M^ m • J ' y i, ' 1' tr'j^ Unnn Spec. Coll. COi COI oi COi o| col Oi l\3= roi Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924090302112 THE HUNTEK-NATUBALIST. EOMANCE OF SPORTING; OR, WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Br C. W. WEBBER, AUTHOE OF "SHOT IS THE EVE," "OLD mCKS THE GUIDE," "onAJlLES WIXTERFIELD PAPEM," "GOLD MINES OF THE GILA," ETC. ETC. PHILADELPHIA: J B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1865.^ £xT£RED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, bj LIPPINCOrr. GRAMBO & CO. in the Clerk's Office of the District truurt of the Eastern District of FennsylTama. INTEODUCTIOK r The first volume of the Hunter-Naturalist is merely introductory to what I propose to make, in every sense, a " progressive" series of seven volumes. My cherished object in this undertaking is, to introduce within the general scope of Polite Literature, a popular Natural History: upon the production of which I have so brought to bear the latest discoveries of Science, in the application of mechanical forces to pictorial illustration, as to cheapen all their cost without any deterioration of artistic value ; and bring the essential spirit of what have been here- tofore as sealed books, from their excessive costliness, within the reach of the People. Then, again, what I mean by "popular" is to be found in a regard of the highest sense of this vulgarized and misused term in contrast with that of the scholastic use of " technical" — a work belonging rather to the general litera- ture than technical science of Natural History — treating of its facts as well as cognate associations. A work, indeed, aiming to be as gay as it is grave — as fanciful as it is profound — as theoretical as accurate — as full of flesh and blood as of philosophy — as human as it is transcendental — as rhapsodically intoxicate as the hale air and blithe sunshine out-of-doors can make it — and just sufficiently spiced with "learning" not to make one "mad." A work in which the Animal Kingdom shall illustrate the Spiritual, and the Spirit- ual the Animal, as well. A work in which Bird and Beast shall be humanized to Man through Nature, and Man shown to have been inhumanized to Beast and Bird through Society — which shall rebuke fanaticism for its ignorance of natural laws, while it shall plead against wantonness with our race for reconciliation and for mercy to the humblest of God's 3 4 INTRODUCTION. creatures; — in a word, which shall endeavor always, and in every country, to present the Human Actor with the natural scene — ^the hunter with the hunted — and the Hunter-Natural- ist, placed amidst his chosen accessories, however remo^^, whether of climate, individual action and adventure, or the living and characteristic objects of his pursuit. > And who is this Hunter-Naturalist ? I answer, something of the Primitive Hunter and modern Pield-Naturalist com- bined. The name best defines itself — since ^wwier-Naturalist implies at once a rugged and freebooter intrusion into the realms of Nature, in which the nice mail of Science has ex- changed its glitter and its polish for the greasy, powder-black- ened, blood-stained buckskins of the rough, earnest wilderness , While pretending to no dainty refinements of technical accuracy, if his clear eye, aided by his stout limbs, explores, discovers and assists to glorify, through art and thought, the wide fields of Natural Science, I see no good reason why his pale Brother of the Closet should sneer at him if he forgets his Latin in a " stampede," or spells the jaw-cracking name of a genus wrong, when his notes are often written, as much by the flashes of the covering storm, or the smouldering light of a half-drowned fire, as by honest sun light. Familiar with Nature in all her modes and moods, the Hunter-Naturalist is he who being accustomed to know her through the medium of his own senses rather than books, should only be held responsible, in a scientific sense, for what he him- self has felt, seen, tasted, smelt, heard, and thought, out in unchallenged communion with the secrets of his great Mother. His" observations then are essentially his own. They but constitute one man's impressions of Natuio, and convey an individual method of expressing them, which may be as reliable in the facts presented, — to say the least of it, — as if they had been drained, diluted, altered and amended through the musty pages of an hundred folios. Not that I would presume by any means to arrogate fori INTRODUCTION. f" the Hunter-Naturalist, even under my own comprehensive definition of his mission, any independence of his pale Brother, so far as his relations to absolute science are con- cerned. His individual observations would soon become, to the stern accuracy of practical classification, more crude than savage myths; and his deductions vaguer than the shadows of a day-dream — but that when submitted to this colder, more learned, and deliberate analysis, his " facts" and his " discoveries" have been inexorably technicalized. Yet from my earliest childhood I have felt individually wronged when constantly compelled to turn from the dry, inert and formal methods of "iAe Books," to the gay, sug- gestive or subtile treatment of the Goldsmiths, Huberts and St. Pierres, who have spoken so successfully for the People, the charmed " sesame" of Science — or else in hopeless sense of the comparatively narrowed artificialities of each, have thrown myself back, with a calmed and steadied enthusiasm, upon the devouter study of those green and living pages of the Natural World, which have never yet failed me in their truth. Thus in assuming my position with regard to the method of treating the subjects of Natural History, to be observed in this work, the whole matter has resolved itself with me into the simple question whether "lion-heart" and "eagle-eye" shall be banished from heroic poetry, because they lack the learned prefixes of Aquillce and Leonis — or sentimental rhymes resign all images of " plaintive Philomels," " cooing Doves," and "Gazelle eyes," because they are not defined to the people according to the " dead letter" of Museum cata- logues? — or, indeed, whether it be vitally essential to the general purposes of human enlightenment, that "all the world" should become strictly technical Naturalists, in the scientific sense, before the many who possess an eye for the Beautiful, aa ear for its language, a spiritual recognition of its unities, and heart for the joy it brings, can be admitted to its presence? It is thus the feeling has continued to grow with my prowth, and strengthen with my strength, that the Literature 6 INTRODUCTION. of Natural History has been too much circumscribed within the mere formulas of Scientific utility to meet the mental requisitions of the period in its text, or the practical demand for cheapness in its illustration, -which the rapid progress of discovery in this department clearly demands ! I have, therefore, in bringing this enterprise to a head, consistently acted with an early conceived purpose, that so far as the devotion of individual energies could go, the General Mind should no longer be thus rudely shut off from the contempla- tion of themes which, in their free and legitimate presenta- tion, are the most healthful, refreshing and ennobling ! I speak this in no arrogance, for of such I have no sense — but of a collected purpose. I have remarked that this first Volume is put forward as merely an introductory to the Series. My object has been to present my Reader at once to the Hunter-Naturalist in that broad and comprehensive meaning of the character which it implies to me. The Narrative and Sketchy form into which I have moulded this Volume, is to continue a distinctive feature of the Series. The wild creature and its Human peer must go together in our treatment — the one re-acts upon and modifies the other ; let us exhibit the passions and the life of both. Therefore, in each successive volume, whether it be the Wild Indian and his Buffalo — the Trapper and his Beaver — the buck-skinned Nomad of Art and Science, with Specimen-box and precious Port-folio of Drawings — or the amateur Adven- turer with his insatiable appetite for novelty — ^however foreign, strange, or distant such may be, they shall appear amidst their separate accessories of the Animal World. Each Volume shall contain at least five such Plates as those we give in this, devoted to the illustration of the Wild Scenes of our own Indian Border Life, which will be furnished from the noble and unequalled pencil of Alfred J. Miller, of Bal- timore, who accompanied Sir William Drummond Stuart, on his noted expedition among the Indian Tribes of the Plains, M Artist. How splendidly he has accomplished his missioD; INTRODUCTION. 7 those who may not be familiar with his former works will at once comprehend, in looking over the five first Lithograplis in this volume. I say with perfect confidence that it remains yet for Art in this country, to approach the amazing fidelity and spirit of these Drawings — and his glorious Portfolio is but yet just opened ! I shall give in addition — as in this volume — five other Lithographs of Foreign Scenes quite as elaborately drawn, but of less costly finish. And -I hope so far to perfect, through the skill of my Lithographer, Mr. Rosen thall, the processes by which he has produced these unparalleled speci- mens of the art of Printing in colors upon stone, as to be able to present all the figures of animal life in color and at a cost which will come within the limit of that of the present volume. This I shall regard as indeed a triumph. But the Reader will perceive, that in the singular skill with which the colorist and lithographer, have produced the pictures for this volume, I and he have much to anticipate. I hope through such able seconding to demonstrate, that the art of printing in colors, which is yet in embryo in Europe, has been left for us to de-- velope in this country, as we have that of Daguerreotyping. I scarcely think that any specimens of that mysterious art can be produced in England, where it has been longest a subject of emulation, that will compare with my first five litho- graphs by Rosenthall and Kramer, from Miller — at least I am very well content to abide the issue of public sentiment with regard to this first experiment in a novel field ! Here I would introduce to the Reader a new ally — such an one as certainly is not often presented in such enterprises. This is no less a personage than my "little Wife," Mrs. E. M. Webber, whose portrait you see associated with my own jn the title page of this volume. She is an Artist ; and to her hand I am indebted for much of the fine work in illustration of this volume. But this is not her peculiar field — the delicate accuracy of the Woman artist will be more prominently and characteristically displayed in our second volume, the title of which will be " Wild Scenes and Song Birds of the World." 8 INTRODUCTION. The drawings of birds and flowers for this and all succeed- ing volumes, will be by her ; and I rest most proud and happy with such a "help-mete" in my labors! In presenting this first volume to the Public, I have felt a proper diffidence in regard to the whole subject of scientific classification, and have therefore solicited and fortunately ob- tained aid in the highest legitimate quarter known amongst us. Mr. John Cassin, the Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, has consented to edit, with me, the future volumes of the series ; so that my subscribers and readers may not only rely upon the scientific accuracy of the work through his learned supervision of this department, but may as well look for a ripe, quaint and scholastic vein of humor, such as has seldom been brought to bear upon such themes, and which will form a pleasing contrast with my own head- long methods. I thus hope to offer a work which shall be complete in itself, as a Salmagundi of the facts, thoughts and^suggestions of the natural world, with enough of technical accuracy to constitute it a reliable authority to the Student of Science, and a sufficiency of genial reverence, gaiety and kindliness, to render it always a safe, welcome and valued companion of the fireside, into the chaste penetralia of which I so much desire to win my way. We should not be permitted to rest unconscious of the sacred serenities of Nature ; all the har- monies rest therein and they bring peace with them ! Though men may grow callous and dumb in listening forever to the clink of dollars, shall not the sense of their fair children be attuned to voices m were Cross Foxes, and others Red Foxes, this has settled the question in our minds that both the Cross Fox and the Black Fox are mere varieties of the Red. Here I will dismiss this question, premising the conviction confirmed out of my own experience by the facts given above, that the three varieties, the Black, Cross and Red Foxes, will be found to be about as nearly identical as three specimens of the common American Skunk, taken from the same bed, one of which will be banded, another barred, and another mottled. But the Editors of the Quadrupeds of America, have been, after some hesitation, bold enough to go with Cuvier in a most decided innovation upon the old formulas of classification. They say, the characters of this genus difier so slightly from those of the genus canis, that they were induced to pause before removing it from the sub-genus in which it had so long remained. I do not perceive that there was any special reason for doubt about the matter, for I have always been surprised that the foxes have not been recognized by Naturalists through all time as a separate genus. The common sense of mankind has always so placed them, but it seems that the common sense of Naturalists has been something difi'erent. Nobody but a technicalist was ever satisfied with seeing the fox ranked as a sub-genus of canis. Apart from slight physi- cal coincidents, it is so distinct in habits, character, &c., that we could quite as readily be content to see the humming-bird classed as a moth ! There is about as much reason for the one as the other. The truth seems to me to be, that as the humming-bird, though distinct in its own character, forms the connecting link between insects and birds, so does the fox that between the genera canis and lynx ; which last, it will be remembered, was once, in a like manner, classed as a Feline. vox HUNTING IN AMERICA. 253 Here comes in a reflection which pertinently illustrates the ladder-like ascension of scientific inquiry towards truth. Before Linnseus, the methods of classification were so vague that nothing more definite could be said of them, than that food, size, shape and color were the principal rules. But the great classifier made an immense advance upon this loose mode,, and his terse definitions are perfect, so far as external signs can go, or an accurate knowledge of habits substantiate them. BufFon, who repudiated systems, only made confusion worse confounded ; and in the fierce collisions which ensued between his followers and their technicalists, (who swore by their master, the great Swede,) all systems of classification seemed to be in danger of being swept overboard. Cuvier at once stepped to the helm and righted everything. He brought along with him, not alone the strong arm and the commanding eye, which wield success, but as well, a heavy ballast of fbssil remains, and huge pre-Adamite bones, which soon steadied the storm-shaken vessel. Now, Naturalists ' were for the first time forced to realize, though unwillmgly, that the only absolute and mathematical law of classification in Zoology, was to be looked for in the dental and osseous struc- ture. The old methods are accepted as suggestive adjuncts, but by no means as absolute authority. In the dental formula of the genus vulpes, there is only a slight, but decisive difference from that of the genus canis ; ^ the upper incisor being less curved.' It was, however, suffici- ent to determine Cuvier. The other marked traits of differ- ence are, that animals of this genus, generally, are smaller, and the number of species known, greater, than among the wolves ; they diffuse a foetid odor, dig burrows, and attack none but the weaker quadrupeds, or birds, &c. Yet, despite their courage upon this point, the venerable Editors of the " Quadrupeds," with characteristic caution, persist in what may be called "hedging their position," when they say: — As a general rule, we are obliged to admit that a fox is a 254 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. wolf, and a small wolf may be termed a fox. Commend na to consistency, — say I ! The genus vulpes of Cuvier is now established, — ^has become a fixed fact of science among us, as it ought to have been considered long ago ! The other two species, beside the Gray and Red, which go to make up the complement of four assigned to North America, are the Swift Fox and the Arctic Fox. The Swift Fox inhabits the Missouri and Platte Rivers, west to the Rocky Mountains. It is a very extraordinary creature. Although the smallest of American foxes, it is by far the fleetest. In traversing the wild region where it is native, I heard from the hunters and trappers most marvel- ous tales of its swiftness, some of which placed it even along- side the horse and antelope in this respect, and far beyond any other animal on the plains. These stories are to be taken with considerable allowance. I saw it frequently, but had no fair opportunity of testing its speed thoroughly — though there is one observation which I made, that may be worth giving in this connection. The vast bare extent and undulating surface of those plains seem to have had a somewhat remarkable efi'ect in developing ppwers of flight and pursuit, in most of the creatures inhabiting them, and more particularly in the smaller ones ; and there is quite as much of this exaggerated story-telling to be met with upon the lips of these same wandering hunters and trappers, with regard to the great-eared rabbit of the plains further South. This animal is represented by them as a miracle of speed ; and I am, from my own observation, disposed to give a large proportion of credit to their representations. I have witnessed in them such astonishing power of getting over the ground, that they almost seemed to defy pursuit. It was " more like flying than running," as the hunters say. The total absence upon these wild plains of any of those facilities for concealment, refuge or escape, which are afibrded FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 255 elsewhere, by trees, shrubs, rocks, holes, &c., renders the whole game of flight and pursuit a plain, straight-forward matter of hard running on both sides ; so that it is no great wonder after all, if the heels of both the predatory and fugi- tive animals should be somewhat cultivated. As civilization is extended toward these remote regions, we shall know more of the habits of these fleet children of the solitudes, it is to bo hoped. The Arctic Fox is more familiar to us, though really far more distant, and living among more unpropitious and appa- rently inaccessible fastnesses, locked in by icebergs. I shall merely say of it, that it is the only one of the genus which we think at all justifies the remark, that " a large fox is a wolf, and a small wolf may be termed a fox." It is much more like the jackal and wolf in its habits ; like them, it is gregarious, when pressed with hunger, and is known, like them, to hunt in packs. But the Red and Gray Foxes are the most interesting, for around them all the legendary and historical memorabilia of the genus cluster. This Red Fox must be the same mighty embodiment of quadrupedal treachery, upon whose sneaking head the indignant Chaucer loosened such an avalanche of bitter epithet and grand comparison — " false morderour reecking in tby den 1 newe Scariot, newe Genelon, false dissimulour, Greek Sinon, That broughtest Troye al utterly to roune." And I fear he has not much improved in manners since ; for so well is the slipperiness of his reputation understood, that his most earnestly solicitous friends, the sportsmen, not to speak of Naturalists, are to this day puzzled with regard to his identity. It is a question now of grave dispute, whether this " false morderour," denounced into immortality by Chau- cer, ie identical with the personage known by the same name among us — one party strenuously maintaining that the KeJ 256 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Fox of America is entitled to the glory of such high descent, while the other sturdily contends that our Fox is an abori- ginal Fox, and by no means deserving of such hard names as Chaucer used with regard to the English Fox. This dispute is rather curious and amusing than serious. I shall look over some of the grounds of this interesting contro- versy. One party contends most earnestly that it is the European Fox, which was brought over by one of the Conti- nental Governors, who was an ardent sportsman, and who turned a pair or more loose to breed on Long Island ; that finally they escaped, they or their descendants, over to the main land, and have since migrated South and West. The other party contends that it is a native species, and comes from the North, migrating — as many other species of quadrupeds and birds, as well as nations of men have done — towards the South. The last argument appears to me to be the true one, Ve- cause, in the first place, although there are many points of general resemblance, which might deceive any but careful Naturalists, yet it has been found, when the two animals have been brought together and critically compared by them, that they are quite clearly distinct. This, of itself, ought to be enough to settle the question ; but when we come to remember, in the second place, that the Red Fox and all its varieties is a Northern animal, and that from its cunning and sagacity, it would always make a convenience of the neigh- borhood of man, for the purpose of preying upon his domesti- cated creatures, we can well understand how its progress South should have been quite as gradual as that of well stocked barn-yards and fat flocks of geese. The case is to me a perfectly plain one ; and the answer to the multiplied inquiries I hear from old sportsmen — "Whether it is that the Red Fox has degenerated, or that our hounds, through careful breeding, have been. appreciated in speed ? — since it is true that the Red Fox is now taken with ease in rOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 257 two hours at most, when we thought ourselves fortunate, when he first came amongst us, if we run him down in twelve," — is equally plain. He is a Northern animal, and the fat living you give him, and your warm climate, have degenerated the gaunt starveling of the North. Godman, in his American Natural History, disposes of the question in quite a summary manner, and, no doubt, greatly to his own satisfaction. He says : — By the fineness of its fur, the liveliness of its color, length of limbs, and slenderness of body, as well as the form of its skull, the Red Fox of America is obviously distinguished from