Wild Western Scenes: a Narrative of Adventures in the Western
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University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Settler Literature Archive Department of English 1875 Wild Western Scenes: A Narrative of Adventures in the Western Wilderness, Wherein the Exploits of Daniel Boone, the Great American Pioneer are Particularly Described John Beauchamp Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/settler-literature Recommended Citation Jones, John Beauchamp, "Wild Western Scenes: A Narrative of Adventures in the Western Wilderness, Wherein the Exploits of Daniel Boone, the Great American Pioneer are Particularly Described" (1875). Settler Literature Archive. 21. https://commons.und.edu/settler-literature/21 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Settler Literature Archive by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. T V* I SAW HIM GASP. REEL, AND FALL. 1 WILD WESTERN SCENES: A NARRATIVE Of atrbentures in tfte fflStestern THE EXPLOITS OP DANIEL BOONE, THE GREAT AMERICAN PIONEER ARE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED ALSO, ACCOUNTS OB BEAR, DEER, AND BUFFALO HUNTS DESPERATE CONFLICTS THE SAVAGES WOLF r HUNTS-^FISHONG AND FOWLING \VJTH SERPENTS, ETC. MEW LTEflEf) ,RfVLSt CORRECTED STEREOTYPE LQIJIQN., 1 VAW BY J. B. JONES. JSfoimt from ii^f (Bwgrabiugs Original Jwigtw. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1863. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, bj J. B. JONES, in the Clerk s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District $ (JO. PREFACE. WHEN a work of fiction has reached its fortieth edition, one wuuld suppose the author might congratulate himself upon having contributed something of an imperishable character to the literature of the country. But no such pretensions are asserted for this production, now in its fortieth thousand. Being the first essay of an impetuous youth in a field where gianis even have not always successfully contended, it would be a lash assumption to suppose it could receive from those who confer such honors any high award of merit. It has been before the public some fifteen years, and has never been reviewed. Perl-aps the forbearance of those who wield the cerebral scalpels may not be further prolonged, and the book remains amenable to the judgment they may be pleased to pronounce. To that portion of the public who have read with approbation so many thousands of his book, the author may speak with greater confidence. To this class of his friends he may make disclosures and confessions pertaining to the secret history of the their "Wild Western Scenes," without the hazard of incurring displeasure. Like the hero of his book, the author had his vicissitudes in boyhood, and committed such indiscretions as were incident to one of his years and circumstances, but nevertheless only such as might be readily pardoned by the charitable. Like Glenn, he submitted to a voluntary exile in the wilds of Missouri. Hence the description of scenery is a true picture, and several characters in the scenes were real persons. Many of the occurrences actually transpired in his presence, or had been enacted in the vicinity at 3 M81712 4 PREFACE. no remote period; and the dream of the hero his visit to the haunted island was truly a dream of the author s. But the worst miseries of the author were felt when his work was completed; he could get no publisher to examine it. He then purchased an interest in a weekly newspaper, in the columns of which it appeared in consecutive chapters. The to it in a subscribers were pleased with it, and desired possess still the author volume; but no publisher would undertake it, had no reputation in the literary world. He offered it for fifty dollars, but could find no purchaser at any price. Believing the British booksellers more accommodating, a friend was employed to make a fair copy in manuscript, at a certain number of cents per hundred words. The work was sent to a British publisher, with whom it remained many months, but was returned, accom panied by a note declining to treat for it. Undeterred by the rebuffs of two worlds, the author had his cherished production published on his own account, and was remunerated by the sale of the whole edition. After the tardy sale of several subsequent editions by houses of limited influence, the book had the good fortune, finally, to fall into the hands of the gigantic establishment whose imprint is now upon its title- page. And now, the author is informed, it is regularly and liberally ordered by the London booksellers, and is sold with an increasing rapidity in almost every section of the Union. Such are the hazards, the miseries, and sometimes the rewards, of authorship. J. B. J. BURLINGTON, N. J., March, 1856. