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The great medley of Oregon
and California emigrants, at their camps
around Independence, had heard reports that
several additional parties were on the point
of setting out from St. Joseph's farther to
the northward. The prevailing impression was
that these were Mormons, twenty-three
hundred in number; and a great alarm was
excited in consequence. The people of
Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far
the greater part of the emigrants, have
never been on the best terms with the
"Latter Day Saints"; and it is notorious
throughout the country how much blood has
been spilt in their feuds, even far within
the limits of the settlements. No one could
predict what would be the result, when large
armed bodies of these fanatics should
encounter the most impetuous and reckless of
their old enemies on the broad prairie, far
beyond the reach of law or military force.
The women and children at Independence
raised a great outcry; the men themselves
were seriously alarmed; and, as I learned,
they sent to Colonel Kearny, requesting an
escort of dragoons as far as the Platte.
This was refused; and as the sequel proved,
there was no occasion for it. The St.
Joseph's emigrants were as good Christians
and as zealous Mormon-haters as the rest;
and the very few families of the "Saints"
who passed out this season by the route of
the Platte remained behind until the great
tide of emigration had gone by; standing in
quite as much awe of the "gentiles" as the
latter did of them.
We were now, as I before mentioned, upon
this St. Joseph's trail. It was evident, by
the traces, that large parties were a few
days in advance of us; and as we too
supposed them to be Mormons, we had some
apprehension of interruption.
The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day
we rode on for hours, without seeing a tree
or a bush; before, behind, and on either
side, stretched the vast expanse, rolling in
a succession of graceful swells, covered
with the unbroken carpet of fresh green
grass. Here and there a crow, or a raven, or
a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uniformity.
"What shall we do to-night for wood and
water?" we began to ask of each other; for
the sun was within an hour of setting. At
length a dark green speck appeared, far off
on the right; it was the top of a tree,
peering over a swell of the prairie; and
leaving the trail, we made all haste toward
it. It proved to be the vanguard of a
cluster of bushes and low trees, that
surrounded some pools of water in an
extensive hollow; so we encamped on the
rising ground near it.
Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when
Delorier thrust his brown face and old felt
hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes
to their utmost extent, announced supper.
There were the tin cups and the iron spoons,
arranged in military order on the grass, and
the coffee-pot predominant in the midst. The
meal was soon dispatched; but Henry
Chatillon still sat cross-legged, dallying
with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage
in universal use upon the prairie, and an
especial favorite with him. He preferred it
in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or
cream; and on the present occasion it met
his entire approval, being exceedingly
strong, or, as he expressed it, "right
black."
It was a rich and gorgeous sunset—an
American sunset; and the ruddy glow of the
sky was reflected from some extensive pools
of water among the shadowy copses in the
meadow below.
"I must have a bath to-night," said Shaw.
"How is it, Delorier? Any chance for a swim
down here?"
"Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please,
monsieur," replied Delorier, shrugging his
shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of
English, and extremely anxious to conform in
all respects to the opinion and wishes of
his bourgeois.
"Look at his moccasion," said I. "It has
evidently been lately immersed in a profound
abyss of black mud."
"Come," said Shaw; "at any rate we can see
for ourselves."
We set out together; and as we approached
the bushes, which were at some distance, we
found the ground becoming rather
treacherous. We could only get along by
stepping upon large clumps of tall rank
grass, with fathomless gulfs between, like
innumerable little quaking islands in an
ocean of mud, where a false step would have
involved our boots in a catastrophe like
that which had befallen Delorier's
moccasins. The thing looked desperate; we
separated, so as to search in different
directions, Shaw going off to the right,
while I kept straight forward. At last I
came to the edge of the bushes: they were
young waterwillows, covered with their
caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening
between them and the last grass clump was a
black and deep slough, over which, by a
vigorous exertion, I contrived to jump. Then
I shouldered my way through the willows,
tramping them down by main force, till I
came to a wide stream of water, three inches
deep, languidly creeping along over a bottom
of sleek mud. My arrival produced a great
commotion. A huge green bull-frog uttered an
indignant croak, and jumped off the bank
with a loud splash: his webbed feet twinkled
above the surface, as he jerked them
energetically upward, and I could see him
ensconcing himself in the unresisting slime
at the bottom, whence several large air
bubbles struggled lazily to the top. Some
little spotted frogs instantly followed the
patriarch's example; and then three turtles,
not larger than a dollar, tumbled themselves
off a broad "lily pad," where they had been
reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly
striped with black and yellow, glided out
from the bank, and writhed across to the
other side; and a small stagnant pool into
which my foot had inadvertently pushed a
stone was instantly alive with a
congregation of black tadpoles.
