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

Shores Of The Red river, And Who Had Always Been At Peace With

Their Ancestors, Had Committed some Depredations Upon The Northern

Territory Of The Comanches.

 

 

 

The Chiefs, As Usual, Waited several Moons For Reparation To Be Offered

By The Offenders, But As None Came, It Was Feared that The Picts Had

Been Influenced by The American Agents To Forget Their Long Friendship,

And Commence Hostilities With Them. It Was, Therefore, Resolved that We

Should Enter The War Path, And Obtain By Force That Justice Which

Friendship Could No Longer Command.

 

 

 

The Road Which We Had To Travel, To Arrive At The Town Of The Pawnee

Picts, Was Rough And Uneven, Running Over Hills And Intersected by Deep

Gullies. Bad As It Was, And Faint And Tired as Were Our Horses, In ten

Days We Reached a Small Prairie, Within Six Miles Of The River, On The

Other Side Of Which Lay The Principal Village Of The Pawnee Picts.

 

 

 

The Heavens Now Became Suddenly Overcast, And A Thunder-Storm Soon

Rendered it Impossible For Even Our Best Warriors To See Their Way. A

Halt Was Consequently Ordered; And, Not Withstanding a Tremendous Rain,

We Slept Soundly Till Morn, When A Drove Of Horses, Numbering Some

Hundreds, Was Discovered some Distance To Our Left. In all Appearance

They Were Tame Animals, And Many Thought They Could See The Pawnee

Warriors Riding Them. Four Of Us Immediately Started to Reconnoitre, And

We Made Our Preparations For Attack; As We Gradually Approached there

Appeared to Be No Little Commotion Among The Herd, Which We Now Plainly

Perceived to Be Horses Without Any Riders.

 

 

 

When We First Noticed them, We Discerned two Or Three White Spots, Which

Gabriel And I Mistook For Flags; A Nearer View Convinced us That They

Were Young Colts.

 

 

 

We Continued our Route. The Sun Had Scarcely Risen When We Arrived on

The Shore Of The River, Which Was Lined with Hundreds Of Canoes, Each

Carrying Green Branches At Their Bows And White Flags At Their Sterns.

Shortly Afterwards, Several Chiefs Passed over To Our Side, And Invited

All Our Principal Chiefs To Come Over To The Village And Talk To The

Pawnee Picts, Who Wished to Remain Brothers With Their Friends--The

Comanches. This Was Consented to, And Gabriel, Roche, And I Accompanied

Them. This Village Was Admirably Protected from Attack On Every Side;

And In front, The Red river, There Clear And Transparent, Rolls Its Deep

Waters. At The Back Of The Village, Stony And Perpendicular Mountains

Rise To The Height Of Two Thousand Feet, And Their Ascent Is Impossible,

Except By Ladders And Ropes, Or Where Steps Have Been Cut Into The Rock.

 

 

 

The Wigwams, One Thousand In number, Extend, For The Space Of Four

Miles, Upon A Beautiful Piece Of Rich Alluvial Soil In a Very High State

Of Cultivation; The Fields Were Well Fenced and Luxuriant With Maize,

Pumpkins, Melons, Beans, And Squashes. The Space Between The Mountains

And The River, On Each Side Of The Village, Was Thickly Planted with

Close Ranks Of Prickly Pear, Impassable To Man Or Beast, So That The

Only Way In which The Pawnees Could Be Attacked was In front, By Forcing

A Passage Across The River, Which Could Not Be Effected without A Great

Loss Of Life, As The Pawnees Are A Brave People And Well Supplied with

Rifles, Although In their Prairie Hunts They Prefer To Use Their Lances

And Their Arrows.

 

 

 

When We Entered the Great Council Lodge, The Great Chief, Wetara Sharoj,

Received us With Great Urbanity, Assigned to Us Places Next To Him, And

Gave The Signal For The Pawnee Elders To Enter The Lodge. I Was Very

Much Astonished to See Among Them Some White Men, Dressed in splendid

Military Uniforms; But The Ceremonies Having Begun, And It Being The

Indian Custom To Assume Indifference, Whatever Your Feelings May Be, I

Remained where I Was. Just At The Moment That The Pipe-Bearer Was

Lighting The Calumet Of Peace, The Venerable Pawnee Chief Advanced to

The Middle Of The Lodge, And Addressed the Comanches:--

 

 

 

