The Boy Hunters by Captain Mayne-Reid
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The Boy Hunters
Adventures in Search of a White Buffalo
CHAPTER ONE.
THE HOME OF THE HUNTER-NATURALIST.
Go with me to the great river Mississippi. It is the longest river in the world. A line that would measure it would just reach to the centre of the earth,--in other words, it is four thousand miles in length. Go with me to this majestic river.
I do not wish you to travel to its source; only as far up as Point Coupee, about three hundred miles from its mouth. There we shall stop for a while--a very short while--for we have a long journey to make. Our route lies to the far west--over the great prairies of Texas; and from Point Coupee we shall take our departure.
There is a village at Point Coupee--a quaint, old, French-looking village built of wood. In point of fact it is a French village; for it was one of the earliest settlements of that people, who, with the Spaniards, were the first colonists of Western America. Hence we find, to this day, French and Spanish people, with French and Spanish names and customs, all through the Mississippi valley and the regions that lie west of it.
We have not much to do with these things at present, and very little to say of Point Coupee, more than we have already said. Our subject is an odd-looking house that, many years ago, stood upon the western bank of the river, about a mile below the village. I say it stood there many years ago; but it is very likely that it is still standing, as it was a firm, well-built house, of hewn logs, carefully chinked, and plastered be