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

Could Not Reflect, Or

Otherwise His Generous Nature Would Never Have Permitted him To Save His

Life At The Expense Of That Of The Noble Fellow Who Was Thus Sacrificing

Himself. As It Was, He Darted away, And His Liberator, Receiving The

Shock Of The Assailants, Killed two Of Them, And Fell Pierced with Their

Rifle-Balls[23].

 

 

 

[Footnote 23: So Sacred are The Laws Of Hospitality Among These Indians,

That A Dozen Lives Would Be Sacrificed if Required, To Save That Of A

Guest. In sacrificing Himself For Roche, The Comanche Considered that He

Was Doing a Mere Act Of Duty.]

 

 

 

[Illustration: "They Galloped across The Plain, Dragging after Them

Three Mangled bodies."]

 

 

 

The Report Of The Rifles Recalled roche To His Senses, And Joining Once

More The Three Remaining Indians, He Rushed madly Upon The Hunters, And,

Closing With One Of Them, He Ripped him Up With His Knife, While The

Comanches Had Each Of Them Successfully Thrown Their Lassoes, And Now

Galloped across The Plain, Dragging after Them Three Mangled bodies:

Roche Recovered his Saddle And Holsters, And Taking With Him The Corpse

Of The Noble-Minded indian, He Gave To His Companions The Signal For

Retreat, As The Remaining Hunters Were Flying at Full Speed towards

Their Camp, And Succeeded in giving The Alarm. An Hour After, They

Returned to Us, And, Upon Their Report, It Was Resolved that We Should

Attack The Texans That Very Night.

 

 

 

About Ten O'Clock We Started, Divided into Three Bands Of Seventy Men

Each, Which Made Our Number About Equal To That Of The Texans; Roche,

Who Was Disabled, With Fifteen Indians And The Five Americans Remaining

In The Camp. Two Of The Bands Went Down The River To Cross It Without

Noise, While The Third, Commanded by Gabriel And Me, Travelled up The

Stream For Two Miles, Where We Safely Effected our Passage. We Had Left

The Horses Ready, In case Of Accident, Under The Keeping Of Five Men For

Every Band. The Plan Was To Surprise The Texans, And Attack Them At Once

In Front And In rear; We Succeeded beyond All Expectations, The Texans,

As Usual, Being all More Or Less Intoxicated. We Reached their Fires

Before Any Alarm Was Given.

 

 

 

We Gave The War-Whoop And Rushed among The Sleepers. Many, Many Were

Killed in their Deep Sleep Of Intoxication, But Those Who Awoke And Had

Time To Seize Upon Their Arms Fought Certainly Better Than They Would

Have Done Had They Been Sober. The Gallant General Smith, The Bravest Of

The Brave And Ex-Butcher, Escaped at The Very Beginning Of The Affray,

But I Saw The Comanche Chief Cleaving The Skull Of Captain Hunt With

His Tomahawk.

 

 

 

Before Their Onset, The Indians Had Secured almost All The Enemy'S

Waggons And Horses, So That Flight To Many Became Impossible. At That

Particular Spot The Prairie Was Undulatory And Bare, Except On The Left

Of The Encampment, Where A Few Bushes Skirted the Edge Of A Small

Stream; But These Were Too Few And Too Small To Afford A Refuge To The

Texans, One Hundred of Whom Were Killed and Scalped. The Remainder Of

The Night Was Passed in giving Chase To The Fugitives, Who, At Last,

Halted at A Bend Of The River, In a Position That Could Not Be Forced

Without Great Loss Of Life; So The Indians Left Them, And, After Having

Collected all The Horses And The Booty They Thought Worth Taking away,

They Burnt The Waggons And Returned to Their Own Camp.

 

 

 

As We Quitted the Spot, I Could Not Help Occasionally Casting a Glance

Behind Me, And The Spectacle Was Truly Magnificent. Hundreds Of Barrels,

Full Of Grease, Salt Pork, Gin, And Whisky, Were Burning, And The

Conflagration Had Now Extended to The Grass And The Dry Bushes.

 

 

 

We Had Scarcely Crossed the River When The Morning Breeze Sprung Up, And

Now The Flames Extended in every Direction, Gaining Rapidly Upon The

Spot Where The Remaining Texans Had Stood At Bay. So Fiercely And

Abruptly Did The Flames Rush Upon Them, That All Simultaneously, Men And

Horses, Darted into The Water For Shelter Against The Devouring Element.

Many Were Drowned in the Whirlpools, And Those Who Succeeded in reaching

The Opposite Shore Were Too Miserable And Weak To Think Of Anything,

Except Of Regaining, If Possible, The Southern Settlements.