"Any chance for a bath, where you are?"
called out Shaw, from a distance.
The answer was not encouraging. I retreated
through the willows, and rejoining my
companion, we proceeded to push our
researches in company. Not far on the right,
a rising ground, covered with trees and
bushes, seemed to sink down abruptly to the
water, and give hope of better success; so
toward this we directed our steps. When we
reached the place we found it no easy matter
to get along between the hill and the water,
impeded as we were by a growth of stiff,
obstinate young birch-trees, laced together
by grapevines. In the twilight, we now and
then, to support ourselves, snatched at the
touch-me-not stem of some ancient
sweet-brier. Shaw, who was in advance,
suddenly uttered a somewhat emphatic
monosyllable; and looking up I saw him with
one hand grasping a sapling, and one foot
immersed in the water, from which he had
forgotten to withdraw it, his whole
attention being engaged in contemplating the
movements of a water-snake, about five feet
long, curiously checkered with black and
green, who was deliberately swimming across
the pool. There being no stick or stone at
hand to pelt him with, we looked at him for
a time in silent disgust; and then pushed
forward. Our perseverence was at last
rewarded; for several rods farther on, we
emerged upon a little level grassy nook
among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary
dispensation of fortune, the weeds and
floating sticks, which elsewhere covered the
pool, seemed to have drawn apart, and left a
few yards of clear water just in front of
this favored spot. We sounded it with a
stick; it was four feet deep; we lifted a
specimen in our cupped hands; it seemed
reasonably transparent, so we decided that
the time for action was arrived. But our
ablutions were suddenly interrupted by ten
thousand punctures, like poisoned needles,
and the humming of myriads of over-grown
mosquitoes, rising in all directions from
their native mud and slime and swarming to
the feast. We were fain to beat a retreat
with all possible speed.
We made toward the tents, much refreshed by
the bath which the heat of the weather,
joined to our prejudices, had rendered very
desirable.
"What's the matter with the captain? look at
him!" said Shaw. The captain stood alone on
the prairie, swinging his hat violently
around his head, and lifting first one foot
and then the other, without moving from the
spot. First he looked down to the ground
with an air of supreme abhorrence; then he
gazed upward with a perplexed and indignant
countenance, as if trying to trace the
flight of an unseen enemy. We called to know
what was the matter; but he replied only by
execrations directed against some unknown
object. We approached, when our ears were
saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty
bee-hives had been overturned at once. The
air above was full of large black insects,
in a state of great commotion, and
multitudes were flying about just above the
tops of the grass blades.
"Don't be afraid," called the captain,
observing us recoil. "The brutes won't
sting."
At this I knocked one down with my hat, and
discovered him to be no other than a "dorbug";
and looking closer, we found the ground
thickly perforated with their holes.
We took a hasty leave of this flourishing
colony, and walking up the rising ground to
the tents, found Delorier's fire still
glowing brightly. We sat down around it, and
Shaw began to expatiate on the admirable
facilities for bathing that we had
discovered, and recommended the captain by
all means to go down there before breakfast
in the morning. The captain was in the act
of remarking that he couldn't have believed
it possible, when he suddenly interrupted
himself, and clapped his hand to his cheek,
exclaiming that "those infernal humbugs were
at him again." In fact, we began to hear
sounds as if bullets were humming over our
heads. In a moment something rapped me
sharply on the forehead, then upon the neck,
and immediately I felt an indefinite number
of sharp wiry claws in active motion, as if
their owner were bent on pushing his
explorations farther. I seized him, and
dropped him into the fire. Our party
speedily broke up, and we adjourned to our
respective tents, where, closing the opening
fast, we hoped to be exempt from invasion.
