|THE Mormons were originally of the sect known as Latter-day Saints,
which flourishes wherever Anglo-Saxon gulls are found in sufficient
numbers to swallow the egregious nonsense of fanatic humbugs who fatten
upon their credulity. In the United States they especially abounded; but
the creed becoming "slow," one Joe Smith, a _smart_ man, rose from its
ranks and instilled a little life into the decaying sect.
Joe, better known as the "Prophet Joe," was taking his siesta one fine
day upon a hill in New York State, when an angel suddenly appeared to
him, and made known the locality of a new Bible or Testament, which
contained the history of the lost tribes of Israel; that these tribes
were no other than the Indian nations which possessed the continent of
America at the time of its discovery, and the remains of which still
existed in their savage state; that through the agency of Joe these
were to be reclaimed, collected into the bosom of a church to be
there established, according to principles which would be found in the
wonderful book--and which church was gradually to receive into its bosom
all other churches, sects, and persuasions, with "unanimity of belief
and perfect brotherhood."
After a certain probation, Joe was led in body and spirit to the
mountain by the angel who first appeared to him; was pointed out the
position of the wonderful book, which was covered by a flat stone,
on which would be found a pair of magic spectacles, called Urim and
Thummim, and through the agency of which the mystic characters inscribed
on the pages of the book were to be deciphered and translated. Joe found
the spot indicated without any difficulty, cleared away the earth, and
discovered a hollow place formed by four flat stones, on removing
the topmost one of which sundry plates of brass presented themselves,
covered with quaint and antique carving; on the top lay Urim and Thummim
(commonly known to the Mormons as Mummum and Thummum, the spectacles of
wonderful virtue), through which the miracle of reading the plates of
brass was to be performed.
Joe Smith, on whom the mantle of Moses had so suddenly fallen, carefully
removed the plates and hid them, burying himself in woods and mountains
whilst engaged in the work of translation. However, he made no secret of
the important task imposed upon him, nor of the great work to which he
had been called. Numbers at once believed him, but not a few were
deaf to belief, and openly derided him. Being persecuted (as the sect
declares, at the instigation of the authorities), and many attempts
being made to steal his precious treasure, Joe one fine night packed his
plates in a sack of beans, bundled them into a Jersey wagon, and made
tracks for the West. Here he completed the great work of translation,
and not long after gave to the world the "Book of Mormon," a work as
bulky as the Bible, and called "of Mormon," for so was the prophet named
by whose hand the history of the lost tribes had been handed down in the
plates of brass thus miraculously preserved for thousands of years, and
brought to light through the agency of Joseph Smith.
The fame of the Book of Mormon spread over all America, and even to
Great Britain and Ireland. Hundreds of proselytes flocked to Joe, to
hear from his lips the doctrine of Mormonism; and in a very brief period
the Mormons became a numerous and recognized sect, and Joe was at
once, and by universal acclamation, installed as the head of the Mormon
Church, and was ever after known by the name of the "Prophet Joseph."
However, from certain peculiarities in their social system, the Mormons
became rather unpopular in the settled States, and at length moved
bodily into Missouri, where they purchased several tracts of land in the
neighborhood of Independence. Here they erected a large building, which
they called the Lord's Store, where goods were collected on the common
account, and retailed to members of the Church at moderate prices. All
this time their numbers increased in a wonderful manner, and immigrants
from all parts of the States, as well as Europe, continually joined
them. As they became stronger, they grew bolder and more arrogant in
their projects. They had hitherto been considered as bad neighbors, on
account of their pilfering propensities, and their utter disregard
of the conventional decencies of society--exhibiting the greatest
immorality, and endeavoring to establish amongst their society an
indiscriminate concubinage. This was sufficient to produce an ill
feeling against them on the part of their neighbors, the honest
Missourians; but they still tolerated their presence amongst them,
until the Saints openly proclaimed their intention of seizing upon the
country, and expelling by force the present occupants--giving, as their
reason, that it had been revealed to their prophets that the "Land of
Zion" was to be possessed by themselves alone.
The sturdy Missourians began to think this was a little too strong, and
that, if they permitted such aggressions any longer, they would be in a
fair way of being despoiled of their lands by the Mormon interlopers.
At length matters came to a crisis, and the Saints, emboldened by the
impunity with which they had hitherto carried out their plans, issued a
proclamation, to the effect that all in that part of the country who
did not belong to the Mormon persuasion must "clear out," and give up
possession of their lands and houses. The Missourians collected in
a body, burned the printing-press from which the proclamation had
emanated, seized several of the Mormon leaders, and, after inflicting a
summary chastisement, tarred and feathered them, and let them go.
To revenge this insult, the Mormons marshaled an army of Saints, and
marched upon Independence, threatening vengeance against the town and
people. Here they met, however, a band of sturdy backwoodsmen, armed
with rifles, determined to defend the town against the fanatic mob, who,
not relishing their appearance, refused the encounter, and surrendered
their leaders at the first demand. The prisoners were afterwards
released, on condition that the Mormons left that part of the country
without delay.
Accordingly they once more "took up their beds and walked," crossing the
Missouri to Clay County, where they established themselves, and would
finally have formed a thriving settlement but for their own acts of
willful dishonesty. At this time their blasphemous mummery knew no
bounds. Joe Smith, and other prophets who had lately arisen, were
declared to be chosen of God; and it was the general creed that, on the
day of judgment, the former would take his stand on the right hand of
the judgment-seat, and that none would pass into the kingdom of heaven
without his seal and touch. One of their tenets was the faith in
"spiritual matrimony." No woman, it appeared, would be admitted into
heaven unless "passed" by a saint. To qualify them for this, it was
necessary that the woman should first be received by the guaranteeing
Mormon as an "earthly wife," in order that he did not pass in any of
whom he had no knowledge. The consequence of this state of things may be
imagined. The most debasing immorality was a precept of the order, and
an almost universal concubinage existed amongst the sect, which at this
time numbered at least forty thousand. Their disregard to the laws of
decency and morality was such as could not be tolerated in any class of
civilized society.
Again did the honest Missourians set their faces against this pernicious
example, and when the county to which the Mormons had removed became
more thickly settled, they rose to a man against the modern Gomorrah.
