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

Us, Piled one Upon Another, Each

Succeeding Hill Rising above Its Neighbour. At The Summit Of The Highest

Of These Hills, The Beautiful And Fertile Plain Came Suddenly To View,

And We Were Immediately Upon It, Without One Of Us Anticipating anything

Of The Kind. The Country Between The Cross Timbers And The Rocky

Mountains Rises By Steps, If I May So Call Them. The Traveller

Journeying West Meets, Every Fifty Or Sixty Miles, With A Ridge Of High

Hills; As He Ascends These, He Anticipates A Corresponding Descent Upon

The Opposite Side, But In most Instances, On Reaching This Summit, He

Finds Before Him A Level And Fertile Prairie. This Is Certainly The Case

South Of The Red river, Whatever It May Be To The Northward Of It.

 

 

 

We Halted an Hour Or Two On Reaching This Beautiful Table-Land, To Rest

Ourselves And Give Our Horses An Opportunity To Graze. Little Villages

Of Prairie Dogs Were Scattered here And There, And We Killed half A

Dozen Of Them For Our Evening Meal. The Fat Of These Animals, I Have

Forgotten To Say, Is Asserted to Be An Infallible Remedy For The

Rheumatism.

 

 

 

In The Evening, We Again Started, And Encamped, An Hour After Sun-Down,

Upon The Banks Of A Clear Running Stream. We Had, During The Last Part

Of Our Journey, Discovered the Tops Of Three Or Four High Mountains In

The Distance; We Knew Them To Be "The Crows," By The Description Of Them

Given To Us By The Wakoes.

 

 

 

Early The Next Morning We Were Awakened by The Warbling Of Innumerable

Singing Birds, Perched among The Bushes Along The Borders Of The Stream.

Pleasing as Was The Concert, We Were Obliged to Leave It Behind And

Pursue Our Weary March. Throughout The Day We Had An Excellent Road, And

When Night Came We Had Travelled about Thirty-Five Miles. The Mountains,

The Summits Of Which We Had Perceived the Evening Before Were Now

Plainly Visible, And Answered to The Descriptions Of The Wakoes As Those

In The Neighbourhood Of The Narrows Of The Red river.

 

 

 

We Now Considered that We Were Near The End Of Our Journey. That Night

We Swallowed a Very Scanty Supper, Lay Down To Sleep, And Dreamed of

Beaver-Tail And Buffalo-Hump And Tongues. The Next Day, At Noon, We

Crossed the Bed of A Stream, Which Was Evidently A Large River During

The Rainy Season. At That Time But Little Water Was Found In it, And

That So Salt, It Was Impossible Even For Our Horses To Drink It.

 

 

 

Towards Night, We Came To The Banks Of A Clear Stream, The Waters Of

Which Were Bubbling along, Over A Bed of Golden Sand, Running Nearly

North And South, While At A Distance Of Some Six Miles, And To Our Left,

Was The Chain Of Hills I Had Previously Mentioned; Rising above The Rest

Were Three Peaks, Which Really Deserved the Name Of Mountains. We

Crossed the Stream, And Encamped on The Other Side. Scarcely Had We

Unsaddled our Horses, When We Perceived coming Towards Us A Large Party

Of Savages, Whose War-Paint, With The Bleeding Scalps Hanging To Their

Belts, Plainly Showed the Errand From Which They Were Returning. They

Encamped on The Other Side Of The Stream, Within A Quarter Of A

Mile From Us.

 

 

 

That Night We Passed watching, Shivering, And Fasting, For We Dared not

Light A Fire In the Immediate Vicinity Of Our Neighbours, Whom We Could

Hear Singing and Rejoicing. The Next Morning, Long Before Dawn, We Stole

Away Quietly, And Trotted briskly Till Noon, When We Encountered a Deep

And Almost Impassable Ravine. There We Were Obliged to Halt, And Pass

The Remainder Of The Day Endeavouring To Discover A Passage. This

Occupied us Till Nightfall, And We Had Nothing To Eat But Plums And

Berries. Melancholy Were Our Thoughts When We Reflected upon The

Difficulties We Might Shortly Have To Encounter, And Gloomy Were Our

Forebodings As We Wrapt Ourselves In our Blankets, Half Starved, And

Oppressed with Feelings Of Uncertainty As To Our Present Position And

Our Future Destinies.