But all precaution was fruitless. The
dorbugs hummed through the tent, and marched
over our faces until day-light; when,
opening our blankets, we found several dozen
clinging there with the utmost tenacity. The
first object that met our eyes in the
morning was Delorier, who seemed to be
apostrophizing his frying-pan, which he held
by the handle at arm's length. It appeared
that he had left it at night by the fire;
and the bottom was now covered with dorbugs,
firmly imbedded. Multitudes beside,
curiously parched and shriveled, lay
scattered among the ashes.
The horses and mules were turned loose to
feed. We had just taken our seats at
breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic
mode, when an exclamation from Henry
Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the
captain, gave warning of some casualty, and
looking up, we saw the whole band of
animals, twenty-three in number, filing off
for the settlements, the incorrigible
Pontiac at their head, jumping along with
hobbled feet, at a gait much more rapid than
graceful. Three or four of us ran to cut
them off, dashing as best we might through
the tall grass, which was glittering with
myriads of dewdrops. After a race of a mile
or more, Shaw caught a horse. Tying the
trail-rope by way of bridle round the
animal's jaw, and leaping upon his back, he
got in advance of the remaining fugitives,
while we, soon bringing them together, drove
them in a crowd up to the tents, where each
man caught and saddled his own. Then we
heard lamentations and curses; for half the
horses had broke their hobbles, and many
were seriously galled by attempting to run
in fetters.
It was late that morning before we were on
the march; and early in the afternoon we
were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust
came up and suddenly enveloped us in
whirling sheets of rain. With much ado, we
pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all
night long the thunder bellowed and growled
over our heads. In the morning, light
peaceful showers succeeded the cataracts of
rain, that had been drenching us through the
canvas of our tents. About noon, when there
were some treacherous indications of fair
weather, we got in motion again.
Not a breath of air stirred over the free
and open prairie; the clouds were like light
piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was
visible, it wore a hazy and languid aspect.
The sun beat down upon us with a sultry
penetrating heat almost insupportable, and
as our party crept slowly along over the
interminable level, the horses hung their
heads as they waded fetlock deep through the
mud, and the men slouched into the easiest
position upon the saddle. At last, toward
evening, the old familiar black heads of
thunderclouds rose fast above the horizon,
and the same deep muttering of distant
thunder that had become the ordinary
accompaniment of our afternoon's journey
began to roll hoarsely over the prairie.
Only a few minutes elapsed before the whole
sky was densely shrouded, and the prairie
and some clusters of woods in front assumed
a purple hue beneath the inky shadows.
Suddenly from the densest fold of the cloud
the flash leaped out, quivering again and
again down to the edge of the prairie; and
at the same instant came the sharp burst and
the long rolling peal of the thunder. A cool
wind, filled with the smell of rain, just
then overtook us, leveling the tall grass by
the side of the path.
"Come on; we must ride for it!" shouted
Shaw, rushing past at full speed, his led
horse snorting at his side. The whole party
broke into full gallop, and made for the
trees in front. Passing these, we found
beyond them a meadow which they half
inclosed. We rode pell-mell upon the ground,
leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles;
and in a moment each man was kneeling at his
horse's feet. The hobbles were adjusted, and
the animals turned loose; then, as the
wagons came wheeling rapidly to the spot, we
seized upon the tent-poles, and just as the
storm broke, we were prepared to receive it.
It came upon us almost with the darkness of
night; the trees, which were close at hand,
were completely shrouded by the roaring
torrents of rain.
We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier,
with his broad felt hat hanging about his
ears, and his shoulders glistening with
rain, thrust in his head.
"Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite? I can
make a fire, sous la charette—I b'lieve so—I
try."
"Never mind supper, man; come in out of the
rain."
Delorier accordingly crouched in the
entrance, for modesty would not permit him
to intrude farther.
