The Backwoodsman Part 9

When near our destination, we were riding slowly up the last ascent, when Tiger uttered his familiar expression of surprise, "Hugh," and turning round pointed behind him, to the Rio Grande. I looked back and saw a column of flame rising on the hills on the opposite side, which rapidly spread southward. The flames covered the whole hill, and the brilliantly illumined smoke clouds rolled away over them. The fiery waves poured savagely and uninterruptedly from hill to hill, checked their speed but for a short time in the deep valleys, and then darted with heightened fury up the next hill, devouring everything that came in their way. The cedar woods were on fire, and probably our last night's camp fire was the cause of it. The violent wind had doubtless blown the ashes of the burning trunk into the coppice and a.s.sailed the surrounding cedars; ere long the whole southern horizon was a sea of fire, out of which here and there isolated hills, spared by the flames, rose like black islands. We lay till late at night by our small camp fire, and watched the terribly-beautiful scene, regretting our incautiousness or neglect, which had entailed such fearful destruction. How many thousand animals had found a martyr's death on that night, and how probable it was that Indians resting there had been devoured by the flames! After lying silently for a long time looking across, Tiger uttered the words, "Poor Indians, sleep warm," accompanied by a deep sigh.

It was not till morning that fatigue overpowered us, and we fell back on our saddles. We awoke when the sun was pouring its golden light over the world, and brilliantly illumined the gloomy scene of desolation. The bare, black burned lime hills rose there above each other, wrapped themselves in black smoke-clouds, and seemed to accuse us to awakening nature as the cause of the disaster. It was really a disagreeable reproach cast at me by those hills, and we soon set out, in order to escape the sad sight, and refresh our eyes as soon as possible by a view of our cheerful home.

We crossed the Leone about noon, at the same pretty spot as when we began our journey, and soon saw the pleasant mountain springs on our right. Our cattle also knew that we were going home, and increased their pace. At length we reached the hill where the first view of the fort could be obtained, and joyfully greeted its grey wooden walls. It was still early when we rode up to my settlement from the adjoining valley, and two shots of rejoicing welcomed us from the western turret of the fort, to which we responded by firing our rifles. Everything was in the old state, the garrison healthy, and the cattle in excellent condition; the only change that had occurred was, that one of my mares had enriched me with a young Czar, that several calves had been dropped, and some dozen little pigs more were running about the fort.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XVII.

THE COMANCHE CHIEF.

I felt very comfortable in my pretty house, and Tiger informed me with great satisfaction that no one had been in his tent during our absence, in accordance with a promise I gave him when we set out. For some days we hardly left the fort, but enjoyed a rest. Tiger tanned the skins we had brought home. I stuffed my condor, at which my young friend was greatly amazed, and firmly declared that I restored the bird to life.

After this we rolled cigars, made new clothes, repaired our saddles and bridles, and employed ourselves with the thousand domestic jobs which gather even during a short absence. But after we had attended to the chief matters, several wants became visible which we could only satisfy on the prairie. Thus, among others, our subst.i.tute for sugar, honey, was expended, and at the supper table we resolved on going out on this hunt the next morning, if it was fine.

The morning dawned bright and calm, and both conditions are required for a winter bee hunt, as at this season the bees only work in warm weather, and their course cannot be watched when the wind is blowing hard. We got ready immediately after breakfast, Tiger and I, armed as usual, but Antonio and one of my colonists provided with heavy sharp axes and buckets, while Jack carried two empty casks, a copper kettle, large wooden spoons, and a tin funnel. Thus we trotted over the spangled prairie across to Mustang Creek, crossed it and its thick wood by a broad buffalo path, and then rode down the prairie to a fork formed by the forest on an affluent of the Mustang, joining that on the latter river.

