The Backwoodsman Part 4

I at length again reached the limestone region; but I must have been a great deal too far east; for the mountain chain was much lower than at the spot where I had crossed it. This view was soon confirmed when I went down into the valley and found all the streams I crossed small and insignificant. The country continually became more pleasant and rich, the valleys grew broader, and the vegetation was more luxuriant than in the desolate melancholy ravines I had been lately riding along. I daily expected to see well-known mountains, and looked about more especially for a very high point on a mountain chain which runs southward from Turkey Creek to the Rio Grande, on which the Indians have built a pyramid of large stones, either put up as a finger-post for the wandering tribes, or as a border mark between the different hunting-grounds.

One morning I had just left camp and was riding through an extensive prairie, when I fancied I could recognise this landmark, and convinced myself by the aid of my gla.s.s that I was not mistaken. I felt myself at home again, although this point was a good day's journey from my house: still, I knew in which direction my road lay, and eagerly went along it.

About noon I reached one of those most troublesome cactus woods, which frequently run across the prairies. The present one ran like a wall for miles across my path. There is no chance of riding through these thickets, as the p.r.i.c.kly plants grow closely together. Though they are most disagreeable to the hunter, their appearance is most attractive to the naturalist, through the brilliant colour of the cactus flowers, and the peculiar shape of the plants. This obstacle led me a long way from my route, as I was obliged to ride round it for several miles.

While I was riding close along this wall, still hoping to find a free pa.s.sage, I suddenly noticed a deer, about twenty yards off, poking its head out of the p.r.i.c.kles, and staring at me in surprise. I raised my rifle--Czar stopped instantly--and fired at the head, as I could not see any more of the deer. I could distinctly see through the smoke that the bullet smashed the right side of the deer's head, and heard it dash away a few yards, and then fall; but it was impossible to penetrate the p.r.i.c.kly wall for this short distance, and reach the deer. The cactuses were here from sixteen to seventeen feet high, and so close together that I could not go a foot into them. Hence I was obliged to give up the deer, and was very glad on at length reaching a narrow glade which ran through the wood.

Late at night I rode along the bank of a river, which I took for one of the western arms of Turkey Creek, and was forced to halt and pa.s.s the night here by the numerous rocks that rose from the tall gra.s.s and ferns. The next morning I pa.s.sed the spot where I crossed the river with the unfortunate Kreger by means of the trunk of the tree, and at noon reached the camp where the storm had treated us so ill. The revived memory of the unhappy man was very painful to me, and I hurried from the spot, in order to get rid of the blood-stained picture of the scalped naturalist. I now came again into my own hunting-grounds, where nearly every tree and shrub reminded me of a fine chase, and my desire for home and my faithful Trusty urged me on. I rode late into the night, till I reached at ten o'clock a camping-place, where I and Czar had often stopped before. It was evident that the sensible creature recognised his home, and again sought the same spot to rest where he had before stretched his beautiful limbs.

When day broke, I rose from my blanket with a feeling resembling that I felt on my birthday when a child: but soon wretched doubts forced themselves on me, whether I should find my little colony all right.

Czar, on this day, was washed extra clean; all the beards of the turkeys I had shot on the tour were fastened on the bridle: the beautiful skin of the tiger shot on the mountains was laid over the panther skin to display it in the best way, and I then continued my ride toward the Fort, which I hoped to reach at noon, with a joyously beating heart. The gra.s.s, however, was so high and rendered going so fatiguing for my horse, that I advanced but slowly, and did not reach our first resting-place at the commencement of the tour till noon. Czar was very hot and tired, so I did not ride on, as I had intended, but unsaddled and boiled coffee, while the horse was reposing in the shady gra.s.s. When the greatest heat was pa.s.sed, and I had washed Czar down in the stream, I started again homewards, and saw, as the sun was setting, my beloved virgin forest appear above the prairie, and the two immense poplars indicating the spot where the buffalo path that led to my settlement, entered the forest. It was about ten miles off, so that I could calculate on reaching home by nightfall without any great effort.

