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

Honoured

By His Countrymen; His Great Spirit Of Enterprise Never Deserted him,

And It Was He Who First Proposed to The Government To Cut Through The

Great Rafts Which Impeded the Navigation. His Plans Were Followed, And

Exploring Steamboats Have Since Gone Nearly A Thousand Miles Above

Captain Finn'S Plantation At Lost Prairie.

Chapter XXXIV

The Next Morning Our American Companions Bade Us Farewell, And Resumed

Their Journey; But Captain Finn Insisted that Gabriel, Roche, And I

Should Not Leave Him So Soon. He Pointed out That My Steed would Not Be

Able To Travel Much Farther, If I Did Not Give Him At Least Two Or Three

Days' Repose; As For The Horses Of My Two Companions, They Had Become

Quite Useless, And Our Host Charged himself With Procuring Them Others,

Which Would Carry Them Back To The Comanches.

 

 

 

Captain Finn'S Hospitality Was Not, However, So Heavily Taxed, For

During The Day A Flotilla Of Fifteen Canoes Stopped before The

Plantation, And A Dozen Of French Traders Came Up To The House. They

Were Intimate Friends Of The Captain, Who Had Known Them For A Long

Time, And It Fortunately Happened that They Were Proceeding With Goods

To Purchase The Furs Of The Pawnee Picts. They Offered a Passage To

Gabriel And Roche, Who, Of Course, Accepted the Welcome Proposition.

They Embarked their Saddles With Sundry Provisions, Which The Good Mrs.

Finn Forced upon Them, While Her Hospitable Husband, Unknown To Them,

Put Into The Canoes A Bale Of Such Articles As He Thought Would Be

Useful To Them During Their Long Journey. The Gift, As I Afterwards

Learned, Was Composed of Pistols And Holsters, A Small Keg Of Powder,

Bars Of Lead, New Bits And Stirrups, And Of Four Mackinaw Blankets.

 

 

 

At Last The Moment Arrived when I Was To Part With My Friends. I Felt A

Bitter Pang, And I Wept When I Found Myself Alone. However, I Consoled

Myself With The Reflection That Our Separation Was Not To Be A Long One,

And, Cheered up By The Captain, I Soon Overcame The Bitterness Of The

Separation. Yet, For Months Afterwards, I Felt Lonely And Tired of

Myself; I Had Never Had An Idea How Painful It Is To Part From The Only

Few Individuals Who Are Attached to You. My Worthy Host Showed much

Interest In my Welfare. As He Had Some Business To Transact At The Land

Office In the Arkansas, He Resolved that He Would Accompany Me Two Or

Three Days On My Journey. Five Days After The Departure Of Gabriel And

Roche, We Crossed the Red river, And Soon Arrived at Washington, The

Only Place Of Any Importance In the West Of Arkansas.

 

 

 

From Washington To Little Rock, The Capital Of The State, There Is A

Mail-Road, With Farms At Every Fifteen Or Twenty Miles; But The Captain

Informed me They Were Inhabited by The Refuse From Other States, And

That West Of The Mississippi (Except In louisiana And Missouri) It Was

Always Safer To Travel Through The Wilderness, And Camp Out. We

Accordingly Took The Back-Wood Trail, Across A Hilly And Romantic

Country, Entirely Mineral, And Full Of Extinct Volcanoes. The Quantity

Of Game Found In these Parts Is Incredible; Every Ten Minutes We Would

Start A Band Of Some Twenty Turkeys. At All Times, Deer Were Seen

Grazing Within Rifle-Shot, And I Don'T Think That, On Our First Day'S

Journey Over The Hills, We Met Less Than Twenty Bears.

 

 

 

Independent Of His Love For The Wilderness, And His Hatred of

Bowie-Knife Men, Captain Finn Had Another Reason For Not Following The

Mail-Road. He Had Business To Transact At The Celebrated hot Springs,

And He Had To Call On His Way Upon One Of His Brothers In-Law, A Son Of

Boone, And A Mighty Hunter, Who Had Settled in the Very Heart Of The

Mountains, And Who Made It A Rule To Take A Trip Every Spring To The

Rocky Mountains. The Second Day, At Noon, After A Toilsome Ascent Of A

Few Thousand Feet, We Arrived at A Small Clearing On The Top Of The

Mountains, Where The Barking Of The Dogs And The Crowing Of The Fowls

Announced the Vicinity Of A Habitation, And, Ere Many Minutes Had

Elapsed, We Heard The Sharp Report Of A Rifle.

