CHAPTER XXX.
We continued our route for a few days after we had left the buffaloes,and now turned our horses' heads due east. Having left behind thelocalities frequented by the wild herds, we soon became exposed to thecravings of hunger. Now and then we would fall in with a prairie hen, aturkey, or a few rattlesnakes, but the deer and antelopes were so shy,that though we could see them sporting at a distance, we could nevercome within a mile of them.
The ground was level, and the grass, although short, was excellentpasture, and richly enamelled with a variety of flowers. It was abeautiful country. We had fine weather during the day, but the nightswere exceedingly cold, and the dew heavy. Having lost our blankets, wepassed miserable nights. There was no fuel with which we could light ourfire; even the dung of animals was so scarce that we could not, duringseven days, afford to cook our scanty meals more than thrice, and thefour last grouse that we killed were eaten raw.
About the middle of the eighth day a dark line was seen rising above thehorizon, far in the south-east, and extending as far as the eye couldreach. We knew it was a forest, and that when we gained it we werecertain of having plenty to eat; but it was very far off, at leasttwenty miles, and we were much exhausted. In the evening we were almostdriven to desperation by hunger, and we found that the approach to theforest would prove long and difficult, as it was skirted by a bed ofthick briars and prickly pears, which in breadth could not be less thanthree leagues, and that a passage must be forced through this almostimpassable barrier. The forest was undoubtedly the commencement of thatextended line of noble timber which encircles as a kind of naturalbarrier the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. By reaching itwe should soon leave privation and fatigue behind us, whereas, on thecontrary, travelling to the north would have added to our sufferings, asthe same level and untenanted prairie extended to the very shores of theRed River. We consequently determined to force our way through thethorns and briars, even if we were obliged to cut a road with our knivesand tomahawks. We journeyed on till sunset, when we came to a deep drygully, on the very edge of the prickly pear barrier, and there weencamped for the night. To go farther without something to eat wasimpossible. The wild and haggard looks of my companions, their sunkeneyes, and sallow, fleshless faces, too plainly showed that somesubsistence must be speedily provided more nutritious than the unripeand strongly acidulated fruit presented to us. We drew lots, and theparson's horse was doomed; in a few minutes, his hide was off, and apart of the flesh distributed.
The meat of a young mustang is excellent, but that of an old broken-downhorse is quite another affair. It was as tough as india-rubber, and themore a piece of it was masticated, the larger it became in the mouth. Aman never knows what he can eat, until driven to desperation by a week'sstarving, and the jolly parson, who had pledged himself never to eateven calf's meat, fiercely attacked the leathery remains of hisfaithful ambler.
The next morning we directed our steps in a south course, and crossingthe gully, we entered in what appeared to be a passage, or a bear's paththrough the prickly pears; but after travelling some six or eight miles,we found our further progress cut off by a deep and precipitous chasm,lined with impassable briars. To return was our only alternative, and,at noon we again found ourselves near to the point from whence we hadstarted in the morning.
A consultation was now held as to our future course. The lawyers andRoche proposed to go farther south, and make another attempt, butrecollecting, that on the morning of the preceding day we had passed alarge, though shallow, sandy stream, Gabriel and I thought it moreadvisable to return to it. This stream was evidently one of thetributaries of the Red River, and was running in an easterly direction,and we were persuaded that it must flow through the chasm, and enterinto the forest.
Our proposal was agreed to, and without any more loss of time, each ofus taking with him a piece of horse-flesh, we retraced our steps. Theparson was on foot, and though I proposed many times that we should ridealternately, he always refused, preferring now to travel on foot, as hewas heartily tired of riding. Indeed, I never saw a better walker in mylife; the man had evidently mistaken his profession, for he would, havegained more money with his legs as an Indian runner, or a scout, than hehad any chance of obtaining in the one to which he belonged, and forwhich he was most unqualified.
