MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗
- Author: FREDERICK MARRYAT
Book online «MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗». Author FREDERICK MARRYAT
Better To Continue Our Fatiguing Journey. A Little Above Us Was Also
Discovered a Large Quantity Of Drift Timber, Left Dry Upon The Sand, And
In A Short Time Every One Of Us Were Actively Employed in preparing For
A Jovial Meal. Gabriel, Being The Best Marksman, Started for Game, And I
Continued fishing, To The Great Delight Of The Doctor And The Parson,
The First One Taking Under His Care The Cooking Department, And The Last
Scouring The Prairie To Catch Grasshoppers And Horse-Flies. In less Than
Three Hours I Had Twenty Large Trout, And A Dozen Cat-Fish, And Gabriel
Returned with Two Canadian Geese. Invigorated by An Abundant Meal And A
Warm Fire, We Soon Regained our Spirits, And That Night We Slept Sound,
And Made Up For Our Former Watching and Shivering.
The Next Morning, After Breakfast, We Filled our Saddle-Bags With The
Remainder Of Our Provisions, And Following The Stream For Ten Miles,
With Water To Our Horses' Shoulders, As Both Sides Of The River Were
Covered with Briars. The Parson Had Been Obliged to Ride Behind One Of
The Lawyers, Who Had A Strong Built, Powerful Horse; And Great Was Our
Merriment When One Of Our Steeds Stumbled into A Hole, And Brought Down
His Master With Him. For Nine Miles More We Continued wading Down The
River, Till At Last The Prickly Pears And Briars Receding From The
Banks, Allowed us Once More To Regain The Dry Ground: But We Had Not
Travelled an Hour Upon The Bank, When Our Road Was Interrupted by A
Broken Range Of Hills.
After Incredible Fatigue To Both Horses And Men, For We Were Obliged to
Dismount And Carry Our Arms And Saddle-Bags, The Ascent Was Finally
Achieved. When We Arrived at The Summit, We Found Below Us A Peaceful
And Romantic Valley, Through The Centre Of Which The River Winded its
Way, And Was Fed by Innumerable Brooks, Which Joined it In every
Direction. Their Immediate Borders Were Fringed with Small Trees, Bushes
Of The Deepest Green, While The Banks Of The River Were Skirted with A
Narrow Belt Of Timber, Of Larger And More Luxuriant Growth.
This Valley Was Encircled by The Range Of Hills We Had Ascended, So Far
As To The Belt Of The Forest. We Led our Horses Down The Declivity, And
In Less Than An Hour Found Ourselves Safe At The Bottom. A Brisk Ride Of
Three Or Four Miles Through The Valley Brought Us To The Edge Of The
Forest, Where We Encamped near A Small Creek, And After Another Good
Night'S Rest, We Pushed on Through A Mass Of The Noblest Maple And
Pine-Trees I Had Ever Seen. Now Game Abounded; Turkeys, Bears, And Deer,
Were Seen Almost Every Minute, And, As We Advanced, The Traces Of Mules
And Jackasses Were Plainly Visible. A Little Further On, The Footprints
Of Men Were Also Discovered, And From Their Appearance They Were But A
Few Hours' Old. This Sight Made Us Forget Our Fatigues, And We Hurried
On, With Fond Anticipations Of Finding a Speedy Termination To All Our
Sufferings.
Late In the Afternoon, I Killed a Very Fat Buck, And Although We Were
Anxious To Follow The Tracks, To Ascertain What Description Of
Travellers Were Before Us, Our Horses Were So Tired, And Our Appetites
So Sharpened, That Upon Reflection, We Thought It Desirable To Remain
Where We Were. I Took This Opportunity Of Making Myself A Pair Of
Mocassins, With The Now Useless Saddle-Bags Of The Parson.
That Evening We Were In high Glee, Thinking That We Had Arrived at One
Of The Recent Settlements Of Western Emigration, For, As I Have
Observed, We Had Seen Tracks Of Jackasses, And These Animals Are Never
Employed upon Any Distant Journey. We Fully Expected the Next Morning To
Find Some Log Houses, Within Ten Or Fifteen Miles, Where We Should Be
Able To Procure Another Horse For The Parson, And Some More Ammunition,
As We Had Scarcely Half A Pound Of Balls Left Between Us. The Lawyer
Enjoyed, By Anticipation, The Happiness Of Once More Filling His
Half-Gallon Flask, And The Doctor Promised to Give Us Dishes Of His Own
Invention, As Soon As He Could Meet With A Frying-Pan. In fine, So
Exuberant Were Our Spirits, That It Was Late Before We Laid Down
To Sleep.
