The Backwoodsman Part 11

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XIX.

A BOLD TOUR.

We had been going for several days through the mountains with considerable difficulty, when one afternoon we reached a splendid pasturage, where we resolved to let our cattle rest. It was at the same time warm. We had doffed our leathern jackets and felt very comfortable when we found thick cedar wood on the western side of this meadow and were able to rest in its shade. We had scarce lit our fire to prepare dinner, when Tiger sprang up, pointed to the north, where several small clouds were rising, and then laid his ear on the ground. "A hurricane (a fearful storm frequent in the Rocky Mountains) is coming up. We must place our cattle in safety," he said, as he leapt up; and we all set to work dragging our traps to the other side of the meadow, where a low rock hung over and covered a considerable s.p.a.ce.

After carrying across our traps, partly on our animals, partly in our arms, we hastened to collect as large a supply of dry wood as we could, in which an old trunk lying near the rock was of great service to us.

This was cut into several pieces, which were rolled under the stone roof, and a fire was lit against one of them, while our horses were quietly grazing. We had scarce completed these preparations when the sky grew dark, and we heard a roaring and hissing, which quickly increased with the growing obscurity. We brought our cattle under the rock and fastened them to pickets we drove into the ground.

The cloud grew heavier and darker with each moment and rolled over the mountain crests in a southerly direction. With the roar of the wind was blended dull thunder, and an icy cold spread over the ground. These were merely the announcers of the frightful hurricane, which now dashed down from the Rocky Mountains and announced its approach with a crash that shook the earth. The thunder was so deafening that we could not hear each other speak, and standing silently by our trembling horses we watched the storm drive the clouds of icy rain in almost horizontal direction over our heads, and level the cedar-trees so that the roots stood up instead of the crowns. The cold increased every moment, and ere long everything was covered with a thick crust of ice, while the rain was frozen and hurtled round us in heavy hail. The ground shook under us, and the peals of thunder were repeated by a thousand echoes on the sides of the mountain. Under these circ.u.mstances we could consider our situation a fortunate one; for if we had been surprised by this storm, we might easily have fallen victims to it, or at least we must have lost our animals, which no human strength could have mastered in the icy rain. Though pressed closely round the fire and wrapped in our buffalo robes, we shivered from cold. The storm howled till late in the evening, at which time, though dense rain fell, the wind had sunk, and by nine o'clock the clouds broke too. A dead, frozen landscape surrounded us; the moon's bright light shone down into our frozen gully as into a palace of gla.s.s, and wherever we looked we saw transparent ma.s.ses of ice, while the reflection of our fire glittered in brilliant colours on the crystals of ice near us. Not a breath of air stirred, and had it not been for the numbing cold and the glistening ice around to prove the reality of this fearful scene, we might easily have been tempted to regard it as a dream.

Our cattle, too, felt the cold greatly and trembled all over. We covered them with all the blankets we could spare, and I took special care of Czar, whom I fastened up as near the fire as I could. We made a tremendous blaze in order to render the cold to some extent endurable.

One of us was obliged in turn to watch at the fire during the night, while the others lay round it and stretched out their feet to it.

Morning arrived, and with it we welcomed the sun which appeared over the mountains in the blue sky. Everything glittered and shone around, as if the world were covered with a sheet of gla.s.s and brilliants; the gra.s.s plot was hidden by a layer of transparent pieces of ice, which brilliantly reflected the sunbeams; every bush, every shrub glittered with the hues of the rainbow, and the ice almost blinded our eyes. The sunbeams gradually rendered the cold more endurable. We crept out from under our rock and tried to warm ourselves by jumping. We were compelled to leave our horses tied up, as the gra.s.s was covered with ice, even where there was no drift. We could not go up to the spring which bubbled up in a gorge below the destroyed cedar-wood, because the path leading down to it was too smooth and slippery; hence we filled our pots with hailstones and thus procured water for our breakfast. The ice disappeared again as quickly as it had fallen on the unusual ground; it was only where the hail had drifted in large layers that the ma.s.ses of ice lay for a longer period.