The next day, at noon, we encamped on the stream, and though with littlehope of success, I threw in my fishing-line, baiting my hook withhorse-flies and grasshoppers. My hooks had scarcely sunk in the water,when the bait was taken, and to my astonishment and delight, I soondragged out of the water two very large trout. I shouted to mycompanions, who were soon round me, and we resolved to pass the nightthere, as we considered that a good meal or two would enable us so muchbetter to continue our fatiguing journey. A little above us was alsodiscovered a large quantity of drift timber, left dry upon the sand, andin a short time every one of us were actively employed in preparing fora jovial meal. Gabriel, being the best marksman, started for game, and Icontinued fishing, to the great delight of the doctor and the parson,the first one taking under his care the cooking department, and the lastscouring the prairie to catch grasshoppers and horse-flies. In less thanthree hours I had twenty large trout, and a dozen cat-fish, and Gabrielreturned with two Canadian geese. Invigorated by an abundant meal and awarm fire, we soon regained our spirits, and that night we slept sound,and made up for our former watching and shivering.
The next morning, after breakfast, we filled our saddle-bags with theremainder of our provisions, and following the stream for ten miles,with water to our horses' shoulders, as both sides of the river werecovered with briars. The parson had been obliged to ride behind one ofthe lawyers, who had a strong built, powerful horse; and great was ourmerriment when one of our steeds stumbled into a hole, and brought downhis master with him. For nine miles more we continued wading down theriver, till at last the prickly pears and briars receding from thebanks, allowed us once more to regain the dry ground: but we had nottravelled an hour upon the bank, when our road was interrupted by abroken range of hills.
After incredible fatigue to both horses and men, for we were obliged todismount and carry our arms and saddle-bags, the ascent was finallyachieved. When we arrived at the summit, we found below us a peacefuland romantic valley, through the centre of which the river winded itsway, and was fed by innumerable brooks, which joined it in everydirection. Their immediate borders were fringed with small trees, bushesof the deepest green, while the banks of the river were skirted with anarrow belt of timber, of larger and more luxuriant growth.
This valley was encircled by the range of hills we had ascended, so faras to the belt of the forest. We led our horses down the declivity, andin less than an hour found ourselves safe at the bottom. A brisk ride ofthree or four miles through the valley brought us to the edge of theforest, where we encamped near a small creek, and after another goodnight's rest, we pushed on through a mass of the noblest maple andpine-trees I had ever seen. Now game abounded; turkeys, bears, and deer,were seen almost every minute, and, as we advanced, the traces of mulesand jackasses were plainly visible. A little further on, the footprintsof men were also discovered, and from their appearance they were but afew hours' old. This sight made us forget our fatigues, and we hurriedon, with fond anticipations of finding a speedy termination to all oursufferings.
Late in the afternoon, I killed a very fat buck, and although we wereanxious to follow the tracks, to ascertain what description oftravellers were before us, our horses were so tired, and our appetitesso sharpened, that upon reflection, we thought it desirable to remainwhere we were. I took this opportunity of making myself a pair ofmocassins, with the now useless saddle-bags of the parson.
That evening we were in high glee, thinking that we had arrived at oneof the recent settlements of western emigration, for, as I haveobserved, we had seen tracks of jackasses, and these animals are neveremployed upon any distant journey. We fully expected the next morning tofind some log houses, within
ten or fifteen miles, where we should beable to procure another horse for the parson, and some more ammunition,as we had scarcely half a pound of balls left between us. The lawyerenjoyed, by anticipation, the happiness of once more filling hishalf-gallon flask, and the doctor promised to give us dishes of his owninvention, as soon as he could meet with a frying-pan. In fine, soexuberant were our spirits, that it was late before we laid downto sleep.
At about two o'clock in the morning, feeling a pressure upon my breast,I opened my eyes, and saw Gabriel with a finger upon his lips, enjoiningme to silence. He then informed me, in a whisper, that a numerous partyof thieves were in our neighbourhood, and that they had alreadydiscovered our horses. Taking with us only our knives and tomahawks, wecrawled silently till we came to a small opening in the forest, when wesaw some twenty fellows encamped, without any light or fire, but allarmed to the teeth. Three or four of them appeared animated in theirconversation, and, being favoured by the darkness, we approached nearer,till we were able to hear every word.
"All sleeping sound," said one of them, "but looking mighty wretched;not a cent among them, I am sure; if I can judge by their clothing,three of them are half-breeds."
"And the horses?" said another voice.
"Why, as to them, they have only seven," replied the first voice, "andthey are broken down and tired, although fine animals. They would sellwell after a three weeks' grazing."
"Take them away, then; are they tied?"
"Only two."
"Break the halters then, and start them full speed, as if they werefrightened; it will not awaken their suspicion."