the common fox of Europe, to which, in other respects, it bears a resemblance sufficiently striking to mislead an inci- dental observer. • But to suppose this question of varieties settled, we may proceed in justice to say that with all his persecution Reynard has never been remarkable for ill-nature, excepts after the manner of a practical joker, who gives and takes ; he has too great regard for his ancient and privileged character as a humorist, ever to show his teeth savagely, except when fully cornered, and then he dies game. No wonder the gall of bitter- ness should be stirred within him at the venal and unfair method of pursuit common in the Northern States, where the Cross Fox is hunted by countrymen on foot through the snow. The dogs used are a mongrel cross upon the cur hound and grayhound. This animal is stronger and swifter than any thorough-bred, and better suited for this peculiar purpose — for the object is simply to get the skin and turn it into dollais and cents in the most direct possible manner. There is no poetry or chivalry in this kind of chase, of which Dr. Bach- man gives the following account. In the fresh-fallen and deep snows of mid-winter, the hunters are most successful. During these severe snow Ptorms, the ruffled grouse, called in our Eastern States the partridge, is often snowed up and covered over ; or sometimes 17 258 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. plunges from on wing into the soft snow, where it remains concealed for a day or two. The fox occasionally surprises these birds, and as he is usually stimulated at this inclement season, by the gnawings of hunger, he is compelled to seek for food by day as well as by night ; his fresh track may be seen in the fields, along the fences, and on the skirts of the farm-yard, as well as in the deep forest. Nothing is easier than to track the fox under these favorable circumstances, and the trail having been discovered, it is followed up until Reynard is started. Now the chase begins ; the half-hound yells out, in tones far removed from the mellow notes of the thorough-bred dog, but equally inspiriting, perhaps, through the clear frosty air, as the solitary hunter eagerly follows, fts fast as his limited powers of locomotion will admit. At intervals of three or four minutes, the sharp cry of the dog resounds, the fox has no time to double and shuffle, the dog is at his heels alinost, and speed, speed, is his only hope of life. Now the shrill baying of the hound becomes irregular ; we may fancy he is at the throat of his victim ; the hunter is far in the rear, toiling along the track which marks the course so well contested, but occasionally the voice of his dog, softened by the distance, is borne on the wind to his ear. For a mile or two the fox keeps ahead of his pursuer ; but the latter has the longest legs, and the snow impedes him less than it does poor Reynard. Every bound and plunge into the snow ■ diminishes the distance between the fox and his relentless foe. Onward they rush, through field, fence, brush- wood, and open forest, the snow flying from bush and briar as they dart through the copse, or speed across the newly cleared field. But this desperate race cannot last longer ; the fox must gain his burrow, or some cavernous rock, or he dies. Alas ! he has been lured too far away fiom his customary haunts, and from his secure retreq t, in search of prey ; he is unable FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 259 to reach his home ; the dog Is even now lyithin a foot of his brush. One more desperate leap, and Trith a sudden snappish growl he turns upon his pursuer, and endeavors to defend himself with his sharp teeth. For a moment he resists the dog, but is almost instantly overcome. He is not killed, how- ever, in the firgt onset ; both dog and fox are so fatigued that they now sit on their haunches, facing each other, resting, panting, their tongues hanging out, and the foam from their lips dropping on the snow. After fiercely eyeing each other for awhile, both become impatient — the former to seize his prey, the other to escape. At the first leap of the fox the dog seizes him ; with renewed vigor he seizes him by the throat, and does not loose his hold until the snow is stained with blood, and the fox lies rumpled, draggled, with blood-shot eye, and frothy, open mouth, a mangled carcase on the ground. The hunter soon comes up : he has made several sJiort cuta^ guided by the baying of his hound; and striking the deep trail in the snow again, at a point much nearer the scene of the death-struggle, he hurries toward the place where the last cry was heard, and pushes forward in a half run until he meets his dog, which, on hearing his master approach, gene- rally advances towards him, and leads the way to the place where he has achieved his victory. There are yet more imfair modes of taking this gallant animal, known at the North, the very mention of which would make the warm blood of a genuine fox-hunter boil over with contemptuous indignation. The fox is pursued over the snow by one of the scrubby mongrels above mentioned, until he is fairly earthed, when the sportsman, as he is facetiously called, comes up with spade and pick-axe on his shoulder, and after cooly surveying the ground, prepares to dig him out. His labor at this season IS worth something less than a dollar a day, and if he sue- 260 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. ceeds in digging out tlie poor fox, he will receive from five to seven dollars for the valuable skin, which would be a con- siderable advance upon what he gets for fair and honorable labor. Alas ! poor Reynard, for all the dignity of ancient asso- ciations, ■■ To what base uses do we come at last." The countryman throws off his coat, goes doggedly to work, and, after hours of digging, perhaps succeeds in dragging out and knocking the poor beast upon the head, and then swings the inglorious trophy upon his back to trudge away, triumph- ing in the prospective dollars. It may be he has to smoke poor Reynard to death in his hole, or else knock him on the nose as he rushes forth to the fresh air. Truly this may be called " Crucigera," the cross-bearing variety of the genus, since it is subjected to such unorthodox and savage modes of persecution, which certainly entitle it to the crown of martyrdom, if not to the meeker glory of bear- ing the cross for the sins of all its wicked and witty family. Indeed, all the twelve tribes, in whatever part of the world they are found, may be said to " bear the cross" of slander and unmerited abuse from the whole quadrupidal kingdom. But Reynard having somehow mysteriously, got a bad name for himself, is made amenable for all the cunning, sly, audacious things done among the animals, and is therefore considered, and really known to be, a grievously wicked per- son. "It is no harm to abuse a poor devil whom the world unites in abusing," is the magnanimous motto of the mob, and poor Reynard has the full benefit of it, in an amount of obloquy and buffeting which would surely have been sufficient to chasten and reform the life of any but such an incorrigible. I rather think he glories in bearing the cross, and courts martyrdom. I can perceive no symptoms- of amendment. FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 261 He is still the glozing and subtle intriguant of the Greek fables. The old "romaunt" is still being enacted, and "all the beasts complain of the fox," daily and hourly, until king lion roars in wrath against his wily minister. I fear there is no sober reform or hopeful redemption for tilt' sad scamp, since his quaint malfeasances, instead of be- coming more tempered and ameliorated by-time, have grown only the more glaring and impudent as history brings him nearer to us. Verily, it is a sad story that the records tell, for Chaucer found him still "a col fox, full of sleigh iniquitie," even in his day. The young poet, in the prattle of his " garrulous god, innocence," tells us a dreadful story of the morals and manners of Reynard in his time. I think it should be blazoned now in the self-same words of him " Who first with harmony informed our tongue," that it may be kept before the eyes of all modern and juvenile Reynards, as a warning and example of the fearful conse- quences following upon the unrestrained indulgence of the predatory instinct they have inherited. It appears from Chaucer's evidence, that " Russel, the fox," alias Reynard, (for like all thieves and robbers he has an alias,) did " By high imagination forecast — " (which hints, I suppose, at clairvoyance,) find his way « Into the yerde, there chaunticlere the faire Was wont and eke his wives to repaire." This was of course only one of his accustomed jokes ; and although he certainly seemed to be "on the sneak" when crouching " in a bed of wortes, still he lay," no intimate admirer of his ancestral glory would have sub- 262 WILD SCENES AND WIBD HUNTEKS. pected what dire and shameless purpose brought him there ! The poet denounces him, as we have seen, mth a just and dreadful denunciation, which, it would seem, must have been su£Scient to arouse the conscience of anybody else, and STnd him with rebuked tail between his legs abashed away. But, nevertheless, observe how coldly it has fallen upon his deaf ear, and how, with oily words of glozing courtesy, he proceeds to assail the gallant and unsuspecting cock, upon his weak side of vanity and family pride. He tells him blandly— " Save you ne herd I never man so sing Aa did your fader in the monrening." The silly bird believes him, and " Stood high upon his toos, Stretching his neck and held his eyen clooa, And gan to crowen loud for the nones, And Dan Bussel, the fox, start up at ones, And by the garget heute chaunticlere, And on his back towards the wood him here." Then arises at sight of the daring depredator, the many- tongued hubbub of the barn-yard. "The sely widow and her daughtren two," rush out in pursuit with broom-sticks and with staves, and cry " harow and wala wa, a ha, the fox !" and after him, too, " Ban Colle, our dog, and Talbot and Gerlond, And Malkin with her distaf in hire hond ; Ban cow and calf, and eke the yeray hoggs." ****** " They ronnen so hem thought their hertes breke, They yelleden as fendes don in hell. The dokes crieden as men would hem quelle, The gees for fear flowen over the trees. Out of the hive came the swarm of bees, So hideous was the noise a benedietel" Shocking and abhorrent as is the view of the moral life of Russel, alias Reynard, here presented by the simple-hearted FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 263 chronicler, there are yet more grievous and solemn charges laid to his door in the " Shepherd's Callender." I cannot but devoutly hope that the grand old Spencer is rather, in this case, after the confirmed manner of his " Faerie Queen," indulging in metaphor, than telling a veritable incident out of his own knowledge. His ominous words are concerning " A wily fox, that having spide, Where on a sunny banb the lambea doo play, Full closely creeping by the hinder side, Lyes in ambushment of bis hoped prey, , Ne stirreth limbe till seeing readie tide, He rusheth forth and snatcheth quite away One of the little younglings unawares." This bloody, but cold and sneaking crime, wrought on in- nocence, so white-wooled, gaily, meek and unsuspecting, is too fearful to dwell upon. I can only drop the curtain here for the present, hoping that Reynard may not prove guilty, according to the poet's showing ! Certainly we are not much comforted when we take up the character of the " Gray Fox." Comparisons are proverbially odious, yet as an accurate historian, I have felt myself com- pelled to make them. It must be admitted that the Gray Fox, as compared with the Red, is something of a sneak ! They are both four-footed Jesuits, to be sure, but the latter is stouter, and besides has a family name, an ancestral glory to sustain ! He is the Don Quixote of the foxes, and therefore we can well under- stand his hen-roost chivalry, not to speak of his barn-yard heroics ! Though we admit him to be great, we cannot help recog- nizing the Gray Fox as the special embodiment of all the blarney and lower cunning of the race. We are most familiar with him at the South, and feel a sort of local jealousy for his fame and character. We flatter ourselves that he can afford to be guilty of a few peccadillos, since they are con- trasted by such extraordinary attributes. 264 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Let anybody read the subjoined anecdote, by the Editor? of the " Quadrupeds," and say afterwards, if he can, that the Gray Fox is not an extraordinary animal ! On a cold, drizzly, sleety, rainy day, while travelling in 'Carolina, we observed a Gray Fox in a field of broom-grass, coursing against the wind and hunting, in the manner of the pointer dog. "We stopped to witness his manoeuvres; sud- denly he stood still, and squatted low on his haunches ; a moment after he proceeded on once more, but with slow and cautious steps ; at times his nose was raised higher in the air, moving about from side to side. At length he seemed to be sure of his game, and went straight forward, although very slowly, at times crawling on the earth ; he was occasionally hidden by the grass, so that we could not see him very distinctly ; however, at length we observed him make a dead halt. There was no twisting or horizontal movement of the tail, like that made by the compion house-cat when ready to make a spring, but his tail seemed resting on the side, whilst his ears were drawn back and his head raised only a few inches from the earth. He remained in this attitude nearly half a minute, and then made a sudden pounce upon his prey ; at the same in- stant the whirring of the distracted covey was heard, as the affrighted birds took wing ; two or three sharp screams suc- ceeded, and the successful prowler immediately passed out of the field with an unfortunate partridge in his mouth, evi- dently with the intention of seeking a more retired spot to make a dainty meal. We had a gun with us, and he passed within long gun shot of us. But we did not wound or destroy him? He has enabled us, for the first time, to bear witness that he is not only a dog, but a good pointer in the bargain ; he has obeyed an impulse of nature, and obtained a meal in the manner in which it was intended by the wise Creator that he should be supplied. He seizes only a single bird, whilst man, who FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 265 , ffould ■wreak his vengeance on this poacher among the game, is not satisfied until he has killed half the covey with the murderous gun, or caught the whole brood in a trap, and •wrung off their necks in triumph. Condemn not the fox too hastily ; he has a more strikingly carnivorous tooth than yourself, indicating the kind of food ho is required to seek ; he takes no wanton pleasure in destroy- ing the bird ; he exhibits to his comJ)anions no trophies of his skill, and is contented with a meal ; whilst you are not satisfied when your capacious bird-bag is filled. This anecdote is very curious and interesting for several reasons. In the first place, it exhibits the fox in a new cha- racter of higher intelligence, than he has credit for possessing, — and in the next, it goes far towards confirming the old Spanish legend, with regard to the pointer dog. This repre- sents the pointer as a made variety, and not an original race. The legend represents that a Spanish monk, first observed, in the wild dog of Andalusia, the trick of pausing before the spring upon its prey. As this pause was longer than in any other animal, the idea was at once suggested, that by train- ing, this habit might be made useful. He accordingly tamed a number of these dogs, and finding them somewhat deficient in pize, docility and scent, crossed them upon the nobler spe- cies of hound, and hence the pointer was derived. I have always been inclined to regard this remarkable story as giving somewhere near the true origin of the pointer, and think it most likely that the wild dog mentioned, was a tran- sition species between the wolf and fox. But apart from these conjectures, this incident illustrates from an entirely new point of view, the predatory habits of the species. In the older States, as all other game has been nearly ex- terminated, these nine-lived creatures seem only to have become more abundant, more sagacious and more popular. Spencer, in his " Shepherd's Callender," very clearly inti mates that this is not the first time in the history of men £66 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. and foxee, that sucli a condition of things had existed. He "Well is it known that sith the Gascon King, Never was wolf seen, many nor some ; Nor in all Kent nor in Christendome ; But the fewer wolves (the sooth to sain,) The more bene the foxes that here remaine." This animal seems to have been able to take care of itself, when all others have vanished before the exterminating tread of human progress. The game laws protect the Red Fox in England to an uncertain degree ; but the Gray Fox protects itiiclf here in a certain degree, without the aid of game laws, and seems in many districts, to defy all our efforts to exter- minate it ; while its sagacity, dexterity and cunning, seem only to have been increased by the difficulties and dangers of its environment. Fox-hunting in the Middle and Southern States, is quite as much a subject of enthusiasm, as it has been in England ; although it is neither so expensive nor so technical with us. We don't pay fifty guineas a couple for our hounds, or keep studs of " hunters" at prodigious cost ; yet we are fox-hunt- ers after a rude and untechnical manner ; and although we do not ride in white tops and cordm-oys, yet we ride to the purpose ; and through the rude and break-neck exigencies of thicket, forest, fallen trees, precipitous hiUs, rough rocks, precipices, quaggy swamps and fatal quicksands, we are still the eager and staunch hunters of a game as staunch. Our horses doubly trained in the deer and fox-hunt, are more wiry and active than the English hunters, although they may not be so heely in passing over open ground, or so well trained in leaping over hedges and ditches ! And, finally, as for dogs, their genealogies have been quite scrupulously preserved in the old States. Even at this day, we frequently find the Shaksperian ideal of the dog, still carefully maintained : — FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 26T '■ My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew, Grook-knee'd and dew-lapped, like Thessalian bulls Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth-like bells." From Maryland to Florida, and farther west, through Ken- tucky and Alabama to Mississippi and Louisiana, fox-hunting next to deer hunting is the favorite amusement of sportsmen, and the chase of that animal may in fact be regarded ex- clusively as a southern sport in the United States, as the fox is never followed on horseback in the North, where the rocky and precipitous character of the surface in many districts prevents the best riders from attempting it ; whilst in others, our sturdy^ independent farmers would not like to see a dozen or more horsemen leaping through fences, and with break- neck speed gallopping through the wheat-fields, or other "fall" crops. Besides, the Ked Fox, which is more generally found in the northern States than the gray species, runs so far before the dogs that he is seldom seen, although the huntsmen keep up with the pack, and after a chase of ten miles, during which he may not have been once seen, he perhaps takes refuge in some deep fissure of a rock, or in an impenetrable burrow, which of course ends the sport, very much to the satisfaction of the fox. In the southern States, on the contrary, the ground is, in many cases, favorable to this amusement, and the planter sus- tains but little injury from the passing hunt, as the Gray Fox usually courses through woods or worn out old fields, keeping on high dry ground, and seldom, during the chase, running across a cultivated plantation. In fox-hunting, it is well known that the horse usually becomes as much excited as his rider ; and at the cry of the hounds, I have known an old steed, which had been turned loose in the woods to pick up a subsistence, prick up his ears, 26y WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. and in an instant start ofiF full gallop until he overtook the pact, keeping in the run until the chase was ended. In the older southern States the modes of hunting the Gray Fox are much alike. To the sound of winding horns the neighboring gentry collect at an appointed place, each accom- panied by his favorite dogs, and usually a negro driver to manage them and keep them from starting deer. Mounted on fine horses, accustomed to the sport, they send in the hounds and await the start, chatting in a group, collected in some by-road, or some high spot of open ground from which they can hear every sound borne upon the breeze. Thickets on the edges of plantations, briar patches, and deserted fields covered with bloom-grass, are places where the fox is most likely to have his bed. The trail he has left behind him during his nocturnal rambles being struck, th§ hounds are encouraged by the voices of their drivers to as great speed as the devious course it leads them will permit. Now they scent the trail the fox has left along the field, when in search of partridges, meadow-larks, rabbits or field-mice ; presently they trace his footsteps to some large log, from whence he has jumped on to a worm-fence, and after walking a little way on it, leaped a ditch and skulked towards the borders of a marsh. Through all his crooked ways the sagacious hounds unravel his trail, until he is suddenly roused, perchance from a dreamy vision of fat hens, geese or turkeys, and with a general cry, the whole pack, led on by the staunchest and best dogs, open-mouthed and eager, join the chase. The startled fox makes two or three rapid doublings, and then sud- denly flies to a cover, perhaps a quarter of a mile off, and sometimes thus puts the hounds off the scent for a few minutes, as when cool and at first starting his scent is not so strong as that of the Red Fox. After the chase has continued for a quarter of an hour or so, and the animal is somewhat heated, his track is followed FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 269 with greater ease and quickness, and the scene becomes ani- mating and exciting. Now the masters dash into the chase, and with wild, eager yells of bursting excitment, they spur after the roaring pack and regardless plunge at headlong speed over and through the diflSculties of the ground. When the woods are free from underbrush, which is often the case in Virginia and the Carolinas, the grass and bushes being burnt almost annually, many of the sportsmen keep up with the dogs, and the fox is frequently in sight. He now resorts to some of the manceuvres for which he is famous ; he plunges into a thicket, doubles, runs into the water, l-eaps on to a log, or perhaps gets upon a worm fence