The Backwoodsman Part 19

Lasar and I were occupied for several weeks on the settlement of Messrs.

Clifton and MacDonnell and a Mr. Wilson. The latter had arrived from Georgia with a considerable fortune and numerous negroes, and the three young men settled together on Turkey Creek, in the neighbourhood of Widow White. We helped them by word and deed, and in a short time a very large lot of ground was cleared and sown with maize, although it was late in the year for it, and a large garden laid out, and the necessary buildings erected at a spot where very recently an axe had never been laid against a tree, or a plough had turned a furrow in the earth. The three young men set eagerly about the heavy work which such a new settlement demands, and were busy the whole day in the garden or the field, or else in felling wood. While doing so, they often forgot that they and not we were now living on the outermost Indian frontier, and constantly went from home unarmed. They went into the woods with an axe to fell trees, or rode without any weapons into the prairie, to drive home their milch kine, or fetch their draught oxen. Lasar and I had frequently blamed them for this negligence, but it was of no use, and often when we visited them, one or the other was away from home unarmed; while we, during the years, that we had no neighbours, when working in the field, chained up our dogs round it, in order to be informed of the approach of stalking Indians, and carried our rifles either on the plough or on our backs, they ploughed and worked for days without a dog or any other weapon but their hands. Their dwelling stood on the south bank of the river where it joined the prairie; but they had their field on the northern side in a wood, which extended for a considerable distance.

At an early hour one morning they all three crossed the river with a few negroes, in order to thin the growing maize crop, which operation is generally performed in the morning, as you are obliged to stoop constantly, which is very fatiguing in the hot sun. All three took their weapons into the field, and rested them against the fence, as they thought it too much trouble to carry them on their backs. They followed the rows of maize, one behind the other, from one end of the field to the other, and were again nearing the spot where they had placed their rifles, when suddenly some fifty Indians dashed over the fence with a loud war yell and attacked them. They could not think of flight, as the Indians surrounded them before they could recover from their first terror. Resistance was equally impossible, as they were quite unarmed, and hence the sole chance of escape lay in the mercy of the barbarians to whom they surrendered. The two negroes were accidentally at the other end of the field, and, at the first glimpse of the Indians, leapt over the fence into the woods, to save themselves by hiding in its recesses; on looking round, they saw that each of the three young men was surrounded by a party of Indians busied in tying his arms behind his back. They ran through the wood to the river, swam across it, and on reaching the houses, leapt with the other negroes on horses and mules, fled with the utmost speed toward the south across the prairie, and reached my Fort before sunset, horrified and half frightened to death.

The terrible news aroused all my people. I at once sent a negro to Lasar's to tell him of what had happened, and at the same time beg him to join me as speedily as possible, in order to pursue the Indians, and, if possible, save the prisoners, during which time we made our preparations for immediate departure. I had provisions got ready and packed on a mule, which this time was not faithful Jack, as he had been galled by a badly fastened saddle; after this a stock of ammunition was laid in, and we sat down to supper, which meal we had hardly finished when our friends from Mustang Creek, eight in number, galloped over the prairie, led by old Lasar himself, who was fire and flame, and vowed revenge like the youngest of us. Tiger, Antonio, Konigstein, and one of the colonists of the name of Lambert, accompanied me, and we were soon urging our horses at full speed through the gloomy forest.

Tiger led our party, who trotted on as long as the moonlight lasted, but then fell into a walk, and towards morning reached the deserted blockhouses of the prisoners. We expected that the Indians would have burnt them down, but found them uninjured, which proved to us in what haste they must have departed with their quarry. We rode through the river into the wood, and found the spot where the savages had lifted their prisoners over the fence, and led them to its northern end. Here we found the traces of numerous horses galloping in the direction of the northern mountains. Tiger examined all the signs very carefully, and after we had followed the trail for about an hour, dismounted and sought about in the gra.s.s. Ere long he stretched out his arms and parted fingers to the north and north-west, and told me that the fellows we were pursuing had divided here, and were pursuing different routes, which fact I was also able to recognise after a slight investigation. I asked Tiger what we were to do, but he laughed, and joining his hands together and pointing to the north, he stated that the Indians would come together again on the other side of the mountains in two days.

