THE COMANCHES.
Ourroute ran from here through the most pleasing and rich countries, crossed by numerous streams running eastward. Generally this country had the character of the prairie; it was undulating, and covered with fine grass; the hills and woods on the streams gave it variety, so that the wearied eye did not stray over interminable plains, seeking in vain for a resting-place. Prairies alternated with coppices and patches of forest oak, and here and there an isolated hill rose, which gave the country greater diversity. The grass, though rather tall, was fresh and juicy, and hence did not greatly impede our horses, while it rendered it easy for us to stalk game, large quantities of which we found here. We had been marching for nearly a month through this pleasant region to the South, and had crossed the Red Arm as well as several other affluents of the Arkansas, when one evening we reached the Saline. It was fringed with forests, which were much thicker and richer than those farther to the North, and offered us splendid wild plums as refreshment when we rode through.
We crossed the river, and went through the wood on its south side, and had just unsaddled our horses and picketed them in the prairie, when suddenly several hundred horse Indians came round the nearest angle in the wood, and halted a few yards from us, while we gazed at each other in amazement. At the head of them rode a single Indian, with a smoking piece of wood, who at the sight of us gave a piercing yell. We saw that great excitement was produced in the ranks of the caravan, and that the men collected in the foreground, while the squaws and children hurried to the rear, and hastily drew back the numerous pack animals. We, too, ran at full speed to our horses, and were removing them to the bushes, when Tiger shouted to me that they were Comanches. The name at once tranquillized me, and I told him I believed they would do nothing hostile to us when they heard my name. He went towards the savages, and shouted my name to them, upon which they raised loud cries, and an old man, on a large mule, trotted towards us, in whom I recognised my friend Pahajuka. He was followed by his squaw, and both testified their joy at seeing me. The whole band was now coming towards us, when Pahajuka checked them in a loud voice and with commanding gestures. They turned away, and disappeared again soon after round the angle of the wood. He told me his people were impudent, and would rob us if he did not keep them away, and for that reason he had ordered them to camp lower down the river. Both the old folks dismounted, and sat down on their buffalo robes, while Antonio lighted a fire before them. I sat down with them, and gave them a couple of cigars. We prepared our supper, which my savage friends shared and enjoyed, and the squaw gave full vent to her eloquence. She told me they were going to the sources of the Puerco on the western side of the Sacramento Mountains, where a great council of all the Comanche tribes was about to be held. They invited me to go there, but I declined, as in spite of the friendship of these two, I did not care to trust myself among so many savages.
THE INDIAN CAMP.[p. 346.
THE INDIAN CAMP.[p. 346.
Gradually several men, with their squaws and children, crept up and camped curiously round our fire. Their number quickly increased, more and more of them crawled through the bushes and sat down around us, till it appeared that the whole tribe was collected. They pressed round our baggage, and I was obliged to call to Antonio and Königstein to keep a sharp eye on it, as I saw they were beginning to examine it. Suddenly old Pahajuka leapt up, and in a furious voiceshouted some words we did not understand to the intruders, upon which the whole band disappeared again in the bushes, except a very pretty girl of about sixteen, whom the chief introduced to me as his granddaughter. She was a nice creature, gracefully formed, with a remarkably pretty head, from which a great mass of glossy black hair floated loosely over her shoulders. Her finely-chiselled, slightly aquiline, nose, her small mouth with its pearly teeth, and the modest, shy glance of her large black eyes, would have rendered her a perfect beauty had her skin been white, but even with her dark complexion she was handsome, and her appearance produced an extremely pleasant impression. The leathern petticoat which hung from her hips was finished with considerable taste and exquisitely painted; her finely-formed long neck was adorned by a necklace of white beads, and on her plump, graceful arms she had a number of polished brass rings. Her father, Pahajuka's son, so the old squaw told us, was shot in a foray in Mexico, and the old people had adopted her as their daughter. I was sorry that I had nothing with me to make her a present of, but I promised her lots of pretty things if she would visit me at home with the old folks, and the latter promised to do so.
The moon was up, and my guests rose to mount their mules, in which I assisted the squaw. I wished to accompany them to their camp. They rode in front and I followed with their daughter Tahtoweja (Antelope) along the skirt of the wood, and reached the camp not long after them, which consisted of some forty large tents of white buffalo hides, which were put up in two long rows and formed a wide street, on both sides of which the fires were burning in front of the tents. Pahajuka dismounted in the middle of this street, and his squaw was leading his horses away when I reached the first tents with the young Indian girl, and the old chief's thundering voice rolled along the camp, while he walked quickly up and down the tents with the most animated gestures. My companion pulled me back by the hand whenI was going up to him, and led me aside behind the first tent, where she sat down and peeped round it at him, while I noticed that all the Indians had crept into their tents and only popped their heads out. For half an hour the old fellow stormed up and down the camp, during which time no other sound was heard, and not one of the Indians ventured to come out of the tents. All at once he came up to me as calmly and pleasantly as if he had not uttered an angry word, took me by the hand, and led me to his fire, where I was obliged to sit down. He told me he had been giving his people a reproof for the impudence with which they had forced themselves into my camp, so that they might learn how to behave with white friends. I remained with them a long while, and listened to the animated, sensible stories of the old squaw, which were at times interrupted by a reproving look from Pahajuka, when he fancied she was more lively than propriety admitted, and that her remarks slightly wandered from the literal truth; then, however, she bent over him, laughingly pressed his head to her bosom, and patted him on the back with her hand till he freed himself from her affection.
Tahtoweja too became more lively, took part in the conversation, and laughingly supported the old lady in her amicable dispute with Pahajuka. At the same time she became quite impatient when the interpreter did not express her remarks quickly enough, and tried by signs and gestures to make up for his omissions or incorrect rendering. Her language was quick and fiery, her large eyes, in which the flame of our fire was mirrored, flashed with the stream of her eloquence, and her little hands or fingers sought to render her meaning clearer, and in all these movements there was extraordinary power, decision, and grace. So soon, however, as she ceased speaking, she sat motionless, looking down or attentively listening to the remarks of her foster parents, while her dark eyes were fixed on them. She sat slightly back from the fire, so that the outline of her dark form wasblended with the obscure background, and the small fire only lit up her eyes and her beautiful teeth when speaking, by which her appearance acquired a peculiar and mysterious charm.
It was late, and except our little party there was not an open eye in camp. I got up, offered my hand to my hosts, wished them good night, and when I put my hand to Tahtoweja she sprang up and laughing pointed in the direction of my camp, that she would accompany me, and at the same time gave the old squaw an inquiring glance. The latter nodded her assent, adding that she would accompany me too, but her feet were no longer so light as those of Antelope, and so the latter passed her graceful arm through mine and walked with me along the forest through the dewy grass. The distance was only a few hundred yards, and when we turned round the angle of the wood our camp was blazing brightly, and lit up my still waking comrades who were sitting round it smoking. Here Tahtoweja stopped, pressed my hands kindly while wishing me good night, and flew through the light mist back to her camp.
