The same newspaper that had imparted the pleasing intelligence, supplied
me with information of another kind--which also produced a cheering
effect upon my spirits.
The emigrants proceeding overland to California, required protection
from the Indians--many hostile tribes of whom lived along the route.
Military stations, or "forts" as they were called, had to be established
at different points upon the great prairie wilderness; and, just then,
the United States' Government was enlisting men to be forwarded to these
stations.
Most of the men enrolled for this service, were for its cavalry arm; and
after my last quarter of a dollar had been spent, I became one of their
number. My former experience in a dragoon saddle--of which I could give
the proofs--made it no very difficult matter for me to get mounted once
more.
Enlisting in the army, was rather a strange proceeding for a man who was
anxious to make a fortune in the shortest possible time; but I saw that
something must be done, to enable me to live; and I could neither hold a
plough, nor wield an axe.
At first, I was not altogether satisfied with what I had done, for I
knew that my mother was not to be found in the wilds of America; and
that, after remaining five years in the ranks of the American army, I
would be as far as ever from Lenore.
There was one thought, however, that did much to reconcile me to my new
situation; and that was, that our line of march would be _towards
California_!
Three weeks after joining the cavalry corps, we started for a station
lying beyond Fort Leavenworth.
Our march was not an uninteresting one: for most of my comrades were
young men of a cheerful disposition; and around our camp-fires at night,
the statesman, philosopher, or divine, who could not have found either
amusement or instruction, would have been a wonderful man.
Our company was composed of men of several nations. All, or nearly all,
of them were intelligent; and all unfortunate: as, of course, every man
must be, who enters the ranks as a common soldier.
Man is the creature of circumstances, over which he has no control. The
circumstances that had brought together the regiment to which I
belonged, would probably make a volume much more instructive and
interesting than any "lady novel," and this, judging from the taste
displayed by the majority of readers of the present day, is saying more
than could be easily proved.
Many European officers would have thought there was but slight
discipline in the corps to which I was attached; but in this opinion,
they would be greatly in error.
The efficiency of our discipline consisted in the absence of that pretty
order, which some French and English martinets would have striven to
establish; and which would have been ill-suited for a march over the
sterile plains, and through the dense forests encountered in the line of
our route. This absence of strict discipline did not prevent us from
doing a good day's march; and yet enabled us to have plenty of game to
cook over our camp-fires by night.
We had no duty to trouble ourselves with, but what the common sense of
each taught him to be necessary to our safety and welfare; and we were
more like a hunting party seeking amusement, than like soldiers on a
toilsome march.
For all this, we were proceeding towards our destination, with as much
speed as could reasonably be required.
We had one man in the company, known by the name of "Runaway Dick"--a
name given to him after he had one evening, by the camp-fire,
entertained us with a narration of some of the experiences of his life.
He had run away from home, and gone to sea. He had run away from every
ship in which he had sailed. He had started in business several times,
and had run away each time in debt. He had married two wives, and had
run away from both; and, before joining our corps, he had run away from
the landlord of a tavern--leaving Boniface an empty trunk as payment for
a large bill.
"Runaway Dick" was one of the best marksman with a rifle we had in the
company; and it was the knowledge of this, that on one occasion caused
me perhaps the greatest fright I ever experienced.
I had risen at an early hour one morning, which being very cold, I had
lighted a fire. I was squatted, and shivering over the half kindled
faggots, with a buffalo robe wrapped around my shoulders, when I saw
"Runaway Dick" steal out from his sleeping place under a waggon. On
seeing me, he turned suddenly round, and laid hold of his rifle.
I had just time to throw off the hairy covering, and spring to my feet,
as the rifle was brought to his shoulder. Three seconds more, and I
should have had a bullet through my body!
"Darn it! I thought you was a bar," said Dick coolly, putting down his
rifle, as I fancied, with a show of some chagrin at having been
undeceived, and "choused" out of his shot.
I afterwards heard that he was only trying to frighten me. If so, the
experiment proved entirely successful.
