THE RANGER

CONTENTS.


I. Zeb and his Master

II. The Night of Terror

III. Kent and Leslie

IV. The Captives

V. The Meeting on the River

VI. The Raft

VII. Lost and Found

VIII. The Companion in Captivity

IX. Zeb's Revenge

X. The Brief Reprieve

XI. A Friend

XII. Escape

XIII. The Captive

XIV. The Rescue

XV. The Fugitives Flying no Longer



CHAPTER I.

ZEB AND HIS MASTER.


At the southern part of Ohio, where the river of that name swerves from
its south-western course, and makes a sweeping bend toward the
north-west, many years ago stood a large and imposing dwelling. Its
character, so different and superior to others found here and there
along the Ohio, showed that its owner must have been a man both of
superior taste and abundant means. It had been built by Sir William
Leland, who had emigrated from Europe with his young wife, and erected a
home in the western wilderness. Here they lived a goodly number of days;
and when, at last, they took their departure within a year of each
other, they left behind them a son and daughter to cherish and inherit
their home.

George Leland, at the time of which we speak, was but twenty, while his
sister Rosalind was three years his junior. Yet both, with the
assistance of a faithful negro servant, managed to live quite
comfortably. The soil was exceedingly rich, and, with a little pains,
yielded abundantly every thing that could be wished, while the river and
wood were unfailing resources. Three years had elapsed since the elder
Leland's death, and during that time, although living in a country
swarming with Indians, nothing had occurred to alarm the fears of our
friends, or even to give them the slightest suspicion that danger
threatened them.