The Backwoodsman Part 18

Everything in the room was now examined, and if possible handled, and I had to explain its use. Cachakia too became gradually more animated and took a greater share in the conversation, always trying to make me understand that her sister knew too little and her chatter was not worthy of attention. Everything pleased her, and when she saw anything she wished particularly to have, she made me understand that we would swap, but never said what she intended to give me in exchange. Still I could not help giving both a number of trifles, such as knives, thimbles, needles, cotton, and sewing-silk, and I was very glad when the negroes came and announced that the dinner I had ordered for my guests was on the table, through which their desires took a different direction. I conducted them to the dining-room, and was obliged to dine with them again in order to show them the use of knife and fork, which they, however, soon laid aside and employed their little fingers instead. They liked everything, but the pudding most, and when coffee and cakes were again served, it seemed as if they intended making a separate meal of them. After dinner I gave them cigars and intended to keep them in this room till they rode off, but they soon got up, and after pointing round the room and saying with a dissatisfied expression, "no bueno," they walked off straight to my house. Whether I would or no, I was obliged to admit them, and Cachakia was now the first to nestle up to me and point with her little hand to the wine-gla.s.s, while she looked up at me with her sparkling black eyes and laughingly displayed two rows of pearly teeth. I could not possibly refuse her, and when I had filled the gla.s.s to the brim she raised the golden liquid to her lips and drank it to the last drop. Pahnawhay also drank a gla.s.s, but then I locked the bottle up again, and in spite of Cachakia's languis.h.i.+ng looks and her sister's more stormy requests I did not take it out again.

Pahnawhay had again taken the red blanket from my bed and walked round me praising it loudly, while I was sitting by Cachakia, but she seemed not to have the courage to ask me for it. I noticed her embarra.s.sment, and as I had long wished to have a dress like these girls were wearing, I pointed when she again stood before me to the various articles of her costume, then to the woollen blanket, and made the sign of exchange. As if the greatest piece of good fortune had happened to her, she fell back a step and repeated my signs inquiringly as if not believing her luck, and when I again affirmed it, she threw off in a few moments all her clothing, folded herself in the blanket, and stretching out her arm under it, carefully laid her leathern dress on my bed. I was so surprised at this instantaneous metamorphosis that at the first moment I did not think how Cachakia would be humiliated by it; but Pahnawhay pointed to her, and said I must give her a blanket as well. In truth the thermometer had already fallen in the eyes of my pretty neighbour, so I got up quickly and opened a chest in which I had several blankets, but not a red one; however, there were five blue ones among them, which pleased Cachakia remarkably, and in an equally short period her dress was also lying on my bed, and she was seated, highly delighted, in the Turkey blue blanket in my rocking chair smoking her cigar.

The sun had already set, and darkness was spreading over the landscape, when my princesses trotted out proudly into the prairie, wrapped in their blankets, with an a.s.surance that they would return early the next morning with the whole tribe. At an early hour I had a very large kettle of coffee made and extra bread baked before the cattle were driven out to pasture, a fat ox was driven into the enclosure, the dogs were chained up, and I ordered my men to keep the Fort closed, as the Indians whom I wished to enter it would be led through my house, which stood at the south-eastern angle, and had an entrance through the palisade.

At the appointed hour we saw the party of Indians coming down the river, and soon halt in front of my fence. I went out, received the chief with the usual ceremony, and saluted his two daughters who on this day only wore snow-white bran-new petticoats, painted in the brightest colours with very considerable taste. They wore necklaces of very handsome beads, earrings of the same material hung down on their shoulders, and their round arms were ornamented with flas.h.i.+ng bra.s.s rings, while a new long tuft of feathers of the most brilliant hues was planted on the left side of the head. They left the blankets, which had hung loosely on their shoulders while riding, on their horses, and the latter were led off by the Mexican slave. After this both girls, but Cachakia not so quickly as her sister, hurried to me, and we exchanged the usual signs of good-will in the customary fas.h.i.+on; they pressed my hands, wound their pretty arms around me, and would a.s.suredly have kissed me were not this mark of affection quite unknown to the Indians, and would have seemed to them highly ridiculous. After the first greetings they pointed to their father and then to my house, saying "Vino," and making the sign of drinking. The chief was a man of about fifty years of age, about six feet high, with broad shoulders, and arched chest, regular handsome features, straight nose, sharp black eyes, lofty forehead, and--a rarity among the Indians--a heavy moustache twisted into points. He had a haughty, imposing mien, and something very determined in his appearance, which was however kindly and hearty, so that we fraternized in a few moments. I proposed to lead him and his daughters to my house, but he turned to his tribe and said something I did not understand, upon which two men stepped out of the mob and joined us. We reached the gallery in front of my house to which I had had all my chairs carried, in order, if possible, to keep the interior clear for the curious guests. I made them sit down at table, and handed the chief the pipe I had myself lighted; he pa.s.sed it to his neighbours, and so it went the round; while the two girls swung themselves in the rocking chair or the hammock hung up in the gallery, and smoked cigars. After the calumet of peace had pa.s.sed round, the chief informed me of the purpose of his visit, to make peace with me, and introduced the other two Indians to me as the Chief of Peace and the Sage in Council, in which the Mexican acted as interpreter. Dinner was now served, the chief employing knife and fork as I did, while the two others used their fingers. Pahnawhay had fetched a buffalo robe out of the house and laid it on the ground, and sat upon it with her sister to have her dinner. I handed them the plates of food, but they returned me the knives and forks, saying it was easier work with their fingers. They amused themselves famously on their buffalo hide, and teazed each other with the heartiest merriment, for which their father gave them several warnings, to which they responded with a laugh. The chief now explained to me that many tribes of his nation entertained hostile feelings against the white men, but he hoped they would soon see it was to their advantage to enter into friendly relations with them, and that his tribe from henceforth would never commit any act of hostility against us.