We resolved to remain here till the next day, because both our horses and ourselves required rest. My comrades wished to obtain permission to go out hunting, as Tiger had already done so without asking my leave, for he paid little heed to our laws. John Lasar and Mac, as we called MacDonnell for the sake of shortness, went off in different directions.

The former followed the spring which joined a stream about a mile from us, whose banks were covered with a dense undergrowth, while Mac went north into the hills. The rest of us remained in camp. Shortly before sunset Mac returned, told us he had shot a large deer and two turkeys close at hand, put a pack-saddle on Sam, and went with Antonio to fetch the game. He had scarce left ere Tiger came in and triumphantly informed us that he had killed a big bear in its lair, and we must go and fetch it in the morning, for it was dark when Mac and Antonio returned with the game, and John had not turned up yet, which rendered us rather anxious. Still I had heard him fire several times, so he could not be far off; but I was afraid that an accident had happened to him, as it was now getting on for nine o'clock. We repeatedly fired our guns, and though it was so late, Tiger went down the stream and raised his hunting yell, but received no reply. At night it was impossible to follow his trail, so we lay down to sleep; but at daybreak we swallowed our breakfast and prepared to go in search of John. I took Tiger and Mac with me, and told Antonio to follow us on Jack. Trusty trotted ahead, and we had not gone many hundred yards from camp when John came riding down between the hills. We were very anxious to learn what had caused him to spend the night away, and he now told us that he had got among a herd of peccaris in the wood, and after shooting one of these animals, was compelled to seek shelter in a tree which they invested. Although he shot several of them, they did not retreat, and hence he was obliged to wait for daybreak. Of course, he had pa.s.sed the night in the cold, shelterless, and was now very anxious for rest. He rolled himself in his buffalo robe, while I, with Tiger, Antonio, and Mac, left camp in order to fetch the bear. We took Jack and Lizzy with us to carry ropes and an axe.

We ascended the hills on the east for about half an hour, till Tiger went round a lofty rock and showed us a small round opening about six feet above the spot where we were standing. Tiger crept into the hole with a la.s.so to noose the bear's throat. He soon came out again, and we all three tried, but in vain, to drag it out with the rope. We harnessed Jack in front and Tiger crept in again to the bear to push: now matters went better, and the black monster soon appeared in the opening, and rolled down the little slope to us. Jack and Lizzy, startled at the sudden apparition, leapt on one side, but were soon pacified, and we began skinning and breaking up the animal. I was anxious to have a look at the interior of its abode, and crawled into the entrance, which was at first very narrow, but then widened, and at length became two walls leaning together at the top, but about eight feet apart at the bottom.

The floor of the cave was covered with cedar branches, on which the bear reposed. I lighted a wax-taper, and was thus enabled to examine the cave narrowly. Tiger had crept up to the bear with a lighted wisp of gra.s.s in his hand, shot it in the left eye, and killed it on the spot.

We packed the best of the meat and fat, as well as the skin, on our mules, and returned to camp, where we arrived at about ten o'clock. We packed up, and were under way again by two P.M., following Tiger, who led us through the mountain pa.s.ses, which here became much steeper. We rode nearly the whole day up hill, and only at intervals came to small table-lands, on which our cattle rested for a while. Trees grew rarer; here and there a small clump of cedars rose from a gorge, or an isolated group of p.r.i.c.kly yuccas decorated the rocks, and at times a mimosa hung over our path from a crevice. A plant, whose three feet long narrow leaves grew out of the rock in tufts, and are used by the Indians for plaiting baskets and mats, was very common here: in the spring it has a whitish yellow flower, which grows on a stalk nearly six feet high, and through its graceful form is a real ornament to the landscape.

