BETWEEN TORTURE AND SAFETY--THE VALUE OF POPULARITY--UNCLE SAM'S
BLUE-COATS--A TRAPPING EXPEDITION--IN FOR IT--THE CAPTURE OF MY
FIRST PET GRIZZLY--SKINNING AND CARVING--"PROSPECTING" FOR
SILVER--A LIVING BLANKET--DARKNESS AND THE SURPRISE--CARRIED OFF AS
A CAPTIVE--OUT OF THE THONGS--THE BUTT AND THE MUZZLE--WHO IS THE
REAL HERO?
It seemed, that when I had not returned to the camp by dusk, the boys
had begun to be somewhat uneasy on account of my prolonged absence.
Butch' Hasbrouck then volunteered to hunt me up. Ben Painter was the
only one with him. Although uneasy, none of them really believed I was
in a serious difficulty. If they had, as Butch' subsequently said, when,
some weeks later, talking the matter over with me, they would have had
me "out of the tight place I war in, a good hour sooner."
It was not long ere they heard the noise made by the howling and yelling
devils.
"There war something up," as Painter whispered to Butch'.
Then they crept nearer.
On discovering the light of the camp-fires, and recognizing through the
trees the forms of the red-skins moving rapidly amongst them, they
instantaneously concluded that I had been killed, and that the savages
were celebrating the event in their own fashion. "By sheer luck," as
Painter expressed it, they did not come near enough the _Campoody_ or
Indian camp to discover me. Had they done so, they were two men only,
and could not have saved me, although they might, or rather would,
beyond any doubt, have made my death a somewhat costly one to the
Indians, who would most certainly have finished me before their two
rifles could have settled enough of the scoundrels to prevent their
doing so.
They returned to the camp and told Arnold and the rest what they had
seen.
If I had previously any doubt of my popularity with the boys, the result
of the information thus given would have dispelled it.
In an instant every man was on his legs, and in another half-minute,
armed with their rifles and revolvers, they were following the two
scouts who had located the red-skins.
On drawing sufficiently near, they had discovered me.
It would be needless to recapitulate what I have already stated. Their
plan was determined upon, and they carried it fully out. Not a single
red-skin, male or female, nor even a _papoose_, was suffered to escape.
Indeed, I believe that if any of Uncle Sam's Agents or Blue Coats had
ventured to interfere with their prompt judgment, supposing they had
been on the ground, it might have gone badly enough with them, in spite
of our presumable loyalty.
All that night, I lay on my blankets, in terrible agony. It seemed as if
I was losing my reason. A tough constitution and the care of my
companions, however, brought me through my suffering. Let none tell me
that men, rough as they may be, are unfitted to attend the sick.
Brighton Bill and Butch' constituted themselves not only my medical men,
but my nurses. They never left me for an instant. While one ate or
slept, the other was at my side. Their rough hands were as gentle with
me, as those of any woman might have been.
Arnold and Painter were also unceasing in their attendance.
Yet I feel that I am perhaps wrong in particularizing any of the
Rangers, when all were so kind. Suffice it, therefore, to say, that
after some ten days I was able to stand once more and move slowly about.
The effects of my fall, and the Indian treatment after it, were obviated
by the more civilized care and love, for I may surely call it so, the
boys bestowed upon me. In something less than a fortnight I was able
again to ride, and we started for Honey Lake Valley.
On reaching it, winter was just approaching, and as peace had been
promised by the chief of the Pah-utes, I foresaw there would be little
occupation for me during this season. So, after a little talk, Butch'
Hasbrouck and Brighton Bill agreed to go with me, on a trapping
expedition to the Humboldt River. Providing ourselves with the necessary
number of traps and other requisites, we in a few days started, pitching
our camp in the Lassen Meadows, at La Due Very's, generally known as
"Old Bible-back," on the banks of that stream. For some time we were
very successful; indeed, as we afterwards found, remarkably so,
gathering together a large number of beaver, otter, and other skins.
