HUNTING ADVENTURES.
It is scarce possible to form an idea of the abundance of game with
which the country near me was blessed in those days. It really seemed to
be augmented with every year of my residence, for which I may account by
the fact that the several vagabond hordes of Indians--who prefer the
flesh of deer, antelopes, and turkey to that of buffaloes, whose
enormous mass they cannot devour at once, while the smaller descriptions
of game could be killed in the forests and coppices, without revealing
themselves to the enemy on the wide prairie--that these Indians, I say,
more or less avoided my neighbourhood, while, for my part, I had greatly
reduced the number of wild beasts, especially of the larger sort. I
consumed a great quantity of meat in my household, owing to the number
of dogs I kept, but I really procured it as if only amusing myself.
There were certainly days on which I shot nothing. At times I did not
get sight of a buffalo for a week, or the prairie grass was burnt down
to the roots, which rendered it extremely difficult to stalk the game,
while just at this period, when the first green shoots spring up, the
animals principally visit the open plains, whence they can see their
pursuers for a long distance. For all that, though we had generally a
superabundance of meat, and too often behaved with unpardonable
extravagance, I have frequently killed five or six buffaloes, each
weighing from a thousand to fifteen hundred pounds, in one chase,
lasting perhaps half-an-hour, and then merely carried off their tongues
and marrow-bones. Often, too, I have shot one or two bears, weighing
from five to eight hundred pounds, and only taken home their paws and a
few ribs, because the distance was too great to burden my horse with a
large supply of meat. I could always supply our stock in the vicinity of
my fort, although at times we were compelled to put up with turkeys, or
fish and turtle, with which our river literally swarmed.
Bear-meat formed an important item in our larder--or, more correctly
speaking, bear's-grease--which was of service in a great many ways. We
employed it to fry our food, for which buffalo or deer fat was not so
good; we used it to burn in our lamps, to rub all our leather with, and
keep it supple; we drank it as a medicine--in a word, it answered a
thousand demands in our small household. This is the sole fatty
substance, an immoderate use of which does not turn the stomach or
entail any serious consequences. The transport of this article, though,
was at times rather difficult, especially on a warm day; as this fat
easily becomes liquid, and will even melt in the hunter's hand while he
is paunching a bear. This is chiefly the case with the stomach fat,
which is the finest and best; that on the back and the rest of the body,
which at the fatting season is a good six inches thick, is harder and
requires to be melted over a slow fire before it can be used in lamps.
These animals were very numerous in my neighbourhood. In spring and
summer they visited the woods, where with their cubs they regaled upon
wild plums, grapes, honey, and young game of all sorts, and at times
played the deuce in my maize-field. In autumn the rich crop of
peca-nuts, walnuts, acorns, chestnuts, and similar fruits, kept them in
our forests; and in winter they sought rocky ravines and caves, where
they hybernated. Very many took up their quarters in old hollow trees,
so that at this season I had hardly any difficulty in finding a bear in
my neighbourhood. Trusty was a first-rate hand at this, for he found a
track, and kept to it as long as I pleased; and at the same time
possessed the great advantage that he never required a leash, never went
farther than I ordered him, and never followed game without my
permission. When a bear rose before me it rarely got fifty paces away,
unless it was in thorny bushes, where the dog could not escape its
attack; for, so soon as the bear bolted, Trusty dug his teeth so
furiously into its legs, and slipped away with such agility, that the
bear soon gave up all attempts at flight, and stood at bay. It was
laughable to see the trouble the bear was in when I came up; how it
danced round Trusty, and with the most ridiculous _entrechats_ upbraided
his impudence; while Trusty continually sprang away, lay down before
Bruin, and made the woods ring with his bass voice. Frequently, however,
the honest dog incurred great peril during this sport, and his life more
than once depended on my opportune arrival.
