ON THE PRAIRIE.
We hastened up the river for five days, during which time we crossed a
number of small streams which fell into it. Then we reached the eastern
spurs of the Medicine Mountains, in which the river rises and pours over
the rocks in the shape of a large torrent. Here we crossed it, and
following the base of these hills in the plain, we reached on the second
evening a small stream, which flows for at least a hundred miles due
east through this broad plain, which the Indians called Lamarie, to the
Black Mountains bordering the plain, and, as Owl told us, winds through
the latter till it falls into the Northern Platte to the east of Fort
Lamarie. These mountains, which in height and shape exactly resemble the
range from which the Bighorn rises, are to the north of that snow peak.
We marched along the stream to the eastward to the Black Mountains, and
then turned up an arm of it coming from the south until it was lost in
the plain. We marched from here for a whole day without water, and were
obliged to pass the night, too, without it or fire, as the desolate
plain over which we rode showed us not a single tree. Toward evening the
next day we reached a lake, which was about three miles in
circumference, but its waters were slightly impregnated with salt:
following its banks, however, we arrived on its western side at some
clear streams of fresh water. Here we refreshed ourselves and camped,
though it was early in the afternoon, and amused ourselves with shooting
geese and swans. On the next evening we came to a similar lake, with
fresh-water streams on its western side, so that we again had a
splendid camp, and took advantage of the opportunity to bathe in the
lake.
During the next day our road again ran over a desolate, melancholy
plain, but toward evening we saw a low wood in the distance, and reached
another arm of the river which runs through the Black Mountains to Fort
Lamarie. Here we had everything we could desire, a protected camp in the
wood, and a splendid trout stream, in which we refreshed ourselves and
our horses. We shot several fat buffaloes, and a few black-tailed stags.
The wood above us sufficed to put us in good spirits, for we were very
tired of the monotonous, desolate plains over which we had been marching
for a long time. Before sunset our horses neighed, and we heard them
answered from, outside the wood. All at once there was a thundering
burst through the low bushes, and the leader of a troop of wild horses
fell in terror immediately in front of our fire, and the animals behind
him one over the other, after which they got up again in the utmost fear
and confusion and dashed out of the wood. The stallion was a splendid
iron-grey, very powerfully built and finely shaped, and we all regretted
that we were unable to take him home.
The next morning we left the river and went south, and for the whole day
without finding water. The sun sank behind the hills, and nowhere was
there a tree or a sign of water; the grass, too, was bad, but our cattle
were very weary, and we too longed for rest. We made a poor fire of
_bois de vache_ and small bushes, large enough to cook our supper, then
we put up our tents and secured our traps under the tarpaulin on a bed
of stones, for the sky was overcast and led to expectation of rain. At
nightfall it began to blow and rain, and went on the whole night till
daybreak, when the clouds gathered together again, and hanging on the
base of the mountains displayed the snow peaks brilliantly illumined by
the sun. We quickly started, and marched from this disagreeable spot,
looking for pleasanter signs ahead. At length, toward noon, wood rose
again from the barren surface. We drove our animals into a quicker
pace, and in a few hours were resting again on a river fringed by trees,
upon glorious grass, which our starving cattle eagerly devoured. It was
still very early, and we all felt inclined to go hunting, as the rain
had refreshed the country, and the verdure of the forest and the meadow
does the eyesight good. A few preferred fishing in the neighbouring
stream; several went up the river to hunt, while I went down it,
accompanied by Trusty only. I had gone about a couple of miles along the
skirt of the wood when I saw something moving on the prairie behind some
very low bushes. I crept cautiously up to the last bush, and before me
stood, at about the distance of a hundred and twenty yards, a herd of
some forty large and old giant stags. The beautiful animals--the pride
of the animal world--stood in a long line before me, with their faces
turned to me, and raised their powerful antlers like a forest of horns.