We had finished dinner, and I told the chief that I now wished to give his men their dinner, on which he rose and said that he had better be present or else no order would be kept. We went out in front of the palisade after I had locked my house door, unseen by the two girls, and had the caldron of coffee, sweetened with honey and mixed with milk, brought out, as well as the bread, which last the chief distributed among the various families, telling them to use in coffee-drinking their own utensils, which consisted of sh.e.l.ls, horns, and cocoa-nuts. There were above two hundred souls in camp, though among them all were only forty warriors.

I now showed the chief the fat ox, which I had shut up in the cow's milking enclosure, remarking at the same time that I intended to give it to his people, and asked whether it should be shot now, to which he a.s.sented. Konigstein brought me a rifle and I shot the ox through the skull, after which some of the Indians skinned and carried the joints to camp. Ere long some thirty fires were lighted, round which the Indians lay and roasted the meat, while constantly running to the coffee-caldron to fill their vessels.

I was standing and admiring the appet.i.tes of these people, when Cachakia thrust her arm through mine and affectionately tried to induce me to go to my house with her to open the door, which, as she made me signs, she could not manage. I told her I would wait for her father, so that he might drink coffee with us. I walked through the groups of Indians to him, with my young lady friend hanging tightly on my arm. These Mescalero Indians were certainly the least civilized I had as yet seen: their dress consisted of leathern breech-clouts fastened round their hips, and large, strangely-painted dressed buffalo-hides. In the whole camp, however, I found nothing emanating from white men. On all their faces something shy, mistrustful, and savage could be noticed, which is not generally the case with other tribes. The people were, on the average, not very tall, but st.u.r.dy and broad-shouldered, and well fed; the women, however, were nearly all good looking, and I do not remember having seen so many pretty Indian girls together as in this camp. As we walked from fire to fire, which appeared to please the savages, Pahnawhay dashed every now and then like a young filly through the gra.s.s to my side. It had taken too long to open the house, and she now hung on my other arm, and pulled my beard as a punishment for having kept her waiting so long. I told her I was waiting for her father, she could go and bring him to my house while I went on in front with Cachakia. On arriving, my companion could not at all understand in what way the door was closed so tightly, and was quite surprised when I opened it with the key. She wished to try the experiment herself, and said she would keep the key so as to let herself in when she pleased, and it was not till I made her understand that in that case I could not open the house without her, that she returned it to me.

I now took my guitar from its case, and sitting down on my bed, let my fingers stray over the strings. Cachakia stood with widely-opened eyes and mouth before me, and became quite beside herself when I began playing. With one leap she sat cross-legged on the bed behind me, and peeping over my right shoulder, watched my performance. She was really delighted at the music, attempted to play the guitar herself, and became very angry and impatient when she could not manage it. At last Pahnawhay arrived with her father and the two ministers: we again took our seats in the verandah, and I ordered the coffee and cake, which my guests tremendously enjoyed, then I gave them all cigars to smoke, after which the chief told me that his people were well satisfied, were very good friends of mine, and would remain so. I took him to the arms-case in my house to let him see my weapons, about fifty first-rate implements. They did not fail to arouse my guest's admiration, and when we returned to the gallery I took a revolver, and at about one hundred yards put a bullet into a young tree, not nearly so wide as a man, and then fired the other five rounds in rapid succession. After this I placed in a few seconds a fresh cylinder in the lieu of the discharged one and fired the six rounds with equal rapidity, remarking the while that I could go on firing thus uninterruptedly. This weapon excited my guest's attention in the highest degree, and he looked at it for a long time with the greatest astonishment, and declared with the utmost seriousness that it was the grandest medicine he had ever seen. I made him a present of a very pretty hunting-knife, whose handle was composed of a roe-foot mounted with a silver shoe: his joy at it was childish, and in his excitement he a.s.sured me that he would lift the hair of the first enemy he conquered with it: this knife was also a great medicine.