I had ridden through a small wood and had advanced into the prairie some hundred yards, when I noticed on my left at about a mile distance, five horse Indians emerge from a clump of oaks. Their horses were going at what is called a dog trot, although it seemed to be increased or diminished according to Czar's pace. I looked at them through my gla.s.s, and saw that only two of them had bows and the other three were unarmed.

As their appearance did not cause me any apprehension, I quietly followed my road at a gentle walk. We constantly came nearer, and I soon saw that the Indians designed to meet me on the path. I therefore held my horse in so that they reached the path when I was about one hundred yards distant from them. They stopped, and when they saw that I did the same, one of the armed men turned his horse toward me and rode a few paces nearer. I made signs to them to go their way, and when I saw they had no result, I leapt from my horse and raised my rifle, again intimating to them to ride on. They now shouted to me, "Kitchi, Kitchi, Delaware, Delaware!" the names of friendly tribes, and at the same time made the signals of amity. I, however, signalled to them again, and raised my rifle to my shoulder, upon which they spoke together and went up the hill very slowly, one behind the other, till I lost sight of them.

The suspicions which I entertained of all Indians induced me also to ride up the hill to see what had become of them. To my great surprise I saw them a long distance ahead galloping across the prairie. This sudden haste could not be explained through fear of me. It must have another cause which I could only find in the fact that their camp was no great distance off, and that they wished to inform their tribe of my presence, so as to cut me off on the prairie, and lay wait for me in the woods on the Leone. From the direction they followed, if the tribe were encamped no great distance from the path that led into the wood, they could get there before me, whence I soon made up my mind and galloped off to another ford of the Leone, about twenty miles higher up. Czar galloped nearly the whole distance, and I reached the forest before sunset. I was now safe, for no one could pa.s.s through the wood on horseback, and the narrow buffalo path could be easily defended. I reached the Leone, welcomed it with heartfelt joy, and hurried down the opposite bank toward my home. About three miles from it I had to cross a hill, whence I could see my fort. I approached its crest with a loudly beating heart, because I must here obtain certainty as to the fate of my settlement.

I looked across the valley, and on the other side I saw the fort glistening through the gloom. A heavy load fell from my heart; I took my gla.s.s, everything was quiet, the smoke rose straight from the kitchen, and suddenly two of my dogs ran up from the river, and disappeared through the palisades into the interior of the fort. Czar, too, knew perfectly well that he was going home, for though I had ridden him unusually hard, he kept up his amble, while usually when he was tired he had a habit of stopping and biting the gra.s.s.

It had grown very dark when I rode up the last hill to my fort, and was received by the loud barking of my dogs which dashed through the holes in the palisades. But all their voices were overpowered by Trusty's ba.s.s from the interior of the building. The dogs soon recognised me, and springing up to Czar expressed their delight at my return by loud whining. I now raised my hunting cry, which was responded to by Trusty tugging furiously at his chain, and a hearty welcome from my garrison.

The chain of the gate fell, and Trusty flew out and up at me, so that I was hardly able to keep my feet under his demonstrations of delight. My three comrades received me most heartily, and strove to show how much they were attached to me. My horses and mules raised their voices from the interior of the fort, and Czar answered them by his friendly whinnies.

When the first greeting was over, my three men asked almost simultaneously, "but where is Mr. Kreger?" I pointed to heaven and intimated by a short "by-and-bye," that I would tell them all about it presently. Czar was soon liberated from his burden, rolled himself heartily at his old place in the gra.s.s, and consoled himself with his long absent maize-leaves, while I doffed my travelling accoutrements indoors, and made myself comfortable by a wash and change of dress. We were soon seated round the old table at supper, at which I refreshed myself with a draught of fresh milk, and then I described the unhappy fate of my companion Kreger. An almost unanimous "did I not foretell it?" burst at the end of my narrative from the lips of my comrades, who all felt great sympathy in the unhappy man's fate.

In spite of my weariness it had grown rather late. Hence I rose, went out once more to Czar, who had heartily enjoyed his husked corn, and then proceeded indoors with my faithful Trusty, who resumed his old post on a thick bearskin with delight. But I felt so confined in my room that I was obliged to open all the doors and windows, and lie down on a buffalo hide on the floor, instead of resting in my bed. It is remarkable how soon a man forgets rooms when he has been living for any length of time in the open air, and how he feels like a fish out of water when he returns to them.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER X.