We now followed a trail which ran along a deeply-trodden buffalo-path, and reached before sunset a spot in a valley covered with isolated rocks, trees, and bushes, which was bordered on both sides by steep hills. Here Tiger suddenly stopped and leapt from his horse. I rode up to him, and he showed me on the bare rocks that several horses had left the track and turned off to the left down the glen. He showed me several pebbles which had been turned over by the horses, and on the rocks the graze of their hoofs, as well as here and there a trampled leaf or a broken blade of gra.s.s. He followed this trail carefully, and requested me to follow him, while making a sign to the others to remain on the path. A few thousand yards farther on the track wound between large ma.s.ses of stone till we reached a clearing, on the other side of which we found signs of an extinguished fire near a spring. Tiger picked up a blackened bit of wood and showed me by rubbing it with his finger that the wood was still wet, and hence, as it lay in the open suns.h.i.+ne, must have gone out shortly before. He now begged me to call up our comrades, so that we might rest ourselves and our tired horses here for a little while. I rode up to them, and when we returned to Tiger, he showed us behind the spring the shambles where one of the unhappy prisoners had ended his life. On a large flat stone we saw a quant.i.ty of curdled, half-dry blood, and behind it lay the entrails of a man. Round the stone we found marks of boot-heels, which had probably belonged to the murdered man, and had been put on by one of the savages. Our fury against them was terrible, and we would gladly have pursued them without resting had our horses been able to carry us, but they were too tired, and greatly required a rest.

We supped, and slept till near day, and by dawn we were following the trail again, along the path which we had quitted on the previous evening. Without halting longer than was necessary, we rode hard all day through the most impa.s.sable regions of the San Saba mountains, and reached in the evening the prairies on their north side. We were still on the same trail, which had been made by five or six horses, and unsaddled when the sun had long disappeared behind the hill, and Tiger was unable to follow the trail. We had ridden very sharply, so that our horses would hardly touch the good fodder here offered them, and we had no sooner watered them in an adjacent stream, than they lay down in the gra.s.s with a long breath and fell asleep. We did not tie them up, so that they might graze directly they awoke, but kept up a good fire the whole night, and posted a sentinel.

At daybreak we were _en route_ again and hurrying after Tiger, who led us along the foot of the mountains. About noon we rode through one of the streams that flow into the Colorado, and found in the wood on its bank a deserted camp, from which the fugitives could not be gone long, as the bushes and weeds trampled by the horses were not dry yet. We merely watered our horses and then urged them on, for Tiger believed that we must catch up the Indians that same evening, as their horses were tired and did not raise their feet high from the ground. Evening arrived, and in the distance another forest rose out of the prairie, which we reached with night; but our foe had gone farther on, and we were compelled to halt again, as we could not follow their trail. Our guide consoled us with the morrow, and said their horses could not last out any longer. We rode the whole day, however, without seeing anything of the Indians, save the track of their horses. About sunset we rode into another forest, in which we hoped to find running water: we soon halted on its bank and noticed on the other side the last camping-place of the Indians, for several of their fires were still burning, and Tiger said that they now supposed themselves out of danger and would not ride so fast. We crossed the stream, in order to occupy the deserted camp, but had scarce reached it when Tiger called to me and pointed to a young tree, with a smooth s.h.i.+ning bark, the lower part of which was dyed with blood. He told me that one of the white men had been murdered here: the Indians had tied him up to the tree and fired arrows at him, and the bark displayed numerous marks of their points. At the height of a man the tree was sprinkled with blood, and over it we found a deep cut, which appeared to have been made by a tomahawk. The Indians seemed to have come together again here, for a number of fires had been lighted, and the trampled ground indicated a large troop of horses. We all insisted on riding on at once, but Tiger reminded us that it was impossible to follow the trail, and by overriding it we might easily lose much time, and give the cannibals a chance of escape.