The Mormons, by this time, having on their part gained considerable
accession to their strength, thought to set the laws at defiance,
organized and armed large bodies of men, in order to maintain the
ascendency over the legitimate settlers, and bid fair to constitute an
_imperium in imperio_ in the State, and become the sole possessors of
the public lands. This, of course, could not be tolerated. Governor
Boggs at once ordered out a large force of State militia to put
down this formidable demonstration, marched against the Mormons, and
suppressed the insurrectionary movement without bloodshed.
From Clay County they moved still farther into the wilds, and settled at
last in Caldwell County, where they built the town of Far West, and here
they remained for the space of three years.
During this time they were continually receiving converts to the faith,
and many of the more ignorant country people were disposed to join
them, being only deterred by the fear of incurring ridicule from the
stronger-minded. The body of the Mormons seeing this, called upon their
prophet, Joe Smith, to perform a miracle in public before all comers,
which was to prove to those of their own people who still doubted
the doctrine, the truth of what it advanced (the power of performing
miracles was steadfastly declared to be in their hands by the prophets),
and to enlist those who wavered in the Mormon cause.
The prophet instantly agreed, and declared that, upon a certain day he
would walk across the broad waters of the Missouri without wetting the
soles of his feet. On the appointed day the river-banks were thronged by
an expectant crowd. The Mormons sang hymns of praise in honor of their
prophet, and were proud of the forthcoming miracle, which was to set
finally at rest all doubt as to his power and sanctity.
This power of performing miracles and effecting miraculous cures of the
sick, was so generally believed by the Mormons, that physic was never
used amongst them. The prophets visited the beds of the sick, and laid
hands upon them, and if, as of course was almost invariably the case,
the patient died, it was attributed to his or her want of faith; but
if, on the contrary, the patient recovered, there was universal
glorification on the miraculous cure.
Joe Smith was a tall fine-looking man, of most plausible address, and
possessed the gift of the gab in great perfection. At the time appointed
for the performance of the walking-water miracle, he duly attended on
the river's bank, and descended barefoot to the edge of the water.
"My brethren!" he exclaimed, in a loud voice, "this day is a happy one
to me, to us all, who venerate the great and only faith. The truth of
our great and blessed doctrine will now be proved before the thousands I
see around me. You have asked me to prove by a miracle that the power
of the prophets of old has been given to me. I say unto you, not only
to me, but to all who have faith. I have faith, and can perform miracles
--that faith empowers me to walk across the broad surface of that mighty
river without wetting the soles of my unworthy feet; but if ye are to
_see_ this miracle performed, it is necessary that ye have faith also,
not only in yourselves, but in me. Have ye this faith in yourselves?"
"We have, we have!" roared the crowd.
"Have ye the faith in me, that ye believe I can perform this miracle?"
"We have, we have!" roared the crowd.
"Then," said Joe Smith, coolly walking away, "with such faith do ye know
well that I could, but it boots not that I _should_, do it; therefore,
my brethren, doubt no more"--and Joe put on his boots and disappeared.
Being again compelled to emigrate, the Mormons proceeded into the state
of Illinois, where, in a beautiful situation, they founded the new
Jerusalem, which, it had been declared by the prophet Mormon, should
rise out of the wilderness of the west, and where the chosen people
should be collected under one church, and governed by the elders after a
"spiritual fashion." The city of Nauvoo soon became a large and imposing
settlement. An enormous building, called the Temple of Zion, was
erected, half church, half hotel, in which Joe Smith and the other
prophets resided--and large store-houses were connected with it, in
which the goods and chattels belonging to the community were kept for
the common good.
However, here, as everywhere else, they were continually quarreling with
their neighbors; and as their numbers increased, so did their audacity.
A regular Mormon militia was again organized and armed, under the
command of experienced officers who had joined the sect; and now the
authority of the state government was openly defied. In consequence,
the executive took measures to put down the nuisance, and a regular war
commenced, and was carried on for some time, with no little bloodshed on
both sides; and this armed movement is known in the United States as
the Mormon war. The Mormons, however, who, it seemed, were much better
skilled in the use of the tongue than the rifle, succumbed: the city of
Nauvoo was taken, Joe Smith and other ring-leading prophets captured;
and the former, in an attempt to escape from his place of confinement,
was seized and shot. The Mormons declare he had long foretold his
own fate; and that when the rifles of the firing party who were his
executioners were leveled at the prophet's breast, a flash of lightning
struck the weapons from their hands, and blinded for a time the eyes of
the sacrilegious soldiers.
With the death of Joe Smith the prestige of the Mormon cause declined;
but still thousands of proselytes joined them annually, and at last
the state took measures to remove them altogether, as a body, from the
country.
Once again they fled, as they themselves term it, before the
persecutions of the ungodly! But this time their migration was far
beyond the reach of their enemies, and their intention was to place
between them the impassable barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and to seek
a home and resting-place in the remote regions of the Far West.
This, the most extraordinary migration of modern times commenced in the
year 1845; but it was not till the following year that the great body
of the Mormons turned their backs upon the settlements of the United
States, and launched boldly out into the vast and barren prairies,
without any fixed destination as a goal to their endless journey. For
many months long strings of Pittsburgh and Conestoga wagons, with
herds of horses and domestic cattle, wound their way towards the Indian
frontier, with the intention of rendezvousing at Council Bluffs on the
Upper Missouri. Here thousands of wagons were congregated, with their
tens of thousands of men, women, and children, anxiously waiting the
route from the elders of the Church, who on their parts scarcely knew
whither to direct the steps of the vast crowd they had set in motion.
At length the indefinite destination of Oregon and California was
proclaimed, and the long train of emigrants took up the line of march.
It was believed the Indian tribes would immediately fraternize with
the Mormons on their approaching their country; but the Pawnees quickly
undeceived them by running off with their stock on every opportunity.
Besides these losses, at every camp, horses, sheep, and oxen strayed
away and were not recovered, and numbers died from fatigue and want of
provender; so that, before they had been many weeks on their journey,
nearly all their cattle, which they had brought to stock their new
country, were dead or missing, and those that were left were in most
miserable condition.
They had started so late in the season that the greater part were
compelled to winter on the Platte, on Grand Island, and in the vicinity,
where they endured the greatest privations and suffering from cold and
hunger. Many who had lost their stock lived upon roots and pig-nuts;
and scurvy, in a most malignant form, and other disorders, carried off
numbers of the wretched fanatics.
