MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗

In a Moment All The Powers Of Their

Youth; With Head And Tail Erect, And Eyes Glaring With Fear, They Rush

Madly On In a Straight Line; The Earth Trembles Under Their Feet;

Nothing Can Stop Them--Trees, Abysses, Lakes, Rivers, Or Mountains--They

Go Over All, Until Nature Can Support It No More, And The Earth Is

Strewed with Their Bodies.

 

 

 

Even The Otherwise Imperturbable Horse Of Our Savant Would Sometimes

Have An Estampede After His Own Fashion; Lazy And Self-Willed,

Preferring a Slow Walk To Any Other Kind Of Motion, This Animal Showed

In All His Actions That He Knew How To Take Care Of Number One, Always

Selecting His Quarters Where The Water Was Cool And The Grass Tender.

But He Had A Very Bad Quality For A Prairie Travelling Nag, Which Was

Continually Placing His Master In some Awkward Dilemma. One Day That We

Had Stopped to Refresh Ourselves Near A Spring, We Removed the Bridles

From Our Horses, To Allow Them To Graze A Few Minutes, But The Savant'S

Cursed beast Took Precisely That Opportunity Of Giving Us A Sample Of

His Estampede. Our English Friend Had A Way, Quite Peculiar To Himself,

Of Crowding Upon His Horse All His Scientific And Culinary Instruments.

He Had Suspended at The Pommel Of The Saddle A Thermometer, A Rum

Calabash, And A Coffee-Boiler, While Behind The Saddle Hung A Store Of

Pots And Cups, Frying-Pan, A Barometer, A Sextant, And A Long Spy-Glass.

The Nag Was Grazing, When One Of The Instruments Fell Down, At Which The

Beast Commenced kicking, To Show His Displeasure. The More He Kicked,

The Greater Was The Rattling Of The Cups And Pans; The Brute Was Now

Quite Terrified; We First Secured our Own Steeds, And Then Watched the

Singular And Ridiculous Movements Of This Estampedero.

 

 

 

He Would Make Ten Leaps, And Then Stop To Give As Many Kicks, Then Shake

Himself Violently And Start Off Full Gallop. At Every Moment, Some

Article, Mathematical Or Culinary, Would Get Loose, Fall Down, And Be

Trampled upon. The Sextant Was Kicked to Pieces, The Frying-Pan And

Spy-Glass Were Put Out Of Shape, The Thermometer Lost Its Mercury, And

At Last, By Dint Of Shaking, Rolling, And Kicking, The Brute Got Rid Of

His Entire Load And Saddle, And Then Came Quietly To Us, Apparently Very

Well Satisfied with Himself And With The Damage He Had Done. It Was A

Most Ludicrous Scene, And Defies All Power Of Description; So Much Did

It Amuse Us, That We Could Not Stop Laughing For Three Or Four Hours.

 

 

 

The Next Day, We Found Many Mineral Springs, The Waters Of Which Were

Strongly Impregnated with Sulphur And Iron. We Also Passed by The Bodies

Of Five White Men, Probably Trappers, Horribly Mangled, And Evidently

Murdered by Some Texan Robbers. Towards Evening, We Crossed a Large

Fresh Indian Trail, Going In the Direction Of The River Brasos, And,

Following It, We Soon Came Up With The Tribe Of Lepans, Of Which Old

Castro Was The Chief.

Chapter XXI

The Lepans Were Themselves Going Northwards, And For A Few Days We

Skirted, In company With Them, The Western Borders Of The Cross Timbers.

The Immense Prairies Of Texas Are For Hundreds And Hundreds Of Miles

Bordered on The East By A Belt Of Thick And Almost Impenetrable Forests,

Called the Cross Timbers. Their Breadth Varies From Seventy To One

Hundred miles. There The Oak And Hiccory Grow Tall And Beautiful, But

The General Appearance Of The Country Is Poor, Broken, And Rugged. These

Forests Abound With Deer And Bears, And Sometimes The Buffalo, When

Hotly Pursued by The Indians In the Prairies, Will Take Refuge In its

Closest Thickets. Most Of The Trees Contain Hives Of Bees Full Of A Very

Delicate Honey, The Great Luxury Of The Pioneers Along These Borders.