Here we halted, stuck a long pole, on which a small tin frying-pan was fastened, into the ground, lit dry touchwood in it, and laid on the top a piece of comb in which some honey remained. Not far from this we put up another pole with a paper smeared with honey upon it. The smoke of the boiling wax and honey serves the bees cruising over the prairie as a guide to the paper, and soon the busy gatherers arrive from all the bee-trees in the neighbourhood, load themselves as heavily as they can, and then go straight home in a direct line. The hunter now observes in which direction the greatest number of the insects swarm, because this leads him to expect a richer tree as well as a shorter distance to go.

When he has decided on his route, he follows the swarm with his bait as far as he can see it, then puts up the pole again and waits till they settle, or the honey ones move and then fly home. Thus he follows the industrious insects, till by their restless activity they show him the spot where their treasures, collected during many years, are concealed, and he then disturbs the colony with cruel hand, robs it of its laboriously gathered stores, kills thousands of the colonists, and drives the rest away homeless.

We, for our part, behaved no better, except that we had brought sacks in which to carry the shelterless bees home, and give them an abode. A very large swarm went toward the Leone and another to the affluent on the left. We decided for the former, however, and in less than half an hour found ourselves in front of a gigantic maple that grew on the skirt of the forest, in whose long trunk, between the lowest branches, the orifice of the tree was completely covered with the insects. We hobbled our horses some distance from the tree, lit a fire near it, and two of us set to work with the axes to cut it down. Tiger and I had the first turn, and when we were tired the two others took our place, till we thus working in turn made the proud tree fall with its whole weight on the gra.s.s, where its splinters flew a long way around.

Each of us seized a firebrand and ran with buckets, spoons, and knives to the cracked part of the trunk, where the honey was exposed while the bees circled high above us in the air in a dense swarm. The firebrands were laid on the ground near the honey, old damp wood was laid on them to increase the smoke, and we hurriedly cut out the comb, and poured the liquid honey into a bucket which we emptied into the kettle which was slightly warmed by the fire. Honey runs from the cells with a gentle heat, and when it is liquid enough, the latter are pressed between two boards, till all the honey runs out, after which it is strained through a coa.r.s.e sieve into the cask.

By the time we had secured our booty it was noon, and we recovered from our fatigue over a cup of coffee and maize cake, then we went back to the spot we had started from and followed the swarm to the small affluent, where we found the bees in another old plane close to the prairie. We also robbed this tree; it was even richer than the first, and contained layers of honey probably fifteen years old, the oldest of which were nearly black. When we had finished this job our two casks were full, and the bucket loaded with quite fresh comb.

Evening had arrived, and the bees had collected in a dense ma.s.s on a branch of the felled tree. We held an open sack under them, shook them in, and then rode back to the first tree, whose colony we also took. We returned home with our sweet stores, emptied our sacks into two hollow trees, and placed them on a scaffolding near the fort. The honey was conveyed to the storeroom, and the wax melted and laid by when cold in plates. The Indians keep their honey and bear lard in fresh deer hides, which they slit as little as possible in skinning; they cut off the neck and legs, sew the openings up very tightly with sinews, fill the skin, and close the last opening in the same way, into which they thrust a reed and squeeze the honey as they want it through the latter. The honey keeps in this way very well, and is easier to carry on horseback than in hand vessels. We employed the honey in every way sugar is used in the civilized world. We sweetened our coffee and tea with, it, employed it in cooking various dishes, in preserving fruit, such as grapes, plums, mulberries, &c. In a word, it fully took the place of that expensive and hardly procurable product of civilization, and could always be obtained in such quant.i.ties that we never ran short of it. When hunting in the neighbourhood we very often found bee trees, which we marked in order to plunder them as we wanted.

