Confessions Of Con Cregan Part 49

Broken, incoherent incidents of crime and misery, of tortured agonies and h.e.l.lish vengeance, would cross my sleeping imagination, amidst which one picture ever recurred,--it was of the negro as I saw him at Anticosti, crouching beast-like on the earth, and while he patted the ground with his hand, throwing a stealthy, terrified glance on every side to see that he was not observed. That he fancied himself in the act of concealing the gold for which he had bartered his very blood, the gesture indicated plainly enough; and in the same att.i.tude my fancy would depict him so powerfully, so truthfully, too, that when I awoke, I had but to close my eyes again, and the vision would come back with every color and adjunct of reality.

My preoccupation of mind could not have escaped the shrewd observation of companions, had not the unexpected discovery of gold in the sands of the river effectually turned every thought into another and more interesting channel. At first it was mere dust was detected; but, later on, small misshapen pieces of dusky yellow were picked up, which showed the gold in its most valuable form, in combination with quartz rock.

Up to the moment of that discovery, all was la.s.situde and indifference.

A few only gave themselves the trouble to wet their feet, the greater number sitting lazily down upon the river's bank, and gazing on the "washers" with a contemptuous negligence. The failures they experienced, even their humble successes, were met with sneers and laughter; till at last Hermose held up aloft a little spicula of gold about the thickness of a pencil. No sooner had the brilliant l.u.s.tre caught their eyes, than, like hounds at the sight of the stag, they sprung to their feet and dashed into the stream.

What a sudden change came over the scene! Instead of the silence of that dark river, through whose dull current three or four figures waded noiselessly, while in lazy indolence their companions lay smoking or sleeping near, now, in an instant, the whole picture became animated.

With plashing water and wild shouts of various import, the deep glen resounded, as upwards of thirty men descended into the river; and while some examined the bed of the stream with the "barretas," others dived beneath the water to explore it with their hands, and bring up mingled ma.s.ses of earth and dust, over which they bent with earnest gaze for many minutes together.

Then what cries of joy or disappointment broke forth at every instant!

There seemed at once to come over that hardened, time-worn group of men all the changing fickleness of childhood,--the wayward vacillations of hope and despair, bright visions of sudden wealth, with gloomy thoughts of disappointment,--when, suddenly, one brought up from the bed of the stream something which he showed to his neighbor, then to another and another, till a knot had gathered close around him, among which I found myself. "What is it?" said I, disappointed at not seeing some great ma.s.s of yellow gold.

"Don't you see? It is the fossil bone of the antelope," said Hermose; "and when the floods have penetrated deep enough to unbury that, there 's little doubt but we shall find gold enough."

"Who says enough?" cried a Mexican, as, emerging half-suffocated from the water, he held aloft a pure piece of metal, nearly the size of a small apple. "Of such fruit as this, one never can eat to indigestion!"

Halkett's whistle was soon heard, summoning the whole party to a council on the bank; nor was the call long unanswered. In an instant the tanned and swarthy figures were seen emerging, all dripping as they were, from the stream, ascending the banks, and then throwing themselves in att.i.tudes of careless ease around the leader.

A short discussion ensued as to the locality upon which we had chanced, some averring that it was an unexplored branch of the "Brazo," others that it was one of those wayward courses into which mountain streams are directed in seasons of unusual rain. The controversy was a warm, and might soon have become an angry, one, had not Halkett put an end to all altercation by saying, "It matters little how the place be called, or what its lat.i.tude; you know the Mexican adage, 'It's always a native land where there's gold.' That there is _some_ here, I have no doubt; that there is _as much_ as will repay us for the halt, is another question. My advice is, that we turn the river into another course, leave the present channel dry and open, and then explore it thoroughly."

"Well spoken and true," said an old white-headed Gam-busino. "That is the plan in the Far West; and they are the only fellows who go right about their work."

The proposal was canva.s.sed ably on all sides, and adopted with scarcely anything like opposition; and then parties were "told off," to carry into execution different portions of the labor. The section into which I fell was that of the scouts, or explorers, who were to track the course of the stream upwards, and search for a suitable spot at which to commence operations. Hermose took the command of this party, and named the "Lepero" as his lieutenant.

The "sierra" through which our path lay was singularly wild and picturesque. The rocks, thrown about in every fantastic shape, were actually covered with the tendrils of the liana, whose great blue flowers hung in luxuriant cl.u.s.ters from every cliff and crag. Wild fig and almond trees--loaded with fruit, red guavas and limes, met us as we advanced, till at length we found ourselves in the very centre of a tract rich in every production of our gardens, and all growing in spontaneous freedom and wildness. The yellow-flowering cactus and the golden lobelia, that would have been the choicest treasures of a conservatory in other lands, we here broke branches off to fan away the mosquitoes and the gallinippers.

