart on the finest in the flock, and my character against a horn of powder, that the bird would he hanging head downward? in five minutes, and that too with a single ball. I scorn a shot gun 1 No man can say he ever knew me cart-;'one, a rod.’ ‘ The lad has good him ! I see it plain!v by his manner;’ said the trapper, turning to Ellen with an open, encouraging air! will take it on myself to say that you are not unwise in meeting him as von do. Tell me lad; did yon ever strike a leaping buck atvvixt the antlers? Hector; quiet, pup; quiet. The very name of vension quickens the blood of the cur;—did you ever take an animal in that fashion, on the long leap V * You might just as well ask me, did you ever eat ? There is no fashion, old stranger, that a deer has not been touched by my hand, unless it was when asleep.’ Ay, ay; you have a long and a happy— ay, and an honest life afore you! I am old, and I suppose I might also say, worn out and useless;—-hut, if it was given mo to choose my time and place again.—as such things are not and ought not ever to be given to the will of man,—though* if such a gift was to be given me, l would say, twenty and the wilderness! But, tell me ; how do you part with the peltry ?’ * With my pelts 1 I never took a skin from a buck nor a quill from a goose in my life knock them over, now and then, for meal, and sometimes to keep my finger true to the touch ; but when hunger is satisfied the prairie wolves get the remainder. N no—I keep to my calling; which pays me better, than all the fur I _ could sell on the other side of the big river.* The old man appeared to ponder a little but shaking his head, he soon musingly con tinued * I know of but one business that can be followed here with profit—* He was interrupted by the youth, who raised a small cup of tin, which dangled at his neck, before the other’s eyes, and spring ing its lid, the delicious odour of the finest flavoured honey diffused itself. over the organs of the trapper. * A bee-hunter!’ observed the latter* with readiness that proved he understood the nature of the occupation, though not without some purprise at discovering one of the other’s spirited mien engaged in so humble a pursuit. ‘ It pays well in the skirts of the settlements, but I should call it a doubtful trade in the open districts.* You think a tree is wanting for a swarm to settle in ! But I know differently ; and so I have stretched put a few hundred miles farther west, than common, to taste your honey. And now I have bated your curi osity, stranger, you will just move aside* while I tell the remainder of my story to this young woman.’ ‘ It is not necessary* I'm sure it is not necessary that he should leave us,' said El len, with a haste that implied some little consciousness of the singularity, if not of the impropriety of the request. ‘You can have nothing to say that the whole world might not hear.' ‘ No! well, may I be stung to death by drones if I understand the buzzings of a woman’s mind! For my part, Ellen, I care for nothing nor any body ; and am just as ready to go down to the place where your like it orAiot? ‘ You are ever so hasty and so rash, Paul Hover, that I seldom know when I am safe with you. IIow can you, who know the danger o'f our] being seen together, speak of going before iny uncle and his son V *■ Has he done that of which he has reason to be ashameddemanded the trapper, who had not moved an inch from, the place he firsl occupied. Heaven forbid \- But thhre are reasons why he should not be seen just now; that could do him no harm if known, hut which may not yet be told.—And so if you will wait, father, near yonder willow bush; until I have heard what Paul can possibly have to say, I shall be sure to come and wish you a good night, before I return to the camp.' ‘ Ay, ay; foe secret is out! you have run the hound on the track of a wolf, and his nose lias a bqjter memory than his master!’ said thej>ce-hupter, laughing. ‘ I have seen the creature sleep for hours* with pack after pack, m open view. * Xwolf might eat out of his tray without a snarl, un less there was a scarcity ; then, indeed, Hector would be apt to claim his own.’ ‘There are pantherq down from the moun tains ; I saw one make a leap at a sick deer as the sun was setting. Go ; go you back to the dog, and tell him the ‘ruth, father ; in a minute I—’ He was interrupted by a long, loud, and piteous howl, from the hound, which rose on the airofthe evening like the wqilinjr of some spirit of the place, and passed off into the prairie, in cadences that rose and fell like its own undulating surface. The trapoer was impressively silent, listening intently. Even the reckless bee-hunter, was struck with the wailing wildness of the sounds. The trapper drew slowly aside, as if satis-" After a short pause the former whittled the fied with the somewhat incoherent reason Ellen had given why he should retire. When completely out of ear shot of the ear nest and hurried dialogue, that