and runs along the top of it for a hundred yards, leaping from it with a desperate bound and continuing his flight in the vain hope of escape. At length he becomes fatigued ; he once more drives into the closest thickets, where he doubles hurriedly ; he hears and even sees the dogs upon him, and as a last resort climbs a small tree. The hounds and hunters are almost in- stantly at the foot of it, and while the former are barking fiercely at the terrified animal, the latter usually determine to give him another chance for his life. The dogs are taken o£F to a little distance, and the fox is forced to leap to the ground by reaching him with a long pole or throwing a billet of wood at him ; he is allowed a quarter of an hour before the hounds are permitted to pursue him ; but he is now less able to escape than before, he has become stiff and chill, is . soon overtaken, and falls an easy prey, turning, however, upon his pursuers, with a fierce despair, and snapping at them indomitably, game to the last. The extraordinary cunning and sagacity of the Gray Fox is so much the constant theme of Southern hunters, that we might collect quite a volume of well authenticated stories of its feats ; but the best of the joke is, that wonderful as are the stories they tell of it, we in Kentucky, and wherever the Bed Fox has yet made its appearance, manage to out-Heroil 270 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Herod in the wonders we have to tell concerning it ; so, that on the whole, the question of rivalry may be set down as near about as long as it is short. Admitting all the champions of the Red Fox desire, the Grray Fox must be acknowledged to be smart, decidedly smart ! It frequently climbs trees with an awkward readiness, particu- larly in the summer time — ^but its favorite resort is to holes. Indeed, from what I remember of the Gray Fox, I should say emphatically that it was " of the earth, earthy," for in lime- stone regions, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, &c., where sinks or holes in the ground are abundant, the fellow only conde- scends to run for recreation, and takes to a hole precisely as soon as he becomes blown. An incident occurred in my own experience, and in the southern part of Kentucky, illustrating the astonishing saga- city of this fox, I was enthusiastically addicted to fox hunt- ing, and kept a fine pack of hounds. Several young men of the neighborhood kept packs of dogs also, and we used very frequently to meet, arid join in the chase with aU our forces. There was a certain briary old field of great extent, near the middle of which we could on any morning of the year, start a Gray Fox. After a chase of an hour or so, just enough to blow the dogs and horses well, we would invariably lose the fox at a given spot, the fence corner of a large planta- tion, which was opened into a heavy forest on one side of this old field ! The frequency and certainty of fliis event became the standing joke of the country. Fox hunters from other neighborhoods would bring their pack for miles, to have a run out of this mysterious fox, in the hope of clearing up the mystery. But no. They were aU baffled alike. We often, examined the ground critically, to find out, if possible, the mode of escape, but could discover nothing, that in any way accounted for it, or suggested any thing in regard to it. That it did not fly, was very sure ; that it must escape along the fdnce in some way was equally so. My first idea was, that FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 271 the animal, as is very common, had climbed upon the top rail of the fence, and walked along it to such a distance before leaping oflF, that the dogs were entirely thrown out. I accord- ingly followed the fence with the whole pack about me, clear round the plantation, but without striking the trail again or making any discovery. The aifair now became quite serious. The reputation of our hounds was suffering; and besides, I found they were really losing confidence in themselves, and would not run with half the staunch eagerness which had before characterized them. The joke of being regularly baffled, had been so often repeated, that they now came to consider it a settled thing that they were never to shake another fox again, and were disposed to give up in despair. Some of the neighbors had grown superstitious about it, and vowed that this must be a weir-fox, who could make himself invisible when he pleased. At last I determined to watch at the fence-corner, and see what became of the fox. Within about the usual time, we heard him heading towards the mysterious corner, as the voices of the pack clearly indicated. I almost held my breath in my concealment, while I watched for the appearance of this extraordinary creature. In a little while, the fox made his appearance, coming on at quite a leisurely pace, a little in advance of the pack. When he reached the corner, he climbed in a most unhurried and deliberate way to the top rail of the fence, and then walked along it, balancing himself as carefully as a rope-dancer. He proceeded down the side of the fence next to the forest in which I was concealed. I followed cautiously, so as just to keep him in view. Be- fore he had thus proceeded more than two hundred yards, the hounds came up to the corner, and he very deliberately paused and looked back for a moment, then he hurried on along the fence some paces farther, and when he came opposite a dead, but leaning tree, which stood inside the fence, some twelve •or sixteen feet distant, he stooped, made a high and long bound 272 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. to a knot upon the side of its trunk, up whicli he ran, and entered a hollow in the top where it had been broken off, near thirty feet from the ground, in some storm. I respected the astuteness of the trick too much to betray its author, since I was now personally satisfied; and he continued for a long time yet, while I kept his secret, to be the wonder and the topic of neighboring fox-hunters, until at last one of them happened to take the same idea into his head, and found out the mystery. He avenged himself by cutting down the tree, and capturing the smart fox. The tree stood at such a distance from the fence, that no one of us, who had examined the ground, ever dreamed of the possibility that the fox would leap to it ; it seemed a physical impossibility ; but practice and the convenient knot had enabled cunning Reynard to overcome it, with assured ease. I quote an incident from the Quadrupeds of America of nearly the same class. Shortly after the rail road from Charleston to Hamburg, South Carolina, had been constructed, the rails, a portion of the distance, having been laid upon timbers at a considerable height from the ground, supported by strong posts, we ob- served a fox which was hard pressed by a pack of hounds, mounting the rails, upon which he ran several hundred yards ; the dogs were unable to pursue him, and thus he crossed a deep cypress swamp, over which the rail road was in this singular manner carried, and made his escape on the opposite side. The late Benjamin 'C. Yancy, Esq., an eminent lawyer, who in his youth was very fond of fox hunting, related the following: — ^A fox had been pursued, near his residence in Edgefield, several times, but the hounds always lost the track at a place where there was a foot-path leading down a steep hill. He, therefore, determined to conceal himself near this declivity the next time the fox was started, in order to dis- cover his mode of baflBing the dogs at this place. The animal FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 273 was accordingly put up and chased, and at first led the hounds through many bayous and ponds in the woods, but at length came running over the brow of the hill along the path, stopped suddenly and spread himself out flat and motionless on the ground. The hounds came down the hill in pursuit at a dash- ing pace, and the whole pack passed, and did not stop until they were at the bottom^^of the hill. As soon as the imme- diate danger was over, the fox, casting a furtive glance around him, started up, and ran off at his greatest speed. I knew an instance much resembling the last given ; but this was a Red Fox. It was in the remarkable blufis of the Kentucky river. The fox had always been lost at the edge of one of these abrupt cliffs, which faced the river. The place had often been examined by the hunters, but as the descent was nearly a sheer perpendicular of several hundred feet, it had only to be looked over to convince the beholder that the fox must have wings to leap down it in safety. At last a hunter deter- mined to watch the fox, and accordingly lay in wait. He saw the creature come to the edge of the bluff and look down. Ten feet below, there was a break in the perpendicular line, ffhich formed a sort of steppe nearly a foot in width. The , movement by which he let himself down to this, was some- thing between a leap and a slide, but it nevertheless landed him safe on the shelf; and then it appeared that this was the mouth of a wide fissure in the rock. The most curious part of this story is, that the hunter discovered another and easy -ntrance to the cave from the level ground above. This the fox never used when the hounds were on his trail, as the more perilous entrance from the front cut short the scent, and pre- vented the discovery of his retreat. He could only get f'own that way and came out by the other opening from the lovel. 18 .6V. •:.'■■!:"'> -J* ^-fi' >: CHAPTER XI. TEE TEXAN HUNTRESS. My dissertation of the last chapter upon the Fox and Fox Hunting, though strictly germain to the general theme, has caused me in some measure to lose sight of the individuahty of the Hunter-Naturalist in one of his favorite sports. Though I have turned aside, through many pages, to present nobler exemplars of the character, still I must be here permitted to resume that broken thread of personal narrative, in which I commenced to recount something of its humble and inner ex- periences on the rough highway of development ; and now, evil, and wild, and stern as they may be, I shall continue to 274 THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 275 depict them with an unfaltering hand, for the lessons thej should convey. The rude and hardy sports in which my boyhood, youth and opening manhood had been spent with such devotion, had yet not been sufficiently engrossing to divert or turn aside that morbid revulsion of the passions, which inevitably super- venes upon their first fiery introduction — at this critical period — ^to reality outside the holiday world of Dreams and Books. Indeed, I had scarcely stepped beyond the threshold of the closet, and found myself under the sun, out in the broad world, before the sickness of this spiritual revulsion came over me. I felt the thin wings of the delicate visions I had rnu"- tured in, scholastic shades, wilt and curl up, as I have seen the dew-flawer petals beneath a flaming noqp. Ah ! a grievous sickness — almost unto death — that was, when I saw those exquisite frail things all dying. They were the creatures of the soul's first spring-time, of softer glowing hues, and breathing fresher odors than ever come again ; and what the sun had spared — when the tink- ling trample of the curt, gray frost went over them — were snapped and strewn — stark in their own beauties — dead ! The glory and the joy passed from the earth with them — a huge desolation spinning on its poles — I stood uppn its wide blank, deaf and blind, with one word burning in ghastly light through darkened brain and soul ! — a curse ! It was a pur- pose — ^it was a savage ecstacy, to live and curse all, — God, woman, man ! to walk through life until I chose to die, hating and defian|. I laughed hoarsely as I hugged the pleasant madness to my heart. 0, rare and mirthfulest conceit ! Re- venge. Hate ! scorn ! Ha ! ha ! I shouted in my bitterness ; right royal brotherhood for the stout spirit. What a carnival the game of life will be to us — only we wont throw sugar plums. I lie down upon the grass and sob and pule like a tripping Cupid over his crushed flowers ? Manly employment that I 276 WILD SCENES AND WILD HtJNTEKS. When here is a world swarming with fools to scorn ; and a wide air, tremulous with the heat of hearts, to trample on ; a Universe pregnant with some hideous Power to be defied! And then the proud exultation — to stalk on, beneath God's own lights, wronging his creatures, and taunting him to send his bolts. A new energy was possessing me. Life became stronger than it ever had been before, though my body was wasting. When the first wild whirl of this delirious excitement had passed away, the horrible transformation was completed, for an ashy-pale cold twilight, which no sunshine could dispel or warm, had settled upon my whole being — an icy ring palpably clung around my heart, which beat sharply and fast in the centre — my forehead was cold, but the brain was seething and glowing behind it. I felt a chill, unnatural, flaming in my eyes. I was afraid to look at them ; I saw little children shrink in afiright as they gazed at me. Then I knew there was hate and hell in them, and felt glad — for there was some of the old leaven left in spite of me — ^that innocence would be alarmed of its own instincts, and avoid me. I was stolidly sullen or hysterically merry, and felt the strangest inclination to laugh when I saw others weep. I would hide'my face in my handkerchief, and laugh until my sides ached at what were to others the most touching exhibitions of grief. I read incessantly, and out of all literature managed to extract the bitter waters. My sharpened and morbid fancy conceived that it could trace the creed of the logician, with its doubts, its sophisms, and its sneers, through " all records of all times." Yet I regarded the Berkeley, Volney, and Tom Paine school with profound contempt. These people attempted — ^vulgarly enough — ^to " reason" themselves into atheism and universal scepticism — nothing could have been more absurd ; and Hume would have been placed in the same category, but that he took to sneering and generalization. Voltaire was THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 277 the Bayard of these weapons, and his compeers learned to ise them. Gibbon possessed a subtle insight, and wielded the borrowed thrust effectually. I hated and scorned the Truths of Christianity not as "a Reasoner" but as an Idealist. I did not, in my morbid mad- ness, regard, though famUiar with them, the historic evidences of Christ's Godship and Mission. Had the same evidence proved that he came in a chariot, with blazing worlds for wheels, and myriad legions of the seraphim, with fiery swords about Him, that reaped a nation from the lap of earth, I should have been no more impressed by it than by the simple story of Calvary. Mere " Reason," I saw plainly enough, to be utterly incompetent to deal with the sublimity of that sacrifice, as I had seen it, and known it to be, with the simpler yet lofty devotion of common humanity. No ; regarding our world as a mere infinitesimal mite of the Infinite Universe, I impiously questioned, why and how the creative and governing source of these myriad worlds could recognize the atomies upon this speck of his dominions, as alone worth the sacrifice of His Son, and whether such a sacrifice had been made for the rebels of other worlds ; and recognizing, too, in my philosophy, the separate entity of the soul, and the mere animal life — I insanely demanded those spiritual evidences and revelations His followers professed to receive, and which proved to them that the God of all was present here, regardful of every hair of our heads, and even of every sparrow that should fall upon this molecule of space ! Unfortunately, these evidences could never come to such de- mands; with all the travail of an eager and presumptuous spirit, they had not yet appeared. My faith, or imagination, had been appealed to, yet, through nothing palpable it could lay hold of; and the earnest logician, who starts with doubt, will certainly never reason himself out of the labyrinth. The more he reasons the more he doubts. The beginning and the end with him is doubt. He doubts '218 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. everything — the justice and the being of God — for he mea- sures him, his entity, and his acts, by the human standard — the truth and virtue of his race — ^for he measures them by what he has felt and realized to be his own capabilities of evil ; and so he goes on, until life — ^its purposes, its duties, its realities — ^becomes to him one vast lie — a monstrous illu- sion ; and himself, with his passions and their ferocious crav- ings, the only actuality — his own volition, the focal power round which and for which, the universe revolves. This devouring egotism — though more, in my instance, an intel- lectual, than a moral vice — had swallowed up all social ties. I could recognize society now, only as a masked battle-field, in which every man, as captain of his own passions, saw in each fellow man he met a sworn instinctive foe, leading his own cohort of selfish passions ;n the grand melee of life. The individual contests, then, were decided by the cool and wary subtlety of che Olympic wrestler. The genial virtues, family ties, friendship, love, benevolence, constituted the mere masquerade of the great central instinct, selfishness! This infernal creed grew upon me, until I became, in plain words, a devil. Those who had known me and loved me as the gay, frank, confiding enthusiast, stared at my altered face and relentless savagery of manner — first in speechless astonish- ment, and then turned aside to weep ! When I laughed at and mocked their tears, they tried to think me mad — but I was too coolly and rationally brutal for that. They could not put me in a strait jacket, l^ut could only wonder and grieve. The very fiends of hell would have been aghast at the awful phantasies which came and dwelt with me as matters of course. I could think of stabbing my own friend, as a -jommon-place thing to be calculated upon. I became morose and vicious in my temper until my best friends avoided me, and those who had given me cause for enmity would turn aside from my path. I had become a downright nuisance, THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 279 with my wicked, scornful gibing at everything men hold sacred. As to women — " to search the bottom of annoy," and gall, and pain them with the most studied and cruel rail- lery, was an especially pleasant recreation — the enjoyment of which was heightened in the precise ratio of their beauty and wit — or, as I pretended to myself, of their power to deceive and ruin the moral lives of others, as mine had been blasted by them. At last I sickened of such tame amuse- ments. I thirsted — ^my blood was on fire for sterner excitements — I longed to meet death face to face, and look on carnage. It was an anticipated ecstacy of proud and fierce delight — ^the thought of meeting my detested fellows openly at the weapon's point. I had champed with the social manacles on, over my stifled hate, until endurance was no longer possible. I looked around upon the world for the scenes and circumstances fitted to the gratification of such pleasant humors. Texas was a very paradise of monsters — ^the vicious, the desperate, the social and civil outlaws of all the world had gathered there. Delightful fraternity of devils ! — ^they were fighting among themselves, fighting with the Mexicans, fighting with the Indians, and for recreation — to keep their hands in — were battling with the wild beasts. Charming existence ! How it attracted me ! how I yearned to participate in its pleasures. I madly severed the few remaining ties, and started for this El Dorado of the rufiSan. My friends saw me go, I believe, with a mournful sense of relief. Though I had been guilty of no overt outrage against the laws of society, yet my moral presence had become pesti- lential, and they felt that the morbid disease which was withering up my soul, must find its own cure. I found myself in just the element I needed in this country. I met with men capable of all I dared to do — as hard and reckless, as God-defying and man-hating, as could be desired. I felt at home and at ease with such men — we understood each other ! 280 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. We carried our lives in our hands — or, what is in other worda the same thing — our weapons. It added very much to my relish of the sense of being, the consciousness that I could get myself shot at any time by crooking my finger. It was a novel sensation — the having one's life so entirely at our command — at least the holding it in such complete dependence upon one's prompt right arm. And then the occasional divertisement of quelling some red-handed bully — as cowardly as he was ferocious. It was a refreshing exultation to unmask such villains, and see their white livers paling through their cheeks. But the life in the cities and settlements was a mere fore- taste. I must go to the frontier to meet the dusky chivaby of the mountains on the " Debatable Ground" of the plains What, with the open struggle with these wild warriors,^, gaunt, half naked, subtle — and guarding against the secret and murderous treachery of the Mexican, — I expected' to find employment enough, and glut my passions with the tumult of strange perils ! Perhaps then my blood would grow cooler, the fever might go off, and leave me thinking and feeling more as I once did ! for I longed at times to get back to the ground I had left, but could not now ! The disease must have its course. I was plunging into all this madness to get away from my own con- sciousness, to hide from the frightful realization of my own doctrines ! I would say, parenthetically, that this recital is not in- tended for the sleepy, lymphatic denizens of the "namby pamby inane." Your "perfect people," who never had a sinful thought, a passion above beef-steak, or a higher adven- ture than overturning a poor woman's apple-stall, — their very blood would be congealed at the idea of reading a line from the pen of so wicked a wretch as I have described myself to have been. But men and women who have thought, felt, analyzed, seen, acted and remembered, will recognize the THK TEXAN HUNTRESS. 