Glenn’s castle—Mary—Books—A hunt—Joe and Pete—A tumble—An opossum—A
shot—Another tumble—A doe—The return—They set out again—A mound—A
buffalo—An encounter—Night—Terrific
spectacle—Escape—Boone—Sneak—Indians.
Some weeks had passed since the bear hunt. The emigrants had crossed
the river, and selected their future homes in the groves that bordered
the prairie, some miles distant from the ferry. Glenn, when landed on
the south side of the Missouri, took up his abode for a short time with
Jasper Roughgrove, the ferryman, while some half dozen men, whose
services his gold secured, were building him a novel habitation. And
the location was as singular as the construction of his house. It was
on a peak that jutted over the river, some three hundred feet high,
whence he had a view eight or ten miles down the stream, and across the
opposite bottom-land to the hills mentioned in the preceding chapter.
The view was obstructed above by a sudden bend of the stream; but on
the south, the level prairie ran out as far as the eye could reach,
interrupted only by the young groves that were interspersed at
intervals. His house, constructed of heavy stones, was about fifteen
feet square, and not more than ten in height. The floor was formed of
hewn timbers, the walls covered with a rough coat of lime, and the roof
made of heavy boards. However uncouth this abode appeared to the eye of
Glenn, yet he had followed the instructions of Boone, (to whom he had
fully disclosed his plan, and repeated his odd resolution,) and reared
a tenement not only capable of resisting the wintry winds that were to
howl around it, but sufficiently firm to withstand the attacks of any
foe, whether the wild beast of the forest or the prowling Indian. The
door was very narrow and low, being made of a solid rock full six
inches in thickness, which required the strength of a man to turn on
its hinges, even when the ponderous bolt on the inside was unfastened.
There was a small square window on each side containing a single pane
of glass, and made to be secured at a moment’s warning, by means of
thick stone shutters on the inside. The fire-place was ample at the
hearth, but the flue through which the smoke escaped was small, and ran
in a serpentine direction up through the northern wall; while the
ceiling was overlaid with smooth flat stones, fastened down with huge
iron spikes, and supported by strong wooden joists. The furniture
consisted of a few trunks, (which answered for seats,) two camp beds,
four barrels of hard biscuit, a few dishes and cooking utensils, and a
quantity of hunting implements. Many times did Joe shake his head in
wonderment as this house was preparing for his reception. It seemed to
him too much danger was apprehended from without, and it too much
resembled a solitary, and secure prison, should one be confined within.
Nevertheless, he was permitted to adopt his own plan in the
construction of a shelter for the horses. And the retention of these
animals was some relief to his otherwise gloomy forebodings, when he
beheld the erection of his master’s suspicious tenement. He
superintended the building of a substantial and comfortable stable. He
had stalls, a small granary, and a regular rack made for the
accommodation of the horses, and procured, with difficulty and no
little expense, a supply of provender. The space, including the
buildings, which had been cleared of the roots and stones, for the
purpose of cultivating a garden, was about one hundred feet in
diameter, and enclosed by a circular row of posts driven firmly in the
ground, and rising some ten feet above the surface. These were planted
so closely together that even a squirrel would have found it difficult
to enter without climbing over them. Indeed, Joe had an especial eye to
this department, having heard some awful tales of the snakes that
somewhat abounded in those regions in the warm seasons.
One corner of the stable, wherein a quantity of straw was placed, was
appropriated for the comfort of the dogs, Ringwood and Jowler, which
had been presented to Glenn by his obliging friend, after they had
exhibited their skill in the bear hunt.
When every thing was completed, preparatory for his removal thither,
Glenn dismissed his faithful artisans, bestowing upon them a liberal
reward for their labour, and took possession of his castle. But,
notwithstanding the strange manner in which he proposed to spend his
days, and his habitual grave demeanour and taciturnity, yet his kind
tone, when he uttered a request, or ventured a remark, on the
transactions passing around him, and his contempt for money, which he
squandered with a prodigal hand, had secured for him the good-will of
the ferrymen, and the friendship of the surrounding emigrants. But
there was one whose esteem had no venal mixture in it. This was Mary,
the old ferryman’s daughter, a fair-cheeked girl of nineteen, who never
neglected an opportunity of performing a kind office for her father’s
temporary guest; and when he and his man departed for their own
tenement, not venturing directly to bestow them on our hero, she
presented Joe with divers articles for their amusement and comfort in
their secluded abode, among which were sundry live fowls, a pet fawn,
and a kitten.