Amongst them were many substantial farmers from all parts of the United
States, who had given up their valuable farms, sold off all their
property, and were dragging their irresponsible and unfortunate families
into the wilderness--carried away by their blind and fanatic zeal in
this absurd and incredible faith. There were also many poor wretches
from different parts of England, mostly of the farm-laboring class,
with wives and families, crawling along with helpless and almost idiotic
despair, but urged forward by the fanatic leaders of the movement, who
promised them a land flowing with milk and honey to reward them for all
their hardships and privations.
Their numbers were soon reduced by want and disease. When too late, they
often wished themselves back in the old country, and sighed many a
time for the beer and bacon of former days, now preferable to the dry
buffalo-meat (but seldom obtainable) of the Far West.
Evil fortune pursued the Mormons, and dogged their steps. The year
following, some struggled on towards the promised land, and of these a
few reached Oregon and California. Many were killed by hostile Indians;
many perished of hunger, cold, and thirst, in passing the great
wilderness; and many returned to the States, penniless and crestfallen,
and heartily cursing the moment in which they had listened to
the counsels of the Mormon prophet. The numbers who reached their
destination of Oregon, California, and the Great Salt Lake, are computed
at 20,000, of whom the United States had an unregretted riddance.
One party had followed the troops of the American Government intended
for the conquest of New Mexico and the Californias. Of these a battalion
was formed, and part of it proceeded to Upper California; but the way
being impracticable for wagons, some seventy families proceeded up the
Arkansa, and wintered near the mountains, intending to cross to the
Platte the ensuing spring, and join the main body of emigrants on their
way by the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains.
In the wide and well-timbered bottom of the Arkansa, the Mormons had
erected a street of log shanties in which to pass the inclement winter.
These were built of rough logs of cottonwood laid one above the other,
the interstices filled with mud, and rendered impervious to wind or wet.
At one end of the row of shanties was built the church or "temple"--
a long building of huge logs, in which the prayer-meetings and
holdings-forth took place. The band wintering on the Arkansa were a far
better class than the generality of Mormons, and comprised many wealthy
and respectable farmers from the western states, most of whom were
accustomed to the life of woodmen, and were good hunters. Thus they
were enabled to support their families upon the produce of their rifles,
frequently sallying out to the nearest point of the mountains with a
wagon, which they would bring back loaded with buffalo, deer, and elk
meat, thereby saving the necessity of killing any of their stock of
cattle, of which but few remained.
The mountain hunters found this camp a profitable market for their meat
and deer-skins, with which the Mormons were now compelled to clothe
themselves, and resorted there for that purpose--to say nothing of the
attraction of the many really beautiful Missourian girls who sported
their tall graceful figures at the frequent fandangos. Dancing and
preaching go hand in hand in Mormon doctrine, and the temple was
generally cleared for a hop two or three times during the week, a couple
of fiddles doing the duty of orchestra. A party of mountaineers came
in one day, bringing some buffalo-meat and dressed deerskins, and were
invited to be present at one of these festivals.
Arrived at the temple, they were rather taken aback by finding
themselves in for a sermon, which one of the elders delivered,
preparatory to the "physical exercises." The preacher was one
Brown--called, by reason of his commanding a company of Mormon
volunteers, "Cap'n Brown"--a hard-featured, black-coated man of
five-and-forty, correctly got up in black continuations, and white
handkerchief round his neck,--a costume seldom seen at the foot of
the Rocky Mountains. The Cap'n, rising, cleared his voice, and thus
commenced, first turning to an elder (with whom there was a little
rivalry in the way of preaching): "Brother Dowdle" (brother Dowdle
blushed and nodded, he was a long tallow-faced man, with black hair
combed over his face), "I feel like holding forth a little this
afternoon, before we glorify the Lord,--a--a--in the--a--holy dance. As
there are a many strange gentlemen now--a--present, it's about right to
tell'em--a--what our doctrine just is; and so I tells'em right off what
the Mormons is. They are the chosen of the Lord; they are the children
of glory, persecuted by the hand of man: they flies here to the
wilderness, and, amongst the _Injine_ and the buffler, they lifts up
their heads, and cries with a loud voice, 'Susannah, and hurray for the
promised land!' Do you believe it? I _know_ it.
"They wants to know whar we're going. Whar the church goes--thar we
goes. Yes, to hell, and pull the devil off his throne--that's what we'll
do. Do you believe it? I _know_ it.
"Thar's milk and honey in that land as we're goin' to, and the lost
tribes of Israel is thar, and will jine us. They say as we'll starve
on the road, bekase thar's no game and no water; but thar's manna up in
heaven, and it'll rain on us, and thar's prophets among us can make the
water s come.' Can't they, brother Dowdle?"
"_Well_, they can."
"And now, what have the Gentiles and the Philistines to say against us
Mormons? They says we're thieves, and steal hogs; yes, d------ 'em! they
say we has as many wives as we like. So we have. I've twenty--forty,
myself, and mean to have as many more as I can get. But it's to pass
unfortunate females into heaven that I has'em--yes, to prevent'em going
to roaring flames and damnation that I does it.
"Brother Dowdle," he continued, in a hoarse, low voice, "I've 'give
out,' and think we'd better begin the exercises grettful to the Lord."
Brother Dowdle rose, and, after saying that he didn't "feel like saying
much," begged to remind all hands that dancing was "solemn like, to be
done with proper devotion, and not with laughing and talking, of which
he hoped to hear little or none; that joy was to be in their hearts, and
not on their lips; that they danced for the glory of the Lord, and
not their own amusement, as did the _Gentiles_." After saying thus, he
called upon brother Ezra to "strike up": sundry couples stood forth, and
the ball commenced.
Ezra of the violin was a tall shambling Missourian, with a pair of
homespun pantaloons thrust into the legs of his heavy boots. Nodding his
head in time with the music, he occasionally gave instructions to
such of the dancers as were at fault, singing them to the tune he was
playing, in a dismal nasal tone,--
"Down the center--hands across,
You Jake Herring--thump it,
Now, you all go right ahead--
Every one of you hump it.
Every one of you--_hump it_."
The last words being the signal that all should clap the steam on, which
they did _con amore_, and with comical seriousness.