The next morning before daybreak Pahajuka with his squaw and pretty daughter joined us. The latter ran up to me with the pleasantest morning greeting, took the pipe from my mouth, and placing it between her cherry lips, sat down among tiger skins by the fire, making me a sign to do the same. We prepared as good a breakfast as our means allowed in honour of our guests, served up the last of our biscuit and handed round afterwards some Madeira which I owed to the kindness of Lord S——. After our friends had enjoyed themselves thoroughly, they returned to their camp to prepare for a start, for, as Pahajuka told me, they wished on this day to reach the northern arm of Canadian River, between which and the stream on which we now were, no water was to be found. I went across with them to see the large tents loaded, while my comrades packed our animals, for, as our road ran in the same direction. I wished to accompany our savage friends. When we arrived in camp we found perfect quietude there, the various families were lying round the fires in front of the tents engaged in breakfasting, while the children were amusing themselves in the long tent street with shooting arrows, throwing stones, wrestling, and running races, in which they were observed, praised or blamed by their parents. Pahajuka stopped at the first tent and shouted a few words I did not understand, upon hearing which all the squaws hurriedly rose and set to work striking the large tents. The latter are about fourteen feet high, pointed at the top, and some twenty feet in diameter on the ground. There are openings above on the sides which can be pulled open in the direction of the wind to let the smoke out when the weather is cold and the fire is lit in the middle of the tent. The buffalo hides of which the tents are composed are tanned white, and adorned inside and out with paintings. They are very thickly sewn so that no rain can penetrate, and in winter when the fire is burning the interior is very warm and cozy.
In a quarter of an hour all the tents had disappeared, and at the spot where they had stood lay bundles bound with straps. The squaws came up with the horses and mules, hung on each side of them a very long tent pole which was allowed to trail behind, and a few feet from the end fastened cross bars, on which they placed the tents, buffalo hides, cooking utensils, and all their traps, and then seated either themselves or their children atop, while others mounted horses or mules, and took two or three or even four children up with them. While the girls and squaws were performing this operation the warriors lay smoking round the fire, and only rose when their horses and weapons were brought to them. In less than half an hour everything was ready for a start, and one of the Indians took some firebrands of musquito wood, which keeps alight for a very long time, and rode ahead of the party southward, while I, accompanied by Pahajuka, his squaw,and Tahtoweja, returned to my camp and mounted Czar, and we then followed the Indians.
It was a glorious day: the sharp breeze rendered the heat endurable, while clouds every now and then obscured the sun. We rode sharply on without a check, as the distance to the appointed camping-place was over sixty miles. Still our horses did not object to it, as we followed the track of the Indians, and their numerous cattle formed a smooth road, and they often made the last ride at the head of the file, so as not to fatigue individual horses too much. Our road ran over an open prairie, and the sky line soon formed the horizon. The grass around us glittered in the darkest green, which in the distance grew lighter and lighter, till at the extreme point of sight it melted away into the blue colour of the sky. Flowers of the most varied hues sprang up out of the rich verdure, and for a long distance dyed various spots on the prairie with their prevailing colour. Pahajuka and his squaw trotted in front of us on their capital mules, while Tahtoweja kept her stag-like little pony at an amble by my side, and took all possible trouble to keep up a conversation with me by means of signs. On her saddle lay several folded hides, on which she sat like a cushion, and her little feet were thrust into wooden stirrups on either side of her horse's neck. She frequently swung her small, graceful leather-woven whip over her horse's head, and spoke to it in her sweet voice, while pulling up its head with the bridle.
Without resting we rode the whole day, and had only now and then opportunity to water our horses at standing pools, till the sun sank beneath the western prairie, and we could scarce recognise to the south the blue outline of the woods on Canadian River. Darkness very rapidly spread over the plain around us, while the sky was still red over the departed sun, and in the east a pale yellow patch on the horizon announced the rising moon. Our horses had fallen into a swinging walk, when the new light appeared above theprairie and rose like a glowing ball above us, while the clouds were gradually lit up by its silvery light. A fiery shower of fire-flies glistened over the extensive plain, and in front of us lightning flashes in the distant southern heavens every now and then displayed to us the dark contour of the forest which we were approaching. It was not far from ten o'clock when we unloaded our wearied animals on the skirt of the forest near the long-looked for river, and camped close to our savage friends. After supper no long time was granted to conversation, for each soon sought his bed to rest after the exertions of the ride. The next morning Pahajuka, his squaw, and daughter, again shared our breakfast, and then prepared to go on, while we resolved to rest for the day. The two old people were very sorry at being obliged to leave us, but promised, without fail, to come to my house after the great council on Puerco River and remain some time. Tahtoweja tried by laughing to hide the tears which glistened in her long lashes as I helped her on her pony and bade her good-bye. She gave me a small leathern pocket very artistically worked in beads which hung from her belt, while she was unable for her sobs to utter the words she wished to say. She pointed to my eyes, then to the parcel in my hand, laid her little hand on her heart, and said—Tahtoweja. Once again she offered me her hand, and then hastened to join her grandparents, who were already leading the file behind the fire-bearer.
Carrying fire from one camp to the other appears to be a custom peculiar to most of the savage tribes in this country. They halt on the last elevation, whence they can look back at the deserted spot, lay a still smoking brand on the ground, wave a farewell across, and then try, by swinging and blowing the brand, to keep it alight as long as possible: on a long ride they naturally do not bring it burning into the new camp.
We halted this day on the northern Canadian River in order to rest our cattle, which had the most splendid pasturehere, and the next morning marched south again. Toward evening we reached a spring which ran out of a low range of hills. Here we found a pleasant camping spot, and followed the course of this stream on the following day to the Southern Canadian River, on whose bank we unsaddled, after crossing it with much difficulty. From this point we altered our course, as we went up stream, in order to reach its springs, the southernmost of which well up in the Sacramento Mountains, at the point where the latter form a low pass which separates them from the mountain chain which runs parallel with the Puerco river, in nearly a southern direction, to the San Saba Mountains, and form an extensive rich valley between themselves and the former river. On the western side of the Puerco, between it and the Rio Grande, with which it also runs parallel, again rise large ranges, forming beautiful valleys toward both rivers, until the former river falls into the Rio Grande at the western end of the San Saba Mountains. All these rich regions on both sides of the Puerco as far as the Rio Grande and the western settlements in Texas, the Comanches and Mescaleros regard as their property, and only tolerate there a few of the civilized tribes, such as the Delawares, Kickapoos, &c., because they fear them, and do not care to be engaged in war with them.