Then, needing a re-supply of many necessary articles, we struck back to
the valley, and finished the winter near the Black Buttes. Here we had
as great a success in trapping mink, marten, and foxes.
It was while we were here, that I had the satisfaction of killing my
first grizzly.
Early on one sharply cold morning I had started out to make the round
of our traps. As I entered a dense chapparal, I saw, moving towards me,
a large bear with two young cubs. Of course it was their dam, and I knew
I was in for it. If I had taken to my heels, I felt assured the speed of
the ungainly brute would exceed mine. There was no large tree near, in
which I might have taken refuge. She had already seen me, and her small,
twinkling eyes were sparkling like black diamonds. Naturally, therefore,
I could not treat her to any Indian strategy.
The only chance I had was in my skill as a marksman. Realizing this, I
dropped upon one knee, and raising my rifle to my shoulder, awaited her
approach.
She was at this time about twenty yards away from me, advancing at a
rapidly awkward and shuffling run.
I waited until she had lessened this distance probably one-half. Then,
with my bead drawn behind her ear, I let her have my ball, and she
dropped. It was with no small degree of pride that I contemplated her
large size, for the bullet had passed through her brain, as clearly as
in any shot I ever made, and she died in her tracks, mutely and gravely
as any Indian brave, whose death-struggles have been chronicled by the
novelist. Then, taking her two cubs under my arms, I returned to camp.
Butch' skinned the grizzly. Bill on this occasion officiated as butcher.
Cutting out the choicest parts of the meat, he brought them back with
him. It was lucky he did so, for on visiting our traps, for the second
time in that day, towards the evening, I found her bones picked
tolerably clean.
Our share of the grizzly, however, lasted us for four days, and I must
say, choicer meat never crossed my palate.
On our return to Honey Lake Valley, I presented one of the two cubs to
Governor Roop. The other, I myself kept. At this time, it was as playful
as a young kitten. Owing to its youth, I was able to thoroughly tame it,
so that it would follow me wherever I went, like a spaniel. When it had
increased in size to bear's estate, I made it, in after life, my
constant companion. Brighton Bill gave it the name which stuck to it, of
"my body-guard."
While we were upon the Humboldt, Butch' and myself had discovered what
we believed to be silver ore. Brighton Bill shared our belief.
When once more near Honey Lake, we informed the various members of the
Buckskin Rangers of our discovery.
All were smitten with the usual fever resulting from an intimation of
the presence of either of the precious metals in any locality. It was,
therefore, in the spring of 1860, that we went out and pitched our camp
in a rocky defile, to which we gave the name of Prince Royal Cañon. The
reason of our bestowing this title on it, will, when the date is
remembered, be obvious to my readers. We were engaged "prospecting," the
remainder of the spring and the succeeding summer, having located a
large number of ledges.
About September we had, however, grown tired of silver-prospecting
without any immediate results, and determined on adjourning our
metal-mining for the winter. It was, therefore, decided that we should
visit Klamath Lake and the Modoc country with the view of trapping and
hunting.
We accordingly, at the commencement of the following month, struck out
for the Blue Mountains, in portion of which range we pitched our camp
for the purpose of looking out for good hunting-grounds. After talking
the matter well over, we concluded to separate. By so doing, we could
hold the whole of that portion of the country, as any good hunter and
trapper can take care of ten miles square without any other help. Some
of the boys accordingly went to the Klamath Lake--others betook
themselves to the Sierras. In fact, they were scattered round, within no
more than a day's ride of each other, while I and my pet bear, whom I
had named Charley, remained on the spot we had originally camped in.
That winter set in with unusual severity. It was, indeed, the severest I
had yet known, through the whole of that region.
Possibly, for twenty years, the one just past, has alone exceeded it,
whether in its average temperature or the amount of the snow which fell
and remained upon the earth.
