A FIGHT WITH THE WEICOS.
As I mentioned, my fort stood on the south side of the Leone river, and
in front of it lay one of the richest and most fertile prairies, which
ran to the bank of Mustang Creek, a small stream running parallel to the
Leone, beneath the shade of lofty peca-nut trees, magnolias, cypresses,
and oaks, to join the Rio Grande. The prairie between the Leone and this
stream was about five miles broad; and often, when I had spent the day
at home, I rode off to pass the night there, in order to shoot at
daybreak as much game as my horse could comfortably carry, and be back
to breakfast. I had found, in a coppice close to the stream, a small
grassy clearing, where Czar was always comfortable. Around it stood
colossal primaeval oaks and magnolias, in whose shade many varieties of
evergreen bushes, such as myrtle, laurel, and rhododendron, formed an
impenetrable thicket, as they were intertwined with pendant llianas and
vines the thickness of my body. In this thicket I had built a sort of
hut of buffalo hides, in which I hid away a frying-pan, an old axe, and
a coffee-pot. At this spot I passed many a hot summer night, for I found
there a cool, quiet bed, which the sun never reached, for myself and my
faithful companions, and ran no risk of being betrayed by my camp-fire
and disturbed by the Indians.
After one of these hot days, I rode Czar out of the fort, and Trusty,
released from the chain, sprang joyfully at my horse's head, delighted
at getting into the open country again, and the prospect of fresh deer
or buffalo kidneys. We went slowly toward the thickly-wooded bank of the
creek, which bordered the prairie ahead of us like a purple strip,
through large gay fields of flowers, with which the prairie is adorned.
Blue, yellow, red, and white beds, in the most varied hues, succeeded
each other, and filled the air with the sweetest and most fragrant
perfumes. Wherever the eye turned it fell on herds of deer, that were
sheltering themselves from the burning sun under isolated elms and
mosquito trees, and rose on our approach to be ready for flight. Further
on grazed many herds of migratory buffaloes, from which the prairies at
this season are never quite free, and, here and there, antelopes were
flying over the heaving sea of grass and flowers. As I rode along, my
eye was certainly rejoiced by this abundance of game, but I did not
change my direction on that account, because I was not any great
distance from the thickets in advance of the forest on Mustang Creek,
where I could approach the game with much less trouble. These wooded
intervals, which run for about a mile into the prairie, consist of dwarf
plum-trees, four feet in height, partly separate, partly in clumps,
which are closely interlaced with wild vines, but always leave small
openings between, and here and there are overshadowed by a
densely-foliaged elm. You are obliged to wind between these clumps till
you reach a broad open grassy clearing, which extends between these
thickets and the high woods on Mustang Creek.
I had hardly reached these advance woods, ere I saw a very large stag
standing in the shadow of an old elm-tree, driving away the flies with
its antlers, and feeding on the fine, sweet mosquito grass, which is
much more tender in the shade than when it is exposed to the burning
sunbeams. The beautiful creature was hardly sixty paces from me, and I
seized my rifle, which was lying across the saddle in front of me. In a
moment Czar, who was well acquainted with this movement, halted, buried
his small head in the grass, and began seeking the green young shoots
which are covered by the dry withered stalks. I shot the deer, and as I
saw that it could not go far I allowed Trusty to catch it, which always
afforded him great delight. I rode up, threw the bridle before
dismounting over the end of a long pendant branch, and then dragged the
deer into the shade to break it up, and cut off the meat I intended to
take with me. I had knelt down by the deer and just thrust in my bowie
knife, when Trusty, who was sitting not far from me, began growling, and
on my inquiring what was the matter, growled still more loudly, while
looking in the direction behind me. I knew the faithful creature so well
that I only needed to look in his large eyes to read what he wished to
tell me. They had turned red, a sure sign of his rising anger: but I
believed that wolves were at hand, which were his most deadly enemies,
because he had fared badly from their claws now and then before I could
get up to free him from his tormentors. I ordered Trusty to be quiet, as
I heeded the dangers which had beset me for years much less than I had
done at the beginning of my border-life, and bent down again over the
