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Transcriber's Note

- The position of some illustrations has been changed to improve
readability.

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- In general, geographical references, spelling, hyphenation, and
capitalization have been retained as in the original publication.

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                              THE
                         FRONTIER ANGEL

                         [Illustration]

                        EDWARD S. ELLIS




  [Illustration: JIM PETERSON QUESTIONING THE FRONTIER ANGEL.]




                              THE
                         FRONTIER ANGEL

                          A ROMANCE OF

                     KENTUCKY RANGERS' LIFE



                               BY
                        EDWARD S. ELLIS
       AUTHOR OF "BILL BIDDON, TRAPPER," "FAMOUS AMERICAN
             NAVAL COMMANDERS," "GOLDEN ROCK," ETC.




                            NEW YORK
                        HURST & COMPANY
                           PUBLISHERS




COPYRIGHT, 1910,
BY
HURST & COMPANY.







CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                                                    PAGE

     I. The Night before the Departure                          9

    II. The Fate of the Flat-Boat                              21

   III. The Two Scouts                                         46

    IV. The Faint Hope                                         59

     V. The Mysterious Warning                                 70

    VI. The Frontier Angel--The Shawnees                       83

   VII. The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties            90

  VIII. A Man in Trouble                                      105

    IX. Peter Jenkins--A Couple of Speeches                   127

     X. In which there is a Future Account of the Shawnees,
          the Speakers, and Jenkins                           139

    XI. A Prize Gained and Lost                               151

   XII. A Mingling of Fear, Doubt, and Hope                   174

  XIII. Dark                                                  189

   XIV. The Attack in the Wood                                201

    XV. "All's Well that Ends Well."                          225




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

  Jim Peterson Questioning the Frontier Angel        FRONTISPIECE

                                                             PAGE

  "For God's sake come and take me off, for they are after
       me."                                                    33

  The Frontier Angel                                           39

  "Onward they poured, shouting like madmen."                  45

  "Whosomever is on that flat-boat ain't living, that's
       sartin."                                                51

  "'O Lord, I'm shot,' suddenly exclaimed Jenkins."            81

  "Before he could rise the Indians were upon him."           108

  "The Frontier Angel gazed calmly on him a moment."          126

  "'Mr. Thomas McGable, Esq., I believe,' said Peterson with
       much gravity, without removing the aim of his rifle."  156

  "'Quick! water; she has fainted,' exclaimed Mansfield."     229

  "Then die--!"                                               244




THE FRONTIER ANGEL:

A ROMANCE OF

KENTUCKY RANGERS' LIFE.




CHAPTER I.

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE DEPARTURE.


IN the western part of Pennsylvania, near the commencement of the Ohio
river, stands a small town, which, at the close of the last century,
numbered about thirty dwellings. Although properly a border settlement
at the time mentioned, there were so many others beyond, that it was
hardly regarded as being in the "Mighty West." The inhabitants were
mostly farmers, possessed of large and beautiful farms, who commenced
their labors in the morning, and retired to rest in the evening, without
much fear of the molestation of their savage brethren. True, a few years
previous, the latter had committed murders and depredations even farther
east than this, and the settlers never allowed themselves fully to give
way to an undue sense of security. But, unless a most unexpected triumph
should crown the struggles of the Indians, there was little occasion for
apprehension upon the part of the whites.

The time on which we visit this village, is an evening in the spring,
toward the close of the last century. The night is dark and cloudy, and
the houses are invisible in the deep gloom; but there are numerous
twinkling lights in the different dwellings, which give it the
appearance of a constellation set in the vast sky of darkness around.
Broad fields of cleared land stretch for a long distance into the
background, while there are numerous other dwellings further eastward,
toward Pittsburg, and many cabins further westward in Ohio and Virginia;
so that they are not without neighbors, and may properly