It was a sight whose beauty only a sportsman can estimate. I lay for
some minutes lost in contemplation, but when I raised my knee and rifle
the whole herd turned and galloped past me. I had long had my eye on the
largest stag, for its antlers rose far above the others with their broad
lines. I aimed behind the shoulder and fired, heard the bullet
distinctly go home, and saw, that though it was bleeding profusely, it
kept up with the others. The next largest stag, being just behind this
one, I fired the second barrel at it, heard the thud of the bullet
again, and saw that it was mortally wounded; but it too remained in
line, and I watched the stags till they disappeared a long way off in a
hollow.
I loaded, and on reaching the spot where the stags were hit, Trusty at
once put his nose to the blood trail and stopped, looking up at me. I
made him a sign that it was all right, and when he had gone a little
distance he went off slightly to the right, took up the trail of the
second stag, and then again pointed with his nose to the ground, while
looking at me inquiringly. I again urged him on, and he went first to
one trail, then to the other, till I was able to look down into the
valley, where I saw the two stags lying dead, hardly ten yards apart. I
hastened up to them, and counted, on the antlers of the largest,
eight-and-thirty tines, and on the smaller one six-and-twenty; the
length of the two antlers was between five and six feet, and their
weight between thirty and forty pounds. The antlers of this stag only
differ from those of our stag through their size and the greater number
of tines: the great difference between them is in the weight, as the
giant stag is often double the size of ours. Both animals, it seemed,
had died nearly at the same moment, for they lay side by side with their
heads stretched out, as they had been running. After looking at them for
awhile in delight, I broke them up, gave Trusty his share, cut out a
couple of grinders as a recollection, and then went back to camp, when
my comrades were equally pleased at the result of my sport. The other
hunters had also been fortunate, and had killed a fat buffalo, while the
anglers had pulled a number of large fish out of the river. Owl went
with Antonio and Koenigstein to my stags, in order to fetch their skins
and meat, and I requested them to bring me the antlers of the largest
one, as I wished, were it possible, to carry them home. Though we liked
the place so much, we left it again next morning, abundantly supplied
with the best game, and Jack trotted after us with the enormous antlers
on the top of his packages.
The country here became again intersected by low ranges of hills, which
crossed the plain from east to west; their heights were long and barren,
but the large valleys between them ornamented with small prairies and
woods, in the latter of which we frequently found springs. The variety
was a relief to our eyes, and offered us many a fine prospect, with the
mountains approaching each other. Isolated masses of rock again rose out
of these valleys, and before us in the far South were visible loftier
ranges, some of them branching off from the Medicine Mountains, others
from the Black Mountains. The colouring of these landscapes in the west
of the continent is much warmer and more hazy than in the Eastern
States, or in the countries of Old Europe. The distances, although
transparent and extraordinarily distinct, float in a delicate
reddish-blue tinge, in front of which the deep dark shadows and flashing
lights produced by the glowing sun stand out the more powerfully. The
shadows which the clouds throw on the landscape are also, like the
latter, dyed with carmine and cobalt, and not, as in England, black and
white, the mere sight of which produces a shudder. The streams reflect
on their surface the dark ultramarine of the heavens, and the rich green
of the woods and prairies loses through its countless tints and rich
flora its wearisome monotony.