"Why not settle the matter with them all at once? we would get theirsaddles."
"Fool! suppose they are a vanguard of General Rusk's army, and one ofthem should escape? No; to-morrow at sunrise they will run upon thetracks of their horses, and leave their saddles and saddle-bags behind;three men shall remain here, to secure the plunder, and when the ducks(travellers) are fairly entangled in the forest, being on foot, we cando what we please."
Others then joined the conversation, and Gabriel and I returned to ourfriends as silently as we left them. Half an hour afterwards we heardthe galloping of our horses, in a southerly direction, and Gabriel goingonce more to reconnoitre, perceived the band taking another course,towards the east, leaving, as they had proposed, three of their menbehind them. For a few minutes he heard these men canvassing as to thebest means of carrying the saddles, and having drank pretty freely froma large stone jug, they wrapped themselves in their blankets, andcrawled into a sort of a burrow, which had probably been dug out by thebrigands as a cachette for their provisions and the booty which theycould not conveniently carry.
By the conversation of the three fellows, Gabriel conjectured that theband had gone to a place of rendezvous, on the bank of some river, andthat the party who had carried away our horses was to proceed only sixmiles south, to a stream where the track of the horses would be effacedand lost in case of our pursuit. As soon as they considered that we werefar enough from our encampment, they were to return by another road, andrejoin the three men left behind. Gabriel conjectured that only four menhad gone away with the horses. After a little consultation, we awoke ourcomrades, and explaining to them how matters stood, we determined upon acounterplot.
It was at first proposed to shoot the three scoundrels left for oursaddle-bags, but reflecting that they were better acquainted than wewere with the locality, and that the report of one of their fire-armswould excite the suspicion of those who had charge of our horses; wedetermined upon another line of conduct. Before daylight, I took my bowand arrows and succeeded in reaching a secure position, a few yards fromthe burrow where the thieves were concealed. Gabriel did the same, in abush halfway between the burrow and our encampment. In the meantime,Roche, with the five Americans played their part admirably--walking nearto the burrow swearing that our horses had been frightened by somevarmin and escaped, and started upon the tracks, with as much noise asthey could make; to deceive the robbers the more, they left theirrifles behind.
As soon as they were gone, the thieves issued from their places ofconcealment, and one arming himself with his rifle, "went," as he said,"to see if the coast was clear," He soon returned with two of our riflesand a blazing piece of wood, and the worthies began laughing together atthe success of their ruse. They lighted a fire, took another dram, andwhile one busied himself with preparing coffee, the other two started,with no other weapon but their knives, to fetch the saddle-bagsand saddles.
They had not been gone five minutes when I perceived an enormousrattlesnake, ready to spring, at not half a yard from me. Since my snakeadventure among the Comanches, I had imbibed the greatest dread of thatanimal, and my alarm was so great, that I rushed out of my concealment,and, at a single bound; found myself ten yards from the fellow, who wasquietly blowing his fire and stirring his coffee. He arose immediately,made two steps backwards, and, quite unnerved by so sudden anapparition, he extended his hand towards a tree, against which therifles had been placed.
That movement decided his fate, for not choosing to be shot at, nor toclose with a fellow so powerful that he could have easily crushed myhead between his thumb and finger, I drew at him; though rapid, my aimwas certain, and he fell dead, without uttering a single word, the arrowhaving penetrated his heart. I then crawled to Gabriel, to whom Iexplained the matter, and left him, to take my station near the tworemaining brigands. I found them busy searching the saddle-bags, andputting aside what they wished to secrete for their own use.
After they had been thus employed for half an hour, one of them putthree saddles upon his head, and, thus loaded, returned to the burrow,desiring his companion to come along, and drink his coffee while it washot. Some five minutes afterwards, the noise of a heavy fall was heard(it was that of the thief who had just left, who was killed by thetomahawk of Gabriel), and the remaining robber, loading himself with thesaddle-bags, prepared to follow, swearing aloud against his companion,"who could not see before his eyes, and would break the pommels ofthe saddles."
I had just drawn my bow, and was taking my aim, when Gabriel, passingme, made a signal to forbear, and rushing upon the thief, he kicked himin the back, just as he was balancing the saddles upon his head. Thethief fell down, and attempted to struggle, but the prodigious muscularstrength of Gabriel was too much for him; in a moment he laid halfstrangled and motionless. We bound him firmly hand and foot, and carriedhim to his burrow; we laid the two bodies by his side, stowed ourluggage in the burrow, and having destroyed all traces of the struggle,we prepared for the reception of the horse-thieves.