After a tiring ride the sun began to decline and illumined the red bare granite mountains that now rose before us, and which we could still have reached; but, as we found gra.s.s and water here, and our cattle longed for rest, we halted and made our camp. We were all hungry and tired, and hence enjoyed the capital bear meat, and stretched ourselves before the fire in our buffalo robes, where we awaited the morning without any disturbance. Refreshed, and strengthened, we gazed down from our elevation at the dense clouds which filled the valleys below us, while the dark sky in the east over the mountains continually became redder, until all at once the sun appeared like a burning ball over the distant misty blue range of hills. It shot a few golden red beams over the awakening earth, and quickly rising poured its fiery stream of light over the world. From the sea of mist beneath us the sharp howling of the jaguars reached us, and we saw a long train of rapid antelopes, probably flying before these beasts of prey, darting over a hill that emerged from it. We had soon finished breakfast, and the mist in the valleys had not entirely dispersed, when we guided our horses up the hill of granite before us. The air was so cool that we b.u.t.toned up our jackets, and pulled over our laps the part of our saddle-cloths hanging over the holsters.

Before us the mountains illumined by the morning sun rose ever higher and higher, while the valleys between them were wooded and seemed to contain a great many evergreen oaks. Our path ran at a rather great height along precipices, and it was not till noon that we crossed a ridge, where a valley ran across before us, and we were compelled to go down to it. This valley, which was not more than three miles broad, surprised us by its peculiarly beautiful appearance: it was literally covered with rocks of the most gigantic size, which lay near and on each other, as if rained down from the sky. In some places these were so piled up that at a distance they resembled castles with their turrets and keeps. Between these red ma.s.ses of stone groups of live oaks emerged, and here and there small ponds could be seen glistening.

We had for a long time been enjoying this strange scene, and were on the point of going down to the rocky valley, when a loud yelling and barking was heard on our right beneath us, which rang through the valley, as if raised by a thousand animals. It rapidly drew nearer, and on looking in the direction of the sound we saw, at the foot of the precipice on which we were standing, a foam-covered old buffalo dash past with a pack of about fifty white wolves at its heels. The old fellow seemed very tired, and with flying mane raised its weary feet in its gallop, spurred on by the yells of its bloodthirsty pursuers. It soon disappeared with its tormentors round the rock, and far into the valley we heard the wild chase; but certainly the hunted brute eventually fell a prey to the furious band. It is only at this season that the white wolves collect in large packs, when they make very daring attacks on the largest animals, and even man, and many a western hunter has before this fallen their victim.

We rode down into the valley, following a very deeply-trodden buffalo path, which ran between the blocks of granite, some of which were as tall as a house, and at noon reached a small stream in its centre, which ran westward. Its water was clear, like all the small streams in the west, and was thronged with fish and turtle. Mac and Clifton soon threw their lines in and fetched out the fish as quickly as the hook fell.

They had pulled out several cat and buffalo fish weighing twenty pounds apiece, when Mac hooked a very large turtle, and was afraid lest it might break his line. John, who was known as a good fisherman, ran to his help, took the rod from Mac, but slipped, as the turtle gave a sharp tug, down the steep bank, and sank up to his head in the clear waters.

He was an excellent swimmer, like all Americans, at once came up and darted after the rod, which was hurriedly following the stream; we threw him a la.s.so and pulled him and it out. Then we let down a la.s.so, which Antonio managed to put over the turtle, and we dragged it ash.o.r.e. It weighed some thirty pounds, and afforded us a first-rate dinner with the fish.

Our horses had here excellent grazing grounds, which are much larger than they had appeared to us from the mountains, and as we did not wish to hasten our journey and reach the north too soon, where the vegetation was still dead, we resolved to rest here for a few days. Still, as the stream might perhaps swell rapidly, we thought it better to pa.s.s it and camp higher up. It was about fifty yards wide, and rather rapid, and the buffalo path on which we were went down into it at such a pitch that it was difficult to convey our traps across. Tiger and I consequently went up the stream in search of a spot easier of access. We had hardly gone a mile between the rocks, when we saw four large elks grazing on a meadow, which did not notice us. We were obliged to make a lengthened ascent to get to windward, and after a fatiguing clamber up and round the stones, we at length reached a large rock about eighty yards from them. We marked the animals we would fire at, and pulled triggers almost simultaneously. Tiger's elk fell dead, but mine got up and went off with my second bullet which I gave it, though it was in a very bad case. I sent Trusty after it, and heard him bark once, and then become silent.

