The Backwoodsman Part 5

After supper, while we were lying on the gra.s.s on the river bank, my guest told me that he was a native of Missouri, the son of a farmer, but had been compelled by unfortunate circ.u.mstances to quit home, and had been living for five years as a desert hunter. At first he remained on the frontiers of his own State, but the cold winters had continually driven him to the south, until he at last got so far down to a country whose climate agreed better with him. He remained a whole week with me, and made himself useful during the day through his skill in making all sorts of trifles; for instance, carvings in poplar and cypress wood, plaiting strong tight lines of different coloured horsehair, tanning skins, making neatly ornamental powder flasks out of buffalo horns, and charge measures of the fangs of bears and jaguars, while in the evening he described in a most lively manner the numerous dangers he had fortunately escaped, and the many fights he had had with the Redskins during the five years.

The unchanging calmness which usually covered his n.o.ble face often deserted him when describing these scenes; his eyes flashed like daggers in the moonlight, his brow contracted, and we could read on his forehead that he must be a terrible foe when aroused. But these outbursts of pa.s.sion soon pa.s.sed away, and the ordinary gentleness spread once more over his features. Among the feelings reflected on various occasions in his face, there was an unmistakeable melancholy, which must be produced by events of his life before the period when he bade farewell to human society, and this was proved by the fact that he spoke reluctantly about that time, and always became silent when the conversation was accidentally turned to it. Hence I carefully avoided alluding to the period, for if a heavy crime lay hid in his bosom, I was ready to excuse it; while if he was suffering undeservedly, I pitied him, and would not augment his sorrow by unnecessarily evoking his reminiscences.

I would have gladly kept him with me, as he was a pleasant, attractive companion in my solitude; but he would go, and it seemed to me as if the tranquillity he enjoyed at my house did not permanently satisfy him, and as if he wished to deaden memory by the wild, perilous life he led on his hunting expeditions. I equipped him as far as lay in my power with everything that could soothe his fatiguing life, and took a hearty leave of him in front of the fort. He parted regretfully, and was greatly excited when he shook my hand in farewell and mounted his powerful horse, which he had trained like a dog. He promised to pay me another visit soon, and galloped at such a pace over the prairie, as if he wished thus to dispel the thoughts which had mastered him. I watched him for a long distance, till he disappeared in a cloud of dust on the edge of the prairie.

Some time after I learned from the bee-hunter whom Trusty received so savagely the history of this amiable but unfortunate man, whom the former had known as a lad in Missouri. Warden's father was the son of one of the first families in Virginia; was educated at a first-rate school and studied medicine. He got into bad company, turned gambler and then highwayman, and was for some years the terror of post travellers in North Carolina and Virginia. About this time he fell in love with a very beautiful, fashionably educated young lady in Virginia, and ran away with her to Missouri, which was just beginning to be colonized. He altered his mode of life, was greatly respected by his fellow-citizens, and in a few years sent to Congress as deputy for Missouri. Thus he lived most creditably till his son was twelve years of age, and his daughter was married at the age of seventeen to a farmer. One day, however, he rode to the nearest town where a court was being held, and for the first time during many years tasted spirits. He had scarce done so, ere his old wicked foe seized on him again with all its might, and he rode daily, in spite of all the prayers and representations of his family, to the town, and returned at night in a most frightful state of intoxication.

On the next court day he was about to ride again to town, when his wife begged her son-in-law to accompany him. Warden had been drinking already, and said he had a feeling he should be killed during the day.

He made his young son take a solemn oath to follow his murderer to the end of the world and take his life. Then he rode off to the town, soon became intoxicated, began quarrelling, at length began wrangling with his son-in-law, who tried to hold him back, and drew his knife on him; the latter defended himself, and Warden ran on his knife, and was carried home in a dying state. Warden once again reminded his son of the oath he had taken, and expired. The law was put in work against his son-in-law, who fled to Indiana and lived there in concealment. Warden's son grew up, and in his sixteenth year was the favourite of the whole countryside, but then he took his rifle and his horse, bade good-bye to his mother and sister, rode to Indiana, and shot his brother-in-law in his own house. He escaped from the police with great difficulty, and fled to the desert, where he had been living five years when he visited me.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI.

