LOST IN THE MOUNTAINS.
It was near noon, and I had generally walked fast. I looked around me,
and tried to recollect the numerous windings I had made, but soon saw it
was impossible to recall them, as I had paid no attention to them during
the chase. I now looked at my compass; I knew that the stream on which
we were camping ran down the valley from west to east, and that hence I
was on its southern side to the eastward of our camp. I must therefore
go due north to reach the stream, and then follow it in order to reach
camp. The calculation was correct, and could not fail to bring me home
soon. I therefore walked on quietly, and every now and then blazed a
tree, or laid a bush upon a rock, to be able to find the stag when we
went to fetch it. The first hour passed: at one time I walked through
thinly-wooded, narrow valleys, then over stony hills, or crossed small
streams and grassy meadows, but saw no sign of the river.
The second hour, during which I doubled my pace, passed in the same
manner, and yet I saw nothing of the river. I looked repeatedly at the
compass on my rifle stock and the one I carried in my pocket. My
calculation was correct, of that there could be no doubt; but how was it
that I had not yet reached the river? It might possibly make a small
bend northwards here; but I must strike it, as it belonged to Canadian
river, and all the waters from these mountains flow to the east. I was
certain of my matter, and laughed at myself for imagining for a moment
that I had lost my way. I marched cheerily on, especially up the hills,
as I fancied I should see the looked-for river from each of them, and
did not notice that I was exerting myself excessively. A certain
anxiety crept over me involuntarily. I hurried on the faster the deeper
the sun got behind the mountains; I ran down the hills and hurried up
them, dripping with perspiration, with a strength which only the feeling
of impending danger can arouse. My energy and presence of mind still
mastered my growing anxiety, as I hoped, felt almost convinced, that I
should soon reach the river which had disappeared in so extraordinary a
way, until at last the sun sank behind the highest peaks of the
Cordilleras, and the gloom of night spread its mantle over the earth.
Exhaustion followed long unnatural exertion so suddenly, that I sank
down on the last hill I ascended, and my strength of mind and body gave
way utterly. In a few minutes I fell into a deep sleep, and must have
lain there for five hours, as when I woke I felt on my watch that it was
midnight. I remembered everything I had hitherto done, and the last
thought which had accompanied me up to my unconsciousness startled me
out of it--the thought that I had lost my way.
When I got up, my faithful Trusty nestled up to me and licked my hands,
as if wishing to remind me that he was still with me, and I was not
quite deserted. I threw my arm round his strong neck, and pressed him
firmly to me, for at this moment he was an unspeakable comfort, and
restored my resolution and strength of will. I soon reverted to my old
rule, which I had kept for years, of always assuming the worst in
disagreeable situations, and making myself familiar with it; then a man
has nothing more to fear. I had lost myself, and must seek my road to
camp in some direction alone. I felt strong enough to do so, but must
reflect on the mode of doing it. I had sufficient powder and bullets for
my weapons; this was a precaution which I had constantly urged on my
comrades since our start, never to go out with half-filled powder-horn
or a few bullets for the sake of convenience.
My box was full of lucifers, and I had also flint, steel, and punk. I
carried bandages and a housewife, as well as a little bottle of old
brandy in my knapsack, and a rather large gourd at my side, I was fully
equipped to make this tour, which, honestly speaking, was now beginning
to appear interesting to me, and I laughingly thought of the friend of
my childhood's years, "Robinson Crusoe," who at that day sowed the first
seed of my later irresistible desire for such a life. I was soon
decided, and regained my entire calmness. I sprang up, and went
cautiously down hill to reach the valley, in which on the previous
evening I had looked in vain for the river. The darkness and the rocky
sloping route made my walk very difficult; but still I reached my
destination at the end of an hour, and entered a very narrow valley, in
which I soon found enough dry wood under the trees to light a fire. I
had turned cold, and the warmth it spread around me did me good. Close
by I found a fallen tree, to which I carried the burning logs, in order
to produce a longer lasting fire to throw out more heat; then I piled up
a heap of bushes and brushwood, laid myself on it, with my bag under my
head, and after drinking some brandy and water, fell asleep as soundly
as if I had been in my bed on the Leone.