With every hour the beauty of the country increased, and the animal
world became more animated. Countless wild horses of the most varying
colours flew at our approach over the green hills, large herds of
dark-haired buffalo galloped awkwardly over the wide stretches of grass,
and from the stony heights the light-footed antelopes gazed down
curiously at us. Up hill, down hill, we jolted in the saddles of our
ambling steeds, when, on a calm warm evening toward sunset, we rode down
from a grassy knoll to a stream, which was closely overhung with alder
bushes, and separated the base of the hill from a wide prairie, round
which it wound with numerous meanderings. Tiger was riding about forty
yards ahead, and had just disappeared with his piebald in a patch of
scrub, when he dashed out of the other side of it with a loud cry and an
enormous grizzly bear after him. We galloped through the stream after
him, while his rapid horse bounded over the grass toward us, and gained
a slight advance on the grizzly. All our rifles were fired at the
monster, and turning away from Tiger it came toward us with long leaps,
and pursued John with an awful roar; once again our rifles cracked
behind it, but the bullets did not check its clumsy but yet rapid
course. John turned his mare again toward us, and had hardly joined our
ranks when we fired a salvo from our revolvers at the maddened bear,
and galloping after it, kept up our fire. Koenigstein, on the
cream-colour, was the nearest to it on the left, and gave the bear a
shot at short range, when the latter turned on him and smashed his
broad, wooden stirrup into a thousand chips between its savage teeth.
Koenigstein, however, had pulled his foot out and flew with his horse to
our side. Again we sent a hailstorm of bullets into the broad back of
the infuriated animal, upon which it sank on its hind-quarters, as a
bullet had smashed its spine. Its fury and the roars it uttered were
fearful, and turning in a circle on its monstrous forepaws it covered a
large space around it with its blood, which streamed from its shaggy
carcass.
I shouted to my friends not to fire, as I saw Tiger had dismounted and
was hastily loading his rifle, and I wished to grant him the pleasure of
killing the bear. He fired his bullet into its head, and then cut off
its claws with great satisfaction. We took the paws, tongue, and liver
of the huge animal, while Tiger rode back to the stream, and thence
shouted to us to join him. We rode up, and found in the water a two-year
old, very handsome chestnut horse, which the bear had captured on the
prairie, and, as the trampled grass showed us, had dragged to the
stream, in order to enjoy its meal without being disturbed. I took the
tusks of the slain animal, and with the new matter for conversation
which this fight gave us, we shortened the road to our camp, which lay
in an exquisite hollow on the south side of lofty crags, under which a
clear torrent rolled over loose stones that glistened like gold. They
contained a substance which really resembled this metal, so that they
shone through the water hurrying over them like lumps of pure gold. Some
stately palms, maples, and oaks overshadowed our camp, and served as a
cool retreat for the countless songsters that saluted us with their
evening hymn.
It is incomprehensible why the belief prevails throughout Europe that
American birds are very brilliantly plumaged, but cannot sing, while
most certainly there are sweeter songsters and more varieties of them on
this continent than in Europe. A single bird is wanting, the
nightingale, but it is compensated a thousandfold by the mocking bird.
All other classes of birds are represented, though with different and
finer plumage. The belief may arise from the fact that emigrants from
Europe land in the large eastern cities, and in their walks in their
vicinity see no birds, from the circumstance that boys there of ten
years old run about with guns and kill every bird that shows itself: and
then again, these persons only seek the shade of the trees and bushes
during the heat of the day, when all birds silently hide themselves from
the burning sun. If they went out in the morning, however, when nature
is awakening, they would hear quite as good singers as in their old
home.
Before us the valley wound between partly wooded low hills, behind which
the higher base now rose. For several days we marched along this valley,
till on one afternoon we looked down from a hill on the blue crystalline
waters of the southern Platte, which coming down from the Medicine
hills, rustled through the valley at our feet. The river was large even
here, and shot with the speed that characterizes the streams in this
country, and with many windings between its wood-clad banks. Before us,
where the river described a sharp curve, the banks were stony on both
sides, and seemed from time immemorial to have been used by the
inhabitants of these countries as a ford. At this moment, when probably
for the first time the eyes of white men rested on this ford, a
countless herd of buffaloes was occupied in crossing. They were coming
southward from the mountains, and pressed shoulder to shoulder in dense
masses to water in the river, while others came down the hills in a
black line. The roars of these thirsty wanderers filled the air and rang
through the hills in a thousand echoes. They dashed by hundreds
impetuously from the high bank into the deep, rapid stream, on either
side of the ford, and drifted with it into the dark overarching wood.
