{"product_id":"2940013447011","title":"The Wild Huntress","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE SQUATTER'S CLEARING.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe white-headed eagle, soaring above the spray of a Tennessean forest,\u003cbr\u003elooks down upon the clearing of the squatter.  To the eye of the bird it\u003cbr\u003eis alone visible; and though but a spot in the midst of that immense\u003cbr\u003egreen sea, it is conspicuous by the colour of the trees that stand over\u003cbr\u003eit.  They stand, but grow not: the girdling ring around their stems has\u003cbr\u003edeprived them of their sap; the ivory bill of the _log-cock_ has\u003cbr\u003estripped them of their bark; their leaves and twigs have long since\u003cbr\u003edisappeared; and only the trunks and greater branches remain, like\u003cbr\u003eblanched skeletons, with arms upstretched to heaven, as if mutely\u003cbr\u003eappealing for vengeance against their destroyer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe squatter's clearing, still thus encumbered, is a mere vistal opening\u003cbr\u003ein the woods, from which only the underwood has been removed.  The more\u003cbr\u003eslender saplings have been cut down or rooted up; the tangle of\u003cbr\u003eparasitical plants have been torn from the trees; the cane-brake has\u003cbr\u003ebeen fired; and the brush, collected in heaps, has melted away upon the\u003cbr\u003eblazing pile.  Only a few stumps of inferior thickness give evidence,\u003cbr\u003ethat some little labour has been performed by the axe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven thus the clearing is a mere patch--scarcely two acres in extent--\u003cbr\u003eand the rude rail-fence, that zig-zags around it, attests that the owner\u003cbr\u003eis satisfied with the dimensions of his agricultural domain.  There are\u003cbr\u003eno recent marks of the axe--not even the \"girdling\" of a tree--nothing\u003cbr\u003eto show that another rood is required.  The squatter is essentially a\u003cbr\u003ehunter; and hates the sight of an extensive clearing--as he would the\u003cbr\u003elabour of making one.  The virgin forest is his domain, and he is not\u003cbr\u003ethe man to rob it of its primeval charms.  The sound of the lumberer's\u003cbr\u003eaxe, cheerful to the lonely traveller, has no music for his ear: it is\u003cbr\u003eto him a note of evil augury--a knell of dread import.  It is not often\u003cbr\u003ethat he hears it: he dwells beyond the circle of its echoes.  His\u003cbr\u003enearest neighbour--a squatter like himself--lives at least a mile off;\u003cbr\u003eand the most proximate \"settlement\" is six times that distance from the\u003cbr\u003espot he has chosen for his cabin.  The smoke of his chimney mingles with\u003cbr\u003ethat of no other: its tall column ascends to heaven solitary as the\u003cbr\u003esquatter himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe clearing is of an irregular semi-circular shape--a deep narrow\u003cbr\u003estream forming the chord, and afterwards cleaving its way through the\u003cbr\u003eotherwise unbroken forest.  In the convexity of the arc, at that point\u003cbr\u003emost remote from the water, stands the cabin--a log \"shanty\" with\u003cbr\u003e\"clapboard\" roof--on one side flanked by a rude horse-shed, on the other\u003cbr\u003eby a corn-crib of split rails.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158438920432,"sku":"2940013447011","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013447011_p0.jpg?v=1763592522","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013447011","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}