Our condition was now lamentable indeed. We even hungered for our
breakfast, and had nothing to eat. The fire had consumed everything. A
party went to look for the remains of the buffalo-bull killed by the
guides, but returned without a morsel of meat. The wolves had cleaned
the carcass to a skeleton. The marrow bones, however, still remained,
and these were brought in--afterwards, the same parts of the four cows;
and we made our breakfast on marrow--eating it raw--not but that we had
fire enough, but it is less palatable when cooked.
What was next to be done? We held a consultation, and of course came to
the resolve to strike for the nearest settlement--that was the frontier
town of Independence on the Missouri River. It was nearly three hundred
miles off, and we calculated in reaching it in about twenty days. We
only reckoned the miles we should have to traverse. We allowed nothing
for the numerous delays, caused by marshes and the fording of flooded
streams. It afterwards proved that our calculation was incorrect. It
was nearly twice twenty days before we arrived at Independence.
We never thought of following the trail of the Indians to recover our
horses. We knew they were gone far beyond pursuit, but even could we
have come up with them, it would only have been to imperil our lives in
an unequal strife. We gave up our horses as lost, and only deliberated
on how we were to undertake the journey afoot.
Here a serious question arose. Should we at once turn our faces to the
settlement, how were we to subsist on the way? By heading for
Independence we should at once get clear of the buffalo-range, and what
other game was to be depended on? A stray deer, rabbit, or prairie
grouse might suffice to sustain a single traveller for a long time, but
there were ten of us. How was this number to be fed on the way? Even
with our horses to carry us in pursuit of game, we had not been able on
our outward journey to procure enough for all. How much less our
opportunity now that we were afoot!
To head directly homeward therefore was not to be thought of. We should
assuredly perish by the way.
After much discussion it was agreed that we should remain for some days
within the buffalo-range, until we had succeeded in obtaining a supply
of meat, and then each carrying his share we should begin our journey
homeward. In fact, this was not a disputed point. All knew there
remained no other way of saving our lives. The only difference of
opinion was as to the direction we should ramble in search of the
buffalo; for although we knew that we were on the outskirts of a great
herd, we were not certain as to its whereabouts, and by taking a false
direction we might get out of its range altogether.
It so happened, however, that fortune lately so adverse, now took a turn
in our favour, and the great buffalo drove was found without much
trouble on our part. Indeed almost without any exertion, farther than
that of loading and firing our guns, we came into possession of beef
enough to have victualled an army. We had, moreover, the excitement of
a grand hunt, although we no longer hunted for the sport of the thing.
During that day we scattered in various directions over the prairie,
agreeing to meet again at night. The object of our thus separating was
to enable us to cover a greater extent of ground, and afford a better
chance of game. To our mutual chagrin we met at the appointed
rendezvous all of us empty-handed. The only game brought in was a
couple of marmots (prairie dogs), that would not have been sufficient
for the supper of a cat. They were not enough to give each of the party
a taste, so we were compelled to go without supper. Having had but a
meagre breakfast and no dinner, it will not be wondered at that we were
by this time as hungry as wolves; and we began to dread that death by
starvation was nearer than we thought of. Buffaloes--several small
gangs of them--had been seen during the day, but so shy that none of
them could be approached. Another day's failure would place our lives
in a perilous situation indeed; and as these thoughts passed through our
minds, we gazed on each other with looks that betokened apprehension and
alarm. The bright blaze of the camp-fire--for the cold had compelled us
to kindle one--no longer lit up a round of joyful faces. It shone upon
checks haggard with hunger and pallid with fear. There was no story for
the delighted listener--no adventure to be related. We were no longer
the historians, but the real actors in a drama--a drama whose
_denouement_ might be a fearful one.
As we sat gazing at each other, in hopes of giving or receiving some
morsel of comfort and encouragement, we noticed old Ike silently glide
from his place by the fire, and after a whisper to us to remain silent,
crawl off on his hands and knees. He had seen something doubtless, and
hence his singular conduct. In a few minutes his prostrate form was
lost in the darkness, and for some time we saw or heard no more of him.
At length we were startled by the whip-like crack of the guide's rifle,
and fancying it might be Indians, each sprang up in some alarm and
seized his gun. We were soon reassured, however, by seeing the upright
form of the trapper as he walked deliberately back towards the
camp-fire, and the blaze revealed to us a large whitish object dangling
by his side and partly dragging along the ground.
"Hurrah!" cried one, "Ike has killed game."
"A deer--an antelope," suggested several.
"No-o," drawled Redwood. "'Taint eyther, but I guess we won't quarrel
with the meat. I could eat a raw jackass jest about now."
Ike came up at this moment, and we saw that his game was no other than a
prairie-wolf. Better that than hunger, thought all of us; and in a
brace of seconds the wolf was suspended over the fire, and roasting in
the hide.
We were now more cheerful, and the anticipation of such an odd viand for
supper, drew jokes from several of the party. To the trappers such a
dish was nothing new, although they were the only persons of the party
who had partaken of it. But there was not one fastidious palate
present, and when the "wolf-mutton" was broiled, each cleaned his joint
or his rib with as much _gout_ as if he had been picking the bones of a
pheasant.
Before the supper was ended the wolf-killer made a second _coup_,
killing another wolf precisely as he had done the former; and we had the
gratification of knowing that our breakfast was now provided for. These
creatures, that all along our journey had received nothing from us but
anathemas, were now likely to come in for a share of our blessings, and
we could not help feeling a species of gratitude towards them, although
at the same time we thus killed and ate them.
The supper of roast wolf produced an agreeable change in our feelings,
and we even listened with interest to our guides, who, appropriate to
the occasion, related some curious incidents of the many narrow escapes
they had had from starvation.
One in particular fixed our attention, as it afforded an illustration of
trapper life under peculiar circumstances.