CHAPTER SEVEN.
Nothing could have been more fortunate than our proceeding by sea. Onthe fourth day we were lying to, at a quarter of a mile from the shore,exactly under the parallel of 39 degrees north latitude, and at thesouthern point of a mountain called the Crooked Back-bone. The Indiansfirst landed in a small canoe we had provided ourselves with, to see ifthe coast was clear; and in the evening the schooner was far on her wayback, while we were digging a cachette to conceal the baggage which wecould not carry. Even my saddle was wrapped up in a piece of canvas,and deposited in a deep bed of shale. Among other things presented tome in Monterey, were two large boxes covered with tin, and containingEnglish fire-works, which, in the course of events, performed prodigies,and saved many scalps when all hope of succour had been entirely givenup. The Montereyans are amazingly fond of these fire-works, and everyvessel employed in the California trade for hides has always a largesupply of them.
When all our effects were concealed, we proceeded, first in an easterly,and next in a north-westerly direction, in the hope of coming acrosssome of the horses belonging to the tribe. We had reckoned right. Atthe break of day we entered a natural pasture of clover, in whichhundreds of them were sleeping and grazing; but as we had walked morethan thirty miles, we determined to take repose before we should renewour journey.
I had scarcely slept an hour when I was roused by a touch on myshoulder. At first, I fancied it was a dream, but as I opened my eyes,I saw one of my Indians with his fingers upon his lips to enjoin me tosilence, while his eyes were turned towards the open prairie. Iimmediately looked in that direction, and there was a sight that actedas a prompt anti-soporific. About half a mile from us stood a band oftwenty Indians, with their war-paint and accoutrements, silently andquietly occupied in tying the horses. Of course they were not of ourtribe, but belonged to the Umbiquas, a nation of thieves on our northernboundary, much given to horse-stealing, especially when it was notaccompanied by any danger. In the present instance they thoughtthemselves safe, as the Shoshones had gone out against the Crows, andthey were selecting at their leisure our best animals. Happily for us,we had encamped amidst thick bushes upon a spot broken and difficult ofaccess to quadrupeds, otherwise we should have been discovered, andthere would have been an end to my adventures.
We awoke our companions, losing no time in forming a council of war.Fight them we could not; let them depart with the horses was out of thequestion. The only thing to be done was to follow them, and wait anopportunity to strike a decisive blow. At mid-day, the thieves havingsecured as many of the animals as they could well manage, turned theirbacks to us, and went on westward, in the direction of the fishingstation where we had erected our boat-house; the place where we hadfirst landed on coming from Europe.
We followed them the whole day, eating nothing but the wild plums of theprairies. At evening one of my Indians, an experienced warrior, startedalone to spy into their camp, which he was successful enough topenetrate, and learn the plan of their expedition, by certain tokenswhich could not deceive his cunning and penetration. The boat-housecontained a large sailing boat, besides seven or eight skiffs. Therealso we had in store our stock of dried fish and fishing apparatus, suchas nets, etcetera. As we had been at peace for several years, thehouse, or post, had no garrison, except that ten or twelve families ofIndians were settled around it.
Now, the original intention of the Umbiquas had been only to stealhorses; but having discovered that the half a dozen warriors, belongingto these families, had gone to the settlement for fire-arms andammunition, they had arranged to make an attack upon the post, and takea few scalps before returning home by sea and by land, with our nets,boats, fish, etcetera. This was a serious affair. Our carpenter andsmith had disappeared, as I have said before; and as our little fleethad in consequence become more precious, we determined to preserve it atany sacrifice. To send an Indian to the settlement would have beenuseless, inasmuch as it would have materially weakened our little force,and, besides, help could not arrive in time. It was better to try andreach the post before the Umbiquas; where under the shelter of thicklogs, and with the advantage of our rifles. We should be an equal matchfor our enemies, who had but two fusils among their party, the remainderbeing armed with lances, and bows and arrows. Our scout had alsogathered, by overhearing their conversation, that they had come by sea,and that their canoes were hid somewhere on the coast, in theneighbourhood of the post.