281 idiosjncracy of this case, as set forth, to be common to one of the necessary stages of the inner life's development. Suf- fice it ! To the frontier I did go, — and now for the story of my adventurings there. The incidents I am about to give are some of them familiar to leading men of Texas, though they have never been related in print. On my way out I had stopped to visit at the house of a friend, who was a planter, living high up on the Brazos River. Our time was principally occupied in hunting. As I had just arrived in the country, the abundant sport afforded by the numbers and variety of the game, with which it might be said literally to swarm, afforded a diversion to my morbid feeling, and kept me in a continued state of eager excitement. I was on my horse the greater part of the time. Though not a raw woodsman, so far as making my way through the heavy forests of the West was concerned, yet finding myself for the first time upon the vast and unaccus- tomed expanse of the Southern Prairies, I was for a long time surprised that though excessively reckless, I should be here much perplexed, and even timid, in attempting to find my way. The land-marks are so different, as well as the modes of using them, from those to which I had been accustomed, that I was frequently confused and overwhelmed with awe on finding myself left in the vicissitudes of the hunt, alone amidst the illimitable solitudes, with no experienced eye to see for me the course, where all was trackless. When I would thus get " turned round," as it is called, and the consciousness that I had lost my course, would drive the blood to my heart : the startled sense of the revulsion is difiScult to describe. Body and soul would seem for a moment as if sinking under the weight of a drear solemnity, and then the returning blood would leap back to the brow, thrilling every fibre with a shudder. A thousand Stories of bloody deaths under the reeking scalping-knife of savage hordes, met in the 282 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. wide wilderness of plains ; of confused circlings day by day, always bringing the victim back to bis own trail, until the dreary, lingering death of starvation relieved the bewilder- ment ; of banded wolves with gaping jaws, hungry yells and tireless feet, pursuing the uncertain flight which has be- trayed to their ferocious instinct a sure prey in the lost man ; of grim, creeping panthers springing from the thicket upon the deep sleep of his fruitless exhaustion ; of the wild, vague and unutterable horror of lonely, unavenged and unrecorded death in a thousand forms, — until self-possession reeled, and the mad impulse was to strike spurs into my horse and plunge blindly on amidst them all. This singular sensation grsidaally loses its intensity, when, by a series of happy accidents, rather than instincts, we gain more confidence, and it requires a less forlorn struggle to recall ourselves to calmness and the cool consideration of the position in which we are thrown. But let there be as many lessons as can well be crowded into a year or two of such wild experiences, yet he is a man of very strong nerve who can, even then, draw up his horse, after a heated chase of buffalo, deer, or wolf, or bear, and not feel much of this appalled startle when, the slaughter over, he looks around with aching eyes for the first time to see where he is. A sinking sense of loneliness and awe is the reaction of the fierce and headlong excitement, under which he has been hurled, as it were, he knows not in what direction, or how far. He gazes around him in breathless silence and name- less dread for awhile; the contrast of the stilless, i^ow that death has intervened, with the crashing, raging impetus which brought him here, is too oppressive, and he dares not make a sound ; he almost shudders while the dim consciousness that he has just done murder in the sight of his peaceful mother. Earth, comes over him reproachfully amidst her voiceless (.•alms ; and the whole forest, with its straight stems, the broad TUE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 283 plain -with its flower eyes, the benignant sun, the wide air itself, all seem for one instant to have stood still to gaze upon the unholy deed. There lies the quiet victim! He feels their reproach as he looks upon its fixed, but undimmed eyes. He cannot stand all this. I said it was but for one instant, and then his habitual hardness returns ; the awe he throws off with a sneer ; the carcass is slung upon his horse, and he turns its head towards the nearest high land to look how the country lies. If he recognizes no familiar land-marks, and he sees that he is out of his range, he then tal^es his course by the direction of the prevailing winds, the moss upon the trees, the position of the sun, the course of the streams or of the buffalo trails, by the flight of birds, or thousand other tele- graphic characters which he has learned to read. But then he has nevertheless experienced, however briefly, this vague feeling of terror and dread, to which we have al- luded, and no one but an old skinny Trapper, whose whole life has been speht among the mountains, ever entirely loses this sensation on realizing that he is lost in these mighty golitudes ; because, in the first place, he is never lost, and in the next, if he were, it would be all the same to him. He can live wherever a snail, a lizzard, or a raven can live, and he cares little if he never sees the face of man for a year or two ; in that time he is sure to come out somewhere, even if it be on the Pacific coast ! The deep gorges of the moun- tains afford him shelter and repose in winter ; the open plain or forest glades a couch in summer ; a rock is pillow soft enough for him, and piping winds do well for lullabies, though they do bring the thunder for their bass ! He starves until ravin makes him wild, and then his rifie is more inexorable than the bolts of death. The famishing wolf is merciful to him. Earth and her creatures are nothing, now, but fuel and ■ food to glut his shriveled maw. Blood ! blood ! Blood is to him Ambrosia. The Nectar of the gods would not tempt him from the greasy esculence of " beaver 284 ■WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. tail !" He is ecstatic upon " buffalo hump," and sups hia divinest inspiration from a gourd of "bar's grease." What knows he, then, of that "dim religious awe" within the natural temples of the Most High, at which I have hinted ! Not he ! He has become in these temples what the world calls a practical priest, and cuts up the "flesh offerings" like a saw, as harsh and as steely hard ! But to return to our story. The day's himt had been an unusually exciting one. We hunted deer after the following fashion. These animals feed principally upon the open prairie, but about eleven o'clock, A. M. they may be seen in long lines sauntering towards the nearest wood, which usually, throughout Texas, grows upon the margin of the small lakes or banks of streams. They are now going to water, and repose in the shade 7intil three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when they come out^ to feed again. The deer of the prairies is a very swift variety, with smaller antlers than the common buck of our forests bears. We stationed ourselves some half a mile dis- tant in the prairie on fleet horses, some who were most skilled with the common "lasso" of the country, and others with our holster pistols, as in my own case. A negro " driver," as he is called, was then sent in with dogs on the opposite side of the wood to drive the deer out upon the plain ; for, contrary to the usage of the common deer, this creature of the plains makes always for open ground directly when pursued, and we awaiting their exit chased them by sight on our horses. We had but little time to wait, for within twenty minutes out burst a numerous herd. It was a splendid sight as they came plunging into the long grass and sunshine, out from the dark shadows suddenly, with their white throats, their " antlered pride" thrown back, and round ears laid sharp behind to hearken the pursuing cry of "bell-mouthed" hound. It is one of the most exciting scenes I know in the sports of our country. We reined up our horses for the start ; bending forward THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 285 with eager eye and bounding pulse to wait the instant when they should have passed us on their way into the illimitable plain upon which they trust to their flying feet for safety. But though those tiny hoofs be fleet enough to leave the Red Wolf far behind, or dart beyond the agile panther's leap, yet our good steeds, that champ and plunge impatiently, are far more fleet than they. Now they go bounding by with long, high leaps over the tall, embarrassing grass, and seem as if they half wore wings, and were afraid to use them. Now, too, with a wild shout of pent-up excitement, we are ofi' on the chase, each man selecting his special prey. There is little use for the whip and spur in this hunt, for when a horse has once tasted its fierce and headlong pleasures, he needs no other stimulant after. They, like their riders, become furious with the excitement, and sometimes will bite the poor animal when they come up with it after a long chase. The broad, white tails of the deer produce a droll effect as they rise and fall along the surface of the grass, and serve as a sort of fluttering beacon to the eye in the early part of the run ; for, when they, at first sight of you, fairly straighten themselves in their frightened speed, they leave horse and rider far enough behind ; but this does not last long ; they are very fat at this season, the fall, and do not hold out at this rate. They soon begin to flag from the heat and dragging weight of the grass, which is now nearly as high as their backs. We gradually close upon them, and the herd begins to break up, scattering here and there and everywhere. Your eye has become fixed upon a particular one, a noble buck, whose powerful form has attracted you. Your horse has caught , the same object, and divines you well as he turns his head to follow it, without regard to the course taken by the rest. Now the excitement becomes a delirium of action ; and as you find yourself farther separated from the other sounds of the chase, your own individual paf sions become more and more intensified upon the immediate object before you, and you 286 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. rush on, you know not whither. My game on this day proved to be much more long-winded and powerful than usual, and I had, as the consequence, a tremendous race of it before I began to gain very rapidly upon its flight. At length the buck began to make leaps a little less long and high, and my horse, by this time thoroughly heated in the run, to snort with eagerness as he let out an additional link or two of speed. I closed rapidly with the quarry, and loosened my holsters for the shot which was to close the scene. Now my horse, with ears laid back, closes up alongside, and with trembling haste the pistol is snatched from the holster. With all its desperate speed we almost touch the hair with the muzzle before we fire — ^between the shoulders — and it is down ! — tumbling, in the impulse of its flight, forward with broken neck bent beneath the body. It is over ! We are silent and still. The bloody work is finished, and I look around for the first time to see where I am, or what is in sight. I am amongst a wild Archipelago of islands, or " motts" of timber, with long, irregular vistas stretching between them in all directions. My victim lies at my feet quiet enough now. The strong breeze cools my heated forehead. The hush is profound at first, for eVery voice of nature has been frightened into silence by the violent scene which had just occurred to desecrate a peaceful home ; but gradually, before my confused sense has time to realize the scene, the rap, rap, rapping of a wood-pecker's hammer stole timidly out from the nearest " mott," .and then sound after sound, resumed in the same low key, hesitated forth from bird and insect, showing that Nature was yet alive, although just now so appalled. I gazed around— with something of the dim confused per- ception of one awakening from the deep sleep of troubled dream — into the lengthening vistas stretching by uncertain glimpses into remotest distance — when gradually the overwhelming rea- lization of the vastness came upon me, and then the shudder- THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 287 ing consciousness that I was lost ! — as utterly lost as if I had just dropped upon the planet from the moon, with a piece of green cheeae in my fist. I had lost all idea of course, dis- tance, or time during the chase, and now was completely " turned round." I immediately felt the full dangers of my situation. I knew the direction in which we had started, but knew, too, as well, that from the numerous turns the chase had taken, that I could no more tell which way to start back than if I had been physically blind, as I had, in fact, been mentally so. I had imprudently come out without a pocket compass, and was a young woodsman lost upon strange plains. I did not know enough of the geography of the country to render what knowledge I had of natural signs of any avail to me here. I was, in a word, sufficiently panic-struck to act more like the inexperienced person that I was, than with the self-possession these circumstances so much required. My heart beat very loud and fast as I wheeled my horse, and with a sultry feeling of recklessness, spurred him into one of the narrow openings, without stopping one moment to consider which way or whither it should lead me. The poor deer I left upon the spot where it fell, for I was too much startled to think of dissecting it now — since, of all the terrible fates that could ever befall a human being, this of being lost in such a country, had always been most formidable to me. I had known of so many instances of terrible suffering and dreary death from such a cause, at this early time, — when even individual settlements were sometimes eighty or a hun- dred miles a;part in the direction of Galveston, and none in the opposite direction for thousands, — that now the chill revulsion seemed first like present annihilation, and then like such remote and undefined suffering as was far more formidable ; so I urged on vaguely — hoping nothing, trusting nothing, but simply asking for action to distract — and a crisis to end the suspense. 288 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTFRB. My horne apparently sympathized with my terror and despair, for he rushed on with a frightened speed, which at any other time would have been frightful, but now was only congenial. I recognized no object that we passed — each melted into the other, forming on either hand a sort of back- running liquefaction of mountain and tree, of plain and sky, that seemed to be keeping time with my motion. I was riding through a dim land, where nothing looked real but all infinite — where the end was I did not know. It was not long before I gained the open plain, upon which there was, indeed, nothing but grass, and horizon, but which appeared to me the wide end of all things. It was like gal- loping on clouds toward the moon or " the jumping-off place" — the distance seemed so inappreciable ! yet I urged on. The grass sparrow chirped and flitted, I suppose, — the deer turned round to stare, no doubt, — ^the partridge roared its sudden under-bass of wings and skimmed away, bending the grass-tops with its windy whirr, for all I know, but yet I saw them not but as we see swift shadows in a stormy dream. I shouted like a crazy man. I fired my other pistol in the air, in the hope that some of the party of hunters might hear it — then I paused to listen. My frightened and impatient horse would chafe and plunge for a moment, and again, as if divining why I paused, would be still as death ; and now with pricked ears, pointed stiffly here and there, seem listening round him for a sound — and then would snuff the breeze with his wide, eager nostrils, and with an impulse, headlong and impatient as my own, bound onward — as the steady, winging raven that followed, over head, our course, croaked an answer that sounded so like self-congratulation. Away ! away ! away ! and still no sight — and still no sound that came to us with any promise — a herd of mustangs would scurry off, snorting as we passed — a squad of buffaloes, wheel- ing sharp about, and like hogsheads inspired of hoofs, with THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 289 tails stuck straight in air, go lumber away over the shaking plain — ^but nothing like human form appeared. The first madness had passed off — the instinct of the love of life had assumed its place, and the blurred vision had become intensi- fied by the sharpening apprehension which the physical brought, of thirst, hunger and exhaustion. I saw objects clearly now. Every line in the horizon was distinctly defined, and conveyed to me a sort of hope. All things, indeed, took their relations again, and I was unfright- ened into calm. I knew my danger, in detail, and saw every blade of grass that marked my way towards — ^what ? I heard the odd ejaculation of the long-necked blue cranes explode upon the silonce like a distant pistol shot — I saw the flowers bend, and the meadow lark, with its dark feather-heart out- side its musical breast, bound up from the grass with its low fluttering flight, to sing on wing most sweetly, of all joy, though filled with fear. The very sand rat that had darted with a faint squeak to its hole, I saw peep forth again as I went past, so minutely did my vision take in everything now. I had ridden on for several hours, the country at each moment becoming still more strange. There were no objects in which I could detect the slightest degree of familiarity — my horse was beginning to fail, and dreading lest he would give out beneath me, I reined him up. This would, indeed, be a fate too terrible to contemplate — being left on foot in the midst of these great plains ! I got down and stroked his panting sides and walked with him for an hoiu-, until he seemed to be regaining his strength somewhat, for the morn- mg's. work had been tremendous, as I in my unrecking despair, had kept him urged to nearly the top of his speed during this foolish ride. Fortunately, he was one of those game and indomitable horses formed by crossing the mustang, which is an Arab, upon the larger-boned Northern horse, or he could never have survived such a run. 19 290 WILD SCENES AND -WILD HUNTERS. I had supposed that my only chance of escape lay in keep- ing one direction, for, that circling commenced, each turn made lessened the chances. But now that I came to reason somewhat coolly about my position, it became apparent to me, that in this time I had, in pursuing this straight line, passed over more than treble the possible distance to the plantation of my friend, and that, of course, I must therefore either have taken the wrong direction or have passed it without observing. Then commenced that fatal series of doubts, fears, surmises, trials, in this and that direction, which is usually the indica- tion of syncope in this disease of getting lost. Bach failure only bewilders you the more— ^each turn makes " confusion worse confounded." But, nevertheless, some change had be- come necessary. I might be every moment going away from the reach of help — getting deeper and deeper into the track- less waste ! But which way shall I turn ? I now remembered, for the first time, that I had failed to trust any thing to my horse in choosing my direction. If I had, done so in the first place, the chances were that the extraordinary instinct possessed by many of these animals, would have carried me right ! I have, in frequent instances, found this instinct infallible, especially when the animal was closely crossed upon the Arab blood. That noble race, which bore the earliest children of Ham in the chase across the shifting deserts, inherits all the strange instincts, with regard to courses and distances, which the wild and perilous uses of their' hunter-lords developed in them, through the centuries which have developed as well our civilization. They are, therefore, best suited, until the camel comes, to traverse, with security the " unhoused wilderness" of the great south-west. That wonderful animal has not yet been introduced upon these plains, although much has been done by myself and others to awaken public attention to its importance. Such an advent will entirely revolutionize the commerce and travel THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 291 of the plains. The camel must carry our civilization over these deserts, as it has brought that of the ancient east upon its uncouth back towards the triumphing West. I stopped my horse entirely, and dropping the reins upon his back, urged him slightly with my spurs — very slightly. When he found himself free, he shook his head to realize it, and then, stopping, turned his gaze around and around him several times — ^but yet he seemed to be bewildered, and only moved hesitatingly, first in this direction and then in that. If he had taken his course at once, I should have felt some hope — ^but my heart sank in me as I saw from his manner that he felt what was expected of him, but had become con- fused. Had he ''taken any particular direction and pursued it steadily, with accelerated speed, I should have been entirely secure, because then I would have been impressed that he knew he was right, and could ultimately bear us through. His hesitation, however, convinced me that I was as utterly lost as ever rudderless ship, without a compass, was upon a shoreless sea — ^but yet I felt, too, that I had better trust to him than to myself. My imagination had confused me, while physical exhaustion had rendered his instinct too insecure. He was evidently as afraid of being trusted as I to trust. However, after a pause of a few moments, he moved on, turning back nearly in the direction we had come. At first I was pleased with this selection, as it seemed to indicate the possible truth of my own surmise, that I had started nearly right, but had passed the plantation. This poor consolation, however, did not outlive the approach of night, which came in heavy shadows, portending a storm, such as thunders and rages along these southern plains occasionally. My miserable horse was now nearly exhausted, and staggered as he dragged his limbs heavily through the high grass. We were still in the prairie with nothing around us but the grea.t oceaa of grass, which was beginning to toss and sway with the advance winds of the coming tornado. 