The distance at which I had heard him was too far for me to run the risk of seeking him, and hence I sounded a couple of notes on my hunting horn to recall Trusty. While we broke up the elk the faithful dog came in, bearing the signs of victory on his blood-stained coat; we followed him to the elk, which he had captured, and found it dead with its throat torn out.

We broke this one up too, and then returned to the river to find a convenient pa.s.sage. About a mile farther on we came to a buffalo path, so deeply trodden in the bank that it led with a lower pitch to the water, while on the other side the bank was low and the stream shallow; we therefore hurried back to camp, and marched up the river with our baggage. Tiger, Konigstein, and Antonio rode off with two mules to fetch the game, and rejoin us at the indicated spot on the river. On reaching the latter we at once prepared to cross, and on this occasion our boat was used for the first time. We unpacked it, laid it on the gra.s.s and expanded it, after which we carried it to the river, and secured it with a la.s.so to the bank. It floated splendidly, and was packed with those articles which must not get wet. Ere long our comrades came in with the game, of which they had only taken the best joints. Antonio laid down his weapons and saddle-bags, and rode into the river with the cord in his hand, which was fastened to the coracle. He got across all right, but the water was too shallow to bring the boat close to bank, and he had nothing to which he could fasten it in the stream, but Tiger soon helped by jumping into the river, swimming across, and carrying the articles severally on land; then he brought back the coracle to us, as there were several more articles which must be protected from the wet, and because he also wanted to cross the river with a cargo.

We packed our boat again, and Tiger laid his long rifle on the top, though we dissuaded him from doing so. He swam off, and had reached the middle of the river, when the rifle lost its balance through a pull at the la.s.so, and sank in the river before Tiger could catch it. He seemed, however, to care but little about the accident, for he laughed heartily and swam quietly across to Antonio, who held the boat while the Indian carried its contents on land. When it was unloaded, it lay light as a feather on the water, and was pulled up and fastened to the bank. The young savage now leaped into the river again, dived like a stone at the middle of it, and came up a few seconds later with his rifle in his right hand, while he swam with the left. He mounted his piebald, and we all followed him into the stream, holding our weapons above our heads, and reached the other bank all right. When in camp on an elevation a short distance from the bank, Tiger lit a fire, and laid his rifle barrel in the ashes until the damp powder in it exploded and drove out the bullet, after which he ran down with it to the river, and cooled it in the water.

For three days we rested our horses here, and amused ourselves with fishing and hunting, for which the valley afforded every opportunity, as all sorts of game swarmed and the covered ground enabled the hunter to approach it. At night the whole valley seemed at times to be alive; the tramping of flying buffaloes rang on our ears, which were close to the ground, and the yells of hunting wolves could be distinctly heard: now and then the terrible roar of the jaguar rang through the damp moonlit night, and often so close to camp, that we leaped up and seized our rifles, while Trusty replied with furious barking. The couguar or maneless American lion (panther), which is very frequent here, often raised its plaintive cry; while the hoa.r.s.e, dull growl of the bear echoed through the rocks. Countless owls floated spectrally, with lengthened flapping of their wings, over this nocturnal landscape, or glided like a breath over our camp. Although we were frequently roused from sleep by this night life of the animal world, it never disturbed us for long, for so soon as we convinced ourselves that there was no danger for us, we fell asleep again. During our stay we killed a great quant.i.ty of game, of which we only used the tidbits, and thus behaved no better than all these four-footed beasts of prey, whose behaviour is after all far more chivalrous than ours.

