ract of land, upon
which he had so long ago set his heart. What were his surprise and rage
on learning--a fact, which the absorbing nature of his regulator-duties
had prevented his knowing sooner--that it was already in possession of
another! And his mortification was immeasurably increased, when he was
told, that the man who had thus intruded upon what he considered his own
proper demesne, was none other than young Grayson, the son of his old
Kentucky enemy! Coming into the neighborhood, in the absence of Elwood,
the young man, finding so desirable a tract vacant, had at once taken
possession; and by the return of the regulator had almost finished a
neat and "roomy" cabin. He had "blazed" the trees, too, and "staked off"
the prairie--taking all those steps then deemed necessary, on the
frontier, to complete appropriation.

Elwood's first step was to order him peremptorily, to desist, and give
up his "improvement"--threatening him, at the same time, with certain
and uncertain pains and penalties, if he refused to obey. But Grayson
only laughed at his threats, and went stoutly on with his work. When the
young men, whom he had hired to assist him in building his house, gave
him a friendly warning, that Elwood was the leader of a band of
regulators, and had power to make good his menaces, he only replied that
"he knew how to protect himself, and, when the time came, should not be
found wanting." Elwood retired from the contest, discomfited, but
breathing vengeance; while Grayson finished his house and commenced
operations on his farm. But those who knew the headlong violence of
Elwood's character, predicted that these operations would soon be
interrupted; and they were filled with wonder, when month after month
passed away, and there were still no signs of a collision.

In the meantime, it came to be rumored in the settlement, that there was
some secret connection between Grayson and Elwood's daughter, Hannah.
They had been seen by several persons in close conversation, at times
and places which indicated a desire for concealment; and one person even
went so far as to say, that he had been observed to kiss her, on
parting, late in the evening. Whatever may have been the truth in that
matter, it is, at all events, certain, that Grayson was an unmarried
man; and that the quarrel between the parents of the pair in Kentucky,
had broken up an intimacy, which bade fair to issue in a marriage; and
it is probable, that a subord