Our tent was none of the best defense
against such a cataract. The rain could not
enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas
in a fine drizzle, that wetted us just as
effectively. We sat upon our saddles with
faces of the utmost surliness, while the
water dropped from the vizors of our caps,
and trickled down our cheeks. My
india-rubber cloak conducted twenty little
rapid streamlets to the ground; and Shaw's
blanket-coat was saturated like a sponge.
But what most concerned us was the sight of
several puddles of water rapidly
accumulating; one in particular, that was
gathering around the tent-pole, threatened
to overspread the whole area within the
tent, holding forth but an indifferent
promise of a comfortable night's rest.
Toward sunset, however, the storm ceased as
suddenly as it began. A bright streak of
clear red sky appeared above the western
verge of the prairie, the horizontal rays of
the sinking sun streamed through it and
glittered in a thousand prismatic colors
upon the dripping groves and the prostrate
grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and
sunk into the saturated soil.
But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely
had night set in, when the tumult broke
forth anew. The thunder here is not like the
tame thunder of the Atlantic coast. Bursting
with a terrific crash directly above our
heads, it roared over the boundless waste of
prairie, seeming to roll around the whole
circle of the firmament with a peculiar and
awful reverberation. The lightning flashed
all night, playing with its livid glare upon
the neighboring trees, revealing the vast
expanse of the plain, and then leaving us
shut in as by a palpable wall of darkness.
It did not disturb us much. Now and then a
peal awakened us, and made us conscious of
the electric battle that was raging, and of
the floods that dashed upon the stanch
canvas over our heads. We lay upon
india-rubber cloths, placed between our
blankets and the soil. For a while they
excluded the water to admiration; but when
at length it accumulated and began to run
over the edges, they served equally well to
retain it, so that toward the end of the
night we were unconsciously reposing in
small pools of rain.
On finally awaking in the morning the
prospect was not a cheerful one. The rain no
longer poured in torrents; but it pattered
with a quiet pertinacity upon the strained
and saturated canvas. We disengaged
ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of
which glistened with little beadlike drops
of water, and looked out in vain hope of
discovering some token of fair weather. The
clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon
the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung
sluggishly overhead, while the earth wore an
aspect no more attractive than the heavens,
exhibiting nothing but pools of water, grass
beaten down, and mud well trampled by our
mules and horses. Our companions' tent, with
an air of forlorn and passive misery, and
their wagons in like manner, drenched and
woe-begone, stood not far off. The captain
was just returning from his morning's
inspection of the horses. He stalked through
the mist and rain, with his plaid around his
shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an
antiquarian relic, projecting from beneath
his mustache, and his brother Jack at his
heels.
"Good-morning, captain."
"Good-morning to your honors," said the
captain, affecting the Hibernian accent; but
at that instant, as he stooped to enter the
tent, he tripped upon the cords at the
entrance, and pitched forward against the
guns which were strapped around the pole in
the center.
"You are nice men, you are!" said he, after
an ejaculation not necessary to be recorded,
"to set a man-trap before your door every
morning to catch your visitors."
Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon's
saddle. We tossed a piece of buffalo robe to
Jack, who was looking about in some
embarrassment. He spread it on the ground,
and took his seat, with a stolid
countenance, at his brother's side.
"Exhilarating weather, captain!"
"Oh, delightful, delightful!" replied the
captain. "I knew it would be so; so much for
starting yesterday at noon! I knew how it
would turn out; and I said so at the time."
"You said just the contrary to us. We were
in no hurry, and only moved because you
insisted on it."
"Gentlemen," said the captain, taking his
pipe from his mouth with an air of extreme
gravity, "it was no plan of mine. There is a
man among us who is determined to have
everything his own way. You may express your
opinion; but don't expect him to listen. You
may be as reasonable as you like: oh, it all
goes for nothing! That man is resolved to
rule the roost and he'll set his face
against any plan that he didn't think of
himself."
The captain puffed for a while at his pipe,
as if meditating upon his grievances; then
he began again:
"For twenty years I have been in the British
army; and in all that time I never had half
so much dissension, and quarreling, and
nonsense, as since I have been on this
cursed prairie. He's the most uncomfortable
man I ever met."