Our impatience had attained the highest pitch, all were ready to start, but it was still too dark: we stood by our grazing cattle and counted the minutes till dawn appeared, and allowed us to see the track of our enemies once more. Then we hastened on, and joyfully greeted every thicket in front of us, as we hoped to find the cannibals in it and be able to take vengeance on them for our friends. Our hopes were frequently disappointed, and the sun was approaching the western hills when we still urged on our awfully tired horses, following the trail of the Indian horses, which could not possibly be far from us, as their excreta on the path plainly indicated. Once again a wood rose before us on the prairie, but it was still so distant that we could not hope to reach it before dark. Tiger told me that we must either ride very sharply so as to reach the wood by daylight, or camp on this side and approach the wood at dawn, as we should get the worst of it if we came upon the savages in the darkness. We resolved on the former course, and collected the last strength of our animals. Spurring and flogging we went on at a trot or a gallop, as if certain of reaching our destination to-day. One of our friends might possibly be saved by a few minutes'

sharp riding, and so we paid no heed to the fatigue and pace of our horses. We rapidly approached the wood, but so did the sun the hills, which soon spread their lengthened shadow over the plain. The country before us became more uneven and covered with large blocks of stones, and here and there rose an isolated clump of trees and bushes, while the forest appeared to be half an hour's ride distant. The darker it grew the sharper we rode, and we dashed at a gallop between the rocks toward a patch of young oaks, with Tiger some distance ahead of us. While galloping round some rocks I saw him suddenly turn his piebald towards us and halt in the clump of trees, which we reached in a few minutes, and Tiger informed us that the savages were sleeping no great distance ahead on the barren bank of a river.

Our excitement was frightful; trembling with eagerness we fastened our steaming horses to the long branches of the young oaks, thrust our holster pistols in our belts, and advanced, leaving Antonio with the horses, silently and noiselessly after Tiger, when it had been arranged that I should give the signal for a general attack by firing first. The moon was high but lighted us poorly; the daylight, however, had not quite faded away when we emerged from the rocks and reached a small knoll, over which we saw almost invisible columns of smoke rising at various points. We spread out here in a long line, and crept up the hill, covered by some isolated rocks. When we reached the top, we saw the savages about thirty yards from us collected round several fires. A deadly silence brooded over the slightly illumined landscape, which was only broken by the rustling of the rapid stream, on whose banks the Indians were encamped. The glow of the fires cast a dark red reflection over the brown bodies of the reclining savages sufficient to enable us to see them more distinctly, while the light of the moon illumined the sights on our rifles.

All our barrels were pointed at the cannibals, and we could hear our hearts beating, while they did not suspect the approaching vengeance, and were most of them asleep. The wide chest of one of the ruffians was lit up by the fire right in front of me, while he was gazing into the ashes with his head resting on his right arm. The sight of my rifle was pointed at his heart when I pulled trigger. At the same moment the rifles of all my comrades cracked, and directly after we fired our second barrels among the rising Indians, who for a moment raised their war yell, but then fled in great confusion and dashed into the river, beneath the fire of our revolvers and pistols. In this faintly lighted scene of fury and terror, the long red and white striped silk handkerchief on Tiger's head waved, the broad blade of his heavy knife glistened in his right hand, his shrill voice filled the ears of the cannibals with the war cry of the Delawares, and immediately after the first shot he flew, worthy of his name, among them, and spread death among their ranks. Trusty, too, forgot his usual obedience, and pinned one of the savages by the throat who had fired an arrow at him; he killed the Indian in a few minutes, and then dragged him about in the gra.s.s, satiating his fury. In a short time the battle field was deserted by the enemy, with the exception of two-and-twenty killed and wounded they left on it, the latter of whom Tiger soon sent to join the former with his tomahawk. His war axe flew from skull to skull, and with every blow drove a soul out of its earthly tenement, after which he raised the hair of several whom he had killed in action.

The fight was hardly over, when a familiar voice called several of our names, especially Lasar's, mine, and Tiger's. It came from a little way off the camp and reached us but faintly. We ran in the direction, and to our joyful surprise found MacDonnell bound hand and foot lying on the gra.s.s behind a rock. His bonds were quickly cut, but he was unable to get up; we bore him to the nearest fire, blew it into a bright flame, and now looked at the death-like face of our poor friend, who since his captivity had endured death in a thousand shapes, and envied his two comrades their release from torture. He was so fatigued that he was unable to sit up. The joy at our appearance, and the fear lest we might go away again without finding him, had given him the strength to raise his voice, but now a greater faintness naturally set in, and he could scarce make signs to us to give him water. The fresh draught was handed him, then we laid him on a bed made of buffalo skin and left him to sleep, which, with the consciousness that he was saved and among friends, did him more good than anything else we could have offered him.