A mountaineer, Rube Herring, whom we have more than once met in the
course of this narrative, became a convert to the Mormon creed, and held
forth its wonderful doctrines to such of the incredulous trappers as
he could induce to listen to him. Old Rube stood nearly six feet six
in height, and was spare and bony in make. He had picked up a most
extraordinary cloth coat amongst the Mormons, which had belonged to some
one his equal in stature. This coat, which was of a snuff-brown color,
had its waist about a hand's span from the nape of Rube's neck, or about
a yard above its proper position, and the skirts reached to his ankles.
A slouching felt-hat covered his head, from which long black hair
escaped, hanging in flakes over his lantern jaws. His pantaloons of
buckskin were shrunk with wet, and reached midway between his knees and
ankles, and his huge feet were incased in moccasins of buffalo-cow skin.
Rube was never without the book of Mormon in his hand, and his sonorous
voice might be heard, at all hours of the day and night, reading
passages from its wonderful pages. He stood the badgering of the hunters
with most perfect good-humor, and said there never was such a book as
that ever before printed; that the Mormons were the "biggest kind" of
prophets, and theirs the best faith ever man believed in.
Rube had let out one day that he was to be hired as guide by this party
of Mormons to the Great Salt Lake; but their destination being changed,
and his services not required, a wonderful change came over his mind. He
was, as usual, book of Mormon in hand, when brother Brown announced the
change in their plans; at which the book was cast into the Arkansa, and
Rube exclaimed--"Cuss your darned Mummum and Thummum! thar's not one
among you knows fat cow from poor bull, and you may go to h---- for me."
And turning away, old Rube spat out a quid of tobacco and his Mormonism
together.
Amongst the Mormons was an old man named Brand, from Memphis County,
State of Tennessee, with a family of a daughter and two sons, the latter
with their wives and children. Brand was a wiry old fellow, nearly
seventy years of age, but still stout and strong, and wielded ax or
rifle better than many a younger man. If truth be told, he was not a
very red-hot Mormon, and had joined them as much for the sake of company
to California, whither he had long resolved to emigrate, as from any
implicit credence in the faith. His sons were strapping fellows, of the
sterling stuff that the Western pioneers are made of; his daughter Mary,
a fine woman of thirty, for whose state of single blessedness there must
doubtless have been sufficient reason; for she was not only remarkably
handsome, but was well known in Memphis to be the best-tempered and
most industrious young woman in those diggings. She was known to have
received several advantageous offers, all of which she had refused; and
report said that it was from having been disappointed in very early life
in an _affaire du coeur_, at an age when such wounds sometimes strike
strong and deep, leaving a scar difficult to heal. Neither his daughter
nor any of his family had been converted to the Mormon doctrine, but had
ever kept themselves aloof, and refused to join or associate with them;
and, for this reason, the family had been very unpopular with the Mormon
families on the Arkansa; and hence, probably, one great reason why they
now started alone on their journey.
Spring had arrived, and it was time the Mormons should proceed on their
march; but whether already tired of the sample they had had of life
in the wilderness, or fearful of encountering the perils of the Indian
country, not one amongst them, with the exception of old Brand, seemed
inclined to pursue the journey farther. That old backwoodsman, however,
was not to be deterred, but declared his intention of setting out alone,
with his family, and risking all the dangers to be anticipated.
One fine sunny evening in April of 1847, when the cottonwoods on the
banks of the Arkansa began to put forth their buds, and robins and
bluebirds--harbingers of spring--were hopping with gaudy plumage through
the thickets, three white-tilted Conestoga wagons emerged from the
timbered bottom of the river, and rumbled slowly over the prairie, in
the direction of the Platte's waters. Each wagon was drawn by eight
oxen, and contained a portion of the farming implements and household
utensils of the Brand family. The teams were driven by the young boys,
the men following in rear with shouldered rifles--old Brand himself,
mounted on an Indian horse, leading the advance. The women were safely
housed under the shelter of the wagon-tilts, and out of the first the
mild face of Mary Brand smiled adieu to many of her old companions who
had accompanied them thus far, and now wished them "God-speed" on their
long journey. Some mountaineers, too, galloped up dressed in buckskin,
and gave them rough greeting--warning the men to keep their "eyes
skinned," and look out for the Arapahos, who were out on the waters
of the Platte. Presently all retired, and then the huge wagons and the
little company were rolling on their solitary way through the deserted
prairies--passing the first of the many thousand miles which lay between
them and the "setting sun," as the Indians style the distant regions of
the Far West. And on, without casting a look behind him, doggedly and
boldly marched old Brand, followed by his sturdy family.
They made but a few miles that evening, for the first day the _start_
is all that is effected; and nearly the whole morning is taken up in
getting fairly under weigh. The loose stock had been sent off earlier,
for they had been collected and corraled the previous night; and, after
a twelve hours' fast, it was necessary they should reach the end of the
day's journey betimes. They found the herd grazing in the bottom of the
Arkansa, at a point previously fixed upon for their first camp. Here the
oxen were unyoked, and the wagons drawn up so as to form three sides of
a small square. The women then descended from their seats, and prepared
the evening meal. A huge fire was kindled before the wagons, and round
this the whole party collected; whilst large kettles of coffee boiled on
it, and hoe-cakes baked upon the embers.
The women were sadly down-hearted, as well they might be, with the
dreary prospect before them; and poor Mary, when she saw the Mormon
encampment shut out from her sight by the rolling bluffs, and nothing
before her but the bleak barren prairie, could not divest herself of
the idea that she had looked for the last time on civilized
fellow-creatures, and fairly burst into tears.
In the morning the heavy wagons rolled on again across the upland
prairies, to strike the trail used by the traders in passing from the
south fork of the Platte to the Arkansa. They had for guide a Canadian
voyageur, who had been in the service of the Indian traders, and knew
the route well, and who had agreed to pilot them to Fort Lancaster, on
the north fork of the Platte. Their course led for about thirty miles up
the Boiling Spring River, whence they pursued a northeasterly course to
the dividing ridge which separates the waters of the Platte and Arkansa.
Their progress was slow, for the ground was saturated with wet, and
exceedingly heavy for the cattle, and they scarcely advanced more than
ten miles a-day.