"My Sight Is Old, For I Have Seen A Hundred winters, And Yet I Can

Recognize Those Who Once Were Friends. I See Among You Opishka Koaki

(The White Raven), And The Leader Of A Great People; Pemeh-Katey (The

Long Carbine), And The Wise Hah-Nee (The Old Beaver). You Are Friends,

And We Should Offer You At Once The Calumet Of Peace, But You Have Come

As Foes; As Long As You Think You Have Cause To Remain So, It Would Be

Mean And Unworthy Of The Pawnees To Sue And Beg For What Perchance They

May Obtain By Their Courage. Yet The Comanches And The Pawnees Have Been

Friends Too Long A Time To Fall Upon Each Other As A Starved wolf Does

Upon A Wounded buffalo. A Strong Cause Must Excite Them To Fight Against

Each Other, And Then, When It Comes, It Must Be A War Of Extermination,

For When A Man Breaks With An Old Friend, He Becomes More Bitter In his

Vengeance Than Against An Utter Stranger. Let Me Hear What The Brave

Comanches Have To Complain Of, And Any Reparation, Consistent With The

Dignity Of A Pawnee Chief, Shall Be Made, Sooner Than Risk A War Between

Brothers Who Have So Long Hunted together And Fought Together Against A

Common Enemy. I Have Said."

 

 

 

Opishka Koaki Ordered me To Light The Comanche Calumet Of Peace, And

Advancing To The Place Left Vacant By The Ancient Chief, He Answered:--

 

 

 

"I Have Heard Words Of Great Wisdom; A Comanche Always Loves And

Respects Wisdom; I Love And Respect My Father, Wetara Sharoj; I Will

Tell Him What Are The Complaints Of Our Warriors, But Before, As We Have

Come As Foes, It Is But Just That We Should Be The First To Offer The

Pipe Of Peace; Take It, Chief, For We Must Be Friends; I Will Tell Our

Wrongs, And Leave It To The Justice Of The Great Pawnee To Efface Them,

And Repair The Loss His Young Men Have Caused to A Nation Of Friends."

 

 

 

The Pipe Was Accepted, And The "Talk" Went On. It Appeared that A Party

Of One Hundred pawnee Hunters Had Had Their Horses Estampeded one

Night, By Some Hostile Indians. For Five Days They Forced their Way On

Foot, Till Entering The Northern Territory Of The Comanches, They Met

With A Drove Of Horses And Cattle. They Would Never Have Touched them,

Had It Not Been That, A Short Time Afterwards, They Met With Another

Very Numerous Party Of Their Inveterate Enemies--The Kiowas, By Whom

They Were Pressed so Very Hard, That They Were Obliged to Return To The

Place Where The Comanche Herds Of Horse Were Grazing, And To Take Them,

To Escape Their Foes. So Far, All Was Right; It Was Nothing More Than

What The Comanches Would Have Clone Themselves In the Land Of The

Pawnees; But What Had Angered the Comanche Warriors Was, That The

Hundred horses Thus Borrowed in necessity, Had Never Been Returned,

Although The Party Had Arrived at The Village Two Moons Ago.

 

 

 

When The Pawnees Heard That We Had No Other Causes For Complaint, They

Showed, By Their Expressions Of Friendship, That The Ties Of Long

Brotherhood Were Not To Be So Easily Broken; And Indeed the Pawnees Had,

Some Time Before, Sent Ten Of Their Men With One Hundred of Their Finest

Horses, To Compensate For Those Which They Had Taken And Rather

Ill-Treated, In their Hurried escape From The Kiowas. But They Had Taken

A Different Road From That By Which We Had Come, And Consequently We Had

Missed them. Of Course, The Council Broke Up, And The Indians, Who Had

Remained on The Other Side Of The River, Were Invited in the Village To

Partake Of The Pawnee Hospitality.

 

 

 

Gabriel And I Soon Accosted the Strangely-Dressed foreigners. In fact,

We Were Seeking Each Other, And I Learned that They Had Been A Long Time

Among The Pawnees, And Would Have Passed over To The Comanches, In order

To Confer With Me On Certain Political Matters, Had It Not Been That

They Were Aware Of The Great Antipathy The Chiefs Of That Tribe

Entertained against The Inhabitants Of The United states.