This district is indubitably by far the finest in the whole of the States, as regards richness of soil and climate, as here tropical and northern vegetation are blended. The banana, the cocoa-nut, the orange, the plum, the apple, and the cherry flourish, and vines spread over all the woods: the soil in the valleys is extraordinarily rich and productive during the whole year. The pasturage is incomparable, and cannot be equalled in the whole world: it is covered with the splendid musquito grass, which remains green and juicy in winter as in summer, and sooner or later these valleys will support as many domestic animals instead of the countless herds of wild creatures now living there. The climate is magnificent; the great summer heat is rendered endurable by the cooling winds from theGulf of Mexico, while the winter has no long lasting rain, and a very slight frost is only felt rarely, just before daybreak. There is no visible cause for diseases, as there are no swamps, and the forests as well as the prairies consist of undulating land, from which the water left by heavy showers or inundations of the rivers quickly recedes. The region is abundantly traversed by the clearest streams, which well up in the neighbouring granite mountains, and through their remarkably rapid fall render it an easy task to irrigate the surrounding land should ever a drought occur. The great variety of plains, hills, mountains, and the most luxuriant vegetation in the virgin forests as well as on the plains, impart to these regions remarkable picturesque attractions which are heightened by the transparency of the atmosphere, the dark blue sky, and the peculiar light effects.
Our road now ran along the south side of the Canadian River to the west, and in a few days the Sacramento Mountains rose before us. We reached an affluent of this river, on which some miles farther up the iron stone was said to lie with which Tiger told us the god of hunting had killed a Weico. As it would not take us very far out of our course if we rode to it, I requested Tiger to lead us to it. Before sunset we reached a prairie, round which the little wooded stream ran in a semicircle, and saw in the centre of it the stone rising about three feet out of the short grass. It was a meteorite of enormous size; its circumference on the plane measured twelve feet, and it did not rest on rock; it must have sunk a great distance into the ground, although the latter is excessively hard on the prairie. It had considerable magnetic power, was of a dark rust colour, and so hard that it cost us great difficulty to knock off a few splinters with the back of our axes. It is certainly the largest stone of this sort in existence—at least the largest I know are much smaller, and it would repay the trouble and expense to fetch it from this desert and convey it to some museum.
We slept here for the night, and had to hear several timesthe story of the Weico who was slain with this stone. The next morning we left the river, marching westward along the mountains, and camped again on the banks of Canadian River. For about a week we followed this course, to the spurs of the Sacramento Mountains, where we left the river, and went along the former to the south, until in a fortnight we reached the sources of the Red River, which flow from the eastern slopes of these mountains. We rode up them to their source among the granite rocks, where we found at a considerable height a splendid camping place, on which we found the remains of several Indian camps, made by foot Indians, who do not carry large tents with them. They consisted of long thin sticks, four or six of which were crossed and had both ends stuck in the ground; over these sticks they hang skins, and thus obtain a decent shelter against rain and cold. A much-trodden path led on the north side of this stream to the camp, and from here ran up to the saddle of the hill, and thence, as Owl and Tiger told us, down it to the south, over the San Saba range, to the sources of the Rio de las Mires, which stream falls into the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christi. This is one of the oldest connecting paths of the Indians between the northern lands of the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf, and proves by the depth it is worn in the rock that it has been used since the earliest period by these wanderers as well as the four-footed denizens of the desert.
The springs at which we camped welled up under immense granite crags, which rose in terraces, and formed in front of them a small basin in which they collected and flowed in a rivulet through the plain on which our cattle were grazing, and thence to the wide prairies which we had recently crossed. Around us lay large masses of rock, which had probably fallen from the heights, between which the path wound upwards. On the east we gazed at the immense plains through which Canadian River marked its course by the rich woods that overshadowed it, and at our feet we looked into savage gorges, from which here and there small patches of grass andscrub peeped out, and a few enormous cypresses raised their gigantic branches, inviting the wanderer in these deserts to enjoy a fresh draught in their shade, as these noble trees only flourish in the vicinity of water.
Day had scarce broken on the next morning, when we prepared breakfast, and the sun had not risen over the eastern horizon, and the valleys were still covered with mist, when we were already mounted and going up the path, to take advantage of the cool of the morning, as during the day we might calculate on great heat upon these barren rocks. The morning was splendid. The fresh, cool mountain breeze refreshed us, and every plant, every blade of grass between the rocks seemed to enjoy the treat. We had ascended a considerable height when the sun spread its beams over the earth. Our path ascended from hill to hill, till at about ten o'clock we reached a barren table-land, which in some parts was broad and others narrow, and overshadowed by crags. The landscape on either side of us was remarkably fine, and frequently the crags in our immediate vicinity offered very pretty pictures. When we drew near the western slopes, we looked down into luxuriant valleys on both sides of the Puerco, as far as the hilly range which divided that river from the Rio Grande, or a distance of from 150 to 200 miles. Farther south, in the valley on this side of the river, was an isolated mountain, whose peak ascended to the clouds, and which the Indians called the Guadaloupe Mountain. When our road ran nearer the eastern slopes, or the plateau along which we were riding became narrower, our eyes rested on the rich grasslands to the south of the river in the vicinity of the Salt Lake we had passed on our journey, as well as on the numerous streams which spring up on the eastern side of our mountains, and flow, some to the Brazos, others to the Colorado. It was now very hot, however, in spite of the violent breeze; but a rest without any shade could not refresh us. The stony strata along which we rode, and which at times were deeply trodden in, reflected the sunbeams and renderedthe heat almost unendurable; our animals dripped with perspiration, and trotted on with hanging heads, as if anxious to get away from this glowing surface. Nowhere, however, did we see a spot to receive us in its shade, as the sun was vertical, and the few lofty rocks we passed cast no shadow. No path ran on either side downwards, which might afford us hopes of reaching water, and the few cypresses which indicated it to us were too far down in the bottoms for us to attempt to get to them. Our cattle became more and more tired, and at last hardly able to move, when the sun had sunk a long way on the western horizon. We halted several times in the shadow of large rocks to let our cattle breathe, and gave them the juicy pear-shaped fruit of the cactus, which grew here abundantly, and they eagerly devoured it. My comrades also ate them contrary to my advice, and several of them became very unwell in consequence. Such a rest could not do us much good, and so we continually urged our horses on, till after passing about sunset between tremendous crags, we found a broad path, which soon wound down the eastern slope, when about a mile farther on we saw a copse of low cypresses. With great delight we accepted their invitation, and followed the path which ran into a small glen, where we found good grass and splendid spring-water.
Here, too, we found the traces of several Indian camps, some of which seemed to be quite recent. The few halting-places in the vicinity of this mountain path are well known to the savages who go over these mountains, and are used by them like hotels by travellers in the civilized world. We kept up a large fire during the night, as we here heard for the first time the howls of the jaguars rising from the valley to us, so soon as darkness lay over the earth. We allowed our cattle to graze till far into the night, when they lay down, and we brought them near our fire and slept quietly till dawn.
