Randall Parrish

Prisoners of Chance Randall Parrish

I am Geoffrey Benteen, Gentleman Adventurer, with much experience upon the border, where I have passed my life. My father was that Robert Benteen, merchant in furs, the first of theEnglish race to make permanent settlement in New Orleans. Here he established a highlyprofitable trade with the Indians, his bateaux voyaging as far northward as the falls of the Ohio, while his influence among the tribesmen extended to the eastern mountains. My mother was ofSpanish blood, a native of Saint Augustine, so I grew up fairly proficient in three languages, andto them I later added an odd medley of tribal tongues which often stood me in excellent steadamid the vicissitudes of the frontier. The early death of my mother compelled me to becomecompanion to my father in his wanderings, so that before I was seventeen the dim forest trails, the sombre rivers, and the dark lodges of savages had grown as familiar to me as were the streetsand houses of my native town. Hence it happened, that when my father fell the victim of atreacherous blow, although he left to my care considerable property and a widely scattered trade, I could not easily content myself with the sameness of New Orleans; there I felt almost astranger, ever hungering for the woods and the free life of the mountains. Yet I held myself to the work in hand until successful in straightening out the tangledthreads, and might have remained engaged in peaceful traffic until the end of life, had it not beenfor a misunderstanding with her who held my heart in captivity to her slightest whim. It matterslittle now the cause of the quarrel, or where rested the greater blame; enough that its occurrencedrove me forth reckless of everything, desirous only to leave all of my own race, and seek amidsavage environment and excitement forgetfulness of the p