 

 

 

"Young Boone'S Own, I Declare," Exclaimed finn; "'Twas I That Gave Him

The Tool. I Should Know Its Crack Amidst A Thousand. Now Mark Me, Chief,

Boone Never Misses; He Has Killed a Deer Or A Bear; If The First, Search

For A Hole Between The Fifth And Sixth Rib; If A Bear, Look In the Eye.

At All Events, The Young Chap Is A Capital Cook, And We Arrive In good

Time. Did I Not-Say So? By All The Alligators In the Swamps! Eh, Boone,

My Boy, How Fares It With Ye?"

 

 

 

We Had By This Time Arrived at The Spot Where The Buck Lay Dead, And

Near The Body Was Standing The Gaunt Form Of A Man, About Forty Years

Old, Dressed in tanned leather, And Standing Six Feet Nine In his

Mocassins. Though We Were Within A Yard Of Him, He Reloaded his Rifle

With Imperturbable Gravity, And It Was Only When He Had Finished that

Job That I Could Perceive His Grim Features Beaming With A Smile.

 

 

 

"Welcome, Old Boy; Welcome, Stranger; Twice Welcome To The Hunter'S

Home. I Knew Somebody Was Coming, Because I Saw The Pigeons Were Flying

Up From The Valley Below; And As Dried venison Won'T Do After A Morning

Trip, Why, I Took The Rifle To Kill A Beast Out Of My _Flock_" The

Hunter Grinned at His Conceit. "You See," He Continued, "This Place Of

Mine Is A Genuine Spot For A Hunter. Every Morning, From My Threshold, I

Can Shoot A Deer, A Bear, Or A Turkey. I Can'T Abide Living In a Country

Where An Honest Man Must Toil A Whole Day For A Mouthful Of Meat; It

Would Never Do For Me. Down Blackey, Down Judith, Down Dogs. Old Boy,

Take The Scalping-Knife And Skin The Beast Under The Red oak."

 

 

 

This Second Part Of The Sentence Was Addressed to A Young Lad Of

Sixteen, An Inmate Of The Hunter'S Cabin; And The Dogs, Having Come To

The Conclusion That We Were Not Robbers, Allowed us To Dismount Our

Horses. The Cabin Was Certainly The _Ne Plus Ultra_ Of Simplicity, And

Yet It Was Comfortable. Four Square Logs Supported a Board--It Was The

Table; Many More Were Used _Fauteuils_; And Buffalo And Bear Hides,

Rolled in a Corner Of The Room, Were The Bedding. A Stone Jug, Two Tin

Cups, And A Large Boiler Completed the Furniture Of The Cabin. There Was

No Chimney: All The Cooking Was Done Outside. In due Time We Feasted

Upon The Hunter'S Spoil, And, By Way Of Passing The Time, Boone Related

To Us His First Grizzly Bear Expedition.

 

 

 

While A Very Young Man, He Had Gone To The Great Mountains Of The West

With A Party Of Trappers. His Great Strength And Dexterity In handling

The Axe, And The Deadly Precision Of His Aim With The Rifle, Had Given

Him A Reputation Among His Companions, And Yet They Were Always Talking

To Him As If He Were A Boy, Because He Had Not Yet Followed the

Red-Skins On The War-Path, Nor Fought A Grizzly Bear, Which Deed is

Considered quite As Honourable And More Perilous.

 

 

 