The first few days, after being installed in his solitary home, our
hero passed with his books. But he did not realize all the satisfaction
he anticipated from his favourite authors in his secluded cell. The
scene around him contrasted but ill with the creations of Shakspeare;
and if some of the heroes of Scott were identified with the wildest
features of nature, he found it impossible to look around him and enjoy
the magic of the page at the same time.
Joe employed himself in attending to his horses, feeding the fowls and
dogs, and playing with the fawn and a kitten. He also practiced loading
and shooting his musket, and endeavoured to learn the mode of doing
execution on other objects without committing violence on himself.
“Joe,” said Glenn, one bright frosty morning, “saddle the horses; we
will make an excursion in the prairie, and see what success we can have
without the presence and assistance of an experienced hunter. I
designed awaiting the visit of Boone, which he promised should take
place about this time; but we will venture out without him; if we kill
nothing, at least we shall have the satisfaction of doing no harm.”
Joe set off towards the stable, smiling at Glenn’s joke, and heartily
delighted to exchange the monotony of his domestic employment, which
was becoming irksome, for the sports of the field, particularly as he
was now entirely recovered from the effects of his late disasters, and
began to grow weary of wasting his ammunition in firing at a target,
when there was an abundance of game in the vicinity.
“Whoop! Bingwood—Jowler!” cried he, leading the horses briskly forth.
The dogs came prancing and yelping round him, as well pleased as
himself at the prospect of a day’s sport; and when Glenn came out they
exhibited palpable signs of recognition and eagerness to accompany
their new master on his first deer-hunt. Glenn stroked their heads,
which were constantly rubbed against his hands, and his caresses were
gratefully received by the faithful hounds. He had been instructed by
Boone how to manage them, so as either to keep them at his side when he
wished to approach the game stealthily, or to send them forth when
rapid pursuit was required, and he was now anxious to test their
sagacity.
When mounted, the young men set forward in a southern direction, the
valley in which the ferryman’s cabin was situated on one hand, and one
about the same distance above on the other. But the space between them
gradually widened as they progressed, and in a few minutes both
disappeared entirely, terminating in scarcely perceptible rivulets
running slowly down from the high and level prairie. Here Glenn paused
to determine what course he should take. The sun shone brightly on the
interminable expanse before him, and not a breeze ruffled the long dry
grass around, nor disturbed the few sear leaves that yet clung to the
diminutive clusters of bushes scattered at long intervals over the
prairie. It was a delightful scene. From the high position of our hero,
he could distinguish objects miles distant on the plain; and if the
landscape was not enlivened by houses and domestic herds, he could at
all events here and there behold parties of deer browsing peacefully in
the distance. Ringwood and Jowler also saw or scented them, as their
attention was pointed in that direction; but so far from marring the
sport by prematurely running forward, they knew too well their duty to
leave their master, even were the game within a few paces of them,
without the word of command.
“I see a deer!” cried Joe, at length, having till then been employed
gathering some fine wild grapes from a neighbouring vine.
“I see several,” replied Glenn; “but how we are to get within gun shot
of them, is the question.”
“I see them, too,” said Joe, his eyes glistening.
“I have thought of a plan, Joe; whether right or wrong, is not very
material, as respects the exercise we are seeking; but I am inclined to
believe it is the proper one. It will at all events give you a fair
opportunity of killing a deer, as you will have to fire as they run,
and the great number of bullets in your musket will make you more
certain to do execution than if you fired a rifle. You will proceed to
yon thicket, about a thousand yards distant, keeping the bushes all the
time between you and the deer. When you arrive at it dismount, and
after tying your pony in the bushes where he will be well hid, select a
position whence you can see the deer when they run; I think they will
go within reach of your fire. I will make a detour beyond them, and
approach from the opposite side.”
“I’d rather not tie my pony,” said Joe.
“Why? he would not leave you, even were he to get loose,” replied
Glenn.
“I don’t think he would—but I’d rather not leave him yet awhile, till I
get a little better used to hunting,” said Joe, probably thinking there
might be some danger to himself on foot in a country where bears,
wolves, and panthers were sometimes seen.
“Can you fire while sitting on your pony?” inquired Glenn.
“I suppose so,” said Joe; “though I never thought to try it yet.”
“Suppose you try it now, while I watch the deer, and see if what I have
been told is true, that the mere report of a gun will not alarm them.”
