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Betty Zane-Part1_Zane Gray(1872-1939)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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in what was then known as Berkeley county. There his five sons, and one

daughter, the heroine of this story, were born.



Ebenezer Zane, the eldest, was born October 7, 1747, and grew to manhood in

the Potomac valley. There he married Elizabeth McColloch, a sister of the



famous McColloch brothers so well known in frontier history.

Ebenezer was fortunate in having such a wife and no pioneer could have been



better blessed. She was not only a handsome woman, but one of remarkable force

of character as well as kindness of heart. She was particularly noted for a



rare skill in the treatment of illness, and her deftness in handling the

surgeon's knife and extracting a poisoned bullet or arrow from a wound had



restored to health many a settler when all had despaired.

The Zane brothers were best known on the border for their athletic prowess,



and for their knowledge of Indian warfare and cunning. They were all powerful

men, exceedingly active and as fleet as deer. In appearance they were



singularly pleasing and bore a marked resemblance to one another, all having

smooth faces, clear cut, regular features, dark eyes and long black hair.



When they were as yet boys they had been captured by Indians, soon after their

arrival on the Virginia border, and had been taken far into the interior, and



held as captives for two years. Ebenezer, Silas, and Jonathan Zane were then

taken to Detroit and ransomed. While attempting to swim the Scioto river in an



effort to escape, Andrew Zane had been shot and killed by his pursuers.

But the bonds that held Isaac Zane, the remaining and youngest brother, were



stronger than those of interest or revenge such as had caused the captivity of

his brothers. He was loved by an Indian princess, the daughter of Tarhe, the



chief of the puissant Huron race. Isaac had escaped on various occasions, but

had always been retaken, and at the time of the opening of our story nothing



had been heard of him for several years, and it was believed he had been

killed.



At the period of the settling of the little colony in the wilderness,

Elizabeth Zane, the only sister, was living with an aunt in Philadelphia,



where she was being educated.

Colonel Zane's house, a two story structure built of rough hewn logs, was the



most comfortable one in the settlement, and occupied a prominent site on the

hillside about one hundred yards from the fort. It was constructed of heavy



timber and presented rather a forbidding appearance with its square corners,

its ominous looking portholes, and strongly barred doors and windows. There



were three rooms on the ground floor, a kitchen, a magazine room for military

supplies, and a large room for general use. The several sleeping rooms were on



the second floor, which was reached by a steep stairway.

The interior of a pioneer's rude dwelling did not reveal, as a rule, more than



bare walls, a bed or two, a table and a few chairs--in fact, no more than the

necessities of life. But Colonel Zane's house proved an exception to this.



Most interesting was the large room. The chinks between the logs had been

plastered up with clay and then the walls covered with white birch bark;



trophies of the chase, Indian bows and arrows, pipes and tomahawks hung upon

them; the wide spreading antlers of a noble buck adorned the space above the



mantel piece; buffalo robes covered the couches; bearskin rugs lay scattered

about on the hardwood floor. The wall on the western side had been built over



a huge stone, into which had been cut an open fireplace.

This blackened recess, which had seen two houses burned over it, when full of



blazing logs had cheered many noted men with its warmth. Lord Dunmore, General

Clark, Simon Kenton, and Daniel Boone had sat beside that fire. There



Cornplanter, the Seneca chief, had made his famous deal with Colonel Zane,

trading the island in the river opposite the settlement for a barrel of



whiskey. Logan, the Mingo chief and friend of the whites, had smoked many

pipes of peace there with Colonel Zane. At a later period, when King Louis



Phillippe, who had been exiled from France by Napoleon, had come to America,

during the course of his melancholy wanderings he had stopped at Fort Henry a






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