{"product_id":"2940013580343","title":"The Fatal Cord","description":"STORY ONE, CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA BIVOUAC OF BOY HUNTERS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Hunters' bivouac under the shadows of a Mississippian forest, in a\u003cbr\u003espot where the trees stand unthinned by the axe of the woodman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is upon the Arkansas side of the great river, not far from the town\u003cbr\u003eof Helena, and in the direction of Little Rock, the capital of that\u003cbr\u003eState.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe scene is a small glade, surrounded by tall cottonwood trees, one of\u003cbr\u003ewhich on each side, conspicuously \"blazed,\" indicates a \"trace\" of\u003cbr\u003etravel.  It is that leading from Helena to a settlement on the forks of\u003cbr\u003ethe White River and Cache.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe time is a quarter of a century ago, when this district of country\u003cbr\u003econtained a heterogeneous population, comprising some of the wildest and\u003cbr\u003ewickedest spirits to be found in all the length and breadth of the\u003cbr\u003ebackwoods border.  It was then the chosen home for men of fallen\u003cbr\u003efortunes, lawyers and land speculators, slave-traders and swindlers,\u003cbr\u003ehunters, who lived by the pursuit of game, and sportsmen, whose game was\u003cbr\u003ecards, and whose quarry consisted of such dissolute cotton planters as,\u003cbr\u003eforsaking their homes in Mississippi and Tennessee, had re-established\u003cbr\u003ethemselves on the fertile bottoms of the Saint Francis, the White and\u003cbr\u003ethe Arkansas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA glance at the individuals comprising the bivouac in question forbids\u003cbr\u003ethe supposition that they belong to any of the above.  There are six of\u003cbr\u003ethem; all are boys, the oldest not over twenty, while the youngest may\u003cbr\u003ebe under sixteen.  And though at the same glance you are satisfied that\u003cbr\u003ethey are but amateur hunters, the game they have succeeded in bringing\u003cbr\u003edown shows them gifted not only with skill but courage in the chase.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe carcase of a large bear lies beside them on the sward, his skin\u003cbr\u003ehanging from a tree, while several steaks cut from his fat rump, and\u003cbr\u003eimpaled upon sapling spits, sing pleasantly over the camp fire, sending\u003cbr\u003ea savoury odour far into the forest around.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47157667037424,"sku":"2940013580343","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013580343_p0.jpg?v=1763582589","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013580343","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}