“Well, I will,” said Joe. “I think Pete knows as well as the steed,
that shooting on him won’t hurt him.”
“Fire away, then,” said Glenn, looking steadfastly at the deer. Joe
fired, and none of the deer ran off. Some continued their playful
sports, while others browsed along without lifting their heads; in all
likelihood the report did not reach them. But Glenn heard a tremendous
thumping behind, and on turning round, beheld his man quietly lying on
the ground, and the pony standing about ten paces distant, with his
head turned towards Joe, his ears thrust forwards, his nostrils
distended and snorting, and his little blue eyes ready to burst out of
his head.
[Illustration: Glenn heard a tremendous thumping behind.]
“How is this, Joe?” inquired Glenn, scarce able to repress a smile at
the ridiculous posture of his man.
“I hardly know myself,” replied Joe, casting a silly glance at his
treacherous pony; and after examining his limbs and finding no injury
had been sustained, continued, “I fired as you directed, and when the
smoke cleared away, I found myself lying just as you see me here. I
don’t know how Pete contrived to get from under me, but there he
stands, and here I lie.”
“Load your gun, and try it again,” said Glenn.
“I’d rather not,” said Joe.
“Then I will,” replied Glenn, whose horsemanship enabled him to retain
the saddle in spite of the straggles of Pete, who, after several
discharges, submitted and bore it quietly.
Joe then mounted and set out for the designated thicket, while Glenn
galloped off in another direction, followed by the hounds.
When Joe arrived at the hazel thicket, he continued in the saddle, and
otherwise he would not have been able to see over the prairie for the
tall grass which had grown very luxuriantly in that vicinity. There was
a path, however, running round the edge of the bushes, which had been
made by the deer and other wild animals, and in this he cautiously
groped his way, looking out in every direction for the deer. When he
had progressed about halfway round, he espied them feeding composedly,
about three hundred paces distant, on a slight eminence. There were at
least fifteen of them, and some very large ones. Fearful of giving the
alarm before Glenn should fire, he shielded himself from view behind a
cluster of persimmon bushes, and tasted the ripe and not unpalatable
fruit. And here he was destined to win his first trophy as a hunter.
While bending down some branches over head, without looking up, an
opossum fell upon his hat, knocking it over his eyes, and springing on
the neck of Pete, thence leaped to the ground. But before it
disappeared Joe had dismounted, and giving it a blow with the butt of
his musket it rolled over on its side, with its eyes closed and tongue
hanging out, indicating that the stroke had been fatal.
“So much for you!” said Joe, casting a proud look at his victim; and
then leaping on his pony, he gazed again at the deer. They seemed to be
still entirely unconscious of danger, and several were now lying in the
grass with their heads tip, and chewing the cud like domestic animals.
Joe drew back once more to await the action of Glenn, and turning to
look at the opossum, found to his surprise that it had vanished!
“Well, I’m the biggest fool that ever breathed!” said he, recollecting
the craftiness imputed to those animals, and searching in vain for his
game. “If ever I come across another, he’ll not come the ’possum over
me, I’ll answer for it!” he continued, somewhat vexed. At this juncture
Glenn’s gun was heard, and Joe observed a majority of the deer leaping
affrighted in the direction of his position. The foremost passed within
twenty yards of him, and, his limbs trembling with excitement, he drew
his gun up to his shoulder and pulled the trigger. It snapped, perhaps
fortunately, for his eyes were convulsively closed at the moment; and
recovering measurably by the time the next came up, this trial the gun
went off, and he found himself once more prostrate on the ground.
“What in the world is the reason you won’t stand still!” he exclaimed,
rising and seizing the pony by the bit. The only answer Pete made was a
snort of unequivocal dissatisfaction. “Plague take your little _hide_
of you! I should have killed that fellow to a certainty, if you hadn’t
played the fool!” continued he, still addressing his pony while he
proceeded to load his gun. When ready for another fire, he mounted
again, in quite an ill humour, convinced that all chance of killing a
deer was effectually over for the present, when, to his utter
astonishment, he beheld the deer he had fired at lying dead before him,
and but a few paces distant. With feelings of unmixed delight he
galloped to where it lay, and springing to the earth, one moment he
whirled round his hat in exultation, and the next caressed Pete, who
evinced some repugnance to approach the weltering victim, and snuffed
the scent of blood with any other sensation than that of pleasure. Joe
discovered that no less than a dozen balls had penetrated the doe’s
side, (for such it was,) which sufficiently accounted for its immediate
and quiet death, that had so effectually deceived him into the belief
that his discharge had been harmless. He now blew his horn, which was
answered by a blast from Glenn, who soon came up to announce his own
success in bringing down the largest buck in the party, and to
congratulate his man on his truly remarkable achievement.