At the camp-fire at night, Antoine, the Canadian guide, amused them
with tales of the wild life and perilous adventures of the hunters and
trappers who make the mountains their home; often extorting a scream
from the women by the description of some scene of Indian fight and
slaughter, or beguiling them of a commiserating tear by the narrative
of the sufferings and privations endured by those hardy hunters in their
arduous life.
Mary listened with the greater interest since she remembered that such
was the life which had been led by one very dear to her--by one long
supposed to be dead, of whom she had never but once since his departure,
nearly fifteen years before, heard a syllable. Her imagination pictured
him as the bravest and most daring of these adventurous hunters, and
conjured up his figure charging through the midst of whooping savages,
or stretched on the ground perishing from wounds, or cold, or famine.
Amongst the characters who figured in Antoine's stories, a hunter named
La Bonté was made conspicuous for deeds of hardiness and daring. The
first mention of the name caused the blood to rush to Mary's face; not
that she for a moment imagined it was her La Bonté, for she knew the
name was a common one; but, associated with feelings which she had never
got the better of, it recalled a sad epoch in her former life, to which
she could not look back without mingled pain and pleasure.
Once only, and about two years after his departure, had she ever
received tidings of her former lover. A mountaineer had returned from
the Far West to settle in his native state, and had found his way to the
neighborhood of old Brand's farm. Meeting him by accident, Mary, hearing
him speak of the mountain hunters, had inquired, tremblingly, after La
Bonté. Her informant knew him well--had trapped in company with him--and
had heard at the trading-fort, whence he had taken his departure for
the settlements, that La Bonté had been killed on the Yellow Stone by
Blackfeet; which report was confirmed by some Indians of that nation.
This was all she had ever learned of the lover of her youth.
Now, upon hearing the name of La Bonté so often mentioned by Antoine,
a vague hope was raised in her breast that he was still alive; and she
took an opportunity of questioning the Canadian closely on the subject.
"Who was this La Bonté, Antoine, who you say was so brave a
mountaineer?" she asked one day.
"J'ne sais pas; he vas un beau garçon, and strong comme le
diable--enfant de garce, mais he pas not care a dam for les sauvages, pe
gar. He shoot de centare avec his carabine, and ride de cheval comme one
Comanche. He trap heap castor (what you call beevare), and get plenty
dollare--mais he open hand vare wide--and got none too. Den, he hont vid
de Blackfoot and avec de Cheyenne, and all round de montaignes he hont
dam sight."
"But, Antoine, what became of him at last? and why did he not come home,
when he made so many dollars?" asked poor Mary.
"Enfant de garce, mais pourquoi he com home? Pe gar, de montaigne-man,
he love de montaigne and de prairie more better dan he love de grandes
villes--même de St. Louis ou de Montreal. Wagh! La Bonté, well, he one
montaigne-man, wagh! He love de buff aloe and de chevreaux plus que de
bouf and de mouton, mabe. Mais on dit dat he have autre raison--dat de
gal he lofe in Missouri not lofe him, and for dis he not go back. Mais
now he go ondare, m'on dit. He vas go to de Californe, maybe to steal
de hose and de mule--pe gar, and de Espagnols rub him out, and take his
hair, so he mort."
"But are you sure of this?" she asked, trembling with grief.
"Ah, now, j'ne suis pas sûr; mais I tink you know dis La Bonté. Enfant
de garce, maybe you de gal in Missouri he lofe, and not lofe him. Pe
gar!'fant de garce! fort beau garçon dis La Bonté; pourquoi you ne
l'aimez pas? Maybe he not go ondare. Maybe he turn op, autrefois. De
trappares, dey go ondare tree, four, ten times, mais dey turn op twenty
time. De sauvage not able for kill La Bonté, ni de dam Espagnols. Ah,
non! ne craignez pas; be gar, he not gone ondare encore."
Spite of the good-natured attempts of the Canadian, poor Mary burst into
a flood of tears: not that the information took her unawares, for she
long had believed her lover dead; but because the very mention of his
name awoke the strongest feelings within her breast, and taught her how
deep was the affection she had felt for him whose loss and violent fate
she now bewailed.
As the wagons of the lone caravan roll on towards the Platte, we return
to the camp where La Bonté, Killbuck, and the stranger, were sitting
before the fire when last we saw them. Killbuck _loquitur_:--
"The doin's of them Mormon fools can't be beat by Spaniards, stranger.
Their mummums and thummums you speak of won't shine whar Injuns are
about; nor pint out a trail, whar nothin' crossed but rattler-snakes
since fust it snowed on old Pike's Peak. If they pack along them
_profits_, as you tell of, who can make it rain hump-ribs and
marrow-guts when the crowd gets out of the buffler range, they are some,
now, that's a fact. But this child don't believe it. I'd laugh to get a
sight on these darned Mormonites, I would. They're no account, I guess;
and it's the meanest kind of action to haul their women critters and
their young'uns to sech a starving country as the Californys."
"They are not all Mormons in the crowd," said the strange hunter; "and
there's one family amongst them with some smartish boys and girls, I
tell you. Their name's Brand."
La Bonté looked up from the lock of his rifle, which he was
cleaning--but either didn't hear, or, hearing, didn't heed, for he
continued his work.
"And they are going to part company," continued the stranger, "and put
out alone for Platte and the South Pass."
"They'll lose their hair, I'm thinking," said Killbuck, "if the Rapahos
are out thar."
"I hope not," continued the other, "for there's a girl amongst them
worth more than that."
"Poor beaver!" said La Bonté, looking up from his work. "I'd hate to
see any white gal in the hands of Injuns, and of Rapahos worse than all.
Where does she come from, stranger?"
"Down below St. Louis, from Tennessee, I've heard them say."
"Tennessee," cried La Bonté,--"hurrah for the old state! What's her
name, stran----"
At this moment Killbuck's old mule pricked her ears and snuffed the air,
which action catching La Bonté's eye, he rose abruptly, without waiting
a reply to his question, and exclaimed, "The old mule smells Injuns, or
I'm a Spaniard!"
The hunter did the old mule justice, and she well maintained her
reputation as the best guard in the mountains; for in two minutes an
Indian stalked into the camp, dressed in a cloth capote, and in odds and
ends of civilized attire.
