I KILL THE DEER--MORE WONDERS--MEET MANLEY AND SERGEANT CUSTIS AT LAST--
A PLEASANT EVENING--PARCHED WITH THIRST AMIDST SPARKLING STREAMS--OUR
HAZARDOUS JOURNEY OVER THE MOUNTAINS--SAFE ARRIVAL AT FORT HARWOOD--
WELCOMED BY THE COMMANDANT--AN EXPEDITION ORGANISED TO DRIVE THE INDIANS
FROM THE COUNTRY--MANLEY COMMANDS IT--I ACCOMPANY HIM--MEET BARNEY AND
KLITZ, STILL BOUND FOR CALIFORNIA--BARNEY GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR
ESCAPE--THEIR JOURNEY STOPPED--THEY RETURN WITH US--WE MEET PIOMINGO AND
HIS SQUAW--TELLS US THAT HE HAS BURIED THE WAR-HATCHET--HEAR AN ALARMING
ACCOUNT OF BARTLE--ASCEND THE MOUNTAIN TO WHERE WE LEFT UNCLE JEFF--FIND
HIM AND CLARICE WELL--HE HAS OBTAINED A LARGE SUPPLY OF PELTRIES--OUR
RETURN TO WINNEMAK'S CAMP--MAYSOTTA ACCOMPANIES CLARICE TO ROARING
WATER.
Although I had not forgotten the friends I hoped soon to see, my
instinct as a hunter made me anxious to secure the deer, as it might
possibly get up again, and be lost to us by springing into the river.
Acting on this impulse, therefore, I ran up to the wounded animal. The
poor brute was endeavouring to rise on its knees, so, ham-stringing it
with my knife, I effectually prevented it from escaping. I had,
however, to approach it cautiously, for a blow from its antlers, even in
its present state, might prove dangerous. I managed at length to reach
its throat, when its struggles speedily ceased.
I now looked round for my friends, in the expectation of seeing them at
any moment, for I was sure they would follow the deer; but they did not
come. Still I could not have been mistaken. The animal had been shot
by a rifle bullet; it was a rifle I had heard fired. Had Indian hunters
shot the deer, they would certainly have followed more closely at its
heels; and besides, they were not likely to have rifles.
After having secured the deer, I hastened in the direction from whence
it had come, expecting that every moment would solve the mystery. Yet,
eager as I was, my eyes could not avoid remarking the wonderful objects
around me. On one side was a basin, its projecting rim carved with
marvellously intricate tracery, while the waters within were tinted with
all the colours of the rainbow. On the other side appeared a mass
greatly resembling an ancient castle. It rose more than forty feet
above the plain, while in its midst was a turret of still greater
dimensions. A succession of steps, formed by the substances in the
water which had become hardened, led up to it, ornamented with bead and
shell work; while large masses, shaped like cauliflowers or
spongy-formed corals, projected from the walls. Out of this curious
structure, as I was passing it, shot a column of water sixty feet or
more in height, vast volumes of steam escaping at the same time.
It seems curious that I should have been able to remark these objects at
a time when my mind was occupied by a matter of so much importance.
Still I could not avoid seeing the objects; and although I did not at
the time think much about them, they stamped their impression on my mind
as I went along. Suddenly two figures appeared, which put every other
object out of my sight. My eyes were fixed upon them; I had no doubt
that they were Manley and Sergeant Custis. I shouted. They saw and
heard me, and came hurrying forward, and we were soon warmly shaking
hands.
"Ralph, my dear fellow! we feared that you were lost," exclaimed Manley,
"and we have been hunting for you day after day. How haggard you look!
How did you manage to lose us? and what has become of your rifle?"
These and numerous other questions I had briefly to answer. How they
had missed me, they could not very clearly tell. Instead, however, of
coming westward, they had for some time hunted about in the very
neighbourhood where they had at first lost sight of me. At length they
reached one of my camps, and from thence they had followed me up,
although they had been compelled, as I had, to take shelter during the
storm.
Of course, they were as much delighted as I was with the extraordinary
region in which we found ourselves; and I could now enjoy an examination
of its wonders far more than I did at first.
We were very anxious to push on, in order to carry relief to our
friends, and to punish the Arrapahas for their audacious raid on our
territory, but that evening we could proceed no farther. We therefore
cut up the deer, and carried as much of its flesh as we required to
camp, where we built a hut, and employed the evening in preparing the
venison for the remainder of our journey--for we had snowy heights to
surmount, where we might be unable to meet with game. An abundant meal
and a night's rest completely set me up; and my friends insisting on
alternately keeping watch, I was allowed to sleep on without
interruption.