Our table was now enriched by a fresh delicacy which we enjoyed during the winter months: it consisted of wild ducks and geese. These birds visited our river at this season in great numbers, and spread in flocks over the water. The very lofty banks, the numerous sharp turns, and the insignificant breadth of the stream rendered it extraordinarily easy to kill heaps of these birds in a short time. I usually took with me two guns and a man with a pack horse, who followed at some distance and placed the dead birds on the saddle. I followed the steep river bank, every now and then creeping down to the incline, and could then see from one bend to the other where the birds were resting on the water. I generally contrived to creep through the wood exactly over this spot, without the birds perceiving me. I then whistled, while holding the muzzle of my very large gun over the bank, and the birds in their fright drew closer together. Then I sent a charge of shot among them, and fired the other right among the rising flock. Then I took the other gun and sent the contents of both barrels after the flying ducks or geese. I frequently shot in this way twenty in one flock. The remainder generally joined the next flock farther down the stream. Trusty and some spaniels accompanied me on this chase and fetched the shot birds.

Most of the ducks and geese that visited us were very like the European, though rather larger; both are very fat and well tasted, which is probably caused by the splendid acorns they find among us. We generally carried a whole load home, from which we merely cut the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, legs, and livers, and boiled them into a jelly.

One afternoon, when Tiger had ridden off at an early hour in pursuit of game, I took my gun to go after geese down the river, which I heard croaking from the fort: I went out without calling a dog, and ran down to the water; I pa.s.sed the garden and the ford, where the river winds to the north in the wood, and went into the bushes in order to approach the geese, which I had seen about a hundred yards farther on. All at once I heard something like the footfall of a horse echo through the forest on the opposite side. I listened, and convinced myself that I was not mistaken. Tiger had gone southward in the morning to Mustang Creek, and I could not imagine how he was now returning from the north. I lay down among the bushes, so as to keep an eye on the ford: the noise drew nearer, till a mounted Indian appeared on a path on the opposite side, who stopped there and looked cautiously around.

After a while the Redskin crossed the ford, ascended the opposite bank, and taking his long rifle in his right hand, he led his horse into a thick bush about forty paces ahead of me. There he fastened it up, laid his rifle across his left arm, and shook fresh powder into the pan from his horn. What could the Indian intend, and to what tribe did he belong?

These questions occurred to me simultaneously with the suspicion that he might probably have hostile designs. My gun was loaded with not very heavy shot, but it carried as far as the Indian's rifle, though it did not kill so certainly. I had, however, some slugs in my hunting pouch, and while he was repriming, I, as I lay flat on the ground, pulled out two of the largest bullets that fitted my gun. I thrust them both into the barrels, and then slowly drew the ramrod, pressed two paper wads on the bullets, and returned the ramrod to its place.

During this the Indian had returned his powder-horn to its place, taken his tomahawk from the saddle and thrust it through his belt, woven several large leafy branches of evergreen myrtle and rhododendron under his saddle, so that they concealed the colour of his light horse, and then, leaving the path, went in a stooping posture through the wood toward my garden. I cautiously followed him at a distance of about one hundred yards, bending down close to the ground, continually keeping behind the bushes and disappearing in the gra.s.s when he stopped or made a movement as if to look round. He seemed, however, only to keep his eye on the garden, and bent lower the nearer he got to it. Suddenly he fell into the tall gra.s.s between the evergreen bushes, and disappeared from my sight. Had he heard me or seen me fall down? The point now was which of us should see the other first. The gra.s.s in which I lay was not very high, but green bushes hung down to the ground in front of me, too close to be seen through by my foe, but still leaving me sufficient gaps through which to peep, while the bushes round him were scrubby and the gra.s.s alone concealed him. If he had seen me he would certainly not remain lying, as he would have the worst of it.

I had raised myself sufficiently to survey his place, and after a while noticed the gra.s.s waving a little to the left of the spot where I had last seen him. Everything became still and motionless again, and we lay thus for nearly a quarter of an hour, when I saw the Indian raise his head out of the gra.s.s and look about him; he had not noticed me yet, or else he would not have exposed himself so recklessly to my fire. He rose slowly and glided towards the garden; he got close to the fence, which was made of ten logs placed in a zigzag over each other, and on the outerside were heaped up the branches of the trees from which the wood for the palisades had been cut. I had put this up to prevent the buffaloes and deer from forcing their way into the garden.