 

 

 

The Night Passed without Alarm; But The Next Morning We Were Sickened by

A Horrible Scene Which Was Passing about Half A Mile From Us. A Party Of

The Same Indians Whom We Had Seen The Evening Before Were Butchering

Some Of Their Captives, While Several Others Were Busy Cooking The

Flesh, And Many Were Eating It. We Were Rooted to The Spot By A Thrill

Of Horror We Could Not Overcome; Even Our Horses Seemed to Know By

Instinct That Something Horrible Was Acting Below, For They Snuffed the

Air, And With Their Ears Pointed straight Forward, Trembled so As To

Satisfy Us That For The Present We Could Not Avail Ourselves Of Their

Services. Gabriel Crept As Near As He Could To The Party, Leaving Us To

Await His Return In a Terrible State Of Suspense And Anxiety. When He

Rejoined us, It Appeared our Sight Had Not Deceived us. There Were Nine

More Prisoners, Who Would Probably Undergo The Same Fate On The

Following Day; Four, He Said, Were Comanches, The Other Five Mexican

Females,--Two Young Girls And Three Women.

 

 

 

The Savages Had Undoubtedly Made An Inroad Upon San Miguel Or Taos, The

Two Most Northern Settlements Of The Mexicans, Not Far From The Green

Mountains, Where We Were Ourselves Going. What Could We Do? We Could Not

Fight The Cannibals, Who Were At Least One Hundred in number, And Yet We

Could Not Go Away, And Leave Men And Women Of Our Own Colour To A

Horrible Death, And A Tomb In the Stomach Of These Savages. The Idea

Could Not Be Borne, So We Determined to Remain And Trust To Chance Or

Providence. After Their Abominable Meal, The Savages Scattered about The

Prairie In every Direction, But Not Breaking Up Their Camp, Where They

Left Their Prisoners, Under The Charge Of Twelve Of Their

Young Warriors.

 

 

 

Many Plans Did We Propose For The Rescue Of The Poor Prisoners, But They

Were All Too Wild For Execution; At Last Chance Favoured us, Although We

Did Not Entirely Succeed in our Enterprise. Three Or Four Deer Galloped

Across The Prairie, And Passed not Fifty Yards From The Camp. A Fine

Buck Came In our Direction, And Two Of The Indians Who Were Left In

Charge Started after Him. They Rushed in among Us, And Stood Motionless

With Astonishment At Finding Neighbours They Had Not Reckoned upon. We,

However, Gave Them No Time To Recover From Their Surprise, Our Knives

And Tomahawks Performed quickly And Silently The Work Of Death, And

Little Remorse Did We Feel, After The Scene We Had Witnessed in the

Morning. We Would Have Killed, If Possible, The Whole Band, As They

Slept, Without Any More Compunction Than We Would Have Destroyed a Nest

Of Rattlesnakes.

 

 

 

The Deer Were Followed by A Small Herd Of Buffaloes. We Had Quickly

Saddled and Secured our Horses To Some Shrubs, In case It Should Be

Necessary To Rim For Our Lives, When We Perceived the Ten Remaining

Indians, Having First Examined and Ascertained that Their Captives Were

Well Bound, Start On Foot In chase Of The Herd Of Buffaloes; Indeed

There Were But About Twenty Horses In the Whole Band, And They Had Been

Ridden Away By The Others. Three Of These Indians We Killed without

Attracting The Attention Of The Rest, And Gabriel, Without Being

Discerned, Gained the Deserted encampment, And Severed the Thongs Which

Bound The Prisoners.

 

 

 

The Mexican Women Refused to Fly; They Were Afraid Of Being Captured and

Tortured; They Thought They Would Be Spared, And Taken To The Wigwams Of

The Savages, Who, We Then Learned, Belonged to The Tribe Of The Cayugas.

They Told Us That Thirteen Indian Prisoners Had Already Been Eaten, But

No White People. The Comanche Prisoners Armed themselves With The

Lances, Bows, And Arrows Left In the Camp, And In an Hour After The

Passage Of The Buffaloes, But Two Of The Twelve Indians Were Alive;

These, Giving The War-Whoop To Recall Their Party, At Last Discovered

That Their Comrades Had Been Killed.

 

 

 

At That Moment The Prairie Became Animated with Buffaloes And Hunters;

The Cayugas On Horseback Were Coming Back, Driving another Herd Before

Them. No Time Was To Be Lost If We Wished to Save Our Scalps; We Gave

One Of Our Knives (So Necessary An Article In the Wilderness) To The

Comanches, Who Expressed what They Felt In glowing Terms, And We Left

Them To Their Own Cunning and Knowledge Of The Localities, To Make Their

Escape. We Had Not Overrated their Abilities, For Some Few Days

Afterwards We Met Them Safe And Sound In their Own Wigwams.

