After a week spent in Independence buying mules and waggons, we took the
route over the plains. There were a hundred waggons in the caravan, and
nearly twice that number of teamsters and attendants. Two of the
capacious vehicles contained all my "plunder;" and, to manage them, I
had hired a couple of lathy, long-haired Missourians. I had also
engaged a Canadian voyageur named Gode, as a sort of attendant or
compagnon.
Where are the glossy gentlemen of the Planters' Hotel? One would
suppose they had been left behind, as here are none but men in
hunting-shirts and slouch hats. Yes; but under these hats we recognise
their faces, and in these rude shirts we have the same jovial fellows as
ever. The silky black and the diamonds have disappeared, for now the
traders flourish under the prairie costume. I will endeavour to give an
idea of the appearance of my companions by describing my own; for I am
tricked out very much like themselves.
I wear a hunting-shirt of dressed deerskin. It is a garment more after
the style of an ancient tunic than anything I can think of. It is of a
light yellow colour, beautifully stitched and embroidered; and the cape,
for it has a short cape, is fringed by tags cut out of the leather
itself. The skirt is also bordered by a similar fringe, and hangs full
and low. A pair of "savers" of scarlet cloth cover my limbs to the
thigh; and under these are strong jean pantaloons, heavy boots, and big
brass spurs. A coloured cotton shirt, a blue neck-tie, and a
broad-brimmed Guayaquil hat, complete the articles of my everyday dress.
Behind me, on the cantle of my saddle, may be observed a bright red
object folded into a cylindrical form. That is my "Mackinaw," a great
favourite, for it makes my bed by night and my greatcoat on other
occasions. There is a small slit in the middle of it, through which I
thrust my head in cold or rainy weather; and I am thus covered to the
ankles.
As I have said, my _compagnons de voyage_ are similarly attired. There
may be a difference of colour in the blanket or the leggings, or the
shirt may be of other materials; but that I have described may be taken
as a character dress.
We are all somewhat similarly armed and equipped. For my part, I may
say that I am "armed to the teeth." In my holsters I carry a pair of
Colt's large-sized revolvers, six shots each. In my belt is another
pair of the small size, with five shots each. In addition, I have a
light rifle, making in all twenty-three shots, which I have learned to
deliver in as many seconds of time. Failing with all these, I carry in
my belt a long shining blade known as a "bowie knife." This last is my
hunting knife, my dining knife, and, in short, my knife of all work.
For accoutrements I have a pouch and a flask, both slung under the right
arm. I have also a large gourd canteen and haversack for my rations.
So have all my companions.
But we are differently mounted. Some ride saddle mules, others bestride
mustangs, while a few have brought their favourite American horses. I
am of this number. I ride a dark-brown stallion, with black legs, and
muzzle like the withered fern. He is half-Arab, and of perfect
proportions. He is called Moro, a Spanish name given him by the
Louisiana planter from whom I bought him, but why I do not know. I have
retained the name, and he answers to it readily. He is strong, fleet,
and beautiful. Many of my friends fancy him on the route, and offer
large prices for him; but these do not tempt me, for my Moro serves me
well. Every day I grow more and more attached to him. My dog Alp, a
Saint Bernard that I bought from a Swiss _emigre_ in Saint Louis, hardly
comes in for a tithe of my affections.
I find on referring to my note-book that for weeks we travelled over the
prairies without any incident of unusual interest. To me the scenery
was interest enough; and I do not remember a more striking picture than
to see the long caravan of waggons, "the prairie ships," deployed over
the plain, or crawling slowly up some gentle slope, their white tilts
contrasting beautifully with the deep green of the earth. At night,
too, the camp, with its corralled waggons, and horses picketed around,
was equally a picture. The scenery was altogether new to me, and imbued
me with impressions of a peculiar character. The streams were fringed
with tall groves of cottonwood trees, whose column-like stems supported
a thick frondage of silvery leaves. These groves meeting at different
points, walled in the view, so dividing the prairies from one another,
that we seemed to travel through vast fields fenced by colossal hedges.
We crossed many rivers, fording some, and floating our waggons over
others that were deeper and wider. Occasionally we saw deer and
antelope, and our hunters shot a few of these; but we had not yet
reached the range of the buffalo. Once we stopped a day to recruit in a
wooded bottom, where the grass was plentiful and the water pure. Now
and then, too, we were halted to mend a broken tongue or an axle, or
help a "stalled" waggon from its miry bed.
I had very little trouble with my particular division of the caravan.
My Missourians turned out to be a pair of staunch hands, who could
assist one another without making a desperate affair of every slight
accident.
The grass had sprung up, and our mules and oxen, instead of thinning
down, every day grew fatter upon it. Moro, therefore, came in for a
better share of the maize that I had brought in my waggons, and which
kept my favourite in fine travelling condition.
As we approached the Arkansas, we saw mounted Indians disappearing over
the swells. They were Pawnees; and for several days clouds of these
dusky warriors hung upon the skirts of the caravan. But they knew our
strength, and kept at a wary distance from our long rifles.
To me every day brought something new, either in the incidents of the
"voyage" or the features of the landscape.
Gode, who has been by turns a voyageur, a hunter, a trapper, and a
_coureur du bois_, in our private dialogues had given me an insight into
many an item of prairie-craft, thus enabling me to cut quite a
respectable figure among my new comrades. Saint Vrain, too, whose
frank, generous manner had already won my confidence, spared no pains to
make the trip agreeable to me. What with gallops by day and the wilder
tales by the night watch-fires, I became intoxicated with the romance of
my new life. I had caught the "prairie-fever!"
So my companions told me, laughing. I did not understand them then. I
knew what they meant afterwards. The prairie fever! Yes. I was just
then in process of being inoculated by that strange disease. It grew
upon me apace. The dreams of home began to die within me; and with
these the illusory ideas of many a young and foolish ambition.
My strength increased, both physically and intellectually. I
experienced a buoyancy of spirits and a vigour of body I had never known
before. I felt a pleasure in action. My blood seemed to rush warmer
and swifter through my veins, and I fancied that my eyes reached to a
more distant vision. I could look boldly upon the sun without quivering
in my glance.
Had I imbibed a portion of the divine essence that lives, and moves, and
has its being in those vast solitudes? Who can answer this?