The sun had scarce risen, when we left this spot and hastened back to the road across the ridge. Our cattle walkedquickly along the path in the cool morning breeze, and at about nine o'clock Guadaloupe hills lay to the north-west, while the western mountains on the opposite side of the Puerco opened, and allowed us a view through a broad pass of the Rio Grande and Paso del Norté. This is the only easily accessible pass through the Cordilleras, through which, too, ere many years elapse, the locomotive will snort from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Between this pass and the mountains on which we were standing, stretched out the rich green valleys on both sides of the Puerco, and through it we saw in the extreme distance the blue contour of the mountain ranges beyond the Rio Grande. Though it was so grand up here, we longed to be down below on the banks of the Puerco, and resolved to seize the first opportunity of descending afforded us by a direct path. During the whole day, however, we only found indistinct traces where buffaloes had descended the western slopes, till at about fourP.M.we found a very practicable path, which crossed ours from east to west, and which we went down. It was at places so steep that we were obliged to lead our horses, and the latter slipped down on their hind-quarters after us: then again it wound round crags, past precipices, and between isolated peaks, up hill and down, until about sunset we reached, greatly fatigued, a rivulet, upon which our cattle greedily fell. The path ran down from the spring, and we followed it for about half an hour, till about nightfall we reached a small leafy coppice, in which we camped. Tiger and Owl were of opinion that the path led down to the valley, as it ran past the springs, and because a path corresponding with it had run down the eastern side of the mountains.
The next morning we ate our last meat at a very early breakfast, and Tiger saddled his horse to make certain whither the path ran, and also to try and shoot a deer or an antelope, of which there were large numbers on these mountains. During this time we wished to let our cattle graze and recover, as they greatly needed rest; and in the event ofour being obliged to ride back to the ridge, we wished to halt here till the next day. The sun had just risen when Tiger left us. We lay in the shade of the closely-growing elms and poplars, and were drinking coffee at noon, as Tiger had not yet returned, when we suddenly heard the footsteps of a horse beneath us, and directly after saw the piebald come round the precipice. Our surprise was great, however, on seeing that the horse's handsome white seemed dyed quite red on the neck and breast, and Tiger too, when he drew nearer, was quite bloody. I hurried toward him, and saw, to my terror, that he had serious wounds on his left shoulder, and that the blood covered his arm and the whole of his left side. I took his rifle, helped him off his horse, and went back with him into the shade of the elms, while Antonio looked after the piebald. Tiger now told us he had been riding about three miles down the stream through a small coppice when suddenly an immense jaguar leapt at his horse's neck, but at the same instant he buried his hunting-knife between the beast's ribs. At this moment he slipped off his terrified rearing horse—the jaguar buried its claws in his right shoulder, while he dealt it several stabs, and it then fell dead. The piebald bolted down the stream as fast as his legs would carry him over the stones, and Tiger believed that he should never see him again when he noticed him on a bleak crag: he shouted to him from a distance, and the faithful creature at once hurried up to him. He then washed his own and the horse's wounds, and returned to us, suffering great pain. He had four wounds on his shoulder, close together, as if cut with a knife, and which ran about four inches down his arm. The foremost was so deep that I was obliged to sew it up. I bandaged him as well as I could, laid all the rags we possessed in a moist state on the wound, and made him moisten them pretty frequently in the neighbouring stream. Then I examined the poor piebald, who had on his back four deep wounds from the jaguar's fangs, and several injuries on the neck from the claws; still none appeared dangerous, andthough the throat swelled considerably, constant washing soon produced an alleviation.
Owl now went up the hills in search of game, while I proceeded down the stream with Antonio and Königstein to fetch the jaguar's hide. We reached the scene of action, where the jaguar lay outstretched on the bank, and the ground was trampled by the horse's hoofs; the animal had five knife stabs near the heart, and the earth and grass around were dyed with its blood, while we were able to follow the blood-stained track of Tiger and the piebald down the stream. My two comrades at once set to work removing the splendid skin, while I followed the path for the purpose of procuring meat.
I had gone some distance without getting within shot, though I frequently saw game, and the low position of the sun warned me to commence my return to camp, I was following a small affluent of the stream, which came down from the hills a little more to the south, in order not to return by the same road I had come, when I suddenly heard about half a mile off a roar that exactly resembled that of a lion. I ran in the direction whence the sound came, and soon saw on the bank of the stream two giant stags engaged in a most furious contest and surrounded by a herd of does, and further on some large stags on the watch, I ran up within forty yards of them unnoticed, while with their huge antlers intertwined they butted each other, and frequently sank on their knees. I shot the largest, which fell, and its enemy at once buried its tines in the flanks of its overpowered foe, not suspecting that the same rifle which had slain its opponent still held a deadly bullet in readiness. I could easily have killed it, but preferred a fawn, which was standing no great distance off, and killed it. I now got up behind the rocks to reload, and the startled herd darted off to the mountains. I went up to the stag, which had two-and-twenty tines, and was very plump; after which I hurried to reach camp before it grew dark, and met Owl, who had shot nothing. As we had nothing left to eat, we at once started with Jack to fetch in the game, taking some firebrands of pine-wood as torches. The night was dark, but the torchlight illumined all the objects around the more distinctly in consequence. Antonio walked in front, I followed with Trusty, and Königstein, with Jack, formed the rear. We soon reached the stags, and loaded Jack with a large supply of meat, with which we arrived in camp about ten o'clock. Our hunger was great, as we had eaten nothing since morning, and we sat till a late hour round the fire turning our spits. Tiger was much better; the pain was reduced, and the swelling of the wounds was slight. The next morning, however, as the bandages had not been wetted during his sleep, his arm was very stiff, while the pain was greater, and hence I resolved to stop where we were at least for the day.
It was scarce daylight when I took my weapons and went to pay another visit to the rutting stags, John accompanying me. The morning was cool, and the dew lay in heavy pearls on grass and stones, the valleys below us were still veiled in mist, and large white clouds hung on the hill-sides. We reached the spot where I had shot the stags, and heard thence the roars of the animals echoing through the valleys. They were standing, however, rather higher up the stream, as they probably remembered my last night's visit. We pressed through the tall ferns, from which the dew dripped upon us like rain, and reached a plateau that hung over a dizzy precipice. Here stood the game, and nearest to us an old stag, which had its proud antlers thrown back, its thick swollen neck outstretched, and was roaring furiously. All around the other stags responded from the hills, and we listened for a long time to the concert of these jealous lovers ere we thought of hunting them. As it was the first giant stag John had had a chance of firing at, I readily granted him the first shot, and allowed him to stalk the stag. The majestic animal, hit by my comrade's deadly bullet, fell on its knee in the midst of a roar, raised its head once or twice, andthen fell lifeless on the scanty grass that covered the rock. John could not master his delight, and ran up to the stag, by doing which he put an end to our sport here for this morning, as all the deer flew at the sight of him. The stag had six-and-twenty tines, and a pair of colossal antlers, whose ends were like shovels. We broke it up, threw the paunch over the precipice, and hoisted John's white handkerchief near it in order to keep beasts of prey aloof.
It was still very early, the first sunbeams were just illumining the highest points of the steep precipice on the opposite side of the abyss on which we were standing, and the cool breeze was too refreshing for us to think of hurrying back to camp. We followed the plateau therefore, from which the opposite one continually retired, until the gorge widened into a rocky glen, from which colossal masses of stone rose in wild confusion. Far down the valley, at the point where it trended to the east, round the opposite hill side, we distinctly noticed a path which ran along the base of the mountains, and was probably the continuation of the one on which we were camped. As we still heard numerous stags roaring we advanced till we were able to look down into the valley on the east, and follow our path for a long distance through it. We stopped to gaze at the wondrous forms of the mountains. I took out my telescope, looked at the path, and saw a long way off dark forms moving among the rocks, which I soon discovered to be a large party of horse Indians. No doubt but the path they were marching along was ours, and they would be in our camp in less than an hour, while we had a good half hour's walk to it. We therefore turned and hurried at full speed to join our friends.