deer, when Trusty sprang, with furious barks, toward the quarter where
he had been looking. I quickly rose, and on turning round saw two
perfectly naked Indians, armed with guns, leap out of the tall grass
about sixty yards from me, and dash away like antelopes. My first step
was to seize my rifle, which was leaning against the tree, but the
savages took an enormous bound over one of the clumps of plum-trees, and
disappeared from sight. In a few minutes I had unfastened Czar, and
rushed after the Indians through the many windings between the
close-grown bushes. They had gained a great start, and had increased it
by leaping over clumps, which I was compelled to ride round; still I
kept them pretty constantly in sight, and reached the open prairie in
front of the creek, at the moment when the savages had crossed about
half of it. I gave Czar a slight touch of the spur, and urged him on
with the usual pat on his powerful hard neck; he leaped through the
grass as if he hardly touched the ground, and I was obliged to set my
hat tightly on my head for fear of losing it, for the pressure of the
atmosphere was so great that I could hardly breathe. The Indians ran
like deer, but the distance between us was speedily lessened, and I was
only sixty yards behind them, when they were still fifty from the
forest. I stopped my horse, leaped off, aimed with my right-hand barrel
at the savage furthest ahead, and dropped him. In the meanwhile the
other Indian reached the skirt of the wood, and sprang into the shade of
an old oak, at the moment when the bead of my rifle covered him. I fired
and saw him turn head over heels. At this moment Trusty came panting
over the prairie, who had remained behind as I had leapt over some
clumps which he was obliged to skirt; he saw the first Indian leap out
of the grass, like a hare which has been shot through the head, and his
legs seemed too slow for his growing fury; a loud shout urged him on
still more, and in a few seconds he and the savage disappeared in the
tall grass. A frightfully shrill yell, which echoed far and wide through
the forest, proved that the Indian was feeling Trusty's teeth, and the
heaving grass over them showed that it was a struggle for life or death.
Loading my rifle detained me for a few minutes at the spot whence I had
fired; then I ran up to Czar, who had strayed a little distance, and
rode to the battle-field. The contest was over; the savage was dead, and
Trusty's handsome shaggy coat was spotted with blood. He was standing
with his fore paws on his enemy, and tearing out his throat. A dog like
Trusty was invaluable to me, and for my own preservation I dared not
assuage the creature's savageness; besides, the man was dead, and it was
a matter of indifference whether the buzzards devoured his body or
Trusty tore it piece-meal. In the meanwhile I fastened the dead man's
short Mexican _escopeta_, hunting-pouch, and necklace to my saddle; then
I called Trusty off, mounted Czar, and rode back to my deer, as I did
not dare venture into the forest, where a large number of these Weicos
were very probably lying in ambush. The two had come down from the
mountains to the banks of Mustang Creek, whither the great quantity of
game of all descriptions had attracted them; on hearing my shot, they
crept up unnoticed, had got within distance of me, and in a few seconds
would doubtless have settled me, had not my faithful watcher scented
them, or remarked their movements in the grass.
On coming within sight of my deer, I saw that a dozen buzzards had
collected, some on the trees, others circling slowly in the air, and
watching with envious glances three wolves, which had already begun
greedily to share my deer. Although I hardly ever expended a bullet on
these tormentors, I was annoyed at their impudence, for though they saw
me coming, they did not interrupt their banquet. I shot one of them, a
very old red she-wolf, took the loins and legs of the deer, hung them to
my saddle, and rode home to pass the night.
My dogs inside the fort announced to the garrison the arrival of a
stranger, and they were no little surprised to see me return at so
unusual an hour. The gate was opened, and after Czar had been relieved
of his rather heavy burden, I led him once more into the grass to let
him have a good roll; and after he had been put into the stable with a
feed of Indian corn, I described the events of the day at the
supper-table. My news aroused the apprehensions of my men, for they knew
the vengeful spirit of these Weicos, and we therefore resolved to keep
watch during the night. We were still smoking and talking at midnight,
when the dogs, of which I had fourteen, began making a tremendous row.