The farther we went, the more fruitful and luxuriant did the tract seem.

Oranges, peaches, and grapes, in all the profusion of their wildest abundance, surrounded us, and even littered the very way beneath our feet. To feel the full enchantment of such a scene, one should have been a prairie traveller for weeks, long-wearied and heart-sore with the dull monotony of a tiresome journey, with fevered tongue and scorching feet, with eyeb.a.l.l.s red from the glaring sun, and temples throbbing from the unshaded l.u.s.tre. Then, indeed, the change was like one of those wondrous transformations of a fairy tale, rather than mere actual life. In the transports of our delight we threw ourselves down among the flowering shrubs, and covered ourselves with blossoms and buds; we bound the grape cl.u.s.ters on our foreheads like baccha.n.a.ls, and tied great branches of the orange-tree round us as scarfs. In all the wantonness of children, we tore the fruit in handfuls, and threw it around us. The wasteful prodigality of nature seemed to suggest excess on our part, prompting us to a hundred follies and extravagances. As if to fill up the measure of our present joy by imparting the brightness of future hope, Hermose told us that such little spots of luxuriant verdure were very often found in the regions richest with gold, and that we might be almost certain of discovering a valuable Placer in our immediate vicinity. There was another, and that no inconsiderable, advantage attending these "Oases"

of fertility. The Indians never dared to intrude upon these precincts; their superst.i.tion being that the "Treasure G.o.d," or the "Genius of the Mine," always had his home in these places, and executed summary vengeance upon all who dared to invade them. This piece of red-man faith, however jocularly recorded, did not meet that full contempt from my comrades I could have expected. On the contrary, many cited instances of disasters and calamities which seemed like curious corroborations of the creed. Indeed, I soon saw how naturally superst.i.tious credences become matter of faith to him who lives the wild life of the prairies.

"Then you think we shall have to pay the price of all this enjoyment, Hermose?" said I, as I lay luxuriously beneath a spreading banana.

"Quien sabe? who knows?" exclaimed he, in his Mexican dialect, and with a shrug of the shoulders that implied doubt.

Although each event is well marked in my memory, and the incidents of each day indelibly fixed upon my mind, it is needless that I should dwell upon pa.s.sages, which, however at the time full of adventure and excitement, gave no particular direction to the course of my humble destiny. We succeeded in finding a spot by which the bed of the river might be changed; and after some days of hard labor we accomplished the task.

The course of the stream thus left dry for a considerable distance became the scene of our more active exertions. The first week or two little was discovered, save gold dust, or an occasional "spicula" of the metal, heavily alloyed with copper; but as we followed up the course towards the mountain, a vein of richest ore was found, lying near the surface too, and presenting ma.s.ses of pure gold, many of them exceeding twenty ounces in weight.

There could be no doubt that we had chanced upon a most valuable Placer; and now orders were given to erect huts, and such rude furnaces for testing as our skill stood in need of. A strict scale of profits was also established, and a solemn oath exacted from each, to be true and faithful to his comrades in all things. Our little colony demanded various kinds of service; for, while the gold-seeking was our grand object, it was necessary, in order to subsist the party, that a corps of trappers and hunters should be formed, who should follow the buffalo, the red-deer, and the wild hog over the prairies.

Many declined serving on this expedition, doubtless suspecting that the share of treasure which might be allotted to the absent man would undergo a heavy poundage. Her-mose, however, whose adventurous spirit inclined more willingly to the excitement of the chase than the monotonous labor of a washer, volunteered to go, and I offered myself to be his companion. Some half-dozen of the youngest agreed to follow us, and we were at once named--The Hunters to the Expedition.

The rivalry between the two careers, good-natured as it was, served to amuse and interest us; and while _our_ blank days were certain to obtain for us a share of scoffs and jibes, _their_ unsuccessful ones did not escape their share of sarcasm. If one party affected to bewail the necessity of storing up treasure for a set of walking gentlemen who pa.s.sed the day in pleasure-rambles about the country, the other took care to express their discontent at returning loaded with spoils for a parcel of lazy impostors that lounged away their time on the bank of a river. Meanwhile, both pursuits nourished admirably. Practice had made us most expert with the rifle; and as we were fortunate enough to secure some of the "mustangs," and train them to the saddle, our "cha.s.se"

became both more profitable and pleasant. By degrees, too, little evidences of superfluity began to display themselves in our equipment: our saddles, at first made of a mere wooden trestle, with a strip of buffalo hide thrown across it, were now ornamented with black bear-skins, or the more valuable black fox-skin; our own costume, if not exactly conformable to Parisian models, was comfortable and easy,--a brown deerskin tunic, fastened by a belt around the waist--, short breeches, reaching to the knee-cap, which was left bare, for climbing; "botas vaqueras," very loose at top, and serving as holsters for our pistols; and a cap of fox or squirrel, usually designed by the wearer, and exhibiting proofs of ingenuity, if not taste: such was our dress.

