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

Chapter VII

Nothing Could Have Been More Fortunate Than Our Proceeding By Sea. On

The Fourth Day We Were Lying To, At A Quarter Of A Mile From The Shore,

Exactly Under The Parallel Of 39 Deg. North Latitude, And At The Southern

Point Of A Mountain Called the Crooked back-Bone. The Indians First

Landed in a Small Canoe We Had Provided ourselves With, To See If The

Coast Was Clear; And In the Evening The Schooner Was Far On Her Way

Back, While We Were Digging a Cachette To Conceal The Baggage, Which We

Could Not Carry. Even My Saddle Was Wrapped up In a Piece Of Canvas, And

Deposited in a Deep Bed of Shale. Among Other Things Presented to Me In

Monterey, Were Two Large Boxes Covered with Tin, And Containing English

Fire-Works, Which, In the Course Of Events, Performed prodigies, And

Saved many Scalps When All Hope Of Succour Had Been Entirely Given Up.

The Montereyans Are Amazingly Fond Of These Fire-Works, And Every Vessel

Employed in the California Trade For Hides Has Always A Large Supply

Of Them.

 

 

 

When All Our Effects Were Concealed, We Proceeded first In an Easterly,

And Next In a North-Westerly Direction, In the Hope Of Coming across

Some Of The Horses Belonging To The Tribe. We Had Reckoned right. At The

Break Of Day We Entered a Natural Pasture Of Clover, In which Hundreds

Of Them Were Sleeping and Grazing; But As We Had Walked more Than Thirty

Miles, We Determined to Take Repose Before We Should Renew Our Journey.

 

 

 

I Had Scarcely Slept An Hour When I Was Roused by A Touch On My

Shoulder. At First, I Fancied it Was A Dream, But As I Opened my Eyes, I

Saw One Of My Indians With His Fingers Upon His Lips To Enjoin Me To

Silence, While His Eyes Were Turned towards The Open Prairie. I

Immediately Looked in that Direction, And There Was A Sight That Acted

As A Prompt Anti-Soporific. About Half A Mile From Us Stood A Band Of

Twenty Indians, With Their War-Paint And Accoutrements, Silently And

Quietly Occupied in tying The Horses. Of Course They Were Not Of Our

Tribe, But Belonged to The Umbiquas, A Nation Of Thieves On Our Northern

Boundary, Much Given To Horse-Stealing, Especially When It Was Not

Accompanied by Any Danger. In the Present Instance They Thought

Themselves Safe, As The Shoshones Had Gone Out Against The Crows, And

They Were Selecting at Their Leisure Our Best Animals. Happily For Us,

We Had Encamped amidst Thick Bushes, Upon A Spot Broken And Difficult Of

Access To Quadrupeds, Otherwise We Should Have Been Discovered, And

There Would Have Been An End To My Adventures.

 

 

 

We Awoke Our Companions, Losing No Time In forming a Council Of War.

Fight Them We Could Not; Let Them Depart With The Horses Was Out Of The

Question. The Only Thing To Be Done Was To Follow Them, And Wait An

Opportunity To Strike A Decisive Blow. At Mid-Day, The Thieves Having

Secured as Many Of The Animals As They Could Well Manage, Turned their

Backs To Us, And Went On Westward, In the Direction Of The Fishing

Station Where We Had Erected our Boat-House; The Place Where We Had

First Landed on Coming From Europe.

 

 

 

We Followed them The Whole Day, Eating Nothing But The Wild Plums Of The

Prairies. At Evening, One Of My Indians, An Experienced warrior, Started

Alone To Spy Into Their Camp, Which He Was Successful Enough To

Penetrate, And Learn The Plan Of Their Expedition, By Certain Tokens

Which Could Not Deceive His Cunning and Penetration. The Boat-House

Contained a Large Sailing-Boat, Besides Seven Or Eight Skiffs. There

Also We Had In store Our Stock Of Dried fish And Fishing apparatus, Such

As Nets, &C. As We Had Been At Peace For Several Years, The House Or

Post, Had No Garrison, Except That Ten Or Twelve Families Of Indians

Were Settled around It.