The Indian now stepped close to the wall of dry branches, while I lay in the bushes about a hundred yards behind him. He stopped, looked into the garden for a long time, and then round the wood; he then stooped and crept under the brushwood up to the fence, seated himself crosslegged close to the latter, and laid his rifle across one of the logs. While he was working his way through the branches and brushwood, I crept on all-fours nearer to him and remained behind an oak about forty yards from him. Just as I reached the tree, I broke a thin dry branch with my hand, and the very slight sound scarce reached the savage's ear, ere he started round and gazed intently in my direction. I did not stir, but held my gun firmly, with the determination that he should not leave the spot alive.

He looked towards me for nearly a quarter of an hour, still trusting to the sharpness of his ears, when suddenly one of my men, who was coming down from the fort with two buckets to fill at the spring, could be heard whistling on the other side of the garden. The Indian started round, thrust his rifle through the fence, pointed at the spring, and knelt down behind its long barrel. At the same instant I sprang out from behind the oak, raised my gun, and sent the charge of the right-hand barrel between the savage's shoulders; he leapt up, and while doing so, I gave him the second charge, after which he fell backwards into the brushwood. I shouted to my man who, in his alarm, was running back to the fort, and rushed to the Indian, who was writhing in his blood and striking around with hands and feet. My comrade hurried through the garden, and clambering over the fence, gazed down at the shot man in horror. I explained to him in a few words how accident had preserved his life, as the savage had been lying in wait for him and had his rifle pointed at him, and I then buried my knife in the heart of the quivering savage. We took his rifle and medicine bag, fetched his horse after I had reloaded, and took it up to the fort, where we fastened it inside the enclosure.

I impatiently waited for Tiger to obtain an explanation from him, as I feared lest the shot man might be a Delaware. The evening came and Tiger was not back yet. A thousand suppositions, a thousand suspicions involuntarily crossed my mind. Could Tiger be a traitor? could the Delawares have broken their long-tried friends.h.i.+p with the white men?

We drove our cattle in earlier than usual, rode them down to water, laid our weapons ready to hand, and prepared to oppose any possible attack. I went to the eastern turret and gazed over the wide prairie, when I suddenly noticed far on the horizon a black point that seemed strange to me. I looked through my gla.s.s, and to my great delight recognised the large white spots of Tiger's piebald.

I now felt lighter at heart, ran down and waited for him at the gate. At length he rode up to me from the last hollow, loaded with deer and bear meat, and the hide of a small bear, leapt from his horse and heartily shook my hand. I told him what had happened, and he listened most attentively. His eyebrows were contracted and his usually pleasant eyes flashed savagely. He said nothing but "kitchi kattuh," made me a sign to enter the fort, and when we reached the dining-room where the dead man's hunting-bag lay, he cried, "Kitchi," placed two fingers of his right hand before his mouth, so that they seemed to be emerging from it, and repeated "Kitchi," _i.e._ two tongues. He then led me out of the fort, when he stopped, and said to me that the false kitchi had laid watch for him in the garden and intended to take his life, so that the Delawares might fancy we had killed him and take their revenge on us. It had indeed gradually grown a custom in the fort that Tiger, when he was at home, fetched fresh water from the spring before supper, and his supposition appeared to be well founded; still the unexpected appearance of one of my men seemed to have turned the kitchi from his original purpose, because he was on the point of sending the bullet intended for Tiger through the chest of the latter.

We now helped to hang up the meat brought in by Tiger, and sat down to supper, when the occurrence naturally became the sole subject of conversation, and was regarded from every side. We agreed to bury the Indian, and I went, accompanied by Antonio and Tiger, with a spade and a cedar-wood torch, through the garden to the dead man. Tiger drew him out of the brushwood, took off his beads, armlets, and leathern breech clout, and then dragged him with Antonio's help nearer the river, where we dug a deep hole and buried the corpse.

