THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL - COLONEL HENRY INMAN (surface ebook reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
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Old Men Called him--Was 'Bout Nineteen, And Plumb Dumb; He Could Hear
Well Enough Though, For He Wasn'T Born That Way. When He Was Seventeen
His Father Moved from His Farm In pennsylvany, To Take Up A Claim
In Oregon, And The Whole Family Was Compelled to Cross The Plains
To Get There; For There Wasn'T No Other Way. While They Was Camped
In The Bitter-Root Valley One Evening, Just 'Bout Sundown, A Party
Of Blackfeet Surprised the Outfit, And Massacred all Of Them But Rube.
They Carried him Off, Kept Him As A Slave, And, To Make Sure Of Him,
Cut Out His Tongue At The Roots. But Some Of The Women Who Wasn'T
Quite So Devilish As Their Husbands, And Who Took Pity On Him, Went
To Work And Cured him Of His Awful Wound. He Was Used mighty Mean
By The Bucks Of The Tribe, And Made Up His Mind To Get Away From Them
Or Kill Himself; For He Could Not Live Under Their Harsh Treatment.
After He'D Been With Them For Mor'N A Year, The Tribe Had A Terrible
Battle With The Sioux, And In the Scrimmage Rube Stole A Pony And
Lit Out. He Rode On Night And Day Until He Came Across The Cabin
Of The Two Trappers I Have Told You 'Bout, And They, Of Course,
Took The Poor Boy In and Cared for Him.
"Rube Was A Splendid Shot With The Rifle, And He Swore To Himself
That He Would Never Leave The Prairies And Do Nothing For The Rest
Of His Life But Kill Ingins, Who Had Made Him A Homeless Orphan,
And So Mutilated him.
"After Rube Had Been With Boyd And Thorpe A Year, They Was All One
Day In the Winter Examining Their Traps Which Was Scattered 'Long
The Stream For Miles. After Re-Baiting Them, They Concluded to Hunt
For Meat, Which Was Getting Scarce At The Cabin; They Let Rube Go
Down To The Creek Where It Widened out Lake-Like, To Fish Through
A Hole In the Ice, And Al And Bill Took Their Rifles And Hunted in
The Timber For Deer. They All Got Separated of Course, Rube Being
Furtherest Away, While Al And Bill Did Not Wander So Far From Each
Other That They Could Not Be Heard If One Wanted his Companion.
"Al Shot A Fat Black-Tail Deer, And Just As He Was Going To Stoop
Down To Cut Its Throat, Bill Yelled out To Him:--
"'Drop Everything al, For God'S Sake, And Let'S Make For The Dugout;
They'Re Coming, A Whole Band Of Sioux!'
"'If We Can Get To The Cabin,' Replied al, 'We Can Keep Off The Whole
Nation. I Wonder Where Rube Is? I Hope He'Ll Get Here And Save
His Scalp.'
"At This Instant, Poor Rube Dashed up To Them, An Ingin Close Upon
His Tracks; He Had Unfortunately Forgotten To Take His Rifle With
Him When He Went To The Creek, And Now He Was At The Mercy Of The
Savage; At Least Both He And His Pursuer So Thought. But Before
The Ingin Had Fairly Uttered his Yell Of Exultation, Al Who With
Bill Had Held His Rifle In readiness For An Emergency, Lifted the
Red devil Off His Feet, And He Fell Dead Without Ever Knowing What
Had Struck Him.
"Rube, Thus Delivered from A Sudden Death, Ran At The Top Of His
Speed with His Two Friends For The Cabin, For, If They Could Reach It,
They Did Not Fear A Hundred paint-Bedaubed savages.
"Luckily They Arrived in time. Where They Lived was Part Dugout And
Part Cabin. It Was About Ten Feet High, And Right Back Of It Was
A Big Ledge Of Rock, Which Made It Impossible For Any One To Get
Into It From That Side. The Place Had No Door; They Did Not Dare
To Put One There When It Was Built, For They Were Likely To Be
Surprised at Any Moment By A Prowling Band, So The Only Entrance Was
A Square Hole In the Roof, Through Which One At A Time Had To Crawl
To Enter.
"The Boys Got Inside All Right Just As The Ingins Came A Yelling Up.
Bill Looked out Of A Hole In the Wall And Counted thirty Of The
Devils, And Said At Once: 'Off With Your Coats; Don'T Let Them Have
Anything To Catch Hold Of But Our Naked bodies If They Get In, And
We Can Handle Ourselves Better.'