In this way I followed one warm autumn day a remarkably broad bear trail
on the mountains of the Rio Grande. Trusty halting fifty yards ahead of
me, showed me that it stopped at a small torrent, where the bear had
watered on the previous night. I dismounted, examined the trail
carefully, and saw that it was made by a very old fat bear; it was in
the fatting season, when the bear frequently interrupts its sleep and
pays a nocturnal visit to the water. At this season these animals are
very clumsy and slow, and cannot run far, as they soon grow scant of
breath; they soon stop, and can be easily killed by the hunter--always
supposing that he can trust to his dog and horse, for any mistake might
expose the rider to great danger. I ordered Trusty to follow the trail;
it ran for some distance up the ravine, then went up the bare hill-side,
which was covered with loose boulders and large masses of rock, into the
valley on the opposite side, in the middle of which was a broad but very
swampy pool, girdled by thick thorny bushes. Trusty halted in front of
this thicket, looked round to me, and then again at the bushes, while
wagging his long tail. I knew the meaning of this signal, and that the
bear was not far off. I ordered the dog on, and drew a revolver from my
belt; feeling assured that the bear would soon leave the underwood and
seek safety in flight. Trusty disappeared in the bushes, and his
powerful bark soon resounded through the narrow valley. It was an
impossibility for me to ride through the thicket, hence I galloped to
the end of the coppice, and saw there the bear going at a rapid pace up
the opposite steep hill, with Trusty close at its heels. I tried to
cross the swamp, but Czar retreated with a snort, as if to show me the
danger of the enterprise. By this time Trusty had caught up to the bear
at the top of the hill, and furiously attacked it in the rear. The bear
darted round with extraordinary agility, and was within an ace of
seizing Trusty, but after making a few springs at the dog, it continued
its hurried flight, and disappeared with Trusty over the hill-top. I had
ridden farther up the water when I heard my dog baying; I drove the
spurs into my horse, and with one immense leap, we were both in the
middle of the swamp up to the girths; then, with an indescribable
effort, Czar gave three tremendous leaps, which sent black mud flying
round us, and reached the opposite firm ground with his fore feet, while
his hind quarters sunk in the quivering morass; with one spring I was
over his head, when I sank in up to the knees, and after several
tremendous exertions, the noble fellow sprang ashore, trembling all
over. Trusty's barking, as if for help, continually reached me as I
galloped up the steep hill-side; I arrived on the summit at the moment
when the bear sprang at Trusty, and buried him beneath its enormous
weight. My alarm for the faithful dog--my best friend in these
solitudes, made me urge Czar on; he bounded like a cat over the
remaining rocks, and I saw Trusty slip out from under the bear in some
miraculous way, and attack it again on the flank. I halted about ten
paces from the scene of action, held my rifle between the little red
fiery eyes of the bright black monster, and laid it lifeless on the bare
rocks. The greatest peril for dogs is at the moment when the bear is
shot, for they are apt to attack it as it falls, and get crushed in its
last convulsive throes. I leapt off Czar, who was greatly excited by the
sharp ride, went up to Trusty, who was venting his fury on Bruin's
throat, examined him, and found that he had received three very serious
wounds, two on the back and one over the left shoulderblade, which were
bleeding profusely, though in his fury he did not seem to notice them. I
took my case from the holster and sewed up his wounds, during which
operation he lay very patiently before me, and looked at me with his
large eyes, as if asking whether this were necessary. Then I took off my
jacket and set to work on the bear, stripped it, and put the hide as
well as a hundred pounds' weight of the flesh on Czar's back. If my
readers will bear in mind that the sun was shining on my back furiously,
and that I was on a bare blazing rock, they will understand that I was
worn out, and longed for a cool resting-place. The bear weighed at least
800 lbs., and it requires a great effort to turn such an animal over.
I was a good hour's ride from the shade of the Leone, and only half that
distance to the mountain springs I have already described. I therefore
selected the latter, although they took me rather farther from home. I
walked, although I made Czar carry my jacket, weapons, and pouch, and
reached my destination in the afternoon, with my two faithful companions
at my heels. Czar had a hearty meal after I had bathed him in the pond,
and poor Trusty, whose wounds had dried in the sun, and pained him
terribly, felt comfortable in the cool grass, and did not disturb the
linen rag which I moistened every now and then. Nor did I forget myself;
I rested, bathed, and after awhile enjoyed the liver and tongue of the
old vagabond, until the evening breeze had cooled the air, and I reached
home partly on foot, partly on horseback.
Nature seems to have selected the buffalo before all varieties of game
for the purpose of bringing to the door of the man who first dares to
carry civilization into the desert, abundant food for him and his during
the first years, so that he may have time to complete the works
connected with his settlement, and have no trouble in procuring
provisions. When this time is passed, nature withdraws this liberal
support from him; in the course of a few years he must go a long
distance to obtain this food as a dainty, which he grew quite tired of
in the early years, for the buffalo is not frightened by the pioneer's
solitary house and field, but as soon as several appear, the animals
depart and are only seen as stragglers.