An hour was consumed in preparing the deer to be conveyed to the house,
and by the time they were safely deposited in our hero’s diminutive
castle, and the hunters ready to issue forth in quest of more sport,
the day was far advanced, and a slight haziness of the atmosphere
dimmed in a great measure the lustre of the descending sun.
Animated with their excellent success, they anticipated much more
sport, inasmuch as neither themselves nor the hounds (which hitherto
were not required to do farther service than to watch one of the deer
while the men were engaged with the other) were in the slightest degree
fatigued. The hours flew past unnoticed, while the young men proceeded
gayly outward from the river in quest of new adventures.
Glenn and his man rode far beyond the scene of their late success
without discovering any new object to gratify their undiminished zest
for the chase. It seemed that the deer which had escaped had actually
given intelligence to the rest of the arrival of a deadly foe in the
vicinity, for not one could now be seen in riding several miles. The
sun was sinking low and dim in the west, and Glenn was on the eve of
turning homeward, when, on emerging from the flat prairie to a slight
eminence that he had marked as boundary of his excursion, he beheld at
no great distance an enormous mound, of pyramidical shape, which, from
its isolated condition, he could not believe to be the formation of
nature. Curious to inspect what he supposed to be a stupendous specimen
of the remains of former generations of the aborigines, he resolved to
protract his ride and ascend to the summit. The mound was some five
hundred feet in diameter at the base, and terminated at a peak about
one hundred and fifty feet in height. As our riders ascended, with some
difficulty keeping in the saddle, they observed the earth on the sides
to be mixed with flint-stones, and many of them apparently having once
been cut in the shape of arrow-heads; and in several places where
chasms had been formed by heavy showers, they remarked a great many
pieces of bones, but so much broken and decayed they could not be
certain that they were particles of human skeletons. When they reached
the summit, which was not more than twenty feet in width and entirely
barren, a magnificent scene burst in view. For ten or fifteen miles
round on every side, the eye could discern oval, oblong, and circular
groves of various dimensions, scattered over the rich virgin soil. The
gentle undulations of the prairie resembled the boundless ocean
entranced, as if the long swells had been suddenly abandoned by the
wind, and yet remained stationary in their rolling attitude.
“What think you of the view, Joe?” inquired Glenn, after regarding the
scene many minutes in silence.
“I’ve been watching a little speck, way out toward the, sun, which
keeps bobbing up and down, and gets bigger and bigger,” said Joe.
“I mean the prospect around,” said Glenn. I can’t form an opinion,
because I can’t see the end of it,” replied Joe, still intently
regarding the object referred to.
“That is an animal of some kind,” observed Glenn, marking the object
that attracted Joe.
“And a wapper, too; when I first saw it I thought it was a rabbit, and
now it’s bigger than a deer, and still a mile or two off,” said Joe.
“We’ll wait a few minutes, and see what it is,” replied Glenn, checking
his steed, which had proceeded a few steps downward. The object of
their attention held its course directly towards them, and as it drew
nearer it was easily distinguished to be a very large buffalo, an
animal then somewhat rare so near the white man’s settlement, and one
that our hero had often expressed a wish to see. Its dark shaggy sides,
protuberant back and bushy head, were quite perceptible as it careered
swiftly onward, seemingly flying from some danger behind.
“Down, Ringwood! Jowler!” exclaimed Glenn, preparing to fire.
“Down, Joe, too,” said Joe, slipping down from his pony, preferring not
to risk another fall, and likewise preparing to fire.
When the buffalo reached the base of the mound, it saw for the first
time the objects above, and halted. It regarded the men with more
symptoms of curiosity than alarm, but as it gazed, its distressed
pantings indicated that it had been long retreating from some object of
dread.
Meantime both guns were discharged, and the contents undoubtedly
penetrated the animal’s body, for he leapt upright in the air, and on
descending, staggered off slowly in a course at right angles from the
one which he was first pursuing. Glenn then let the hounds go forth,
and soon overtaking the animal, they were speedily forced to act on the
defensive; for the enormous foe wheeled round and pursued in turn.