 

 

 

Now, The Original Intention Of The Umbiquas Had Been Only To Steal

Horses; But Having Discovered that The Half A Dozen Warriors, Belonging

To These Families, Had Gone To The Settlement For Firearms And

Ammunition, They Had Arranged to Make An Attack Upon The Post, And Take

A Few Scalps Before Returning Home By Sea And By Land, With Our Nets,

Boats, Fish, &C. This Was A Serious Affair. Our Carpenter And Smith Had

Disappeared, As I Have Said Before; And As Our Little Fleet Had In

Consequence Become More Precious, We Determined to Preserve It At Any

Sacrifice. To Send An Indian To The Settlement Would Have Been Useless,

Inasmuch As It Would Have Materially Weakened our Little Force, And,

Besides, Help Could Not Arrive In time. It Was Better To Try And Reach

The Post Before The Umbiquas; Where, Under The Shelter Of Thick Logs,

And With The Advantage Of Our Rifles, We Should Be An Equal Match For

Our Enemies, Who Had But Two Fusils Among Their Party, The Remainder

Being armed with Lances, And Bows And Arrows. Our Scout Had Also

Gathered, By Overhearing Their Conversation, That They Had Come By Sea,

And That Their Canoes Were Hid Somewhere On The Coast, In the

Neighbourhood Of The Post.

 

 

 

By Looking Over The Map, The Reader Will Perceive The Topography Of The

Country. Fifty Miles North From Us Were The Forks Of The

Nu-Eleje-Sha-Wako River, Towards Which The Umbiquas Were Going, To Be

Near To Water, And Also To Fall Upon The Path From The Settlement To The

Post. Thus They Would Intercept Any Messenger, In case Their Expedition

Should Have Been Already Discovered. Their Direct Road To The Post Was

Considerably Shorter, But After The First Day'S Journey, No Sweet Grass

Nor Water Was To Be Found. The Ground Was Broken And Covered with Thick

Bushes, Which Would Not Allow Them To Pass With The Horses. Besides This

Reason, An Indian Always Selects His Road Where He Thinks He Has Nothing

To Fear. We Determined to Take The Direct Road To The Post, And Chance

Assisted us In a Singular Manner. The Indians And My Old Servant Were

Asleep, While I Was Watching With The Irishman Roche, I Soon Became

Aware That Something Was Moving In the Prairie Behind Us, But What, I

Could Not Make Out. The Buffaloes Never Came So Far West, And It Was Not

The Season For The Wolves. I Crawled out Of Our Bush, And After A Few

Minutes Found Myself In the Middle Of A Band Of Horses Who Had Not

Allowed themselves To Be Taken, But Had Followed the Tracks Of Their

Companions, To Know What Had Become Of Them. I Returned, Awoke The

Indians, And Told Them; They Started with Their Lassoes, While I And

Roche Remained to Sleep.

 

 

 

Long Before Morn The Indian Scout Guided us To Three Miles Westward,

Behind A Swell Of The Prairie. It Was An Excellent Precaution, Which

Prevented any Umbiqua Straggler From Perceiving Us, A Rather

Disagreeable Event, Which Would Have Undoubtedly Happened, As We Were

Camped only Two Miles From Them, And The Prairie Was Flat Until You Came

To The Swell Just Mentioned. There We Beheld Seven Strong Horses,

Bridled with Our Lassoes. We Had No Saddles; But Necessity Rides Without

One. The Indians Had Also Killed a One-Year-Old Colt, And Taken Enough

Of The Meat To Last Us Two Days; So That When We Started (And We Did So

Long Before The Umbiquas Began To Stir) We Had The Prospect Of

Reaching The Fishing-Post Thirty Hours Before Them.

 

 

 

[Illustration: "We Halted on The Bank Of A Small River."]

 

 

 

We Knew That They Would Rest Two Hours In the Day, As They Were

Naturally Anxious To Keep Their Stolen Horses In good Condition, Having

A Long Journey Before Them Ere They Would Enter Into Their Own

Territory. With Us, The Case Was Different, There Were But Forty Miles,

Which We Could Travel On Horseback, And We Did Not Care What Became Of

The Animals Afterwards. Consequently, We Did Not Spare Their Legs; The

Spirited things, Plump As They Were, Having Grazed two Months Without

Any Labour, Carried us Fast Enough. When We Halted on The Bank Of A

Small River, To Water Them And Let Them Breathe, They Did Not Appear

Much Tired, Although We Had Had A Run Of Twenty-Eight Miles.