The girls now left me no peace. I must fetch wine, which the three men at first looked at very suspiciously, but on my a.s.surance that it was not fire-water, they tasted it, and drank with great satisfaction. When I carried the bottle back to the cupboard I filled a gla.s.s and put it on the table, making Cachakia a sign that it was for her, but at the same time I laid my finger on my lip so that she might not let the others know it, as I did not wish to open a fresh bottle, and this one was nearly empty. She understood me perfectly well, and as a proof nodded to me when I came out of the house, while a quiet smile played round her little mouth. I returned to my seat, and she carelessly rose, walked into my room, took the gla.s.s from the table, and gave me a nod unseen by the others, as she slowly drank the contents. Then she walked back into the gallery carelessly and sat down with us, like a person who is proud at having been preferred; but she cast her eyes down, as their sparkle might betray her.

Evening arrived; we supped, and when the moon had fully risen, went out to the Indian camp, as the chief wished to spend the night with his men, because the latter might be alarmed about him if he slept in the Fort with me. We had hardly reached the first fire, when we heard a fearful row at the other end of the camp, and the chief ran with his two colleagues in the direction of it. I was anxious about what was going on there, and hastened after them, accompanied by the two Indian girls. Two young men had quarrelled, and were engaged in a violent dispute when we came up, while the voices of the chief and his colleagues were raised to a loud key. Suddenly, however, the two men rushed to different fires, seized their bows and arrows, flew about a hundred yards apart into the prairie, and in a few minutes disappeared from sight. The chief shouted after them, but no one pursued them. The Mexican was standing not far from us at the next fire, and I called him up to give me an explanation of the disturbance. Pahnawhay, however, explained to me with a few very intelligible signs, that the two young men loved the same girl, and she had given her affection to both, upon which they quarrelled, and had run off to kill one another. The Mexican confirmed this statement, on which I asked why no one tried to prevent it, but I received the laughing reply, as if the thing were self-evident, that this was impossible.

A number of Indians had by this time collected round one of the fires, and Cachakia, taking me by the arm, drew me to it, when we saw a weeping and loudly lamenting girl seated with her head between her knees, with dishevelled hair almost concealing the whole of her person. This was the sweetheart of the two jealous knights, one of whom had probably by this time the deadly arrow in his heart. We were standing by the side of the unhappy girl, when a frightful yell echoed far across the moonlit prairie, the war-cry of the combatants, who had now met in open fight, as they had not been able, probably, to discern each other by crawling through the gra.s.s. The first note scarce reached us ere the weeping girl sprang up, threw back her hair, and hurling back the people standing round her, ran off with a shrill scream and disappeared. A deadly silence set in, as everybody expected to hear at the next moment that the fire was over; and all looking in the direction where the girl had disappeared, seemed to be anxiously holding their breath. At this moment the girl's piercing scream rang through the night air, and immediately after a fearful yell that pierced the marrow, and was answered by all the occupants of the camp pretty nearly. It seemed as if the latter had only been waiting for this signal, for now a number of men and squaws, some of whom held firebrands, ran off, and we could see these fires collected into a point far away. Cachakia said to me, "He is dead," and pressed her head down with her right hand to the left side, and closed her eyes. We soon saw the light moving towards us, until we could at length distinguish the separate torches, and the procession marched into camp. Four Indians bore the b.l.o.o.d.y corpse of the murdered man to the first fire, and laid it on the ground. I took a torch to see whether life still remained, but the last spark had disappeared. On his left side, near the heart, gaped three fearful wounds, which almost divided the chest in two parts, and his hair was bound into a ma.s.s by the curdled blood, while his head was cleft with a tomahawk. The Indians only take a scalp when it belongs to an enemy of their tribe. He was carried to the middle of the camp and covered with a buffalo robe. I asked Cachakia what would become of the other man and the girl? and she told me that the warrior must fly within four and twenty hours, and keep away till he had made it up with the dead man's relations, or otherwise they would take his life in return. Thus time was allowed him to fetch his traps, and if he came into camp during the period, he would not be molested, but after that he would be nowhere safe from them.

The chief now held a council with the relations of the dead man, which was just ended, when the victor's sweetheart appeared, silently led his horses to his fire, packed all his traps on them, and then went out into the night again without a word, while no one in camp appeared to have noticed her, although she walked openly towards the blazing fires.

Indians do not consider it any harm for a girl to be a coquette, but they punish the infidelity of a wife, and frequently with death; but it is more common for the husband to cut off her nose, which indulgence is chiefly occasioned by the squaws being a portion of the husband's fortune, as he is obliged to buy them, employs them as servants and labourers, and can sell them again for ever, or for a time, as he pleases. I missed in this tribe more female noses than in any other I had seen.

In a very short time all became quiet again in camp, as if nothing extraordinary had happened; and after I had sat for a while with the chief, I wished him good-night, and was accompanied home by Cachakia, which attention appears to be one of the forms of politeness on the part of the savages; and even though the home of a parting guest is a long way from their camp, they always accompany him to the last highest point, whence they can look back on their camp.