Finding the hounds were too cautious and active to fall victims to his
sharp horns, he pawed the earth, and uttered the most horrific
bellowings. As Glenn and Joe rode by the place where he had stood when
they fired, they perceived large quantities of frothy blood, which
convinced them that he had received a mortal wound. They rode on and
paused within eighty paces of where he now stood, and calling back the
baying hounds, again discharged their guns. The buffalo roared most
hideously, and making a few plunges towards his assailants, fell on his
knees, and the next moment turned over on his side.
“Come back, Joe!” cried Glenn to his man, who had mounted and wheeled
when the animal rushed towards them, and was still flying away as fast
as his pony could carry him.
“No—never!” replied Joe; “I won’t go nigh that awful thing! Don’t you
see it’s getting dark? How’ll we over find the way home again?”
The latter remark startled Glenn, for he had lost all consciousness of
the lateness of the hour in the excitement, and to his dismay had also
lost all recollection of the direction of his dwelling, and darkness
had now overtaken them! While pausing to reflect from which quarter
they first approached the mound, the buffalo, to his surprise and no
little chagrin, rose up and staggered away, the darkness seen obscuring
him from view altogether. Glenn, by a blast of his horn, recalled the
dogs, and joining Joe, set off much dispirited, in a course which he
feared was not the correct one. Night came upon them suddenly, and
before they had gone a mile the darkness was intense. And the
breathless calm that had prevailed during the day was now succeeded by
fitful winds that howled mournfully over the interminable prairie.
Interminable the plain seemed to our benighted riders, for there was
still no object to vary the monotony of the cheerless scene, although
they had paced briskly, and, as they supposed, far enough to have
reached the cliffs of the river. Nor was there even a sound heard as
they rode along, save the muffled strokes of their horses’ hoofs in the
dry grass that covered the earth, the low winds, and an occasional cry
of the dogs as they were trodden upon by the horses.
Ere long a change came over the scene. About two-thirds of the distance
round the verge of the horizon a faint light appeared, resembling the
scene when a dense curtain of clouds hangs over head, and the rays of
the morning sun steal under the edge of the thick vapour. But the stars
could be seen, and the only appearance of clouds was immediately above
the circle of light. In a very few minutes the terrible truth flashed
upon the mind of Glenn. The dim light along the horizon was changed to
an approaching flame! Columns of smoke could be seen rolling upwards,
while the fire beneath imparted a lurid glare to them. The wind blew
more fiercely, and the fire approached from almost every quarter with
the swiftness of a race horse. The darkened vault above became
gradually illuminated with a crimson reflection, and the young man
shuddered with the horrid apprehension of being burnt alive! It was
madness to proceed in a direction that must inevitably hasten their
fate, the fire extending in one unbroken line from left to right, and
in front of them; and they turned in a course which seemed to place the
greatest distance between them and the furious element. Ever and anon a
frightened deer or elk leaped past. The hounds no longer noticed them,
but remained close to the horses. The leaping flames came in awful
rapidity. The light increased in brilliance, and objects were
distinguishable far over the prairie. A red glare could be seen on the
sides of the deer as they bounded over the tall, dry grass, which was
soon to be no longer a refuge for them. The young men heard a low,
continued roar, that increased every moment in loudness, and looking in
the direction whence they supposed it proceeded, they observed an
immense, dark, moving mass, the nature of which they could not divine,
but it threatened to annihilate every thing that opposed it. While
gazing at this additional source of danger, the horses, blinded by the
surrounding light, plunged into a deep ditch that the rain had washed
in the rich soil. Neither men nor horses, fortunately, were injured;
and after several ineffectual efforts to extricate themselves, they
here resolved to await the coming of the fire. Ringwood and Jowler
whined fearfully on the verge of the ditch for an instant, and then
sprang in and crouched trembling at the feet of their master. The next
instant the dark, thundering mass passed over head, being nothing less
than an immense herd of buffalo driven forwards by the flames! The
horses bowed their heads as if a thunderbolt was passing. The fire and
the heavens were hid from view, and the roar above resembled the rush
of mighty waters. When the last animal had sprung over the chasm, Glenn
thanked the propitious accident that thus providentially prevented him
from being crushed to atoms, and uttered a prayer to Heaven that he
might by a like means be rescued from the fiery ordeal that awaited
him. It now occurred to him that the accumulation of weeds and grass in
the chasm, which saved them from injury when falling in, would prove
fatal when the flames arrived! And after groping some distance along
the trench, he found the depth diminished, but the fire was not three
hundred paces distant! His heart sank within him! But when on the eve
of returning to his former position, with a resolution to remove as
much of the combustible matter as possible, a gleam of joy spread over
his features, as, casting a glance in a direction from that they had
recently pursued, he beheld the identical mound he had ascended before
dark, and from which his unsteady and erratic riding in the night had
fortunately prevented a distant separation. They now led their horses
forth, and mounting without delay, whipped forward for life or death.