THE BEE HUNTER.

I was the first to rise from my bed when day broke, and went forth to enjoy the cooling breeze. Czar was not yet awake, and merely raised his head a little from the ground, gazing at me with his glorious eyes as if he wished to say that it was too soon to rise, and then laid his head down on the ground again and accepted my patting without stirring. The cream-colour whinnied and turned about till it came up to me, when it took from my hand a piece of biscuit: the dogs leapt about me, but kept at a respectful distance, because Trusty was by my side and none dared venture near him. I aroused my garrison and then proceeded to the river, whence I could survey my maize field, which glistened like a dark pine forest, and in which a horseman would have been completely hidden; then I went into the garden, which I found in admirable order, and in which the most magnificent melons were ripening. When I returned to the fort the milch cows were leaving the enclosure, and shone in the morning sun as if they had been curry-combed. My favourite c.o.c.k, Whip, called his numerous harem out to breakfast on the prairie; and two pigs hurried with their farrows towards the river, for the purpose of going to the wood.

After breakfast I saddled the cream-colour, for which the saddle girths had grown much too tight, and rode with one of my men and Trusty to the other side of the river, towards the old buffalo path that led to the prairie; we reached the skirt of the wood, and had not ridden far through it when Trusty, who was ahead, stopped and looked up at me. I dismounted and perceived a number of footsteps made by moca.s.sins. A little farther on the gra.s.s was trampled down by a great number of horses' hoofs. My foreboding was then confirmed. The entire Indian tribe had laid wait for me in the woods, and I should certainly have fallen a victim to their treachery if my good star had not warned me of their design. I silently thanked my guardian angel, who had already led me through so many dangers, and rode back to the fort, which I reached shortly before noon, with a very fat deer I had shot on pa.s.sing through the wood, and which hung across my comrade's saddle.

A few days' rest at home did me a wonderful deal of good; and I felt remarkably comfortable. In the afternoon I swung in a hammock in the verandah before my house, smoking a cigar; and in the evening I sat till a late hour in a rocking chair in my neatly furnished room, and sang to the guitar songs from the past days of youth and pa.s.sion. My house consisted of but one large room, whose walls and ceiling were covered with the finest dark-haired buffalo hides, while a carpet of smooth summer deer hides enlivened the floor. Over my bed was the skin of a splendid spotted jaguar, and in front of it was spread a coal-black bear skin, on which Trusty slept. The walls were adorned with excellent oil-paintings; among them being a very fine specimen of Murillo; and from the ceiling hung a lamp, which, throwing its faint light on the dark walls, produced a weak but pleasant illumination. On the table in front of the gla.s.s stood two large orange-hued gourds filled with water, in which stood splendid bouquets of magnolias, which spread their vanilla perfume through the whole room; close by was a gla.s.s case containing my firearms; and on all the walls were displayed the most splendid antlers of our common deer, the giant deer, elks, moose, and antelopes. A collection of good engravings, a small library, and my drawing apparatus, completed the furniture of this asylum, to which I frequently retired when I returned home from a long tour, covered with dust and blood, and was beginning to grow tired of this rough, savage mode of life. At such times I looked out the clothes of civilization--the tail coat and polished boots; and Trusty in his amazement would not take his eyes off me, as if he were afraid that I should at last become quite another man. Although this metamorphosis may appear so ridiculous, it had something about it most soothing and pleasant for me. I then occupied myself for some days with reading, answering my letters, drawing, and music; after which I again donned my deer-hide suit, and threw myself into the arms of nature with my faithful companions.

I had been at home for about a week, had only hunted close to the fort, and in addition to domestic arrangements, occupied myself princ.i.p.ally with fishing, for which purpose I fastened a strong cord across the stream, on which were a number of lines and hooks hanging baited in the water. A small bell in the middle of the cord informed us when a fish or turtle was tugging at it, and we fetched them ash.o.r.e with the canoe. We only cared for large fish, and it was no rarity for us to pull up cat-fish and buffalo-fish weighing thirty pounds, trout of twelve, and turtles of forty pounds.