THE WILD HORSE.

The departure of the unfortunate Warden, who had fallen a victim to pa.s.sions which had not been held in restraint at an early age, was very painful to me, and the evenings, which I generally spent alone, grew very long, as I had before gossiped half the night away with him. Hence I went to bed early, and followed my old habit of rising before daybreak, I generally took my rifle, went with Trusty across the river to the forest and watched for game. At that hour the wood was most beautiful; the coming day drove the darkness before it through the mighty ma.s.ses of foliage, the birds aroused one another from their sleep, owls, blinded by the morning light, darted like the last shadows of night into the densest thickets, and deer returned home from their nocturnal excursions through the dewy gra.s.s; the bear, startled by the rapidly-increasing light, trotted with hoa.r.s.e growls towards its secret hiding-place, while the herons, bearing the first golden sunbeams on their silver plumage, rose from the tall trees and pa.s.sed with flapping wing through the refreshing morning breeze.

I was cautiously walking one morning along this my favourite spot, and inhaling the thousand perfumes which had filled the recesses of the forest during the tranquil night, avoiding every dry branch for fear of startling its denizens, while Trusty followed at a short distance all my windings round the bushes and fallen trees. It had become tolerably light, when I fancied I heard a rustling at an open spot, in the centre of which stood several very large pecan-nut trees. I stood still for a moment and listened, holding my breath, for a repet.i.tion of the noise.

I heard it again, like the breaking of twigs ahead of me, but in spite of my utmost efforts could not perceive that even a leaf was moving.

Once again the same breaking and rustling reached me, and on looking up accidentally I saw a thick black lump shining among the foliage of the pecan-trees. I soon distinguished a young bear busily engaged in drawing to it with its long paws the thin branches of the nut-tree, and putting the unripe nuts in its mouth, I quickly sprang under the tree, so as to make sure of the bear, which was about the size of a sheep; but I remembered its mamma, who might be in the neighbourhood, and easily come up to fetch her pet home. I stationed myself under the tree on which the cub was, and made Trusty lie down by my side, as he was beginning to growl, and pressing his nose against the tree.

The bear saw me, and became greatly alarmed; sprang from one branch to the other, and looked timidly down to me. I did not move, but listened carefully to every sound in the vicinity, while my neighbour came down to the first floor, above my head; and, sitting among the lowest branches, produced a cry like that of little children. It soon repeated its wail, and I heard far away in the forest a hob, hob, hob, hob, coming towards me. I sprang up, and placed myself behind the trees, after again forcing Trusty's head into the gra.s.s. I distinctly distinguished by the leaps that it was an old bear hastening to the help of her cub. I pointed my rifle in the direction whence it was coming, and suddenly it parted the foliage in front of me with its broad shoulders, whereupon I gave a loud "pst." In a second the bear sat up on its hind-quarters, and as the fire flashed from my barrel it made a couple of leaps towards me, but was rolled over by a second bullet through the head, while I shouted a "Down, sir!" to Trusty, who was on the point of springing up. I drew a revolver, ran up to the old bear, and sent a bullet through her brain, as she was still furiously hitting out with her terrible paws.

I next reloaded my rifle, and looked up at my neighbour, who had fled to the top of the tree, and was swinging with the branches. I called Trusty away from under the tree, bade him lie down in the gra.s.s behind me, and gave the cub something which brought it down like a ball, crashing through the foliage to the ground, when I put the other barrel to its forehead, and stopped its young bearish existence. After reloading, I broke it up, to give Trusty his share of the spoil--the kidneys, the only bear-meat he ever touched, unless he was very hungry. I then hastened home, and after breakfast I went back to the forest with one of my men and three mules, when we broke up the old bear, and carried the meat home on two of the animals, and the cub entire on the third.

Thus several weeks pa.s.sed, during which I went little beyond the immediate vicinity of my house, in order to lay in our stock of meat either in the morning or evening, when the heat was less oppressive.