The large fire lit up the plain around us, and displayed the victims we had sacrificed to the blood of our friends: farther on it shone on the great number of utterly exhausted Indian horses, most of which were lying fastened to la.s.sos among the large stones in the gra.s.s. Although we did not apprehend any attack from the fugitive savages, many of whom had doubtless killed themselves by leaping off the high banks into the river which dashed over rocks, and who too possessed no weapons that could be dangerous to us, we still posted sentries on both sides of the camp, and lit large fires in order to be able to watch the horses, as it was very probable that the Indians would attempt to recover them toward morning, after the moon had gone down. Our own horses we tied up in the gra.s.s close to camp, and then lay down by turns to rest as far as our state of excitement permitted it.

Morning dawned without our having been disturbed, and with the growing light we began to survey the field of battle and investigate the details of the events of last evening. The savages were a tribe of Mescaleros, and as we afterwards learned the same who had made the attack on Mrs.

White a few months before. Among the dead was their chief, who had been killed by the first shot fired, which was the princ.i.p.al reason why the a.s.sailed did not offer a greater resistance, for they only discharged a few arrows, one of which hit Trusty, while another pa.s.sed through Konigstein's thigh. The weapons lay scattered about the battle-field. On the lofty bank were distinct signs where the fugitives had leapt off it; but we found below no signs of them on the rocks jutting out of the river, as they had apparently fallen into the deep water between them.

For all that, there was no doubt but that many had not reached the opposite bank alive, for the stream was too rapid for a man to swim across it.

Our friend MacDonnell still lay motionless asleep, and we did not disturb him. It was bright daylight when John Lasar summoned us to the fires of the savages, where we found the roasted and partially-gnawn bones of one of the murdered men, while Konigstein discovered other remains of the dead bodies behind a rock. At about ten o'clock, MacDonnell woke and felt greatly strengthened; we gave him food and a cup of wine to drink, but he was very weak and terribly excited, so that we prohibited him from talking about his own sufferings or those of his own comrades. About noon, we prepared to start and carry off the horses, of which we had captured forty-six, among them being several first-rate animals. Tiger at once sought out the leader of the troop, an old mare, whose head and tail were hung with all sorts of ornaments, and so soon as he led it away all the others would follow it. He bound the mare to a tree, let loose the other horses and wound the la.s.sos round their necks, upon which they all collected round the old mare. We then saddled our horses, selected the best saddle of the savages, very handsome Mexican one, for MacDonnell, put it on one of the captured horses which appeared good-tempered and safe, and covered it with a buffalo hide, a large quant.i.ty of which we also found, then we lifted our suffering friend on the horse. Tiger marched ahead of us, leading the mare behind us by a la.s.so and followed by all the Indian horses, while we rode behind and drove on the laggards. Thus we rode slowly to the south, and camped at sunset in a narrow strip of wood on a stream, where we found good pasture for the numerous horses. We merely fastened up the leading mare and our own cattle near the fire. MacDonnell rapidly recovered; the ride had done him good, and he was now able to walk again. We made him a soft bed by the side of the fire, and he told us the chief events of his captivity.

No sooner had the savages seized the three young men in the field than they bound them, lifted them over the fence, and then carried them to their horses. Here three Indians took them before them, and the whole band flew out of the wood into the prairie, where the savages soon halted and went off in different directions. MacDonnell was taken off to the right with ten hors.e.m.e.n, while Lyons followed the path, and Clifton was carried to the left. The savages rode without halting all that day and the next night with MacDonnell, without giving him water or food, until they allowed their horses to graze for a few hours the next morning, when they gave him some roast meat. Then they hurried on with him again, and only stopped to water their horses, until the latter, toward evening, refused to go any farther, in spite of the incessant blows. They unsaddled in a wood by a stream, and roasted meat at a fire, after laying him with his feet bound among the bushes. His hands had swollen through the bonds, and pained him terribly, but his complaints and groans were unheeded by the cannibals, and it was only after long entreaty that they gave him a drink of water. Toward morning, they rode on, and reached in a few hours a river, on whose bank they unsaddled in a thick wood, and rested with the utmost carelessness, while he was placed with his back against a tree near the fire.