The sun was high in the heavens when I awoke, I felt as strong as usual,
and lit a fire for breakfast, drank some more water from my gourd, and
went northwards in good spirits. I thought of the possibility that this
river might not be the one named by Tiger, and might lose itself in a
subterranean bed; but, extraordinary to tell, I did not for a moment
reflect that it could run due north parallel with mine; my only idea
was, that it perhaps made a great bend. I had been walking near an hour,
and had crossed several stony hills, when I looked down into a narrow
gorge, in which alders and poplars grew, leading to the supposition of
water, and on going down I noticed an old animal quietly grazing. I
crawled very cautiously nearer to it, for now I seriously needed some
meat, and on looking up from a deep ditch excavated by the rain, I saw a
small deer by the side of the old one, which was staring at me over the
bushes, I fired and saw the deer dart among the bushes, but knew that
it bore death in its heart. The old animal dashed close past me, but I
did not fire as I was certain of securing the deer and did not care to
waste a bullet unnecessarily.
I reloaded, went back to the bloody trail, and found the deer dead about
thirty yards ahead. I broke it up, skinned it, and placed the rump and
bits of the liver before the fire which I lit, while Trusty had the
kidneys and then amused himself with the shoulder blades. I stretched
the skin out before the fire, as I intended to take it with me to sleep
on. I enjoyed my breakfast, to which I ate but little of the salt I
carried in my bag in a bladder in case of need. Trusty had also eaten
heartily and pacified his hunger. I cut some good lumps off the deer's
back, filled my flask with fresh water, and set out once more, still
hoping to reach the river. I walked up hill and down, having on my left
the lofty mountain ranges, and in front of me a sea of rocks whose end I
could not see. I was accustomed to such scenes of solitude, still I now
greatly felt what a difference there is in looking down from the back of
a stout horse on the desert and having to cross the enormous tracks on
foot. The only anxiety that oppressed me was the agony my comrades must
be feeling about me, as they would naturally suppose that some accident
had happened to me. I knew they would not quit these mountains till they
were certain of my fate, and I listened continually for signal shots. I
dared not fire them for fear of expending my ammunition, and it would
have been unnecessary, as they would certainly not neglect this method
of showing me the road to them.
The day passed without my hearing the echo of a shot, and the sun was
rather low when I reached a small stream whose banks were both rather
thickly covered with wood. I resolved to spend the night here, as I had
wood and water, and was protected from the weather, which had got up
rather fiercely since the afternoon, I looked for a suitable spot,
carried wood to a fallen tree, and was about to light my fire, when I
looked up at the hill before me and felt a desire to take a look from
it at the valley beyond to see whether the long looked-for river was
there. It was still early, the sun had not yet set, and though I was
tolerably tired I set out. I walked up a steep gorge into which several
narrow passes opened on both sides; it was covered with several large
masses of rock and loose stones, and the nearer I got to the top the
narrower it grew, and the steeper were the precipices enclosing it.
I had just passed one of these narrow gorges on my right and was
approaching a second, when I noticed an opposite pass on my left. I
cautiously crept along the rock to be able to have a peep into this
pass, and see whether there was any game in it, and was only a few yards
from the angle of the wall, when suddenly a small bear, which I took for
a one-year-old black bear, though it looked different, sprang from the
pass on my right and hastened up the opposite one. As I said, it
appeared to me rather smaller than a one-year-old black bear, but there
was no time for reflection, and its skin might be of great service to
me. I raised my rifle, fired, and saw the bear roll over the stones like
a ball, uttering plaintive cries like those of a child; at the same
instant the hasty bounds of a heavy animal reached my ears
simultaneously with an awful roar. It became dark at the angle of the
precipice before me, and the upright gigantic form of a grizzly bear
appeared only a few paces from me. I fell back a step in horror,
involuntarily stretched out my rifle to keep the bear off, and at the
same moment saw Trusty fly past me under its belly. The rifle
exploded--a fearful blow hurled me back several yards against the
precipice--my eyes flashed fire--I lost my senses and fell.
I must have lain here about half an hour, and on opening my eyes again
felt that my forehead was wet and cold. I saw that Trusty was standing
over me with his honest face and licking me. I got up and sprang on one
side in horror, for close to me lay the shaggy body of the bear, with
widely opened throat, from which a stream of black, curdled blood ran
under me. It was a she bear whose three months' old cub I had shot, and
she had wished to avenge its death. My guardian angel had saved me, for
my bullet, which entered its throat and passed through the skull, had
killed the bear on the spot. In its fall it had torn the rifle from my
hand, and forced me back so violently that I had struck my head against
the rock, and the pain deprived me of consciousness. As on so many
previous occasions, an invisible hand had again saved me from a terrible
danger, whose extent I could appreciate now that I saw the monster lying
before me. I stood motionless reflecting on my position, when the hoot
of a passing owl reminded me that night had set in. While reloading, I
remembered that this was the pairing time of the bears, and that very
possibly male bears would be following the female, and hence this was
the most dangerous spot I could select. I went up to the cub, threw it
on my back, and hurried down the gorge to my camping place, where I at
once made a blaze, the safest and only way of protecting oneself against
the four-footed denizens of these regions. I now saw for the first time
that brave Trusty was covered with blood, and had three severe wounds on
his back, dealt him by the bear. Two of them I at once sewed up and
washed them repeatedly with the clear cold water by which I was camped.