Young Boone Waited patiently For An Opportunity, When One Day He

Witnessed a Terrible Conflict, In which One Of These Huge Monsters,

Although Wounded by Twenty Balls, Was So Closely Pursuing The Trappers,

His Companions, That They Were Compelled to Seek Their Safety By

Plunging Into The Very Middle Of A Broad River. There, Fortunately, The

Strength Of The Animal Failed, And The Stream Rolled him Away. It Had

Been A Terrible Fight, And For Many Days The Young Man Would Shudder At

The Recollection; But He Could No Longer Bear The Taunts Which Were

Bestowed upon Him, And, Without Announcing His Intention To His

Companions, He Resolved to Leave Them And Bring Back With Him The Claws

Of A Grizzly Bear, Or Die In the Attempt. For Two Days He Watched in the

Passes Of The Mountains, Till He Discovered, Behind Some Bushes, The

Mouth Of A Dark Cave, Under A Mass Of Rocks. The Stench Which Proceeded

From It And The Marks At The Entrance Were Sufficient To Point Out To

The Hunter That It Contained the Object Of His Search; But, As The Sun

Had Set, He Reflected that The Beast Was To A Certainty Awake, And Most

Probably Out In search Of Prey. Boone Climbed up A Tree, From Which He

Could Watch The Entrance Of The Cave; Having Secured himself And His

Rifle Against A Fall, By Thongs Of Leather, With Which A Hunter Is

Always Provided, Fatigue Overpowered him, And He Slept.

 

 

 

At Morn He Was Awakened by A Growl And A Rustling Noise Below; It Was

The Bear Dragging To His Abode The Carcase Of A Buck. When He Thought

That The Animal Was Glutted with Flesh, And Sleeping, Boone Descended

The Tree, And, Leaning His Rifle Against The Rock, He Crawled into The

Cave To Reconnoitre. It Must Have Been A Terrible Moment; But He Had

Made Up His Mind, And He Possessed all The Courage Of His Father: The

Cave Was Spacious And Dark. The Heavy Grunt Of The Animal Showed that He

Was Asleep.

 

 

 

By Degrees, The Vision Of Boone Became More Clear, And He Perceived the

Shaggy Mass At About Ten Feet From Him And About Twenty Yards From The

Entrance Of The Cave. The Ground Under Him Yielded to His Weight, For It

Was Deeply Covered with The Bones Of Animals, And More Than Once He

Thought Himself Lost, When Rats, Snakes, And Other Reptiles, Disturbed

By Him From Their Meal, Would Start Away, In every Direction, With Loud

Hissing and Other Noises. The Brute, However, Never Awoke, And Boone,

Having Finished his Survey, Crawled out From This Horrid Den To Prepare

For The Attack.

 

 

 

He First Cut A Piece Of Pitch-Pine, Six Or Seven Feet Long, Then, Taking

From His Pouch A Small Cake Of Bees-Wax, He Wrapped it Round One End Of

The Stick, Giving It At The Extremity The Shape Of A Small Cup, To Hold

Some Whisky. This Done, He Re-Entered the Cavern, Turned to His Left,

Fixed his New Kind Of Flambeau Upright Against The Wall, Poured the

Liquor In the Wax Cup, And Then Went Out Again To Procure Fire. With The

Remainder Of His Wax And A Piece Of Cotton Twine, He Made A Small Taper,

Which He Lighted, And Crawled in again Over The Bones, Shading His Light

With One Hand, Till He Had Applied the Flame To The Whisky. The Liquor

Was Above Proof, And As Boone Returned and Took Up His Position Nearer

The Entrance, With His Rifle, It Threw Up A Vivid Flame, Which Soon

Ignited the Wax And The Pitch-Pine Itself.

 

 

 

The Bear Required something More Than Light To Awake Him From His Almost

Lethargic Sleep, And Boone Threw Bone After Bone At Him, Till The Brute

Woke Up, Growled with Astonishment At The Unusual Sight Before Him, And

Advanced lazily To Examine It. The Young Man Had Caught Up His Rifle By

The Barrel; He Took A Long And Steady Aim, As He Knew That He Must Die

If The Bear Was Only Wounded; And As The Angry Animal Raised his Paw To

Strike Down The Obnoxious Torch, He Fired. There Was A Heavy Fall, A

Groan And A Struggle,--The Light Was Extinguished, And All Was Dark As

Before. The Next Morning Boone Rejoined his Companions As They Were

Taking Their Morning Meal, And, Throwing at Their Feet His Bleeding

Trophies, He Said To Them, "Now, Who Will Dare To Say That I Am Not

A Man?"

 

 

 

The History Of This Bold Deed spread In a Short Time To Even The

Remotest Tribes Of The North, And When, Years Afterwards, Boone Fell A

Prisoner To The Black-Feet Indians, They Restored him To Liberty And

Loaded him With Presents, Saying That They Could Not Hurt