During the day we were cutting steps in the perpendicular river-bank, out of which a very strong spring gushed about ten feet from the top, and in building a small dairy over it. We led the spring through wooden troughs, in which we kept the milk and b.u.t.ter sweet; while we hung up on the walls meat which remained fresh for several days. The dairy was on the north side, so that it was very slightly exposed to the sun, whose effects we also neutralized by a thick layer of overhanging reeds. This spot was most agreeable in the midday heat, at which time the atmosphere in the houses was most oppressive, while here it always remained cool and refreshing through the ice-cold water. The spring, however, was not so pleasant for drinking as the one I had on the side of the prairie near the garden, from which we fetched our drinking water.

After finishing my job, most of my stores were nearly expended, and I required a number of new tools. Hence I went myself to the nearest settlement, sold there my stock of hides, honey, wax, and tallow, and took home the articles I needed on my pack animals. While at the settlement I met, at the store-keeper's with whom I was bargaining, a Mexican lad, sixteen years of age, who had accompanied a brace of mules brought here from Mexico for sale, and had remained as waiter at the hotel. His name was Antonio, and he offered to go with me and stop. He was recommended to me by an acquaintance as a first-rate horseman and la.s.soer, and as he pleased me in other respects, I accepted his offer, and he rode with me home.

Antonio's skill in riding was extraordinary; it was all the same to him whether he had a bridle or not--whether he sat in a saddle or bare-backed; once on the animal's back, no rearing or kicking could throw him. I have often seen him go up to mules grazing on the prairie, and approach them quietly, lounging round them as if seeking something in the gra.s.s, till he was near enough to them, when with a spring he was on the back of one of them, and the terrified creature made all sorts of bounds and leaps to get rid of him. But it was all in vain. Antonio responded to the mule's efforts with his monstrous spurs, which he dug into its flanks at every volley, till he grew tired of riding, and sprang off again with the same lightness.

He also threw the la.s.so with a master hand. I have frequently seen him at full gallop catch a mule by the foot which I indicated. One day he la.s.soed by the fore leg a wild cow which had joined my milch kine on the prairie, hurled it to the ground, and so bound its four feet together that we dragged it along to the enclosure where my cows pa.s.sed the night. Then we fastened it up to an old tree, and on the next morning Antonio leaped on its back, cut away the rope round its head, and galloped off into the prairie, where the cow leapt about as if mad. At last, after a lengthened contest, she threw herself on the ground; but Antonio stood by her side, gave her laughingly a cut with his whip, and the awfully terrified creature galloped away to the forest.

Between the fort and the mountain spring there were always a great number of wild horses, especially in the vicinity of a considerable elevation on the prairie, whose highest point was covered with a small very thick wood, where a white stallion resided with his harem. Owing to his beauty and n.o.ble blood, the Indians revered this animal with superst.i.tious fear. The hunters had tried for years in vain to capture him, and the bards of America had raised him to immortality in their ballads and narrations. Very numerous are the wondrous tales which spread at that day about the n.o.ble animal over the continent of America, and even distant Europe. He was described in them as "the star of the prairie," as "the light of the steppe," or "the white spirit of the desert." While his t.i.tles varied so, the statements as to the position of his kingdom varied equally. But all these were merely traditions of the hunters of the Far West, the existence of the horse was still half fabulous, and I believe that I am the only man capable of saying anything on the subject from personal observation.

I have seen and admired this horse a countless number of times, as my hunts so frequently pa.s.sed in his region, and quite as often I have yearned to possess, and revolved the means to get, him into my power.

This was one of the reasons why I took Antonio into my service, as through him alone I had a prospect of attaining my wish. I have frequently crawled up to the animal for miles through the tall gra.s.s with the utmost exertions, and lain down on a small mound near him, with the resolution of creasing him, as the hunters call it--that is to say, sending a ball through the skin of a horse's neck, upon which it falls as if struck dead, and you have time to hobble it before it recovers.

But when I raised the rifle on the n.o.ble creature, and had my finger on the trigger, it seemed to me to be murder, and I could never make up my mind to fire. I have often ridden up to him, and, so soon as he noticed me, he came toward me, proudly raising his graceful head in the air, with his white silky tail erect, and with a coat as white and tender as the finest alabaster or the plumage of the silver heron, with whose flight I have often seen him compete. He frequently came within fifty yards of me, looking round pretty often at his flying harem, then stopped and snorted through his dilated purple nostrils; then he trotted round me, and would fly like an arrow over the gra.s.s to his friends, at such a pace that no rider in the world would have made the attempt to catch him up.