I must pass rapidly over the next few days of our journey. We worked
our way along the rugged gorges through which the river forced a
passage, and we had torrents to cross, precipitous mountains to climb,
amid glaciers and masses of snow, where by a false step we should have
been hurled to destruction. But we were mercifully preserved.
Game in these wild regions is scarce, and we were frequently hard
pressed for food. In one of the valleys, at the beginning of this part
of our journey, nowhere was a drop of drinkable water to be found. For
hours we walked on, with bright fountains bubbling up on every side; but
they were scalding hot, or so impregnated with minerals that we dared
not touch them. Our fate promised to be like that of Tantalus: with
water on every side, we were dying of thirst. At length I espied, high
up on the mountain slope, a little green oasis, scarcely larger than a
small dinner-plate. I scrambled up to it, and, putting down my hand,
found a fountain of cool bright water issuing forth. I shouted to my
companions, who quickly joined me. Never was nectar drank with more
delight; and, revived and strengthened, we again pushed on.
Sometimes we slept in caverns, sometimes in huts built of clods and
boughs. Frequently we had to camp on the bare ground, without shelter,
our feet as close to the fire as we could venture to place them without
running the risk of their being scorched.
At last, to our great joy, we saw the western plains stretching out
before us. I call them the plains, although hills of all heights rose
in their midst. Far away to the south-west was the great Salt Lake;
while in front of us were the mountainous regions bordering the
Pacific,--California and its newly-discovered gold-mines. Now
descending steep slopes, now traversing gorges, now climbing down
precipices, now following the course of a rapid stream, we ultimately
reached level ground, and at last arrived at Fort Harwood.
"Why, Broadstreet, my dear fellow!" exclaimed the commandant, who, with
a number of other officers, came out on seeing us approach, "we had
given you up as lost! Some emigrants who escaped from a train which was
attacked reported that every white man on the other side of the pass,
for miles to the southward, had been murdered. They had heard, also,
that an officer and his men had been cut off, so we naturally concluded
you were the unhappy individual."
"Such would have been our fate, if we had attempted to get through the
pass; but, guided by my friend here, we crossed the mountain, for the
purpose of asking you to send a force of sufficient strength to drive
back the Indians, with their rascally white allies," answered the
lieutenant.
"The very thing I purposed doing, if I could obtain a trustworthy
guide," said the commandant.
"You could not have a more trustworthy one than my friend, Ralph
Middlemore," answered Manley. "He knows the mountains better than any
white man we are likely to find; and as for Indians, I would not put
confidence in one of them."
Of course, I at once expressed my willingness to undertake the duty
proposed; and the expedition was speedily arranged. Our troops may not
have had a very military appearance, but the men knew how to handle
their rifles, and had had experience in border warfare. We numbered
fifty in all, besides the drivers of the baggage horses and mules
conveying our provisions and ammunition. All not absolutely necessary
encumbrances were dispensed with, our camp equipage consisting of a few
iron pots, tin cups, and plates. Lieutenant Broadstreet had command of
the party, and he was directed to select a fit site for a new fort in
the neighbourhood of Roaring Water, to assist in holding the Arrapahas
in check for the future.
Not an hour was lost; and by sunrise, two days after our arrival, we
commenced our march. I had advised Manley to let me go ahead with a few
of the most experienced men, to act as scouts, that we might ascertain
whether the enemy still held the pass; but two days had gone by without
any signs of the Indians. The remains of their fires, however, showed
that they had been there not long before. At the end of the second day,
just as we were about to encamp, I caught sight of two figures coming
over the brow of a slight elevation. I rubbed my eyes; was it fancy, or
did I really see Klitz and Barney before me, precisely as I had seen
them on a previous occasion, when attempting to make their escape from
the farm? No doubt about it. There was Barney wheeling a barrow, and
Klitz, with a couple of muskets on his shoulder, marching behind him.
Had I been inclined to superstition, I might have supposed that I beheld
a couple of ghosts, or rather beings of another world; but I was
convinced, unless I was the victim of some optical delusion, that the
two worthies were there in flesh and blood.
I did what every one should do when there exists any doubt about a
matter,--I hastened forward to solve the mystery. No sooner did they
see me than Klitz dropped his muskets, and Barney, letting go the
handles of his wheel-barrow, stood gazing at me with open eyes and
outstretched hands.
"Arrah, now, it's the young masther himself!" exclaimed Barney; whilst
the German uttered an exclamation which I did not comprehend. "Sure,
now, we were afther thinking your honour was kilt intirely," continued
Barney. "Might I be so bold as to axe where your honour comes from
now?"
"Let me inquire where you come from, and how you escaped from the
burning house," I said. "Although I am glad to see you, I would rather
you had rejoined your regiment."
