Thrilling adventures among the early settlers, embracing desperate encounters with Indians, Tories, and refugees; daring exploits of Texan rangers and others .. . far belowthe mouth of the Green River. The barn-yard suffered to a greatextent, in the way of pigs, calves, and poultry, from their depreda-tions, which frequently, in mid-winter, were even carried to theaudacious extreme of attacking human beings. Indeed, it was nounusual thing for the belated footman, at such times, when theywere pressed by hunger, to find himself surrounded by a herd ofthem in the woods. Hence the adventure of old
Thrilling adventures among the early settlers, embracing desperate encounters with Indians, Tories, and refugees; daring exploits of Texan rangers and others .. . far belowthe mouth of the Green River. The barn-yard suffered to a greatextent, in the way of pigs, calves, and poultry, from their depreda-tions, which frequently, in mid-winter, were even carried to theaudacious extreme of attacking human beings. Indeed, it was nounusual thing for the belated footman, at such times, when theywere pressed by hunger, to find himself surrounded by a herd ofthem in the woods. Hence the adventure of old Dick, the fiddler. Old Dick, who was the property of one of the Hendersons, from THE WOLVES AND THE DARKEY FIDDLER. 3T3 whom the town and county take their names, was esteemed by hisgood-natured and wealthy master, as decidedly a privileged charac-ter. He was a good old good-for-nothing darkey, as the wordwent in the neighhorhood, whose sole merit consisted in his fid-dling—but, by the way!—singular as this merit was,—it in realityconstituted him by far the most important gemmen of colorwithin forty miles around. He had his time pretty much to him-. THE OLD DARKEY IN A TIGHT PLACE. self, and no one pretended to interfere with its disposal, as hismaster humorously styled him a necessary nuisance to the neigh-borhood, because he kept the darkeys in a good humor by hisIddle. Now Dick had most strongly developed the strongest and mostmarked traits of the fiddler, the world over, namely, punctiliousnessand punctuality. Upon either of these points he was peculiarlyirritable, nay even ferocious. With all the proverbial timidity ofthe child of genius, Old Dick was yet as savage as a hyena at any 374 THE WOLVES AND THE DARKEY FIDDLER. improprieties of etiquette which might chance to turn up during thesable orgies over which he presided; but nothing caused him to sofar forget the proprieties in his own person, as the interventionof any unusual or accidental causes of delay which p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectfrontierandpioneerli
