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The Rifle Rangers By: Mayne Reid (1818-1883) |
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By Captain Mayne Reid
Quite a lively story! At one point the hero is to die by hanging by the
heels over a precipice! At another he and his companions are attacked
by a pack of snarling bloodhounds! And many other tense situations. As usual with this prolific author the text is well interlarded with
Spanish words, and those from other languages, French, German, Latin,
Greek. We have done our best to get these words right, but beg to be
forgiven if you spot an error here and there. In addition to our difficulties with the Spanish, there is an Irish
member of the cast whose words are so mis pronounced that they
practically constitute a language of their own. Here again we have
tried to get the spellings as they appear in the book, but you can
quite see how difficult that has been. This book first appeared in the 1850s, and went through several
editions in a few years. Forty years later there was a revival, and
again several editions appeared. There are people even nowadays who
revere "Captain" Mayne Reid as the first author to start this genre:
authentic books about the wilder parts of North America, and its
history. NH
THE RIFLE RANGERS
ADVENTURES IN SOUTH MEXICO BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID CHAPTER ONE. THE LAND OF ANAHUAC. Away over the dark, wild waves of the rolling Atlantic away beyond the
summer islands of the Western Ind lies a lovely land. Its
surface aspect carries the hue of the emerald; its sky is sapphire; its
sun is a globe of gold. It is the land of Anahuac! The tourist turns his face to the Orient the poet sings the gone
glories of Greece the painter elaborates the hackneyed pictures of
Apennine and Alp the novelist turns the skulking thief of Italy into a
picturesque bandit, or, Don Quixote like, betaking himself into the
misty middle age, entertains the romantic miss and milliner's apprentice
with stories of raven steeds, of plumed and impossible heroes. All
painter, poet, tourist, and novelist in search of the bright and
beautiful, the poetic and the picturesque turn their backs upon this
lovely land. Shall we? No! Westward, like the Genoese, we boldly venture over the
dark wild waves of the rolling Atlantic; through among the sunny islands
of Ind westward to the land of Anahuac. Let us debark upon its shores;
let us pierce the secret depths of its forests; let us climb its mighty
mountains, and traverse its table plains. Go with us, tourist! Fear not. You shall look upon scenes grand and
gloomy, bright and beautiful. Poet! you shall find themes for poesy
worthy its loftiest strains. Painter! for you there are pictures fresh
from the hand of God. Writer! there are stories still untold by the
author artist legends of love and hate, of gratitude and revenge, of
falsehood and devotion, of noble virtue and ignoble crime legends
redolent of romance, rich in reality. Thither we steer, over the dark wild waves of the rolling Atlantic;
through the summer islands of the Western Ind; onward onward to the
shores of Anahuac! Varied is the aspect of that picture land, abounding in scenes that
change like the tints of the opal. Varied is the surface which these
pictures adorn. Valleys that open deep into the earth; mountains that
lead the eye far up into heaven; plains that stretch to the horizon's
verge, until the rim of the blue canopy seems to rest upon their
limitless level; "rolling" landscapes, whose softly turned ridges remind
one of the wavy billows of the ocean. Alas! word painting can give but a faint idea of these scenes. The pen
can but feebly portray the grand and sublime effect produced upon the
mind of him who gazes down into the deep valleys, or glances upward to
the mighty mountains of Mexico. Though feeble be the effort, I shall attempt a series of sketches from
memory. They are the panoramic views that present themselves during a
single "Jornada... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Adventure |
Fiction |
Teen/Young adult |
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