The woolly hides of the buffaloes supply the new-comer in the desert
with the most splendid and comfortable beds. When laid over the roof
they protect his unfinished house from rain and storm; he uses their
leather for saddles, boot-soles, making ropes of all sorts, traces, &c.;
its meat, one of the most luxurious sorts that nature offers man, seems
to be given to the borderer as a compensation for the countless
privations and thousand dangers to which he subjects himself. Buffalo's
marrow is a great delicacy, and very strengthening. The fat can be used
in many ways, and the horns converted into drinking cups, powder flasks,
&c.; in a word, the whole of the buffalo is turned to account in the
settler's housekeeping.
These animals are hunted in several ways. With an enduring, well-trained
horse, you ride up to them and shoot them with pistols or a rifle, for a
horse accustomed to this chase always keeps a short distance from the
buffalo, and requires no guidance with the reins; but this mode of
hunting can only be employed on the plains, for in the mountainous
regions the buffalo has a great advantage in its sure footing over a
horse that has to carry a rider. In such regions, and in wooded
districts, you stalk the animals, which is not difficult, and if you
keep yourself concealed you may kill several with ease, as they are not
startled by the mere report of a rifle. On the prairies, too, where the
grass is rather high, you can creep up to them through it, and if it be
not sufficiently tall to hide you, you make use of some large skin, such
as a wolf's, and covered with this, crawl up within range. This, however,
is always a dangerous plan, for if you are noticed by a wounded buffalo,
you run a great risk of being trampled to death by it. On these
crawling hunts, I always had Trusty a short distance behind me, who
moved through the grass quite as cautiously as myself, and when it was
necessary, I set him on, and had time to run to my horse, while Trusty
attacked the buffalo and pinned it to the spot.
I always preferred riding after buffaloes, for this is one of the most
exciting modes of hunting I am acquainted with, as it demands much skill
from the rider and agility and training on the part of the horse. Horses
that have been used to the sport for any time are extremely fond of it,
and at the sight of the buffalo become so excited that there is a
difficulty in holding them in. The revolver is the best weapon to use.
You have the great advantage with it of firing several shots without
reloading. I always carried two in my belt, which gave twelve shots, and
also two spare cylinders. I also had my double rifle with me, which lay
unfastened between me and the saddle cloth. The American revolvers are
admirably made, and carry their bullets very accurately for a hundred
yards; but at longer distances they cannot be depended on, as it is
difficult to take aim with them. It requires considerable practice to
kill a buffalo at a gallop, for you may send a dozen bullets into it,
and yet not prevent it from continuing its clumsy-looking though very
rapid progress. The buffalo's heart lies very deep in the chest behind
the shoulder-blades; it can be easily missed through the eye being
caught by the hump on the back; and besides, it requires very great
practice to hit with a pistol when going at full speed. If you shoot the
buffalo at the right spot, it drops at once, and frequently turns head
over heels. The animal is in the best condition in spring, when it has
changed its coat. At this season its head is adorned with long dark
brown locks, and its hind-quarters are covered with shining black hair.
So long as old tufts bleached by the sun are hanging about it it is not in
prime condition, and the experienced hunter never selects such a
quarry.
On a spring morning--I need not add a fine one, for at this season the
blue sky rarely deserts us for more than a few hours--I rode at daybreak
down the river toward the mountains; a cold, refreshing breeze was
blowing, which had an invigorating effect upon both men and animals.
Czar was full of playfulness. He often pretended to kick at Trusty, his
dearest friend, who was trotting by his side, shook his broad neck, and
could hardly be held in. Trusty ran ahead, every now and then rolled in
the tall grass, kicked up the earth behind him, and then looked up at me
with a loud bark of delight. I too was in an excellent humour; the small
birds-of-paradise, with their long black and white tails and crimson
breasts, fluttered from bush to bush. The humming birds darted past me
like live coals, and suddenly stopped as if spell-bound in front of some
flowers, whence they sucked the honey for a few seconds with their
beaks, and then hummed off to another fragrant blossom. Countless
vultures described their regular circles over my head; above them
gleamed against the ultramarine sky the brilliant white plumage of a
silver heron, or the splendid pink of a flamingo; whilst high up in
ether the royal eagles were bathing in the sunshine. The prairie was
more beautiful this day than I had ever seen it; it was adorned by every
designation of bulbous plants, the prevailing flora in the spring.