I then skinned the cub, put a sufficient quantity of its tender fat meat
to roast at the fire, made a bed of brushwood, and after supper I rolled
myself in the shaggy, fresh bear-hide upon my deer-skin, and fell into
my usual sound sleep.
I had not been sleeping long when Trusty barked sharply several times,
and I sat up and seized my rifle. A frightful howling of wolves rang
from the heights through the valleys, and between it a hollow roar
resembling that which the bear raised when she attacked me. The night
was very dark, and the fire, which had burnt down, solely lit up the
nearest spots, while I could only distinguish the outlines of some
evergreen holly-trees around me standing out against the clear star-lit
sky. I quickly threw some small wood in front of the glowing trunk and
blew up the flame. At this moment I heard something dash away close by,
and directly after, at the foot of the ravine, renewed howls and roars,
while Trusty stood close by my side growling. I carried some heavy logs
to the fire, rolled myself again in my warm skin, and fell asleep,
though I only allowed one ear to sleep, as Tiger said. The howling
lasted the whole night. I looked after my fire every now and then, and
was waked by the dawn without having had my sleep any further disturbed.
After breakfast, I hung the two skins on my back, and followed the
valley for about three miles ere I crossed the heights to the north, as
I wished to avoid the spot where the bear lay, upon which the wolves and
bears had held a grand feast during the past night. On reaching the
saddle of the mountain, the idea occurred to me for the first time that
the lost river must necessarily flow to the north, and I was amazed at
myself for not thinking of this sooner. Hence I marched due west, and
saw about noon a chain of hills whose direction lay northward, which
animated me with fresh hope of finding my comrades again. At the foot of
these hills, from which spurs stretched out eastward like ribs, the
valleys were thickly wooded, and displayed generally a richer vegetation
than the small gulleys in which I had hitherto been marching. With much
difficulty and toil I reached the mountain chain in a few hours,
exhausted and starving; but the longing to learn whether I should find
at its top a pleasanter change in my prospects did not let me rest. I
selected the least steep spot, and climbed up over loose boulders which
constantly rolled away under me and brought me down. I had only one hand
at my service to hold on to the few mimosa bushes or to pull myself up,
for I carried my rifle in the other, and would sooner have injured
myself than it.
At last I climbed the last patch, bathed in perspiration and red-hot,
and words fail to describe the joyous surprise which befel me, on seeing
before me the wooded vale and river, which I had been seeking so long in
vain. In the first joy of my heart I forgot that it was still very
uncertain whether I should find my comrades there, and that my existence
might depend on a charge more or less in my possession. I fired my rifle
and listened attentively to its echo as it rolled away along the
mountains. I halted for a long time awaiting an answer, but to no
effect. I looked long up the river with my excellent telescope to try
and discover smoke, but also without success. Far and wide the rocky
landscape lay before me, with no other sign of life than that of the
buzzards circling round the heights. I had been resting for about half
an hour and cooling myself in the fresh breeze, when I seized my rifle
and proceeded down to the valley, which I reached in a much shorter
time. I went up it to the foot of the hills, where I had fewer obstacles
to contend with than in the wood that covered the river banks, till the
declining sun as well as hunger and fatigue warned me to select my camp.
I had gone a considerable distance when the sun stood over the distant
hills, for I had walked on without resting, and had no rocks to scale. I
turned off to a spring in the wood, and threw off my skins on the first
bushes I came to, as they fatigued me too much, though their weight was
not great. My fire was soon lighted at the roots of a stump, a stock of
wood collected, my meal made, and supper eaten, which consisted of the
remainder of the bear meat. Before I entered the wood, I had looked up
to the hills above me, and reflected whether at nightfall I should light
a fire there, which would certainly be seen a long way down the river. I
might possibly give my friends a hint of my whereabouts, but equally
well betray my halting-place to hostile Indians, who, if any were in the
neighbourhood, would see something unusual in it. But then again it was
an easy matter to hide myself from them, and as I was without a horse,
seek a refuge which could easily be defended. I resolved to carry out my
design, took my weapons and went up the hills, whose summit I reached at
nightfall. I then collected fallen branches and brushwood round an old
stone piled them up to a great height, and the fire quickly darted up
crackling and roaring. I carried up a great number of logs from the
trees lying around and threw them on the fire, which reminded me of the
bonfires we used to light at home when I was a boy. When I thought the
pile of wood large enough to last at least an hour I left the hill and
went to the nearest knoll, where I sat down near some rocks and lit a
pipe, which enjoyment I only allowed myself morning and night in order
to make my tobacco last as long as possible, as the leaves of the
sumach, which are a good substitute for tobacco, were not to be had. I
had been sitting there for about half an hour when Trusty got up,
uttered an almost inaudible growl, and gazed at the slope under my feet.