We soon forgot this incident, and went on with our winter avocations as before. We slightly enlarged our field, which was a fatiguing job, as it lay in the wood, and the bushes grew very close together there. These and the smaller trees were cut down and piled up round the larger ones, after the latter had been out into the wood. After they had dried for a week, they were kindled, which dried the bark of the large trunks, and thus killed the tree. We then set to work with a heavy plough to turn up the ground: this operation is always performed twice or thrice through the winter, before the seed is put in the ground in spring. It may be asked why we did not lay out our field in the prairie, as we should thus have saved this labour? The reason is that the prairie soil is remarkably difficult to plough, because it consists of a black hard earth, in which the delicate young plants have unusually large roots, as hard as gla.s.s. I afterwards cultivated land of this sort, and at the first breaking up had six or eight draught cattle fastened to the plough. Then again, this land, owing to its hardness, produces scarce no crop in the first year, in the second a very poor one, in third a moderate one, and not till the fourth a full crop. It is always much more difficult to cultivate than the forest land, as the heavy rains in the winter season always more or less restore its firmness, while the forest soil bears prolifically in the first year.

In the garden we had plenty of work too; the potatoes were laid in beds, in order to grow the tap roots, which are cut off in spring and planted out in the field. Then the tobacco beds were put in order, from which the young plants were transplanted in February. The same plant produces among us three or even four crops, as we always leave a young shoot to grow, when the leaves are ripe enough to cut. Then there were vegetables to sow, vines to prune, fruit-trees to graft; in short, we had our hands full, and I only went with Tiger away from the fort to hunt bears, whose fat we were obliged to collect at this time, as it is not nearly so abundant at other seasons.

One morning I resolved to go to Mustang Creek, and choose a suitable spot where I could build a carriage bridge across it, as I frequently had meat to fetch from the prairies on the other side, and I also intended to make, by degrees, a pa.s.sable road to the settlements. I rode away at an early hour, accompanied by Trusty, but at some distance from home I noticed that Milo, an old bear-finder, was running after me, which was a bore, as the good old dog, if he by chance hit on a fresh trail, would be sure to follow it, and I had not intended to hunt bears on this day. The dog was much too slow and deaf, and I only gave him food for the many faithful services he had rendered me: I did not care to ride back, and hence called him closer up to my horse, and continued my journey.

I soon reached the river and was busy examining the banks, when suddenly old Milo gave tongue, and had run too far into the bushes for me to check him. I was sorry, for if the old fellow had a row with a bear by himself, it would be all over with him. I heard his bark going farther and farther, and though I felt grieved, I was obliged to leave him to his fate. After a while I fancied that I heard him continually barking at the same spot. I listened, and it seemed more than probable that he had attacked a bear. I must hurry to his a.s.sistance, so I rode as far as I could into the bushes, tied up my horse, and forced my way through the thicket.

I soon leaped through the last bushes, and to my surprise saw Milo sitting in front of an old cypress and barking up at it. I examined the gigantic trunk, and clearly saw on its bark the traces of a bear which had climbed up it. In the first fork the tree was hollow from top to bottom, and I did not doubt for a moment but that Bruin was having his winter sleep in it. To cut down the tree was a heavy task, as it was above eight feet in diameter, and then, too, it stood among a number of other giants, against which it might easily lean in falling, when we should not be able to get at its occupant. I tapped round the tree to see whether it was hollow far down, but I could not settle the point satisfactorily, as I had no axe with which to hit hard enough.

I quickly formed my resolution, caught up Milo, carried him away from the trail, and hastened to my horse, which speedily bore me home. Tiger was at the river was.h.i.+ng deer hides, when I arrived on the bank and informed him of my discovery: he quickly packed up his skins, ran to his tent, and hurried to the prairie to fetch the piebald. In less than half an hour we were _en route_ for the bear, accompanied by Antonio and one of the colonists armed with axes, while Jack followed us with a large pack saddle, and Trusty leaped ahead of us. We soon reached the river, led our horses some distance down it, and tied them up in the thicket; then we went to the cypress in which our sleeper was. We examined it and found it quite sound for over eight feet from the ground, but from that point hollow, and more so on the western side.