instantly commenced between the two he had left, the old 'man again paused and patiently a- waited the moment when he might renew his conversation with beings in whom he felt a growing interest, no less from the mysteri ous character of their intercourse than from natural sympathy in the welfare of a pair so young, and who; as in the simplicity of his heart he was fain to believe, were also so deserving. He was accompanied by his indolent but attached dog, who once more made his bed at the feet of his master, and soon lay slumbering as usual, with his head nearly buried in the dense fog of the prairie grass. It was so unusual a spectacle to see the human form-amid the solitude in which he dwelt, that the trapper bent his eyes on the dim figures of his new acquaintances with sensations to which he had long been a stranger. Their presence awakened recol lections and emotions, to which his sturdy hut honest nature had latterly paid but little homage, and hfs thoughts began to wander over the varied scenes of a life of hardships, that had been strangely blended with scenes of wild and peculiar eniovment.—The train taken by his thoughts had already conducted him, in imagination, far into an ideal world, when he was once more called suddenly to the reality of his situation, by the movements of his faithful hound. The dog who in submission to his years and infirmities, had manifested such a decid ed propensity to sleep* mow rose, and stalk ed from out of the shadow cast by the tall person of his master, and looked abroad into the prairie, as though his instinct apprised him of the presence of still another visiter. Then, seemingly content with his examina tion, he returned to his comfortable post, and disposed of his weary limbs with the deO »eration and care of'one who was no no vice in the art of self-preservation. * What, agaii. Hector!’ said the trapper, in a soothing voice, which he had the cau tion, however, to utter in an under tone ; ‘ what is’t dog ? tell his master, pup ; what is’t ?’ Hector answered with another growl, but was content to continue in his lair. ,/These were evidences of intelligence and distrust, to which one as practised as the trapper could not turn an inattentive ear. He again spoke to the dog, encouraging him to watch fulness by a low, guarded whistle. The animal, however, as if conscious of having already discharged his duty, obstinately re fused to raise his head from the grass “ A hint fromr such a friend is far better than man’s advice 1” muttered the trapper, as he slowly moved towards the couple,who were yet too earnestly and abstractedly en gaged in their own discourse to notice his approach ; “ and none but a conceited tier would hear it and not respect it, as ’ he ought. Children,” he added, when near en ough to address his companions, * we are not alone in these dreary fields ; there are others stirriQg, and, therefore, to the shame of our kind be it said, danger is nigh. ‘ If one of them lazy sons of skirting Tshmael is prowling out of his camp to night,” said the young bee-hunter, with great viva' city, and in tones that might easily have been excited to a menance, “ he may have an end put to his journey, sooner either than he or his father has calculated !* * My life on it, they are all with the teams hurriedly answered the girl. * I saw the whole of them asleep myself, except the two on watch ; and their natures have great ly changed, if they, too, are not both dream ing of a turkey-hunt, or a court-house fight at this very moment.* ‘Some beast, with a strong scent, has pas sed between the wind and the hound, father, and it makes,him uneasy ; or, perhaps, he too is dreaming. I had a pup of my own in Kentucky, that would start upon a iong chase from a deep sleep ; and all upon the fancy of some dream. Go to him and pinch his ear, that the beast may feel the life in him. * Not so—not so,’ returned the trapper shaking Iiis head as one who better under stood the qualities, of his dog. ‘ Youth sleeps, ay, and dreams too; but age is a wake and watchful. The pup is never false with his nose, and long experience tells me to heed his warnings.’ ‘ Did you ever run him upon foe trial of carrion?’ * Why I must say that the ravenous beasts have sometimes tempted me to let him loose for they are as greedy as men after the veni son, in its season—but then I knew the rea son of the dog would tell him the object— no—no, Hector is an animal known in thp ways of man, and will nqver strike a false trail when a ttue one is to be followed !' dog to his side, and then, turning to his com panions, he said, with the seriousness which in his opinion, the occasion demanded— * They who think man enjoys all the knowledge of the creatures of God, will live to be disappointed, if they reach, as I have done, the age of four score years, I will not take upon myself to say what mischief is brewing, nor will I vouch that even the hound himself knows so much; but evil is nigh, and that wisdom invites us to avoid it, I have heard from the mouth of one who never lies. I did think the pup had become unused to the footsteps of man. and that your presence made him uneasy; but his nose has »>een on a Jong scent the whole 1 evening, and what I mistook as a notice of your homing, has been, intended for some thing much more serious. If the advice of an old man is, then, worth hearkening to, children, you will quickly go different ways to your places of shelter and safety.’ * If I quit Ellen, at such a moment,’ ex claimed the youth, * may I never—’ ‘ You’ve said enough!’ the girl interrupt ed, by again interposing a hand that mighf, both by its delicacy and colour, have graced a far more elevated station in life; ‘ my time is out ; and we must part, at all events—So good night, Paul—father—good night.’ ‘ Hist 1 .’ said the youth, seizing her arm as she was in the very act of tripping from his side—•■* Hist! do you hear nothing? There are buffaloes playing their pranks at no great distance—that sound beats the earth like a mad herd of the scampering devils !* His two comoanions listened, as people in their situation would be apt to lend thoir faculties to discover the meaning of any doubtful noises especially when heard after so many and such startling warnings. The unusual sounds were now > unequivocally, though still faintly audible. The vouth and his female companion had made several' hurried and vacillating conjectures concern ing their nature, when a current oftbe night air brought the rush of trampling foot««eps too sensibly to their ears, to render mistake any longer possible. ‘ l am right!’ said the bee-hunter; * a panther is driving a herd before him ; or may be, there is a battle among the beasts.’ * Your ears are cheats ;’ returned the r id man, who, from the moment his own organs had been able to catch the distant sounds, had stood like a statue made to represent attention.—‘ The leaps are too long for the buftaloe, and too regular for terror. Hist; now they_are in the bottom where the grass is high, and the sound is deadened ! Ay. there they go upon the hard earth ! And now they come up the swell, dead upon us ; they will he here afore you can find a cover!’ ‘ Come, Ellen,’ cried the youth, seizing his companion by the hand* ‘ let us make a trial for the encampment.’ Too late! too late?’ exclaimed the trapper, for the creatures are in open view ; and a bloody band of accursed Siouxes they are, by their thieving look and the random fashion in which they ride !’ ‘ Siouxes or devils, they shall find us men!’ said the bee-hunter, with a mein as fierce as though he led a party of superior strength, and of courage equal to h‘s own—‘ You have a piece, old man, and will pull triger in be half of a helpless Christian girl!’ ‘ Down, down into the grass—down with ye both,’ whispered the trapper, intimating to them to turn aside to the tall weeds, which grew in a denser body than common near the place nhere they stood. ‘You’ve not the time to fly nor the numbers to fight, foolish boy. Down into the grass, if you prize the young woman or value the gift of your own life!’ His remonstrance, seconded as it was by a prompt and energetic action, did not fail to produce the submission to his order, which the occasion now seemed, indeed, so impe riously to require. The moon had fallen behind a sheet of thin, fleecy clouds, which skirted the horizon, leaving just, enough of its faint and fluctuating light to render ob jects visible, dimly revealing their forms and proportions. The trapper,, by exercising that species of influence over his compan ions, which experience and decision usually assert, in cases of emergency, had effectu ally succeeded irr concealing them in the grass, and, by the aid of the feeble rays of the luminary, he was enabled to scan the dis orderly party, which was riding like so many madmen directly upon them. A band of beings, who resembled demons rather than men, sporting in their nightly revels across the bleak plain* was in truth approaching* at a fearful rate, and in a direc tion to leave little hope that some one a mong them, at least, would not pass over the spot'where the trapper and his compan ions lay. At intervals, the clattering of hoofs was borne along by the night wind quite audibly in their front, and then again, their progress through the fog of the autum nal grass was swift and silent; adding to the unearthly appearance of the spectacle. The trapper, who had called in his fibund, and bidding him crouch at his side, now kneeled tn the cover also; and kept a keen and watchful eye on the route of the band, soothing the fears of the girl, and restrain ing the impatience.of the youth, in the same breath. ‘ If there’s cue, there’s thirty of the mis creants ?’ ho said in a sort of episode to his whispered comments. “ Ay, ay, they are edging towards the river—Peace, pup— peace—no here they come this-a-way again —tlie thieves don’t seem to know their own errand ! If they were just six of us, lad, what a beautiful amhushnient we might make upon them- from this very spot—it wont do, it wont do, boy : keep yourself closer, or your head will be seen—besides, I’m not altogether strong in the opinion it would be lawful, as they have done us no harm.— There they bend again to the river—no ; here they come up the swell—now is the moment to he as still as if the breath had done its duty and departed the body.’ The figure of the old man sunk into the grass while he was speaking, as though the final separation to which he alluded, had, in his own case, actually occurred, and, at tho next instant a hand of wild horsemen whirl ed by them, with the noiseless rapidity in which it might be imagined a troop of spec tres would pass. The dark and floating forms had already vanished, when the trap per ventured again to raise his head to a level with the tops of the bending herbage, motioning at the same time to his compan ions, to maintain their positions and their silence. * They are going down the swell towards the encampment,’ he continued in his former guarded tones ; ‘ no they halt at the bottom and are clustering together like deer in coun cil. By the Lord they are turning again, and we are not yet done with the reptiles!” Once more he sought his friendly cover, and at the next instant the dark troop were to be seen riding, in a disorderly manner, on the very summit of the little elevation. It was now soon apparent that they had returned to avail themselves of the height of the ground in order to examine the dim horizon. Rome dismounted, while others rode to and fro, like men engaged in a local inquiry of much interest. Happily for the hidden party, the grass in which they were conceal ed not only served to screen them from the eyes of the savages, but opposed an obstacle to preVent thoir horses, which were no less rude and untrained than their riders, from trampling on them, in their irre gular and wild paces. At length an athletic and dark-looking Indian, who, by his air of authority, would 1 seem to be the leader, summoned his chiefs about him to a consultation, which vras held mounted. This body was collected on the very margin of that mass of herbage in which the trapper and his companions were hid. As the young man looked up and saw the threatening and fierce aspect of the groupe. which was increasing at each in stant by the accession of some countenance and figure apparently more forbidding than any which had preceded ; t, ho drew his rifle by a very natural imnulse. from beneath him, and commenced putting it in a state for in stant service. The female, at his side, bu ried her face in the grass, by a feeling that was, possibly, quite as natural to her sex and habits, leaving him to follow the impul ses of his hot blood, but his aged and more prudent adviser whispered sternly in his ear. The tick of the lock is as well known to the knaves as the blast of a trumpet to a soldier ! Lay down the piece—lay down the piece—should the moon touch the barrel, it could not fail to be seen by the devils.whose eyes are keener than the blackest snake’s ! The smallest motion, now, would be sure to bring an arrow among us.’ The bee-hunter so far obeyed as to con tinue immoveable and silent. But there was still sufficient light to convince his com panion, by the contracted brow and threa tening eye of the young man, that a disco** very would not bestow a bloodless victory on the savages. Finding hie advice disre garded, foe trapper took his measures accor dingly, and awaited the result with a resig nation and calmness that were characteris tics of the individual. In the mean time the Siouxes (for the se- gacity of the old man was not deceived in the character of his dangerous visiters) had terminated their council, and were again disnersed along the ridge of land as if they sought some hidden object. * The imps have heard the hound !’ whis pers the trapper, ‘ and their ears are too truer to be cheated imthe distance. Keep close* lad, keep close down with your head to the very earth, like a dog that sleeps.’ • 4 ‘ Let us rather take to our feet, and trust to manhood,* returned his impatient com panion— He would have proceeded, but feeling a hand laid rude’v on his shoulder he turned his eyes upward, and beheld the dark and savage countenance of an Indian glooino- full upon him. Notwithstanding the sur prise and the disadvantage of his attitude the youth was not disposed to become a cap tive so easily. Quicker than the flash of his own gun, he sprang upon lvs feet, and was throtling his opponet with a power that would soon have terminated the contest when he felt the arms of the trapper thrown around his body, confining his exertions by* a strength very little inferior to his own. Before he had time to reproach his comrade for this apparent treachery, a dozen Siouxes, were around them, and the whole party were compelled to yield themselves as pris oners. A / \. *1 K '"Y-. .'Vii