The Woodranger

As the distant baying of a hound broke like a discordant note upon the quiet of the summer afternoon, a youth sprang upright on the pinnacle of a cliff which reared its bald hea...

So sudden and strange was the leap to death of the hunted deer, that Norman McNiel stood for a moment stupefied by a sense of horror at the strange sight. The hound, a magnifice...

“Don’t make any wanton move,” warned Woodranger. “If I’m not mistaken the younker is one o’ the Scotch settlers on the river, and he’s a likely lad, or I’m no jedge o’ human nat...

“If I should agree to answer for the lad’s being on hand to-morrow morning an hour afore sunup, would you let him go home till then?” asked Woodranger, the calmest one of the th...

Norman McNiel did not possess an excitable nature, and his thoughts did not flow with that acute swiftness so common to some persons, but he more than made up for this by a clea...

Norman felt that his grandfather’s real object in accompanying him was to get a look, if possible, at the Woodranger, who was expected to meet him on the river bank. But nothing...

The destination of Norman and his companions was a small settlement at the lower end of Tyng Township called Goffe’s Village, out of respect to one of its foremost inhabitants,...

Reaching forward and taking Norman’s firearm, he held it in his left hand, with inverted muzzle, while he laid the bullet on the top. There the round piece of lead rested, being...

A shooting-match in the days of the pioneers was always sure to attract a large crowd of spectators and a goodly number of marksmen. Such was the case in Tyng Township. It is tr...

The English were exultant over the victory won by their champions, while the Scotch-Irish claimed, as they well could, that the best shots had been made by two of their competit...

In less than twenty minutes the leaders of the approaching party were within plain sight of the conflagration, and paused for a hurried survey of the wild scene. The fire had ga...

“What is it, grandfather?” asked Norman, anxiously, as he half supported his aged relative, while they began to move slowly up the path. “Something has happened since I went awa...

“The McNiels are a bonnie race o’ men,” began the old Highlander, “an’ those o’ them are yet livin’ wha honour their memory. The braw Daniel, then ane o’ the Council o’ Londonde...

Norman made a wiser choice than he realised at the time in seeking Mr. Archibald Stark, or “Old Archie,” as he was generally called, though he was then only forty-seven years ol...

Meanwhile what has happened to little Archie Stark? Bears, as well as other wild beasts, were prowling about in the forests, often coming very near to the scattered dwellings of...

Though expecting to meet an exciting scene, Norman was not prepared for the startling tableau which greeted his gaze as he bounded into the house. Two men, companions of Gunwad,...

It was a still September day,――an ideal day for the canoe match. The sky had taken on that peculiar sapphire hue so common to the season. Never had the limpid current of the Mer...

With the cries of frenzied spectators ringing in their ears, with such wild energy in their limbs as they had never known, Norman and Rob sent their canoe ahead of the boys of t...

The outfit of the little party was very simple. The Woodranger was content with his faithful Danger thrown over his shoulder, and plenty of ammunition. Of course the boys had be...

While the boys stopped to admire the silvery sheet of water, hedged with wildwood growing to the very edge, the Woodranger reached silently into a dense thicket of bushes hangin...

“There be nothing without reason, and there be reason for that silence. Do you not see under the maple that leetle varmint o’ a skunk? Can it be possible the simpleton has been...

Little was said by the occupants of the canoe, while the Woodranger continued to use the paddle with his swift, silent strokes, until a cove on the northeast shore of Massabesic...

“One is and one isn’t, lad, though I reckon the good angel has writ out their records alike. Them graves were made for an Indian maid and her white lover. It was one o’ them ’fa...

When the boys awoke in the morning they found the Woodranger already astir. In fact, he had not only brought the wood and re-kindled the fire, but he had some fine fish broiling...

An exclamation of disgust left the Woodranger’s lips, and at the same moment his long rifle leaped to his shoulder. No sooner had his eye ran along its barrel than the ringing r...

Mount Pawtuckaway is the highest of three mountain peaks. Rearing its serried heights nearly a thousand feet above sea level, this rocky range is about as rugged a place as can...

“The moose!” exclaimed Rob Rogers, unable to remain silent any longer. But a warning gesture from the Woodranger enjoined silence again, and, wondering what his object could be...

The boys understood at once their danger. Happily for them, however, the situation was quickly changed by a short, hoarse, rasping roar from the larger moose. This cry, which ma...

It was indeed a moment fraught with great peril to the little party. As if it were not enough to meet the enraged monster in front without the appearance of this second giant, s...

The Monday following his return from the hunt Norman resumed work at Mr. Stark’s, and on his way there in the morning he saw Christo, the praying Indian, sitting in his doorway...

Though the Woodranger started away from the scene of the burned wigwam with Norman, he lingered somewhat in sight of the place, as if loath to depart. Even after he passed down...

Norman was returning from Mr. Stark’s at the close of the day, when, as he was passing the path leading from the road to the ruins of Christo’s wigwam, he fancied he heard some...

At this time, the all-absorbing topic of conversation in Tyng Township was the raising of the new meeting-house, which had been long deferred on account of the failure to build...

The big snow-storm, which ushered in Thanksgiving day, lasted until the fifteenth, when the weather cleared away biting cold. Then, on the twenty-second, the cold abated, and a...

“So you shall, lad, so you shall. These ol’ eyes ne’er looked on a more gladsome sight than to see you alive at this hour, and so well. But ere I get my ol’ tongue to babbling l...

It would indeed be difficult to describe the conflicting emotions felt by the little group, as the Woodranger went out of the house. Each felt that the strange man had departed...