"Yes," said Jack; "and don't you know, Bill,
how he drank up all the coffee last night,
and put the rest by for himself till the
morning!"
"He pretends to know everything," resumed
the captain; "nobody must give orders but
he! It's, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we
must do that; and the tent must be pitched
here, and the horses must be picketed there;
for nobody knows as well as he does."
We were a little surprised at this
disclosure of domestic dissensions among our
allies, for though we knew of their
existence, we were not aware of their
extent. The persecuted captain seeming
wholly at a loss as to the course of conduct
that he should pursue, we recommended him to
adopt prompt and energetic measures; but all
his military experience had failed to teach
him the indispensable lesson to be "hard,"
when the emergency requires it.
"For twenty years," he repeated, "I have
been in the British army, and in that time I
have been intimately acquainted with some
two hundred officers, young and old, and I
never yet quarreled with any man. Oh,
'anything for a quiet life!' that's my
maxim."
We intimated that the prairie was hardly the
place to enjoy a quiet life, but that, in
the present circumstances, the best thing he
could do toward securing his wished-for
tranquillity, was immediately to put a
period to the nuisance that disturbed it.
But again the captain's easy good-nature
recoiled from the task. The somewhat
vigorous measures necessary to gain the
desired result were utterly repugnant to
him; he preferred to pocket his grievances,
still retaining the privilege of grumbling
about them. "Oh, anything for a quiet life!"
he said again, circling back to his favorite
maxim.
But to glance at the previous history of our
transatlantic confederates. The captain had
sold his commission, and was living in
bachelor ease and dignity in his paternal
halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode
steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his
former exploits. He was surrounded with the
trophies of his rod and gun; the walls were
plentifully garnished, he told us, with
moose-horns and deer-horns, bear-skins, and
fox-tails; for the captain's double-barreled
rifle had seen service in Canada and
Jamaica; he had killed salmon in Nova
Scotia, and trout, by his own account, in
all the streams of the three kingdoms. But
in an evil hour a seductive stranger came
from London; no less a person than R., who,
among other multitudinous wanderings, had
once been upon the western prairies, and
naturally enough was anxious to visit them
again. The captain's imagination was
inflamed by the pictures of a hunter's
paradise that his guest held forth; he
conceived an ambition to add to his other
trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the
claws of a grizzly bear; so he and R. struck
a league to travel in company. Jack followed
his brother, as a matter of course. Two
weeks on board the Atlantic steamer brought
them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard
traveling they reached St. Louis, from which
a ride of six days carried them to the
frontier; and here we found them, in full
tide of preparation for their journey.
We had been throughout on terms of intimacy
with the captain, but R., the motive power
of our companions' branch of the expedition,
was scarcely known to us. His voice, indeed,
might be heard incessantly; but at camp he
remained chiefly within the tent, and on the
road he either rode by himself, or else
remained in close conversation with his
friend Wright, the muleteer. As the captain
left the tent that morning, I observed R.
standing by the fire, and having nothing
else to do, I determined to ascertain, if
possible, what manner of man he was. He had
a book under his arm, but just at present he
was engrossed in actively superintending the
operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was
cooking some corn-bread over the coals for
breakfast. R. was a well-formed and rather
good-looking man, some thirty years old;
considerably younger than the captain. He
wore a beard and mustache of the oakum
complexion, and his attire was altogether
more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the
prairie. He wore his cap on one side of his
head; his checked shirt, open in front, was
in very neat order, considering the
circumstances, and his blue pantaloons, of
the John Bull cut, might once have figured
in Bond Street.
"Turn over that cake, man! turn it over,
quick! Don't you see it burning?"
"It ain't half done," growled Sorel, in the
amiable tone of a whipped bull-dog.
"It is. Turn it over, I tell you!"
Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian,
who from having spent his life among the
wildest and most remote of the Indian
tribes, had imbibed much of their dark,
vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as
if he longed to leap upon his bourgeois and
throttle him; but he obeyed the order,
coming from so experienced an artist.