I pressed his head to the ground, laying myself on the top of him, and
distinctly heard beneath me light human voices and some footsteps, which
went under the precipice to the hill on whose top my fire was burning.
What had I better do? Should I call out? They might be my friends, but
if they were strange Indians, I should expose myself to unnecessary
danger; if they were my friends, on reaching the fire, they would
certainly make themselves known by their voices or by firing. I remained
perfectly quiet and gazed steadfastly at my fire. After a while I saw a
dark object moving before it, then another and another, and I was soon
able to see clearly through my telescope that the men moving round it
wore no hats. They were consequently Indians, and I was very glad I had
not betrayed myself.
All at once I saw a long way off to the south-west a light which rapidly
grew larger, and in spite of the great distance so increased that I
could distinctly perceive the smoke through my glass. I greeted it with
a loudly beating heart as the answer of my friends, for no one in these
dangerous regions lights a widely gleaming fire save under such
circumstances, and I was now certain I should join them again next day,
for they were safe to keep up the fire, so as to show me my course by
its smoke. I remained quietly seated under the rocks, and did not think
of sleep though I was very tired, for I did not dare return to my camp,
as the fire was certainly still burning there, and the Indians would
have seized my skins, whose absence I now severely felt. I was beginning
to chill, and as I could not await daylight on these bare heights, I
resolved to march during the night as well as I could. I crept in a
stooping posture from my seat to the nearest hollow which ran down from
the hills to the valley, and on reaching the foot of them, I walked
slowly on through the darkness.
I had been walking for about an hour, and had fallen several times,
though without hurting myself, when I heard a shot right ahead of me. It
was doubtless fired by my friends, who were seeking me in spite of the
darkness: my fatigue disappeared, and I walked with greater certainty
over the bare sloping ground. I soon heard another shot, and now could
no longer refrain from answering it. I fired, and soon after heard two
shots responding to me. It was a terribly tiring walk, for though it was
bright starlight I could not distinguish the boulders and small hollows
sufficiently to avoid them. I also got several times among prickly scrub
and swamps between the hill sides.
I was just forcing my way out of such a damp spot overgrown with thorns,
when the crack of a rifle rang from the hill side in front of me, and I
at the same time heard Tiger's hunting yell, though a long way off. I
fired again, and was again answered by two shots. I breathed freely and
hurried over the slippery rocks, and just as I came under a hill slope I
heard Tiger's shrill yell over me; I answered with all my might, and ere
long this faithful friend and the equally worthy Koenigstein welcomed me.
Their joy, their delight were indescribable. Trusty sprang round us as
if mad in order to display his sympathy, and I was obliged to call to
him repeatedly and order him to be quiet, ere he mastered his delight.
It was a strange meeting among these wild mountains, whose dark forms we
could now distinguish against the starlit sky, while the deepest night
lay around us. Tiger proposed to light a fire; but when I told him that
Indians had passed me and gone to the fire, he said it was better for us
to keep moving. I was too tired, however, and must rest first, so we lay
down under some large rocks where the wind did not reach us. I took
Trusty in my arms and pressed him to me to keep him warm.
In order not to fall asleep, I now told my comrades how I had fared, and
heard that Tiger had explained my disappearance to my friends precisely
in this way. At length the first gleam of coming day showed itself, and
was saluted in the valley by the voices of numerous turkeys. We leapt
up, went down to the wood, where these early birds were standing on the
trees, and brought two of them down. A fire blazed, and the breasts of
the turkeys twirled before it while we warmed ourselves at it.
Koenigstein had a tin pot and coffee with him, which improved our meal,
and when the sun was beginning to shine warmly we started for the camp,
from which we were about five miles distant, and where news of me was
anxiously awaited.