Day was hardly dawned when I opened my door, and stepped out into the gallery to greet the fresh morning. In the Indian camp all appeared to be still resting except a few forms moving about in it. I saw through my gla.s.s that they had with them a horse and a mule, and ere long an Indian mounted the latter, and two others raised something that was wrapped in a large buffalo hide up to him. Then another Indian mounted the horse, and they went off up the river with the mule in front. I conjectured that it was the corpse of the murdered man which the two were carrying to the burial-place of the tribe, and found my supposition confirmed when I entered the camp. I had another caldron of coffee and a great quant.i.ty of maize bread carried to the camp, invited the chief, and his two councillors of state, and his daughters to breakfast, after which he told me that our friends.h.i.+p was now eternally concluded, and that he would depart with an easy mind. I made him a number of trifling presents, such as blankets, tobacco, looking-gla.s.ses, vermilion, &c.; gave the daughters several keepsakes as well, and my guests quitted me apparently remarkably well satisfied.

During the two days Owl and Tiger had not shown themselves, as the Delawares, though not open enemies, are not on very friendly terms with the Mescaleros, and so they went off hunting. Owl had received his wages long before, but still remained with us, as he seemed to enjoy himself, in which our cooking played a great part; but he now came one morning to me, and said the time had arrived when he promised to join his family, and so he must leave us, as he did not wish to render his friends alarmed about his safety. He rode to Lasar's and took his leave, when he received handsome presents: I, too, gave him numerous trifles for his fidelity and devotedness, and he went off, accompanied by Tiger, promising to pay me a visit very shortly.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE SILVER MINE.

It was now the busiest time in the fields. The storms had blown down a great number of huge dried trunks standing in the fields, which had to be cut up and rolled away, which business was one of our hardest jobs.

Moreover, I had the field enlarged, fenced in a very large extent of land, part prairie part forest, where I could turn my mares and colts out, and on rainy days had wood felled to let it dry, and afterwards employ it for building purposes. Axe and plough were equally active on the Mustang, and on many smaller streams in the vicinity, where civilization had set its foot. Thus whole patches of forest disappeared before man's busy hand, and the soil was robbed of its natural protection: the roots were turned up to be burnt or rot, and the earth was thus forced to receive and generate seeds foreign to it. The prairies, which a few years back had only been traversed by the desert animals, were now inhabited by herds of tame domestic creatures attached to a home, and the traveller's ear in these regions was no longer startled by hearing the unexpected sound of a cattle bell.

But nature will not allow laws to be prescribed to her without taking vengeance, or have changes made in her domestic arrangements forcibly by human hands. With the felling of forests and the turning up of the soil she sends diseases which check her insulter in the work he has begun, and punish him for his audacious inroads. It usually takes half a century ere nature is appeased and ceases to contend in this way with the mortals who trouble her; at least in Continental North America the diseases produced in this way usually increase for thirty years, and decrease for so long a period, until they entirely cease. This is the case with the interior, but not in the cities, where other relations occur in proportion with their expansion. At my settlement there had been for many years no malady, save those caused by external injuries; but now one or the other frequently complained of ague, bilious fever, flux, &c., and we often cursed the time when we saw the first white face settle amid our solitudes. At Lasar's matters were proportionately worse, for a hundred negroes would be down at the same time. For my part I had as yet been spared, while all my companions had been ill.

It was a very hot day when I rode to the nearest town, as usual only provided with a blanket, and during the nights lay by my fire in the open air with it pulled over me. I remained several days in town, and during the period felt a never-before-known ailing, and a reduction of my strength. My business being ended, I rode off about noon to reach the next house, whose inhabitants were friends of mine. I arrived there about an hour before sundown, but found the family in a great state of disorder, as the head of it had just died of a violent attack of fever.

Although I felt very unwell, I did not like to be troublesome to the family, and rode on after a short halt. My illness increased with every quarter of an hour; at one moment I shook with cold, at another I felt as if I were being burned alive, and my head ached as if it would burst.

I rode on, although I could hardly sit my horse, and at last tottered in the saddle, quite incapable of thinking; at the same time an indescribable burning thirst tortured me, and my tongue seemed to cleave to my roof, while I had a singing in my ears, as if there were thousands of gra.s.shoppers inside my head.

It was nearly dark when I reached the middle of a very wide plain, that was covered with fine, very white sand, and in which the horse at every step sank above the hocks. I could no longer remain in the saddle; dismounted; sat down on the red-hot sand, fell back, and became perfectly unconscious: presently I fell into a profound sleep, from which I did not wake till the next morning. I looked around in surprise, and it was some time ere I could remember what had brought me here. I jumped up, and Trusty the faithful leapt barking around me, but I did not see Czar. My feet would hardly carry me, and my head was as heavy as if I had lead inside it. I looked for my horse's track, dragged myself along it, and to my great consolation saw the faithful creature in a hollow, nibbling some cactuses, and saddled and bridled as I had left him on the previous evening. I got on to his back with difficulty, and turned him in the direction of home. Thirst now began to grow unendurable. The sun burst forth, and poured its burning beams upon me with such fury, that I fancied I should never be able to reach a pool, about five-and-twenty miles distant, which contained the only water in the neighbourhood. This pond was at last the only thought of which I was capable; at the same time my head threatened to burst, and the fever shook me mercilessly. My horse walked along the familiar path through the heat, and bore me, when the sun was vertical, down a sand-hill to the edge of the pond, where I sank powerless, and crawled to the water in order to moisten my burning lips. But it was no water, but a thick, dark red mud, which was nearly boiling, and in which buffaloes had been wallowing very shortly before. No matter, I lay with my mouth over the thick fluid, and swallowed as much of it as I could. It was really a comfort, for the dryness of my throat was removed; but my helplessness was so great that I could not resolve to leave the spot, though I lay exposed to the burning sun on the hot sand, and was only a short distance from shady trees.

