THE PICK, PAN, AND SHOVEL--SOMEWHAT DOWN IN THE MOUTH--"ROPING IN A
GREENEY"--THE SHREWD YANKEE--A SQUARE MEAL, AND A BAD ONE--NO
GOLD--NEARLY AT STARVATION POINT--THE ELK, AND HOW LONG IT
LASTED--MOUNTAIN MEAT--CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS--MY EXPERIENCE OF
THE STAKE--CONVERTED INTO A CANDLESTICK--THE CRACK OF A DOZEN
RIFLES.
In something less than two weeks, my shoulder was completely well, and
the enforced inactivity had made me restless.
At this time, the vast treasures of gold said to be awaiting the miner
in British Columbia, near Frazer's River, created great excitement
through the West. The fever of this excitement was like all such
fevers--contagious among the idle. Having then nothing to do, I caught
it. In an informal meeting with several of the Rangers, I proposed to
them that we should visit the new land of promise. As they were willing
to accompany me, a full meeting was summoned. At this it was unanimously
determined that the journey should be undertaken, if we could make it by
land.
After some few days spent in the necessary inquiries, it was finally
decided we should start for the recently discovered locality, where
fortunes were believed to be awaiting the pick, pan, and shovel--as
speedily as we could make due preparation for doing so.
This did not take any very great length of time. In less than a week the
whole of us were in readiness. And after a kindly, and, in some cases,
more than kindly, farewell to our friends in Susanville and round Honey
Lake, we put ourselves on the road to the new locality.
The natural rush and active whirl of my life during the last few years,
had, by this, almost deadened my memory for those friends I had left in
the East. He, who is from day to day almost carrying his life in his
hand, has not overmuch time or wish for reflection. Occasionally, I
would think of my wife and my other relatives. But I had not yet made
enough, really to contemplate returning to them. Young still, it
appeared to me that there were yet days and years sufficient before me,
to dismiss all such dreams for, at any rate, the present.
In fact, as I have earlier said, I relished the constant change and dash
of the life I had entered on.
It was no use disguising it, my nature was, in every respect, a
vagrantly instinctive one, full of vaguely wild hope, it is true, yet
mingled with an almost profound indifference to what the future chance
might be.
Nevertheless, on the night before we had determined upon commencing our
arduous journey, I could not help feeling somewhat down in the mouth. It
was with a rare and scant attack of homesickness, which, however, passed
away from me on the next morning, almost as soon as I found myself in
the saddle.
It would be unnecessary for me to catalogue the various points we
touched, through our course, in the fashion of a guide-book. This, the
more especially as nothing of great interest occurred on the way, until,
in due time, we struck Frazer's River, near Fort Hope.
Here we remained for a few days, in order to give our animals the rest
they needed. They had done us good service.
In this place, we found that the hunger for gold was drawing men of the
same nature as ourselves, to the last-discovered Eldorado, from every
part of the country. Young men who wished to grow wealthy without
patient toil, and men more advanced in years, whose days of labor had as
yet profited them little, with an occasional "rough" from one of the
larger cities, whose reputation forced him into a new country, or the
gambler, whose practice in "stocking the cards" or "roping in a
greeney," had become too well known. Some few came also, whose talents
should have enabled them to do battle with the world successfully, in
any location they had chosen. Their reasons for seeking Frazer's River
were, however, kept to themselves. None of my companions had sufficient
time on his hands, or enough curiosity, to seek to draw the veil from
the past life of any of them.
There were, however, some few who had tried the mines and were
returning. Want of patience or want of luck, one, or, it may be
possible, both of these had conjointly made them unsuccessful.
With neither gold in their pockets nor grub in their packs, these men
were for the most part dead-broke, and heaped their imprecations on the
country they were quitting in vigorously round terms. Nor could it be
said, that granting their ill-fortune might somewhat have colored their
opinions, these were too flattering.
One of these whom we met with, was a stalwart specimen of the shrewd
Yank. I and Ben Painter had encountered him, wandering round in a
disconsolately drifting manner, and with a hungrily wolfish look on his
lean jaws, which inspired us with a degree of sympathy. Moreover, we
were mentally "prospecting" the yet unseen diggings. The information he
could give us, might be valuable. So, although provisions were already
scarce, and even coffee a luxury, we asked him into the camp to share
our evening meal, which, to tell the truth, was by no means too
plentiful. After feeding, he honored us by saying:
"'Tarnation bad as yer supper is, it is the first square meal I've eat,
for three days."
"How war that?" Butch' asked.
"Yer see, in the mines there war nothing to get for love or money. And
here, I guess, there's darned little love unless yer can buy it."
"We heard that, up here, you had only to turn a shovel to find gold."
"And b'lieved it, as I did," he quietly growled out.
"Yer don't mean to say there are none," ejaculated Ben.
"I guess yer won't do more than any o' the rest on us."
"But, some must have had a fair share of success," I said.
"Why d'yer think so, Captain?" he drawled out, nasally.
"From the row about the diggings that has been made through the whole of
the West."