After reaching the post we were to occupy, I was not so well satisfied
with my situation, as when on the march.
The discipline became more strict, and we had a good deal of
fatigue-work to do--in building huts, stables, and fortifications.
Besides this unsoldierly duty by day, we had at night to take our turn
as sentinels around the station.
Emigrants on the way to California passed us daily. How I envied them
their freedom of action, and the bright hopes that were luring them on!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One morning, "Runaway Dick" was not to be found. He had run away once
more. It was not difficult to divine whither--to California.
In this, his latest flight, he appeared to give some proof that he had
still a little honesty left: for he did not take along with him either
his horse, or his rifle.
I overheard some of the officers speaking of him after he was gone, one
of them pronounced him "a damned fool" for not taking the horse--so
necessary to him upon the long journey he would have to perform, before
reaching his destination.
On hearing this remark, I registered a resolve, that, when my turn came
to desert, they should not have occasion to apply the epithet to me, at
all events, not for the same reason that Runaway Dick had deserved it.
Whether Dick's example had any influence on me, I do not now remember.
I only know that I soon after determined to desert, and take my horse
with me.
I had served the Government of the United States once before; and did
not think myself any too well rewarded for my services. I might
probably have believed that "Uncle Sam" was indebted to me; and that by
dismissing myself from his employ, and taking with me some of his
property, it would be only squaring accounts with him; but I did not
then take the trouble to trifle with my conscience--as I do not now--to
justify my conduct by any such excuse. To carry off the horse would be
stealing; but I required the animal for the journey; and I did not like
to leave my officers under the impression that I was a "damned fool."
"Every one who robs a government is not called a thief," thought I, "and
why should I win that appellation when only trying to win Lenore?"
I could not afford to squander the best part of my life in a
wilderness--standing sentry all the night, and working on fortifications
all the day.
It was absurd for any one to have enlisted an intelligent-looking young
fellow like myself, for any such occupation. Was I not expected to take
French leave on the first favourable opportunity? And would I not be
thought a "fool" for not doing so?
These considerations did not influence me much, I admit, for the true
cause of my desertion, was the knowledge that neither my relatives nor
Lenore would ever be encountered in the middle of the great American
prairie, and that to find either I must "move on."
One night I was dispatched on patrol duty, to a place some two miles
distant from the fort. The sky was dark at the time; but I knew the
moon would be shining brightly in an hour.
A better opportunity would perhaps never occur again; and I resolved to
take advantage of it and desert.
By going through the wilderness alone, I knew that I should have many
dangers and hardships to encounter; but the curiosity, of learning how
these were to be overcome, only added to my desire for entering upon
them.
My patrol duty led me along the trail of the emigrants proceeding
westward; and even in the darkness, I was able to follow it without
difficulty, riding most of the way at a trot. When the moon rose, I
increased my pace to a gallop, and scarce halted until daybreak, when,
perceiving a small stream that ran through the bottom of a narrow
valley, I rode toward it. There dismounting, I gave my horse to the
grass--which was growing so luxuriantly as to reach up to his knees.
The horse was more fortunate than I: for the long night's ride had given
me an appetite, which I had no means of satisfying. I was hungry and
happy--happy, because I was free; and hungry for the same reason! A
paradox, though a truth.
There were birds warbling among the trees by the side of the stream. I
could have shot some of them with my rifle, or revolver, and cooked them
over a fire--for I had the means of making one. But I was not hungry
enough to risk the report of a shot being heard; and after tethering my
horse, to make secure against _his deserting me_, I lay down upon the
long grass and fell fast asleep.
I dreamt no end of dreams, though they might all have been reduced to
one; and that was: that the world was my inheritance, and I was on my
way to take possession of it.
When I awoke, the sun was in the centre of the sky. My horse had
satisfied his hunger; and, following the example of his master, had laid
down to sleep.
I did not hesitate to disturb his repose; and, having saddled and
remounted him, I once more took to the emigrant trail, and continued on
towards fortune and Lenore!
Volume One, Chapter XVIII.