I lay as I was, and had but one thought that the sun must kill me here, but still I could not muster up the courage to go away. At length, toward evening, when the sun was lower, the terrible fever gave way a little. I crept slowly into the shade, and soon was asleep under the tree. It was quite dark when I awoke, and though very faint, my head was clearer. I went up to Czar, who had been grazing by my side all this time, got into the saddle, and continued my journey, on which the pleasant light of the new moon lit me, and the cool evening breeze refreshed me. I rode till ten o'clock, when I reached the Lynx Spring, which I had christened after one of those animals that I had found dead here many years ago, and whose water was the best for miles around. I was quickly off Czar's back among the roots of the magnolia, beneath which the spring bubbled up, and I drank as if I should never be satisfied. I had a biscuit and a paper of coa.r.s.e sugar about me. This was my supper and I washed it down with the pure fluid. I felt much refreshed, drew many a deep breath in the powerful breeze, and gazed at the patches of light around me which were thrown by the moon through the dense foliage, and through the violent motion of the leaves trembled and continually altered their shape. It was a very dangerous spot, as this water was the only spring for miles round, and wandering Indians often select it as their destination after travelling for a day through the desolate, waterless sand-plains; but I would not have ridden away even if I had been compelled to defend myself against a whole tribe. I had a few good cigars about me and lit one, which I smoked leaning against a tree, and, as I fancied, inhaling fresh strength at every breath.

It was about midnight when I set out to reach a camping-place at which I should not be so threatened as at the present one, and after filling my gourd with water I rode away, faintly lighted by the waning moon. I knew the road thoroughly, and the outline of the trees was sufficient to enable me to keep my course. I could, if my horse went at any pace, reach within an hour a well-known camping-place at which I had pa.s.sed many a night, and which lay but a little way off my route. It certainly had no water, but excellent gra.s.s for my horse, and hence various sorts of game could generally be found there. The main point was, that it lay some distance from the princ.i.p.al Indian path and was tolerably concealed, so that a fire could be lighted there without any great risk of being seen from a distance. It soon became very dark after the moon had sunk behind the hills in front of me, and I was obliged to yield the reins to Czar, and leave it to him to find the road, while I sent Trusty on a little way ahead to make certain there was no danger. Every now and then, however, I saw by familiar clumps of trees or knolls that I was still on the right track, and I approached my destination rather quickly, considering the circ.u.mstances. The country through which I rode consisted more or less of sandy hills, covered with isolated black oaks, without any scrub, under which grew a very tall gra.s.s, disliked by cattle, which had now entirely decayed. So far as I could judge in the darkness, I was no longer any great distance from my camping-place, for I saw in a hollow on my left a wood running along my route, and which I knew to be a swampy patch, in which all the rain-water of the neighbourhood collected. On my saddle hung several new tin cups and a coffee-pot of the same material, which rattled at every movement of my horse and thus produced a ringing sound which could be heard for some distance. I dismounted and twined dry gra.s.s between them to keep them quiet.

I had just remounted my horse and was riding up a hill, when suddenly bright flames sprang up not far behind the latter and illumined the whole country around. In terror I stopped my horse, and saw in a few minutes that not only on the right of the hill the flames rose to the branches of the surrounding oaks, but that the fire was spreading with extraordinary fury on my right and in my rear. There was only one opening in this circle of fire on my right, near the swamp. I turned Czar round and galloped through the low oaks and tall gra.s.s toward the valley, in which I was obliged to trust to the safe foothold of my horse, as I could not see a sign of a path. The wind luckily was not very violent, or else I could not have escaped; as it was, I reached the wood before the fire darted down into the bottom behind me. I stood here on moist ground, between green bushes which the flames could not reach, and saw that they had fired the oaks and converted each of them into a fiery pyramid. The whole country ahead of me was now a ma.s.s of fire, whose tongues rose over fifty feet, in which the flames of the trees could be recognised by their dark red hue, while above them the ruddy clouds of smoke rose to the sky. Ere long, however, the burning oaks stood alone like pillars of fire on the denuded knolls, and the sparks flew out of them with a terrible roaring and crackling. I stood before this fire till day broke and showed me the black skeletons of the still burning trees, and the dark smoke-clouds rising above them. Ere long, only small flames crept round the bare trunks. I mounted my horse to get away from this scene of conflagration and rode up the wood, being obliged frequently to draw nearer to the burning trees to escape the swampy ground, until at last I was compelled to pa.s.s through the fire, owing to the impa.s.sable nature of the ground. The smoke, the black ash, and the heat were almost unendurable, and frequently heavy branches fell close to me. I rode as sharply as I could, and in an hour reached an open burnt clearing, where I was once more able to draw fresh breath.