"It was a good idea of yours," said I,
seating myself on the tongue of a wagon, "to
bring Indian meal with you."
"Yes, yes" said R. "It's good bread for the
prairie—good bread for the prairie. I tell
you that's burning again."
Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the
silver-mounted hunting-knife in his belt,
began to perform the part of cook himself;
at the same time requesting me to hold for a
moment the book under his arm, which
interfered with the exercise of these
important functions. I opened it; it was
"Macaulay's Lays"; and I made some remark,
expressing my admiration of the work.
"Yes, yes; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can
do better than that though. I know him very
well. I have traveled with him. Where was it
we first met—at Damascus? No, no; it was in
Italy."
"So," said I, "you have been over the same
ground with your countryman, the author of
'Eothen'? There has been some discussion in
America as to who he is. I have heard
Milne's name mentioned."
"Milne's? Oh, no, no, no; not at all. It was
Kinglake; Kinglake's the man. I know him
very well; that is, I have seen him."
Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a
remark (a thing not common with him),
observing that he thought the weather would
become fair before twelve o'clock.
"It's going to rain all day," said R., "and
clear up in the middle of the night."
Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a
very unequivocal manner; but Jack, not
caring to defend his point against so
authoritative a declaration, walked away
whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
"Borrow, the author of 'The Bible in Spain,'
I presume you know him too?"
"Oh, certainly; I know all those men. By the
way, they told me that one of your American
writers, Judge Story, had died lately. I
edited some of his works in London; not
without faults, though."
Here followed an erudite commentary on
certain points of law, in which he
particularly animadverted on the errors into
which he considered that the judge had been
betrayed. At length, having touched
successively on an infinite variety of
topics, I found that I had the happiness of
discovering a man equally competent to
enlighten me upon them all, equally an
authority on matters of science or
literature, philosophy or fashion. The part
I bore in the conversation was by no means a
prominent one; it was only necessary to set
him going, and when he had run long enough
upon one topic, to divert him to another and
lead him on to pour out his heaps of
treasure in succession.
"What has that fellow been saying to you?"
said Shaw, as I returned to the tent. "I
have heard nothing but his talking for the
last half-hour."
R. had none of the peculiar traits of the
ordinary "British snob"; his absurdities
were all his own, belonging to no particular
nation or clime. He was possessed with an
active devil that had driven him over land
and sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed;
for although he had the usual complement of
eyes and ears, the avenues between these
organs and his brain appeared remarkably
narrow and untrodden. His energy was much
more conspicuous than his wisdom; but his
predominant characteristic was a magnanimous
ambition to exercise on all occasions an
awful rule and supremacy, and this
propensity equally displayed itself, as the
reader will have observed, whether the
matter in question was the baking of a
hoe-cake or a point of international law.
When such diverse elements as he and the
easy-tempered captain came in contact, no
wonder some commotion ensued; R. rode
roughshod, from morning till night, over his
military ally.
At noon the sky was clear and we set out,
trailing through mud and slime six inches
deep. That night we were spared the
customary infliction of the shower bath.
On the next afternoon we were moving slowly
along, not far from a patch of woods which
lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in
advance;
The livelong day he had not spoke;
when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the
woods, and roared out to his brother:
"O Bill! here's a cow!"
The captain instantly galloped forward, and
he and Jack made a vain attempt to capture
the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded
distrust of their intentions, took refuge
among the trees. R. joined them, and they
soon drove her out. We watched their
evolutions as they galloped around here,
trying in vain to noose her with their
trail-ropes, which they had converted into
lariettes for the occasion. At length they
resorted to milder measures, and the cow was
driven along with the party. Soon after the
usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing
with such fury that the streams of rain flew
almost horizontally along the prairie,
roaring like a cataract. The horses turned
tail to the storm, and stood hanging their
heads, bearing the infliction with an air of
meekness and resignation; while we drew our
heads between our shoulders, and crouched
forward, so as to make our backs serve as a
pent-house for the rest of our persons.
Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the
tumult, ran off, to the great discomfiture
of the captain, who seemed to consider her
as his own especial prize, since she had
been discovered by Jack. In defiance of the
storm, he pulled his cap tight over his
brows, jerked a huge buffalo pistol from his
holster, and set out at full speed after
her. This was the last we saw of them for
some time, the mist and rain making an
impenetrable veil; but at length we heard
the captain's shout, and saw him looming
through the tempest, the picture of a
Hibernian cavalier, with his cocked pistol
held aloft for safety's sake, and a
countenance of anxiety and excitement. The
cow trotted before him, but exhibited
evident signs of an intention to run off
again, and the captain was roaring to us to
head her. But the rain had got in behind our
coat collars, and was traveling over our
necks in numerous little streamlets, and
being afraid to move our heads, for fear of
admitting more, we sat stiff and immovable,
looking at the captain askance, and laughing
at his frantic movements. At last the cow
made a sudden plunge and ran off; the
captain grasped his pistol firmly, spurred
his horse, and galloped after, with evident
designs of mischief. In a moment we heard
the faint report, deadened by the rain, and
then the conqueror and his victim
reappeared, the latter shot through the
body, and quite helpless. Not long after the
storm moderated and we advanced again. The
cow walked painfully along under the charge
of Jack, to whom the captain had committed
her, while he himself rode forward in his
old capacity of vedette. We were approaching
a long line of trees, that followed a stream
stretching across our path, far in front,
when we beheld the vedette galloping toward
us, apparently much excited, but with a
broad grin on his face.
"Let that cow drop behind!" he shouted to
us; "here's her owners!" And in fact, as we
approached the line of trees, a large white
object, like a tent, was visible behind
them. On approaching, however, we found,
instead of the expected Mormon camp, nothing
but the lonely prairie, and a large white
rock standing by the path. The cow therefore
resumed her place in our procession. She
walked on until we encamped, when R. firmly
approaching with his enormous English
double-barreled rifle, calmly and
deliberately took aim at her heart, and
discharged into it first one bullet and then
the other. She was then butchered on the
most approved principles of woodcraft, and
furnished a very welcome item to our
somewhat limited bill of fare.
In a day or two more we reached the river
called the "Big Blue." By titles equally
elegant, almost all the streams of this
region are designated. We had struggled
through ditches and little brooks all that
morning; but on traversing the dense woods
that lined the banks of the Blue, we found
more formidable difficulties awaited us, for
the stream, swollen by the rains, was wide,
deep, and rapid.
No sooner were we on the spot than R. had
flung off his clothes, and was swimming
across, or splashing through the shallows,
with the end of a rope between his teeth. We
all looked on in admiration, wondering what
might be the design of this energetic
preparation; but soon we heard him shouting:
"Give that rope a turn round that stump!
You, Sorel: do you hear? Look sharp now,
Boisverd! Come over to this side, some of
you, and help me!" The men to whom these
orders were directed paid not the least
attention to them, though they were poured
out without pause or intermission. Henry
Chatillon directed the work, and it
proceeded quietly and rapidly. R.'s sharp
brattling voice might have been heard
incessantly; and he was leaping about with
the utmost activity, multiplying himself,
after the manner of great commanders, as if
his universal presence and supervision were
of the last necessity. His commands were
rather amusingly inconsistent; for when he
saw that the men would not do as he told
them, he wisely accommodated himself to
circumstances, and with the utmost vehemence
ordered them to do precisely that which they
were at the time engaged upon, no doubt
recollecting the story of Mahomet and the
refractory mountain. Shaw smiled
significantly; R. observed it, and,
approaching with a countenance of lofty
indignation, began to vapor a little, but
was instantly reduced to silence.
The raft was at length complete. We piled
our goods upon it, with the exception of our
guns, which each man chose to retain in his
own keeping. Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and
Delorier took their stations at the four
corners, to hold it together, and swim
across with it; and in a moment more, all
our earthly possessions were floating on the
turbid waters of the Big Blue. We sat on the
bank, anxiously watching the result, until
we saw the raft safe landed in a little cove
far down on the opposite bank. The empty
wagons were easily passed across; and then
each man mounting a horse, we rode through
the stream, the stray animals following of
their own accord.
