He laughed heartily
at the blunder; it being what is considered an exceeding good joke
among hunters; "but faith, my lad," said he, "if I had but caught a
glimpse of you to take sight at, you would have followed the rock.
Antony Vander Heyden is seldom known to miss his aim." These last
words were at once a clue to Dolph's curiosity; and a few questions
let him completely into the character of the man before him, and of
his band of woodland rangers. The commander in the broad hat and
hunting-frock, was no less a personage than the Heer Antony Vander
Heyden, of Albany, of whom Dolph had many a time heard. He was, in
fact, the hero of many a story; being a man of singular humours and
whimsical habits, that were matters of wonder to his quiet Dutch
neighbours. As he was a man of property, having had a father before
him, from whom he inherited large tracts of wild land, and whole
barrels full of wampum, he could indulge his humours without control.
Instead of staying quietly at home, eating and drinking at regular
meal times; amusing himself by smoking his pipe on the bench before
the door, and then turning into a comfortable bed at night; he
delighted in all kinds of rough, wild expeditions. He was never so
happy as when on a hunting party in the wilderness, sleeping under
trees or bark sheds, or cruising down the river, or on some woodland
lake, fishing and hunting, and living the Lord knows how.
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