We stopped for a long time gazing down at this scene and awaiting the
end of the herd, whose head had disappeared some time previously in the
valley on our left, while dense masses still continued to pour down
without a check from the hills to the water. At length, at the end of an
hour, only a few laggards came, after at least five thousand buffaloes
had crossed the river, and yet the number of these animals is said to be
quite insignificant compared with what it was twenty years ago. Who
knows whether fifty years hence they will exist anywhere but in natural
history? We were obliged to let the wanderers pass, as we also wanted to
cross the river, though in the opposite direction, and we should have
run a risk of the whole herd marching over us, had we got in their way.
We now rode down into the river; but, although so great a number of huge
animals had passed through it, the water was as clear and bright as if a
stone had never been stirred on its bottom. We watered our cattle, and
followed the path by which the buffaloes had found their way to this
ford, on the supposition that they had rendered it quite passable, and
that they had come from the southern prairies to which we were bound.
[Illustration: BUFFALOES CROSSING A RIVER. _p. 333._]
We had scaled the first hill, when we saw about two miles off a few
buffaloes trotting towards us, which had probably lagged behind, and now
wanted to catch up the herd. We rode about thirty yards off the path, to
a spot where we were covered by rocks and commanded the sloping path
down to the water. Ere long we heard the heavy trot of the approaching
animals on the stony ground, and presently several cows, and behind them
a fat old bull came past us. We all fired together, and the old bull
rolled over and over down the slope, and lay dead at the bottom. We took
as usual its tongue, marrowbones, and loins, and left the rest to those
that came after us.
We could not have found a finer road through these hills: broad and
trodden smooth, it wound along the crags, so that we were often able to
advance at a quick amble. It frequently ran over dizzy precipices,
whence we surveyed the pleasant valleys, whose dark shadow seemed to
invite us, while the hot sun and its reflection from the bare rocks over
which we were marching, was hardly rendered endurable by the fresh
breeze blowing up here. We crossed a number of small streams, which came
down from the western hills, and all flowed to the Platte, until at the
end of a week we again reached the latter river, at the point where a
large affluent, coming from the Bighorn, joined it. We appeared to be
here on the last slopes of the enormous mountains, over which the
snowpeak was visible in all its splendour as a farewell salutation. It
rose higher above its smaller comrades, and glistened like the purest
silver in the blue sky, while the edge of the mountains displayed no
snow, and seemed like a thin strip of fog above the nearer hills.
Eastward we noticed on the horizon of the extensive plains only low
ranges of hills, while to the north the Black Mountains raised their
mighty crests and a few snow-clad peaks.
We crossed this southern arm of the Platte, and camped on the other side
of it, in order to grant our cattle a few days' rest there, where the
most splendid grass and a cool thick wood covered its bank. The bright
streams offered us the most glorious fish, which can be almost selected
in these streams, as we see them swarm round the bait, and the latter
can be dropped before the fish you wish to catch. The neighbourhood of
our camp was enlivened by game of every description; on the slopes of
the neighbouring Black Mountains we found mountain sheep and
black-tailed stags; in the forests between them and the Platte the
majestic giant stag was preparing for the rutting season, and with
swollen neck whetting the numerous tines of its splendid antlers on the
trees. The prairies near us brought to us the elegant Virginian stag and
the swift, black-eyed antelope, while the buffalo incessantly passed in
all directions: not far from our camp we also found a warren of those
interesting little creatures, which are falsely called prairie dogs, as
they do not belong to this family, but to that of the badger.
We went out and shot some dozen of these dogs, as they afford a nice
dish for a change. They live in burrows under ground, which they throw
up like the rabbits, and a hundred of them are frequently found close
together. They are very shy, but easy to shoot, as, if you lie down for
a little while in the grass, they come out of their holes and give a
snapping cry, which has been falsely called barking by some naturalists.