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. P10I Glenn and Joe Their horses A storm A black stump A rough tumble Moaning Stars Light A log fire Tents, and some thing to eat Another stranger, who turns out to be well known Joe has a snack He studies revenge against the black stump Boone proposes a bear hunt 9 CHAPTER II. Boone hunts the bear Hounds and terriers Sneak Punk, the hatchet-face Another stump The high passes The bear roused The chase A sight A shot A wound Not yet killed His meditations His friend, the bear The bear retreats Joe takes courage Joe fires Immense execution Sneak The last strug gle Desperation of the bear His death Sneak s puppies Joe 19 CHAPTER III. Glenn s castle Mary Books A hunt Joe and Pete A tumble An opossum A shot Another tumble A doe The return They set out again A mound A buffalo An encounter Night Terrific spectacle Escape Boone Sneak Indians 82 CHAPTER IV. The retreat Joe makes a mysterious discovery Mary A disclo sure Supper Sleep A cat- Joe s flint The watch Mary The bush The attack Joe s musket again The repulse The starting rally The desperate alternative Relief...... 48 1* 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PAM strange excursion A fairy scene Joe is puzzled and fright ened A wonderful discovery Navigation of the upper regions A crash No bones broken.... 65 CHAPTER VI. A hunt A deer taken The hounds Joe makes a horrid discovery Sneak The exhumation... , 77 CHAPTER VII. Boone The interment Startling intelligence Indians about A skunk Thrilling fears Boone s device 87 CHAPTER VIII. Night Sagacity of the hounds Reflection The sneaking savages Joe s disaster The approach of the foe under the snow The silent watch 99 CHAPTER IX. Sneak kills a sow that "was not all a swine" The breathless sus pense The match in readiness Joe s cool demeanour The match ignited Explosion of the mine Defeat of the savages The cap tive His liberation The repose The kitten Morning Ill CHAPTER X. The dead removed The wolves on the river The wolf hunt Gum fetid Joe s incredulity His conviction His surprise His pre dicament His narrow escape 126 CHAPTER XL J^ary Hei meditations Her capture Her sad condition Her mental sufferings Her escape Her recapture CONTENT*. CHAPTER XIL. PAOI /oe s indisposition His cure Sneak s reformation The pursuit The captive Indian Approach to the encampment of the savages Joe s illness again The surprise The terrific encounter Res- cue of Mary Capture of the young chief The return 154 CHAPTER XIII. The return The young chief in confinement Joe s fun His re ward The ring A discovery William s recognition Memories of childhood A scene Roughgrove s history The children s pa rentage 169 CHAPTER XIV. William s illness Sneak s strange house Joe s courage The bee hunt Joe and sneak captured by the Indians Their sad condi tion Preparations to burn them alive Their miraculous escape. 185 CHAPTER XY. Glenn s History 203 CHAPTER XVI. Balmy Spring Joe s curious dream He prepares to catch a fish, Glenn William and Mary Joe s sudden and strange appear ance La-u-na, the trembling fawn The fishing sport The ducking frolic Sneak and the panther 224 CHAPTER XVII. The bright morning Sneak s visit Glenn s heart The snake hunt Love and raspberries Joe is bitten His terror and suffer ings Arrival of Boone Joe s abrupt recovery Preparations to leave the West Conclusion .. 242 ILD WESTERN SCENES: A NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURES. CHAPTER I. Glenn and Joe Their horses A storm A black stump A t-ough tumble Moaning Stars Light A log fire Tents, and something to eat Another stranger, who turns out to be well known Joe has a snack He studies revenge against the black stump Boone pro poses a bear hunt. " Do you see any light yet, Joe ?" "Not the least speck that ever was created, except the lightning, and it s gone before I can turn my head to look at it." The interrogator, Charles Glenn, reclined musingly in a two-horse wagon, the canvas covering of which served in some measure to protect him from the wind and rain. His servant, Joe Beck, was perched upon one of the horses, his shoulders screwed under the scanty folds of an oil-cloth cape, and his knees drawn nearly up to the pommel of the saddle, to avoid the thumping bushes and briers that occa sionally assailed him, as the team plunged along in a stum bling pace. Their pathway, or rather their direction, for there was no beaten road, lay along the northern bank of the "Mad Missouri," some two hundred miles above the St.