The incident referred to occurred high up the Arkansas, at the
celebrated grove known as the "Big Timbers." We had started about two
hours before sundown, and were riding in a due westerly direction, over
a "rolling" prairie--the ridges of which, as ill-luck would have it, ran
transversely to our course: causing the path to be constantly going
upward or downward. It was not this that troubled us; but the fact
that, as we crested each swell, we were freshly exposed to observation
from a distance; and this recurring so often, kept us continuously on
the alert.
Once or twice, we thought of halting again till after the sun had gone
down: for we knew that we were treading upon dangerous ground; but,
failing to perceive any fresh Indian sign, we gave way to our
irresolution, and continued on. We proceeded with caution, however:
always ascending in stealthy silence, and peeping carefully over the
ridges before crossing them. After reconnoitring the intervening
valleys, we would ride rapidly across, to make up the time we had lost
in our reconnoissance. In this way we had travelled some eight or ten
miles--until the sun was so far down, that his lower limb rested on the
horizon. We were ascending a ridge, and had got our eyes on a level
with its crest, when upon the face of another ridge--about half a mile
further on--we beheld two forms outlined against the declivity. We saw
that they were human forms; and that they were Indians was our first
thought; but a moment's observation convinced us we were in error. They
were afoot--Indians would have been on horseback. There was no floating
drapery about their bodies--Indians would have had something of this
sort; besides there were other circumstances observable in their figures
and movements, that negatived the supposition of their being red-skins.
They were singularly disproportioned in size: one appearing at least a
foot the taller, while the shorter man had twice this advantage in
girth!
"What, in Old Nick's name, kin they be?" inquired my companion--though
only in soliloquy, for he saw that I was as much puzzled as himself.
"Kin ye make 'em out wi' your glass, capt'n?" I chanced to have a small
pocket-telescope. Adopting the suggestion, I drew it forth, and
levelled it. In another instant, I had within its field of vision a
tableau that astonished me.
The figures composing it were but two--a very tall man, and a very short
one. Both were dressed in round-about jackets and trousers. One, the
shorter, had a little dark cap upon his head; while the height of the
taller man was increased full ten inches, by what appeared to be a black
silk or beaver hat. The cut of their respective costumes was nearly the
same; but the colour was entirely different--the tall personage being
all over of a bottle-green tint, while his shorter companion shone more
conspicuously in sky-blue. Notwithstanding their vivid colours, neither
costume had anything Indian about it: nor was it like any other sort of
"rig" that one might expect to encounter upon the prairies. What
fashion it was, did not occur to me at the moment; for the sun, glancing
upon the object-glass of the telescope, hindered me from having a fair
view. Moreover, my attention was less directed to the dress of the men,
than to their movements. The backs of both were towards us; and they
were going forward in the same direction as ourselves. The tall man was
in the lead, carrying what appeared to be two guns--one over his left
shoulder, and another in his right hand. He was advancing in slow
irregular strides, his thin body slightly stooped forward, and his long
neck craned out in front of him as if trying to look over the ridge,
whose crest he was just approaching. The short man was some half-dozen
paces in the rear; and moving in a fashion altogether different. His
body was bent against the hill at an angle of less than forty-five
degrees with the horizon; and his short stout legs were playing in rapid
steps, as if keeping time to a treadmill! He appeared to be pushing
something before him; but what it was, I could not guess: since it was
completely covered by the disc of his body spread broadly against the
hill. It was not till he had reached the summit, and made a slight turn
along the ridge, that I saw what this object was. The exclamation of
ludicrous surprise, that escaped my companion, told me that he had also
made it out. "Good gosh, capt'n!" cried he, "look yander! Consarn my
skin! ef 't ain't a _wheelberra_!" A wheelbarrow it certainly was: for
the two men were now traversing along the top of the ridge, and their
bodies from head to foot, were conspicuously outlined against the sky.
There was no mistaking the character of the object in the hands of the
shorter individual--a barrow beyond the shadow of a doubt--trundle and
trams, box, body, and spoke-wheel complete!
The sight of this homely object, in the midst of the savage prairies,
was as ludicrous as unexpected; and we might have hailed it with roars
of laughter, had prudence permitted such an indecorous exhibition. As
it was, my companion _chuckled_ so loudly, that I was compelled to
caution him. Whether my caution came too late, and that the laughter
was heard, we could not tell; but at that moment the tall pedestrian
looked back, and we saw that he had discovered us. Making a rapid sign
to his companion, he bounded off like a startled deer; and, after a
plunge or two, disappeared behind the ridge--followed in full run by the
man with the wheelbarrow! One might have supposed that the fright would
have led to the abandonment of the barrow. But no: it was taken along--
hurried out of our sight in an instant--and in the next, both man and
machine disappeared as suddenly as if some trap had admitted them into
the bowels of the earth! The singular fashion of their flight--the long
strides taken by the gander-like leader, and the scrambling attempt at
escape made by the barrow-man--produced a most comic effect. I was no
longer able to restrain myself, but joined my companion in loud and
repeated peals of laughter.
In this merry mood, and without any apprehension of danger, we advanced
towards the spot where the odd figures had been seen. Some broken
ground delayed us; and as half a mile of it had to be passed over, we
were a considerable time in reaching the summit of the hill. On
arriving there, and looking over the swell, behind which they had
disappeared, neither tall nor short man was to be seen. A timbered
valley lay beyond: into this they had evidently escaped. The track of
the wheelbarrow, where it had pressed down the grass, alone indicated
their recent presence upon the spot--as it did also the direction they
had taken. Their retreating from us was easily accounted for: they
could have seen only the tops of our heads, and had no doubt taken us
for Indians!