On the morning we had appointed for our departure I was awakened by the yell of a jaguar. I sprang up, and heard it again at no great distance from our camp. Our fire was rather low, and hence it had ventured rather nearer to us, and our cattle had probably aroused its appet.i.te for blood. I made Tiger a sign to go with me, took my rifle and crawled with Trusty at my heels in the direction whence I had heard the jaguar. The gra.s.s was very damp, so that we could creep on without making the slightest noise. We stopped and listened. I fancied I had heard the puffing sound I had previously noticed with these animals, and which, I believe, is produced by their blowing out the dew which impedes their organs of scent. I heard it again, and not very far off, when suddenly the sharp snapping yelp was raised close before us, I hurried up some rocks, and saw the huge creature standing on a small clearing about thirty yards from me. The gra.s.s on which it was standing was still rather dark, and only the highest haulms displayed heavy drops of dew, while the breaking dawn was reflected in the brute's smooth yellow-black spotted body. I had fallen on one knee on the gra.s.s, when the royal brute again raised its half-open throat and uttered its murderous cry, accompanied by a blast of its hot breath, which rose like a strip of mist in the cold breeze. It stood motionless. I rested my arm that held the rifle on my knee, and everything was so still that I could distinctly hear my heart beat. I now fired, and with an awful roar the brute first rose straight in the air, then turned over and writhed in the gra.s.s. I had shot it near the heart, and in a few minutes it was quite dead. Tiger was greatly delighted with the splendid skin, which he stripped off the brute with extraordinary skill, and left the huge claws on it.

At about ten o'clock we were ready to start, and rode through a narrow gorge toward the hill ahead of us, which soon brought us to a wide plateau, on which we and our horses were greatly troubled by the sun, as the breeze was very slight. For several days we proceeded without any great difficulty through the mountains, which constantly surprised us both on the heights and in the valleys with the most beautiful landscapes, the wildest rocks, cascades, uprooted trees piled on each other; and then again the pleasantest and most peaceful valleys, in which we every moment expected to see the smoking chimneys of a settlement or a slowly turning mill-wheel. The mountains now grew much more impracticable, their sides steeper and the valleys narrower; our paths frequently led us from our course, wound round the precipices, and at times trended due south; so that during a day's ride we only advanced a few miles to the north. We reached a small river, which wound through the rocks from the north-east, and which Tiger told us was the Rio Colorado, which flowed in a great curve through these mountains and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. We had great difficulty in pa.s.sing its steep banks, and spent half a day ere we found a spot where we could ride through it. On its banks we found enormous cypresses and live oaks, and a generally rich vegetation for these regions, and above all, musquito gra.s.s, which was of incalculable advantage for our cattle.

We had hardly scaled the heights on the opposite side and were riding through a narrow path between two not very steep slopes, when we heard the barking of a hunting dog rapidly advancing towards us. I leaped from my horse and at the same moment there appeared on the left-hand precipice a flying antelope and at some distance behind it a black and white spotted dog, which only barked faintly at intervals. The buck was very fast and took enormous leaps over the loose boulders, and when it pa.s.sed within a hundred yards of us a shower of bullets was sent after it. It turned a somersault and rolled down the precipice to our feet, when we cut it up and divided the game among our mules. The dog, however, halted on the rock with hanging tail, and looked at us for a while thoughtfully, then turned and slowly made back tracks. Tiger said it was an Indian's dog, but not thoroughbred, as the latter never bark (I do not know whether they cannot, but I never heard them bark). As we rode along we looked for the dog's master, but did not catch sight of him.

The farther we went from the river the less steep the mountains' sides became, and the valleys widened again. On the following day we crossed two other rivers, which were also arms of the Colorado, and went down toward the northern spurs of the San Saba mountains. The mountain chains here ran severally over larger surfaces, on which a great many hills rose, but they had nearly all already donned the garb of the prairies; they were covered with a red gra.s.s that is rather hard, but does not die in winter, while in the lowlands grew the fine hair-like musquito gra.s.s.

Numerous patches of postoak crossed this country, and here and there the hills were covered with thick leaf wood. The streams, begirt by fine forests, all ran eastward, and were all full of fish, and the crystalline water which so greatly distinguishes Western America from all other countries. We found here again large troops of wild horses, though we had seen none on the mountains, and enormous quant.i.ties of game of all sorts. The prairie more especially was covered with buffaloes as far as we could see. We were constantly supplied with the finest meat which we shot in pa.s.sing, without stopping any length of time or tiring our horses.

One afternoon, however, we noticed among a herd of buffaloes two white ones which excited our cupidity, and we resolved to hunt them. We left Antonio and Konigstein behind with the mules, laid aside our superfluous baggage and slowly approached the buffaloes. They were standing on a knoll on the prairie, and allowed us to ride rather close up ere they took to flight. We galloped after them and were soon in their ranks, which gave way as we pressed in, and spread on both sides with such roaring and snorting as deafened the thundering noise of their hoofs.