"Rapaho," cried Killbuck, as soon as he saw him; and the Indian catching
the word, struck his hand upon his breast, and exclaimed, in broken
Spanish and English mixed, "Si, si, me Arapaho, white man amigo. Come
to camp--eat heap came--me amigo white man. Come from Pueblo--
hunt cibola--me gun break--no puedo matar nada: mucha hambre (very
hungry)--heap eat."
Killbuck offered his pipe to the Indian, and spoke to him in his own
language, which both he and La Bonté well understood. They learned that
he was married to a Mexican woman, and lived with some hunters at
the Pueblo fort on the Arkansa. He volunteered the information that a
war-party of his people were out on the Platte trail to intercept
the Indian traders on their return from the North Fork; and as some
"Mormones" had just started with three wagons in that direction, he said
his people would make a "raise." Being muy amigo himself to the whites,
he cautioned his present companions from crossing to the divide, as the
braves, he said, were a heap mad, and their hearts were big, and nothing
in the shape of white skin would live before them.
"Wagh!" exclaimed Killbuck, "the Rapahos know me, I'm thinking; and
small gain they've made against this child. I've knowed the time when my
gun-cover couldn't hold more of their scalps."
The Indian was provided with some powder, of which he stood in need; and
after gorging as much meat as his capacious stomach would hold, he left
the camp, and started into the mountain.
The next day our hunters started on their journey down the river,
traveling leisurely, and stopping wherever good grass presented
itself. One morning they suddenly struck a wheel-trail, which left the
creek-banks and pursued a course at right angles to it, in the direction
of the divide. Killbuck pronounced it but a few hours old, and that of
three wagons drawn by oxen.
"Wagh!" he exclaimed, "if them poor devils of Mormonites ain't going
head first into the Rapaho trap. They'll be gone beaver afore long."
"Aye," said the strange hunter, "these are the wagons belonging to old
Brand, and he has started alone for Laramie. I hope nothing will happen
to them."
"Brand!" muttered La Bonté. "I knowed that name mighty well once, years
agone; and should hate the worst kind that mischief happened to any one
who bore it. This trail's as fresh as paint, and it goes against me to
let these simple critters help the Rapahos to their own hair. This child
feels like helping'em out of the scrape. What do you say, old hoss?"
"I thinks with you, boy," answered Killbuck, "and go in for following
this wagon-trail, and telling the poor critters that thar's danger ahead
of them. What's your talk, stranger?"
"I go with you," shortly answered the latter; and both followed quickly
after La Bonté, who was already trotting smartly on the trail.
Meanwhile the three wagons, containing the household gods of the Brand
family, rumbled slowly over the rolling prairie, and towards the upland
ridge of the divide, which, studded with dwarf-pine and cedar thicket,
rose gradually before them. They traveled with considerable caution, for
already the quick eye of Antoine had discovered recent Indian sign upon
the trail, and with mountain quickness had at once made it out to be
that of a war-party: for there were no horses with them, and after one
or two of the moccasin-tracks, the mark of a rope which trailed upon the
ground was sufficient to show him that the Indians were provided with
the usual lasso of skin, with which to secure the horses stolen in
the expedition. The men of the party were consequently all mounted
and thoroughly armed, the wagons moved in a line abreast, and a
sharp look-out was kept on all sides. The women and children were all
consigned to the interior of the wagons; and the latter had also guns in
readiness to take their part in the defense, should an attack be made.
However, they had seen no Indians, and no fresh sign, for two days after
they left the Boiling Spring River, and they began to think they were
well out of their neighborhood. One evening they camped on a creek
called Black Horse, and, as usual, had corraled the wagons, and forted
as well as circumstances would permit, when three or four Indians
suddenly appeared on a bluff at a little distance, and, making signals
of peaceable intentions, approached the camp. Most of the men were
absent at the time, attending to the cattle or collecting fuel, and only
old Brand and one of his young grandchildren, about fourteen years old,
remained in camp. The Indians were hospitably received, and regaled with
a smoke, after which they began to evince their curiosity by examining
every article lying about, and signifying their wishes that it should
be given to them. Finding their hints were not taken, they laid hold of
several things which took their fancies, and, amongst others, of the pot
which was boiling on the fire, and with which one of them was about very
coolly to walk off, when old Brand, who up to this moment had retained
possession of his temper, seized it out of the Indian's hand and knocked
him down. One of the others instantly began to draw the buckskin cover
from his gun, and would no doubt have taken summary vengeance for the
insult offered to his companion, when Mary Brand courageously stepped up
to him, and, placing her left hand upon the gun which he was in the act
of uncovering, with the other pointed a pistol at his breast.
Whether daunted by the bold act of the girl, or admiring her devotion
to her father, the Indian drew himself back, exclaimed "Howgh!" and drew
the cover again on his piece, went up to old Brand, who all this time
looked him sternly in the face, and, shaking him by the hand, motioned
at the same time to the other to be peaceable.
The other whites presently coming into camp, the Indians sat quietly
down by the fire, and when the supper was ready, joined in the repast,
after which they gathered their buffalo-robes about them, and quietly
withdrew. Meanwhile Antoine, knowing the treacherous character of the
savages, advised that the greatest precaution should be taken to secure
the stock; and before dark, therefore, all the mules and horses were
hobbled and secured within the corral, the oxen being allowed to feed at
liberty--for the Indians scarcely care to trouble themselves with such
cattle. A guard was also set round the camp, and relieved every two
hours; the fire was extinguished, lest the savages should aim, by its
light, at any of the party, and all slept with rifles ready at their
sides. However, the night passed quietly, and nothing disturbed the
tranquillity of the camp. The prairie wolves loped hungrily around,
and their mournful cry was borne upon the wind, as they chased deer and
antelope on the neighboring plain; but not a sign of lurking Indians was
seen or heard.