292 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. The black heaven of clouds came rolling up out of the south-east, and already I felt the cold breath that drove it on, dash with a fresh heavy chill against my face, like the spray of a cataract. The rush and roar that followed left me no time for thought. In a moment, horse and man were prostrate, helpless along the plain. Such crashes ! — such tremendous claps — such sheeting the horizon with swift piercing blazes — such beating, crushing floods, that but seemed a better medium to transmit the mighty clangor hurled around by the strong wind, with vast black clouds that dipped and spun like flakes of ebon down, or sudden fire above ! Such an image of sublimest anarchy never before came to overwhelm an already desperate, wearied, and starving wanderer. I clutched at the strong rooted grass in the blindness of my astound, and knew not, in the horrid tumult, that my horse had fallen upon my leg. I was so stunned that I did not feel the pai.i. I tried to look up to understand the awful clamor. Was the last day come ? Had some God descended in the terror of his might ? A keen shaft, in clattering zigzag, would pierce the cha.os, blind- ing as it illuminated. The crashing of torn limbs, caught up miles away, and projected with the flooding rain — the stifling grass-tops, torn and hurled into my face — the bellowing moan of frightened bufialoes — the shaking trample of their strug- gling feet, all came commingled, as the only interludes to my confused senses. My horse, at last, as terror-stricken as myself, burst forth, while he lay writhing upon my crushed leg, into a wild and strangely harrowing cry — ^peculiar to these animals when overcome by panic — and which now rose a weird shriek of agony into the tempest. I had never heard it before, and could not know its source ; and the sudden coming of this shrill and unimaginable cry so close to my head, had an efi'eet of the supernatural so absolutely appalling, that I fainted, und remember nothing more until the steady blazing of the THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 293 early sunlight upon my eyes waked me to a sense of pain, weakness, and astonishment, amounting almost to fright — for Stooping over me was one of the most unexpectedly strange figures that it had ever been my fortune yet to encounter. " He's coming-to — ^the poor boy !" This was spoken in a tone that startled me for some reason — ^I did not know what — entirely apart from the circum- stances, and the unexpectedness of hearing a human voice at all, after and amidst such scenes. I looked up. What a f.i. e ! Storm-seamed and bronzed, it was clearly a woman's bust — a woman's face ! — ^that leaned over and looked kindly down upon me from beneath a sort of half cap and half hood of fawn's skin, with the spotted hair turned out. " You are not wanting of a wet bed to make you grow — ^my green youngster! What in the Lord's name brought you here, child?" The sort of half-grim pleasantry with which this was spol;en, as I opened my eyes fully upon her, relieved to some de.roe my startled feeling of apprehension, and I faltered out feebly, with an attempt at cleverness : — " I suppose I was blown here — or fell from the clouds !" She assisted me to a sitting posture with her strong hand. "Nonsense! nonsense, boy! — ^your own foolish hastiness brought you here ! get up ! — Ah ! I see you cannot rise yet ! But you are hungry, perhaps ! — I'll give you a slice of~aT fine a buck as ever was killed, and the taste of which one w uld think you ought to know !" She drew forward a small wallet of dressed skin that was slung behind her singular costume of the same material, and took from it some pieces of roasted venison, with which she presented me. As I clutched them with a half-famishing eagerness, a low, quiet laugh from this personage caused me to look up at her again with a droll feeling of curiosity, which even excessive hunger could not repress. " Taste it, boy ! taste it ! He ! he ! he ! — you ought tc 294 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. know that meat!" and she stooped to pick a rifle from the wet grass ; and while, continuing to chuckle, she examined carefully the neat lock, I could see her whole figure fully as 1 ate. The form was unmistakeably that of a genuine woman. The figure, about five feet seven, had nothing of Amazonian stoutness at all apparent, although the manner in which the rifle was held and handled, would naturally lead one to sup- pose that those limbs must be very compact, indeed. The general outline, although obscured by the rude drapery, gave you the idea of that swift tenacity which roun 1. small bone and taut-strung thews express in the young Indian runner of the North, without destroying a sort of " formidable grace" in its flexible natural movement. You were sui'prised, and yet you were not, that she should be a woman of our own race. The features were plain, and here the lines were a little sharp, though not unmatronly. altogether. There was an expression of care, not faded, but eager, anxious, longing. The eye seemed so calm and frank, quick, open, large and blue, that that you could never have conceived the finely arched eye-brow as darkening of itself, but simply as drawn down by the possible contracting of a " dreary mouth austere" below. In a word, with her tanned, self-possessed face, her hair slightly tinged with gray, her half- hunter and half Indian-woman costume, her concise latjniao'e, her sudden appearance, she was to me the most extraordinary mortal phenomenon I had yet met witL I was too hungry to philosophize or speculate, so there was nothing left me to do but live in the exhausted present, and wait for the future to enlighten me concerning her. She leaned the gun, re-covering the lock with a buck's skin guard, carefully against my saddle, which I observed upon the grass, and seeming to be satisfied from her inspection that the tube was all right and the cap now entirely dry, she walked towards my horse, morely saying, — "Sleep again, boy, and you will be ready !" The curt injunction seemefl THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 295 almost unnecessary, for the unconquerable dro'wsmess which followE eating, after long hunger and excessive fatigue and excitement, was already upon me ; and the last I saw of her she was standing by the side of my horse with caressing words and gestures as he nibbled feebly at the grass amidst which he stood, with an uncertain sort of air, as if he would just as soon lay down again, or rather fall down ! — as not ! When I awoke again, the sun was getting low, and its shadows even fell over the damp bed upon which I had fallen. I raised myself to a sitting posture with a vigor apparently renewed, as I felt for the moment the deepest astonishment and mj'stified enough by what had been occurring. It all seemed like a dream. It could not be real ! There was a vague image of a strange woman with a rifle in her hand, struggling through my brain, and I tried to remember her cool, patronizing words, and her plain, remarkable face, with the fawn-skin hood, and her hardy looking figure, with its anomalous dress of buck-skin ; but it all seemed too unreal, and I found myself standing erect, with a sort of smiling con- sciousness that I had been having a very ridiculous dream ; because, there was my noble gray standing the usual distance off in the deep grass, and browsing as if he expected a long day's work, and was laying in the necessary supply of pro- vender therefor. To be sure, the grass seemed strangely levelled and twirled about, and it was odd what a number of twigs and limbs , of trees lay strewed around, considering there was nothing like a tree in sight ; but yet I could make nothing out of it. How came my saddle off ? How came Gray to look so comfortable ? How came I so lame in my left leg that I could not step more than half an inch at a time after I got up, with a sort of numbed struggle, to my feet, and realized the extent and dreariness of the devastation in the midst of which I stood? The prairie presented the appearance of a thousand mael- stromes congealed into green stillness, humbled by a Higher 296 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Power as a fixed expression of abasement, with all the broken, jagged wrecks left obtrusive, sticking here and there and everywhere, just as they had been hurled in the rash rebellion that had provoked it. What a scene of desolation for a dreaming man to awake to realize ? I had risen from a blanket ! It seemed as if I must have gone to sleep quite considerately ! — there were evidences about me of my having partaken of food, — the proof was in the vigor that I felt in spite of my lameness ! and then the whole terrible scene of the storm came back to me as I brushed my forehead impetuously with my hand. Ha ! ha ! — I have it all ! — That woman ! I turned my head, and there stood the strange figure, leaning on her rifle, within ten feet of me, chuckling inwardly at my bewilderment, with that same cool smile ! "Young man, are you ready now?" she asked, suddenly. I was still somewhat bewildered, and answered, " Ready for what?" " To go with me !" was the abrupt reply. " But go where ? What would you have me to do ? Who are you? Are you man or woman?" " What is that to you, childish boy ? Your questions are foolish. I have saved your life and wish to preserve it far- ther ; you can never get out of this wilderness in your present condition. I will take you home with me until you are le- covered suflBciently." "But, have you a home?" I said, pertinaciously. " Am I a wild beast ?" she answered, taking off the strange head-dress, and showing a pure white brow, the feminine lines of which contrasted curiously with the dark, seamed bronze beneath. She smiled, I thought a little proudly, as she re- placed it, and advanced towards my horse for the purpose of equipping him, which was done with perfect dexterity. She then led him to my side. " Now, boy, will you mount V THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 297 "How can I! I can scarcely move." " 0, never mind ! your leg is not broken. I can help you!" So without more ado, she lifted me into the saddle, with perfect ease to herself, but great agony to me. When once in the saddle, the pain subsided in a measure. She pointed me the course, and walking by my side, held my leg gently, so as to ease its position as much as possible. This conside- rate kindness had a most soothing effect upon mc, and the simple act greatly alleviated my pain and restored me to con- fidence, — singular as had been the circumstances of this ren- contre. I was even moved to speak to her as to a human being; for in my disturbed state she had really appeared a doubtful sort of being. I was not over clear in tiiy mind as to where she came from, nor over sure what to expect from her ; but this little act convinced me that I must be in good hands, at least, however unaccountable the use they were apparently put to might seem. She appeared to comprehend the sort of dubiousness of feeling with which I had become possessed, and answered the question : — " How far is this home of yours ?" " ! it isn't in a hole in the ground, in a hollow tree, or in a cave, as you will see!" "Then, how far is it to C 's plantation?" (My friend's.) " You will find it far enough to need whole limbs to reach it." " But how far may that be ?" " Boy ! we have no surveyors here, with their steel chains laid along the earth, emblematic of the slavery to which it is doomed, to measure our miles for us. We measure them by our own free strides !" "But that is no answer !" "Ask no questions! I will show you when it is tiae enough for you to go !" 298 WILD SCENES AND 'WTLD HUNTERS. This was spoken with a sort of petulance, m«ngled with solemnity ; and, as if declining further conversation, she urged on my horse and strode more rapidly, not forgetting her ten- der care of my leg, though she had dropped her head moodily npon her breast. I was compelled into silence, of course, but this abrupt sort of manner roused my pride somewhat. I recalled the frequency with which she had spoken to me as a " boy," " child," &c., with some spleen, as I rode on in sulky silence, too. Why, I was a young man of twenty-one, and thought myself somebody ! What was there entitling any- body to call me by diminutive names, in the stupid fact of my having got lost in a country of which I knew so little ? "I dislike this sort of patronage, even if she has got some streaks of gray* in her hair ; she is not so oldish-looking after all, as to entitle her to speak like the mother of Methusaleh, even if she did drag me from under my horse when I was uncon- scious !" so I muttered to myself in a really childish spleen, the secret of which was mingled of mortified vanity, and bijf- fled curiosity. As she remained silent, I was foolish enough to give way to this feeling at last. " Why do you persist in calling me ' child,' * boy,' and the like names ?" "Because you are a child!" and she looked up into my face with a quick glance that had an expression of sternness in it, above that compressed mouth, that I shall never forget. " Mere boy as you are, you think you are a man ! — you might pass well enough in the tinselled dens and reeking sinks of civilization ! Perhaps you are a boy-man !" This was said with a slight sneer that cut me to the very core. "But, remember! — ^it requires something more than mere years — ^the vital breath of which has been poisoned — ^to make a man out here, in the presence of the Almighty, worthy to look up into his solemn Infinite, where Nature is the only delegated Presence ! You must have wiser and riper experience, than those which caused a brave young man — no doubt ! — to start THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 299 like a madman across the plains, merely because he considered himself lost, — without taking time to cut the throat of the deer he had just shot, or to cooly examine his immediate neighborhood, — ^when, in that event, he might have seen me step forth, whose eye had been upon him, and relieve him from all trouble. You need to trust Nature more, and through her learn to trust yourself! She is full of amenities, and in the mild grandeur of her moods is merciful to all but human weakness. As she represents all that we know of God's physical to us, we must trust her in such relations as we trust him in the spiritual. You are old enough and know enough to have found your way back to your friends, if you had stopped to think a moment. " You did not trust, — and though you might not have fled from mortal foe, you did fly from your own imaginations, for I was an unseen witness ! I saw you scurry ofi", and before I understood the cause, you were beyond the reach of any sound I could produce. I laughed, and pitied you, — ^but found you this morning by accident." " You are a strange person ! What is the meaning of all these things you say to me?" "Meaning, boy? That you children of civilization imagine yourselves educated when you have talked with books in dingy closets, and grown pale in the stagnant air in which your morbid dreams are generated, along with didl diseases ! You have only commenced the true life. Neither the physi- cal or spiritual are yet developed in you, although you may be what you call learned !" *'That I disclaim!" I could not help saying, with false and unnece6«ary modesty. " Then, it is nothing to your credit ! One kind of learn- ing is as necessary as another I" she continued, with no change of intonation, but in a severe, rapid manner. " You should know books as well as Nature. One is God's Book and the other man's !" 300 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. " That sounds polemical !" sneered I, having by this time become interested in her dogmatism, and feeling a sudden accession of the old profane propensity for cynicism. " I am sxo vulgar heretic. I believe in all the sacrednesses of humanity, but I believe as well in those of Nature. The religion of the Bible is, perhaps, more of a religion to me than to you, — ^but the religion of Nature is an essential part of it, and, with me, the base, of course, as Eden had its base upon the earth." "Well!" thought I, to myself, "Here's a droll preacher I have met with, any how !" " But, you think it strange I should tell you that you do not know your own life, because you suflFered your imagination to make a fool of you, in conditions from which your experiences showed you no mode of escape which you could understand ?" "Yes!" "Well, that you may understand what I mean, — should you not have known how to read this great page of continent- stretching plain, as well as that other smaller page of your Human Learning, let it belong to what tome it may?" " Yes ; but you remember I have not had time yet to learn !" " Then confess yourself a child ! I have been taught to read your books, and have learned something of them, too. I can read the other book as well ; and, instead of the faded decay of the mere scholar, you see the bronzed seams of a sterner and more hardy life. Woman as you say I am — I will out- live a dozen of them in the Life of Truth. Had I been cast upon the middle of the desert of Sahara by such a tornado as you met with last night, I should not have attempted to ta2e a course until I had seen the sun rise. This would have been a base for faith, for observation, for calculation — nothing would have escaped me, however minute — from the character of a cloud to the position of the low sand-waves fixed, aroimd me, to tell how the prevailing wind had left them to wait its next coming — and that wind would tell a pregnant story, THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 301 too, when it went by. I could almost judge mth certainty 'whence it cometh or wMther it goeth!' Not a starved and bitter shrub, but its fingers pointed a significance — or showed something on one side of the discolored bark — either the direction of the nearest water, or of the prevailing wind — not an antelope that darted past but would have led me the way to 8ome Oasis !" She paused suddenly. " That a man should utter such thought would not surprise me so much" — said I, hastily. " But that a woman should—" "A woman should!" she interrupted. "Give a woman something to love and something to venerate — an idea to achieve — and what will she not accomplish ! Now you show yourself a child again !" " You make woman in yourself more infallible than man pretends to be, even in his proper and peculiar field !" " Young man — I understand you ! I could possibly get lost as easily as some men — ^but I could not get scared !" "Thank you!" said I, with a poor effort at^the magnani- mous. But she 'went on without noticing. " I should not have been flurried out of my common sense, atfd lost all the chance I had for getting out of the scrape — if I am a woman. There is too much yet to be accomplished to justify any one in throwing away a life. Mankind has yet to be redeemed. The world needs all its laborers !" Here is the key-note to this strange anomaly — I thought ! " You will not do much to redeem it out here !" I ventured to hint. She turned her head abruptly, merely muttering — '*You will know more some time !" and, as at the moment, a herd of deer, which had been lying down in the grass within range, sprang up from a low piece of the ground — her rifle was at her shoulder in an instant. A deer bounded into the air, and merely saying as she turned off' — "Wait for me!" — she proceeded to cut the throat of the animal — ^reloading her rifle as she went. 302 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. "Well!" said I, as I squirmed in my saddle, when she waa out of ear-shot — ^"Here's a, free specimen, with a vengeance! A sort of Amazonian-Siamese-Twins-of-a-personage — a double- shotted-she-fanatic run wild! She is surely sufficient unto herself? — Lord help the husband of such a woman — ^if she have one !" Then I felt mean. " But, by Jove, how strangely she talks — and how kindly she has treated me — ^if she does patronize ! I half suspect she's right about the cMld !" The deer was dissected in short order, and she returned to my side bearing the hams still enveloped in the hide, which had been stripped from the fore-parts, which are not much valued in a country where venison is so abundant. ^ She slung her burden across my horse behind my seat, merely remarking as wb moved on — " This is a fat saddle I" " But is it possible that you hunt on foot always ?" " Yes ; I prefer it !" " How do you get your meat home ? — ^not upon your shoul- ders, I hope !" " Yes — ^but why not, young man ? My limbs are strong, toy step is firm. I do not tire like the tottering creatures of rotten civilization. I who breathe God's pure air have the will — why not the deed ?" " But you are a woman," I persisted. " Your husband, if you have one, should do this ?" " Bah ! What if I am a woman — I must work ? My hus- band works ! Works gloriously and nobly for mankind, and I, too, am laboring for mankind when I provide for him. He has no time for such menial labors ; and if he had, he would be doing injustice to the necessities of the race if he gave it to anything but the high mission on which he has been sent !" "This is a strange doctrine, it seems to me — you arc reversing the savage code ; for even with them, although the women perform the baser services, the men at least do the hunting." THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 303 "Young man, you speak like one who had been in the world just twenty-one years, and that, having eyes, had not seen. Do you not know that progress, like all other of God's great Laws, moves in the spiral — ^upwards? That it must bring us around again to the same conditions from whence we started — though above them. A close approximation to the savage life and virtues will be the highest civilization. It is the ferocious vices we shall have conquered, and the heroic virtues we shall have attained. These stern savage races go down before the wheels of progress because they will not bend ; with the light that was given them, they are too faithful and too strong to yield. It is a bastard ci\'ilization that is really un- true — ^begotten, of luxury or lust — ^its children are the true Neros of ferocity and brutality. The world needs brains now more than thews and sinews. The need is too great for true hearts to stop at conventional forms, which, after all, are the mere disguises oT unbounded licentiousness. The millions groan, and we must work each in his own appointed way." " But I do not understand from all this why the common relation of husband and wife should be reversed." " Ah, yes ! Then the constant tendency of this struggle of civilization toward the simpler forms and a purer light, is to intensify the action of the mental and spiritual natures, rather than the mere physical. The mental searches for the mechanical means of rescue, the soul for the spiritual. Both are maddened by the clamorous cries of suffering nations into a morbid activity — ^the results of which are most frequently ' confusion worse confounded' — and an unnatural development of the brain, or of the mental in relation to physical. Where this condition has supervened, it is the office of love to restore the equilibrium ; and in the true marriage, upon whichever party the lot of extreme spiritual and mental development shall fall, the doctrine of Utility requires of him or her a life-dedication to the great cause, in whatever direction the 304 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Strongest tendencies may be — and so upon whicliever party, man or woman, the lot of greatest physical strength and activity should fall, the responsibility of all that species of exertion must devolve. Thus they both labor to the same end, through each other, and are unified in purpose and results !" " This then is your reason for assuming the oflSce of com- missary! You are physically strongest, and have assumed the burden of the way ?" "He is strong in his own way, young man !" she answered drily — " But look ! there is our little home !" I had become so interested in this strange conversation — stranger even than the circumstances which had brought me into such relations — that I had not noticed what the direction was, or what the peculiarities of the