The two white animals, an old bull and a cow, were right in the front.

In spite of the choking cloud of dust in which we were enfolded we kept them in sight and at last got up to them. Tiger was some paces ahead and first up to the buffaloes, but at the moment when he raised his long rifle to fire the bull turned on him and the piebald gave a tremendous start: Tiger lost his balance and would a.s.suredly have fallen, had he not caught hold of the mane and sprung from his rearing horse. At the same instant the buffalo received our bullets, and dashed furiously first after one then after the other, while being continually wounded afresh, until it at last sank on its knee exhausted and received the death shot from Tiger's rifle. I now rode back to those in the rear and brought them to the dead bull, while the others skinned it. The hide was splendid, very long haired, and s.h.a.ggy, and snowy white without spots. A white buffalo is a rarity. The savage Indians regard it with superst.i.tious awe, and make a sacrifice of sumach leaves ere they attack and kill it. They set an extraordinarily high value on the hide of such an animal, and either use it as a valuable present or sell it for a large sum. After the bull was killed, I had the greatest difficulty in keeping Tiger from following the herd which was out of sight in order to take the hide of the white cow, and it was not till I a.s.sured him that the hide of the dead one belonged to him and that I would purchase it of him, that he remained with us. An hour later the bargain was concluded, and my Indian perfectly contented. White deer, antelopes, and bears are more common, but for all that are regarded as rarities.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XX.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

We now reached open plains, where only here and there an isolated musquito tree or a thickly foliaged elm offers a little shade on the boundless glowing surface, and the sky forms the horizon all around. To these single shady trees the deer and antelopes fly in the midday heat, and lie down close together, so that you may be always certain to find game under these trees, so long as their leaves are standing. At the same season the gra.s.s is high also, and it is easy for the hunter to creep unseen within shot, and shoot the fattest deer through the head.

Even at the time of our visit, when the leaves had fallen, these animals frequently reposed under the scattered trees and rose as we pa.s.sed, forty or fifty in number, gazing anxiously at us. The buffalo, on the other hand, always remains in the sunshine, and seems able to endure the greatest heat, but also the greatest cold before all other quadrupeds.

It marks its endless marches from north to south and from south to north by its skeletons, which bleach for many a year in the sun. Now, when the gra.s.s was short, the whole surface in the distance had a whitish tinge, which is produced by these bones, out of which the skulls rise like shining dots. For about a week we rode through such land, only here and there interrupted by small elevations, and frequently suffered with our animals from drought. During this period we were often obliged to quench our thirst with standing water, with which the heavy showers fill great hollows in the prairies, and which remains in them even at the driest season. As the inhabitants of these plains, and especially the buffaloes, must also quench their thirst in them, and also wallow there, we frequently found the water as thick and warm as chocolate, and were obliged to strain it through a cloth to get rid of the hairs before we could drink it.

After a very hot day, on which we had suffered greatly from thirst, we suddenly saw from a knoll a large expanse of water before us, and greeted it at the first moment with great delight. We hurried on in order to reach this oasis as soon as possible, but surprised to see no bushes or trees on its banks, and even more when on drawing nearer we found far around only thin, dark gra.s.s, between which the ground shone quite white. Tiger shouted to me that it was salt water, and neither we nor our horses could drink it. This affected us the more deeply as we had indulged in the hope of a hearty drink, and we silently turned again to the west, in order to ride round the lake. Tiger laughed and said that we should have good water, as several large streams flowed into it from the west. This proved to be the case; for after riding about five miles along the bank of the lake, we reached a perfectly clear, sweet-water stream. We halted in order to refresh ourselves and our cattle, but we were obliged, as was the case nearly the whole week, to kindle a fire of _bois de vache_, to prepare our supper. At times, when in pa.s.sing over these prairies we found a dry musquito tree, we fastened a few logs to our saddle, so as to have firing for the evening; but this was too tiring, and we always hoped to come across wood, whence this precaution was generally neglected. In such regions there were no objects to which we could bind our horses; but this is easily managed by cutting a long, sharp wedge out of the very firm soil, thrusting the knot of the la.s.so in as far as possible and stamping in the wedge again with the foot. As the bound animal pulls almost horizontally at the very long la.s.so, while its end goes down nearly perpendicularly into the ground, the rope offers such a resistance that it will sooner break than be pulled out of the ground.