"Sure, Mister Ralph dear, we were returned as dead, and it would have
been sore against our consciences to take sarvice under the
circumstances. But your honour was axin' how we escaped. Sure, when I
was hunting for the Redskin spy, didn't I find out the root-house. And
so, afther matters came to the worst, we got in there, with food enough
to last until those thieves who wanted our scalps had taken themselves
off. As to cutting our way through the enemy, I knew well enough that
would not suit me; for I could not run, and Klitz would have been a mark
a mile off. So, when you rushed out, he and I dropped down through the
trap and stowed ourselves away. The Indians, marcifully, niver came to
look for us. In truth, while they were hunting about down came the
building on their heads, and we could hear their shrieks and cries as
they tried to scramble out from among the flames. If it had not been
for a small vent-hole far away up in a corner, we should have been
suffocated, maybe. All day long we could hear them screeching and
hallooing outside the house; but before night the thieves of the world
took themselves off, we suppose, for all was silent.
"At the end of a couple of days we thought we might safely venture to
take a few mouthfuls of fresh air, and begin to work our way out from
among the ruins. It was no easy job, but we got free at last. Neither
Redskin nor white man was to be seen; and of all the buildings, the hut
and the mill only were standing. The villains had carried off all our
blankets and most of the cooking-pots, but enough was left for our
wants, seeing that we had nothing to put in them. However, Klitz was
not the boy to starve. He soon caught some fish, and I got hold of a
sheep which came up to the door; and if there had only been a dhrop of
the cratur', we should have lived like princes. One thing there was
which the Indians had not carried off, and that was a wheel-barrow.
When Klitz saw it, `We will go to California!' says he. Says I, `I'm
the boy for it!' So, as we had our muskets and a few rounds of
ammunition, afther drying the mutton and making some other necessary
preparations we set off. The Indians had left the country, and no one
stopped us, so surely your honour won't be so hard as to stop us now!"
"That must depend on what Lieutenant Broadstreet has to say in the
matter," I observed. "I am under his orders, and will conduct you to
him."
Klitz elongated his visage on hearing this, but Barney took the matter
with his usual good-humour.
In consideration of the dangers the men had gone through, and their
conduct in the defence of the farm, the lieutenant treated them kindly.
He could not allow them to continue on their way to California, of
course, which they most certainly would never have reached, but he
inflicted no greater punishment than ordering them to mount the
baggage-mules and return with us.
We did not entirely rely on Barney's report that the Indians had left
the neighbourhood, though it perhaps made us less cautious than we would
otherwise have been. As I was well-mounted, I frequently went on a
considerable distance ahead, eager to fall in with some one from whom I
might gain intelligence of Uncle Jeff, Clarice, or our friends. I did
not suppose that Uncle Jeff would remain in the mountains where we had
left him, but that he would certainly have come down to meet us; or
perhaps, should Bartle and Gideon have escaped, he might have rejoined
them and returned to Roaring Water.
We had got through the pass, and were about to march to the southward,
in the hope of overtaking the enemy, should they be still lingering in
that part of the country, when I saw smoke ascending from the level
ground close to the foot of the mountain, and some way ahead. On
watching it, I was satisfied that it rose from an encampment of white or
red men. As there was little doubt that information could be obtained
from the inhabitants, whoever they were, the sergeant and I, with two
well-mounted troopers, rode forward, keeping on the alert to guard
against coming suddenly on an enemy.
As we got nearer, I saw, by means of a telescope which I had obtained at
the fort, an Indian camp of a more permanent character than I had yet
fallen in with in that neighbourhood. This was a proof that the
inhabitants were friendly.
In a short time several persons appeared; and on seeing us one of them
came forward, habited in the costume of a chief, a quiver at his back
and a bow in his hand. A squaw followed him. He stopped and gazed at
me. Then, as I rode on, he advanced, and, putting out his hand,
exclaimed--
"You know me!--Piomingo. This my squaw, you save my life and her life,
and I am ever your friend."
I told him that I was very glad to see him, and that he could give me
information I very much desired. In the course of conversation he
informed me that he had talked with Winnemak, and had buried, as he
said, the war-hatchet; and he had therefore come and settled in that
district. He had also preserved my horse with the greatest care; and,
he added, he was ready to restore him to me in good condition. With
regard to Uncle Jeff, he could tell me nothing. As my uncle, however,
had not rejoined Winnemak, I concluded that the latter was still in the
mountains, well contented with his new locality, and engaged in shooting
and trapping.
"Can you give me any information about my other friends?" I asked.
One white man, he said, had gone to Winnemak's camp; and from his
description I had little doubt that the person he spoke of was either
Bartle or Gideon. I was very sure, however, that either of them would
without delay have rejoined Uncle Jeff. What Piomingo told me about the
other caused me much anxiety. He had been captured by the Arrapahas, he
said, who had carried him about with them; probably, according to their
cruel custom, with the intention of ultimately putting him to death in
some barbarous manner.