They are badgers, about fifteen inches in length, which only live on
vegetables, carry a large winter stock into their subterranean houses,
and form very numerous families. They frequently quit a place without
any visible reason, and wander a long distance over hill and dale in
order to seek a new home.
Our horses and pack-cattle were recruited, and we too had recovered from
the fatigue of our journey over the last mountains; hence we set out
again, and casting many a parting glance at the Bighorn, we followed the
Platte in an eastern direction, till at noon we reached a well-trodden
path which runs from Fort St. Brain on the southern arm of this river
down to the Missouri. We crossed it, and proceeded more to the
south-west, in order to escape the numerous Indian hordes going up and
down this path. A few days after we crossed the hills we had seen from
our last camp, and the sky now rested before us on the interminable
horizon of the prairie.
For nearly a week we marched over this green plain with scarce any
change in the scene. It was, however, undulating, the flora in the grass
gay and varied, and a few trees afforded us shade and firewood morning
and evening to prepare our meals. At length hills rose on the horizon,
and we soon saw again the darker verdure of forests, which received us
into their shady gloom towards evening. In this tour we were so broiled
by the sun that we entered the wood with delight, and at once resolved
to rest a few days here, if, as we anticipated, there was water at hand.
We hurried along a buffalo path into the depths of the forest, and soon
heard to our delight the rustling of a neighbouring river, whose banks
we speedily reached, and it proved to be a rapidly flowing stream
overhung by tall ferns. Owl told us it was one of the numerous sources
of the Kansas, which runs eastward to the Missouri. "Here let us build
tabernacles," we cried in one voice, but followed the path across the
stream to the skirt of the wood, which was no great distance off. We
unloaded our cattle in a small clearing off our path, lit a fire, and
really built tabernacles, as we made a roof of bushes between several
young oaks, which kept off every sunbeam, and in whose immediate
vicinity were trees enough to tie up our cattle every night.
After a long ride over the open prairies of Western America the comfort
of a spot like this is very great and almost indescribable. The eyes are
refreshed by the rich green, after the continued view of the horizon,
which is rendered still more painful by the quivering sunshine of these
plains. The breeze under the trees is most refreshing, while on the
prairie it is dry and oppressively hot: we felt very jolly and
comfortable in our hut, roamed about the neighbourhood, which was very
rich in game; went along the streams and caught magnificent trout, or
destroyed colonies of bees and plundered their rich stores of honey. To
the south small prairies continually alternated with narrow patches of
wood, through which the streams that spring up in them run under cover
to join the Kansas.
After resting our cattle for some days, I went out one morning after
breakfast to hunt and have a nearer view of the country round. I rode in
a southern direction, followed by Trusty, and in going off, said to my
comrades that if I lost my way, I would follow the course of one of
these streams till it joined the river; then I would wait till they came
to me, in which they could not fail, as we knew that all these small
streams joined.
In a few hours I had crossed several of these streams, and had ridden
out of a wood into a small prairie glade, when suddenly a horse Indian
darted toward me with a furious yell from a thicket of tall oaks and
swung his bow over his head, while his long lance hung on his right arm.
It was too late to dismount and make use of my rifle. I quickly drew my
revolver, put Czar at a gallop, and flew towards the Indian, turning my
horse to the left, as he on his right side could make less use of his
bow than I could of my revolver. However, he soon perceived my object,
guided his chestnut to get on my left hand, and we galloped on in the
same direction some distance out of shot. Suddenly, however, he turned
and dashed toward me with his bow raised over the head of his rapid
steed. I too had urged Czar to his full speed, and when we were about
sixty yards apart, I fired. I had not expected to hit, still it was
possible, and I had five shots left in my weapon. The savage's horse
leaped on one side, stumbled and fell forward on its chest. A few blows
of the whip forced it to make a last effort, but it then sank lifeless
under its rider, who disappeared like lightning in the not very high
grass behind it.