Gradually we saw more hills, and among them forests, while a few distant chains of mountains ran from west to east. One afternoon I was riding with Tiger about a mile ahead of our party, in order to have a better chance of approaching game, when we heard two shots behind us. We looked round and saw our friends gathered in a knot on a small knoll, and a swarm of about fifty Indians galloping round them. We gave our horses the spurs and flew back to them, while Tiger raised a hideous yell, in which I supported him to the best of my strength. Our friends now fired a general salvo at the a.s.sailants, which knocked over two horses, but their riders were immediately picked up by their comrades.

On seeing us the savages took to flight with gruesome yells. We rode up to our companions, who had placed all the animals in the centre to protect them. Konigstein had luckily seen some horses' heads over the crest of the next hill which aroused his suspicions, and had employed the time in a.s.suming a posture of defence, or else we should probably have lost our mules. Tiger saw, from the saddles of the shot horses, that they belonged to the Mescaleros, who are considered the most savage tribe in the west, and would certainly not have given up their attack so soon had they not recognised Tiger's war-whoop as that of the Delawares.

The number of Mescaleros is not large, and they are constantly at war with many other tribes, so that they do not care to make fresh enemies among their red brothers. This little danger, which we escaped without loss, was not unpleasing to me, as our precautions, which had nearly been forgotten, were aroused once more by it.

For about a week we marched through a very pleasant country, and arrived at a rather large river, which Tiger stated to be the Brazos, and which falls into the gulf to the eastward of the Colorado. I had seen it before at San Felipe, and would not have recognised it, for there it moves sluggishly through a thick-wooded bed of heavy clay, and has a dirty red colour, while here it rolls merrily over rocks, and its crystal surface is covered with a snow-white foam. From this point we proceeded to the north-west, as Tiger noticed that we had gone a little too far east, and would have much greater difficulty in crossing the rivers than farther west, where, though the country is mountainous, the streams nearer their sources are smaller and more frequent. The mountains were composed of limestone, and contained exquisite little valleys, where the vegetation was already bursting into new life. All the softer-wooded trees were budding, and the flowers were springing up all over the prairies. We seemed to keep equal pace with the reawakening of the vegetable world northwards, and even to go faster than it.

On a warm day we had been riding without a halt over desolate, stony hills, and were quite exhausted. When our tired and thirsty horses clambered up a barren height, we suddenly looked down into a lovely valley covered with fresh verdure, through which a broad stream wound.

The view soon enlivened horse and rider, and we merrily hurried down to the bank of the stream. We had hardly reached it and ridden our horses in to let them quench their thirst, when a long train of Indians appeared on the opposite height bordering the valley and came straight toward us. Tiger looked at them for a moment, and told us to wait here while he rode across to see who they were. We dismounted, led our horses together, and got our weapons in readiness. Tiger galloped through the valley to the hill side down which the Indians were coming, and checked his piebald at its foot. We saw him making signs from a distance to the approaching hors.e.m.e.n, which were answered in the same way, and ere long the whole party pulled up around him. They held a long consultation and then rode toward us with Tiger at their head. They were Kickapoos out on a hunting expedition, and had recently left their villages on the Platte, where they have settlements like the Delawares, and their squaws and old men grow crops and breed cattle.

I had a long conversation with the chief, in which Tiger played the interpreter, told him the purpose of our journey, invited him to visit me on the Leone next winter, and asked him how far it was to the next water. He a.s.sured me that we should come to good water and gra.s.s before the sun sank behind the mountains, and so we parted, very glad to get away from the fellows, whose appearance was anything but satisfactory.