HOME AGAIN.
Tigeradvised us to saddle at once, while he and Owl carefully removed everything that could betray our recent presence here. All the logs were carried into the stream in a deer hide, the horse excreta and scraps of food hidden in the neighbouring bushes, and after giving our camp the appearance as if its occupants had left it some days previously, we led our horses over the firm stones down to the stream where I had shot the stag on the previous evening, and then along it till we could survey our path from a distance of about two miles from camp. Here we led our cattle into a coppice where they were hidden from the Indians by the bushes and rocks. Ere long the latter marched up the path. Tiger recognised them as Apaches who were probably on the road to the eastern trading ports of the United States, as they had their squaws and children and large bales of hides with them. We let them pass in peace. We then rode down the stream to the path and put our horses at a sharp amble in the direction from which the Indians had just arrived. The path led us round many blocks of granite into the glen, down into which we had gazed that morning while stag hunting. John looked up at the overhanging crag, on which his stag and pocket-handkerchief were, but could not see it from here, and only regretted that he could not take the antlers with him as a memento. He spoke about it several times, and said he would willingly give ten dollars to have them. On this Owl rode up to him and said he would procure them for him by the evening, after which he turned off into the rocks. He shouted something to Tiger that we did not understand anddisappeared, while we soon reached the spot where the valley turned to the east. On both sides of it rose the barren mountains, and only an isolated yucca or mimosa grew out of the crevices. The valley itself, here about two miles in width, was covered with loose stones, and only from time to time did we notice on the stream that wound through it a small clump of trees or patch of grass. In spite of the great heat we hurried on till the sun was rather low, and the mountain wall that closed the extremity of the valley cast a long shadow into it. From here it trended to the south-west. The crags that enclosed it sank, and we looked down into the valleys of the Puerco River, between which and us lay smaller hills and mounds frequently covered with forest. When the sun sank behind the southern pillar of the mountain gate in front of Paso delNorté, the Diablo Mountains, we unpacked at the first wood we reached after leaving the glen, and camped on the bank of the stream which we had followed nearly all through it. It was one of the numerous exquisite points we had found during our tour, and the wonderful evening light did much to heighten its beauty.
We had lit our fire under the dark foliage of the oaks and thus illumined the surrounding scenery, when Trusty rose from my side, walked a few paces toward the pass and began growling. I called him to me coaxingly and bad him lie down by my side, and at this moment we heard the sound of a horse rapidly approaching us from the valley. We knew it was Owl, but for all that every one seized his rifle and awaited the arrival. Our friend soon rode up to the fire, took the enormous antlers with the entire head of the stag off his horse, silently laid them and the handkerchief before John, led his horse into the grass, and lay down on his buffalo robe near the fire without saying a word. I asked him whether he had seen anything of Indians, upon which he stated that he had left his horse in the glen and gone up alone to the stag: after cutting off its head and taking the handkerchief he went to our camping place and ascended the nearest hill whence hecould have an outlook. The whole party of Indians were quietly camping on the spot, and at least a dozen columns of smoke were rising from it.
We cut the antlers off the head and put them with the skull bone to dry at the fire, and then got supper ready, while Owl turned the stag's tongue on a spit. In the morning the familiar notes of awakening turkeys aroused us again once more. After a long time we cheerily seized our rifles and hurried down the stream toward them to the spot where large peccan-nut trees enthralled them by the rich crop of nuts. We behaved most unmercifully to these dainty birds, and when we returned to camp had a perfect hill of them lying before us. We set to work roasting and frying, in which we were greatly aided by the extraordinary quantity of delicate fat which these birds have in autumn. The remaining turkeys were cleaned, rubbed with salt, and wild pepper, which is very common in the woods at this season, and packed on the mules; we then continued our journey down through the hills to the long looked for valley of the Puerco.
Our road was very fatiguing, and we were frequently obliged to dismount and lead our horses down the steep slopes; at the same time the path was covered with small sharp stones, which rendered going down hill still more wearisome to the cattle, and it often ran over loose blocks of stone, where they ran a great risk of breaking their legs. Still all went well, and toward evening we rode out between the last hills into the fresh verdure of the Puerco valley, and camped on the stream whose course we had been following for some days, and which here ran as a small river to the Puerco. We preferred riding down the valley along the hills, in order to keep out of the way of the wandering Indians who generally marched up and down the river, and whose number was large, especially now, as all the tribes of the Comanches and their relatives wereen routefor the great council at the sources of this river. Then, again, we could calculate on finding more game on this side of the extensive valley, and had only one disadvantage, that we mustat times go without water. Nature everywhere showed us that we were approaching home: the prairie was again ornamented with the gorgeous flora which had so often delighted us there; the sky above us was darker, and, in the distance, more hazy than in the north, and a warmer life seemed to be stirring in everything. Still the vegetation, especially that of the woods, did not bear the peculiar southern character which is so striking at our home. We started very early, rode till far into the evening, and rested, when we could manage it, at noon in some shadow, for the heat was most oppressive from eleven till three. Moreover, we were in the moon's first quarter, which lighted us a little when the sunshine had departed, and enabled us to employ the cool of the evening on these smooth plains in pushing on.
We marched, thus without halting for about a week along the hills, during which the mountain chains on the west of the Puerco constantly drew nearer to us and contracted the valley. We had followed our course one whole morning without finding water, till about two o'clock p.m., when the heat became unendurable, and we looked out ahead for some shadow in which we could rest for a few hours. At length we caught sight of a clump of trees, and to our indescribable joy we saw distinctly that they were poplars which retained their fresh foliage, an infallible sign that there was water near; for such trees often stand in pools, and when the water dries up their leaves turn yellow and fall off. We urged our cattle on in order to reach the trees as speedily as possible, for now that we might expect shadow, and probably water, we felt the sun's heat doubly. On these plains objects are seen so clearly and distinctly for incredible distances, that you often deceive yourself, and such was the case with these poplars; we constantly believed that we must reach them in a quarter of an hour, and yet hours passed ere we really arrived. We hastened into the thick shade of the old trees, and I can scarce describe the cheerful feeling that possessed us all on seeing close to them, instead of a pool of muddy slime, two ponds of the clearest,freshest spring water, one of which the poplars overshadowed with their long branches. The cattle were quickly unloaded, and rolling themselves on the grass they dried their wet backs, while we, reclining on the turf, inhaled the cooler air. The pools, like the mountain-springs near my house, had no visible connexion with any other water, but for all that retained their freshness, though almost constantly exposed to the burning sun.