The fire had undoubtedly been lit simultaneously at different points for the purpose of burning me by the Indians, but none of them had ventured on to the prairie leading down to the bottom, as I could see over it, and if a fire had been lit there, I could have detected the culprits.

I hurried along in the refres.h.i.+ng morning breeze, and arrived about noon at a stream, on whose bank I turned into the adjoining wood, and granted my horse and myself a rest. On the road I had shot a turkey, which pacified my hunger and Trusty's, and I strengthened myself by a sound sleep, from which I did not awake till evening. During the whole day I had felt tolerably well, but looked with terror for the next, as I must expect that my fever would return every second day, so I rode till a rather late hour in order to reach a camp where I was tolerably certain I could pa.s.s the day without disturbance. Before I rode off, I dug up some roots of the tulip-tree and chewed them, swallowing the juice, till I reached camp. These roots are one of the best remedies against fever which nature offers in these regions. I slept till the sun disturbed me, and woke with aching head and weary limbs. I took Czar to graze, and then lay down on my blankets, after placing my gourd full of fresh water by my side. The attack of fever was not very violent: about 2 P.M. I was able to continue my journey, and slept that night on an affluent of the Mustang. The next morning I mounted at an early hour, in order to reach the Fort as soon as possible, and made Czar step out, as I felt very well.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRUSTY AND THE ALLIGATOR. _p. 402._]

About ten o'clock I rode through a prairie which ran down to the Mustang, which here an insignificant stream, flowed between high banks over loose pebbles, and was only deep at isolated spots. The prairie was covered with clumps of tall cactus and sunflowers, and I was riding between some of them when a large stag got up before me and stopped a little way ahead. I turned Czar half round and shot the stag, which fell, but got up again and ran off to the Mustang. As I saw that it was very sick, I sent Trusty after it, who soon disappeared with it in a thicket, and I had scarcely reloaded when I heard his hoa.r.s.e bark and recognised by its tone that he was occupied with something else than the stag. I went up the wood as fast as Czar could carry me, leapt off and ran through the bushes to the bank where I heard Trusty's voice. A mortal terror a.s.sailed me on seeing Trusty in shallow water near a deep spot, with his left hind leg in the jaw of an alligator, whose skull he was smas.h.i.+ng with his teeth, though this did not make it open its clenched teeth. I sprang at one bound into the river, in order to prevent the horrible brute from reaching deep water, to which it was retreating and was only a few feet from it. I sprang on the beast's back, held it between my knees tightly, and lifted it into the shallow water while it lashed its tail madly. I now pulled out a revolver, held it against the hinge of the jawbone, and fired one bullet after the other till the bones were splintered and the lower jaw fell off, liberating Trusty from his arrest. I examined him and found that his leg bone was not injured, though the flesh had suffered severely: at the same time he was losing much blood and appeared to be enduring great pain. The stag lay close to the scene of contest, so I drew it ash.o.r.e and cut off the haunches; then I fetched Czar, bound one of them on either side of the saddle, packed a lot of bushes on the lot and spread my blanket over them, on which I raised Trusty, after I had bound up his wounds as well as I could with wet pocket handkerchiefs. I reached home in the afternoon, and at once made a decoction of the roots of the tulip and pomegranate and willow bark, in order to check the fever, which it soon effected, combined with a strict regimen.

Though these illnesses may usually be checked so easily, their frequent return affects the body greatly, and makes it more and more susceptible to injurious climates and atmospheric influences, so that the slightest change is often sufficient to bring back the fever. Still, all the diseases produced in these regions by an alteration in the surface of the ground are less dangerous than in any other part of the United States, which may be chiefly ascribed to the free unimpeded motion of the air, and the fact of no large swamps or standing waters existing here.

Tiger returned, after accompanying his friend to the Puerco River, whence the latter travelled on alone to Santa Fe, at which place he had promised to meet his friends about this time. My young Indian friend now complained very often that I allowed him to ride out hunting alone, which was most disagreeable to him, as I did not permit him to take Trusty, who was of such great value in the bear hunts, which are princ.i.p.ally carried on at this season. I had certainly placed Leo, an excellent dog, at his service, but he was only half the value of Trusty.

One evening Tiger returned from hunting, and told me that he knew where a very large bear was sleeping, but it would be difficult to get at it, as it was living in an old cypress that grew in the middle of the river and was too large to fell. He described the spot to me, and I at once recognised the tree. We talked about the matter at supper, and resolved to make an attempt to get hold of the sleeper on the next day.

