HOMEWARD BOUND.
There were too many horrors hanging around Dead Man’s Gulch for the
whites to spend any more time there than was necessary. Several of the
wagons were overturned upon each other, and then fired, and by the aid
of this huge bonfire, which sent a glow out upon the prairie for miles,
like the rays of the Eddystone light-house over the ocean, they set
about their work of mercy.
In one of the wagons were placed all the bodies of those who had
fallen, and the other was fitted up in the most comfortable manner for
the women and children. To these several of the cavalry attached their
horses, and making sure that every thing that could be of any possible
use to the Comanches was burned, the rescuing party started out of the
ravine, which was ever afterward to cause a shudder whenever memory
recalled the awful experiences to which they were there doomed.
The moon had only fairly risen when the procession slowly wended its
way out from the gulch, and off across the prairie, in the direction
of Fort Adams. They were indeed what they looked to be, a funeral
procession, and another vivid comment upon the terrible errors which
have governed the associations of the white and red-men from the very
first meeting, nearly four hundred years ago.
The dragging of the two heavily-laden wagons across the prairie could
but be a tedious and wearisome task, and in all probability would not
be completed until the second day after starting. Of course there was
a possibility that Swico would return to the attack, if a suitable
occasion should offer, but it was not deemed necessary that the entire
one hundred men should remain to escort them into the fort.
And so when the eighty rode back from the fruitless pursuit of the main
body of Indians, the arrangements were made for dividing the company,
it being well known that Colonel Greaves could ill afford to spare so
many men, and would be pleased if such a course could be carried out
without any ill results flowing therefrom.
But, first of all, the steeds and their riders needed rest after the
tremendous charge over the prairie, and less than a mile from Dead
Man’s Gulch, where a sparkling stream of cold water wandered through a
grove of trees, the camp was made for the night, the sentinels being
stationed at every point, and such precautions made, as to cause every
one to feel perfectly safe against any disturbance from the malignant
red-skins, who had too much discretion to rush in where they knew they
would be only too gladly received by the cavalry.
Several fires were kindled in the grove, and food cooked, the
camping-ground being one of the most pleasant that could possibly have
been chosen, as there was an abundance of rich grass for their animals,
and every thing that could be needed by their riders.
At one of these fires, a little apart from the rest, were three
persons, engaged in the most pleasant converse. The long, lank figure,
stretched lazily upon the ground, supporting himself upon his elbow,
was Lightning Jo, at his ease, with his nature all “unbent” and his
humorous self at the surface. As he talked, his black eyes sparkled,
and his handsome white teeth were constantly exposed as he asked some
question, or made some reply to Egbert Rodman and Lizzie Manning, who
were seated upon the opposite side of the fire, rather closer together
than was absolutely necessary, chatting with each other and with the
scout, who kept “chaffing” them so continuously that they had little
opportunity for any private conference of their own.
“You may as well wait, younkers,” said Jo. “I don’t object to you
squeezing each other’s hands, jest as you tried a minute ago, when you
thought I warn’t looking; but you needn’t try to talk to each other
when I’m about. So wait, I tell yer, till some other time, for you
ain’t going to get rid of me till you bunk up for the night.”
“No one wants to get rid of you,” retorted Lizzie, as a blush suffused
her face, and her eyes sparkled in the firelight. “What do we care for
you? I have no wish for any private talk with Egbert.”
“Of course not; nor he with you; any fool can see that in both your
looks, ’specially in his. But that’s always the way. I had an aunt
once that always was interfering when any young dunces got to fooling
round. She had a son, that she thought all the world of. He had learned
the shoemaker’s trade, and when he was about forty or forty-five, he
got tender on a cross-eyed girl, with red hair, that lived near him,
and he went for her. My aunt didn’t like it a bit, and done all she
could to break it up. She said if her boy would wait till he got to be
a man, she wouldn’t object, if he would pick out a young lady for her
worth instead of for her beauty, as he had done. She done every thing
to torment the poor feller, giving him medicine to make him sick when
he had a special appointment with her, sewing big patches all over his
coat, so that he was ashamed to wear it, and locking him in his room
and giving him a good strapping when he got sassy and gave her any of
his lip.
“Cousin Josh didn’t mind that much, as he said the old woman had been
a little peculiar ever since he had been ’quainted with her; but there
was one thing that he couldn’t get used to, and that was her way of
bouncing down upon him and his senorita, just as they were beginning
to act like you two folks, and thought nobody wasn’t looking on. Three
times, Josh told me, he had got down on his knees and clasped his hands
and shut his eyes, and was making his proposal to his lady, and was
just in the sweetest part, when he opened his eyes and saw his mother
standing afore him with a sweet smile upon her countenance, and more
than once, when he reached out his arm to put around the young lady’s
waist, it went over the old woman’s neck, who was alistening near, and
who cuffed his ears for being such a fool.
“Josh stood it as long as he could, but finally he got even with her.”
“In what way?” inquired Egbert.
“He got a big skyrocket made, and fastened it to the old lady’s dress,
and got a little boy to touch off the fuse. The last seen of my aunt
she was whizzing and bobbing through the air, until she went out of
sight. As she never came down ag’in, Josh wasn’t bothered any more, and
he went on with his courtship and at last got married and lived happy,
as such a good boy deserved to be.”