In the past winter I went to his domain with the intention of capturing one of his children, and gave one of my men who accompanied me my rifle and revolver, in order to make myself as light as possible. I had got no great distance from the troop, ere the stallion noticed me, and when the others fled, he as usual trotted toward me. I gave Czar his head, and galloped towards him. The wild stallion reared, then turned, and dashed after his troop and past it, in order to a.s.sume the leadership. At the end of five miles I caught up the troop again, which consisted of about fifty head, and selected an iron-grey mare with black mane and tail, which appeared to be between a two and three-year old.

Had I possessed any great skill in using the la.s.so, I was near enough to the mare to noose her; but as it was I could only take advantage of my horse's greater endurance, and remained close behind the troop, up hill and down dale, while the stallion flew from one side to the other, as if encouraging his relatives to persevere, and this race was merely play to him. The animals became covered with foam, their breathing grew gradually shorter, and several left the ranks on either side, in order to seek safety in an altered direction.

At last only four old mares and the iron-grey followed the stallion, who as yet displayed no signs of fatigue; when suddenly the grey turned off into a hollow, fell into a walk, and at last stopped; so that I could ride up and throw the la.s.so over her head. She was so exhausted that she could hardly breathe, and stood motionless, while the perspiration ran down her in torrents. It was nearly a quarter of an hour ere she so far recovered as to be able to struggle against the fetters laid on her. The noose round her neck tightened; she fell to the ground, trembling all over; and I leapt from my horse to open the noose, before she was quite throttled. My companion now came up, hobbled his own horse and Czar, and helped me to convince the mare by repeated strangulation, that she must yield to her captivity: we made a halter out of a second la.s.so, while still keeping the noose round her neck, and I dragged her after my horse, while my companion urged her on. We thus reached home in the evening; and in a few weeks the mare was so tame that she could be treated precisely like my other horses: she was handsomely built, displayed all the signs of Arab blood, and became one of my best horses.

As I said, the possibility of capturing this stallion--the pride of the western deserts--was the reason of my engaging Antonio; and we at once set about our preparations to carry out the task. I owned a thorough-bred mare, Fancy, who belonged to the best blood that ever ran on American soil. Her sire was the renowned Waggoner, who was never beaten in speed either north or south, and for fourteen years won all the great stakes at American races. Her dam, Blossom, was an English thoroughbred, and had been imported to the United States from England: she won all the stakes she was entered for in the Southern States, and was purchased by one of the first breeders for a very large sum, that he might become owner of her n.o.ble progeny. Fancy, then, as regards breed, was as fine and n.o.ble as any horse that ever trod an American course, and defeated all her rivals until I purchased her. I bought her as a four-year old when I bade farewell to civilization, and took her with me into the desert, where I frequently rode her, when I went out into the prairie with greyhounds to hunt deer or kill wolves. On my ordinary hunting trips, however, she could not take the place of Czar or the cream-colour, as she was not so attached to me by constant riding or so trained and familiar with a thousand dangers as they were.

The mare was now treated with very great attention, both as regards food, and cleanliness, and exercise; she had no more gra.s.s, and the corn given her was previously sifted. She was ridden every morning by Antonio, and the distance she had to gallop was daily increased. Then she was led about for half an hour, and when brought back to her stall rubbed down till she was quite dry and cool. Toward evening she was taken out again for half an hour's walk, and before she went to rest had a douche or a swim in the river. In a fortnight she hardly turned a hair after galloping several miles; she had grown thinner, but her flesh was firmer, and her golden-brown hair so fine that every vein could be traced under the skin. In the meanwhile, Antonio had been practising with the la.s.so, and had horribly tormented my mules with this disagreeable instrument.