 

 

 

The Facts Were As Follows:--These People Were Emissaries Of The Mormons,

A New Sect Which Had Sprung Up In the States, And Which Was Rapidly

Increasing In numbers. This Sect Had Been Created by A Certain Joseph

Smith. Round The Standard Of This Bold And Ambitious Leader, Swarms Of

People Crowded from Every Part, And Had Settled upon A Vast Extent Of

Ground On The Eastern Shores Of The Mississippi, And There Established a

Civil, Religious, And Military Power, As Anomalous As It Was Dangerous

To The United states. In order To Accomplish His Ulterior Views, This

Modern Apostle Wished to Establish Relations Of Peace And Friendship

With All The Indians In the Great Western Territories, And Had For That

Purpose Sent Messengers Among The Various Tribes East Of The Rocky

Mountains. Having also Learned, By The St. Louis Trappers, That

Strangers, Long Established among The Shoshones Of The Pacific Ocean,

Were Now Residing among The Comanches, Smith Had Ordered his Emissaries

Among The Pawnees To Endeavour To Meet Us, And Concert Together As To

What Measures Could Be Taken So As To Secure A General League, Defensive

And Offensive, Against The Americans And The Texans, And Which Was To

Extend From The Mississippi To The Western Seas.

 

 

 

Such A Proposition Of Course Could Not Be Immediately Answered. I

Therefore Obtained leave From The Comanches To Take The Two Strangers

With Us, And We All Returned together. It Would Be Useless To Relate To

The Reader That Which Passed between Me And The Emissaries Of The

Mormons; Let It Suffice To Say, That After A Residence Of Three Weeks In

The Village, They Were Conducted back To The Pawnees. With The Advice Of

Gabriel, I Determined to Go Myself And Confer With The Principal Mormon

Leaders; Resolving In my Own Mind That If Our Interview Was Not

Satisfactory, I Would Continue On To Europe, And Endeavour Either To

Engage A Company Of Merchants To Enter Into Direct Communication With

The Shoshones Or To Obtain The Support Of The English Government, In

Furtherance Of The Objects I Had In view For The Advantage Of The Tribe.

 

 

 

As A Large Portion Of The Comanches Were Making Preparations For Their

Annual Migration To The East Of Texas, Roche, Gabriel, And I Joined this

Party, And Having Exchanged an Affectionate Farewell With The Remainder

Of The Tribe, And Received many Valuable Presents, We Started, Taking

The Direction Of The Saline Lake, Which Forms The Head-Waters Of The

Southern Branch Or Fork Of The River Brazos. There We Met Again With Our

Old Friends The Wakoes, And Learned that There Was A Party Of Sixty Or

Seventy Yankees Or Texans Roaming about The Upper Forks Of The Trinity,

Committing all Sorts Of Depredations, And Painting Their Bodies Like The

Indians, That Their Enormities Might Be Laid To The Account Of The

Savages. This May Appear Strange To The Reader, But It Has Been A

Common Practice For Some Time. There Have Always Been In the United

States A Numerous Body Of Individuals, Who, Having By Their Crimes Been

Compelled to Quit The Settlements Of The East, Have Sought Shelter Out

Of The Reach Of Civilization. These Individuals Are All Desperate

Characters, And, Uniting Themselves In small Bands, Come Fearlessly

Among The Savages, Taking Squaws, And Living among Them Till A

Sufficient Period Has Elapsed to Enable Them To Venture, Under An

Assumed name And In a Distant State, To Return With Impunity And Enjoy

The Wealth Acquired by Plunder And Assassination.

 

 

 

This Is The History Of The Major Portion Of The Western Pioneers, Whose

Courage And Virtues Have Been So Much Celebrated by American Writers. As

They Increased in numbers, These Pioneers Conceived a Plan By Which They

Acquired great Wealth. They United together, Forming a Society Of Land

Privateers Or Buccaneers, And Made Incursions Into The Very Heart Of The

French And Spanish Settlements Of The West, Where, Not Being Expected,

They Surprised the People And Carried off Great Booty. When, However,

These Spanish And French Possessions Were Incorporated into The United

States, They Altered their System Of Plunder; And Under The Name Of

Border'S Buggles, They Infested the States Of The Mississippi And

Tennessee, Where They Obtained such A Dreaded reputation That The

Government Sent Out Many Expeditions Against Them, Which, However, Were

Useless, As All The Principal Magistrates Of These States Had Contrived

Even Themselves To Be Elected members Of The Fraternity. The Increase Of

Population Broke Up This System, And The "Buggles" Were Compelled to

Resort To Other Measures. Well Acquainted with Indian Manners, They

Would Dress And Paint Themselves As Savages, And Attack The Caravans To

Mexico. The Traders, In their Reports, Would Attribute The Deed to Some

Tribe Of Indians, Probably, At The Moment Of The Attack Some Five Or Six

Hundred miles