"'Thirty To Three,' Said Al. 'Whew! This Ain'T Going To Be Any
Boy'S Play; We'Ve Got To Fight For All There Is In it, And The
Chances Are Mightily Agin Us.'
"Rube He Took An Axe, And Stood Right Under The Hole In the Roof,
So That If Any Of The Devils Got In he Could Brain Them. In a Minute
Five Rifles Cracked; For The Ingins Was Pretty Well Armed for Them
Times, And Their Bullets Rattled agin The Logs Like Hail Agin A Tent.
Some Of 'Em Was On Top The Roof By This Time, And Soon The Leader Of
The Party, A Big Painted devil, Thrust His Ugly Face Into The Hole;
But He Had Hardly Got A Good Look Before Bill Dropped him By A
Well-Directed shot And He Tumbled in on The Floor.
"'You Darned fool,' Said Bill, As He Saw The Effect Of His Shot;
'Did You Think We Was Asleep?'
"There Was One Opening That Served for Air, And A Savage, Seeing
The Boys Had Forgotten To Barricade It, Tried to Push Himself
Through, An' Not Succeeding, Tried to Back Out, But At That Instant
Bill Caught Him By The Wrist--Bill Was A Powerful Man--And Picking Up
A Beaver-Trap That Laid On The Floor, Actually Beat His Brains
Out With It.
"While This Circus Was Going On Inside, Three More Of The Ingins Got
On The Roof And Wrenched off A Couple Of The Logs That Covered it;
But In a Minute They Came Tumbling Down And Lay Dead On The Floor.
"'That Leaves Only Twenty-Five, Don'T It?' Inquired al, As He Mopped
His Face With His Shirt-Sleeve.
"'Howl, You Red devils,' Said Bill, As The Ingins Commenced their
Awful Yelling When They Saw Their Comrades Fall Into The Room.
'Don'T You Know, You Blame Fools, You'Ve Fell In with Experienced
Hands At The Shooting Business?'
"Spat! Something Hit Al, And He Was The First Wounded, But It Was
Only A Scratch, And He Kept Right On Attending To Business.
"'By Gosh! Look At Rube, Will You?' Said Al. The Dumb Boy Had In
His Grasp The Very Chief Of The Band, Who Had Just Then Discovered
The Hole In the Roof Made By The Three Ingins Who Had Passed in
Their Checks For Their Impudence, And Was Trying His Best To Push
Himself Down. Rube Had Made A Strike At Him With An Axe, But The
Edge Was Turned aside, And The Savage Was Getting The Better Of
The Boy; He Had Grappled rube By The Hair And One Arm, And They Was
Flying 'Round Like A Wild Cat And A Hound. Bill Tried three Times
To Sink His Knife Into The Old Chief, But There Was Such A Cavortin'
In The Wrastle Between Him And The Boy, He Was Afraid To Try Any More,
For Fear It Might Hit Rube Instead. Suddenly The Ingin Fell To The
Floor As Dead As A Trapped beaver What'S Been Drowned; Rube Had
Struck His Buckhorn-Handled hunting-Knife Right Into The Heart Of
The Brute.
"'Set Him Agin The Hole In the Side Of The Building,' Said Bill;
'He Ain'T Fit For Nothing Else Than To Stop A Gap'; So Rube Set Him
Agin The Hole, And Pinned him There With Half A Dozen Knives What
Was Lying Round Loose.
"Just As They Had Fastened the Dead Body Of The Old Chief To The
Side Of The Cabin, A Perfect Shower Of Bullets Came Rattling Round
Like A Hailstorm. 'All Right, Let'S Have Your Waste Lead,' Said Bill.
"'A Few More Of These Dead Ingins And We Can Make A Regular Fort Of
This Old Cabin; We Want Two For That Chunk,' Said Al, As He Pointed
With His Rifle To A Large Gap On The West Side Of The Wall; But
Before He Had Fairly Got The Words Out Of His Mouth, Two Of The
Attacking Party Jumped down Into The Room. Al, Being a Regular Giant,
As Soon As They Landed, Surprised them By Seizing One With Each Hand
By The Throat, And He Actually Held Them At Arm'S-Length Till He Had
Squeezed the Very Life Out Of Them, And They Both Fell Corpses.
"While Al Was Performing His Two-Ingin Act, A Great Light Burst Into
The Cabin, And By The Time He Had Choked his Enemies To Death, He Saw,
While The Ingins Outside Gave A Terrible Yell Of Exultation, That
They Had Fired the Place.