Our weapons of rifle, and bowie-knife, and pistols, giving it a character, which, on the boards of a minor theatre, would have been a crowning "success." We were also all mounted,--some, Hermose and myself in particular, admirably so. And although I often in my own heart regretted the powers of strength and endurance of poor "Charry,"

my little mustang steed, with his long forelock and his bushy moustaches,--a strange peculiarity of this breed,--was a picture of compactness and agility.

We had also constructed a rude wagon--so rude that I can even yet laugh as I think on it--to carry our spoils, which were far too c.u.mbrous for a mere horse-load, and when left on the prairies attracted such numbers of prairie-wolves and vultures as to be downright perilous. If this same wagon was not exactly a type for "Long Acre," it was at least strong and serviceable; and although the wheels were far nearer oval than circular, they _did_ go round; the noise they created in so doing might have been disagreeable to a nervous invalid, being something between the scream of a railway train and the yell of a thousand peac.o.c.ks. But I believe we rather liked it,--at least, I know that when some luckless Sybarite suggested the use of a little bear's fat around the axle, he was looked on as a kind of barbarian to whom nature denied the least ear for music.

As for the "cha.s.se" itself, it was glorious sport,--glorious in the unbounded freedom to wander whither one listed; glorious in the sense of mastery we felt that we alone of all the millions of mankind had reached this far-away, unvisited tract; glorious in its successes, its dangers, and its toils?

There was, besides, that endless variety of adventure prairie-hunting affords. Now, it was the heavy buffalo, lumbering lazily along, and tossing his huge head in anger as the rifle-ball pierced his dense hide.

Now, it was the proudly an tiered stag, careering free over miles and miles of waste. At another time the grizzly bear was our prey, and our sport lay in the dense jungle or among the dwarf scrub, through which the hissing rattlesnake was darting, affrighted at the noise. In more peaceful mood, the antelope would be the victim; while the wild turkey or the great c.o.c.k of the wood would grace with his bright wavy feathers the cap of him whose aim was true at longest rifle range.

And these were happy days,--the very happiest of my whole life; for if sometimes regrets would arise about that road of ambition from which I had turned off, to wander in the path of mere pleasure, I bethought me that no career the luckiest fortune could have opened to me would have developed the same manly powers of endurance of heat and cold and of peril in a hundred shapes. In no other pursuit could I have educated myself to the like life of toils and dangers, bringing me daily, as it were, face to face with Death, till I could look on him without a shudder or a fear.

I will not say that Donna Maria may not have pa.s.sed across the picture of my mind-drawn regrets; but if her form did indeed flit past, it was to breathe a hope of some future meeting, some bright time to come, the recompense of all our separation. And I thought with pride how much more worthy of her would I be as the prairie-hunter,--the fearless follower of the bear and buffalo, accustomed to the life of the wild woods,--than as the mere adventurer, whose sole stock in trade was the subterfuge and deceit he could practise on the unwary.

It was strange enough all this while that I seemed to have lost sight of my old guide-star,--the great pa.s.sion of my earlier years, the desire to be a "gentleman." It was stranger still, but after-reflection has shown me that it was true, I made far greater progress toward that wished-for goal when I ceased to make it the object of my ambition.

CHAPTER XXIV. THE FATE OF A GAMBUSINO

"The life of the prairie," with all its seeming monotony, was very far from wearisome. The chase, which to some might have presented the same unvarying aspect, to those who pa.s.sionately loved sport abounded in new and exciting incidents. If upon one day the object of pursuit was the powerful bison bull, with his s.h.a.ggy mane and short straight horns, on another, it was the swift antelope or the prairie fox, whose sable skin is the rarest piece of dandyism a hunter's pelisse can exhibit; now and then the wide-spread paw of a brown bear would mark the earth, and give us days of exciting pursuit; or, again, some Indian "trail"--some red-man "sign"--would warn us that we were approaching the hunting-grounds of a tribe, and that all our circ.u.mspection was needed.