 

 

 

At About Eleven O'Clock We Reached the Confines Of The Rocky Ground;

Here We Rested for Three Hours, And Took A Meal, Of Which We Were Very

Much In want, Having Tasted nothing But Berries And Plums Since Our

Departure From The Schooner, For We Had Been So Much Engrossed by The

Digging Of The Cachette That We Had Forgotten To Take With Us Any Kind

Of Provision.

 

 

 

Our Flight, Or, To Say Better, Our Journey, Passed without Anything

Remarkable. We Arrived, As We Had Expected, A Day And A Half Before The

Umbiquas: And, Of Course, Were Prepared for Them. The Squaws, Children,

And Valuables Were Already In the Boat-House With Plenty Of Water, In

Case The Enemy Should Attempt To Fire It. The Presence Of A Hostile

War-Party Had Been Singularly Discovered two Days Before; Three Children

Having Gone To A Little Bay At A Short Distance From The Post, To Catch

Some Young Seals, Discovered four Canoes Secured at The Foot Of A Rock,

While, A Little Farther, Two Young Men Were Seated near A Fire Cooking

Comfortably One Of The Seals They Had Taken. Of Course The Children

Returned home, And The Only Three Men Who Had Been Left At The Post

(Three Old Men) Went After Their Scalps. They Had Not Returned when We

Arrived; But In the Evening They Entered the River With The Scalps Of

The Two Umbiquas, Whom They Had Surprised, And The Canoes, Which Were

Safely Deposited in the Store.

 

 

 

Our Position Was Indeed a Strong One. Fronting Us To The North We Had A

Large And Rapid River; On The South We Were Banked by A Ditch Forty Feet

Broad And Ten Feet Deep, Which Isolated the Building From A Fine Open

Ground, Without My Bush, Tree, Or Cover; The Two Wings Were Formed by

Small Brick Towers Twenty Feet High, With Loop-Holes, And A Door Ten

Feet From The Ground; The Ladder To Which, Of Course, We Took Inside.

The Only Other Entrance, The Main One, In fact, Was By Water: But It

Could Be Approached only By Swimming. The Fort Was Built Of Stone And

Brick, While The Door, Made Of Thick Posts, And Lined with Sheets Of

Copper, Would Have Defied, For A Long Time, The Power Of Their Axes Or

Fire. Our Only Anxiety Was About The Inflammable Quality Of The Roof,

Which Was Covered with Pine Shingles. Against Such An Accident, However,

We Prepared ourselves By Carrying Water To The Upper Rooms, And We Could

At Any Time, If It Became Necessary, Open Holes In the Roof, For We

Greater Facility Of Extinguishing The Fire. In the Meantime We Covered

It With A Coat Of Clay In the Parts Which Were Most Exposed.

 

 

 

We Were Now Ten Men, Seven Of Us Armed with Firearms And Pretty Certain

Of Our Aim: We Had Also Sixteen Women And Nine Children, Boys And Girls,

To Whom Various Posts Were Assigned, In case Of A Night Attack. The Six

Warriors Who Had Gone To The Settlement For Firearms Would Return In a

Short Time, And Till Then We Had Nothing To Do But To Be Cautious, To

Wait For The Enemy, And Even Bear Their First Attack Without Using Our

Firearms, That They Might Not Suspect Our Strength Inside. One Of The

Old Men, A Cunning Fellow, Who Had Served his Time As A. Brave Warrior,

Hit Upon A Plan Which We Followed. He Proposed that Another Man Should

Accompany Him To The Neighbourhood Of The Place Where The Canoes Had

Been Concealed, And Keep Up The Fires, So That The Smoke Should Lull All

Suspicion. The Umbiquas, On Their Arrival Before The Post, Would

Indubitably Send One Of Their Men To Call The Canoe-Keepers; This One

They Would Endeavour To Take Alive, And Bring Him To The Post. One Of

The Canoes Was Consequently Launched in the River, And Late In the

Evening The Two Indians, Well Armed with Fusils, Started on This

Expedition.