CHAPTER XVIII
THE LAST HERD OF BUFFALO--THE STAMPEDE--THE SOLDIERS IN FULL CHASE--JOE GETS TWO COWS--HAULING IN THE MEAT--RATTLESNAKES
THE last big herd of buffalo ever seen in the valley of the Oxhidevisited their ancient feeding-grounds during that same spring of 1869,when Joe hunted wild horses on the Cimarron with the Pawnees. Onemorning, shortly after his return to Errolstrath, an immense number ofthe shaggy ruminants came tearing across the Smoky Hill, below the fort.They rushed up toward the soldiers' barracks, and dashed wildly throughthe post, over the parade-ground, and on toward the Oxhide.
In a moment the whole garrison was in full chase, enlisted men andofficers, and a fusillade ensued, which sounded at a distance like ageneral engagement of troops. The firing was heard on the Oxhide, andseveral of the Pawnees who happened to be out on the highest bluffs sawthe herd coming. One of their number hurried to their camp and notifiedthe other warriors, who immediately mounted their ponies and got readyfor the chase. Joe and Rob were hunting rabbits with their hounds thatmorning on an elevated plateau, and they, too, saw the cloud of dustraised by the great herd, as it came thundering through the Smoky Hillbottom. Forgetting all about rabbits and everything else, they rushed tothe house for their guns. In a few moments they joined the Indians, whowere coming at a breakneck gait toward the on-rushing mass. The buffalo,wild with fear and excitement at their proximity to the cabins of thesettlers, were on a general stampede.
When buffalo are stampeded, they become absolutely blind, and rushwithout any aim into anything that is in their path. Some of thefrightened beasts that now had reached Errolstrath ranche, dashedthrough the front yard, leaping over fences and gates as easily as agreyhound. In their mad career they knocked down the milk-pans,water-buckets, and other things that stood near the kitchen door.
Kate was standing on the wash-bench, trying to get a good look at thebuffalo as they came tearing along, and before she was aware of thefact, she found herself sprawling on the ground. An old bull that wasseparated from the rest of the herd had come dashing round the corner ofthe house, and striking the end of the bench with his leg, sent Kateheadlong. She picked herself up unhurt, and rushed into the house,almost as badly scared as when the Cheyennes had swooped down on her.
She gathered her wits in a moment, and with her mother and sister stoodon the back veranda, where they could all see the herd now far up on thehills, and still running in their madness. The Indians, soldiers, andofficers were shooting at the frenzied beasts as they ran among them,regardless of consequences. Now and then they toppled one of the hugeanimals over, but the white men in their excitement missed oftener thanthey hit, while the Pawnees rarely failed to bring down their game.
The party on the porch at Errolstrath watched the herd and hunters untilnothing but a cloud of dust could be seen far in the distance, yet theyelling of the Pawnees could still be faintly heard long after thebuffalo had vanished from sight.
By noon, Indians and whites slowly retraced their course down to thecreek bottom, the Pawnees going to their camp, the soldiers to the fort,and the boys, Joe and Rob, home.
"How many of the buffalo were killed after all that terrible yelling andshooting?" asked their mother.
"Well, not nearly as many as ought to have been," answered Joe. "I neversaw such a mixed-up mess in all my life. Enough cartridges were used tohave killed five hundred, but the men from the fort were as excited asthe buffalo, and they didn't hit an animal once in a hundred shots, andthen when they did, half the time the ball struck them where it had nomore effect than if you had hit them with a stick!
"The Pawnees killed more than all the others; they got twenty-five, andhave gone to camp for ponies to pack the meat on. I don't think thatfifty buffaloes were killed in all. I got two, both of 'em cows, and Imust take the wagon out and haul 'em in. We will have enough meat tolast us a long while, but we shall have to smoke most of it."
"Where did the herd go?" inquired Kate.