In the Blue Mountains, the snow averaged from a depth of ten to eighteen
feet. It covered my rude log-cabin so completely, that at times it might
have been difficult for me to find it. Here it was that my bear first
became of positive value to me, in addition to his affording me
something like companionship.
When I left my cabin, I would leave him behind to keep house.
The result of this was, that on my return, I was sure to find him
half-a-mile or more from home, to which he would pilot me unerringly.
During the night, Charley always slept with me. After building a large
fire, I would lie down in his arms or rather fore-paws. He was far
better than any blanket. If, however, in my sleep, the fire had gone
down and the cold drove me unconsciously closer to him, than was
pleasant to his Grizzlyship, he would raise his hind paw and push me
into the middle of the floor. Then, it would seem as if a sense of the
duty he owed his owner returned. He would roll out, himself, snuff
around me, and if I kept quite still, which I have frequently done,
insert his nose under my side and trundle my apparently still slumbering
body back upon the bed. He possessed other qualities also, given him by
nature, in which he was eminently my superior.
His hearing was wonderfully acute. Of a sudden, he would start out of
the cabin, with a quick look of intelligence that was well-nigh human.
After nosing around, if everything was quiet, he would slink back, with
an unmistakably sheepish look. Coming up to me, he would lick my hands
and face. It was precisely as if he had said:
"Don't kick up a row, old boy! I was wrong and I know it. But, it is all
for the best, I should keep a bright look-out. My ears are quicker than
yours, you know."
If, however, on leaving the cabin, any game, or a man should happen to
be near it, he would utter a continuous low growl until I joined him.
One day he displayed his sagacity in an even stronger manner. I had gone
out with my rifle in the morning and did not return until the middle of
the afternoon. It was at considerably greater distance than usual from
our dwelling that he met me. He would not, however, accompany me
directly back, but shambled off with his rapid and swinging gait to a
considerable distance. Knowing he wanted me to see something, I followed
him almost as rapidly. Suddenly, he came to a dead halt. When I joined
him, I learnt the reason for this strange proceeding on Charley's part.
I had come upon some half-dozen or more moccasin-tracks, which led
directly towards my cabin.
Of course, I now proceeded with great caution, as he also did.
About a hundred yards from the entrance, I however found precisely the
same number of moccasin-tracks, bearing in an entirely different
direction. They very evidently led directly from the spot to which the
others had been going.
As I was examining them, his juvenile Grizzlyship lowered his quaint
head above them, and as evidently scrutinized them with even greater
intentness than I had done.
Then, he gave a low growl. It was exactly as if he had uttered the
phrase of--
"All right!"
After this, dropping all semblance of caution, and shaking himself as a
huge dog might, he shuffled off hurriedly to the hole in the snow which
led to his and my habitation. When I entered it, he was circling round
the whole of the somewhat narrow interior, smelling in every part, and
repeating, from time to time, the low growl I have just alluded to as so
significant.
It would be unnecessary to say, I did not enjoy a particularly sound
slumber that night.
That the owners of these moccasins were Indians, it was impossible to
doubt.
If, as some say the red men are able to do, I am unable to detect the
moccasined foot-print of one tribe from that of another, I can at any
rate tell whether the foot within the moccasin may chance to be a white
one. These were not. Of this I had been, at once, assured. But why had
they visited my hole in the snow, and why had they afterwards left it?
This last question I was unable satisfactorily to settle.
In any case, it was necessary to let the other boys know red-skins were
around. Accordingly, breaking my fast early, I started towards Brighton
Bill's cabin, as he was my next-door neighbor, living merely at a
distance of some fifteen miles. Arriving there in the forenoon, I found
him seated by a roaring fire. But scarcely had I stepped within his
door, than he was on his feet with his rifle, which had been between his
knees, cocked, raised, and pointed at me. It was, however, as rapidly
dropped.
"By 'eaven, Mose, H'i thought you was han H'ingin."
"The Indians brought me here, Bill!"
"The blasted red devils turned hup 'ere, when H'i was hout yesterday."