At the moment when I saw his horse fall, I turned mine away and pulled
up about one hundred yards distant. The horse lay with its back turned
to me, and the Indian was concealed behind its belly. I took out my
telescope to try and get a better sight of my enemy, but it was of no
use, he had disappeared. All at once I saw an arrow shoot up behind the
horse and fly toward me in a large curve, but I easily pulled Czar out
of its way and it sank harmless by my side with its point in the grass.
While the Indian was firing the arrow I distinctly saw his hands holding
the bow projecting above the horse's belly. I leapt from Czar's back,
threw the bridle over his shoulder, and fired with my rifle at the
horse's back. I heard the thud of the bullet, but the savage did not
show himself. I reloaded both rifle and revolver and walked at the same
distance round the dead horse till I got to the side on which its
hind-quarters lay. I could now look under its belly and saw the Indian
creep under the animal's chest and roll himself up behind it in a ball:
still the surface by which he was hidden was now too small to cover him
entirely, and I could distinguish the upper part of his body. I fired
again and noticed a quick convulsive movement on the part of the foe,
but only at the moment of firing. I had recourse to my glass once more,
and saw that his head was now under the horse's chest, but his legs lay
behind its neck, and he was peeping at me between its forelegs. I
reloaded, and now having become much calmer, I aimed again at my mark; I
fired and at once saw the savage throw up his legs, then try to rise but
fall back again. I drew closer to him and watched him through the glass,
as he had got a little way from the horse. He did not stir and lay on
his back, but he was an Indian, and such a man a white man must not
trust even in death. I fired again and heard my bullet go home, but he
remained motionless. After reloading, I walked with cocked rifle nearer
and found that life had left him, and that he had my second bullet in
his right hip, the third in his head over the right ear, and the last in
his chest, while I found one bullet in the horse's chest and another in
its back. He was a man of about thirty years of age, tall and powerfully
built, of a very dark colour and with sharply marked features; his
remarkably long hair hung wildly round his head, with two eagle plumes
thrust into the topknot, while his neck was decorated with a necklace of
bears' claws, and his arms with brass rings. The lower part of his face
and the eyelids ruddled with vermilion, and his forehead and cheeks
painted black, gave him a terrific, uncomfortable aspect, which was
heightened by the dazzlingly white teeth visible between his drawn-back
lips. I only gazed for a few minutes at the corpse, took his bow and
quiver of arrows, hung them on my horse and speedily beat a retreat, as
the comrades of the dead man were certainly not far off, and might very
easily be on the road to the spot, guided by my shots. I rode back on my
trail and soon reached camp, when I told my friends what had happened.
Tiger was out hunting and not yet returned. I ordered a rapid start, had
the horses packed and everything ready to be off. We had scarce
completed our preparations when Tiger, bathed in perspiration, came back
along my track, and said he had heard my shots, followed their
direction, and found the Indian and his horse. He was a Pawnee, whose
tribe was certainly close at hand, and when his companions missed him
they would seek him and easily find us too, in which case we should run
a great danger, as they were brave men. He quickly packed his horse, and
in a few minutes we left camp. Tiger rode ahead into the stream, and we
followed him, riding singly down the water, which offered us no
obstacles beyond here and there a fallen tree, as it ran over pebbles,
was nowhere deep, and had flat banks. Evening arrived, and the sun was
already low on the western horizon. We marched almost constantly in the
stream till we found on its right bank a wide plain covered with
pebbles, when we turned off to the south at a right angle. We reached on
the other side of the plain a similar stream, which was also
overshadowed by trees, entered a thicket and dismounted to let our
horses graze without unsaddling them, and to await nightfall. The moon
was already up, and though her light did not brilliantly illumine the
country, it was sufficiently strong to enable us to distinguish objects
at a slight distance. We then left our hiding-place, marched out of the
thicket into the prairie, and urged our horses on at a quick pace.