On the following morning we put our weapons, axes, and dinner in the canoe and floated down the river in it. It was carried along by the current like a dart, so that we were obliged to steer very carefully between the numerous rocks. In an hour we stopped at the cypress, which was nearly six feet in diameter. We cut down some saplings on the bank, conveyed them to one side of the tree, and fastened them together so as to form a raft on which we could stand; we then placed the canoe on the other side of the tree, and set to work with our axes felling it. In addition to Tiger and myself, Konigstein and Antonio had come, so that one of us was always able to rest. About noon we had got some distance through the tree, and as we had heard nothing of the bear, we began greatly to doubt whether it was in it; but Tiger insisted, in spite of our laughter and chaff, that it was sleeping there. We dined, drank the health of the occupant of the tree, and then set to work again. In a few hours the supports of the tree became so weak that it was time to take precautions lest it should fall on us. We had hewn it on the side of the raft, toward which it naturally hung, and we now all proceeded to our canoe and held ourselves in readiness to push off at any moment. We gave the tree a few more cuts, and ere long we heard the first sound of cracking in its wood. We were certain that it could only fall over the raft, and the only danger was that it might slip backwards from the stump, in which case we might easily be sunk. A couple more blows and the lofty crown of the cypress bent more over the raft, one more stroke and it groaned and cracked at its base: we pushed off, and with a frightful crash it fell into the river and splashed up the water so high that we were completely wet through, while the splinters and broken branches flew in all directions. We involuntarily held our heads down into the boat, which was raised a great height by the waves; but after the first oscillation, we all burst into a hearty laugh and mockingly asked Tiger, "Where is our bear?" At the same moment, however, the bear leapt out of the middle of the splinters covering the surface of the river, and while the water poured down and prevented it from seeing, it laid its huge fore-paws on the floating pieces of wood and sought a support, by means of which it could lift itself out of the disagreeable element. "The bear!" everybody shouted, and we seized our rifles and fired at it. At the moment when it reached the stern of our boat and was trying to get into it by means of its paws, Konigstein ran at the brute with his sharp axe and buried it deep in the skull of the enormous animal, and then drove into its carcase the bent iron point of the boat-hook to prevent it from sinking. We pulled quickly ash.o.r.e, where we hauled in our quarry with la.s.sos.

Antonio ran back to the Fort and fetched our cart with two mules, with which he joined us before sunset. With the help of the animals we pulled first the bear and then the canoe on land, rolled the former into the cart, then raised the canoe on the back of it, where we secured it, and so drove back to the Fort, with the stern of our boat trailing along the gra.s.s. The bear gave us a large quant.i.ty of splendid fat, and its smoked flesh long supplied our table.

We and our friends on the Mustang now rarely visited the districts lying beyond the distance of a day's journey, as our domestic duties kept us more or less constantly at our settlements; but we became all the better acquainted with our immediate neighbourhood, and on our hunting excursions learnt every path and locality. I had found but a few miles from us the traces of an old Spanish settlement, and the remains of a forge, whence I concluded that the precious metals had been found here, and that they still existed in the vicinity. Old Lasar was a man of most enterprising spirit, and as he had more working power at his command than he could employ profitably on his cultivated ground, he always desired some other speculation by which he could derive greater profit from his slaves. A silver or gold mine was always one of his favourite schemes, and he quickly turned the conversation to the subject, expressing an opinion that the mountains near us certainly contained the precious metals. He came to me one day greatly excited, and told me with great mystery that an Indian had been to him and told him under a promise of the profoundest secrecy, that he knew a spot where the old Spaniards worked silver mines, and offered to show it to him if he would promise to hold his tongue as to whom he obtained his information from, as the Indians would certainly kill him if they discovered that he had revealed the spot. Lasar stated that he had told the Indian to return in eight days, when he would ride with him, and reward him if he really pointed out the silver mine. The old gentleman then begged me to join him on this excursion, on which he only intended to take his son John. I promised to do so, and when the appointed day arrived, I rode over to Lasar's, accompanied by Trusty, and found the Indian there, whom I took for a Mescalero, though he stated himself to be a Shawnee.

We left Lasar's settlement at noon, rode west toward the Rio Grande, and crossed the hills on that river by a path which I had not known before.

We pa.s.sed the night on the banks of this river, and on the next morning proceeded into the hills in a south-west direction. The path, to the great comfort of our horses, wound along the hill-sides without crossing any steep ascents, and our Indian guide appeared quite at home here, for he often left the main path and followed scarce visible tracks, which always brought us back sooner or later to the main path, while we had escaped a steep hill or a thick cedar coppice. We found here, too, though many miles farther south, traces of the forest fire which Tiger and I had occasioned against our will, and many bare knolls rose between the cedar woods which had been robbed on that occasion of their leafy covering. We pa.s.sed the third night on the western slopes of these hills, and on the next day reached their spurs, whence we looked down on a very extensive plain, which appeared to be excellently watered, and displayed a rich tropical vegetation in its summer garb. Although these plants, which belong to the real tropical region, especially the varieties of the palm, do not attain such luxuriance and such gigantic size as they do farther south, they still grow in these protected valleys very powerfully, and surprise the traveller by their foreign but agreeable appearance. We marched through the valley, and camped for the night at the foot of the hills bordering it on the west, not far from which spot was said to be the ancient mine to which the Indian promised to lead us on the following morning.