Early one morning I was engaged in shoeing Czar's forefeet, as I always kept a stock of shoes and nails by me, after which I returned to my room to write letters, as I intended to send one of my men in a few days with commissions to the nearest settlement. I had been writing about half an hour, with Trusty lying under the table in the middle of the room, when the door opened, and I of course expected it was one of my own people.

Trusty, however, sprang up barking, from under the table, and pulled me down as I tried to hold him back by the tail. In an instant the furious animal leaped at the throat of a stranger dressed in leather, who came into the room with a long Kentucky rifle, pulled him down, and would certainly have killed him in a few minutes, if I had not thrust my hands between the dog's jaws and forced them open, though his teeth were buried deep in my fingers.

With all my strength I lay on the desperate dog, and my men dragged the stranger out of the door, while I was scarce able to hold back the animal, which leaped up madly at the closed door. I hurried out to the stranger, in whom I recognised a bee-hunter, who had paid me a visit about a year previously. He was seriously hurt, though not mortally, as it seemed. I at once took him into the house, continually applied cold bandages and nursed him as well as I could during the four days he remained with me. Then I discharged him, after stocking him amply with powder and ball, coffee and salt, needles, thread, and other articles, and begging him, when he next visited me, to knock at my door first. I was very anxious not to have these bee-hunters against me, as they might prove even more dangerous than savages. They are generally scape-gallows from the States, and live in the desert with their horse and rifle by hunting, and collecting honey and wax, the former of which they pack in fresh-sewn deer hides, and carry it with the wax and peltry to the Indian settlements for the purpose of selling or swapping. He left me perfectly contented, and with a.s.surances of grat.i.tude and friendship, and I was very glad to get rid of this unbidden guest.

One evening, as the sun was setting, I felt a necessity of hearing the crack of my rifle. Czar had fattened up again, and Trusty was anxiously awaiting the day when I should recover from my indolence. I rode down the river to a small pond on the prairie, which was filled with rain water in the winter and retained it till far into the summer. Strangely enough, all animals prefer this water to any other, and will go a long distance to drink it. I led Czar into the bushes, threw his bridle over a branch, and sat down on the edge of the forest upon the roots of an old oak, waiting for the game that might come to water.

It was growing dark when a herd of deer came across the prairie and posted themselves on a hill behind the pond. They were all rather large, but one of them had antlers far larger than the rest. After a short halt they advanced up to the water hole, with the big deer at their head. It had drunk, and was raising its head with the mighty antlers, when I pulled the trigger, and the bullet struck behind the shoulder blade. He ran away from the other deer to a broad, rather deep ravine, formed by the torrents, and which gradually grew narrower. I mounted Czar after reloading, and rode after the deer, which suddenly rose before me and leaped up the steep wall of the ravine. It was already very dark, and I was afraid of losing the deer, hence I called Trusty to follow it.

Nothing could please him better; he ran after it up the wall, and pursued it into the prairie with loud barking. As the spot was too steep for me, I ran back, and when I reached the prairie lower down I saw the deer proceeding towards the woods, and two dogs instead of one following it. I gave Czar the reins, in order to cut the deer off; but Trusty caught it at the moment, and the supposed second dog, an enormous white wolf, attacked my dog. All three lay atop of each other, when I leaped from my horse within shot, and hurried to the scene of action. The wolf noticed me and tried to bolt, but Trusty held it tightly, and I ran within ten paces of them. The two animals were leaping up savagely at each other, when my bullet pa.s.sed through the wolf's side, and Trusty settled it. The deer, which had thirty tines, had got up again, but soon fell on a leap from Trusty, and I killed it. I then rode home, fetched a two-wheeled cart drawn by a mule, drove out with one of my men, and brought back the deer and the wolf, whose skin, though not so fine as in winter, still made an excellent carpet under our dining-table.

There was nothing to do now in the fields, whence we seldom went there, and our visits were limited to one of us crossing the river at daybreak in a canoe hollowed out of a monstrous poplar, and walking round the field with a fowling piece, in order to put a check to the countless squirrels which sprang over the fence to reach the forest at daybreak, partly because they did great damage to the young maize, partly because they supplied an excellent dish for breakfast. Another animal which we killed in these walks was the rac.o.o.n, which also injured the maize, and inhabited our forests in incredible numbers. We merely shot it because it injured the maize, for its flesh is uneatable. Its skin, though highly valued in Europe, fetches no price among us. It visits the fields at night, clambers up the maize stalks, nibbles a few seeds out of a cob, and then runs to another plant. The result is that the gnawed cobs rot and die.