"Well, I'll tell yer. I was one of the first that come out here, from
Kalifornee. I'd been duing a smartish bit of business down thar. But I
tell yer, the dollars didn't come in fast enough. Than, I heerd of this
darned place, and thought I'd strike for it and find 'ile, sure. So, I
made up a good kit o' things to last me two months, and sit out. Darn
the diggings. I've been at work thar, more nor three months, and here I
am at the first square meal I've sot down tu for three days, as I told
yer before, and a darned bad one, too, as I said when I finished it."
"Then you don't believe there is much gold in this part of the country?"
"Thar may be, Captain!"
"What do yer mean, then?" inquired Ben Painter.
"I found none," drawled out the Yank as he slowly rose, "and by the
'Tarnal! I nev'r met one as has."
The groan that issued from the bottom of Brighton Bill's stomach, would,
at any other time than this, have provoked mirth. It did not, however,
do so now. The matter was far too serious for laughter.
If the disgusted Yankee had told us the truth, it was evidently no use
for us to help thicken the crowd of deluded seekers for gold, thronging
to the diggings. Provisions, as I have earlier said, were scarce. They
were consequently dear. Our own stock had for several days been running
low. What was to be done?
More inquiries were made by us. The replies, although varying in degree,
were all of them confirmatory, more or less, of the Yankee's opinion.
After a brief council of war, the Rangers, therefore, decided upon
striking once more for Puget Sound, in search of game. If we found it,
we would kill enough for us to take our return-trail. Game, however, was
scarcer in that locality than we had found gold to be in the
neighborhood of Frazer's River. We had to betake ourselves to digging;
not in the soil for the precious metal, but in the sand on the shore of
the Sound for clams and mussels. Even these were rarely found by us. In
short, the Rangers and their leader were reduced to the very verge of
starvation. Nor did we run any risk of meeting any charitable person
who might have the means of giving us "one square meal," even if it were
"a darned bad one."
In this strait, it was resolved on to start for the mountains, and take
the chance of killing or being killed, to save us from dying by hunger.
Here, for the first two days, we met with scarcely anything. About noon
on the third, I and Arnold were standing together. During the whole
morning we had found no game, and were gazing around us with that sense
of discomfort a continuously empty stomach is certain to produce in
humanity, when we heard a shot in the distance. It was to the right of
us. Almost immediately it was followed by another. As the two puffs of
smoke drifted above the stunted pines which covered the unequally rough
ground in that direction, I heard a sound which, faintly as it came to
us, I immediately recognized, from the use of it by Brighton Bill. It
was what he called:
"A 'onest British cheer."
"You know the voice, Mose?"
"Yes! Let's break for it."
We accordingly "broke" in its direction. Three more of the boys had
already joined him and Ben Painter by the time we had arrived there. The
two first mentioned had met with the good fortune of spotting a huge
elk. The animal had been killed, and while still warm, the men were
engaged in skinning him.
A fire was quickly kindled, and, by the time, portion of the elk was
ready for our ravenous appetites, the remainder of the Rangers entered
their names as partners in the welcome feast. For, that it was right
welcome, my present remembrance of it unmistakably assures me.
Stopping here until we had jerked most of the meat on the elk's large
carcass, we again started on our journey back.
Having travelled in an easterly course through a magnificently wooded
country, we reached the Columbia River, near Fort Okimakane, and passing
down it through the territory occupied by the Flat-head tribe of
Indians, arrived at the Walla-Walla. Thence we crossed the Blue
Mountains; and, after several days' more travelling through the rocky
wilderness and broken cañons, arrived at the Owyhee, which, some
distance higher up, we crossed and continued over the range of hills by
the side of this stream, until we at length reached Surprise Valley.
We camped in this spot for two weeks, for the purpose of recruiting our
horses and hunting up game. The jerked elk-flesh was already very nearly
brought to an end.
It was, while we were in this neighborhood, that I met with an adventure
which very nearly ended this volume before I had even written a page of
it, if I may be pardoned the Irishism of this expression. But, for the
opportune arrival of the Buckskin Rangers, my life would very certainly
not have been worth an empty powder-can.
Early one sharply fresh morning, I had left the camp in the direction of
High Rock Cañon. This was at a distance of some ten miles.
While upon my way, perhaps some six miles or more, I saw a
mountain-sheep. Having a liking for wild mutton, I cautiously crept
round the cliff upon which he was standing, to get a fair shot at him.
At length reaching a spot from which I might consider myself fairly sure
of the meat, I fired.
The shot told, and the animal fell.
However, instead of dropping where he stood, and where I could not
inconveniently have become possessor of the toothsome flesh, the
perverse sheep preferred rolling down the cliff.
Well! It would be some more trouble, but I could easily get him. I
therefore went round to the base of the cliff. On arriving there, I
could not help swearing a most ungodly oath. That wretched lump of
mountain-meat had chosen to remain some half-way from the bottom on
which I was, and the top of the precipice, on which he had been
standing.
My readers may already have been enabled to give me credit for what I
consider my resolution, although some of my good friends have not
unoccasionally denominated it obstinacy.
It came very decidedly into play, upon this occasion.