 

 

 

We Now Took Our Leave Of The Lepans And Our Two White Friends, Who Would

Fain Have Accompanied us To The Comanches Had There Been A Chance Of

Returning To Civilization Through A Safe Road; As It Was, Gabriel,

Roche, And I Resumed our Journey Alone. During Two Or Three Days We

Followed the Edge Of The Wood, Every Attempt To Penetrate Into The

Interior Proving Quite Useless, So Thick Were The Bushes And Thorny

Briers. Twice Or Thrice We Perceived on Some Hills, At A Great Distance,

Smoke And Fires, But We Could Not Tell What Indians Might Be

There Encamped.

 

 

 

We Had Left The Timbers, And Had Scarcely Advanced ten Miles In a

Westerly Direction, When A Dog Of A Most Miserable Appearance Joined our

Company. He Was Soon Followed by Two Others As Lean And As Weak As

Himself. They Were Evidently Indian Dogs Of The Wolf Breed, And

Miserable, Starved animals They Looked, With The Ribs Almost Bare, While

Their Tongues, Parched and Hanging Downwards, Showed clearly The Want Of

Water In these Horrible Regions. We Had Ourselves Been Twenty-Four Hours

Without Having Tasted any, And Our Horses Were Quite Exhausted.

 

 

 

We Were Slowly Descending The Side Of A Swell In the Prairie, When A

Buffalo Passed at Full Speed, Ten Yards Before Us, Closely Pursued by A

Tonquewa Indian (A Ferocious Tribe), Mounted upon A Small Horse, Whose

Graceful Form Excited our Admiration. This Savage Was Armed with A Long

Lance, And Covered with A Cloak Of Deer-Skin, Richly Ornamented, His

Long Black Hair Undulating With The Breeze.

 

 

 

A Second Indian Soon Followed the First, And They Were Evidently So Much

Excited with The Chase As Not To Perceive Us, Although I Addressed the

Last One, Who Passed not Ten Yards From Me. The Next Day We Met With A

Band Of Wakoes Indians, Another Subdivision Of The Comanches Or Of The

Apaches, And Not Yet Seen Or Even Mentioned by Any Traveller. They Were

All Mounted upon Fine Tall Horses, Evidently A Short Time Before

Purchased at The Mexican Settlements, For Some Of Them Had Their Shoes

Still On Their Feet. They Immediately Offered us Food And Water, And

Gave Us Fresh Steeds, For Our Own Were Quite Broken Down, And Could

Scarcely Drag Themselves Along. We Encamped with Them That Day On A

Beautiful Spot, Where Our Poor Animals Recovered a Little. We Bled them

Freely, An Operation Which Probably Saved them To Share With Us Many

More Toils And Dangers.

 

 

 

The Next Day We Arrived at The Wakoe Village, Pleasantly-Situated upon

The Banks Of A Cold And Clear Stream, Which Glided through A Romantic

Valley, Studded here And There With Trees Just Sufficient To Vary The

Landscape, Without Concealing Its Beauties. All Around The Village Were

Vast Fields Of Indian Corn And Melons; Further Off Numerous Herds Of

Cattle, Sheep, And Horses Were Grazing; While The Women Were Busy Drying

Buffalo Meat. In this Hospitable Village We Remained ten Days, By Which

Time We And Our Beasts Had Entirely Recovered from Our Fatigues.

 

 

 

This Tribe Is Certainly Far Superior In civilization And Comforts To All

Other Tribes Of Indians, The Shoshones Not Excepted. The Wakoe Wigwams

Are Well Built, Forming Long Streets, Admirable For Their Cleanness And

Regularity. They Are Made Of Long Posts, Neatly Squared, Firmly Fixed

Into The Ground, And Covered over With Tanned buffalo-Hides, The Roof

Being Formed of White Straw, Plaited much Finer Than The Common Summer

Hats Of Boston Manufacture. These Dwellings Are Of A Conical Form,

Thirty Feet In height And Fifteen In diameter. Above The Partition-Walls

Of The Principal Room Are Two Rows Of Beds, Neatly Arranged, As On Board

Of Packet-Ships. The Whole Of Their Establishment, In fact, Proves That

They Not Only Live At Ease, But Also Enjoy A High Degree Of Comfort

And Luxury.

 

 

 

Attached to Every Wigwam Is Another Dwelling Of Less Dimensions, The

Lower Part Of Which Is Used as A Provision-Store. Here Is Always To Be

Found A Great Quantity Of Pumpkins, Melons, Dried peaches, Grapes, And

Plums, Cured vension, And Buffalo Tongues. Round The Store Is A Kind Of

Balcony, Leading To A Small Room Above It. What It Contained i Know Not,

Though I Suspect It Is Consecrated to The Rites Of The Wakoe Religion.