Without interruption, we hurried on through the silence of the night,
which was only disturbed by the howling of the countless wolves and the
roar of the buffaloes we put up, until shortly before daybreak the moon
withdrew her light from us and the darkness did not allow us to advance.
We sat down on the damp grass round our cattle and waited till the first
new light appeared on the eastern horizon, then we remounted and hurried
on toward a distant strip of wood which rose before us on the prairie.
The sun was standing high in the heavens when we reached it and led our
wearied animals to a stream. Here we unsaddled and let them graze,
hobbled, in a small glade, while we prepared breakfast at a small fire.
We were very tired and after the meal could hardly keep awake. We posted
sentries in turn to watch the plain behind us, and kept lively by
smoking and telling stories. Our cattle wanted sleep more than grass,
and we were sorry at being obliged to saddle them after a short rest,
but Tiger and Owl insisted on our going on, as we were certainly pursued
by the Pawnees, and could only escape them by keeping the start we had
on them. It was hardly noon when we started again and spurred our horses
on toward the southern prairie. They only moved because they felt the
sharp steel in their sides, and we were obliged to lead the mules by
lassos and appoint a man to drive them, as they refused to follow. The
heat was oppressive, there was not a breath of air, and the plants on
the plain we crossed hung their leaves in exhaustion, an incessant
buzzing of the insects in the grass filled the motionless air, and a
trembling dazzling light lay on the wide expanse around us. The sweat
ran in streams from our cattle, and was mixed with the blood which the
countless musquitos sucked from their coat, so that under their belly
their colour could not be distinguished. But not noticing their
sufferings or fatigue, we urged them on and looked back at the distant
horizon to see whether our pursuers appeared on it, till the sun sank
and in the distance a wood rose, which crossed the prairie to the east
like a mist. Tiger said that we should be safe there; this was the wood
running along the Arkansas, and the horses of the Pawnees could not go
so far without a rest. The sun mercifully withdrew its beams, and the
moon's cool light showed us our road, when we expended the last strength
of our cattle and so reached the forest.
We had ridden for over fifty hours since yesterday morning, a greater
part of the distance without any path, through rather tall grass and
over stony soil. On the whole route we had been exposed to the burning
sun, and only once had been able to cool our fevered lips at a stream.
For our cattle, it is true, we had more frequently found water, though
only standing rain, which collects in large hollows on the prairie, but
at this season is more mud than water; at the same time it is almost
boiled by the sun, and if it can keep a man alive it does not refresh
him. We as well as our cattle were utterly exhausted to such a degree
that we would incur any danger for a few hours' rest. We rode into the
wood and followed a buffalo path, but had not ridden far when Tiger, who
was ahead, stopped, saying he had lost the path and could go no farther.
The foliage over us was so thick that only here and there the moon's
pale light stole through it, and only a few leaves and small spots on
the branches glistened like silver in the obscurity. We turned our
horses in all directions seeking the path, but after going a few yards
were continually stopped by the hanging creepers. Tiger now leapt from
his horse and sought in the darkness dry grass, which he twisted into a
torch and came to me to light it. It soon spread a light around, and
while I held it up Tiger collected a larger stock of dry grass and made
a thicker torch, which we lit, and soon found an issue from this
impenetrable thicket.
We soon reached a small arm of the Arkansas, on whose fresh, cool water
we and our cattle fell insanely. We now lit a fire, though there was no
grass for the cattle near at hand, as the small, open spot on the bank
of the rushing stream was surrounded by a dense wall of forest. At this
moment, however, rest was more necessary than food, and our cattle had
scarce been freed from their load when they all sank on the ground and
fell into a deep sleep; we did the same, and, after drinking several
draughts, fell back on our saddles and forgot that we still stood a risk
of being caught up by the Pawnees. We had collected our fire into a
small pile, so that it only coaled, and spread no light over the crests
of the tall trees, which might possibly have been noticed from the
prairie. We slept without moving a limb till the turkeys in our
neighbourhood awoke us, and, though Tiger and Owl protested most
strongly against it, we shot four of the birds, resolved to defend
ourselves to the best of our ability if the shots betrayed us to our
pursuers.