We soon raised a framework of thin branches round the tree, on which one of us was raised by turns, and cut an opening in the trunk at the spot where the hollow began. While one was engaged in this way, the others brought up dry wood, which we piled up against the opening like a bonfire. We then lit it, and ere long the flames crept up the stem, and the dried bark fell off with a cracking sound into the fire. We arranged ourselves round the tree at some distance in such a way that we could cover it pretty well from all sides, and expected every moment to see the bear quit its winter quarters. We had been standing there, however, for above an hour, and the gentleman did not make his appearance, though the smoke was rising from the hollow. The bear probably lay below the hole, and the smoke pa.s.sed over it without annoying it.

All at once I saw sparks flying out of the tree, which proved that it was beginning to catch fire inside. I shouted to the others to look out, and just after I heard a crash, and with it appeared the black form of a very old bear between the first branches. The fright and embarra.s.sment of my gentleman were extraordinary, when he looked down into the fire under him, and moved backwards and forwards undecided what path to choose. I had told my men not to fire so long as the bear was over the fire, but to let it advance on the long branches far enough not to fall into the flames, which would have deprived us of its splendid skin.

Master Bear had by this time selected a very stout branch and crept cautiously along it, looking down first on this side and then on that at the flames, and was on the point of making itself into a ball to have a drop, when I fired at it, and in falling it clutched the branch with its claws in order to drag itself up again. At the same moment, however, four more bullets flew through it, and it came down with an enormous blow. I ran up with a revolver, and shot it through the head, whereupon it became quiet. It was one of the finest bears we had killed during this year, and gave us a large quant.i.ty of fat and a splendid skin. We broke it up, packed on Jack as much as he could carry, and distributed the rest among our horses. We then went home heavily laden, and sat till late in the kitchen, busied in melting down the grease, after enjoying some roast bear ribs for supper.

At times there were slight domestic annoyances. A pig or a calf was torn by the wolves, a few hen's nests plundered by the rac.o.o.ns, a dog killed by the snakes, or a horse ran a thorn into its foot. However, up to the present we had preserved our health, we knew naught of sorrow, and the thousand pa.s.sions which civilized life entails, and which become the source of endless suffering, were entirely lulled to sleep among us. On the other hand we were deprived of many enjoyments which social life affords, but at the same time had countless pleasures, which must be given up there. The hardest thing to me was that I could not obtain books without great trouble and expense, while events in the civilized world were more or less unknown to me. At times I received a packet of old newspapers, whose fragments, however, only helped to render my confusion worse confounded. To tell the truth, I was beginning to yearn for a nearer connexion with the world and a little more society.

One morning the dogs barked in an unusual manner, and one of my men ran up to me and told me that one of my buffalo calves, which I had captured in the last summer, and of which I possessed eight, had leapt into the river, because the dogs were tormenting it. I ran down to the river, and after considerable exertions we succeeded in getting the animal out, uninjured, but very fatigued. These calves were remarkably tame, more so than those of our cows, and never went far from the fort. In spite of their terrible appearance they were very comical; all had names to which they answered, and caused us much fun. I intended to train them for working, and to breed a mixed race with my cattle, which, however, only offers an advantage in meat and size, as the buffaloes yield much less and worse milk than our domestic kind. It is not possible to produce a breed between our tame cow and the buffalo, as the cow cannot give birth to the calf owing to the hump on the shoulders, and almost always is killed by it; but the opposite breed flourishes and is capable of further procreation. Buffalo oxen are excellent for work, as they grow very tame and possess enormous strength; the only fault is that when they are thirsty, no power on earth can restrain them from satisfying their thirst. I knew a planter on the Rio Grande, who employed a couple of these animals, that ran away once with a heavy cart to the river, and dashed over its steep bank to satisfy their thirst, but he got them out again all right.