As Piomingo volunteered to lead a party of us in search of the
marauders, who still had, according to his report, a white man with
them, I at once accepted his offer, and would gladly have set off
immediately; but it was important first to carry assistance to Uncle
Jeff and Clarice, who could not fail--so Manley thought--to require it.
He and I, with twenty troopers and some of our baggage animals,
accordingly turned to the northward, leaving Sergeant Custis and the
remainder of our force to watch the pass, in order to prevent the return
of the Arrapahas.
We pushed on as fast as our horses would go, the lieutenant being fully
as eager as I was, but it took as two days to reach the foot of the
mountains. Manley declared that he could not have found the spot had it
not been for my assistance. We here formed camp, while he and I, with
six of our strongest baggage animals, and men to look after them, took
our way up the mountain.
I need scarcely describe the route. Sometimes we made tolerable
progress, at other times we had to use the greatest caution to escape
falling over the precipices which we had now on one side, now on the
other. But the most arduous part of the undertaking was forcing our way
through the primeval forests, over trunks of trees, and through pools of
water, into which the horses sank up to their knees. The poor brutes
had an uncomfortable time of it. The men, armed with thick sticks, went
behind whacking them unmercifully, while others dragged away at their
heads. I was thankful to have the task of acting as guide, although it
was not an easy one--having every now and then to climb over fallen logs
or leap across pools. I was, however, saved the pain of witnessing the
sufferings of the animals; and I determined, if possible, to find an
easier path down again.
At length a height which separated us from the first valley was passed;
and looking down, to our infinite satisfaction we caught sight of a
well-constructed hut, with a wreath of smoke ascending from its chimney.
All, then, was likely to be well. Manley and I, leaving our men to
follow with the animals, hurried down, and in less than a quarter of an
hour we were shaking hands with Uncle Jeff and Clarice. I need scarcely
describe how Manley and my fair young sister met, but it was very
evident that they were not sorry to see each other. Rachel came out,
beaming with smiles; and in a short time Pat Sperry appeared, followed
by another person whom I was truly glad to see--Gideon Tuttle. The
latter had joined Uncle Jeff some days before. Although desperately
wounded, he had managed to make his escape, and had lain in hiding in
the mountains for several days, till he had recovered sufficient
strength to travel. The report he gave us of Bartle, however, was truly
alarming. There could be no doubt that he had been captured by the
Indians, and, Gideon feared, must have been put to death by them; but
when I told him what Piomingo said, he became more hopeful as to the
fate of his old friend.
"If he is alive, we will find him out, wherever he may be!" he
exclaimed. "Even if the varmints have him in the middle of their camp,
we will manage to set him free."
Uncle Jeff, as I expected, had not been idle. Ever since the day we had
left him, he had been hunting and trapping, and had collected a large
store of skins of all sorts of animals, with dried meat enough to supply
an army. The baggage animals we had brought could carry but a small
amount of the stores collected by Uncle Jeff. It was arranged,
therefore, that a larger number should be sent up as soon as possible,
to bring away the remainder. Who was to take charge of them? was the
question. Uncle Jeff, Gideon, and I, were naturally anxious to return
to Roaring Water, that we might get up huts and re-establish ourselves
before the commencement of winter.
While we were in this dilemma, Winnemak and several of his braves
appeared. On hearing of our difficulty, he said, "Commit them to my
care. I will protect them with my life--although I believe no one will
venture up here to carry them off. I have, as yet, had few
opportunities of showing my gratitude. I failed to assist you, when I
wished to do so, against the Arrapahas; but in this matter I can, at all
events, render you a service."
"Where will Maysotta remain while you are up in the mountains?" asked
Uncle Jeff, after he had accepted Winnemak's offer.
"Oh, let her come with us!" exclaimed Clarice. "I wish to show her that
I am grateful for the service which she rendered me; and she may perhaps
be pleased with the life we lead. She has several times expressed a
wish to know how white people spend their time."
The chief, who seldom interfered with the movements of his daughter,
replied that she was at liberty to do as she wished, and that we should
find her in the camp at the foot of the mountains.
Lieutenant Broadstreet had to rejoin his men as soon as possible, and no
time, therefore, was lost in commencing our journey down the mountain.
Winnemak and several of his people were left in charge of Uncle Jeff's
hut and stores.
We had not a few difficulties to encounter on our return, but Clarice,
by whose side Manley rode whenever the path would permit, endured them
bravely; and we ultimately, without accident, reached the foot of the
mountains, where we found Maysotta encamped with the remainder of her
people. She was well pleased with the proposal Clarice made to her; and
her baggage being put into little bulk, she mounted her horse and
accompanied us forthwith.