"So they did, in my cabin. We ought to let the other boys know, and
decide upon what had best be done."
"Butch' will be 'ere this morning. H'i seed 'im honly yesterday," said
Bill. "Hif you like, H'i will go hand fetch hup some of the hother
chaps."
"I think, it would be better."
"Very well, Cap! Hi'm hoff."
Putting on his snow-shoes, he started immediately.
He had scarcely left me for twenty minutes, when I heard a slight noise
on the snow without. Seizing my rifle, I moved cautiously to the door,
when something heavy leaped against me, which very nearly reduced me to
a prostrate position. It was my bear Charley, who had thought proper to
follow me. We retired within the cabin, which was considerably larger
than mine. Bill was in a slight degree inclined to grandeur and luxury,
if there can be such things in a log-hut. There, in company, we resigned
ourselves to expectation. All at once the Grizzly raised his head. Yes!
I had heard it, too. It was the movement of snow-shoes. A few moments
after, Butch' entered.
On the preceding day, he also had seen Indian tracks around his
dwelling.
In the afternoon, Brighton Bill reappeared. He had seen Harry Arnold,
and told him to see his nearest neighbor, and send word to the other
Rangers, bidding them to repair immediately to my quarters.
After a hasty feed on some jerked deer, we then set out for my dwelling.
Darkness had settled on us, long before we reached it; and, but for the
chilly sheen of the sheet which draped the earth with its spotless
white, it might have been difficult to keep the track.
Yet I am wrong. In any case, Charley's unerring scent would have proved
a sure guide. Why it was, however, I can scarcely say, save that he had
confidence in our numbers, but certainly, on this occasion, he uttered
no warning growl; and scarcely had we descended through the sloping snow
to the doorway than two powerful arms were thrown about me. I heard
Bill's voice roar:
"Look hout, Mose!"
We were in the grip of the red-skins.
The struggle was furious but brief. Our assailants had been joined by a
dozen other Indians, who had been lurking without, and it was not long
before we had our hands tied behind us, and we were on our way to Goose
Lake.
Before starting, it must frankly be said, that with the usual red
instinct for appropriating everything which comes in their way, my
cabin had been thoroughly gutted. Ammunition, provision, blankets--nay,
everything portable--and there was nothing which was not portable in
it--had become the property of the copper-colored rascals.
Placing me in front, and Butch' and Bill behind me, in regular Indian
file, they kept on either side of us, forcing us to hurry on as speedily
as they could compel us to move.
It was impossible for me to forget my past experience, and I mentally
resolved, if I were able to do so, that I would sell my life in square
fight, rather than undergo a second time the torture to which I had then
been subjected. At last, there seemed a chance for doing so. We had been
compelled to move along at a smart trot for some six or seven hours, so
far as I was able to measure time, when, from what cause I cannot say,
although it was probably the continual friction, I felt that the
ligature round my wrists was sensibly looser. My hands were able to slip
through the thongs. I dared not tell either of my companions what I had
done, and ask them whether or not they might be able to do the same.
Some of the red rascals might understand English. One or more of them
might even be renegade whites. What could I do to release them? The idea
came to me like a flash of lightning. Pretending to stumble, I pitched
forward, and recovering myself, got a blow on my face from one of our
captors. It was apparently from one of the same thongs with which our
wrists had been bound. Then, I uttered a shrill and prolonged cry as if
of pain.
After this, I found myself the last of the three.
Two minutes had scarcely passed, and Bill's hands had been freed. Mine
had untied the thongs which bound them. He would have wit enough to
loose Butch'. Life on the Plains and in the great West, sharpens man's
mother-wit wonderfully.
Day was not yet breaking.
That heavy darkness was upon us, which so generally precedes dawn.
At this very moment we came to some low foot-hills, where the timber was
dense and thick. We were obliged to move more slowly. My friends had
just crossed a log, and the Indian on the left of me was stepping over
it, when I fetched him with my clenched fist a violent blow under his
ear. At any rate, I felt that was the place in which I struck him.