The party consisted of about eighty men, twenty squaws, and a number of small children. The first were dressed in deer-hide breech-clouts, and had round the body a leathern belt, through which a very long and broad strip of coa.r.s.e red cloth was pa.s.sed, whose two ends were pulled through between the legs and fastened into the belt behind. In addition, several of them had deerskin coats, others calico coats, but the majority merely wore a buffalo robe over their bare shoulders, and nearly all were armed with rifles. The squaws wore a short leathern petticoat round their loins, and a buffalo robe on their shoulders, while those who had infants carried them fastened to a board upon their backs. They had already unpacked their horses and prepared their camp to halt here, as we rode away from them over the hills, and Tiger came up to me, saying, "Kickapoo no good--two tongues." I had heard before that these Indians were false, spiteful, and hostile to white men, and only the advantage they derive from being on friendly terms with the United States induces them not to appear publicly as their enemies.

We quickly advanced, and reached at a rather early hour a valley in which we found gra.s.s and water, and chose our camp at a spot where the stream ran close under a precipice, while on this side was a small copse in which we could fasten our cattle at night. It was an almost circular kettle enclosed by steep limestone walls, which had an opening only on one side, through which the bright stream flowed. The sun was sinking behind the lofty gray rocks and dyeing the dark blue sky with a glowing tint which no artist would venture to reproduce on his canvas. About midnight Trusty aroused us by his loud savage bark: he was at the opening of the valley and would not lie down again, but we could not discover his motive, as it was quite dark. Tiger fancied, however, that the Kickapoos were trying to steal some of our horses. When day broke and cast its first faint light over the gray walls of the valley, I awoke and saw at the entrance a herd of deer apparently browsing down the stream. As it was still rather dark I hoped to be able to approach them behind the few leafless bushes that grew on the bank, as crawling through the dewy gra.s.s was too fatiguing a job to be rewarded by a deer, especially as we still had a supply of game.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OCELOTS HUNTING IN COUPLES. _p. 243._]

I crept down the stream, and had got within shot, when I made a forward leap in order to reach a rather thick bush, from which I could fire more conveniently. At the same instant the deer started apart in terror, and I saw that an ocelot had leaped on the back of one of them, which laid back its broad antlers and galloped down the stream, while a second cat followed it with long high bounds. Two of the terrified deer darted past me, but I did not fire, as I felt an interest in watching the hunt of the two beasts of prey, which I followed as quickly as I could out of the valley. The deer ran about a mile down the stream, then reared and fell over backwards, when the second cat also sprang on it, and hung on its neck.

The deer collected its last strength and tried to rise on its hind legs, but sank exhausted and sent its plaintive cries echoing through the mountains. I crept, unseen by the beasts of prey, within thirty yards of the scene of battle, and shot the first, while I missed the second, as it bolted, but sent Trusty after it, and soon heard him at bay lower down the stream. I soon reloaded and hurried after Trusty, who was barking round a small oak in which the ocelot had sought shelter. I shot it down and dragged it up to the other, which was lying by the dead deer. All were up in our camp, as they had heard my shots, and John and Konigstein hurried toward me to see what I had killed. My clothes were as wet as if I had been in the river, and I turned myself before our fire while the others went out with Jack to bring in the game. Higher north I did not come across these small leopards, while farther south they are very frequent.

For several days longer our road ran through mountains, which were bordered by savage precipices and crossed by gra.s.sy valleys; then we rode for some days across open, boundless prairies, and again reached low ranges of hills, between which we crossed the southern arm of Red River, which divides Texas from Arkansas and falls into the Mississippi in Arkansas, after flowing a distance of nearly one thousand miles.

There it is of a dirty red, and muddy, and moves sluggishly between lofty poplars and planes which overshadow its flat banks, while the long gray gra.s.s hangs down from thence to the surface of the water and literally covers the trees. This moss hangs from every branch in creepers twenty feet long, and conceals the swampy soil in which those fearful monsters, the alligators, lie by thousands and await in their pestiferous lair the unhappy victims whom accident leads to them. Here and there a half-decayed blockhouse peeps out from under these weeping banners, and as everything there offers the picture of rapid desolation, you see in this house, where so many families have died out one after the other, the pale, yellow wasted faces of the new-comers peering out, like candidates for death, till it becomes too late to escape from this pestilential abode.