Chance befriended us. While we were drinking the coffee thus left as aprize to the conquerors, we heard at a distance the trampling of horses.I seized one of the rifles, and Gabriel, after a moment of intenselistening, prepared his lasso, and glided behind the bushes. It was notlong before I perceived my own horse, who, having undoubtedly thrown hisrider, was galloping back to the camp. He was closely pursued by one ofthe rascals, mounted upon Gabriel's horse, and calling out to the threerobbers, "Stop him; Russy, Carlton--stop him!" At that moment, Gabriel'slasso fell upon his shoulders, and he fell off the horse as dead as ifstruck by lightning: his neck was broken.
Having gained our horses, we saddled them, and took our rifles, notdoubting but that we would easily capture the remaining rascals, as thespeed of our two steeds was very superior to that of the others. Afterhalf an hour's hard riding, we fell in with Roche and our companions,who had been equally fortunate. It appeared that the fellow who had beenriding my horse had received a severe fall against a tree; and while oneof his companions started in chase of the animal, who had galloped off,the two others tied their horses to the trees, and went to hisassistance. When thus occupied, they were surprised, and bound hand andfoot by Roche and his party.
We brought back our prisoners, and when we arrived at the burrow, wefound that, far from having lost anything by the robbers, we had, on thecontrary, obtained articles which we wa
nted. One of the lawyers found inthe stone jug enough of whisky to fill his flask; the parson got anotherrifle, to replace that which he had lost in the prairie, and the pouchesand powder-horns of the three first robbers were found well suppliedwith powder and balls. We also took possession of four green Mackinaublankets and a bag of ground coffee.
We heartily thanked Providence, who had thrown the rascals in our way,and, after a good meal, we resumed our journey in a southern direction,each of the three lawyers leading, by a stout rope, one of the brigands,who were gagged and their hands firmly bound behind their backs. Duringthe whole day, the parson amused himself with preaching honesty andmorality to our prisoners, who, seeing now that they had not the leastchance to escape, walked briskly alongside of the horses.
Towards evening we encamped in one of those plains, a mile incircumference, which are so frequently met with in the forests of thewest. We had performed a journey of twenty miles, and that, with theforced ride which our beasts had performed in the morning, had quitetired them out. Besides, having now four men on foot, we could notproceed so fast as before. We lighted a fire and fed our prisoners,putting two of them in the centre of our circles, while the two others,who were much braised by their falls of the morning, took their stationnear the fire, and we covered them with a blanket. Though we believed wehad nothing to fear from our prisoners, the two first being bound handand foot, and the two last being too weak to move, we neverthelessresolved that a watch should be kept, and as Gabriel and I had not sleptduring the night before, we appointed Roche to keep the first watch.
When I awoke, I felt chilly, and to my astonishment I perceived that ourfire was down. I rose and looked immediately for the prisoners. The twothat we had put within our circle were still snoring heavily, but theothers, whose feet we had not bound on account of their painful bruises,were gone. I looked for the watch, and found that it was one of thelawyers, who, having drank too freely of the whisky, had fallen asleep.The thieves had left the blanket; I touched it; I perceived that it wasyet warm, so that I knew they could not have been gone a long while.
The day was just breaking, and I awoke my companions, the lawyer wasmuch ashamed of himself, and offered the humblest apologies, and as aproof of his repentance, he poured on the ground the remainder of theliquor in his flask. As soon as Gabriel and Roche were up, we searchedin the grass for the foot-prints, which we were not long in finding, andwhich conducted us straight to the place where we had left our horsesloose and grazing. Then, for the first time, we perceived that thehorses which were shod, and which belonged to the three lawyers, had hadtheir shoes taken off, when in possession of the thieves the day before.
By the foot-prints, multiplied in every direction, it was evident thatthe fugitives had attempted, though in vain, to seize upon some of ourhorses. Following the foot-marks a little farther, brought us to a smallsandy creek, where the track was lost; and on the other side, to ourgreat astonishment, we saw plainly (at least the appearance seemed toimply as much), that help had been at hand, and that the thieves hadescaped upon a tall American horse, ambling so lightly, that the fourshoes of the animal were comparatively but feebly marked on the ground.It seemed, also, that the left foreleg of the animal had been at sometime hurt, for the stopping was not regular, being sometimes longer,sometimes shorter, and now and then deviating two or three inchesfrom the line.