It was one of those mild southern spring nights when man feels beneath the star-enamelled vault of heaven that he is nowhere better in health or stronger than in the open air. The odour of the flowers had sunk upon the earth with the motionless air, and the glistening insect world sparkled and flashed like streams of diamonds from the dark shade of the evergreen s.h.i.+ny foliage. Lying round our small camp-fire, we were soon lulled to sleep by the feathered songsters of the night, among which the mocking-bird appealing to its mate was the most remarkable, and we negligently allowed the last flames to die out; but at a late hour we were startled by the roar of a jaguar close to us, and on awaking we recognised the sound of flying horses. We ran to our cattle, and only found Czar and John's mare, snorting and dragging at their bonds, while the Indian's horse and Lasar's mule had bolted, and we heard Trusty barking down the glen. We quickly blew up our fire, and threw fresh wood on it; but the damage was done, and we might reckon with certainty on the loss of one if not both beasts. We spent the rest of the night on the watch, and just as day dawned, and we had breakfasted I rode accompanied by Trusty, down the glen, while John and the Indian proceeded to the mountains in search of our fugitives. Only Lasar remained in camp, as walking through the gra.s.s was too fatiguing for him. I followed the foot of the hills, along which ran a stream overshadowed by yuccas, tree-like aloes, gigantic cactuses, palms and mimosas, and had ridden about four miles, following the tracking dog, when the latter showed me on the clayey bank on which no gra.s.s grew the hoofmarks of our mule and the imprints of a jaguar running down to the stream. Not long after, on riding round a projecting clump of shrubs, I noticed in the gra.s.s Lasar's mule, and upon it an enormous jaguar, which appeared to be asleep, as its golden-spotted body lay stretched out and motionless. I led Czar back into the bushes, and then crept down the stream nearer to the beast of prey, until I concealed myself within shot in a tuft of old mimosa trees, from which I could survey it. Laying my rifle on a low branch, I aimed at the centre of the brute's back, which was turned toward me, as its head rested on the mule. I fired, the jaguar sprang up, but fell on its side immediately, and while uttering an awful roar, looked about the valley in search of its a.s.sailant. It was unable to rise on its hind-legs, and strove to drag itself on its forepaws to the adjacent water. I had reloaded in the meantime, and stepped out of my hiding-place on to the gra.s.s plot. The jaguar now saw me, its fury increased with every step I took, and dragging itself toward me it made the hills ring with its savage roars. I walked pretty nearly up to it, and put an end to its life with a bullet through the head; then I went to Lasar's mule, whose belly was slit up, and one of its legs devoured. The jaguar must have caught it up while running, for on its croup I found numerous wounds where the beast had buried its claws.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JAGUAR DISTURBED AT BREAKFAST. _p. 408._]

After taking the animal's skin, I rode back to camp, and bore Lasar the sad news, which painfully affected him, as this mule was a favourite of the whole family, and its loss the more grieved him, because it belonged to his wife, and was always ridden by her. It was not to be helped, however, and so when John and the Indian returned with the horse, we started for the silver mine. Lasar saddled the Indian's horse and rode it, while the latter walked ahead of us.

In about two hours we really arrived at an old deserted shaft, into which we were able to go about fifty paces; then, however, it was blocked up, and any farther advance was impossible. In it we saw a number of scattered pieces of ore, and also found several of them under the turf at the entrance of the shaft, which proved that a long time must have elapsed since any works had gone on here. We took a good deal of the ore with us, and after carefully noticing the bearings of the place, we rode back to the valley, from time to time making a sketch of the localities, so that we might find them again hereafter. On our homeward road the Indian guided us on foot, so that we did not progress so rapidly: but for all that we got back without any misadventure, and produced great grief in Lasar's family by the announcement of the death of the faithful mule. The old gentleman was determined to take the requisite steps next year with the Mexican Government to buy the land on which the silver mine was, and then set to work on it.

A few days after my return to the Fort, I was surprised by an unexpected visit from my old acquaintance Warden, whom I had not seen for a long time, and who declared that he could no longer resist the desire of seeing me again. He had been living princ.i.p.ally on the western side of the Cordilleras, and during his perilous hunting expeditions on the Gela and the Rio Colorado had got as far as the Gulf of California. His powerful horse had been killed there in a skirmish with the Apaches, and he had saved his own life under the greatest dangers, after the savages had incessantly pursued him for several weeks. We again sat till far into the night, and listened to the interesting stories of this daring man who had gained nothing by all his privations, fatigue, and frightful perils, except the recollection of them, but had thus perfectly carried out his sole object. As before, he remained some weeks with us; but then he felt compelled to leave this quiet life, which he could not endure. He saddled his horse, in order to continue his solitary life. On parting I made him a present of a brace of pistols, for which he was most grateful, and he galloped over the prairie and disappeared from my sight on the horizon. It was the last time I saw or heard of him. I often asked western hunters about him, but none could give me any news of him, and in all probability he at last met the fate, which he seemed to desire and seek, a solitary death in the desert.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER x.x.x.

THE PURSUIT.