The preparations lasted three weeks; after which, on a cool morning, we left the fort: Antonio riding a mule and leading Fancy, one of my colonists on the cream-colour, and I on Czar--in order to seek the stallion, and, if possible, deprive him of liberty. It was one of those days--not rare in our country--when the sky is covered with a thin stratum of clouds, which deprive it of its glorious azure, and which, though it does not conceal the sun, breaks the power of its beams. At the same time there was a breeze, so that the day was more like autumn than summer. We rode down the river, and soon saw the height emerge from the prairie, in whose vicinity the stallion usually had his head-quarters. Our horses were very active; Czar coquetted by the side of his lady friend, Fancy, in his most elegant prancing movements; shook his bit, and snorted through his moist nostrils; while turning his dark large eyes toward the lady, Fancy, conscious of her n.o.ble breed, walked delicately along, and carefully selected the footpaths.

While still some distance off, I noticed to the side of the wood on the knoll a dark patch, which I recognised through my gla.s.s as horses, but could not make certain whether it was our stallion's family. We approached slowly, and from every new height distinguished more clearly the shape of the animals. I had no doubt about it being the troop we were in search of, although I could not yet notice the stallion. A broad valley still lay between us, when we halted, and I saw through my gla.s.s the snow-white creature rise from the gra.s.s and look across at us, while many horses of the troop still lay on the ground around him. We rode down into the valley, the stallion stood motionless, and gazed at us; but when we reached the bottom, he suddenly trotted about among his troop. All the horses lying on the gra.s.s leapt up, looked at us, formed into a body, and dashed at a gallop over the heights.

Antonio now sprang into Fancy's saddle, gave his mule to our companion, took the la.s.so in his right hand, and only waited for my signal to give his horse her head. The stallion came toward us at a swinging trot, while we moved forward at a fast pace and bent low over our horses'

necks. A finer picture could not be painted. He carried his small head high, long white locks floated over his broad forehead, and his long mane danced up and down at every step, while he raised his tail straight out, and its long curling milk-white hairs fluttered in the breeze. His broad back glistened as if carved out of Carrara marble, and his powerful shoulders and thighs were supported on graceful little feet.

I rode behind Antonio. The stallion was not fifty yards from us when I shouted to the Mexican "Forward!" and Fancy flew at such a pace toward the stallion that she came within five yards of him ere he recovered from his terror. The moment for his fate to be decided had arrived. He turned round and made an enormous leap ahead, that showed me the flat of his hind hoofs, while he held his head aside and looked back after his pursuer. The la.s.so flew through the air, the noose fell over the stallion's head, but it hung on one side of his muzzle, and the next instant the la.s.so was trailing on the ground behind Fancy. The stallion seemed to know that it was a fetter which had touched him, for he shot away from the man like lightning. Antonio coiled up the la.s.so again, and followed him over hill and vale, over gra.s.s and boulders, at full gallop, just as the tornado darts from the mountain into the plain. Czar was beside himself at the idea of being last, but I purposely held him back, partly not to excite the mare, partly to save his strength. There was still a hope that the stallion, living as he did on gra.s.s, would not keep his wind so long as our horses, and though he was now several hundred yards ahead, we might be able to catch him up. Up to this point, however, we had not gained an inch upon him, and our horses were covered with foam, though both still in good wind.

We had been following the stallion for about two hours, when he turned off to the mountains, and flew up them with undiminished speed. The ground now became very stony and unsafe, but he seemed to be as much at home on it as on the soft gra.s.s-land he had just left. He reached the summit between two steep mountains, and disappeared from our sight behind them. We dashed past the spot where we had seen him last, but the n.o.ble creature had reached the steep wall on the other side of the valley when we dashed down into it.

I saw plainly that he had a difficulty in keeping at a gallop on this steep incline. We gained a deal of ground down hill and through the gra.s.sy valley, and reached the wall before the stallion was at the top of it. Full of hope I could no longer remain in the background. Digging both spurs into Czar I flew on, past Fancy, and reached the summit to find the stallion trotting scarce fifty yards ahead of me. Fancy was close behind me, and I shouted to Antonio to follow me. But my cry seemed to have poured fresh strength through the brave fugitive's veins, for he dashed down into the valley, leaving behind the white foam with which he was covered at every bound he made on the rocky ground. Once again I drew nearer, and was only forty yards from him, when I saw ahead of us a yawning _canon_, out of which the gigantic dry arms of dead cypresses emerged. Here the stallion must turn back and fall our prey while ascending the hill again.