Could the summit of the mound be attained they were in safety—for there
the soil was not encumbered with decayed vegetation—and they spurred
their animals to the top of their speed. It was a noble sight to see
the majestic white steed flying towards the mound with the velocity of
the wind, while the diminutive pony miraculously followed in the wake
like an inseparable shadow. The careering flames were not far behind;
and when the horses gained the summit and Glenn looked back, the fire
had reached the base!
“I thank all the saints at once!” exclaimed Joe, dismounting and
falling on his knees.
“Thank your pony’s legs, also,” remarked Glenn, smiling.
“Was there ever such a blessed deliverance!” said Joe, panting.
“Was there ever such a lucky tumble into a ditch!” replied Glenn, with
spirits more buoyant than usual.
“Was there ever an old hunter so much deceived!” said a voice a few
paces down that side of the cone least exposed to the glare of the
fire, and so much in the shadow of the peak that the speaker was not
perceived from the position of the young men. But as soon as the words
were uttered, Ringwood and Jowler sprang from the horses’ heels where
they had lain panting, and rushed in the direction of the speaker, whom
they accosted with marks of joyful recognition.
“It is Boone!” exclaimed Glenn, leaping from his horse, and running
forward to his friend, who was now seen to rise up, and a moment after
his horse, that had been prostrate and still, was likewise on his feet.
“Ha! ha! ha! You have played me a fine trick, truly,” laughingly
remarked Boone, returning their hearty salutations.
“How?” inquired Glenn.
“In the first place, to venture forth before my arrival; in the next to
inspire me with the belief that I was on the eve of encountering a
brace of Indians. But I will begin at the beginning. When I crossed the
river and reached your hut, (which is indeed impregnable,) I was
astonished to find you had gone forth to hunt without a guide; and not
so much fearing you would be lost, should night overtake you, as
apprehending serious danger from the fire, the approach of which I
anticipated long before night, from the peculiar complexion of the
atmosphere, I set out on your trail, in hopes of overtaking you before
the shades of evening set in; but darkness coming on, I could trace you
no farther than to this mound. In vain did I endeavour to ascertain
which direction you then travelled; but resolving not to abandon the
search, I continued cruising about the prairie until the near approach
of the fire forced me to retreat hither. It was when urging my horse to
his utmost speed that I beheld you and your bear-hunter charging from
another direction, and from the partial view, as we were all under
whip, (and knowing the Osages were not far off,) I was instantly
convinced that you were savages. Arriving first, I made my sagacious
horse lie down, and then concealed myself behind his body.”
“I am not only rejoiced that we were not the savages you supposed, (for
then Joe and I must have perished in the flames somewhere,) on our own
account, but for the sake of the only man who can possibly extricate us
from this dilemma,” replied Glenn.
“You are somewhat wide of the mark as respects my jeopardy, my lad,”
said Boone; “for had you been hostile Osages, most assuredly ere this
you had both been killed.”
“Good gracious!” exclaimed Joe, whose predicament suddenly flashed upon
his mind; “for Heaven’s sake let us get home as fast as possible! He
says the Indians are about! Do let us go, Mr. Glenn; we can travel now
out yonder where the grass has all been burnt.”
“Pshaw! You seem more alarmed now, Joe, than when there really was
danger. Are the Osages truly hostile?” continued Glenn, addressing
Boone.
“They are not at war with the whites, as a nation,” replied Boone, ever
and anon looking towards the only point from which the fire now
approached; “but in thin settlements, where, they may easily be the
strongest party, as roving brigands, they may be considered extremely
dangerous. Your man’s advice is not bad.”
“There! Don’t you hear that? Now, _do_ let’s go home!” continued Joe,
with increased alarm.
Fortunately, that portion of the plain over which the scathing element
had spent its fury was the direction the party should pursue in
retracing their way homeward.
