Chapter I: Front Matter

The Demon Trapper of Umbagog.

A THRILLING TALE

OF THE MAINE FORESTS.

BY

D. P. THOMPSON, ESQ.

PHILADELPHIA

COLUMBIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY

35 NORTH TENTH STREET.

1890

COPYRIGHT
BY COLUMBIAN PUBLISHING CO.

1890.

CONTENTS.

Page
CHAPTER I. 1

Town and Country contrasted, in relation to Vice and Crime.--A
Display Party to avoid Bankruptcy.--Gaut Gurley, and other
leading Characters, introduced as Actors in this scene of City
Life

CHAPTER II. 15

Retrospect of the life of the Country Merchant, in making Money,
to become a “Solid Man of Boston.”--Humble Beginnings.--Tempted
into Smuggling from Canada in Embargo times, and
makes a Fortune, by the aid of the desperate and daring Services
of Gaut Gurley.--A Sketch of the Wild Scenes of Smuggling
over the British line into Vermont and New Hampshire.--Removal
to the City

CHAPTER III. 27

Gambling (an allegory) invented by the Fiends, and is proclaimed
the Premium Vice by Lucifer.--A Gambling Scene between Gaut
Gurley and the merchant, Mark Elwood.--The Failure of the
latter.--The Refusal of his brother, Arthur Elwood, to help him.--The
Surprise and Distress of his Family

CHAPTER IV. 38

The Downward Path of the Habitual Gambler.--His Family sharing
in the Degradation, and becoming the suffering Victims of his
Vices.--The Sudden Resolve to be a Man again, and remove to an
unsettled Country, to begin Life anew in the Woods

CHAPTER V. 51

The moral and intellectual Influences of Forest Life.--Scenery of
Umbagog.--Description of Elwood’s new Home in the Woods.--The
Burning of his first _Slash_.--His House catches Fire, and he
and his Wife engage in extinguishing it, praying for the return of
their Son, Claud Elwood, to help them in their terrible strait

CHAPTER VI. 60

Claud Elwood and his Forest Musings.--Dangerous Assault, and slaying
of a Moose.--Rescue of Gaut’s Daughter from the enraged
animal.--Strange Developments.--Incipient Love Scene.--Trout-catching.
--Return of Claud and Phillips (the Old Hunter here first introduced),
to aid in saving the Elwood Cottage from the fire.--The Thunder-shower
comes to complete the conquest of the fire.--The destruction of the
King Pine by a Thunderbolt

CHAPTER VII. 76

Journey up the Magalloway, to bring home the slaughtered Moose.--Love
and its entanglements; its Sunshine now, its Storms in the distance

CHAPTER VIII. 87

Jaunt of Claud and Phillips over the Rapids to the next Great Lake,
for Deer-hunting and Trout-catching.--Rescue of Fluella, the Indian
Chief’s Daughter, from Drowning in the Rapids.--Her
remarkable Character for Intellect and Beauty

CHAPTER IX. 108

The Logging Bee.--The introduction of a New Character in Comical
Codman, the Trapper.--The Woodmen’s Banquet.--The
forming of the Trapping and Hunting Company, to start on an
Expedition to the Upper Lakes

CHAPTER X. 124

Developments of the dark and designing character of Gaut
Gurley.--Tomah, the college-learned Indian

CHAPTER XI. 137

Mrs. Elwood’s Bodings, on account of the connection of her Husband
and Son with Gaut and his Daughter.--Her Interview with
Fluella.--Claud’s Interview with Fluella and her Father, the
Chief.--The Chief’s History of his Tribe

CHAPTER XII. 154

Adventures of the Trappers the first day of their Expedition up the
Lakes.--Bear-hunt, Trout-catching, etc.--Introduction of Carvil,
an amateur Hunter from the Green Mountains

CHAPTER XIII. 175

The Trappers’ Central Camp on the Maguntic Lake.--Three
Stories of most remarkable Adventures in the Woods, told at the
Camp-fire by three Hunters and Trappers

CHAPTER XIV. 200

The Voyage to Oquossak, the farthest large Lake.--The stationing
of the Trappers at different points on the Lake.--The appointment
of Gaut as Keeper of the Central Camp, on the Lake below.--The
Results of their Fall’s Operations, and Preparations to return
Home

CHAPTER XV. 211

The Trappers overtaken by a terrible Snow-storm.--Their Suffering
before reaching Central Camp.--The discovery that this Camp
had been Burnt, and Robbed of their whole Stock of Furs.--Their
Providential Escape from Death

CHAPTER XVI. 235

The Legal Prosecution to Recover their Furs, or punish Gaut, the
supposed Criminal.--The unsatisfactory Result, and Gaut’s dark
menaces of Revenge

CHAPTER XVII. 246

Gaut’s Efforts to get the old Company off into the Forest, on a
Spring Expedition.--All refuse but Elwood and Son, who conclude
to go.--Love Entanglements, and the boding Fears of Mrs. Elwood

CHAPTER XVIII. 260

Opening of Spring in the Settlement.--The Trappers fail to
Return.--Gaut comes without them.--The Alarm and Suspicions of the
Settlers that he has Murdered the Elwoods.--The Circumstantial
Evidence

CHAPTER XIX. 275

The attempt to Arrest Gaut.--His retreat to a Cave in the
Mountain.--His final Dislodgement and Capture, for Trial and
Examination

CHAPTER XX. 299

Retrospect of the Adventures of Gaut and the Elwoods.--The
Murder of Mark Elwood, and the Wounding of Claud, by Gaut.--Claud’s
life saved by Fluella

CHAPTER XXI. 324

Gaut’s Trial, Sentence, and Imprisonment.--General Denouement
of the Story.--Gaut breaks Jail, escapes, and becomes a desperate
Pirate-leader

SEQUEL. 350

Awful Fate of a Pirate Ship.--Gaut’s Death

THE DEMON TRAPPER OF UMBAGOG.