The joy at meeting again was great. From a distance we were welcomed
with shots: all ran to meet us, and each wanted to be the first to shake
my hand and express his joy at my rescue, as they all except Tiger had
given me up for lost. Czar raised his head and the forefoot buckled to
it, and neighed in delight at seeing me, while Trusty ran up to him and
leapt on his back. All were in the most cheerful temper, and a thousand
questions and answers flew round our camp fire.
My friends had gone in search of me on the evening when I did not return
to camp, and Tiger had found the turkey shot by me, and followed my
trail to the first stony knoll over which I pursued the wounded stag;
but from this point he had been unable to find my track, and returned to
camp when darkness set in. The next morning at daybreak he returned to
the same spot, and had gone ahead of my trail in a wide curve, in order
if possible to recognise it in crossing. Toward evening he had really
succeeded in finding first Trusty's trail and then mine in the valley
where I shot the deer on the first morning, and reached the spot where I
made my breakfast off its meat. But from this point every sign
disappeared, and any further search would be useless as night had set
in. Afterwards they lit a large fire on the nearest height, and kept it
up all night, though I had not noticed it. On the next morning Tiger
left camp at an early hour with Koenigstein, and told the others that
they would be back in eight days if they did not find me before. They
looked for me during the whole day, and had just collected wood on a
knoll over the river to light a signal fire, when they saw mine flashing
against the dark sky, and hurried toward me.
After all the events of the last restless days had been sufficiently
discussed, I longed for rest. I made my bed in the shade of a live oak,
covered myself with a buffalo robe, and giving my comrades directions
not to wake me under any pretext, I slept undisturbed till the sun
withdrew its last beams from the valley, and sank behind the glittering
peaks of the Andes. I felt strengthened, and after dipping my head in
the river to refresh me, I sat down with my friends and ate a hearty
supper composed of all the dainties of hunters' fare.
The next morning found us mounted at an early hour to scale the heights
on the other side of the river, whence we followed its course in the
next valley. Toward noon, however, the road became fatiguing, as we had
to climb rather large hills that jutted out from the mountain chain on
our right, and we were soon so wedged in among steep precipices that we
saw no prospect of advancing. After many attempts nothing was left us
but to turn back and recross the saddle we had last surmounted, after
which we followed the valley to the north-west. Here, too, our road was
rendered very tiring and dangerous by huge scattered masses of rock, as
we often had to lead our horses over them, and they might easily have
been injured by slipping upon them. We wound our way through, however,
without any accident, and were riding towards evening over grassy
meadows under a steep precipice, when we noticed on the top of it a herd
of about twenty buffaloes, following a path that ran over a plateau
several hundred feet above our heads. It was remarkable with what
certainty these apparently clumsy creatures followed the path which was
at times hardly a foot in breadth, close to an abyss on which a man
might have hesitated to venture.
I dismounted and aimed at an old bull which led the file, while I
shouted to my comrades to fire at the fifth head in the herd, which was
a cow that would not bear a calf this year, and hence must be very
plump, which can be easily seen by the dark glistening hair. We shot
nearly together. My buffalo made a spring forward, rose on its hind
legs, and fell over the abyss, falling on projecting rocks till it came
down to us in the valley regularly smashed. The cow, hit by many
bullets, fell on its knees, and, as if foreseeing its fate, remained in
this position for some minutes, till its strength deserting it, it lost
its balance and fell head-foremost from rock to rock down to us. Both
animals were frightfully smashed, their ribs and bones protruded from
their torn hides, and large pieces of rock had been forced into their
monstrous carcases. The other buffaloes trotted along the path till they
disappeared from sight behind a knoll. The smashed animals were
perfectly suited for our use, as we only took the best bits, and
especially the loins from the spine, cut the tongues out of the broken
jaws, and removed the marrow-bones, leaving the rest to the vultures and
buzzards which soon circled over our heads.
Towards evening we reached a small stream which wound through the
mountains to Canadian River, and offered us a very pleasant
camping-place through the fine grass on its flat banks, as well as an
abundance of dry wood.
We were lying in the twilight round our fire, when we heard a long way
up the valley the hoot of an owl, and at the same time saw a large very
white bird flying along the dark precipice. We all seized our rifles to
bring it down, when it settled on a projecting rock opposite to us.
None of us had ever seen a bird like it before. Several of my comrades
ran up nearer to it, and fired simultaneously; it swung itself in the
air, however, with a loud flapping of wings, and circled round our camp,
flying no great distance above me. I had more luck than my friends, for
I tumbled it over with a broken wing. It was a snow white owl of
extraordinary size, and with such beautiful plumage that I kept its skin
to stuff. I therefore killed it, hung it up, and on the next morning
skinned it, and prepared the skin for carriage.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]