At About Two O'Clock In the Morning, Feeling a Pressure Upon My Breast,
I Opened my Eyes, And Saw Gabriel With A Finger Upon His Lips, Enjoining
Me To Silence. He Then Informed me, In a Whisper, That A Numerous Party
Of Thieves Were In our Neighbourhood, And That They Had Already
Discovered our Horses. Taking With Us Only Our Knives And Tomahawks, We
Crawled silently Till We Came To A Small Opening In the Forest, When We
Saw Some Twenty Fellows Encamped, Without Any Light Or Fire, But All
Armed to The Teeth. Three Or Four Of Them Appeared animated in their
Conversation, And, Being Favoured by The Darkness, We Approached nearer,
Till We Were Able To Hear Every Word.
"All Sleeping Sound," Said One Of Them, "But Looking Mighty Wretched;
Not A Cent Among Them, I Am Sure; If I Can Judge By Their Clothing,
Three Of Them Are Half-Breeds."
"And The Horses?" Said Another Voice.
"Why, As To Them, They Have Only Seven," Replied the First Voice, "And
They Are Broken Down And Tired, Although Fine Animals. They Would Sell
Well After A Three Weeks' Grazing."
"Take Them Away, Then; Are They Tied?"
"Only Two."
"Break The Halters Then, And Start Them Full Speed, As If They Were
Frightened; It Will Not Awaken Their Suspicion."
"Why Not Settle The Matter With Them All At Once? We Would Get Their
Saddles."
"Fool! Suppose They Are A Vanguard Of General Rusk'S Army, And One Of
Them Should Escape? No; To-Morrow At Sunrise They Will Run Upon The
Tracks Of Their Horses, And Leave Their Saddles And Saddle-Bags Behind;
Three Men Shall Remain Here, To Secure The Plunder, And When The Ducks
(Travellers) Are Fairly Entangled in the Forest, Being On Foot, We Can
Do What We Please."
Others Then Joined the Conversation, And Gabriel And I Returned to Our
Friends As Silently As We Left Them. Half An Hour Afterwards We Heard
The Galloping Of Our Horses, In a Southerly Direction, And Gabriel Going
Once More To Reconnoitre, Perceived the Band Taking another Course,
Towards The East, Leaving, As They Had Proposed, Three Of Their Men
Behind Them. For A Few Minutes He Heard These Men Canvassing as To The
Best Means Of Carrying The Saddles, And Having Drank Pretty Freely From
A Large Stone Jug, They Wrapped themselves In their Blankets, And
Crawled into A Sort Of A Burrow, Which Had Probably Been Dug Out By The
Brigands As A Cachette For Their Provisions And The Booty Which They
Could Not Conveniently Carry.
By The Conversation Of The Three Fellows, Gabriel Conjectured that The
Band Had Gone To A Place Of Rendezvous, On The Bank Of Some River, And
That The Party Who Had Carried away Our Horses Was To Proceed only Six
Miles South, To A Stream Where The Track Of The Horses Would Be Effaced
And Lost In case Of Our Pursuit. As Soon As They Considered that We Were
Far Enough From Our Encampment, They Were To Return By Another Road, And
Rejoin The Three Men Left Behind. Gabriel Conjectured that Only Four Men
Had Gone Away With The Horses. After A Little Consultation, We Awoke Our
Comrades, And Explaining To Them How Matters Stood, We Determined upon A
Counterplot.
It Was At First Proposed to Shoot The Three Scoundrels Left For Our
Saddle-Bags, But Reflecting That They Were Better Acquainted than We
Were With The Locality, And That The Report Of One Of Their Fire-Arms
Would Excite The Suspicion Of Those Who Had Charge Of Our Horses; We
Determined upon Another Line Of Conduct. Before Daylight, I Took My Bow
And Arrows And Succeeded in reaching a Secure Position, A Few Yards From
The Burrow Where The Thieves Were Concealed. Gabriel Did The Same, In a
Bush Halfway Between The Burrow And Our Encampment. In the Meantime,
Roche, With The Five Americans Played their Part Admirably--Walking Near
To The Burrow Swearing That Our Horses Had Been Frightened by Some
Varmin And Escaped, And Started upon The Tracks, With As Much Noise As
They Could Make; To Deceive The Robbers The More, They Left Their
Rifles Behind.