Soon after, another troop of Indians came up, and MacDonnell recognised the man who had given orders at the outset, and whom he took for the chief. He was now wearing a portion of Lyons' clothes and had put on his boots. This savage brought his horse to the fire, and to his horror, MacDonnell saw the severed limbs of his unhappy companion hanging from the saddle, which the Indians now unfastened and threw near the fire.

The savages then gathered together and the chief placed bits of the flesh of the unfortunate Lyons on spits and devoured them when roasted.

The Indians seemed to pay no attention to MacDonnell, but to listen to every sound, and several times the chief laid his ear on the ground in order to hear more distinctly. Ere long, other Indians arrived, and at noon the last of them with Clifton. He looked at MacDonnell inquiringly, but neither had the heart to utter a word. Clifton's feet were also bound, and he was placed against a tree, while all the savages lay around the fire and talked with much animation, pointing first to Mac and then to Clifton. At last the chief stretched out his hand toward Clifton and said several words in a commanding voice, upon which several men leaped up, carried the prisoner to a tree a little lower down the wood, and fastened him to it in a standing position with leathern thongs. Most of the young Indians, in the meanwhile, a.s.sembled with bows and arrows about fifty yards from Clifton, and awaited the chief's signal to commence firing. The signal was given, and the first arrow was buried in the entrails of the unhappy victim, whose cries of agony made the forest ring. Thus one fired after the other, till Clifton's whole body was pierced with arrows and his head hung down. Upon which the chief leapt up, swung his tomahawk over his head, and hurled it at the murdered man. It flew into the tree close to Clifton's head and remained imbedded. The chief went up to Clifton, plucked the hatchet out of the tree, and buried it deeply in the unhappy man's skull. After this the cannibals fell upon the corpse, which they cut up and each carried a piece to the fire. MacDonnell witnessed the whole fearful scene, and now the chief came up to him and said something he did not understand, while pointing to the north, whence Mac a.s.sumed that the same fate awaited him farther on in that direction. The savages started again ere long and rode by shorter stages to the camp where we surprised them, and where they had arrived but a few hours before us.

This description had recalled to Mac's mind all the scenes of horror, and he fell back exhausted on his bed. We restored him with a little wine-and-water, and begged him to hold his tongue and rest while we got supper ready and looked after the horses. During the night we posted four sentries and lit up the Indian horses with large fires. It pa.s.sed without disturbance, and the next morning we continued our progress to the south. We now made but short marches, as our own horses were very tired, but the captured ones were so exhausted that we could hardly drive them on with long sticks. We on several occasions unsaddled at noon because we found good pasturage on water, and rested till the next morning, so that we might not have to spend the night at a worse spot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TORTURE. _p. 422._]

One evening we found ourselves in the middle of an open prairie, on which only isolated mosquito trees could be seen, and camped at a spot where there were several ponds, and an old fallen mosquito-tree lay, which, judging from the fire marks, had offered burning materials to earlier travellers across this plain. The nearest woods to the south lay on the remotest horizon on the San Saba Mountains, and we did not calculate on reaching them till the next day. We lay in a hollow of the prairie, between two small elevations, and fastened our riding-horses and the leading mare to la.s.sos driven into the ground, while the captured horses grazed on the bottom. The evening was splendid, and as Mac was all right again, we were in the best spirits. After supper the conversation turned on the captured horses, and we resolved to throw dice for them. The mare was allotted to me without throwing, as I gave up my chance of all the rest. Ere long all the horses had owners.

Antonio and Lambert resolved to try theirs the next morning, as they were not very well mounted, and everybody praised the good qualities of his horse, and expounded how the animals must be treated and ridden to make first-raters of them. Thus the night arrived, during which we again posted sentries on the nearest mounds, but it pa.s.sed without any alarm.