ground we were passing over. I now looked around me, and even if my vision liad not been sharpened by observing a sort of cynical smile upon her face as she pronounced the last words — I think my own memory would have been sufiScient to compel me to recognize the scene, amidst the " Archipelago of motts," in which the de§r had fallen, and from which I had fled so ignominiously — as it was turning out. There was the very spot where I had left the deer, and the bones of the refuse parts lay strewed around upon the dank and bloody grass. Some wolves, which had been squatting in the neighborhood of their feast, made off as we approached. I looked in the direction in which the woman had pointed, but could perceive nothing like a house. She smiled at my puzzled gaze of inquiry into her face. " You are back again, you see ! I took off that deer's skin myself, and you ate some of its meat. The horse had more wit than the rider — ^you perceive he was coming direct !" "Yes!" said I dolorously, as we were passing on — "but where is the house of which you spoke?" for my bruised THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 805 limb — the pain of which I had almost forgotten during the excitement of our conversation — was becoming most oppres- sive, now that something had been said of home and rest. "Do you see that small mott?" said she, pointing with her rifle to a clump of large live oaks upon a bit of rising ground, some half a mile ahead — and near to what, I now perceived, for the first time, to look like the heavy timbered bottom of a stream of some size. "I see nothing but a mott !" said I impatiently. "Where is the house ?" Her look brightened as she stepped on more briskly by the side of my horse, who seemed to have scented some familiar odor on the breeze, that quickened his step, for his ear was now pricked forward, and his gait confident and elate. " You shall see !" and she smiled. We soon reached the mott, and passing beneath the long heavy drapery of moss that descended from the low wide limbs of the live-oak, )re were at once in the dim cool twilight, which would have b^at become thi*t religious atmosphere in which the Druidical riteo were performed. In the midst of this, and almost hidden by the gray fantastic drapery of the great tree above, — I saw indistinctly the appearance of palisading, that seemed to be circular in form. Another moment she pushed aside the moss, and we were at the door. It was a round hut, the walls of which were tfomposed of the small trunks of trees set perpen- dicularly in the ground— the interstices being filled with a sort of cement of moss and mud. The roof was thatched with Imll-rushes, and the door was a frame of hickory saplings Stoutly interwoven. There was no sort of picketing about it, as is usual in the country, to the small as well as large ranches. It seemed as if the shelter of the moss-draped oaks had been deemed sufficient— and so, indeed, it appeared to be, for its appearance of entire security, like some wild nest of lonely birds, was what first struck me as I saw it. The door was 20 806 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. closed, and it looked silent as death. She held up her arms to assist me to alight, and then taking down her venison, she gave the lariate of my horse a turn around a limb of the sheltering oak, and assisted me toward the door. She called out in a low tone, "William?" I heard a soft, unsteady tread respond to the call, and the door was opened. A pale man, with large head, bright gray eyes, broad shoulders, and small legs, made his appearance. " What is the matter, Molly ?" said he, with such a quiet look as his eye fell upon me, that one would have supposed I was his oldest son. " Is the poor youth hurt that he leans upon you so ?" "Yes." " Then, bring him in, in God's name, and we will shelter him until his strength returns !" and she assisted me to the door, when he clutched me with a strength of gripe that as- tonished me, and nearly lifting me towards a low couch of dried moss, laid me upon it without asking a question. He adjusted my position with a sort of awkward care, and when assured that I was comfortable, he went quietly to a rtide ottoman composed of dressed bear-skins with forked stakes and small saplings for supports, and seated himself, with the most benign expression of serenity before a rude table covered with all sorts of odd implements ; and taking, up, what appeared to be a microscope, commenced an attentive survey of some small object before him, which I could not distinguish. He had asked me no explanation, did not seem to be at all disturbed by my sudden appearance, and had fallen back into what seemed a routine, just as if nothing had happened. This, though not very complimentary to my vanity, only served to rouse my curiosity, in spite of my sufferings. "Molly will take care of you directly!" he said, looking up ; " She has gone to stake out your horse !" and he went on with his work. I thought of magii, necromancers, astrologersy alchemists, &c., all in a breath, as I stared at the strange, THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 307 calm man, ■with the light from one small window, or port-hole rather, falling upon his table and his gray hairs ! The strange effect was not a Uttle heightened by the sur- roundings of this person. I had now, in the unbroken silence, sufficient leisure to observe these appliances, which were en- tirely inexplicable to me at the time. First, I noticed a small rude furnace in one corner, near to which were scat- tered about some small hammers, files, tongs and other tools used in working iron and steel ; while near the desk were some ten or a dozen small models carved from wood with great neatness, and having occasional springs, bolts, &c. of metal. Such a maze of wheels, cogs, cranks, balls, bolts and all that sort of thing was there, that one could form no idea of their meaning, not even whether they all belonged to the same machine, or were the parts of one whole, waiting to be put to- gether ! On knots and pegs, in crannies, and strewed in all sorts of con- fusion about the floor and on rude shelves, were every con- ceivable variety of parts that appeared to have been formed for machinery of models or a model. These parts were prin- cipally of wood, as the metals seemed to have been used with every possible frugality, since they must, of course, have been very difficult to obtain and to transport in such a region. A few of the simplest of the common implements of carpentry were hung around the room or thrown about the floor. It seemed as if the tools and their creations had. all been shaken in a bag together and then whirled around the room to roll together, to fall or stick, where and as they might. It was certainly a droll looking place, and there was one mysterious seeming recess which was hung with skins, but which was, as it appeared to me, too small for a bed, and added no little to my curiosity. The woman now came in. "He IS bruised, William,— what shall we do?" ■ The man looked up, slightly. 308 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. " Did you bring in a deer, Molly ?" "Yes!" "Is it cold?" "All but the hams!" " Then skin them, and wrap the warm parts of the skin around the bruised Umb !" " Yes, I know !" and she turned oflf, while he resimied hia labor. " Well !" thought I, " this is a case ! ' Here I am about to be enveloped in a reeking deer-skin, warm from the carcass, by these wild cannibals. I wish the infernal tornado had finished me. I have heard of such usages, but they horrify me !" I felt most like getting up to run away, but there in terposed the sad difficulty that I was unable to rise. Aftei several ineffectual efforts, which, however, attracted no sort of attention from the rapt student at the desk, and many muttered anathemas against fate, fools and fanatics in gene- ral, I managed to subside, in a great degree, into a cooler mood, and became resigned, from sheer helplessness, to trust in anything but such Providence ! — as I impiously sneered to myself. The woman came now with the warm skin ; and after some remonstrance on my part, the old man was roused from his absorbed labor to envelop my extremities in this novel poul- tice. I afterwards found that it was extensively used among the Indians, north and south, and have since learned that this first step towards the "pack" of wet sheet and blanket, claimed to be invented by Priessnitz, is one of the oldest uses of our race, and still practiced with wonderful effect in China, Russia, Germany, &c., by the lower classes, and sometimes by the higher, as was the case once with Murat, when he wa's crushed almost into a jelly by the fall of his horse down a precipice. He was enveloped by his wise physician, in the hide of an ox, which was killed for the purpose, and after a long sleep, recovered, with nearly all trace of his bruises gone. I was not THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 309 aware at the time, more than vaguely, in what good and an- cient company I lay in my disgusting envelope ; all I could know about it was that I went to sleep very soon, and slept, — Heaven knows how long ! and awoke with the pain gone ! The old man released me, and leading me, entirely nude, out-side the door, astounded me by dashing a bucket full of the coldest water upon my person, which was reeking with perspiration, and before I had fairly recovered from the effects of this, it was followed by another and another. This primitive sort of treatment had a wonderful effect ; and when I again dressed, I almost thought myself born again, so free did I feel from the distressing consequences of my fall. I found in attempting to move about that there was still some stiffness in my leg, but it was so slight as not to be a matter of much importance. The bruises were gone, and the circulation of the limb temporarily restored in a great measure, and that was certainly miracle enough for the pre- sent. Though the acute pain had been entirely banished by this novel process, yet, of course, the entire restoration was yet slow. The muscles and tendons had been seriously strained and injured by the weight and struggles of my horse, but, bathing the parts in cold water, as was directed by the old man, always soothed any painful return of inflammation. There was a clear, beautiful spring in the rear of the house, underneath the huge live-oaks composing the mott. Here I limped several times a day to apply the simple resto- rative. The little brook made its shining way through the high grass down the slope, and at some periods of the day, glai^ged prettily in the sun from beneath the green tangles that drooped and met over it. The scene was very pleasant ; for, seated on the mossy roots in the cool, dense shade, I could just trace its glimmering way by glimpses through the neavy draping of moss which depended nearly to the ground. The Btiljf ess, mildly stirred by the faint ripple, was so luUingj CIO WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. that if one did not sleep soon he was compelled to think, and in connected strains of thought, too. Here I sat and mused much ; for, in spite of myself and all my efforts at sneering, there was something in this woman's ffild talk that impressed me, — and in the strange life, man- ners and surroundings of this remarkable recluse, that had aroused my deepest and most curious sympathy. These were new thoughts, — strange ideas — she had spoken. This was a new phase of life to me — this isolation — this devotion to a fixed purpose — ^this self-denial, which could sever two persons from all the common sympathies of their race, and send them off to remote and dangerous solitudes, — change the natural relations of the sexes, and exalt them into the incommunica- tive and apparently crazed condition of abstraction and de- votion to a single idea ! " What is this Idea ? What do these people hope to ac- complish ?" I asked myself a thousand times. " They talk of social wrongs, — but that is no new story, — ^it is simply as old as society, that those who can find no business of their own to attend to, should, and will employ themselves with the business of others, and go to work to save the world ! They commonly make a good speculation of it, and are usually corrupt as they are loud-mouthed, vulgar and stupid, — but here seems an anomalous case. These people are clearly in earnest. Women do not run such risks for nothing, nor do men dedicate themselves with such singleness of purpose to what they merely expect selfish returns from ! I must get at this idea — and get at it I will ! These persons are evidently educated, for silent and abruptly incommunicative as they have been since I came, I have heard enough to convince me of this much, and unravel this secret I will!" Such, I remember, were my musings, when, after having been tenderly cared for several days, I found myself equally puzzled as at first, to understand what this old man was doing, or expected to accomplish. He had made no explanations, THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 811 and although oniformly kind, had taken no sort of notice of the various and ingenious hints by which I had endeavored to got at ■what was his object. I had slyly tried to understand for myself the meaning of the models which strewed the room, but could make nothing out of them all. Though my knowl- edge of mechanics was very slight, yet I had some idea of general principles, which ought to have been sufficient to give me at least a vague clue to the object attempted. I had given up in despair ; and as I could not understand the mean- ing of the sort of hieroglyphico-transcendental language in which they spoke to each other upon the subject of the mys- terious machine, I determined to win upon the sympathies of one or the other in some way, and get thus at the secret. Accident favored me ! She had talked with me in the freest manner during the first exciting period after our meeting, but since I had become an inmate, her answers to my inquiry upon such subjects had all been abrupt and mystical in a degree which left me no wiser thaa before. The old man seldom left the house, even for exercise ; but one morning, when I had almost en- tirely recovered, I was sitting in my accustomed place by the spring, when he came slowly walking towards me with the feeble gait of the partial paralytic ; and, greatly to my surprise, bore my pistols along with his own gun, in. his hands. "What can this mean !" — ^thought I, rising hastily to meet him. Giving the pistols into my hands, he merely said, with a quiet smile : — " The Cherokee Indians are down, young man ! — and we may have to defend our little home !" "Is it possible!" said I, starting with surprise. "The Cherokees! Where are they? How did you hear?" " 0, Molly keeps a good look out ! — she found their trail 312 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. about day-break, and bas since seen,tbem. She bas just got in. Tbey are on ber trail now, I suppose, for we expect tbem bere soon !" Tbe blood rusbed to my beart, and it beat very loud and fast.„ I bad never met tbe Indians of any sort, as yet. Here at once was a stern novely in tbe excitements tbat I bad courted. I had little time to understand tbe tbing, for we now saw and felt the imminent necessity of hurrying towards tbe house before the approaching savages. I bad to assist tbe old man, and the moment I got into motion, the blood rusbed in a burning tide back to my bead and face, and then every limb and fibre thrilled with a new sensation. Everything seemed confused around me for tbe moment. Tbe trees spun, and the moss and grass were whirled together in a chaotic blend- ing, most like tbat before tbe eyes of a drunken man ; while the only objects tbat I saw with perfect and vivid distinct- ness, were the tall forms of eight or ten warriors tbat had suddenly appeared in tbe distance, and were gliding rapidly across a sm.ill -pening between the oaks, evidently with the view of gottiii; between us and the house, and thus cutting us o£F fiuin shelter. When I realized this it caused a violent start that ros1,ored me, like an electric shock in a case of stupor, to the full possession of all my faculties, sharpened, indeed, into a greater than tbe natural coolness. Tbe dis- tance we had to pass was short, to be sure, but then tbe old man was p^alytic, and I was still somewhat lame. I saw in one quick glance our great danger — ^that the savages were urging their utmost speed to intercept us. A sudden strength — almost supernatural — ^possessed me at once. My eye took in every thing. The very undulations of the moss enabled me to track their course, when tbey quickly passed out of view behind it. I could now even bear tbe twigs crush beneath their feet — when feeling that our hope THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 313 was a desperate one — I seized the old man in my arms, and forgetting my lameness, rushed with him towards the door of the house. I reached it — and found it was closed for the moment. He still hel(^on to his rifle, and as the door opened to admit us, he turned himself in my arms, and coolly presenting it, said' in a low voice, " Stop !" The word was not fully spoken, when the ring of several rifles from the wood was replied to by that of his own. He dropped heavily from my arms on his own door-sill. The Indians were upon us ! I had stuck my pistols into my belt, and now I wheeled to face them, standing over the body. The clear ring of a rifle above my shoulder, and the staggering fall of one of the foremost warriors showed me that " Molly" was on hand. The Indians recoiled for a moment, for it was the chief of the party that fell beneath the shot — and then seeing only myself astride of the body — ^they rushed on me with a yell as vengeful as it was infernal. I saw the fierce eyes of "Molly" blazing behind me as she screamed — "Give it to the Cherokee dogs, my boy!" while she plied her ram-rod desperately — reloading for another shot. I stood at bay with that strange flushed feeling which always attends the consummation of despair. It was a wild and furious Struggle for a moment. The firing of my pistols was almost instantly followed by the report of her rifle again— this caused the Indians to hesitate slightly, which gave us time to drag in the body of the dead or wounded man — ^we did not yet know which. They saw us about to escape, and made a rush to prevent the closing of the door. Several of them were throwing themselves against it together, and had nearly suc- ceeded in the effort — ^but the frantic woman seemed endued with nearly supernatural strength, and with a single stroke, felled the foremost with the butt of her rifle— while I held 314 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. (he door mth. all my excited strength. Though both of us were wounded, we succeeded in closing the bolt, while the Indians kept firing at the door, in the vain hope of hitting us through it. HicKory is a very tough wood, and the closely woven withs or poles of which it was composed wef ^ buUet- proof. It was not, however, proof against hatchets, and instantly we heard the blows by which they were cutting their way through. We reloaded our weapons in silence. The door was fraily hung, and could not stand such a general assault more than a few moments — but when we were ready, she looked up with a smile that seemed very strange at such a time. " I prepared for them long ago !" she said, in a low, hissing voice — as she punched out a bit of mud from between two of the pickets of the house — and then thrust her rifle through what I now saw was a shrewdly disguised port-hole, bearing directly upon the door. She fired, and a yell of agony from the outside followed. As she withdrew her rifle, I also fired my pistol through the port-hole into the midst of the flurried and astonished group, which had gathered about a fallen warrior. Their discomfiture was now complete, and with ges- tures of furious menace, I could see they commenced a retreat more rapid than the charge had been, and as little expected. The woman, who now appeared to have grown wild with rage, quickly sent after their retreat another shot from the door-way, which she had impetuously thrown open. She screamed her defiance, and shook her clenched hand at them like some crazed " Madge Wildfire," as they disapp"eared in yet greater confusion from her shot, and turning towards me with lips blue and compressed — untU they were thin as wafers across her teeth — ^muttered faintly — " They have slain my husband !" and staggering towards the still insensible body — ^her flashing eyes suddenly grew THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 815 dim — her face deathly pale, and dropping her rifle to the floor, she fell upon the body, clutching it convulsively about the neck. Now came the time for me to repay, in some measure at least, the kindness of this singular couple. They both lay stretched upon the floor insensible, and apparently dead. It was a horrid sight — ^for a moment I was stupefied as I gazed upon them — ^but the last few moments, in thoroughly rousing my whole life to new sensations, had learned me a stem lesson in presence of mind. I sprang first for some water, and dashed it into the faces of the motionless pair, and then kneeling beside them, rubbed their hands and feet with all my strength. It was but a little time before I convinced myself that neither one of them was yet dead. This relieved and encouraged me greatly, so that I urged my efforts to resuscitate them, and, after a few minutes more, commenced examining the old man's body, to find and staunch the wound. I had seen no blood as yet, and therefore supposed it must, of course, bleed internally, and consequently be fatal. What was my hopeful surprise to find that it was apparently a graze-shot — as the ball had ploughed up the flesh along the hinder part of the neck near the base of the skull ; and as it was, evidently, not deep when I probed it with my finger, I came to the conclusion that the bone had been merely indented —not shattered — and that the spinal chord had been more paralyzed by the shock than seriously injured. Warmed still more pleasantly by this discovery, I rapidly staunched the blood, which had been running down inside the collar of his buckskin coat, and was, therefore, not visible. The wound of the woman was bleediag profusely. I soon found that it "consisted of an ugly flesh wound in the right arm, which passed "through into the breast, but whether into the chest or not I could only conjecture — ^but hoped for the best, as I saw it, too, bled externally and freelj. I staunched the woimds as well as my poor skill in surgery would admit. 