"'Damn 'Em,' Shouted bill, As He Pitched the Corpse Of The Chief
From The Gap Where Rube Had Set Him. 'Fellows, We'Ve Got To Get
Out Of Here Right Quick; Follow Me, Boys!'
"Holding Their Rifles In hand, And Clutching a Hunting-Knife Also,
They Stepped out Into The Brush Surrounding The Place, And Started
On A Run For The Heavy Timber On The Bank Of The Creek.
"They Had Reckoned onluckily; A Wild War-Whoop Greeted the Flying Men
As They Reached the Edge Of The Forest, And Without Being able To Use
Their Arms, They Were Taken Prisoners. Bill And Al, Fastened with
Their Backs Against Each Other, And Little Rube By Himself, Were
Bound To Separate Trees, But Not So Far Apart That They Could Not
Speak To Each Other, And Some Of The Ingins Began To Gather Sticks
And Pile Them Around The Trees.
"'What Are They Going To Do With Us?' Anxiously Inquired bill Of Al.
"'Roast Us, You Bet,' Replied the Other. 'They'Ll Find Me Tough
Enough, Anyhow.'
"'It Must Be A Painful Death,' Soliloquized bill.
"'Well, It Isn'T The Most Pleasant One, You Can Gamble On That,'
Said Al, Turning His Looks Toward Bill; 'But See What The Devils
Are Doing To Poor Rube.'
"Bill Cast His Eyes In the Direction Of The Dumb Boy, Who Was Fastened
To A Small Pine, About A Hundred feet Distant. Standing Directly
In Front Of It Was A Gigantic Ingin, Flourishing His Scalping-Knife
Within An Inch Of Rube'S Head, Trying To Make The Boy Flinch.
But The Young Fellow Merely Scowled at Him In a Rage, His Muscles
Never Quivering For An Instant.
"While The Men Were Trying To Console Each Other, Two Of The Savages,
Who Had Gone Away For A Short Time, Returned, Bearing The Carcass
Of The Deer That Al Had Killed in the Morning, And Commenced to Cut
It Up. They Had Made Several Small Fires, And Roasting The Meat
Before Them, Began To Gorge Themselves, Indian Fashion, With The
Savoury Morsels. The Men Were Awfully Hungry, Too, But Not A Mouthful
Did They Get Of Their Own Game.
"The Ingins Were More'N An Hour Feasting, While Their Prisoners Kept
A Looking For Some Help To Get 'Em Out Of The Scrape They Was In.
"'Bout A Mile Down The Creek, Me And Six Other Trappers Had A Camp,
And That Morning, Being Scarce Of Meat, We All Went A Hunting.
We Had Killed two Or Three Elk And Was 'Bout Going Back To Camp With
Our Game, When We Heard Firing, And Supposed it Was A Party Of Hunters,
Like Ourselves, So We Did Not Pay Any Attention To It At First; But
When It Kept Up So Long, And There Was Such A Constant Volley, I Told
Our Boys It Might Be A Scrimmage With A Party Of Red devils, And We
Concluded to Go And See.
"We Left Our Elk Where They Were, And Started in the Direction Of
The Shooting, Taking Mighty Good Care Not To Be Surprised ourselves.
We Crept Carefully On, And A Little Before Sundown Seen A Camp-Fire
Burning In the Timber Quite A Smart Piece Ahead Of Us. We Stopped
Then, And Ike Pettet And Myself Crept On Cautiously On Our Hands And
Knees Through The Brush To Learn What The Fire Meant. In a Little
While We Seen It Was An Ingin Camp, And We Counted twenty-Two
Warriors Seated 'Round Their Fires A Eating as Unconcernedly As If
We Warn'T Nowhere Near 'Em. We Didn'T Feel Like Tackling So Many,
So Just As We Was 'Bout To Crawl Away And Leave 'Em In ondisturbed
Possession Of Their Camp, We Heard Some Parties Talking In english.
Then We Pricked up Our Ears And Listened mighty Interested i Tell You.
Looking 'Round, We Seen The Men Tied to The Trees And The Wood Piled
Against 'Em, And Then We Knowed what Was Up. We Had To Be Mighty
Wary, For If We Snapped a Twig Even, It Was All Day With Us And
The Prisoners Too; So We Dragged ourselves Back, And After Getting
Out Of
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