I thought immediately that we had been discovered by another rovingparty of the brigands, and that they had gone to get a reinforcement tooverpower us, but upon a closer examination of the track, I came at onceto the solution of the mystery. I remarked that on the print left by theshoes, the places upon which the head of the nails should have presseddeeper, were, on the contrary, convex, the shoes were, therefore, notfixed by nails; and my suspicions being awakened, I soon spied upon asoft sandy spot, through which the track passed, that there wassomething trailing from the left hind foot, and I satisfied myself thatthis last slight mark was made by a piece of twine. A little afterwardsI remarked that on the softer parts of the ground, and two or threeinches behind and before the horse-shoe prints, were two circularimpressions, which I ascertained to be the heel and the toe-marks leftby a man's mocassins.
The mystery was revealed. We had never searched our prisoners, one ofwhom must have had some of the shoes taken off the horses, which shoes,in these districts, are very valuable, as they cannot be replaced.Having tried in vain to catch some of our horses, they had washed outthe tracks in the creek, and had fixed the horse-shoes to their own feetwith pieces of twine; after which, putting themselves in a line at therequired distance one from the other, they had started off, both withthe same foot, imitating thus the pacing of a swift horse.
The plan was cunning enough, and proved that the blackguards were nonovices in their profession, but they had not yet sufficiently acquiredthat peculiar tact natural to savage life. Had they been Indians, theywould have fixed small pieces of wood into the holes of the shoe toimitate the nails, and they would then have escaped. We returned to thecamp to arm ourselves, and the lawyers, wishing to recover ourconfidence, entreated that they might be permitted to chase andrecapture the fellows. At noon they returned quite exhausted, but theyhad been successful; the prisoners were now bound hand and foot, andalso tied by the waist to a young pine, which we felled for the purpose.It was useless to travel further on that day, as the lawyers' horseswere quite blown, and having now plenty of ammunition, some of us wentin pursuit of turkeys and pheasants, for a day or two's provisions. Allmy efforts to obtain information from the prisoners were vain. To myinquiries as to what direction lay the settlements, I receivedno answer.
Towards evening, as we were taking our meal, we were visited by a bandof dogs, who, stopping ten yards from us, began to bark most furiously.Thinking at first they belonged to the band of robbers, who employedthem to follow travellers, we hastily seized our arms, and prepared fora fight; but Gabriel asserting the dogs were a particular breedbelonging to the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and other tribes ofhalf-civilized Indians, established upon the Red River, we beganshouting and firing our rifles, so as to guide towards us the Indians,who, we presumed, could not be far behind their dogs. We did not waitlong, for a few minutes afterwards a gallant band of eighty Cherokeesdashed through the cover, and reined up their horses before us. All wasexplained in a moment.
A system of general depredation had been carried on, for a long whilewith impunity, upon the plantations above the great bend of the RedRiver. The people of Arkansas accused the Texans, who, in their turn,asserted that the parties were Indians. Governor Yell, of the Arkansas,complained to Ross, the highly talented chief of the Cherokees, whoanswered that the robbers were Arkansas men and Texans, and, as a proofof his assertion, he ordered a band to scour the country, until they hadfallen in with and captured the depredators. For the last two days, theyhad been following some tracks, till their dogs, having crossed thetrail left by the lawyers and their prisoners, guided the warriors toour encampments.
We gave them all our prisoners, whom we were very glad to get rid of;and the Indian leader generously ordered one of his men to give up hishorse and saddle to the parson. To this, however, we would not consent,unless we paid for the animal; and each of us subscribing ten dollars,we presented the money to the man, who certainly did not lose bythe bargain.
The next morning, the leader of the Cherokee party advised me to take asouthern direction, till we should arrive at the head waters of theriver Sabine, from whence, proceeding either northward or eastward, weshould, in a few days, reach the Red River, through the cane-brakes andthe clearings of the new settlers. Before parting, the Indians made uspresents of pipes and tobacco, of which we were much in want; and aftera hearty breakfast, we resumed our journey.