Lost in admiration of these natural beauties, which words are powerless
to describe, I reached the hilly ground near the mountain springs; and
first learned from Czar's tugging at the bridle, and his repeated
bounds, that I had come in sight of a herd of about forty buffaloes,
that did not appear to notice me yet. Probably they were engaged with
that portion of the beauties of nature which most interested them; for,
at any rate, they all had their huge shaggy heads buried in the fresh
young grass. I was never better inclined to have a jolly chase than on
this day, and the same was the case with Czar and Trusty. I let loose
the reins, drew a revolver, and dashed among the astounded herd,
looking for a plump bull. Surprised and disturbed, these philosophers
turned their heads towards the mountains, raised their tails erect, and
started in their awkward gallop, with the exception of one old fellow,
the very one I had selected for the attack. He looked after the
fugitives for awhile, as if reproaching them with their cowardice; shook
his wild shaggy mane several times, and then dashed furiously at me with
his head down. I was so surprised at this unexpected attack that I did
not fire, but turned my horse to fly. The buffalo pursued me some
thousand yards, keeping rather close, while his companions halted, and
seemed to be admiring the chivalric deed of their knight. At length he
stopped, as he had convinced himself that he could not catch up to me,
and stamped with his long-haired front legs till the dust flew up in a
cloud around him. I turned my horse and raised my rifle, to make more
sure of hitting the bull, as his determined conduct had imbued me with
some degree of respect. I fired, and wounded him in the side a little
too far back; at the same instant he dashed ahead again, but then
thought better of it, and tried to rejoin the flying herd. I now set
Trusty on him, who soon brought him at bay, and I gave him a bullet from
the revolver. Again he rushed at me, and again fled. In this way,
pursuing and pursued in turn, I had given him five bullets, when he left
the herd in a perfect state of mania, and dashed after me. I made a
short turn with my horse; the bull rushed past; I turned Czar again
towards the buffalo; and as I passed I put a bullet through his heart at
the distance of three yards. The monster fell to the ground in a cloud
of dust, and raised up a heap of loose sand which it stained with its
dark blood.
[Illustration: AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. _p. 27._]
To my surprise I noticed that Trusty did not come up to the fallen
buffalo, but rushed past it, loudly barking, to the thicket at the
springs, whence I saw an immense panther leap through the prickly
plants. I galloped round the ponds and saw the royal brute making
enormous leaps through the tall prairie grass toward the mountains.
Trusty was not idle either, and was close behind it. I spurred Czar,
and kept rather nearer the mountains, so as to cut off the fugitive's
retreat and drive it farther out on the plains, while my hunting cry
incessantly rang in its ears. It had galloped about a mile, when we got
rather close to it; it altered its course once more, and climbed up an
old evergreen live oak, among whose leafy branches it disappeared. I
called Trusty to heel, stopped about fifty yards from the oak to reload
my right-hand barrel, and then rode slowly round, looking for a gap in
the foliage through which to catch a glimpse of this most dangerous
animal. The leaves were very close, and I had ridden nearly round, when
I suddenly saw its eyes glaring at me from one of the main branches in
the middle of the tree. I must shoot it dead, or else it would be a very
risky enterprise; and Czar's breathing was too violent for me to fire
from his back with any certainty. I cautiously dismounted, keeping my
eye on the panther, held a revolver in my left hand, brought the bead of
my rifle to bear right between the eyes of the king of these
solitudes--and fired. With a heavy bump the panther fell from branch to
branch, and lay motionless on the ground. I kept Trusty back, waited a
few moments to see whether the jaguar was really dead, as I did not wish
to injure the beautiful skin by a second bullet unnecessarily, then
walked up and found that the bullet had passed through the left eye into
the brain. It had one of the handsomest skins I ever took; it is so
large that I can quite wrap myself up in it, and now forms my bed
coverlet. When I had finished skinning it and cut out the tusks with the
small axe I always carried in a leathern case, I rode back to my
buffalo, with the skin proudly hanging down on either side of my horse.
On getting there I led Czar through the narrow entrance into the
thicket, where I came upon a freshly killed, large deer, one of whose
legs was half eaten away. It was the last meal of the savage beast of
prey, and I was surprised it had left its quarry. The noise of the
buffalo and the horse galloping, Trusty's bass voice, and the crack of
the revolver in such close vicinity, must have appeared dangerous to
it, and it had fancied it could slip off unnoticed.
My buffalo was very plump; it supplied me and Trusty with an excellent
dinner, and for dessert I had the marrow-bones, roasted on the fire and
split open with my axe, which, when peppered and salted, are a great
delicacy. A little old brandy from my flask, mixed with the cold spring
water, was a substitute for champagne; my sofa was the body of the deer,
covered with the skin of its assassin.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]