Kind And Hospitable As They Were, They Refused three Or Four Times To

Let Us Penetrate In this Sanctum Sanctorum, And Of Course We Would Not

Press Them Further.

 

 

 

The Wakoes, Or, To Say Better, Their Villages, Are Unknown, Except To A

Few Trappers And Hunters, Who Will Never Betray The Kind Hospitality

They Have Received by Showing The Road To Them. There Quiet And

Happiness Have Reigned undisturbed for Many Centuries. The Hunters And

Warriors Themselves Will Often Wander In the Distant Settlements Of The

Yankees And Mexicans To Procure Seeds, For They Are Very Partial To

Gardening; They Cultivate Tobacco; In fact, They Are, I Believe, The

Only Indians Who Seriously Occupy Themselves With Agriculture, Which

Occupation Does Not Prevent Them From Being a Powerful And

Warlike People.

 

 

 

As Well As The Apaches And The Comanches, The Wakoes Are Always On

Horseback; They Are Much Taller And Possess More Bodily Strength Than

Either Of These Two Nations, Whom They Also Surpass In ingenuity. A Few

Years Ago, Three Hundred texans, Under The Command Of General Smith, Met

An Equal Party Of The Wakoes Hunting To The East Of The Cross Timbers.

As These Last Had Many Fine Horses And An Immense Provision Of Hides

And Cured meat, The Texans Thought That Nothing Could Be More Easy Than

Routing The Indians And Stealing Their Booty. They Were, However, Sadly

Mistaken; When They Made Their Attack, They Were Almost All Cut To

Pieces, And The Unburied bones Of Two Hundred and Forty Texans Remain

Blanching In the Prairie, As A Monument Of Their Own Rascality And The

Prowess Of The Wakoes.

 

 

 

Comfortable And Well Treated as We Were By That Kind People, We Could

Not Remain Longer With Them; So We Continued our Toilsome And Solitary

Journey. The First Day Was Extremely Damp And Foggy; A Pack Of Sneaking

Wolves Were Howling about, Within A Few Yards Of Us, But The Sun Came

Out About Eight O'Clock, Dispersing The Fog And Also The Wolves.

 

 

 

We Still Continued our Former Course, And Found An Excellent Road For

Fifteen Miles, When We Entered a Singular Tract Of Land, Unlike Anything

We Had Ever Before Seen. North And South, As Far As The Eye Could Reach,

Nothing Could Be Seen But A Sandy Plain, Covered with Dwarf Oaks Two And

Three Feet High, And Bearing Innumerable Acorns Of A Large Size. This

Desert, Although Our Horses Sank To The Very Knee In the Sand, We Were

Obliged to Cross; Night Came On Before The Passage Was Effected, And We

Were Quite Tired with The Fatigues Of The Day. We Were, However,

Fortunate Enough To Find A Cool And Pure Stream Of Running Water, On The

Opposite Side Of Which The Prairie Had Been Recently Burnt, And The

Fresh Grass Was Just Springing Up; Here We Encamped.

 

 

 

We Started the Next Morning, And Ascended a High Ridge, We Were In great

Spirits, Little Anticipating The Horrible Tragedy In which We Should

Soon Have To Play Our Parts. The Country Before Us Was Extremely Rough

And Broken: We Pushed on, However, Buffeting, Turning, And Twisting

About Until Nearly Dark, Crossing and Recrossing Deep Gullies, Our

Progress In one Direction Impeded by Steep Hills, And In another By,

Yawning Ravines, Until, Finally, We Encamped at Night Not Fifteen Miles

From Where We Had Started in the Morning. During The Day, We Had Found

Large Plum Patches, And Had Picked a Great Quantity Of This Fruit, Which

We Found Sweet And Refreshing after Our Toil.

 

 

 

On The Following Morning, After Winding about Until Noon Among The

Hills, We At Length Reached a Beautiful Table-Land, Covered with

Musqueet Trees. So Suddenly Did We Leave Behind Us The Rough And Uneven

Tract Of Country And Enter A Level Valley, And So Instantaneous Was The

Transition, That The Change Of Scenery In a Theatre Was Brought Forcibly

To Our Minds; It Was Turning From The Bold And Wild Scenery Of Salvator

Rosa To Dwell Upon The Smiling Landscape Of A Poussin Or Claude Lorrain.

 

 

 

On Starting In the Morning, Nothing Was To Be Seen But A Rough And

Rugged succession Of Hills Before