I was taking this walk one morning round the field, when I saw on the railings at the hinder end several whole stalks hanging, and found one on the ground in the forest. I went into the field and found large s.p.a.ces where all the stalks had been pulled up and carried off, but could not recognise a trail on the soil, which was thickly overgrown with weeds and gra.s.s. I followed the trail into the forest, and found at no great distance from the first maize stalk a footprint on the ground, which seemed made only with the heel, and which I took for a moca.s.sin.

The maize, however, was not ripe yet, and not even large enough for boiling, and hence it seemed to me improbable that Indians had carried off the plants. I sought farther, and soon found a quite distinct enormous bear's footprint, which indicated the thief more clearly. When evening came, I and one of my men seated ourselves in the maize with Trusty on a couple of chairs we carried there. I had my large double-barrel loaded with pistol bullets, and my comrade a double rifle.

We sat for a long time, as the moon shone now and then; but at length we grew tired of waiting, and I got up to go home, but at the same moment fancied I could hear the crackling of drift wood. I fell back on my chair; at the same moment the railing in front of me grew dark, and almost immediately Bruin appeared with his broad chest, and peered about in all directions. Piff! paff! I let fly both barrels at him; he disappeared behind the railing, and we could hear him dashing through the wood. We went home, and on the next morning at daybreak we followed the trail along which Trusty led us to the dead bear, which had only run a mile. Its fat and meat fully compensated for the damage it had effected in the field.

It was the summer season, and the heat was growing very oppressive.

Hence I carefully avoided hunting buffalo, for fear of tiring my horse too much, and restricted myself to supplying our wants with deer, turkeys, and antelopes in the vicinity; but our supply of salted and smoked meat was at an end, and I resolved to go after buffalo on a day which was not quite so hot. Trusty had run himself lame in following deer recently, as his feet had grown soft through doing nothing, so I left him at home and rode down the river on Czar early one morning.

About ten miles from home I saw from the wood whose skirt I was following, a small herd of about twenty buffalo bulls grazing on an elevation on the prairie. I hid my rifle in a bush that I might ride more easily, took a revolver from my belt, and went cautiously under the hill as near as I could to the animals. Suddenly they saw me, broke into a gallop, and tried to escape; I went after them, and though I had to ride over many stony broken places in the bottom on the other side, I soon caught them up, and fired a bullet behind the shoulder blade of a fat old bull; it at once went slower, remained behind the herd, and bled profusely from the mouth and nostrils, but still galloped on, as I did by its side a short distance off.

At a spot where a valley entered the prairie, I shot ahead, and, as I expected, it turned aside into the bottom. It was in a very bad state, and I awaited it to turn at bay any moment, when I would kill it with another shot; still it kept up its speed, and I, tired of the chase, rode up behind to kill it with a shot from a short distance. I had hardly risen in the right stirrup, however, and leant over to fire, when the bull turned with lightning speed, drove his horn under the stirrup, and hurled me such a height in the air, that, on looking down from above, I could see Czar dash off frantically and fall in the tall gra.s.s.

In an instant I sprang on my legs again, and three paces from me stood the monster with its head on the ground, braying furiously, and stamping its fore feet. It was nearly all over, but still I held my revolver pointed between the bull's little blood-red eyes, and waited like a statue for the moment when it charged, to send a bullet through its s.h.a.ggy forehead. But it was in too bad a state, and hence turned away a few minutes after and went round me; the mortal spot was now exposed, I fired, and the bull fell dead; I then ran up the nearest hillock, through the tall gra.s.s, where I arrived greatly fatigued, and looked about for Czar, whom I saw in the distance flying over the prairie with his snow-white tail fluttering in the breeze.

