differently computed, at between one and three hundred thousand souls.
Most of them inhabit the country west of the Mississippi. At the
period of the tale, they dwelt in open hostility; national feuds
passing from generation to generation. The power of the republic has
done much to restore peace to these wild scenes, and it is now
possible to travel in security, where civilised man did not dare to
pass unprotected five-and-twenty years ago.

The reader, who has perused the two former works, of which this is the
natural successor, will recognise an old acquaintance in the principal
character of the story. We have here brought him to his end, and we
trust he will be permitted to slumber in the peace of the just.

J F Cooper
Paris June 1832





THE PRAIRIE



CHAPTER I.

I pray thee, shepherd, if that love or gold,
Can in this desert place buy entertainment,
Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed.
--As you like it.