Day dawned; we blew up our fire and got breakfast ready, while the horses were grazing around us. The sun rose while we were lying carelessly on our buffalo robes round the fire and drinking coffee, when suddenly a fearful yell reached our ears over the next height, and a band of thirty horse Indians thundered down the hill-side towards us, waving in one hand their buffalo-robes over their heads, shaking in the other tin pots, gourds, and buffalo-bladders filled with pebbles, and uttering the strangest and most awful yells. In an instant the troop pa.s.sed us, and dashed right through our fire and camp. They went over us like a tornado, and our terrified horses, which had torn themselves loose, dashed over the prairie in front of them, trailing the broken la.s.sos after them. Before we had seized our rifles, the Indians were so far off that the bullets we sent after them produced no effect, and we silently stared after them till they disappeared from sight over the last rising ground on the prairie. We asked each other, with our eyes, what was to be done, but no one was yet able to speak, the fright and the heavy loss had fallen upon us too unexpectedly, and it was long ere we could think of the immediate future: at length all eyes were turned to me, as if I could help them. This confidence restored my power of speech, and I told my companions in misfortune that I was able to lead them home without horses, and that MacDonnell's life was worth more than our animals.

I had hardly spoken to this effect, when Konigstein shouted to me, and pointed in the direction where the horses had disappeared; and though it was so far off, I recognised Czar and the cream colour flying over the prairie, pursued by five Indians. I ran towards them as fast as my legs would carry me, and fired a bullet at the Indians long out of range, but which they must have heard "pinging," for they gave up their pursuit and merely fired a few harmless arrows after the horses, which now dashed up to me and stopped panting and snorting. Czar came up to me and laid his head on my shoulders while looking round in wild terror after his pursuers. I led him into camp, where both the horses were greeted with loud shouts of joy. We now held a grand council, and soon agreed to cache our baggage in a hollow near at hand, cover it with turf, and then start for home on foot, in which, of course, we could only cover short distances; at the same time we arranged that Mr. Lasar should ride the cream colour, and Mac Czar, while we also packed our food on the animals.

The whole day pa.s.sed before we had cached our baggage, so that we slept another night at this inhospitable spot. The next morning we saddled and packed, and after carefully taking the direction of the nearest tree with the compa.s.s, we began our wearisome journey. On reaching the tree we blazed it with a knife, and then started for another, and so on, carefully marking each, so that we might be able to find our way back to our traps from tree to tree. The road to the San Saba Mountains through the tall prairie gra.s.s was one of the unpleasantest I ever followed.

There, however, the ground, though hilly and stony, was still adapted for human feet, and we soon grew accustomed to walking. Tiger had not a word to say for himself, he was revolving vengeance on the Lepans, who had stolen his faithful piebald, and swore that the Delawares should take many of their scalps in return.

After several weeks of unspeakable fatigue and privation, we at length arrived one evening at Widow White's, who received us with great cordiality and delight. We at once sent her son to the Fort to fetch riding horses for all of us, as we had had quite enough walking, and stopped the while with our kind hostess. Late the next evening the long-looked-for horses arrived from the Leone; we let them rest for the night, and on the next morning said good-bye to the widow, and started for home, which we reached at an early hour and found horses there for Lasar and his companions to carry them at once to Mustang River. The loss of Lasar's handsome horse and of John's mare again caused fresh sorrow in the family, with whom they had been favourites; but I willingly put up with the loss of my two horses and mules, and considered myself remarkably fortunate in recovering Czar and the cream colour. The last lesson which we gave the Mescaleros seemed to have had an intimidating effect on the Indians generally, as we neither saw nor heard anything of them for several months.

Tiger, during this period, rode a splendid black horse of mine, which I had been always obliged to leave at home, as it was too timid and impetuous for hunting purposes. Now that it was ridden daily, it became a first-rate horse, and Tiger often said that it was better than his piebald. Great was my surprise when Tiger knocked me up early one morning, and on going out of my house I saw the piebald quietly grazing: on waking Tiger had found it tied up in front of his tent, and told me that the Lepans were frightened, because his tribe would come in the autumn and learn their hostile behaviour. With a sad look he remarked that he would now be obliged to give me back the black horse, he supposed, and was quite beside himself with joy when I told him that I made him a present of it.

