Scenes and Adventures in the Army: Sketches of Indians and Life Beyond the Border, Chapters XIII-XX [pp. 573-590]

Scenes aod Advenittrcs il the Arnty.
'I'liere, yet sits Lee the spectre's back|t Gone! gone! dinit nonae to save!
They're seen no more; the nighlt has shut them in.
May Ileiven have pity on thee, mall of Sill.
That cold, thin light now slowly f-tils,
'That wrapt them like at shrou(d.
Both ship -an(dl horse are f tidi n gt into ailo,Lost, mazed, alone, see Lee is staniding there!"
For a timte, Lee is stunned and subdned by his visi-
tation; he returns home, and finds that his comr,des have fled the isle, never to returny; and that
he alone is left to suffer punishment, and meet the
doomn; his heart sinks within him. Men sihun him.
"T he earth has wasth'd away i ts sti n.
The sealed-.lp sk-v is t)rea,king forth,
Muslering its olorious hosts agaill
Fromii the far South and North.
The climbing miioon plays on the rippling sea.
O, whithier on its watCes ri(letA Lee?"
Columiiibia,,S. Carolilna.
T error and madness drive hitr back to Imen;iliiie. cle...
His hate of man to solitude again."
For a time, he is free from supernatural visitation,
and the natural hardihood of the man returns; again
he rules and scoffs the crowd; but the year is coni- ENES AND ADVENTURES IN THE ARMY
ing round, and on the anniversary, the spectre- SKET(,IIES OF INDIANS, ANO LIFE BEYONI)'riHE BORDER.
horse bears him off again; his spirit now is crushed. By a Captait of U. States Dragitoots.
"Who's yonder on that long black ledge,
Which makes so far into the sea? CHAPTER XII[.
See! there lie sits and pulls the sedge- Fort Leavenworth was re-occupied by our batta l'oor, idle MAatthlew Lee!t
Poor, idle Matthew Lee. lion; a " fort" by courtesy, or rather by order: it
So weak anid pale? a year and little more,
And thou didst lord it bravely round the shore. was n reality but a strali ca
an admirable site. Thle Mlissouri, in an abrutpt
"It brought a tear to many an eye,
"It, boucet 1-l. teyarXd to Imanya lee. bend, rushes with wondrous swuftness against a
That once, lks eye had iriade to quail.
I Lee, go with us; our sloop rides nigh; rock-bound shore; fromt this the grottiud rises with
Come help us hoist tier sail.' a bold sweep to a hundred feet or more, then slo He shook.'You know the spirit horse I ride; ping gently into a shallow vale, it rises equally
He'll let me on the sea, with none beside.' again: and thus are formed a number of hills, which
The last act approaches, as the year closes. Lee are to the North connected by a surface but slightly
is seated in his room wailing his oom: betit, to which the vale insensibly ascends every
is seated in his room waitingi his doom:
-Not g le'll wait-where Pow ae gone line of every surface is cutrved with symmetry and
" Not lorld h-e'll wait —where row ale gone
Peak, citadel, and tower, that stood;beauty. On these hill-tops, shaded by forest-trees,
Beautiful while the west sun shone, Astands Fort Leavenworth. On the one hand is to
And bathed them in his flood be seen the mighty river winding in the distance,
Of airy glory?-sudden darkness fell; skirted by blue cliffs; on the other, rolling prairies,
And(] down they sank, peak, tower, and citadel. dotted with groves, and bounded on the West by a
"The darklness, like a dome of stonte, bold ridge; this enclosing in an elliptical sweep a
Ceils up the He.avens, tis thush as death- beautiful arupliitlieatre, terminates five miles South All b~ut the Oceant's (lull low moan.
Al ut the Ocea's (ull low ioa. w-rd in a knob, leaving between it and the river,a
Howe hard Lee draivvs his bJreath!.. v
IeHow hard Leshe deelas his breath Ior sview of the prairie lost in a dimrn and vague outline.
H-e shudders as he feels tile working power.
Arouse thee, Lee up man! it is thine hour!- How feeble are words! how inadequate to give a
gieneral idea much more to paint this rare scenery
"Tis close at hand: for there once more,
The burning ship. Wide sheets of flame where grandeur is softenedl by beauty, and the
And shafted fire she show'd before; beautifiil enhanced andel digniified by a magnificent
Twice thus she hither cadie:- outline.
But now she r-olls a naked hulk, and throws Blessed with a harmonious and congenial though
A wasting light; then settling down she ges. a small society, tie days, the months, flew by.
"And where she sank, up slowly came Our duties performed, and studious improvement
T'he spectre-horse from out the sea. not neglected, the pleasures of female society gave
Ait there he stands! his pale sides flamre — the greater zest to diversions and exercises. Often
He'll shortly mieet thee, Lee.
He'll shrl t. the whole of us, in a party, would canter for miles
-tle treads the waters aIs a solid floor:'
Hie's mioving, on. Lee meets himt at thc door. 11
ile's nrioving on. Lee meets lhim at the door. through prairie and grove, and spend the day on
the shady banks of. a pretty stream; there, where
" He's on thle beach; but stops not there,
"ie's on. teethe world hadl never made its mark-forgetful of
He's on the sea!' Lee (quit the horse' Lee strugnles hard-Les mqt despair Ae- its very existence-we gave our whole hearts to
Lee strug,gles hard —sis-mad despair! —
'T'is v,tin! the spirit corse sylvan sports, to feast and merriment, to happiness,
lHotls him by fearful spell;-hlie cannot leap; A week seldom passed without dancing parties, to
\Within that horrid light he rides the deep. which rare beauty and fine music lent their attrac'It lights the sea around thleir track- tions. Sentintels on a distant frontier, ever ready
The curling comb and dark steel wave: to throw ourselves in the face of savage enemies,
VOL. VIII-73
1842.1
57 3
E. D.
" Terror aDd malness drive 1-iltri I)ack to i-lieii;
His hate of man to solitude a,,ain."