I felt terribly frightened at this sight, for this region was rarely free from wild horses, and I was well aware that if Czar once got among them he would be eternally lost to me. I was looking after him in desperation, when I noticed in front of him a long black line apparently coming towards me; I looked through my telescope, and recognised a herd of buffalo which, aroused by some cause, were galloping towards my horse in a long line; Czar stopped, raising his head high in the air, then turned and came straight towards me with flying mane; I collected all my strength to reach one of the highest spots around that lay in the course of my terrified horse. He dashed through the last bottom over the trailing gra.s.s, dragging the tiger skin after him which hung down on one side of the saddle.

On hearing my cry he stopped and recognised me, ran to me, and stood trembling all over by my side, while timidly looking round at the pursuing column. With one bound I was on his back, and felt myself once more lord of the desert. The buffaloes halted on the nearest elevation, looked at me for some minutes, and then dashed into the bottom on the right. I then rode back to my buffalo, broke it up, hung its tongue and fillet on the saddle, and started home, fetching my rifle as I pa.s.sed. I reached the fort at noon, saddled the cream-colour after we had drunk coffee, and then went out with the cart, to fetch the very fat meat of my vanquished foe. It was then cut into long thin strips, and packed into a cask with alternate layers of salt; after it had lain thus for a few days it was put up on long sticks, and hung over a very smoky fire in the burning sun, when in a few hours it became dry enough to be carried into the smoke-house, where it kept good for a very long time.

One morning my men were busily engaged in hanging up the dried meat in the smoke-house, when one of them came running up to me and informed me that a herd of buffaloes was coming up close to the garden on the river.

I seized my rifle and darted out, shouting to my men to keep back the dogs, but to let them all loose when I waved my handkerchief. I ran out of the fort, and in a stooping posture along a prairie hollow, in order to get before the buffaloes, which were marching two and two in a long row up from the river to the prairie, and lay down in the long gra.s.s under an elevation for which they were steering. I had been lying there but a few minutes when the first bulls appeared on the heights, and I shot one of them, though without showing myself. The buffalo stopped, sank on its knees, and fell over, while the others gathered round it, looked at it for a long time, and then tried to make it get up by pushing it with their horns. If you do not show yourself, you can in this way kill a great number of these animals, as they are not frightened by the sound of a rifle.

After reloading I rose on one knee and shot a second, which I hit in the knee, however, instead of behind the shoulder. I saw that it had noticed me, for it turned round, and, with its head down, dashed upon me from the heights. I sprung up and waved my handkerchief, and then threw myself full length in a narrow gully, while the hunting cry of my people in the fort reached my ear, and I recognised Trusty's voice among my dogs.

I heard the thunder of the savage bull approaching me, as it made the ground shake under me, and I looked up, expecting every minute to see the monster leap over me; but when it was within about twenty yards of me it stopped with a terrible roar, as it had lost me, and now saw my dogs dashing up the valley like unchained furies. Prince Albert, one of my young bloodhounds, was the foremost, and behind him came Lady Elsler, his b.i.t.c.h, both equally fast and courageous. They dashed past me. I rose, and now came Trusty with his mouth wide open, furious that another dog should dare to a.s.sault the enemy before him. My hunting-cry echoed far over the prairie, where the two bloodhounds hung by the thick hide of the infuriated buffalo on its wounded side, while Trusty pinned its monstrous muzzle, in which he buried his fangs, which never loosed their hold.

The buffalo fell back a few paces, and then rose, with Trusty still hanging to its snout, on its colossal hind legs, snorting furiously. I could not shoot on account of the dog, and the raging brute dashed over the prairie, holding Trusty in the air, who only every now and then was able to touch the ground with his feet. Ere long, however, the whole pack had caught up the fugitives, and the brave dogs hung like leeches from the buffalo's s.h.a.ggy coat. Still it dashed on with them toward the river, at a spot where the bank was forty feet high.

I looked after them with terror, for there was no doubt but that the buffalo would dash over, and in that case most of my dogs, and Trusty more especially, would be buried beneath it. A few more leaps, and they would have reached the precipice, but at this moment the monster rose in the air and turned over, covered by my dogs. It roared and raged, till the sound echoed through the forest, but was unable to get on its forelegs again, because Trusty kept its head pinned down to the ground.

I could hardly breathe when I reached the buffalo: I held my rifle to its broad forehead, and sent a bullet through its hard skull. The fight was at an end, and Trusty came up to me, panting and wagging his tail, while he looked up to me as much as to say that it had been a tough job.