Besides these, there were changes, inappreciable to the uninitiated, but thoroughly understood by us, in the landscape itself, highly interesting. It is a well-known fact that the shepherd becomes conversant with the face of every sheep in his flock, tracing differences of expression where others would recognize nothing but a blank uniformity; so did the prairie, which at first presented one unvarying expanse, become at last marked by a hundred peculiarities, with which close observation made us intimate. Indeed, I often wondered how a great stretching plain, without a house, a tree, a shrub, or a trickling brook, could supply the materials of scenic interest; and the explanation is almost as difficult as the fact. One must have lived the life of solitude and isolation which these wild wastes compel, to feel how every moss-clad stone can have its meaning,--how the presence of some little insignificant lichen indicates the vicinity of water,--how the blue foxbell shows where honey is to be found,--how the faint spiral motion of the pirn gra.s.s gives warning that rain is nigh at hand. Then with what interest at each sunset is the horizon invested, when the eye can pierce s.p.a.ce to a vast extent, and mark the fog-banks which tower afar off, and distinguish the gathering clouds from the dark-backed herd of buffaloes or a group of Indians on a march. Every prairie "roll,"

every dip and undulation of that vast surface, had its own interest, till at length I learned to think that all other prospects must be tame, spiritless, and unexciting, in comparison with that glorious expanse, where sky and earth were one, and where the clouds alone threw shadows upon the vast plain.

The habit of a hunter's life in such scenes, the constant watchfulness against sudden peril, inspire a frame of mind in which deep reflectiveness is blended with a readiness and prompt.i.tude of action,--gifts which circ.u.mstances far more favorable to moral training do not always supply. The long day pa.s.sed in total solitude, since very often the party separates to rendezvous at nightfall, necessarily calls for thought,--not, indeed, the dreamy revery of the visionary, forgetful of himself and all the world, but of that active, stirring mental operation which demands effort and will. If fanciful pictures of the future as we would wish to make it, intervene, they come without displacing the stern realities of the present, any more than the far distances of a picture interfere with the figures of the foreground.

Forgive, most kind reader, the prolix fondness with which I linger on this theme. Fortune gave me but scant opportunity of cultivation, but my best schooling was obtained upon the prairies. It was there I learned the virtue of self-reliance,--the only real independence. It was there I taught myself to endure reverses without disappointment, and bear hardships without repining. It was there I came to know that he who would win an upward way in life must not build upon some self-imagined superiority, but boldly enter the lists with others, and make compet.i.torship the test of his capacity. They were inferior acquirements, it is true; but I learned also to bear hunger and cold, and want of rest and sleep, which in my after-life were not without their value. It would savor too much of a "bull" for him who writes his own memoirs to apologize for egotism; still, I do feel compunctions of conscience about the length of these personal details,--and now to my story.

While we pursued our hunting pastime over the prairies, the "expedition"

was successful beyond all expectation. No sooner was the bed of the river laid bare, than gold was discovered in quant.i.ties, and the "washers," despising the slower process of "sifting," betook themselves to the pick and the "barreta," like their comrades. It was a season of rejoicing, and, so far as our humble means permitted, of festivity; for though abounding in gold, our daily food was buffalo and "tough doe,"

unseasoned by bread or anything that could prove its subst.i.tute. If the days were pa.s.sed in successful labor, the evenings were prolonged with narratives of the late discoveries, and gorgeous imaginings of the future as each fancied the bright vista should be. Some were for a life of unbounded excess and dissipation,--the "amende," as they deemed it, for all their toil and endurance; others antic.i.p.ated a career of splendor and display in the Old World. The Frenchman raved of Paris and its cafes and restaurants, its theatres and its thousand pleasures. A few speculated upon setting forth on fresh expeditions with better means of success. Halkett alone bethought him of home and of an aged mother, in the far-away valley of Llanberris, whose remainder of life he longed to render easy and independent.

Nor was it the least courageous act of his daring life to avow such a feeling among such a.s.sociates. How they laughed at his humility! how they scoffed at the filial reverence of the Gambusino! Few of them had known a parent's care. Most were outcasts from their birth, and started in life with that selfish indifference to all others which is so often the pa.s.sport to success. I saw this, and perceived how affection and sympathy are so much additional weight upon the back of him "who enters for the plate of Fortune;" but yet my esteem for Halkett increased from that moment. I fancied that his capacity for labor and exertion was greater from the force of a higher and a n.o.bler impulse than that which animated the others; and I thought I could trace to this source the untiring energy for which he was conspicuous above all the rest. It was evident, too, that this "weakness," as they deemed it, had sapped nothing of his courage, nor detracted in aught from his resolute daring,--ever foremost, as he was, wherever peril was to be confronted.