As Soon As They Were Gone, The Thieves Issued from Their Places Of
Concealment, And One Arming Himself With His Rifle, "Went," As He Said,
"To See If The Coast Was Clear," He Soon Returned with Two Of Our Rifles
And A Blazing Piece Of Wood, And The Worthies Began Laughing Together At
The Success Of Their Ruse. They Lighted a Fire, Took Another Dram, And
While One Busied himself With Preparing Coffee, The Other Two Started,
With No Other Weapon But Their Knives, To Fetch The Saddle-Bags
And Saddles.
They Had Not Been Gone Five Minutes When I Perceived an Enormous
Rattlesnake, Ready To Spring, At Not Half A Yard From Me. Since My Snake
Adventure Among The Comanches, I Had Imbibed the Greatest Dread Of That
Animal, And My Alarm Was So Great, That I Rushed out Of My Concealment,
And, At A Single Bound; Found Myself Ten Yards From The Fellow, Who Was
Quietly Blowing His Fire And Stirring His Coffee. He Arose Immediately,
Made Two Steps Backwards, And, Quite Unnerved by So Sudden An
Apparition, He Extended his Hand Towards A Tree, Against Which The
Rifles Had Been Placed.
That Movement Decided his Fate, For Not Choosing To Be Shot At, Nor To
Close With A Fellow So Powerful That He Could Have Easily Crushed my
Head Between His Thumb And Finger, I Drew At Him; Though Rapid, My Aim
Was Certain, And He Fell Dead, Without Uttering a Single Word, The Arrow
Having Penetrated his Heart. I Then Crawled to Gabriel, To Whom I
Explained the Matter, And Left Him, To Take My Station Near The Two
Remaining Brigands. I Found Them Busy Searching The Saddle-Bags, And
Putting aside What They Wished to Secrete For Their Own Use.
After They Had Been Thus Employed for Half An Hour, One Of Them Put
Three Saddles Upon His Head, And, Thus Loaded, Returned to The Burrow,
Desiring His Companion To Come Along, And Drink His Coffee While It Was
Hot. Some Five Minutes Afterwards, The Noise Of A Heavy Fall Was Heard
(It Was That Of The Thief Who Had Just Left, Who Was Killed by The
Tomahawk Of Gabriel), And The Remaining Robber, Loading Himself With The
Saddle-Bags, Prepared to Follow, Swearing aloud Against His Companion,
"Who Could Not See Before His Eyes, And Would Break The Pommels Of
The Saddles."
I Had Just Drawn My Bow, And Was Taking My Aim, When Gabriel, Passing
Me, Made A Signal To Forbear, And Rushing Upon The Thief, He Kicked him
In The Back, Just As He Was Balancing The Saddles Upon His Head. The
Thief Fell Down, And Attempted to Struggle, But The Prodigious Muscular
Strength Of Gabriel Was Too Much For Him; In a Moment He Laid Half
Strangled and Motionless. We Bound Him Firmly Hand And Foot, And Carried
Him To His Burrow; We Laid The Two Bodies By His Side, Stowed our
Luggage In the Burrow, And Having Destroyed all Traces Of The Struggle,
We Prepared for The Reception Of The Horse-Thieves.
Chance Befriended us. While We Were Drinking The Coffee Thus Left As A
Prize To The Conquerors, We Heard At A Distance The Trampling Of Horses.
I Seized one Of The Rifles, And Gabriel, After A Moment Of Intense
Listening, Prepared his Lasso, And Glided behind The Bushes. It Was Not
Long Before I Perceived my Own Horse, Who, Having Undoubtedly Thrown His
Rider, Was Galloping Back To The Camp. He Was Closely Pursued by One Of
The Rascals, Mounted upon Gabriel'S Horse, And Calling Out To The Three
Robbers, "Stop Him; Russy, Carlton--Stop Him!" At That Moment, Gabriel'S
Lasso Fell Upon His Shoulders, And He Fell Off The Horse As Dead As If
Struck By Lightning: His Neck Was Broken.
Having Gained our Horses, We Saddled them, And Took Our Rifles, Not
Doubting But That We Would Easily Capture The Remaining Rascals, As The
Speed of Our Two Steeds Was Very Superior To That Of The Others. After
Half An Hour'S Hard Riding, We Fell In with Roche And Our Companions,
Who Had Been Equally Fortunate. It Appeared that The Fellow Who Had Been
Riding My Horse Had Received a Severe Fall Against A Tree; And While One
Of His Companions Started in chase Of The Animal, Who Had Galloped off,
The Two Others Tied their Horses To The Trees, And Went To His
Assistance. When Thus Occupied, They Were Surprised, And Bound Hand And
Foot By Roche And His Party.
We Brought Back Our Prisoners, And When We Arrived at The Burrow, We
Found That, Far From Having Lost
Comments (0)