 

 

 

Though Protected from The Immediate Reach Of The Flames By The Branch Of

The River Upon The Shore Of Which We Were Encamped, The Heat Had Become

So Intense, That We Were Obliged to Shift Farther To The West. Except In

The Supply Of Arms And Ammunition, We Perceived that Our Booty Was Worth

Nothing. This Texan Expedition Must Have Been Composed of A Very

Beggarly Set, For There Was Not A Single Yard Of Linen, Nor A Miserable

Worn-Out Pair Of Trousers, To Be Found In all Their Bundles And Boxes.

 

 

 

Among The Horses Taken, Some Thirty Or Forty Were Immediately Identified

By The Comanches As Their Own Property, Many Of Them, During The

Preceding Year, Having Been Stolen By A Party Of Texans, Who Had Invited

The Indians To A Grand Council. Gabriel, Roche, And I, Of Course, Would

Accept None Of The Booty; And As Time Was Now Becoming To Me A Question

Of Great Importance, We Bade Farewell To Our Comanche Friends, And

Pursued our Journey East, In company With The Five Americans.

 

 

 

During The Action, The Comanches Had Had Forty Men Wounded and Only Nine

Killed. Yet, Two Months Afterwards, I Read In one Of The American

Newspapers A Very Singular Account Of The Action. It Was A Report Of

General Smith, Commandant Of The Central Force Of Texas, Relative To The

Glorious Expedition Against The Savages, In which The Gallant Soldiers

Of The Infant Republic Had Achieved the Most Wonderful Exploits. It

Said, "That General Smith Having Been Apprised, By The Unfortunate

Captain Hunt, That Five Thousand Savages Had Destroyed the Rising City

Of Lewisburg, And Murdered all The Inhabitants, Had Immediately Hastened

With His Intrepid Fellows To The Neighbourhood Of The Scene; That There,

During The Night, And When Every Man Was Broken Down With Fatigue, They

Were Attacked by The Whole Force Of The Indians, Who Had With Them Some

Twenty Half-Breeds And French And English Traders. In spite Of Their

Disadvantages, The Texans Repulsed the Comanches With Considerable Loss,

Till The Morning, When The Men Were Literally Tired with Killing, And

The Prairie Was Covered with The Corpses Of Two Thousand Savages; The

Texans Themselves Having Lost But Thirty Or Forty Men, And These People

Of Little Consequence, Being Emigrants Recently Arrived from The States.

During The Day, The Stench Became So Intolerable, That General Smith

Caused the Prairie To Be Set On Fire, And Crossing The River, Returned

Home By Slow Marches, Knowing It Would Be Quite Useless To Pursue The

Comanches In the Wild And Broken Prairies Of The North. Only One Texan

Of Note Had Perished during The Conflict--The Brave And Unfortunate

Captain Hunt; So That, Upon The Whole, Considering The Number Of The

Enemy, The Republic May Consider This Expedition As The Most Glorious

Enterprise Since The Declaration Of Texan Independence."

 

 

 

The Paragraph Went On In this Manner Till It Filled three Close Columns,

And As A Finale, The Ex-Butcher Made An Appeal To All The Generous And

"Liberty-Loving" Sons Of The United states And Texas, Complaining

Bitterly Against The Cabinets Of St. James And The Tuileries, Who,

Jealous Of The Prosperity And Glory Of Texas, Had Evidently Sent Agents

(Trappers And Half-Breeds) To Excite The Savages, Through Malice, Envy,

And Hatred of The Untarnished name And Honour Of The Great North

American Republic.

 

 

 

The Five Americans Who Accompanied us Were Of A Superior Class, Three

Of Them From Virginia, And Two From Maryland, Their History Was That Of

Many Others Of Their Countrymen, Three Of Them Had Studied the Law, One

Divinity, And The Other Medicine. Having No Opening For The Exercise Of

Their Profession At Home, They Had Gone Westward, To Carve A Fortune In

The New States; But There Everything Was In such A State Of Anarchy That

They Could Not Earn Their Subsistence; They Removed farther West, Until

They Entered texas, "A Country Sprung Up But Yesterday, And Where An

Immense Wealth Can Be Made." They Found, On Their Arrival At This

Anticipated paradise, Their Chances Of Success In their Profession Still

Worse Than In their Own Country. The Lawyers Discovered that, On A

Moderate Computation, There Were Not Less Than Ten Thousand Attorneys In

Texas, Who Had Emigrated from The Eastern States; The President, The

Secretaries, Constables, Tavern-Keepers, Generals, Privates, Sailors,

Porters, And Horse-Thieves Were All Of Them Originally Lawyers, Or Had

Been Brought Up To That Profession.