Just as we were taking the saved buffalo up to the fort, the sentry came to me and announced that five white men were riding down the river, upon which I went to the turret and saw that the new arrivals were three white men, a negro and a mulatto. About half an hour later the strangers rode up to the fort and dismounted at the gate, while the coloured men took their horses and unsaddled them. A fine looking man of nearly sixty years of age advanced to me, shook my hand and introduced himself to me as a Mr. Lasar, from Alabama, one of his young companions as his son John, and the other as his cousin Henry, of the same name. The old gentleman had something most elegant and attractive about his appearance, which evidenced lengthened intercourse with the higher social circles; over his high bronzed forehead shone his still thick though silvery hair, while long black eyebrows overshadowed his light blue eyes, and his fresh complexion seemed to protest against his white hair. Though fully six feet high he carried himself with the strength of a man of thirty, and his bright merry eyes proved that his mind was still youthful. He was an old Spaniard, had settled when a young man in Alabama, and though the blue eyes contradicted his origin, it was manifested in all the rest of his countenance. His son John was shorter and lighter built, with black curling hair and very dark, but pleasant eyes, a nice looking youth of seventeen, and cousin Henry a young man of twenty odd, of middle height and narrow between the shoulders, showed by his auburn hair and grey eyes, that his blood was mixed.

I conducted the strangers to the parlour and set before them a breakfast, among the dishes being one of duck's breast in jelly. The old gentleman was greatly surprised, and said that he had not expected to find anything at my house beyond very good game and roasted marrow bones. When I treated them to French wine and cigars, and they surveyed the ornaments of my room, they expressed the utmost surprise at the amount of comfort they found, and John said that I had everything precisely as his father intended to have it when he settled here. The old gentleman now informed me of his intention to come into my neighbourhood and requested my advice and aid. He had a cotton plantation in Alabama, but the number of his negroes had increased so considerably that he could not employ them all on his estate, and must hire out the majority at very low wages; land was too high in price there, so he preferred taking up Government land here and submitting to the privations and dangers of a life on the border. He now proposed to inspect the land, then return and send on John with fifty negroes, so as to get a maize crop ready, while he would follow in autumn with his family and five hundred slaves. I was very glad to have such neighbours, so I gladly offered him my services in showing him as much fine land as he wanted close to mine.

My guests rested for a few days and amused themselves with inspecting my farm and arrangements, and making small hunting trips in the vicinity, in which old Mr. Lasar eagerly joined. It is true that he shot deer and turkeys with his large fowling-piece loaded with swan shot, through which many a head escaped him, and I reproached him for doing so, as I considered this shameful butchery. He allowed his fault, but said that no other weapon was employed in shooting where he came from, but when he came out to join me, he would also introduce the rifle.

After my guests had rested sufficiently, I rode with them over to the Mustang river, pa.s.sed through its woods and followed its course southward to its junction with the Rio Grande. Here we turned back up the stream, and rode along the forest to our morning track, so that the strangers had ample opportunity for examining the land on both sides of the river. Mr. Lasar was much pleased, and at once decided on this land, as it fully satisfied all his wishes. We reached home at a late hour, and Lasar was so perfectly contented that he proposed returning home at once; but I urged him to look at other land to the north of me, for which tour we made our necessary preparations on the next day. On the third morning we rode up the Leone to the spot where my border line crossed it two miles from the fort. From this point to the source of the river lay very fine land too, although the woods were not so extensive as lower down it.

We spent the night at the wellhead, and then rode northwards to Turkey Creek, in which tour we found a great deal of land well adapted for ploughing, although the smaller quant.i.ty would have rendered it better suited for small settlers. Still the country here aroused Mr. Lasar's admiration, and he declared that before two years had pa.s.sed it should be all occupied by friends of his from Alabama. I reminded him of the human skulls and bones, which I had shown him at the sources of the Leone, belonging to settlers murdered by the Indians, who had come from Georgia, and only enjoyed the pleasures of a border life for a few months. He said, however, that so many families must arrive simultaneously as would hold the Indians within bounds. For his own part he decided on Mustang River, and on reaching the fort again, he rested two more days with me, which we employed in talking over and settling everything. On this occasion I proposed to hire of him twelve negroes whom he could send with his son, for I wanted to begin cotton planting.