Tiger now mounted his piebald, rode through the river, and soon
disappeared in the forest on the other bank, where he sought pasture for
our cattle. In half an hour he returned and told us that between this
wood and the Arkansas there was a fine prairie, on which we should find
excellent grass for them. We followed him across the river and out of
the wood to a small glade, which was overshadowed by close-growing
trees. Here we camped and prepared breakfast, while our cattle greedily
browsed on the fresh, dewy grass. We rested here till the sun cast the
shadow of the forest far across the prairie; then we set out again and
rode to the Arkansas, which here rolls its foaming waters between low
banks. We reached the opposite forest and rode into its cool shade
before sunset, so that the last beams still lighted us as we marched
over the next prairie and hurried to a low scrub, from whose centre
several tremendously tall poplars rose and announced water near their
roots.
The sun had just set when we came to a stream running toward the
Arkansas, and covered on this side with bushes, while on the other the
most splendid grass hung over its crystalline waters. We watered our
cattle and then rode down stream on the other side, as the pasturage
seemed more luxuriant lower down. In a few minutes we reached a small
cascade, where the stream fell over rocks about ten feet, and below this
fall formed a deep basin, whose bottom was also composed of stone slabs,
and on one side was overhung by rock strata about twenty feet in height,
which covered a considerable space near the basin, whose bottom and
sides also consisted of bare stone. We camped on the top of this
overhanging ledge, as a number of medlar-trees grew there, to which we
could fasten our horses at night round the camp, and at the same time
the richest grass grew all around. We unsaddled, hobbled the horses in
the grass, lit a fire, and put the supper before it, and then went to
bathe in the basin under the rock. After we had cooled and refreshed
ourselves we supped and then prepared our resting-place; but John took
his weapons and skins and said he would sleep on the stream under the
crag, as it was much cooler and pleasanter there, and he should not feel
the heavy dew so much as in the grass. We wished him pleasant dreams and
shouted to him not to let himself be devoured by a bear.
We had fastened up our horses, and had fallen into a deep sleep, when
the sharp crack of a rifle aroused us, and we all leapt up, arms in
hand. At the same moment a second shot was fired below us on the water.
We were only a few yards from the edge of the crack, and on hurrying
there saw an enormous panther slowly walking among the low bushes on the
opposite bank, and looking over at us. We showered bullets upon it, and
induced it to hasten its pace till it disappeared like a shadow in the
mist. Now John ran up to us with his baggage, and told us he had
accidentally waked up. He fancied he heard a growling; rose on his arm,
and recognised the moonlit shape of a panther walking towards him
hesitatingly, with lashing tail, round the basin. He quickly seized his
rifle--fired one barrel at it, and gave it the second in the water, into
which it leapt. Providence had aroused him, for before we could have
hurried to his help from above the brute would probably have killed him,
and we might very easily have known nothing of it till we found our
comrade's lacerated body on the next morning. However, we soon forgot
this incident, and slept till dawn woke us and showed us the grass
around wet as if from a shower, while a thick fog brooded over the flat
country. We led our horses out to graze, put our breakfast to cook, and
then I went with John and Tiger, accompanied by Trusty, to the spot on
the opposite bank, where the panther had been standing when we fired at
it. We found here a quantity of hair, and soon after blood, which
increased with every step, and presently came to a spot where the jaguar
had halted and covered a large space with its blood. We went about a
hundred yards farther when Trusty stopped, looked round at me, and then
into the bushes with his tail erect. I called him to me, and crept
cautiously to the spot, when I saw the panther lying under the roots of
an old poplar, with its head turned towards me, and showing its teeth. I
shot it through the skull, and Owl took off its fine coat to prepare it
for John, who wished to preserve it in memory of the danger to which he
had been exposed during this night.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]