The Wolf Demon

Book excerpt: THE PROLOGUE. IN THE GLADE AND BY THE MOONLIGHT. The great, round moon looked down in a flood of silver light upon the virgin forest by the banks of the Scioto, the beautiful river which winds through the richest and fairest valley in all the wide western land--the great corn valley of the Shawnee tribe--those red warriors who, in their excursions across the Ohio (the "La Belle" river of the early French adventurers) had given to the plains and valleys of Kentucky the name of "The Dark and Bloody Land." The tree-tops were green and silver; but under the spreading branches, sable was the gloom. The strange, odd noises of the night broke the forest stillness. One hears all noises in the night even in a civilized land; how much more wondrous then are the wild, free cries of the inhabitants of the great greenwood, untrammeled by the restraining hand of man! The free winds surged with a mournful sound through the branches of the wood. A ring around the moon told the coming storm.