He limped a little, and Leo, a very brave dog, had a considerable wound between the ribs, but none of the others were hurt.

We returned to the fort, and were preparing to fetch the meat in the cart, when we saw a horseman coming down the river, who soon dismounted at the gate, and walked up to me with a pleasant good morning, and shook my hand. He was indubitably the handsomest man I had ever seen, and the beauty of his form was heightened by his tight-fitting and neatly-made leathern dress. He was scarce twenty years of age, above six feet high, with a small head, long neck, broad retreating shoulders, a full chest, a very small waist, and muscular though handsomely-shaped legs, which were supported by very delicate ankles and feet, almost too small for his height. His lofty forehead was surrounded by black shining silky locks, and beneath his sharply-cut black eyebrows his blue eyes shone with a calmness and decision, but also with a kindliness, that it was impossible to offer him an unfavourable reception. His black silky beard pa.s.sed under his straight n.o.bly-formed nose round his smiling, partly-opened mouth, between whose cherry lips two rows of transparent white teeth were visible, and heightened the white complexion of his oval face and the fresh ruddiness of his cheeks. Thus this G.o.d of the desert stood before me with a grace and propriety such as are rarely met with in the gouty circles of high society; and I thought to myself that his appearance would attract attention and respect, in spite of the leathern garb, among the n.o.bility of the Old World.

Without asking him who he was, I gave him the hearty welcome which his amiability claimed, led him to the dining-room, had his luggage brought into the fort, and his horse put in a stall and supplied with maize leaves. Then a breakfast was set before my guest, and after begging him, in the old Spanish fashion, to make my house his home, I apologized for being obliged to leave him a little while, as I had shot some buffaloes close by, which I wanted to get home.

"Will you allow me to a.s.sist you? I am a good hand at it," was his reply. He had soon finished his breakfast, and went with me out of the fort to the river bank where the buffalo lay. Although I had introduced Trusty to the stranger, the dog still pressed between him and me, which he noticed and remarked.

"You have a fine hound there, who has grown up in the desert. I have heard of him before. He is no friend of bee-hunters, and yet he does not seem savage with me."

I begged him not to touch Trusty, as he might misunderstand it, and we soon reached my quarry. The stranger, whose name was Warden, as he told me, laid aside his leathern jacket, which was tastily ornamented with fringe, turned up his shirt-sleeves, displaying thus his finely formed muscular and white arms, and drew a splendid hunting-knife from its sheath. We set to work together in skinning the buffalo, in which operation Warden displayed a remarkable skill, then broke it up, and while my people carried the meat to the fort we proceeded to the other buffalo higher up the prairie, and prepared it in the same way for removal.

While we were engaged in skinning this animal, Warden remarked he was surprised at my using rifles of so large a bore, as it was a settled fact that the long Kentucky rifles, one of which he carried, produced much greater effect with small bullets. I contradicted this a.s.sertion, and an argument ensued, as neither would give up his opinion. Warden offered a wager, and staked his rifle against one of mine, which I accepted. We cut off the buffalo's head with the skin attached to it, and had it carried to the fort with the meat, in order to try our rifles on it. It was noon when we got back. We cleaned ourselves and enjoyed our dinner, a buffalo fillet roasted on the spit, and some of the marrow-bones.

After drinking coffee and smoking a cigar, we carried the buffalo head outside the fort, put it in front of an oak, pressed a piece of white paper on the forehead, and then walked eighty paces back, I shot first, and my bullet pa.s.sed through the paper into the head, and an inch deep into the oak. Warden fired next, and also sent his bullet into the piece of paper, but there was no trace of the bullet on the tree behind the head. We removed the skin from the skull and found Warden's bullet lodged under it, close to the hole which mine had made. Warden at once allowed the bet lost, but at the same time requested me to sell him a gun, as he could not exist without one. I naturally laughed, as my only object in the matter was conviction, and the bet had only been a joke.

Warden, however, shot with surprising accuracy at one hundred yards with his rifle, which was four feet and a half long, the whole weight resting on the left hand in front; but his ball rarely pa.s.sed through a deer, except when he was close to it.