In the morning, shortly after sunrise, they were in the act of yoking
the oxen to the wagons, and driving in the loose animals which had been
turned out to feed at daybreak, when some Indians again appeared upon
the bluff, and, descending it, confidently approached the camp. Antoine
strongly advised their not being allowed to enter; but Brand, ignorant
of Indian treachery, replied that, so long as they came as friends, they
could not be deemed enemies, and allowed no obstruction to be offered
to their approach. It was now observed that they were all painted, armed
with bows and arrows, and divested of their buffalo-robes, appearing
naked to the breech-clout, their legs only being protected by deer-skin
leggings, reaching to the middle of the thigh. Six or seven first
arrived, and others quickly followed, dropping in one after the other,
until a score or more were collected round the wagons. Their demeanor,
at first friendly, soon changed as their numbers increased, and they
now became urgent in their demands for powder and lead, and bullying in
their manner. A chief accosted Brand, and, through Antoine, informed him
that, unless the demands of his braves were acceded to, he could not be
responsible for the consequences; that they were out on the war-trail,
and their eyes were red with blood, so that they could not distinguish
between white and Yuta scalps; that the party, with all their women and
wagons, were in the power of the Indian braves, and therefore the white
chief's best plan was to make the best terms he could; that all they
required was that they should give up their guns and ammunition "on
the prairie," and all their mules and horses--retaining the "medicine
buffaloes" (the oxen) "to draw their wagons."
By this time the oxen were yoked, and the teamsters, whip in hand, only
waited the word to start. Old Brand foamed whilst the Indian stated his
demands, but, hearing him to the end, exclaimed, "Darn the red devil!
I wouldn't give him a grain of powder to save my life. Put out,
boys!"--and turning to his horse, which stood ready saddled, was about
to mount, when the Indians sprang at once upon the wagons, and commenced
their attack, yelling like fiends.
One jumped upon old Brand, pulled him back as he was rising in the
stirrup, and drew his bow upon him at the same moment. In an instant the
old backwoodsman pulled a pistol from his belt, and, putting the muzzle
to the Indian's heart, shot him dead. Another Indian, flourishing his
war-club, laid the old man at his feet; whilst some dragged the women
from the wagons, and others rushed upon the men, who made brave fight in
their defense.
Mary, when she saw her father struck to the ground, sprang with a shrill
cry to his assistance; for at that moment a savage, frightful as red
paint could make him, was standing over his prostrate body, brandishing
a glittering knife in the air, preparatory to thrusting it into the old
man's breast. For the rest, all was confusion: in vain the small party
of whites struggled against overpowering numbers. Their rifles cracked
but once, and they were quickly disarmed; whilst the shrieks of the
women and children, and the loud yells of the Indians, added to the
scene of horror and confusion. As Mary flew to her father's side, an
Indian threw his lasso at her, the noose falling over her shoulders,
and jerking it tight, he uttered a delighted yell as the poor girl was
thrown back violently to the ground. As she fell, another deliberately
shot an arrow at her body, whilst the one who had thrown the lasso
rushed forward, his scalp-knife flashing in his hand, to seize the
bloody trophy of his savage deed. The girl rose to her knees, and looked
wildly towards the spot where her father lay bathed in blood; but
the Indian pulled the rope violently, dragged her some yards upon the
ground, and then rushed with a yell of vengeance upon his victim. He
paused, however, as at that moment a shout as fierce as his own sounded
at his very ear; and, looking up, he saw La Bonté galloping madly
down the bluff, his long hair and the fringes of his hunting-shirt and
leggings flying in the wind, his right arm supporting his trusty rifle,
whilst close behind him came Killbuck and the stranger. Dashing with
loud hurrahs to the scene of action, La Bonté, as he charged down the
bluff, caught sight of the girl struggling in the hands of the ferocious
Indian. Loud was the war-shout of the mountaineer, as he struck
his heavy spurs to the rowels in his horse's side, and bounded like
lightning to the rescue. In a single stride he was upon the Indian, and
thrusting the muzzle of his rifle into his very breast, he pulled the
trigger, driving the savage backward by the blow itself, at the same
moment that the bullet passed through his heart and tumbled him over
stone-dead. Throwing down his rifle, La Bonté wheeled his obedient
horse, and, drawing a pistol from his belt, again charged the enemy,
among whom Killbuck and the stranger were dealing death-giving blows.
Yelling for victory, the mountaineers rushed at the Indians; and they,
panic-stricken at the sudden attack, and thinking this was but the
advanced-guard of a large band, fairly turned and fled, leaving five of
their number dead upon the field.
Mary, shutting her eyes to the expected death-stroke, heard the loud
shout La Bonté gave in charging down the bluff, and, again looking up,
saw the wild-looking mountaineer rush to her rescue, and save her from
the savage by his timely blow. Her arms were still pinned by the lasso,
which prevented her from rising to her feet; and La Bonté was the first
to run to aid her, as soon as the fight was fairly over. He jumped
from his horse, cut the skin-rope which bound her, raised her from
the ground, and, upon her turning up her face to thank him, beheld
his never-to-be-forgotten Mary Brand; whilst she, hardly believing
her senses, recognized in her deliverer her former lover, and still
well-beloved La Bonté.
"What, Mary! can it be you?" he asked, looking intently upon the
trembling woman.
"La Bonté, you don't forget me!" she answered, and threw herself sobbing
into the arms of the sturdy mountaineer.
There we will leave her for the present, and help Killbuck and his
companions to examine the killed and wounded. Of the former, five
Indians and two whites lay dead, the latter grandchildren of old Brand,
fine lads of fourteen or fifteen, who had fought with the greatest
bravery, and lay pierced with arrows and lance-wounds. Old Brand had
received a sore buffet, but a hatful of cold water from the creek
sprinkled over his face soon restored him. His sons had not escaped
scot-free, and Antoine was shot through the neck, and, falling, had
actually been half-scalped by an Indian, whom the timely arrival of La
Bonté had caused to leave his work unfinished.
Silently, and with sad hearts, the survivors of the family saw the
bodies of the two boys buried on the river-bank, and the spot marked
with a pile of loose stones, procured from the rocky bed of the creek.
The carcasses of the treacherous Indians were left to be devoured by
wolves, and their bones to bleach in the sun and wind--a warning to
their tribe, that such foul treachery as they had meditated had met with
a merited retribution.