316 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. She gradually recovered from the swoon, and, half rising, stared vaguely about her for an instant — ^but her first words were — " Is he alive ?" This was spoken in a suffocating voice, while her lips trembled. " He still lives, and I hope is not mortally hurt !" " God be thanked, and let humanity rejoice !" she said solemnly, and with a start she sprang to her feet. " You are hurt, young man — I see blood upon you !" I had been too much excited to think of my own wound, although I now felt that the pain had been considerabl&— however, it proved to be, upon examination, but slight, and gave me of itself but little trouble afterwards. It was merely a flesh wound in the thigh of the same leg that had been injured in the storm, and, as is frequently the case, rather accelerated the cure of that injury. The vital functions, thus extraordi- narily aroused, it is well known, do often throw oflF the old as well as the new disease, by the one great efiFort thus concen- trated upon the local seat of the disturbance. Be this as it may, I did not suffer from lameness much after this — although I had a great amount of exertion devolved upon me by this sudden catastrophe. The woman, after assisting me in dressing my wound, said to me gravely — " Now, young man, much depends upon you ! You are not a great deal hurt — as God would have it — while I am griev- ously — and my poor William must probably remain long in this stupor !" She was carefully examining him without disturbing my dressings, further than to saturate them with water. " I can hope," she said, as she rose from the examination and drew a long breath — " I can hope tlfat your opinion of the wound may prove correct — for his pulse, though slow, is strong enough yet — but it must be a long time before he recovers his faculties. His brain is so immense and so dis- THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 817 proportioned to his physical strength, that his recovery must be very slow, if it come at all. Young man, I have dedi- cated my life without stint or reservation to him, and although it is impossible for me yet to tell the extent of the injuries I have received, yet I must not stop to regard them — I must win that glorious mind back to the world again, cost what it will to me. I count myself as nothing weighed in the scale with his usefulness. He must be saved at any rate, to finish his great work ! I saved your life — a lost wanderer, beaten down by the tempest — helpless, bewildered, wounded and for- lorn — and now all that I ask of you is, help to save Mm I Make no remonstrances !" — as I was proceeding to deprecate the disregard of self she spoke of, — " make no remonstiances, my son !" she said mournfully — " I must require it of you not to interfere with-r— but obey me — for the time. I cannot be moved — I will nurse him — ^you must provide us with food and water in the meanwhile. I want no farther assistance. I know him best — ^you can render no assistance to him per- sonally. God only knows how far this ugly hurt of mine may prove injurious. I will be careful of it for his sake, at least!" " I promise to obey you. I feel that I owe my life to you, and I will cheerfully resign it to serve you or your husband !" "I knew as much, my child! — I knew as much — an'' was selfish of me to remind you of obligation when you had already more than trebly repaid whatever there might be, by saving that dear body which lies so placid there, from the defacing hands of those murderous brutes — who, as with those who stcD'jd the Prophet of old — ^knew not what they did! — But it is ao selfish anxiety for self that has thus made me forget wl.at was due to hospitality — ^it was for Mm ! — ^for his dear life ! — I spoke so eagerly, forgetting all things else ! — come, let us place him on the poor bed !" . We immediately removed him to his place upon a raised couch of dried moss and leaves, covered with skins, which had Sl8 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. heretofore been resigned to me. As we laid him down, his pulsation evidently quickened, but his eyes were still un- opened, and his limbs remained palsied. I brought water from the gpring, which I freely used under the directions of the woman, who by this time had become too faint for farther exertion. The only immediate efiFect was a partial one, even with our slight expectation. He breathed still more freely, and slightly moved his head. I now had to apply the same remedj to herself, and soon had the satisfaction, after using the cold water freely, and enveloping her in skins, of which there was a large quantity piled on a sort of garret scaffolding near the roof, to see her fall into a deep but troubled sleep. I enveloped his body in much the same way, and then had leisure to look about me, and find what store of provision we had on hand. I was greatly disappointed to find but little venison cr meat of any kind stored in the house, and this filled me with uneasiness, for I did liot yet feel myself strong enough to hunt, and could not help dwelling upon the frightful fate before us in the event of my wound proving worse than I an- ticipated. I did what I could for it until the most resistless drowsiness overtook me, and falling Upon a pile of skins, I sunk into the deep sleep consequent upon extreme excitement and loss of blood. I was waked by the shrill cries of the woman, and, as I sprang to my feet was horrified to perceive from the fiushed ap- pearance of her face, her wild ejaculations and even screams, that she was sufi'ering from a raging brain fever. She tossed her body violently to and fro, moaning as she pressed her throbbing head convulsively between her hands, and occasion- ally shrieking at the top of her voice incoherently. It was a melancholy sight, indeed. I knew but one remedy in reach; and if there had been a thousand, perhaps none would have availed so well as the simple one to which I now resorted, almost upon compulsion ! I hobbled to the spring for a fresh THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 319 supply of its cooling waters. Returning -with equal difficulty, I found the fever even gaining in violence. It was certainly an awful sight : this stern, heroic woman helplessly tossed in blinded struggles by the side of that calm and gray picture of death, which, unmoved by it all, breathed on like one in a sweet sleep. I could only reduce the fever gradually, for my strength was not sufficient to lift her, and for hours I sat beside her, sooth- ing, as well as I was able, her convulsions, by constant appli- cations of cold water. It was, or seemed at least, a weary time before I gained any ground, and my wound broke out afresh from the excessive fatigue; besides, I was fainting with hunger and horror combined. At last I thought I might venture to leave her awhile, as she grew more composed, and I sought some food. I took a portion of our small supply and rekindled the coals of the smouldering fire, but the bleed- ing seemed to increase, and I was compelled to attend to my wounds before I could cook the flesh. I stopped the flow of blood, and was eating sparingly of the spare meal, when I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was the keeper of a maniac ! Hearing a sudden noise behind me, I looked around. The woman, — ^with flushed face and glittering eyes, was rapidly endeavoring to disengage her butcher knife from the sheath where it hung on the belt of her bullet pouch, which I had taken off and suspended on its usual hook of buck's horn. She was muttering rapidly, "I will do it myself! yes! yes! I will do it myself ! The wretches did not finish their work ! They did not know how hard it was for a god to die ! He is not dead — he suffers ! It shall not be ! They sent their blood- hounds to murder a true Christ ! Be who came to redeem them ! They struck at him in wrath ! They did not finish their woik —but I will do it ! and go with him !" The knife was in her hand, and she was darting across the room towards the unconscious man, when I, who had risen in the meantime, seized her suddenly, and with a shriek as 320 WIID SCENES AUD WILD HUNTERS. she gazed round at me, she struck desperately at my breast ■with the knife. I warded off the blow, and she dropped it ! Then, with a still more harrowing cry, she fainted across the body. Never was horror amplified to a more intolerable extreme of fear and dread than now, in all my experience before or since. She was crazed, — ^we were nearly out of food of aiiy kind ! — and could I dare, even if able, to go out and leave her here alone ? It seemed just as shocking to me to confine her with thongs as to leave her alone. What might not the furious strength of a maniac accomplish ? Here was a climax ! I acknowledge, I felt in no hurry to restore her from her fainting fit. Murder, madness, stupor and starvation, all rose in appalling succession before me. " What could I do ? What should I do ? I bowed my head upon my hands and wept, — completely overcome by this tragic combination of fearful extremities. A loud hurrah, accompanied by the clatter of horses' feet now broke the stifling stillness, and springing u^ > I rushed forward, or rather hobbled earnestly towards the door to see if it was yet secure. As I reached it, it was burst open violently, and in rushed my friend C , the planter ! followed by several negros. He was a good-humored, vehement, boisterous man, and ex- claimed, in a loud voice, as his eye fell upon me : — " Caught at last ! — ^Why what's all this, my good fellow?" looking round him, in astonishment and horror. "What sort of a d ^I's den is this you've fallen into ? — ^have you been playing the ' Kilkenny cats' out here in this droll-look- ing place ? Are those two people dead ? What's been happen- ipg?" " We've been having a brush Tvith the Cherokees, — ^these persons are wounded !" " Hah ! the very fellows I've just been drubbing. They carried the bodies of several killed and wounded. You must THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 321 have had close work 0/ it, my boy ! We finished the business for them, though, — only three got off?" " Glad of it, — ^but help that woman, — she has fainted." " Great God ! — a woman here, — and in that dress ?" He sprang forward to the bed^and looked at hgr ! " It is so, — as I am alive. Boys," — ^turning to the negroes who stood at the door, rolling up the whites of their eyes in wonder and awe, — "run, boys, and get some water, — ^you saw the spring out there as we came ?" then turning to me, with a broad expression of amazement, he asked : — " Who can these people be ? Did they drop from the clouds ? She's wounded ! Did she fight too ?" " Indeed, she did, — she did the most of it !" " But what are they doing here with all this droll trump- ery ? Did she faint from loss of blood ? Is she badly hurt ? This old man looks as if he were dead ?" So he ran on, and without waiting for answer, and turning, stepped hastily to the door, and shouted at the top of his voice : — " You Tom ! — Scip ! — Jim ! — come along with that water ! Here i-; e these poor people dying, and you lazy vagabonds you— ..ii, here you are!" and the three negroes rushed for- ward 10 tliO door of the room, bearing each a brimming gourd in one ]i;ind and his rifle in the other. The foremost stam- mered out: — " Heerd you, Massa, — was comin' fast as we could, — ^but Jim say he war afraid ob dem cu'rus folks and dem cunjura- tion wheeJs thar, — ^he was 'bout to slope, an I cotch he." " Hang Jim and his conjurations ! — give me the gourd, you rascal !" " Da ho am, Massa !" while Jim, thrusting his own gourd from behind, into the hand of Tom, did " slope" out, sure enough, rolling his big eyes behind him as if he expected to see some horrid witch in pursuit. "Here's Jim's, too! — nigger, fool! He afeard! Here, 21 322 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. Massa, here's Scip's, too ! He fool !" and the second darkie glided furtively from the door, looking over his shoulder. The P"anter in the meantime was stooping over the silent forms 0? the couple, and administering the cooling water to them, -fthile-Tom stood by and looked on with a sort of half grin of heroical indifference, not a little heightened in its effect by the conscious expression of superiority and trepidatioa which stall lingered upon his face, since he looked after the hasty retreat of his sable comrades in arms. " She recovers !" said the good-hearted Planter, eagerly, lifting his head. The woman opened her eyes and sprang half erect, uttering at the same time a sudden shriek, so shrill that I irn'oluntarily placed my hands upon my ears. The Planter stepped backwards, and Tom, in spite of his heroism, vanished in a twinkle out of the door. " What does this mean ?" said , glancing quickly around at me. " Is she crazy?" and he sprang towards her, instinctively, forcing her down upon the bed, while he turned his head slightly to listen for my answer. " Yes, she is, — ^hold her ! — ^hold her firmly ! — she is not sane now, and may do more mischief!" " I understand scalping, — ^but this infernal den is too much for me !" exclaimed he, as he pressed her down to the bed again, while her shrieks redoubled, and her struggles became more furious. He was a very strong man, and yet all his strength was required to keep her down, and he turned to me with an expression of exhaustion and flurried distress, as he exclaimed, — "Why didn't you warn me of this?" " I had no time !" " One word would have sufficed !" " And what good would that have done ?" "I might have understood something !" " No ! — ^you could not have known more after an explana- tion than you can see !" THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 823 "And what is that?" " Why, you perceive that the woman is out of her head, — has a brain fever. She suffers from her wound, her anxiety for her husband, and the additional excitement of the late conflict, that is all !" " What shall we do ?" he asted, in dismay, as it became every moment more difficult to keep her down. " I must call the negros back, — ^for I can be of little assist- ance to you !" " The stupid fools ! — ^you can't get them to come back !'" " Yes I can !" and seizing his rifle, I hobbled to the door and looked out. Tom was the only one in sight. I shouted to him, ordering his return. The fellow shook his head, and looked furtively askance towards me. I instantly raised the rifle, and, as I brought it to bear upon him, peremptorily ordered his return, under penalty of a ball through hiswoolly head. The habit of obedience conquered his fears in a mea- sure, and he came back with a slow, unwilling step. " Why, you cowardly rascal !" I said, in an angry and con- temptuous tone, which I thought might sting and rouse his pride, — for I knew he was really a brave fellow, but super- Btitious, as were all his class, — "I thought you had some manhood in you, — a great big lubber like you to run away from a sick and wounded woman ! I am ashamed of you, Tom. Come in here, your master needs you to help him hold her !" " Dat ! — dat ! — dat ! — no woman, Massa !" He stammered hesitatingly, as he looked up humbly for a moment. " Dat witch, — she make poor nigger die like rotten sheep if he touch um !" "I tell you, you fool, the woman is no witch; she is a good woman, and has a bad fever, and does not know what she is doing !" " But, Massa, what all dat conjure-wheels do dar if she am no witch ?" he persisted, in a more cheerful voice, but still hanging back. 324 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. " Why, you stupid fellow ! — did you never see a wheel, Tom ?" " Yes, Massa, but den dem aint' cart-weels !' " Fellow !" said I, provoked at his tenacious stupidity, " those are parts of small machines, and can hurt neither you nor me. Come in, this moment, without another word, and assist your master to hold the woman !" I seized him by the collar and pushed him in, saying, as I looked significantly at my rifle — " Do as you are ordered, or remember this !" The Planter, who was nearly exhausted by the continued violence of the convulsions, when he saw the cowering negro 3nter, saluted him with a wrathful oath, which we will be excused from repeating, and in a voice of thunder, ordered him to seize the woman's arms, enforcing his command with a furious kick, followed by gentle insinuation that he would dash his brains out, if he dared to let her up. Tom took hold evidently with fear and trembling, but still with all his might. "What are we to do with this she-dragon?" gasped the poor Planter, wiping the sweat from his brow. " It will take half-a-dozen men to hold her at this rate — ^we shall have to tie her !" At this moment an extraordinary change came over the face of the raving woman. The face of the negro — as he stooped above her, holding her arms and body down — ^was, of course, immediately over hers. The moment her eyes rested upon it she ceased to struggle, and lay — gazing fixedly up at it ■without moving lip or muscle. We both noticed it at the same moment, and almost held our breath to watch the result. After some little while, she began to speak in nearly her ordinary tone, except that it was more measured. It had before, been so shriekingly incoherent, that we could only dis- tinguish here and there a phrase. " Yes ! yes ! Poor child of persecution, you are here ! THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 325 Your pale tyrant is gone — he was my tyrant, toa ! With hia foot upon your neck, he clutched with bloody hands at mine. Then I was furious because I must be free ! You come to console — ^because the oppressed have learned to know what gentle pity is. You have Cain's mark upon your clouded brow — ^but so has truth. There is the allegory ! ' The meek shall inherit the earth!' — ^"He that was first shall be last!' That brow shall grow bright once more — the curse shall be annealed ! — ^It shall grow pure and white with love and truth — ^not pale of fear — ^livid with murder, and flushed with the ghastly mark of bloody hands ! I hate my guilty race !" she continued to murmur in a lower voice — " I hate our ferocious cowardice ! We dare not be men like the hunting fathers of thy hunted race — the hairy children of the accursed Cain ! We dare not meet brute force with brute force, and hand to claw grapple with the lion in his might ! We sneak behind our cunning, and pervert the laws of mechanics — ^which govern the Universe, rule the destinies of men and the earth — into the horrible agents of wholesale destruction from behind our sheltered ramparts !" " Why, what is the woman ranting about ?" said the Planter nervously — turning to me with a bewildered look. " I 'most believe she is a witch myself! Who ever heard such wild gabble? And yet she talks very plain !" She had stopped when he spoke, and deliberately turned her eyes upon him, and I saw nothing more in their expression now than I had noted from the first — a sort of calm, intense enthusiasm or stern elevation. So far as appearances went, the crazy fit had passed, and she, if not restored to sanity, 'had at least returned to her habitual mood and manner. She spoke very coldly — "Yes! — 'ranting about?' — a convenient word that! I rant when you either will not or dare not understand! I rant when I tell you truths you have not the soul or the heart to face ! I rant when I tell you that you are either an 326 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. iosensate brute, a maudlin fool, or a selfish tyrant! — ^I do not mean that you are all or any one of these things in your own responsible deed — ^but I mean that you and I, and that young man there — our wJiole race I — deserve such epithets ! — because vre have and are conspiring together — without con- cert, even — ^but from the individual selfishness which has either been educated into us or has been deliberately assumed by ourselves in spite of experience — ^to oppress our fellow- men — ^not of one color — ^but of all ! — of our own ! Release me !" and with a sudden efTort, she threw the terrified negro across the room and sprang to her feet. We both rose to seize her, but she walked with the utmost calmness of look and manner right up to the astounded Planter. " Do not place your hands upon me again. I am perfectly myself now. I know I have been delirious — I am not so any longer. Forgive what I have said, that you did not under- stand, and done, that may have been rude and violent, for the paroxysm has passed, and I now know you as you are. You have no doubt been kind, and I shall thank you as a brother !" My friend was entirely confounded by this sudden change, and stared at the woman with such an expression of almost ludicrous surprise, that I could not for the life of me restrain a slight disposition to smile — particularly when I caught a glimpse of the eager and abject form of Tom creeping stealthily behind her, and from a respectful distance, catch- ing, with pricked ears, open mouth, and wide staring eyes, every word that fell from her lips. "Does Jie live?" she said to me, as she turned slowly towards the old man, and bent over him — feeling his pulsa- tion — ^before I could answer she looked up — " Yes ! it is all well as yet. Leave him to me — ^he will recover soon in my charge. Thank God ! — he was insensible while I was so! — was he not?" she asked eagerly, turning her head. THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 327 " Yes ; he has not moved yet !" " We can't leave this poor woman here alone !" — exclaimed my friend, with returning self-possession — " We must remove them to my house and have them cared for !" " No, friend — ^that cannot be !" said the woman — " We live here or we die here ! If you wish to do any thing, send your slaves here with provisions and some simple comforts. Leave that young man with me, and we will nurse him ourselves !" My friend was about to answer vehemently with his usual rough impatience of contradiction, but I appealed to him in a beseeching look for acquiescence — ^for the present at least. I found some diflSculty, in the hurried and whispered conver- sation which ensued while she turned back to affectionate ofSces — in convincing him that it was best to let this strange and unmanageable woman have her own way — ^that we must humor her, or we could do nothing for her. He finally consented, with evident reluctance, to remain with me, and send Tom back to the plantation for supplies. It was about twenty miles distant, and we might expect to hear something of our scout by mid-day to-morrow. When it was explained to Tom what was expected of him, he accepted the mission with astonishing alacrity, and expressed ^ith eagerness, in his own quaint fashion, his readiness to do every thing that speed and energy could accomplish, for he said, with a shamed and sneaking glance at me — " She aint no witch — Jim are jes the nigger fool I sed he war ! She be a good woman, massa ! — Tom will gib he's scalp fur hur any time !" and springing upon his horse he galloped away, rifle in hand, and alone across these dangerous wilds. " Tom is all right now 1" I said, with an attempt at a smile asvwe turned into the house. " Yes ; he's brave as a bull-dog, when he knows what he's doing," answered my friend, with a contemplative look, as we turned towards the round house — " But, by heaven ! — I'd like 328 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. to know where lie gets his sudden confidence from — ^for this ■woman seems now almost as much of a witch to me as she did at first to him ! She must be either a witch or a