 

 

 

As To The Doctor, He Soon Found That The Apologue Of The "Wolf And The

Stork" Had Been Written Purposely For Medical Practice In texas, For As

Soon As He Had Cured a Patient (Picked the Bone Out Of His Throat), He

Had To Consider Himself Very Lucky If He Could Escape From Half-A-Dozen

Inches Of The Bowie-Knife, By Way Of Recompense; Moreover, Every Visit

Cost Him His Pocket-Handkerchief Or His 'Bacco-Box, If He Had Any. I

Have To Remark Here, That Kerchief-Taking Is A Most Common Joke In

Texas, And I Wonder Very Much At It, As No Individual Of The Male

Species, In that Promised land, Will Ever Apply That Commodity To Its

Right Use, Employing For That Purpose The Pair Of Snuffers Which Natural

Instinct Has Supplied him With. At The Same Time, It Must Be Admitted

That No Professional Man Can Expect Employment, Without He Can Flourish

A Pocket-Handkerchief.

 

 

 

As For The Divine, He Soon Found That Religion Was Not A Commodity

Required in so Young A Country, And That He Might Just As Well Have

Speculated in sending a Cargo Of Skates To The West Indies, Or Supplying

Mussulmans With Swine. The Merits Of The Voluntary System Had Not Been

Yet Appreciated in texas; And If He Did Preach, He Had To Preach By

Himself, Not Being able To Obtain A Clerk To Make The Responses.

 

 

 

As We Travelled along The Dreary Prairies, These Five Eldorado Seekers

Proved to Be Jovial Fellows, And There Was About Them An Elasticity Of

Temper Which Did Not Allow Them To Despond. The Divine Had Made Up His

Mind To Go To Rome, And Convert The Pope, Who, After All, Was A Clever

Old _Bon Vivant_; The Doctor Would Go To Edinburgh, And Get Selected,

From His Superior Skill, As President Of The Surgical College; One Of

The Lawyers Determined he Would "Run For Legislature," Or Keep A Bar (A

Whisky One); The Second Wished to Join The Mormons, Who Were A Set Of

Clever Blackguards; And The Third Thought Of Going To China, To Teach

The Celestial Brother Of The Sun To Use The Kentucky Rifle And "Brush

The English." Some Individuals In england Have Reproached me With

Indulging Too Much In building Castles In the Air; But Certainly,

Compared to Those Of A Yankee In search After Wealth, Mine Have Been

Most Sober Speculations.

 

 

 

Each Of Our New Companions Had Some Little Texan History To Relate,

Which They Declared to Be The Most Rascally, But _Smartish_ Trick In the

World. One Of The Lawyers Was Once Summoned before A Magistrate, And A

False New Orleans Fifty-Dollar Bank-Note Was Presented to Him, As The

Identical One He Had Given To The Clerk Of Tremont House (The Great

Hotel At Galveston), In payment Of His Weekly Bill. Now, The Lawyer Had

Often Dreamed of Fifties, Hundreds, And Even Of Thousands; But Fortune

Had Been So Fickle With Him, That He Had Never Been In possession Of

Bank-Notes Higher Than Five Or Ten Dollars, Except One Of The Glorious

Cairo Bank Twenty-Dollar Notes, Which His Father Presented to Him In

Baltimore, When He Advised him Most Paternally To Try His Luck In

The West.

 

 

 

By The Bye, That Twenty-Dollar Cairo Note'S Adventures Should Be Written

In Gold Letters, For It Enabled the Traveller To Eat, Sleep, And Drink,

Free Of Cost, From Louisville To St. Louis, Through Indiana And

Illinois; Any Tavern-Keeper Preferring Losing The Price Of A Bed, Or Of

A Meal, Sooner Than Run The Risk Of Returning Good Change For Bad Money.

The Note Was Finally Changed in st. Louis For A Three-Dollar, Bank Of

Springfield, Which Being Yet Current, At A Discount Of Four Cents To The

Dollar, Enabled the Fortunate Owner To Take His Last Tumbler Of

Port-Wine Sangaree Before His Departure For Texas.

 

 

 

Of Course, The Lawyer Had No Remorse Of Conscience, In swearing That

The Note Had Never Been His, But The Tavern-Keeper And Two Witnesses

Swore To His Having Given It, And The Poor Fellow Was Condemned to

Recash And Pay Expenses. Having Not A Cent, He Was Allowed to Go, For It

So Happened that The Gaol Was Not Built For Such Vagabonds, But For The

Government Officers, Who Had Their Sleeping apartments In it. This

Circumstance Occasioned it To Be Remarked by A Few Commonly Honest

People Of Galveston,