About a week after the fiesta of Saint John, a small party of ciboleros
was seen crossing the Pecos, at the ford of the "Bosque Redondo." The
party was only five in number, and consisted of a white man, a
half-blood, and three pure-bred Indians, having with them a small
_atajo_ of pack-mules, and three ox-team carretas. The crouching trot
of the Indians, as well as their tilma dresses and sandalled feet,
showed that they were "Indios mansos." They were, in fact, the hired
_peons_ of Carlos the cibolero--the white man, and chief of the party.
The half-blood--Antonio by name--was "arriero" of the mule-train, while
the three Indians drove the ox-teams, guiding them across the ford with
their long goads. Carlos himself was mounted upon his fine black horse,
and, muffled in a strong serape, rode in front to pilot the way. His
beautiful manga had been left behind, partly to save it from the rough
wear of such an expedition, and also that it might not excite the
cupidity of the prairie Indians, who, for such a brilliant mantle as it
was, would not hesitate to take his scalp. Besides the manga, the
embroidered jacket, the scarlet scarf, and velveteen calzoneros, had all
been put off, and others of a coarser kind were now worn in their place.
This was an important expedition for Carlos. He carried with him the
largest freight he had ever taken upon the prairies. Besides the three
carretas with four oxen each, the atajo consisted of five pack-mules,
all loaded with merchandise--the carretas with bread, pinole, Spanish
beans, Chile peppers; and the packs were made up of serape blankets,
coarse woollen cloth, and a few showy trinkets, as also some Spanish
knives, with their pointed triangular blades. It was his bold luck on
the day of the fiesta that had enabled him to provide such a stock. In
addition to his own original onza and the two he had won, the young
ranchero, Don Juan, had insisted upon his accepting the loan of five
others towards an outfit for this expedition.
The little troop, having safely forded the Pecos, headed towards the
"ceja" of the Llano Estacado, that was not far distant from the crossing
of Bosque Redondo. A sloping ravine brought them to the top of the
"mesa," where a firm level road lay before them--a smooth plain without
break or bush to guide them on their course.
But the cibolero needed no guide. No man knew the Staked Plain better
than he; and, setting his horse's head in a direction a little south of
east, the train moved on. He was striking for one of the head branches
of the Red River of Louisiana, where he had heard that for several
seasons past the buffalo had appeared in great numbers. It was a new
route for him--as most of his former expeditions had been made to the
upper forks of the Texan rivers Brazos had Colorado. But the plains
around these rivers were at this time in undisputed possession of the
powerful tribe of Comanches, and their allies, the Kiawas, Lipans, and
Tonkewas. Hence, these Indians, uninterrupted in their pursuit of the
buffalo, had rendered the latter wild and difficult of approach, and had
also thinned their numbers. On the waters of the Red River the case was
different. This was hostile ground. The Wacoes, Panes, Osages, and
bands from the Cherokee, Kickapoo, and other nations to the east,
occasionally hunted there, and sanguinary conflicts occurred among them;
so that one party or another often lost their season's hunt by the
necessity of keeping out of each other's range; and the game was thus
left undisturbed. It is a well-known fact that in a neutral or "hostile
ground" the buffalo, as well as other game, are found in greatest
abundance, and are there more easily approached than elsewhere.
With a knowledge of these facts, Carlos the cibolero had determined to
risk an expedition to the Red River, whose head-waters have their source
in the eastern "ceja" of the Llano Estacado, and _not_ in the Rocky
Mountains as laid down upon maps.
Carlos was well armed for hunting the buffalo--so was the half-blood
Antonio--and two of the three peons were also experienced hunters.
Their arms consisted of the bow and lance, both weapons being preferable
to fire-arms for buffalo-hunting. In one of the carretas, however,
might be seen a weapon of another kind--a long brown American rifle.
This Carlos kept for other and higher game, and he well knew how to use
it. But how came such a weapon into the hands of a Mexican cibolero?
Remember Carlos was not of Mexican origin. The weapon was a family
relic. It had been his father's.
We shall not follow Carlos and his "caravan" through all the details of
their weary "journeyings" across the desert plain. At one place they
made a "Jornada" of seventy miles without water. But the experienced
Carlos knew how to accomplish this without the loss of a single animal.
He travelled thus. Having given his cattle as much as they would drink
at the last watering-place, he started in the afternoon, and travelled
until near daybreak. Then a halt of two hours was made, so that the
animals should graze while the dew was still on the grass. Another long
march followed, continuing until noon, then a rest of three or four
hours brought the cool evening, when a fresh spell of marching brought
the "Jornada" to its end, far on in the following night. Such is the
mode of travelling still practised on the desert steppes of Chihuahua,
Sonora, and North Mexico.
After several days' travelling the cibolero and his party descended from
the high "mesa," and, passing down its eastern slope, arrived on a
tributary of the Red River. Here the scenery assumed a new aspect--the
aspect of the "rolling" prairie. Gentle declivities, with soft rounded
tops declining into smooth verdant vales, along which meandered streams
of clear and sparkling water. Here and there along the banks stood
groves of trees, such as the evergreen live-oak, the beautiful "pecan"
with its oblong edible nuts, the "overcup" with its odd-looking acorns,
the hackberry with its nettle-shaped leaves and sweet fruits, and the
silvery cotton-wood. Along the swells could be seen large trees
standing apart, and at almost equal distances, as though planted for an
orchard. Their full leafy tops gave them a fine appearance, and their
light pinnate leaves, with the long brown legumes hanging from their
branches, told they were the famous "mezquite" trees--the American
acacia. The red mulberry could be seen in the creek bottoms, and here
and there the beautiful wild-china-tree with its pretty lilac flowers.
The whole surface both of hill and valley was clad in a rich mantle of
short _buffalo_ grass, which gave it the aspect of a meadow lately mown,
and springing into fresh verdure. It was a lovely landscape, and no
wonder the wild bulls of the prairies chose it for their favourite
range.
The cibolero had not travelled far through this favoured region until he
came upon the buffalo sign--"roads", "wallows", and "bois de vache;" and
next morning he found himself in the midst of vast herds, roaming about
like tame cattle, and browsing at their leisure. So little shy were
they, they scarce deigned to make off at his approach!
Of course he had reached the end of his journey. This was his great
stock-farm. These were his own cattle--as much his as any one else's;
and he had nothing more to do but set to killing and curing.
As to his trade with the Indians, that would take place whenever he
should chance to fall in with a party--which he would be certain to do
in the course of the season.
Like all men of the prairie, rude trappers as well as Indians, Carlos
had an eye for the picturesque, and therefore chose a beautiful spot for
his camp. It was a grassy bottom, through which ran a clear "arroyo" of
sweet water, shaded by pecan, mulberry, and wild-china-trees, and under
the shadow of a mulberry grove his carretas were halted and his tent was
pitched.