The intruding force had
done the business completely. They had made a full transfer, from their
old to their new quarters, of bag and baggage; and had possessed
themselves of all the log-houses in and about the disputed region. Their
fires were in full heat, to use the frontier phrase, and the water was
hissing in their kettles, and the dry thorns crackling under the pot.
Never had usurpers made themselves more perfectly at home; and the rage
of the old incumbents was, of course, duly heightened at a prospect of
so much ease and felicity enjoyed at their expense.
The enemy were about equal in point of number with those whom they had
so rudely dispossessed. They had, however, in addition to their
disposable force, their entire assemblage of wives, children, slaves,
and dependants, cattle and horses, enough, as Forrester bitterly
remarked, "to breed a famine in the land." They had evidently settled
themselves _for life_, and the ousted party, conscious of the fact,
prepared for the _dernier_ resort.
Pages:
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299