The light dry grass had been soon consumed, and the earth wore a
blackened appearance, and was as smooth as if vegetation had never
covered the surface. As the party rode briskly along, (and the pony now
kept in advance,) the horses’ hoofs rattled as loudly on the baked
ground as if it were a plank floor. The reflection of the fire in the
distance still threw a lurid glare over the extended heath. As the
smoke gradually ascended, objects could be discerned at a great
distance, and occasionally a half-roasted deer or elk, was seen
plunging about, driven to madness by its tortures. And frequently they
found the dead bodies of smaller animals that could find no safety in
flight.
“What’s that?” cried Joe, reining up his pony, and gazing at a huge
dark object ahead.
“A prize, to which we are justly entitled!” exclaimed Glenn, riding
forward, on discovering it to be the buffalo (now dead) that they had
fired upon early in the evening, and which circumstance he was relating
to Boone at the moment of the discovery by Joe.
“You have not only been lucky as hunters,” said Boone, as they
dismounted to inspect the animal, (which was an enormous bull,) “but,
what is extraordinary indeed, when you find your fallen game, it is
already cooked!”
“Huzza for us!” cried Joe, momentarily forgetting the Indians, in his
extravagant joy of having aided in killing the animal, and at the same
time leaping astride of it.
“The wolves have been here before us,” observed Boone, seeing a large
quantity of the buffalo’s viscera on the ground, which he supposed had
been torn out by those ravenous animals.
“Oh! oh! oh! oh!” exclaimed Joe, leaping up, and running a few steps,
and then tumbling down and continuing his cries.
“What has hurt the fellow so badly?” inquired Glenn, walking round from
the back of the animal to the front. The words were scarcely uttered
before he likewise sprang away, hastily, as he beheld a pronged
instrument thrust from the orifice in the body whence the bowels had
been extracted!
“Dod! I wonder if it’s wolves or Injins!” exclaimed a voice within the
cavity of the huge body.
“I’ve heard that voice before—it must be Sneak’s,” said Boone, laughing
heartily.
Now the buffalo was observed to quiver slightly, and after some
exertion to extricate himself, the long snake-like form of the
redoubtable “Hatchet-face” came forth and stood erect before the gaping
mouth and staring eyes of Joe.
“If I didn’t hear a white man speak, I wish I may be singed!” exclaimed
Sneak, wiping the moisture from his face, and rolling his eyes round.
“What did you stick that sharp thing in the calf of my leg for?”
demanded Joe, shaking his head threateningly and coming forward.
“He! he! he! That’s revenge for shooting my pups,” replied Sneak.
“But how came you here?” inquired Boone.
“I was taking a hunt”—here Boone interrupted him by asking where his
gun was. “I had no gun,” said Sneak; and then stooping down and running
his arm into the body of the buffalo, he produced a pronged spear,
about four feet in length; “this,” he continued, “is what I hunted
with, and I was hunting after muskrats in the ponds out here, when the
fire came like blazes, and like to ’ave ketched me! I dropped all the
muskrats I had stuck, and streaked it for about an hour towards the
river. But it gained on me like lightning, and I’d ’ave been in a purty
fix if I hadn’t come across this dead bull. I out with my knife and was
into him in less than no time—but split me, if I didn’t feel the heat
of the fire as I pulled in my feet! I knew the Injins was about, by the
buffalo; and the tarnation wolves, too, are always everywhere, and that
accounts for my jobbing that feller’s leg when he sot down on top of
me.”
Glenn’s laughter at the above narration was arrested by Boone, who
placed one hand on his shoulder, and with the other pointed out towards
the fire about a mile distant, before which and thrown in relief by the
flames could be distinctly discerned the flitting forms of a band of
savages! A number were mounted, and others could be seen on foot, and
all moving about in various directions round a large herd of buffalo,
which occasionally made a stand to resist the foe that harassed them on
all sides, but were soon driven forward again by the flames. Now a
mounted chief could be seen to ride boldly up within a few paces of the
dark mass of animals, and drawing his arrow to the head, discharge it,
shaft and all, into the defenceless side of his victim. The enraged
animal thus pursued either fell or rushed furiously on its foe; but the
skilful savage, by a dexterous turn or sudden leap, seemed to avoid him
with ease, and flying round, sent forth another barbed messenger as he
careered at full speed.
“As I’m afoot, I’ll go ahead!” cried Sneak, starting off at a gait that
verified his words.
“Good gracious!” exclaimed Joe, leaping on his pony and whipping after
Sneak, while Boone and Glenn followed in a brisk gallop.