By looking over the map, the reader will perceive the topography of thecountry. Fifty miles north from us were the forks of theNu-eleje-sha-wako river, towards which the Umbiquas were going, to benear to water, and also to fall upon the path from the settlement to thepost. Thus they would intercept any messenger, in case their expeditionshould have been already discovered. Their direct road to the post wasconsiderably shorter, but after the first day's journey, no sweet grassnor water was to be found. The ground was broken, and covered withthick bushes, which would not allow them to pass with the horses.Besides this reason, an Indian always selects his road where he thinkshe has nothing to fear. We determined to take the direct road to thepost, and chance assisted us in a singular manner. The Indians and myold servant were asleep, while I was watching with the Irishman Roche.I soon became aware that something was moving in the prairie behind us,but what, I could not make out. The buffaloes never came so far west,and it was not the season for the wolves. I crawled out of our bush,and after a few minutes found myself in the middle of a band of horseswho had not allowed themselves to be taken, but had followed the tracksof their companions, to know what had become of them. I returned, awokethe Indians, and told them; they started with their lassoes, while Iand Roche remained to sleep.
Long before morn the Indian scout guided us to three miles westward,behind a swell of the prairie. It was an excellent precaution, whichprevented any Umbiqua straggler from perceiving us, a ratherdisagreeable event, which would have undoubtedly happened, as we werecamped only two miles from them, and the prairie was flat until you cameto the swell just mentioned. There we beheld seven strong horses,bridled with our lassoes. We had no saddles; but necessity rideswithout one. The Indians had also killed a one-year-old colt, and takenenough of the meat to last us two days; so that when we started (and wedid so long before the Umbiquas began to stir) we had the prospect ofreaching the fishing-post thirty hours before them.
We knew that they would rest two hours in the day, as they werenaturally anxious to keep their stolen horses in good condition, havinga long journey before them ere they would enter into their ownterritory. With us, the case was different; there were but forty miles,which we could travel on horseback, and we did not care what became ofthe animals afterwards. Consequently, we did not spare their legs; thespirited things, plump as they were, having grazed two months withoutany labour, carried us fast enough. When we halted, on the bank of asmall river, to water them and let them breathe, they did not appearmuch tired, although we had had a run of twenty-eight miles.
At about eleven o'clock we reached the confines of the rocky ground;here we rested for three hours, and took a meal, of which we were verymuch in want, having tasted nothing but berries and plums since ourdeparture from the schooner, for we had been so much engrossed by thedigging of the cachette that we had forgotten to take with us any kindof provision.
Our flight, or, to say better, our journey, passed without anythingremarkable. We arrived, as we had expected, a day and a half before theUmbiquas: and, of course, were prepared for them. The squaws, children,and valuables were already in the boat-house with plenty of water, incase the enemy should attempt to fire it. The presence of a hostilewar-party had been singularly discovered two days before; three childrenhaving gone to a little bay at a short distance from the post, to catchsome young seals, discovered four canoes secured at the foot of a rock,while, a little farther, two young men were seated near a fire, cookingcomfortably one of the seals they had taken. Of course the childrenreturned borne,
and the only three men who had been left at the post(three old men) went after their scalps. They had not returned when wearrived; but in the evening they entered the river with the scalps ofthe two Umbiquas, whom they had surprised, and the canoes, which weresafely deposited in the store.
Our position was indeed a strong one. Fronting us to the north, we hada large and rapid river; on the south we were flanked by a ditch fortyfeet broad and ten feet deep, which isolated the building from a fineopen ground, without any bush, tree, or cover; the two wings were formedby small brick towers twenty feet high, with loop-holes, and a door tenfeet from the ground; the ladder to which, of course, we took inside.The only other entrance, the main one in fact, was by water; but itcould be approached only by swimming. The fort was built of stone andbrick, while the door, made of thick posts, and lined with sheets ofcopper, would have defied for a long time, the power of their axes orfire. Our only anxiety was about the inflammable quality of the roof,which was covered with pine shingles. Against such an accident,however, we prepared ourselves by carrying water to the upper rooms, andwe could at any time, if it became necessary, open holes in the roof,for the greater facility of extinguishing the fire. In the meantime wecovered it with a coat of clay in the parts which were most exposed.
We were now ten men, seven of us armed with fire-arms and pretty certainof our aim: we had also sixteen women and nine children, boys and girls,to whom various posts were assigned; in case of a night attack. The sixwarriors who had gone to the settlement for fire-arms would return in ashort time, and till then we had nothing to do but to be cautious, towait for the enemy, and even beat their first attack without using ourfirearms, that they might not suspect our strength inside. One of theold men, a cunning fellow, who had served his time as a brave warrior,hit upon a plan which we followed. He proposed that another man shouldaccompany him to the neighbourhood of the place where the canoes hadbeen concealed, and keep up the fires, so that the smoke should lull allsuspicion. The Umbiquas, on their arrival before the post wouldindubitably send one of their men to call the canoe-keepers; this onethey would endeavour to take alive, and bring him to the post. One ofthe canoes was consequently launched in the river, and late in theevening the two Indians well armed with fusils started on thisexpedition.