 

 

 

We Galloped as Fast As Our Horses Could Go For Fifteen Miles, Along The

Ravine Which Had Impeded our Journey During The Preceding Day, When We

Fell In with A Small Creek. There We And Our Horses Drank Incredible

Quantities Of Water, And As Our Position Was Not Yet Very Safe, We Again

Resumed our March At A Brisk Trot. We Travelled three Or Four More Miles

Along The Foot Of A High Ridge, And Discovered what Seemed to Be An

Indian Trail, Leading In a Zigzag Course Up The Side Of It. This We

Followed, And Soon Found Ourselves On The Summit Of The Ridge. There We

Were Again Gratified at Finding Spread Out Before Us A Perfectly Level

Prairie, Extending as Far As The Eye Could Reach, Without A Tree To

Break The Monotony Of The Scene.

 

 

 

We Halted a Few Minutes To Rest Our Horses, And For Some Time Watched

What Was Passing In the Valley We Had Left, Now Lying a Thousand Feet

Below Us. All We Could Perceive At The Distance Which We Were, Was That

All Was In motion, And We Thought That Our Best Plan Was To Leave As

Much Space Between Us And The Cayugas As Possible. We Had But Little

Time To Converse With The Liberated comanches, Yet We Gained from Them

That We Were In the Right Direction, And Were Not Many Days From Our

Destination.

 

 

 

At The Moment We Were Mounting Our Horses, All Was Quiet Again In the

Valley Below. It Was A Lovely Panorama, And, Viewing It From The Point

Where We Stood, We Could Hardly Believe That, Some Hours Previous, Such

A Horrible Tragedy Had Been There Peformed. Softened down By The

Distance, There Was A Tranquillity About It Which Appeared as If It

Never Had Been Broken. The Deep Brown Skirting Of Bushes, On The Sides

Of The Different Water-Courses, Broke And Varied the Otherwise Vast

Extent Of Vivid Green. The Waters Of The River, Now Reduced to A Silver

Thread, Were Occasionally Brought To View By Some Turn In the Stream,

And Again Lost To Sight Under The Rich Foliage On The Banks.

 

 

 

We Continued our Journey, And Towards Evening We Descried a Large Bear

Within A Mile Of Us, And Roche Started in chase. Having Gained the Other

Side Of The Animal, He Drove It Directly Towards Me. Cocking a Pistol, I

Rode A Short Distance In front, To Meet Him, And While In the Act Of

Taking Deliberate Aim At The Bear, Then Not More Than Eight Yards From

Me, I Was Surprised to See Him Turn A Somerset And Commence Kicking With

His Hind Legs. Unseen By Me, Gabriel Had Crept Up Close On The Opposite

Side Of My Horse, And Had Noosed the Animal With His Lasso, Just As I

Was Pulling The Trigger Of My Pistol; Bruin Soon Disengaged himself From

The Lasso, And Made Towards Roche, Who Brought Him Down With A Single

Shot Below The Ear.

 

 

 

Gabriel And I Then Went On Ahead, To Select A Place For Passing The

Night, Leaving Our Friend Behind To Cut Up The Meat; But We Had Not Gone

Half A Mile, When Our Progress Was Suddenly Checked by A Yawning abyss,

Or Chasm, Some Two Hundred yards Across, And Probably Six Hundred feet

In Depth. The Banks, At This Place, Were Nearly Perpendicular, And From

The Sides Projected sharp Rocks, And, Now And Then, Tall Majestic

Cedars. We Travelled a Mile Or More Along The Banks, But Perceiving It

Was Too Late To Find A Passage Across, We Encamped in a Little Hollow

Under A Cluster Of Cedars. There We Were Soon Joined by Roche, And We

Were Indebted to Bruin For An Excellent Repast.

 

 

 

The Immense Chasm Before Us Ran Nearly North And South, And We Perceived

That The Current Of The Stream, Or Rather Torrent, Below Us, Ran Towards

The Former Point. The Next Morning, We Determined to Direct Our Steps To

The Northward, And We Had Gone But A Few Miles Before Large Buffalo Or

Indian Trails Were Seen Running In a South-West Direction, And As We

Travelled on, Others Were Noticed bearing More To The West. Obliged to

Keep Out Some Distance From The Ravine, To Avoid The Small Gullies

Emptying Into It And The Various Elbows Which It Made, About