In the course of the summer friendly Indians visited me, but never stopped long, and gave me to understand that I lived too much among the white men. It would be much better for me to move nearer to them and then they would visit me more frequently. Thus arrived one evening just before sunset my old friend Pahajuka, accompanied by his good old squaw, and his granddaughter, and a few Comanches. The joy of the old folk was great, and they said that had not the white men blocked the road to me, they would willingly stay some time with me, but as it was we were daily more separated. Tahtoweja said nothing, but her black eyes plainly expressed that she too felt happy at being with me again. She could not in her silent admiration gaze sufficiently at the decorations of my room; and for hours she would gaze at the pictures on the walls, or turn over the sketches in my portfolio, when business prevented me from being with her. Music seemed to be her delight, and she often came late at night into the gallery and begged me to play the guitar, when she seemed to fall into a happy dreamy state and entirely forget the world. She too begged me to come away from among the pale faces and settle nearer to them: the Comanches loved me more than they did. The people remained some weeks with me, but one morning they came into my room, and the old lady said with tears, that this was the last visit they would pay me, as the road to me was growing too narrow. I was obliged to promise them a visit at the parts where the buffalo still grazed, and the antelopes and stags had not so many feet as here.

After breakfast I saddled Czar and rode with my guests to the mountain springs, where we spent the night, and the next morning we took leave of one another. I promised to join them the next winter on the Puerco, when a great council of the Comanches was to take place. They often looked with tears in their eyes in the direction of the Fort: then they offered me their hand once again and rode off, never again to cross the threshold of my house, to which they were so attached.

Tiger too seemed dissatisfied at the new settlements, and could not understand how people could have an objection to his pulling down the fences and riding across the fields to save distance. They had also forbidden him taking dry corn leaves for his horse out of the stacks, or fastening his piebald to the grand stockade in front of the house, while he went in to beg a drink of water. What I had long foreseen happened, he was beginning to feel the trammels of civilization and wrestled against them, while its comforts still attracted him. Shortly after Pahajuka's departure Tiger's tribe arrived in the neighbourhood of the Fort, and the chief paid me a visit with several of his warriors. He told me that Tiger wished to go home with them, in order to see his relations and return to me in the following spring. Though I felt sorry for it, I saw that he could not remain much longer in our settlement without parting from us on unfriendly terms: hence I offered no objection, and on the day of their departure I accompanied them as far as Widow White's, as I wanted to pay a visit to Mac on Mustang River. I took a hearty farewell of Tiger, as I was really attached to him, and he was obliged to promise me a visit ere long.

The next day I rode to MacDonnell's, when I found everything prospering.

His field had produced a rich maize crop, and was now covered with beans, potatoes, melons, gourds, &c. His orchard already contained fine young trees; his garden supplied him and his negroes with magnificent vegetables. The yard round his house was crowded with poultry of every description, and the interior of his blockhouse was very neat and tidy.

A large new patchwork quilt was thrown on his bed; over the mantelpiece was a handsome looking-gla.s.s, and by its side hung the framed portraits of three men, which are very frequently found in frontier houses, and by which the Americans do not pay themselves the worst compliment. They represent the greatest, the best, and the most useful men of our century--Was.h.i.+ngton, Alexander von Humboldt and Liebig.

The now frequently traversed road from Turkey Creek to the Leone shortened the distance between the two rivers much, as the greater portion of it could be galloped over. I reached the Fort again at an early hour, and helped Konigstein in his preparations for a start on the next morning. He was going with Antonio, Lambert, and several pack animals to fetch our saddles and traps, which we cached after the loss of our cattle in the prairie to the north of the San Saba Mountains.

Although we are still living on the frontier of the desert, we have now in front of us a line of settlements facing the Indians, which keep off us the ordinary dangers of a frontier life; and we are rarely reminded by the personal appearance of these savages in our vicinity, that their hunting-grounds are not a great distance from us.

[Ill.u.s.tration]