But he went straight towards the abyss--it was not possible, he could not leap it. I remained behind him, and in my terror for the n.o.ble creature's life, held my breath. One more bound, and he reached the _canon_, and with the strength of a lion, and that desperation which only the threatened loss of liberty can arouse, he drew himself together and leapt high in the air across the gap which was more than forty feet wide.

I turned Czar round toward the hill, and kept my eyes away from the fearful sight, so that I might not see the end of the tragedy; but Antonio uttered a cry, and I heard the word "over." I looked round and saw the stallion rising on his hind legs upon the opposite deeper bank, and after a glance at us he trotted off quite sound down the ravine, and disappeared behind the nearest rock.

We stopped, leapt from our horses, and looked at each other for a long time in silence; then I solemnly vowed never to make another attempt to deprive this princely animal of liberty. Our horses were in a very excited condition; the water poured down them in streams, and the play of their lungs was so violent that they tottered on their legs. We let them draw breath a little, and then led them slowly back to the mountain springs, where we intended to give them a rest ere we returned home. In the afternoon we reached the spot, excessively fatigued, and found there our comrade, who greeted us with a regretful--"that was a pity;" and had already spread our dinner on a horse-cloth.

We stopped here till the evening, and then started for the fort, which we reached late at night. For several days after this chase I could not shake off the excitement which had overpowered me, and even now I feel a cold shudder when I think of the chasm, and see the n.o.ble stallion, the pride of the prairie, hovering over it. I had now given up once for all all thoughts of capturing him, but I should have felt sorry had he at once left my dangerous neighbourhood, because his presence always caused me great pleasure, and I might have an opportunity of getting hold of some of his offspring. I sought him in vain during my hunting excursions the whole of the summer, and it was not till autumn, when the vegetation probably began to fail in the mountains, that he returned, to my great delight, to his old station; but whenever I approached him he did not trot towards me, but always took to flight as soon as he noticed my horse.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XII.

THE PRAIRIE FIRE.

The summer pa.s.sed away amid sporting pleasures which, though they always consist of very monotonous events and results, still do not lose their charm for the man who feels a true pa.s.sion for the chase. Otherwise how could a veteran sportsman, who in his time has shot so many thousand partridges, still feel a pleasure whenever he brings one down, and always find something new, something peculiar in the fact? How much greater and more permanent is this attraction in sports, where a thousand dangers offer themselves to the hunter, as is the case in hunting the larger animals of prey! I gratefully saluted every new day as the offerer of fresh joys: disregarding difficulties and fatigue, I constantly seized my good rifle again, and merrily followed the same routes.

The summer was at an end, and colder nights set in. On an autumn morning I was riding through the prairie about five miles from the fort; the gra.s.s was very high, and had been perfectly dried up by the burning summer sun, while the newly springing up gra.s.s grew splendidly in the shadow of the old. I had reached a bottom which was covered with a forest of sunflowers, which raised their golden disks high above my head, and whose long stems were girdled with bright varied creepers. I had not left this gleaming forest of flowers far behind when a very large deer got up from the gra.s.s just before me, arched its back, and then lay down again as if it had not seen me; while I noticed several old deer lying about in the gra.s.s.

Czar at once drooped his head as I raised the rifle to my shoulder. I shot the deer, but a little too far behind. It darted ahead, and Trusty looked up at me so imploringly, while showing the tip of his blood-red tongue, that I could not refuse him leave to follow the deer. I gave him a sign, and he shot through the gra.s.s along the blood-stained track. I loaded my rifle, while keeping my eye on the deer, which disappeared no great distance off in a small clump of low elms. I had just put on the cap when I heard Trusty's deep ba.s.s. I felt certain it was not the deer he was barking at, for he would have made but slight ceremony in that case, so I gave Czar his head, and in a few minutes reached the thicket.

I leapt down, ran in a stooping posture under the pendant elms, and saw Trusty lying on the ground defending himself with widely opened jaws against a tremendous panther, which was leaping over him, and every time it came down lacerated the dog's back with its tremendous hind claws.

Trusty recognised the superiority of this savage foe, but defended himself as well as he could. But he hardly saw me arrive ere he leapt up with one bound, pinned the panther by the throat, and wrestled with it, while the latter dug its terrible fore claws into either side of his collar.