I ruminated long and frequently over this, to me, singular trait of character,--whole days as I rambled the prairies alone in search of game; the tedious hours of the night I would lie awake speculating upon it, and wondering if it were impulses of this nature that elevated men to high deeds and generous actions, and--to realize my conception in one word--made them "gentlemen."

To be sure, in all the accessory advantages of such, Halkett was most lamentably deficient, and it would have been labor in vain to endeavor to conform him to any one of the usages of the polite world; and yet, I thought, might it not be possible that this rude, unlettered man might have within him, in the recesses of his own heart, all those finer instincts, all those refinements of high feeling and honor that make up a gentleman,--like a lump of pure virgin gold encased in a ma.s.s of pudding-stone. The study of this problem took an intense hold upon me; for while I could recognize in myself a considerable power for imitating all the observations of the well-bred world, I grieved to see that these graces were mere garments, which no more influenced a man's real actions than the color of his coat or the shape of his hat will affect the stages of an ague or the paroxysms of a fever.

To become a "gentleman," according to my very crude notions of that character, was the ruling principle of my life. I knew that rank, wealth, and station were all indispensably requisite; but these I also fancied might be easily counterfeited, while other gifts must be absolutely possessed,--such as a good address; a skill in all manly exercises; a personal courage ever ready to the proof; a steady adherence to a pledged word. Now I tried to educate myself to all these, and to a certain extent I succeeded. In fact, I experienced what all men have who have set up a standard before them, that constant measurement will make one grow taller. I fancied that Halkett and myself were on the way to the same object, by different roads. Forgive the absurd presumption, most benevolent reader; for there is really something insufferably ludicrous in the very thought; and I make the "confession"

now only in the fulness of a heart which is determined to have no concealments.

That I rode my "mustang" with a greater air; that I wore my black fox pelisse more jauntily; that I slung my rifle at my back with a certain affectation of grace; that I was altogether "got up" with an eye to the picturesque,--did not escape my companions, who made themselves vastly merry at pretensions which, in their eyes, were so supremely ridiculous, but which amply repaid me for all the sarcasm, by suggesting a change of their name for me,--my old appellation, "Il Lepero," being abandoned for "Il Conde," the Count. It matters little in what spirit you give a man a peculiar designation: the world take it up in their own fashion, and he himself conforms to it, whether for good or evil.

As the "Conde," I doubtless displayed many a laughable affectation, and did many things in open caricature of the t.i.tle; but, on the other hand, the name spurred me on to actions of most perilous daring, and made me confront danger for the very sake of the hazard; till, by degrees, I saw that the designation conferred upon me--at first in mockery--became a mark of honorable esteem among my comrades.

The prairie was fruitful in incidents to test my courage. As the season wore on, and game became more scarce, we were compelled to pursue the "bison" into distant tracks, verging upon the hunting-grounds of an Indian tribe called the Camanches. At first our "rencontres" were confined to meeting with a scout or some small outlying party of the tribe; but later on we ventured farther within their frontier, and upon one occasion we penetrated a long and winding ravine which expanded into a small plain, in the midst of which, to our amazement, we beheld their village.

The scene was in every way a striking one. It was a few minutes after sunset, and while yet the "yellow glory" of the hour bathed the earth, that we saw the cane wigwams of the "Camanches" as they stood at either side of a little river that, with many a curve, meandered through the plain. Some squaws were seated on the banks, and a number of children were sporting in the stream, which appeared too shallow for swimming.

Here and there, at the door of the wigwams, an old man was sitting smoking. Some mustangs, seemingly fresh caught, were picketed in a circle, and a few boys were amusing themselves, tormenting the animals into bounds and curvets, the laughter the sport excited being audible where we stood. The soft influence of the hour, the placid beauty of the picture, the semblance of tranquil security impressed on everything, the very childish gambols,--were all images so full of home and homelike memories that we halted and gazed on the scene in speechless emotion.

Perhaps each of us at that moment had traversed in imagination half a world of s.p.a.ce, and was once again a child! As for myself, infancy had been "no fairy dream," and yet my eyes filled up, and yet my lip quivered, as I looked.

It was evident that the warriors of the tribe were absent on some expedition. The few figures that moved about were either the very old, the very young, or the squaws, who, in all the enjoyment of that gossiping, as fashionable in the wild regions of the West as in the gilded boudoirs of Paris, sat enjoying the cool luxury of the twilight.