"The Indians."
The savage it was, with his red spear and scalping-knife, his bow and
his battle-axe, his brand and his poisoned arrows.
"The Navajoes?" I inquired. "Navajo and Apache."
"But do they come no more to this place?" A feeling of anxiety had
suddenly entered my mind. I thought of our proximity to the mansion we
had left. I thought of its unguarded walls. I waited with some
impatience for an answer.
"No more," was the brief reply. "And why?" I inquired.
"This is our territory," he answered, significantly. "You are now,
monsieur, in a country where live strange fellows; you shall see. Woe
to the Apache or Navajo who may stray into these woods!"
As we rode forward, the country became more open, and we caught a
glimpse of high bluffs trending north and south on both sides of the
river. These bluffs converged till the river channel appeared to be
completely barred up by a mountain. This was only an appearance. On
riding farther, we found ourselves entering one of those fearful gaps,
canons, as they are called, so often met with in the table-lands of
tropical America.
Through this the river foamed between two vast cliffs, a thousand feet
in height, whose profiles, as you approached them, suggested the idea of
angry giants, separated by some almighty hand, and thus left frowning at
each other. It was with a feeling of awe that one looked up the face of
these stupendous cliffs, and I felt a shuddering sensation as I neared
the mighty gate between them.
"Do you see that point?" asked Seguin, indicating a rock that jutted out
from the highest ledge of the chasm. I signified in the affirmative,
for the question was addressed to myself.
"That is the leap you were so desirous of taking. We found you dangling
against yonder rock."
"Good God!" I ejaculated, as my eyes rested upon the dizzy eminence.
My brain grew giddy as I sat in my saddle gazing upward, and I was fain
to ride onward.
"But for your noble horse," continued my companion, "the doctor here
would have been stopping about this time to hypothecate upon your bones.
Ho, Moro! beautiful Moro!"
"Oh, mein Gott! Ya, ya!" assented the botanist, looking up against the
precipice, apparently with a feeling of awe such as I felt myself.
Seguin had ridden alongside me, and was patting my horse on the neck
with expressions of admiration.
"But why?" I asked, the remembrance of our first interview now
occurring to me, "why were you so eager to possess him?"
"A fancy."
"Can I not understand it? I think you said then that I could not?"
"Oh, yes! Quite easily, monsieur. I intended to steal my own daughter,
and I wanted, for that purpose, to have the aid of your horse."
"But how?"
"It was before I had heard the news of this intended expedition of our
enemy. As I had no hopes of obtaining her otherwise, it was my design
to have entered their country alone, or with a tried comrade, and by
stratagem to have carried her off. Their horses are swift, yet far
inferior to the Arab, as you may have an opportunity of seeing. With
such an animal as that, I would have been comparatively safe, unless
hemmed in or surrounded, and even then I might have got off with a few
scratches, I intended to have disguised myself, and entered the town as
one of their own warriors. I have long been master of their language."
"It would have been a perilous enterprise."
"True! It was a _dernier ressort_, and only adopted because all other
efforts had failed; after years of yearning, deep craving of the heart.
I might have perished. It was a rash thought, but I, at that time,
entertained it fully."
"I hope we shall succeed now."
"I have high hopes. It seems as if some overruling providence were now
acting in my favour. This absence of her captors; and, besides, my band
has been most opportunely strengthened by the arrival of a number of
trappers from the eastern plains. The beaver-skins have fallen,
according to their phraseology, to a `plew a plug,' and they find
`red-skin' pays better. Ah! I hope this will soon be over."
And he sighed deeply as he uttered the last words.
We were now at the entrance of the gorge, and a shady clump of
cotton-woods invited us to rest.
"Let us noon here," said Seguin.
We dismounted, and ran our animals out on their trail-ropes to feed.
Then seating ourselves on the soft grass, we drew forth the viands that
had been prepared for our journey.