We lay without stirring, so as to avoid any movement which might have impeded our rapid cooling: not a breath of air stirred, the easily-agitated leaves of the poplars hung motionless from the long stalks, while over the water lay that quivering dazzling glow which announces the highest degree of heat. The insect world alone seemed to revel in this heat, and filled the air with an uninterrupted monotonous buzz, like that which a patient hears in his fever dreams. Near me there rose from the roots of an old poplar a chameleon, which probably found it too warm. This wondrous lizard glistened and sparkled with a thousand hues, puffed up the large orange-coloured bladder under its chin, and displayed every tint, as if illumined by a variegated light in its inside: it sat motionless, with widely-opened mouth, fixing its large golden eyes on me, as if asking whether I would leave it the cool spot it so enjoyed? I lay with my head on the roots of a poplar quite still, so as to be able to gaze at the beautiful creature for as long a time as possible; then my eyes turned from it to the ponds whose surface dazzlingly reflected the sunlight, but quickly returned to the blessed shade which we and our cattle were enjoying.
I accidentally looked again toward the sparkling water and noticed a trunk of a tree in the middle of it, which I had not seen a few moments previously. What could have raised it from the bottom of the pond to the surface? I sat up a little and saw a second and a third emerge by its side: I did not stir, but continued to gaze, and in ten minutes the pools were covered with old wood. I cried in a low voice to Tiger tolook, but he had scarce done so ere he laughed, and said they were alligators enjoying the sunshine. The surface of both pools was literally covered with these monsters, mostly of a large size. I cried to my comrades to take their rifles, quietly aim at their heads, and fire when I gave the signal. I did so; our guns exploded simultaneously, and the water spirted up furiously, and bedewed the grass for a long way round. Only two of the monsters remained in sight, shooting backwards and forwards in the water, and beating their tails so furiously that the spray dashed over us. At this moment Antonio came up with a lasso, and in an instant threw the noose over one of the furious creatures. We all ran with the end of the rope over the grass, and dragged the alligator on land, when it snapped savagely around with its fearful jaws, and lashed its tail. We now set to work with pistols, and ere long its head had so many holes in it that it could not move its dangerous jaws. Its comrade was still swimming quietly on the top of the water, so we fetched it out too on to the grass, when it behaved as furiously as the first, but we soon put an end to its fun. They were two gigantic animals, nearly sixteen feet long, and their throats were armed with rows of terrible teeth, some of which we all took as a memento.
It is a riddle to me how the creatures got here, for the nearest stream was many miles away, while they never quit the banks of the water in which they live, and are as awkward as tortoises ashore, so that a land journey was impossible. But even assuming that one of the creatures had strayed and reached this spot after a long wandering, it could not be assumed that hundreds of them had emigrated together to a spot so distant from their element. Another question presented itself which was more easy to answer, however, and which was settled before our departure—on what such large creatures lived here? They were supplied by the unfortunate inhabitants of this country, who came many miles to this spot in order to quench their burning thirst at these glorioussprings, and strengthen their wearied limbs, during which they were dragged under by the watchful monsters, and torn to pieces by thousands of teeth. I am convinced that even a buffalo, in spite of its gigantic strength, would be overpowered and killed by these monsters, if, fatigued by a long journey over the prairie, it ran into their ponds to cool itself.
The sun was near the hills, we had satisfied our hunger with turkey breasts and venison, and were ready to leave this pleasant spot, when Königstein slit up an alligator with his hunting knife and drew out of the belly of one some deer feet, and then out of the other the leg of a turkey. We would gladly have extirpated the whole nest of disgusting monsters, but not one of them was now visible, and the evening sun played as cheerily on the surface of the water, as if no horrors and dangers were concealed beneath it. We watered our horses once again and then trotted on in order to cover a good bit of ground, for the nearer we got to our home, the greater grew our longing for it and all the friends whom we had left there.
We continued our journey for about a week, and crossed a number of small streams, which ran into the Puerco, till one noon we reached another rivulet, on whose shady bank we resolved to rest. From this point we surveyed in the south a large forest which ran across our road from the eastern mountains to the Puerco, while we saw above it distant ranges of mountains running in the same direction, which we saluted as the San Saba Mountains. These were the only ranges that separated us from home, and full of desire of them as old friends, we saddled toward evening, and at midnight entered the forest, which we had seen before us ever since our midday halt. The moon had hitherto distinctly shown us the buffalo paths, but here her rule was at an end, and only now and then did a ray fall through the lofty masses of foliage which now roofed us over. We stopped on a very trampled path, which we could not follow, however,through the forest, for even if our cattle kept the road, the creepers hanging over it rendered our progress difficult. Our cattle were very thirsty, and as we had no doubt of finding water in the forest depths, we resolved to try and reach it. We dismounted, gathered dry grass, out of which Owl and Tiger twisted torches, one of which we lit, and then pressed on, leading our horses. We had not gone more than one hundred yards into the forest when Tiger cried that he was at the river, and shortly after we led our thirsty horses down the bank and refreshed them in the cool stream: we filled our gourds and returned by the same road to the prairie, where we fastened up our cattle in the grass and lit our fire. As the horses were very hungry we did not drive them out of the grass, but set a sentry over them who was relieved every half hour. At daybreak we shot turkeys in the wood for breakfast, bathed in the adjoining river, and then fetched up the sleep we had lost in the night.
We stopped here till about 3P.M., and then continued our journey southward. As the banks of the stream were very steep here, we were delayed a little till we had all our baggage across, but then rode for two hours without a halt through the glorious shade of the forest, in whose gloom only now and then a bright yellow patch was lit up by the inquisitive sunbeams. We felt here as much at home as on the Leone or the Mustang, and the conversation throughout the whole day turned upon home and our friends there, for nature all around offered pictures of those regions. The trunks of the trees here rose again side by side; from their lofty branchesllianas covered with gayest hues swung across, and under the evergreen bushes the flowers displayed their brightest colours. The parrots with their lustrous plumages hung high above us on the branches head downward, and innumerable bright red cardinals flew like live coals through the dark foliage. Here a proud stag with mighty antlers peered out from a cozy glade, and there a timid antelope fled with its two fawns behind it through the thicket. When we rode throughthe last clumps and reached the prairie on the other side of the wood, the sunbeams were falling on it obliquely, and we did not miss the delightful shade so much as we should have done had we exposed ourselves to the sun a few hours earlier. We rode sharply, and at about 9P.M.unsaddled at the foot of the San Saba Mountains, and camped on a torrent that ran down thence to the Puerco.