As he reeled and fell, I wrenched the gun from his hands, shouting out,
"Now's your time, boys."
The brute instinct of self-preservation answered for their closely
following, without knowing that they did so, my action. In another
instant we were clubbing right and left, and so soon as we could change
our guns for some that had not been injured by such an employment, we
commenced shooting. Scarcely had I heard the report of my first shot
than I felt two vigorous arms thrown around my waist. They were lifting
me from the ground, probably for the purpose of dashing me to the earth,
when they suddenly relaxed their grip. A madly wild yell broke from the
lips of that Indian, mingled with a ringingly fierce growl which I at
once recognized, although I had never before heard it so savagely
shapen, as Charley's voice.
My pet had followed on our track, and was actually assisting us in
rescuing ourselves.
[Illustration: "My pet had followed in our track, and was actually
assisting us to rescue ourselves."--_Page 154._]
Strangely enough, since the moment in which we had first found
ourselves captives and were marched away in the fashion I have above
described, no thought of Grizzly's absence from my side had ever crossed
my mind. His memory had however been better than mine. Perhaps, when all
circumstances are fairly considered, it had some reason for being so.
After a very brief struggle, the wholly unexpected assault of their
three prisoners, and their four-footed or four-handed ally, on the red
devils, resulted in a complete victory.
The yet living Indians cleared out, leaving us masters of the field. As
the day was now gradually breaking, we were enabled to count the dead,
and exercise a proprietary right in their scalps. What was of much more
advantage to myself, I was enabled to recapture nearly the whole of my
stolen property, as well as a number of guns, corresponding with that of
the dead, which necessarily changed hands.
Eight of the scoundrels would have no more chance of troubling their
white brethren.
This enumeration includes the one whom Charley had so considerately
squeezed out of this life, very much, as Butch' afterwards remarked--
"As a younker squeezes a ripe orange."
It was late in the afternoon, when we arrived again at my cabin. Upon
entering the hole in the snow which led to it, we found Harry Arnold,
Ben Painter, and many of the boys there. They had preceded our coming by
some twenty minutes. The footprints visible on the outside of my
dwelling, as well as the thoroughly emptied condition of its interior,
had readily given them a thorough apprehension of our condition. When
we returned, they were on the point of preparing to follow on the trail
of the red savages.
Of course, we had to relate our adventures since the preceding night.
This, however, did not take long, as the demands of famished nature were
too exacting. We had tasted neither bite nor sup since noon on the
preceding day.
I may here state, that much to the mortification of Butch' and Brighton
Bill, as well as somewhat to my own, it became evident that the Rangers
considered my young Grizzly as the real hero of the occasion. Indeed,
Painter proposed to give him a horn of old Rye, and would have done so,
had I not peremptorily forbidden it, not only on the score of its
possible effects upon his innocent inside, but also because our stock of
that necessary article was getting very low.
After our meal, which I ate ravenously, and presume the two who had been
my fellow-captives did the same, "Long" Dorsey (he stood six feet two,
in his stockings) and Lute Spencer arrived. Some minutes after, we heard
a voice whistling the familiar tune "Joe Bowers." This was "small" Tom
Harvey, who had lingered in their rear. Seeing they had entered without
exciting any commotion within the cabin, he concluded no Indians were in
the immediate neighborhood. Otherwise, he would undoubtedly have
refrained from allowing his lips this exercise.
We were told by Lute Spencer that they had paused at Bob Thorn's cabin
by the way. He was more generally known by his intimates and associates
as Dirty Bob.
"The place war gutted, as you say yours war," continued Lute, "and Bob
war nowhere."
"The red devils had been there," added Dorsey. "We counted the tracks
of some ten of them."
Fatigued as I was, I at once proposed starting for Bob's cabin. The
memory I have already alluded to, gave me a sharp twinge of
commiseration for any unlucky fellow who might be treated to a similar
phase of personal experience.