"Most of the animals kept right on toward the east, while some of themturned round and travelled south. I suspect that the settlers on PlumCreek flats will have a good time with them, as a part of the herd thatwent south was headed for there. I tell you," continued Joe, "you've gotto keep a clear head on your shoulders when you go after buffalo. Mostof those fellows from Fort Harker are recruits, and are fresh from theEast; they never saw a buffalo before, and I don't wonder they wereexcited."
"I never saw so many rattlesnakes," said Rob, "as I did on that bigstony prairie where we killed the majority of the buffalo. I guess Icounted fifty if I did one. I think that the stamping of the buffalomust have frightened them out of their holes."
"It's very lucky that the rattlesnakes out here are not so venomous asthose back East," said Mrs. Thompson; "more than twenty persons havebeen bitten by them in the neighborhood since we've lived here, and alittle whiskey soon cures it."
"Do you remember, Gert," said Kate, "when you nearly sat down on onethat was curled up on that stump you were going to take for a seat inthe woods last autumn, and he rattled just in time?"
"I guess I do," answered her sister. "There's one thing I like about arattlesnake: he always gives you good warning that he is around. Hedoesn't ever take you unawares, like some animals, a bull dog forinstance, that says nothing, and takes hold of you before you know it."
"Their skins make pretty belts and hatbands," said Rob. "The cowboys onthe big cattle ranches kill hundreds of them while they are out herding,and tan the skins to put around their hats. I saw a whole set of jewelrythat was made out of the rattles and mounted with gold wire. One of theboys was going to send it to Texas to his sister."
"Well, they may be odd," said Mrs. Thompson, "but I certainly shouldn'tlike to wear them."
"I like the furs of animals better than anything for ornament, either towear or to have in my room," said Kate. "I guess it would make a citygirl envious to see my chamber with all its beautiful skins that Joe andRob have given me. One of these days I mean to have papa send some ofthose otter and beaver skins to Kansas City, and get them made up into acape and muff."
"He will," said her mother. "I was telling your father only the otherday when we were up in your room, that it was a pity so many magnificentskins should be tacked around the walls, and lying on the floor, justfor ornament, when there are enough there to make us all a set of winterfurs. He said he would send them off in a few days, so I think you willhave your wish gratified before long."
The boys were sent with the wagon to bring back the meat of the two cowsthat Joe had killed, and about noon they returned. The robes were veryfine ones. Joe asked the Pawnees to tan them for him, and when they werefinished, which would be in about a week, he intended to make them apresent to his father and mother for their bedroom.
The buffalo meat was cut up that evening, by Mr. Thompson, and on thenext day was smoked with corn-cobs, which are always used for thatpurpose out West.
While getting the meat ready, Mr. Thompson told the boys that hewouldn't be at all surprised if, when they wanted buffalo again, theywould have to go miles away for them, as the country was becoming sothickly settled that the herds might never come as far east as theOxhide. "Of course," continued he, "the antelope will remain with us along time yet, but even they will become scarcer each year, and thenthey, too, will disappear, for it seems that the great ruminants of theplains cannot live with the white man as they can with the savages. Thelatter have no permanent home, but congregate in temporary villages inthe winter, and as soon as spring opens, they are off again, living onhorseback and depending upon the chase for their existence. It has everbeen so with the Indian since the landing of the Pilgrims, in 1620. Thewhite man has dogged their footsteps as they themselves follow the deer.One of the facetious old bishops of New England, I forgot his name now,said: 'The Puritans, when they landed on Plymouth Rock, first fell upon_their knees_, and then upon the _aboriginees_!' It appears to be thefate of the red men to vanish before the onward march of th
e whites."
"I feel sorry for the Indians, father," said Joe. "I tell you it wouldhave made you almost weep to hear White Wolf, that night we camped onthe Walnut, relate in his sorrowful manner how powerful his tribe oncewas, before the white man took their lands away from them."
"I have a warm spot in my heart for the Indian," said Mr. Thompson, "butit is their fate, I suppose, and cannot be helped. You cannot civilizethe old ones, and the only hope is in taking the rising generation awayfrom their tribal affiliations when young, and teaching them to livelike the whites."