The next day the party continued their course to the Platte. Antoine and
the stranger returned to the Arkansa, starting in the night to avoid the
Indians; but Killbuck and La Bonté lent the aid of their rifles to the
solitary caravan, and, under their experienced guidance, no more Indian
perils were encountered. Mary no longer sat perched up in her father's
Conestoga, but rode a quiet mustang by La Bonté's side; and no doubt
they found a theme with which to while away the monotonous journey over
the dreary plains. South Fork was passed, and Laramie was reached. The
Sweet Water Mountains, which hang over the pass to California, were
long since in sight; but when the waters of the North Fork of Platte lay
before their horses' feet, and the broad trail was pointed out which led
to the great valley of Columbia and their promised land, the heads of
the oxen were turned down the stream, where the shallow waters flow on
to join the great Missouri--and not up, towards the mountains, where
they leave their spring-heads,--from which springs flow several waters,
some coursing their way to the eastward, fertilizing, in their route
to the Atlantic, the lands of civilized man, others westward, forcing a
passage through rocky canons, and flowing through a barren wilderness,
inhabited by fierce and barbarous tribes.
These were the routes to choose between; and, whatever was the cause,
the oxen turned their yoked heads away from the rugged mountains; the
teamsters joyfully cracked their ponderous whips, as the wagons rolled
lightly down the Platte; and men, women, and children waved their hats
and bonnets in the air and cried out lustily, "Hurrah for home!"
La Bonté looked at the dark somber mountains ere he turned his back
upon them for the last time. He thought of the many years he had spent
beneath their rugged shadow, of the many hardships he had suffered,
of all his pains and perils in those wild regions. The most exciting
episodes of his adventurous career, his tried companions in scenes of
fierce fight and bloodshed, passed in review before him. A feeling of
regret was creeping over him, when Mary laid her hand gently on his
shoulder. One single tear rolled unbidden down his cheek, and he
answered her inquiring eyes: "I'm not sorry to leave it, Mary," he said;
"but it's hard to turn one's back upon old friends."
They had a hard battle with Killbuck, in endeavoring to persuade him to
accompany them to the settlements. The old mountaineer shook his head.
The time, he said, was gone by for that. He had often thought of it,
but, when the day arrived, he hadn't heart to leave the mountains.
Trapping now was of no account, he knew; but beaver was bound to rise,
and then the good times would come again. What could he do in the
settlements, where there wasn't room to move, and where it was hard to
breathe--there were so many people?
He accompanied them a considerable distance down the river, ever and
anon looking cautiously back, to ascertain that he had not gone out of
sight of the mountains. Before reaching the forks, however, he finally
bade them adieu; and, turning the head of his old grizzled mule
westward, he heartily wrung the hand of his comrade La Bonté; and,
crying Yep! to his well-tried animal, disappeared behind a roll of the
prairie, and was seen no more--a thousand good wishes for the welfare
of the sturdy trapper speeding him on his solitary way.
Four months from the day when La Bonté so opportunely appeared to rescue
Brand's family from the Indians on Black Horse Creek, that worthy and
the faithful Mary were duly and lawfully united in the township church
of Brandville, Memphis County, State of Tennessee. We cannot say, in the
concluding words of nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand novels, that
"numerous pledges of mutual love surrounded and cheered them in their
declining years," &c., &c.; because it was only on the 24th of July,
in the year of our Lord 1847, that La Bonté and Mary Brand were finally
made one, after fifteen long years of separation.
The fate of one of the humble characters who have figured in these pages
we must yet tarry a little longer to describe.
During the past winter, a party of mountaineers, flying from
overpowering numbers of hostile Sioux, found themselves, one stormy
evening, in a wild and dismal canon near the elevated mountain valley
called the New Park.
The rocky bed of a dry mountain torrent, whose waters were now locked
up at their spring-heads by icy fetters, was the only road up which they
could make their difficult way; for the rugged sides of the gorge rose
precipitously from the creek, scarcely affording a foot-hold to even the
active bighorn, which occasionally looked down upon the travelers from
the lofty summit. Logs of pine uprooted by the hurricanes which sweep
incessantly through the mountain defiles, and tossed headlong from the
surrounding ridges, continually obstructed their way; and huge rocks and
boulders, fallen from the heights and blocking up the bed of the
stream, added to the difficulty, and threatened them every instant with
destruction.
Towards sundown they reached a point where the canon opened out into
a little shelving glade or prairie, a few hundred yards in extent, the
entrance to which was almost hidden by thicket of dwarf pine and cedar.
Here they determined to encamp for the night, in a spot secure from
Indians, and, as they imagined, untrodden by the foot of man.
What, however, was their astonishment, on breaking through the
cedar-covered entrance, to perceive a solitary horse standing motionless
in the center of the prairie. Drawing near, they found it to be an old
grizzled mustang, or Indian pony, with cropped ears and ragged tail
(well picked by hungry mules), standing doubled up with cold, and at the
very last gasp from extreme old age and weakness. Its bones were nearly
through the stiffened skin, the legs of the animal were gathered
under it; whilst its forlorn-looking head and stretched-out neck hung
listlessly downwards, almost overbalancing its tottering body. The
glazed and sunken eye--the protruding and froth-covered tongue--the
heaving flank and quivering tail--declared its race was run; and the
driving sleet and snow, and penetrating winter blast, scarce made
impression upon its callous and worn-out frame.
One of the band of mountaineers was Marcelline, and a single look at the
miserable beast was sufficient for him to recognize the once renowned
Nez-percé steed of old Bill Williams. That the owner himself was not far
distant he felt certain; and, searching carefully around, the hunters
presently came upon an old camp, before which lay, protruding from the
snow, the blackened remains of pine logs. Before these, which had been
the fire, and leaning with his back against a pine trunk, and his legs
crossed under him, half covered with snow, reclined the figure of
the old mountaineer, his snow-capped head bent over his breast.
His well-known hunting-coat of fringed elk-skin hung stiff and
weather-stained about him; and his rifle, packs, and traps were strewed
around.
Awe-struck, the trappers approached the body, and found it frozen hard
as stone, in which state it had probably lain there for many days or
weeks. A jagged rent in the breast of his leather coat, and dark stains
about it, showed he had received a wound before his death; but it
was impossible to say, whether to his hurt, or to sickness, or to the
natural decay of age, was to be attributed the wretched and solitary end
of poor Bill Williams.
A friendly bullet cut short the few remaining hours of the trapper's
faithful steed; and burying, as well as they were able, the body of the
old mountaineer, the hunters next day left him in his lonely grave, in a
spot so wild and remote, that it was doubtful whether even hungry wolves
would discover and disinter his attenuated corpse.
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's In the Old West, by George Frederick Ruxton