The next morning we followed the stream to the river, and about noon reached the principal Indian path that led from these valleys over the San Saba Mountains, and greatly facilitated our passage over them. On the third morning we looked down on the hills near our home, on which we camped the same evening. The next day we reached Turkey Creek at sunset, and would assuredly not have camped, but ridden home without resting had not our cattle been so fatigued. It was very late ere we thought of lying down to rest, and even then the conversation was carried on for a long time. After the old fashion the turkeys announced to us that day was breaking. On this occasion, however, we did not shoot any, but each breakfasted quickly and got ready for going home. A little more attention was paid this day to our costume; although we could not make much of it with the greatest skill, still we looked altogether tidier when we left camp, and each galloped on to be the first. I was obliged to hint that we still had a long way to go, and ought not to begin with galloping. The journey to-day seemed very long to us, although our horses advanced sturdily, as if they too noticed that we were going home. At about ten o'clock we made a half-way halt and let our cattle rest for a few hours, while we lit a fire at the same spot where we had made coffee at the beginning of our journey, and drank it again: at about two o'clock, however, we saddled and spread over the baggage of the mules the finest jaguar skins, above which the two splendid stags' heads were displayed.
We were still busy with our horses, when suddenly Jack kicked up behind, gave a few springs, and then trotted alongthe path that led to the Leone. He would not be deprived of the pleasure of being first, for so soon as we approached him he doubled his pace, and even galloped when it appeared necessary. All our cattle now plainly showed that they knew they were near home, and could not be held in. Long before sunset we passed through the wood on the Leone, and entered the prairie below the Fort, where we fired all our shots. We were greeted from the Fort in the same way, and its inhabitants ran out to meet us and overwhelm us with congratulations. Everything was as before, except that another good harvest had been got in, that horses, cattle, pigs, and dogs had multiplied, and that numerous new settlers had arrived both north and south.
John was impatient to get home, and left me no time to change my clothes, as I wished to accompany him. I therefore saddled Fancy, left Königstein to look after Czar and Trusty, and rode with my companion toward Mustang River. From a distance we could see that the Lasars had built a large new house with glass windows and galleries, whose whitewashed walls glistened through the gloom. We had reloaded and announced our return to our friends some distance off. Soon after we saw white handkerchiefs waving, light dresses hurrying out of the garden gate, and old and young, black and white, hurried to meet us and welcomed us with expressions of joy and congratulations. I had to apologize for my dress and retire, but I was obliged to stay to supper, which meal we took under the verandah, and after it we sat in the garden before the house, where the perfumes of splendid flowers surrounded us, which, illumined by the moonbeams, formed graceful groups around us. The bottles went so rapidly the while, that I thought it advisable to seek my homeward road before I had any difficulty in finding it.
It was about midnight when I reached the Fort, where I found everybody up and also cheered by wine, for I had ordered Königstein, when I rode away, to give them a treat. I, however, soon sought my bed-room with Trusty, and sleptwith open doors and windows till the sun stood high in the heavens. I hastened down to the river, and after a bathe the old trunks were opened and the garb of olden times was taken out.
Some weeks passed ere I was quite at home again; all the works looked after, others to be undertaken arranged, and repairs and improvements carried out. I frequently came across the Lasars; visited, with the old gentleman, the new settlers in the neighbourhood; consulted with him about making roads and bridges, and was appealed to by him in any important undertakings in his private affairs. Although we now felt no alarm about the Indians coming to the numerous new settlements, their friendly visits now grew wearisome and disagreeable. Every moment a new tribe arrived, of whom we had scarce heard, to make friendship with us and receive presents. Something must be given them, else we ran a risk that they would take it out on our cattle, or fire the prairie when a violent wind was blowing, or take some other revenge which would do more injury than the value of the presents. They no longer ventured on open hostilities within range of our settlements; to such only the more distant squatters were exposed, who lived nearer to the desert.
Shortly after our return, arrived a Mr. White, from Virginia, with his wife, two sons of twelve and fourteen years of age, and two younger daughters. He applied to Lasar and myself to show him a good bit of land on which he could settle. The people pleased us, they were friendly and honest, lived on good terms together, as we noticed on our frequent visits to their camp on the Leone, and were the right sort to defy such a mode of life. Lasar and I resolved to take them under our wing, and induced them to settle at our old camping place on Turkey Creek, for which purpose we set out early one morning with them, Lasar ordering twenty negroes to come with us and prepare an abode for the new-comers. We built for them there in a few days a neat double blockhouse, that is to say, two houses about twenty yards apart,over which and the space between one long roof was thrown. Then we surrounded the house with a palisade, in which they could lock their cattle at night, and fitted for them a lot of wood, with which they could fence in a garden. Lasar gave them a handsome cow, and I gave them a breeding sow, some fowls, and maize to eat and to sow for the coming spring. White was one of those resolute, unswerving men, who, after struggling for a long time with misfortune in the civilized world, turn their attention to the western deserts, where they try to extort from fate what has been refused to them elsewhere. With his peculiar energy and restless execution of everything he had once undertaken, he set to work in his new home, in order, as soon as possible, to lay the foundation of his own and his family's future prosperity; but unfortunately he was only able to see the foundation, for the garden was hardly fenced in and the maize field taken in hand, ere he fell ill, and a violent fever carried him off in a few days. His eldest son, Charles, rode over to me to bring me the melancholy news, and tell me that his mother wished to speak to me. I rode across the next morning with Königstein and a negro. The widow was sitting inconsolably by the side of her dead husband, without any plan for the future; and on my entrance pointed—with sobs, and unable to utter a word—to the dead body. I at once ordered the negro to dig a grave, and buried the poor fellow; after which I sat down by the widow's side, and tried to give her some consolation by offering her my assistance. I proposed to her to settle near me till her sons were old enough to look after their present farm. But she was of opinion that they were able to do so already, although not strong enough to do the heavy field work, such as clearing the land from bushes and trees as well as felling and clearing the wood itself. If this could be done for her, she would not leave the spot, as her lads could plough and use the pick, while both fired a rifle as well as any frontierman; and she, too, if it came to the point, knew how to use her husband's fowling-piece. I made every possibleobjection to her plan of living here alone, but promised my help and Lasar's if she insisted on adhering to it.
The next morning I said good-bye to the woman, who was determined to stop here, and promised to send her help to prepare her garden and fence, and bring her a few trifles for her comfort. I got home at an early hour, and rode in the evening to Lasar's to tell him what had happened. The old gentleman at once declared that he would send John off the next morning with the requisite number of slaves to arrange everything for the widow, and all the members of the family vied with each other in displaying their sympathy by sending articles of clothing and stores of every description. In a week everything was in order at White's—the garden was laid out, and a field of five acres prepared for planting with maize, beans, gourds, and potatoes. The best varieties of vegetables were sown in the garden, and seeds of all sorts given to the widow. The woman had for the present only to keep the garden in order, while the sons procured game, which they could shoot at times from their own door, for all her other wants were amply supplied. Thus peace and contentment soon returned to this house, and the love of her children restored Mrs. White the activity and determination which the loss of her husband had palsied. Dawn found her busy with domestic duties—cleaning the rooms, dressing her daughters, milking the cows, preparing breakfast, salting and drying game, in short, with all sorts of occupations; after that she was seen sitting in the shadow of the roof between the houses, cleansing and spinning cotton to make clothes for her children, while the two little girls sported around her, and the sons were busy in the garden or hunting close at hand. She could recall them at any moment by sounding an immense cow-horn which hung in the passage between the two houses, near the door of the keeping-room.