I was determined not to be balked in my love for mountain-mutton. In
accordance with my resolve, I prepared to climb after it. The face of
the cliff was so steep and rugged that, in order to have the use of both
my hands, I was compelled to relinquish my rifle. Therefore, depositing
it where I stood, I commenced the ascent. Being a good climber, I
naturally thought I should have no more difficulty than that which
generally attends such an operation. Neither, had I. After reaching the
jutting point upon which my mutton had so pertinaciously lodged, I
dislodged it, and sent it down the rough precipice. It was now time to
think of myself regaining the base of the cliff, in a less rapid mode.
But, to descend was no child's play. Now I could not find the footing
which I remembered previously having. Consequently, I was obliged to
wriggle my body to one side or the other, in order to find a place to
rest on. Afterwards, the rock would crumble under me, or fragments upon
which my feet were resting would slip out of their bedding. Moreover, my
sight was utterly useless. I had to depend upon the trained sense of
feeling in my moccasined toes. Having covered some space of the face of
the cliff, I began to find I was not descending it in the same direction
in which I had ascended it. The cliff was sloping inwards. Again I had
to climb and try a new line. This was apparently somewhat better.
However, placing my feet upon the roots of a sage-bush, I was incautious
enough to trust my whole weight to it.
It tore out from the face of the cliff.
When I felt it giving way, I threw out my hands to grasp at some
support.
While falling, all the errors and faults I had committed, seemed to rush
across my mind. Why it was, I know not, but the star-like eyes of
Clo-ke-ta blazed upon my memory.
Then I struck the rocky ground beneath me, and, for the time, remembered
no more.
Upon coming to my senses, I found that my hands were bound behind me.
Looking with scarcely conscious anger around, I saw several red-skins.
These, I presume, had been watching me, amusing themselves with my
desperate efforts to descend the cliff, and calculating upon trapping me
when I reached its foot.
No sooner had I seen them than the positive danger restored my senses.
Resistance was, however, useless. Raising me to my feet, they commenced
driving me down the valley. Deliberately, I say, "driving." Nor was this
driving done by any means in a merciful fashion. It was effected with
heavy blows and sharp sticks, which were aimed at and thrust into my
ribs and sides, with no pity.
For the moment, however, I was unconscious of this.
The red devils were going straight in the direction of our camp. Great
God! If they only did not pause until they arrived there.
This was a futile hope.
They paused about two miles and a half from the place where my boys
were. With a vain effort at being heard, I gave vent to a loud shout. A
burly Indian struck me heavily across the mouth to silence what he haply
considered my bravado. "I was a white brave, and I knew that I must
die." It was natural red-skin reasoning.
Then spitting in my face, he spoke briefly in their guttural tongue, and
in a few moments more I had been stripped of all my clothing, and
compelled to stand with my feet about twenty inches apart. Stakes were
driven into the earth by the side of these, to which my legs were
tightly lashed. Then, planting in the ground other stakes at a short
distance, my arms were extended at full length, and bound to them. A
cord around my neck was fastened to another stake in my rear. In
addition to this, two sharpened stakes were planted directly under my
arm-pits. It was thus rendered almost impossible for me, even to stir.
No sooner had this been effected, than the entertainment, for such they
evidently considered it, commenced.
The _Mahalas_ or squaws had been pointing splinters of grease-wood,
about three inches in length. As the braves danced round me, whooping,
yelling, or singing one of their wild war-songs, the squaws would strike
the pointed splinters into my flesh and leave them sticking in it. After
somewhat wearying of their share in this cheerful pandemonium, the
braves would squat upon the earth and rest, while their squaws subjected
me to more horrible torture than the mind of the white could conceive
without personal experience. Human excrement was thrust in my face, and
rubbed over my mouth. When they would pause awhile, it seemed as if they
were only trying to invent some more disgusting and possibly more
painful mode of torture.
[Illustration: "The braves would squat upon the earth and rest, while
their squaws subjected me to more horrible tortures than the mind could
conceive without personal experience."--_Page 141._]
But what is the use of prolonging such a recital?
This infernal orgy was kept up until night set in, when the climax of
their devilish fury was capped by their taking burning brands from the
fires which had been kindled, and igniting the splinters of grease-wood
which they had thrust in my body.
It is absolutely impossible by mere words to convey any idea of even the
tenth part of the agony which this caused me. Ten thousand needles,
red-hot, seemed to be piercing my flesh and stabbing me in every part of
my body with their lancing flame.
Up to this moment, I had not abandoned all hope.
Perhaps, the boys might come up in time to save me.
In my now maddening suffering, I actually prayed that it might end.
Heaping every species of opprobrium on the red demons, that I could, in
my own tongue, I added to them such galling Indian terms as I had been
able to pick up during my life in the West. These were not
over-numerous, but they would have been more than sufficient to have
inspired the incarnate devils with a greater fury, and, in a few moments
more, I should have been quit of all the trouble and suffering of the
world in which I had been a dweller.
As this desire was surging incontrollably above my bodily agony, I heard
the crack of a dozen rifles.
The same number of the Indians dropped in the very places on which they
had been sitting or standing, and I knew that I was saved.