They all ran out through the small apertures left for the purpose in the
stockade, and stood barking on the river bank at some foe on the other
side, at the spot where my maize field in the forest joined the river.
It was a pitch dark and calm night. We listened attentively, and could
distinctly hear the trampling of dry brushwood in the field. It might be
occasioned by buffalo, which had broken through the fence, and were
regaling on my maize. But these animals rarely move at night, and there
was a much greater probability of Indians being there. We gently opened
the gate. I took my large duck gun, which held sixteen pistol bullets
in each barrel, and crawled down on my stomach to the river bank, where
I lay perfectly quiet. When I arrived there, one of my dogs was yelping,
and I distinctly heard the twang of a bow-string. I noticed the quarter
very carefully; the river was only forty yards across, and the direction
was shown me still more plainly by the crackling of brushwood. I shot
one barrel there, upon which human cries and a hurried flight were
audible; then I sent the second after it, and fresh groans echoed
through the quiet forest and mingled with the roar of my two shots. I
remained lying in the grass, as I might be easily seen against the
starry sky from the other bank, which was thirty feet lower. The leaping
and running through the maize retired farther and farther toward the
wood, and scarce reached my ear, when suddenly a wild war yell resounded
in the forest, which was answered by countless wolf howls on the prairie
behind me. This was the last outbreak of fury on the part of the
Indians, of whom I never saw anything more beyond the various bloody
traces which they left in the field. We found several arrows sticking in
the river bank, whose form led me to conclude that the assailants were
Cato Indians. The damage I received from this nocturnal visit only
consisted in the trampled maize and a harmless wound which one of my
dogs had received from an arrow in the leg. The morning was spent in
following the trail of the savages to the prairie on the other side of
the forest, where a number of horses had awaited these night-wanderers
and borne them away. In the afternoon I rode again to Mustang Creek with
one of my people--to the spot where the second Indian had disappeared on
the previous day. The entrance into the wood and the roots of the old
oak were covered with blood. I sent Trusty on ahead to see whether the
road was clear, and if we could penetrate into the gloom of the forest
without danger. We cautiously followed the dog, who kept the
blood-marked trail and reached the river, on whose bank the Weico was
sleeping the last sleep. He was cold and stiff my bullet had passed
through his brown sides. The wounds were stopped with grass, and his
_escopeta_ lay ready cocked close to him. He was a very young and
handsome man, and death had chosen him a glorious resting-place under
the dark arbour of leaves. The rapid, crystalline, icy stream laved his
small, handsomely-shaped feet, and on a pillow of large ferns reposed
his head, round which his raven silky hair fell, while the mossy bed
beneath him was dyed by his blood, till it resembled the purple velvet
of a lying-in-state.
We stood silently before this painfully-beautiful picture, and even
Trusty seemed to feel that this was no longer an object for wild
passion, for he lay down quietly in the grass. Death had reconciled us:
the dice had fallen in my favour, and if they had been against me, I
should not have found such an exquisite grave: my bones would have been
bleached for years by the sun on the open prairie, and greeted with
shouts of joy by passing Indians. Feelings which are rarely carried into
these solitudes, and still more rarely retained there, gained the
mastery over me. I could not leave this noble creation of nature to the
wolves and buzzards. We therefore fastened a heavy stone round his feet,
and another round his neck, and gently let him down into the clear
water, where he found his last solitary resting-place between two large
rocks. Taking his few traps, more as a reminiscence than as a booty, we
returned to our horses, which we had left in the first thicket. They
greeted us with their friendly neighing and impatient stamping while
still a long distance off, and away we galloped over the open prairie,
up hill and down hill, after a flying herd of buffalo, at one moment
leaping across broad watercourses, at another over aged trees uprooted
by storms, until several of these primaeval monsters had kissed the
blood-stained ground. Our melancholy thoughts had been dispersed by the
light prairie breeze, and, merry and independent, like the vultures in
the blue sky overhead, we returned heavily laden to our fort, whose
inhabitants, down to the dogs, gave us a most hearty welcome.
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