Shortly after peace had settled down again on this solitary abode, the widow was seated as usual in the cool passage with her daughters, while her second son, Ben, had gone to the springto fetch water, and Charles had gone into the neighbouring wood with his rifle. All at once the very sharp dogs which guarded the family made an unusual disturbance and ran barking across the yard that surrounded the house. Mrs. White jumped up and saw several Indians standing in front of the nearest wood, and then retire into it again directly after. She seized the horn, sounded it with all her might, then ran into the room and took down her deceased husband's fowling-piece that was loaded with slugs, with a resolution and courage such as has grown almost entirely strange to the feminine sex in civilization, and is only found on rare occasions on its outermost frontier on this continent. In a few minutes Ben ran up and found his mother already behind the palisade with the gun in her hand. "Quick, Ben, your rifle!" she cried to her twelve year old son; "but don't forget your bullet, boy;" and then blew the horn again. The dogs now came in again, and Mrs. White closed the hole in the fence through which they passed. All at once a frightful yell was heard from the wood, and from its gloom sprang a swarm of some thirty red-skinned fiends, who dashed over the grass toward the house with an awful war-cry. "Don't fire, Ben, till I have loaded again!" Mrs. White cried, and then rapidly discharged both barrels, sending some forty leaden pellets among the charging horde. The effect of the two shots at hardly fifty yards distance was so tremendous that the horde darted in all directions as if struck by lightning, and eight remained on the grass while the others ran howling to the wood. "Fire, Ben!" Mrs. White cried to her son, who had thrust his rifle through the palisades, while she poured a handful of slugs down her gun, and placed two cotton wads upon them. Ben fired into the thickest of the fugitives, and one of them fell with his feet in the air, while the yells of the others filled the air. "I have hit, mother," the boy said, as he poured fresh powder down the barrel. "Bravo, Ben! but where is Charles? He ought to have been here by this time, as he has not been gone long. Run into the house and have a look at Fannyand Bessie, but come back again directly." Thus Mrs. White called to her son while she was hurriedly making cotton wads, which she moistened with her lips, and threw back her long raven hair which hung over her shoulders. "Mother, Charles is coming with Kitty!" Ben cried, as he ran out of the house and hurried to the hind part of the fence to open the gate for their cow Kitty, which was trotting over the grass in front of Charles. The latter had heard the horn and the shots and yells of the Indians as he hurried home, had come across Kitty, and had driven her home.
Everything was quiet, and the Indians did not make the slightest sound. Charles and his mother secured the two fence gates with logs of wood, and then the mother went to her young children, leaving her sons orders to call her if they saw anything of the Indians. The day passed without the savages making a fresh attack on the settlement; but the greater on that account grew the widow's alarm, lest they should take advantage of the night to satiate their vengeance. Toward evening, she bade her sons lie down and sleep, so that they could keep awake during the night, while she kept guard in front of the house. The sun set and darkness was lying over the country, when Mrs. White and her two sons took their places behind the palisade, and carefully surveyed the open prairie. It was about nine o'clock, when they saw the light of a fire coming through the wood, rapidly grow larger, and presently appear on its outermost edge. Again the fearful yell was raised, with which the savages always accompany their attack, and the light moved from the forest over the grass. A dark object moved across the plain toward the house, and the light shone out on both sides of it. The object slowly drew nearer, and Mrs. White soon saw that it was a framework of bushes behind which the Indians were concealed, and pushing it before them. This leafy wall had advanced within twenty yards, when Charley and Ben fired at it, and the groans of the wounded were distinctly heard amid the yells of the assailants. For all that, the wall moved slowlyforward, and in a few minutes leaned against the corner of the palisade, after which flames suddenly darted up and set the fence on fire. The savages had brought a heap of dry wood with them behind the screen, piled it up against the palisade and kindled it, after which they ran back about forty yards and lay down flat in the grass.
The space behind the fence round the house was now so brilliantly illumined that Mrs. White feared lest the savages might fire arrows through the palisades at her boys; hence she retired with them into the house, and went up under the roof, whither she took her daughters, too, while the dogs ran furiously along the palisade. Then she raised several of the shingles with which the roof was covered, and placed others under them, so that she could survey the brilliantly-lighted prairie, where she saw the Indians lying in the short grass. At the same instant, however, sparks fell down from the roof, for the savages had fired a number of burning arrows, which set fire to the dry shingle roof of cedar-wood. An inhuman yell of joy from the savages greeted the first flash of the flames, which soon ascended with a crackling sound. "Charles, the axe!" Mrs. White shrieked to her son, while she thrust her double-barrel through the roof and fired at a group of savages lying together in the grass, who doubtless fancied themselves safe from the besieged. The unhurt men leaped up with a yell and darted back to the wood, while the second barrel was fired after them, and again brought down several. Charles handed his mother the axe, with which she soon made a hole in the roof and pulled out the blazing shingles, so that the fire was extinguished in a few moments. Then she ran with axe and gun down into the yard, reloaded, and checked the fire at the palisades, which, as there was no wind, spread very slowly and was speedily put out. The corner of the palisade was certainly burnt down, and there was a large opening in it, while outside a large heap of burning coals remained from the fire. Mrs. White, with her sons' help, pulled the small cart which had conveyed their little property hither into theopening, and then filled up all the gaps with logs of firewood. The night was passed under arms, and when dawn lit up the country the heroic woman looked out of the roof at the battle-field in front of her fortress without being able to see a trace of Indians. The savages had carried off the corpses of their comrades in the darkness, and had probably departed with them in the night to let them rest with their fathers; for the Indians take the dead bodies of their friends with them and carry them hundreds of miles to the burial-place of the tribe.
Late on the following night the barking of my dogs awoke me, and when I shouted out of the fort, asking who was there, Charles White announced himself and told me what had happened. I had his wearied horse looked after, gave him a bed, and early next morning rode with him to Lasar, to consult with the latter what was to be done. This humane man soon formed a resolution, and told me he would let a faithful old negro, who was not of much use to him, live at Mrs. White's. He could sow a bit of land with cotton, the proceeds of which would be his own, and the family would have a protector in him, as he was an excellent shot and a fearless, determined man. Within an hour, we were mounted and rode past my fort, in order to fetch Owl and Tiger. We arrived in the evening at White's, where we saw the damage done by the savages, and then heard the story from Mrs. White's own lips, on which occasion she praised Ben's bravery, who during the narration stood by his mother's side with her arm thrown round him. The woman was most grateful for our kindness and sympathy, and said that, with the help of the old negro, Primus, she would withstand a whole Indian tribe. Primus remained there, and this settlement was really never again disquieted by Indians. It was, however, less the presence of the negro that made them refrain from hostilities, than Mrs. White's heroic defence. At a later date, Indians told me that the aggressors were Mescaleros, and Mrs. White fired so many bullets among them all at once, as if the storm-godhad been scattering a hail-storm on the earth. Since then an Indian was hardly ever seen there. Such atrocities often happened at the outermost settlements, while very possibly the same Indians who committed them came to us as friends and were dismissed with presents and assurances of amity.