He agreed most willingly, as, when he settled, he would require a good many things of me, such as maize, pigs, cows, fowls, tallow, bear's grease, &c., and we could deduct their value from the rent. On the third morning I accompanied my guests some distance and then rode home with the brightest prospects for the future.

A most unexpected event brightened my hopes for the future even more. A few days after Lasar's departure a party of seven Comanche Indians came riding up the river, armed with unstrung bows, and no lances. They rode up to the fence, and one of them shouted--"Captain, good friend," and I went out to them and asked what they wanted. One of them spoke English very well, and appeared to me a Mexican, who had probably been stolen by them in childhood and had since lived among them. He said that the chief of all the Comanches, Pahajuka (the man in love) had sent them to ask me whether he might come and make a friends.h.i.+p with me? He had heard that I was a good friend to other Indians, and wished me to become his friend as well. The message greatly surprised me, as. .h.i.therto, when I had come in contact with men of this nation, we had used our weapons. My first feeling was a suspicion that they wished to effect by treachery what they had not been able to do by arms: still I would not entirely repulse them, and said that if they were speaking to me with one tongue, and desired my friends.h.i.+p, I would readily give it to them; but if they were double-tongued I would become still more their enemy, and in that case they would not be able to sleep peacefully in these parts.

I told them at the same time that I should expect their chief on the next morning, on which their speaker intimated that their tribe were encamped a long way off, and Pahajuka had sent them down from there, but when the sun rose for the tenth time he would be here. I promised to wait for him on the appointed morning, and then the savages rode away and soon disappeared behind the last hill on the prairie. Whatever might be the results of the impending conference, I was resolved to make every effort to produce, if possible, more pleasant relations between myself and the Comanches, as by far the greater number of Indians who visited our country belonged to this nation, and the incessant hostilities with them became the more annoying to me in proportion as my cattle and property became augmented.

It was now winter, and in addition to our domestic tasks, we princ.i.p.ally employed our time in hunting bears, as I greatly needed their grease on the arrival of the expected new settlers and could sell it very profitably. For the sake of fun we also went out singly at night to shoot deer by the system of pan-hunting, so usual in the Eastern States, but which I rarely employed, although it is remarkably productive. This hunt is effected on horseback: the sportsman carries over his left shoulder a stout stick about six feet in length, to the upper end of which a frying-pan with a high rim is fastened. In this pan he lays some small-cut pieces of pine-wood, which, when kindled, burn for a long time with a very bright flame, and allow him distinctly to see every object for a long distance, while himself seeing nothing of the fire behind his back.

Deer, antelopes, and other animals when they see the moving fire, hurry up to it in order to satisfy their curiosity. The hunter can see the animal's eyes glistening at a distance of eighty yards, while he is scarce visible himself. He rides nearer up to distinguish the body more clearly, but generally contents himself with the eyes, which he takes as his mark, and discharges his rifle at them. Owing to the light which falls from behind on the barrel and the back of the sight, a most careful aim can be taken, and as a rule you can ride up to within thirty or forty yards of the animal. Even after the shot I have seen the unhit animals only run a few yards and then stop curiously, so that I have been able to give them a second barrel. Over the horse's hind-quarters a large wet blanket or hide is laid to protect it from the sparks or coals that might fall out of the pan. It is the easiest way of killing game, and in places not thickly covered with wood this mode of hunting promises an extraordinary charm, through the wondrous illumination which the fire produces on the green, flower-clad foliage. A whole forest may be depopulated in this way, and hence I regard it as quite unworthy of a true sportsman.