mad- woman "Nonsense !" said I, "she is neither!" I reconciled our Planter, in some degree, to what, appa- rently, there was no mode of escape from, and on re-entering the house, he acted with considerable circumspection, not a little to my amusement! — I could not help perceiving that this caution was not a little tempered with awe. The woman continued perfectly quiet — administered to her husband in many sagacious though unusual ways, and he evi- dently improved. Tom returned punctually the next day, bringing with him a supply of creature comforts and leading my horse. I was greatly surprised to see the animal back again, and turning to my friend, stared him in the face, exclaiming — " Why, where did Tom get my horse ? This is the first time I've thought of him since the fight — I supposed he must have been carried off by the Cherokees !" He laughed heartily, while Tom grinned his broadest grin. "Yah! yah! yah, massa! Dat witch-er-woman witch he back agin !" Tom had brought another companion, in whose pluck he had more confidence, I suppose, and they both laughed with great apparent enjoyment at this sally. My friend slapped me on the shoulder pleasantly — " I'm afraid you would have gone ofi" on a broom-stick sure enough, but that your horse was wiser than yourself, and knew his way home better ! We took his back trail, expecting to find some of your bones, at least, and it brought us to this place!" " Well, I shall learn to place my trust in horses more here- after — that is all !" and we proceeded to arrange our stores. In finding places to deposite them around the single chamber, THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 329 I took an opportunity to examine the little recess of which I have made mention. I was not much surprised to find it filled with books — for that I was prepared to expect — but for the number of rare and valuable works upon one subject, I had never seen it surpassed, even in extensive and pretentious libraries. They were nearly all works upon Social Science, and especially in its relations to Mechanics. I had only time to glance hastily over the titles, but they impressed me quite as strangely as had the appearance of the room and its wheels and models in the first place. This discovery only served to increase my curiosity. We soon had every thing arranged in some sort of rude comfort — and as it was too late for any body to return to the plantation, my friend consented to remain until morn- ing. My wound proved less formidable, now that there were others to wait upon the wounded. The old man was gradually waking and the woman continued perfectly calm. Tom was very active now, and quickly produced for us an admirable supper. He was very alert in serving the woman, and would jump eagerly at her slightest gesture, and ran to do any errand she might require. It was even amusing to observe how reverentially he watched her and obeyed the slightest word or movement of the hand, and even endeavored to anticipate her very thought. She received it all as a matter of course, merely deigning the acknowledgment of a look. She seldom spoke to us, and then it was in an abrupt and almost imperative manner, which excessively disgusted my Planter friend — though . he obeyed her with nearly the alacrity of Tom himself — and then would come back to me growling in an undertone, most furiously about — " A crazy harriden ! — an insolent virago ! — a ranting fanatic ! — a wier-woman ! — a witch ! — a she-devil," &c. I did not pay much attention to all these expletives, for I felt how entirely impulsive they were, and how little they expressed of his real feeling about her. 330 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. We passed the night quietly, and had the satisfaction to find in the morning that the old man had opened his eyes, and after his bath, seemed entirely conscious — ^recognizing me with a smile, and my friend with a slight but placid move- ment of the head. He made no attempt to speak, and it soon became apparent that he had, temporarily, at least, lost the power of speech. We were all greatly shocked at discovering this sad mis- fortune; but the woman, although I could clearly see that she shuddered at the discovery, remained apparently cool, and only remarked : — " I said his recovery must be slow, — but whether it come or not, I shall be content, for his glorious brain has been spared ; I can see that in his clear, firm eye, and if he only recovers the use of his hands and body, the great work may yet be accomplished !" and she turned ofi" about her domestic duties, as he nodded a sublimely placid acquiescence, — at least so it seemed to me ! The Planter was early ready to return, — telling me that he would send over a servant every day, or come himself to see how we were getting on. He offered to leave Tom with us, but I had stoutly refused, and the woman peremptorily. Tom brought up the horses the Planter had mounted, and the other slave was also in the saddle, when Tom, who had been standing during the moments of leave-taking, came for- ward, and making a humble bow at his master's stirrup, said, in a faltering voice : — "Massa! — you please to gib Tom leave to stay here and wait on dis gemmen and dat sick lady ?" "Why, Tom, she wont have you, my good fellow! I've offered to leave you already !" Tom seemed greatly humiliated by this speech, and bowed his head with a look of deep mortification for a moment, and then lifting it suddenly, exclaimed, with a droll look of eager , entreaty : — THE TEXAN HUKTEESS. 331 / " Dat no matter to Tom, Massa ! He sleep under de tree outside, and bring de wood, and fetch de water from de spring, and no look at um if she no like it for Tom !" I said to the planter, in a low voice : — " Perhaps you had better let him stay ! The poor fellow seems to be very much in earnest, and may be of assist- ance !" " You know I wanted you to keep him, — but what will this virago inside say to it ? I believe she has bewitched him already, — do you think she won't whisk him o£F on a broom- stick, nor anything of that sort ?" " 0, no ! I'U make his peace with her, — I'll engage ! but I want him to stay now, — ^because this sudden and unexpected sort of sympathy and veneration for this woman interests me, and I wish to trace its real cause, — at present it is entirely inexplicable !" " 0, very good ! Tom, you may stay. It seems as curious to me as to you. I shall come over as often as I can to see you all, — ^but," he added, leaning down from his saddle and speaking in a whisper : — " I want you to beware how Tom hears any more of her fanatical talk about Cain and the darkies, — such things always lead to mischief, and I'm half afraid that is why Tom has so soon got over his scare about her!" "Yes! — ^yes!" I answered, with a smile, — "I'll see to Tom's morals." "Then, good-by, and look sharp for witches and Red- skins !" So saying, he struck spurs into his horse and gallopped off beneath the mossy hung boughs, followed by his servant, while Tom, with great glee, unharnessed his horse and led him off to stake him out near mine. His manner was comi- cally exulting, as I watched him until nearly out of view. He would throw his head far back, seeming to be in a parox- ism of low laughter, — the chuckling sound of which would 332 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. just reacli me ; lie would occasionally toss up his arms in exultation, or jump into the air, striking his heels together twice or thrice e'er he came down, and make sundry other antics, to the evident astonishment of his horse, who would suddenly jerk backwards, while Tom, in total unconsciousness, would tug away at the lariat, uttering some comical expletive, until he got him started again, and then go on rejoicing ! I did not mention the circumstance to the woman, having determined that she and Tom might settle the affaif after their own fashion. For several days I could see nothing of him, though the wood and water necessary for us was regularly deposited at the door. The woman, or myself as it happened, would take it in ; and, as she made no comment upon the obvious singularity of the circiunstance, I did not, of course, allude to it. Indeed, the terms of our intercourse were so monosyllabic that I could only speak to her concern- ing matters of plain necessity. Her wound had to be cared for, but most of all that of the husband! She sometimes remembered to cook, but when she did not do so I attended to that necessary duty myself. My friend had not returned as I expected, nor had we heard a word from him as yet. The husband grew better with unexpected rapidity, and when he finally was able, with slight assistance, to resume his accustomed chair, it was a grand occasion with us ; for the woman had evidently clung with a pertinacity, which was still afraid to precipitate its despair, to the hope that when he had recovered the use of his constitutional strength suffi- ciently to be able to use his limbs for locomotion, the faculty of speech would return to him — therefore she had applied herself to the restoration of his physique exclusively, and had, with au obvious feeling of trepidation, avoided calling out from him the slighest attempt at using his voice. Now came the shock in full ! We had seated him in the chair, and he glanced around with a beaming look upon the instruments of his labor. He even picked them up, such as were near him. THE TEX4.N HUNTEESS. 333 With an affectionate familiarity, and seemed to think of resmning his labors where he left them off. Her eyes brimmed and glistened as she watched him, and when he took up his magnifying glass she leaned forward, suddenly, and asked, with an eager and hopeful expression : — "William, is the light good?" He nodded his head pleasantly, but spoke no word; she turned pale at this, and said, in an agonized xToice, while with blue and parted lips she hung upon his answer: — " William, why do you not speak ?" He made an inarticulate movement of the lips, raised his finger to them, and shook his head sadly. She clasped her hands and staggered backwards, but I caught her. For one minute she was motionless, except a slow shivering of the body; and with rigid features and lips compressed, leaned against me, with such an expression of hopeless abandon, that I could not help the tears springing to my eyes. She soon recovered her self-possession, and raising herself erect, she coldly remarked : — " He can at least talk for humanity in deeds; his eyes have language enough for us to converse." From this time she seemed to me as one stricken; she moved about in tearless silence, — never speaking to me, except when compelled, and then only in monosyllables. - She never attempted to speak to him again, except by looks or signs, of which they had in a few days established a simple but sufficiently significant system. I never heard this woman complain once of her wound, though it was clearly a severe one, and she must have suffered greatly. She went calmly on as usual, watching every want of her husband, and even anticipating many. He had recovered sufficiently now to be able to resume his labor, and she kept near him all the time, seeming to understand perfectly the effect of every new combination attempted, and the purpose which was to be attained. 334 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. So much was she absorbed, that she never appeared to notice the fact that we had heard nothing from my friend, the planter, and that still our stores of provisions, wood and water, did not appear to diminish in the least, and that I had only to hobble to the door to bring them in each morning. She asked no questions, and saw nothing but what was required for her husband. My life now grew horribly monotonous. The eternal silence, broken only by an occasional word to me, which had sole reference to some one of the details of our material wants; — that dumb worker, so earnestly plying his curious and delicate labors ; — that stern, and almost sleepless watcher, whose eyes were always upon him, and who scarcely seemed to be aware of my presence ; — that noiseless guardianship over our necessities from without ; — all taken together, had such an effect upon my imagination, that sometimes I really believed myself to be in a dream, and that the whole of these surroundings were unreal as drifting phantasmagoria through the skies of cloud- land. I had noticed for some days past that the eyes of the woman shone with an imusual brightness, and that to all my questions with regard to her wound she gave either evasive or abrupt answers. The ball had not yet been extracted, to my knowl- edge, though I had good reason to believe that this stern being had attempted to cut it out herself in private. In 80 deep a wound there would be, of course, a severe and dangerous sloughing. She had given me no sort of oppor- tunity to judge how far it had progressed, for, like a wounded panther, she went sullenly apart to live or die alone at the feet of her mate. I was inexpressibly shocked to notice these dreary symp- toms, and isolated and unsympathetic as our relations were, and had been, I wept like a child when I saw her at last fall upon the bed her husband had so lately occupied, and with the first expression of utter helplessness I had yet heard THE TEXAN HUNTEESS. 335 from her, exclaim : — " It is all over ! The struggle is closed for me ! Se will finish the work alone !" I reached her side as soon as possible. She was most pain- fully haggard, and her eyes were distended to a degree which made their expression seem peculiarly ghastly. She recog- nized me with a smile of such genial sweetness, as for the first time showed me directly the infinite depth and tenderness of that strong heart. She had never revealed harself to me before, so that I felt her recognition ; she had kept all her sympathies with an austere exclusiveness for her husband, and those she had given to me were merely general, such as she would have given to any other member of the human family. She beckoned me to come to her. I came and threw myself on my knees by the side of her couch, she placed her hand upon my head, saying, in a low, solemn voice : — " My son, while I am yet strong enough, I wish to explain much to you that you neither have nor could have compre- hended. I seem to you, no doubt, a wild and incomprehen- sible fanatic — ^my husband a dreamer ! Neither idea is the true one. We are both enthusiasts — and love our common purpose more than we love each other — for a great thought is, and should be, far more sacred than any passion. Love is only spiritualized in reality when two souls meet in the same idea 1 Animals have passions, even stronger than ours — ^but have they a purpose ? They have the purpose of living. We have, or ought to have, a higher ! We have something more to do than to ' live, and move, and have a being' — we have to worTzd Work for what ? For its men and women — its animals, its birds, its insects, its fishes, its reptiles, its monsters, anthropophagi, and all ! — ^Work to elevate, enlarge, expand— to beautify — ^to glorify ! Work to make the flowera like those we know in dreams — the trees express our thoughts of overshadowing strength and love — the rocks, of grandeur 336 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. — ^tte mountains, of sublime ! "We must unchayi the winter — quell the torrid sun ! — We must charm the water — ^make its sedges spread- Must win all bitter berries up and make them turn to bread t E'en the insensate sod Must wake to know its life. To feel it has a God, And join the upward strife! So she spoke, in a rapid, distinct manner, for some moments, and then abruptly ceased. This wild and half-poetical rhap- Body impressed me quite as solemnly as the mythical mutterings of a Pythoness would have done, and I could make no reply. Very soon she commenced speaking again, in a voice still more subdued. "This sounds to you as altogether vague, because the thoughts are new. But do you know these thoughts are as old as humanity ? Men have always thought so — when they had brains to think with ; they have not, except in isolated instances, dared to speak what they knew ! They have hidden their sense in allegories — they have spoken in double mean- ings — or they have demonstrated in words. This was not sufficient. Mankind requires something more than words ! The hieroglyphics of our infancy, as a race, must not be ren- dered into demonstration alone — but into physical realities. ■ We must speak in creations — ^like Grods ! — ^if we wish to be worthy of our trust. We must prove that he — and we ! — possessing the ' one talent' — (which simply means our earth) ! are worthy ; and that it may not be given to Mm possessing five ! In a word, we shall not and cannot wrap that ' one talent in a napkin !' We must work in our own despite and for our own self-respect — must be doing for the good of others, as well as ourselves !" " But how ?" said I, humbly—" It is easy enough to dig !" " yes ! — to delve is the lot of our race ! But we must THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 337 dig up hill — moles, and all low beasts and reptiles climli towards the apex. Aspiration has no wings ! — It climbs ! — it does not soar ! — all that even Shakspeare says is, that • Aspiration breedeth wings !' We mast cultivate the facility — ^the habit of going up will soon accustom us to new ideas and modes of thought that had never been suggested — ^but I wander! The relation which I intended to give you is a very simple one. You asked me how we should work ? I will tell you how I have worked, and why ? " I was poor as strength always is ! The knaves starve wisdom because it is child-like ! I was a daughter of New England — I wa3 proud and self-reliant — I determined very early in my life that I would support myself ! My parents, from whom my plan met but little sympathy, of course opposed violently my purpose to go to some great cotton mill, and wor^ there for my own support. They were poor, too, but proud of an ancestral position ; they could and would not resign it, as they supposed, to ignoble associations ! We had a; long and bitter struggle — ^the amount of which was, that I learned to hate most heartily their cowardly apprehension of the ' say-so' of the world ! I carried my point, and must acknowl- edge that, for one day, my romantic delusion with regard 'to the general idea of associated labor in public mills and manufactories, was nearly kept up — but the filth and want of ventilation first shocked me. "In a few hours after the excitement of my new posi- tion had -passed, I began to feel myself stifled — my mouth was di-y and my lungs suffered from the cotton-lint, which filled the air in infinite particles. I nearly fainted when we were turned loose late in the evening, and the sensation was little docreased when I returned to my room in one of the regular boarding houses. It was an affair of seven by six, without a pretence of ventilation, and contained two l:ipd9. 2a 338 WILD SCENES AifD WILD HUNTERS. " The food was horrible ! The mercenary wretches em- ployed to grind, and starve, and rot the life out of several thousand helpless girls, proved worthy of their employers ! They were just as ruthless barterers in human flesh as hell could ask, or millionaires applaud ! " Since, I have walked in the track of plague, leprosy, cholera, and fever — ^but I have never seen any thing so humiliating to personal dignity — so oppressive to individual health — so brutal in regard to the ordinary sympathies as the whole system of these mills. The poor children of strength and poverty die off, as regularly as the moths of the silk- worm, in three or four years at the most — or else they con- geal into a sort of old-maid-withered state, which, in its wrinkled and horrid distortions, is more monstrous than any thing this side the English colliers ! — according to Parlia mentary Reports ! " I could not be a slave ! I would not be a minion. I left the mills — I left my family with the determination to work somehow — to redeem the earth from this great evil. " This was a vast undertaking for a poor forlorn female. But, nevertheless, I had strong feelings that something could be done, even by one so humble as myself. But first I had to earn my own bread, and as my education had been good, and I had read eagerly since my early childhood, I thought myself qualified to act as governess, and advertised. I soon » found a place. It happened to be in a rich and visionary family, every member of which iiad mounted some particular hobby of its own. I thought myself in heaven for awhile, but soon began to perceive that hobbies are hobbies. " I found this family of world-saviours — ^for no one of them was any thing short ! — the most intense self-ists I had ever met. The only merit they possessed was obstinacy. Each one held to his or her opinion with a ludicrous pertinacity, and the house was one continuous Babel of controversy. All Ihe ref'jrm topics of the day were thus continually dinned THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 339 into my ears, and the running commentary upon this anxious care for humanity was furnished in the dissolute habits of the family. A more vicious, mean, and cowardly set of knaves and beasts I never saw congregated in one household. It was a perfect epitome of the vices of civilization. With an immense inherited fortune and entire leisure, they united untameable passions and great intellectual activity — without one particle of faith or of honor. Each mounted a hobby because it was the fashion, and rode it until ' the galled jade winced !' The passion for notoriety, which predominated among them, was inexorable. All the lustful vices a corrupt humanity ever dreamed of, were practised among them. These were absolutely carried to hideous excesses, and I became a victim. " The family were very handsome, and the oldest son was magnificently so. He- early cast his eyes upon me. His advances were very subtle. He discovered my tendency towards what are called liberal views, and upon that key-note his skill was Satanic as his will was invincible. He imbued me fully with the knowledge of all modern isms — ^libertinism among the rest — in the end ! Nothing that clairvoyance has guessed, Swedenborg dreamed, or Fourier idealised, but that I heard it all in his soft musical tones, breathed insidiously against my cheek. I believed it all, and believed him. My ruin was the consequence, as I have hinted. I bore him a child! The wretch had removed me from my place, and deserted me before the child was born ! Why should I de- scribe the sufferings of a strong nature under such a wrong ? Like natures understand them better without description ! A friend who knew and loved me, a just and righteous man, adopted the child of shame, and has done well by him. One dark night, beneath a murky lamp, I met and stabbed the villain, in the place where I had awaited nim for hours. He knew me as he fell, and I laughed in his dying ear. I fled the country, of course, and came to Texas. In Galveston 340 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. I met this man — my husband. I had lived there for several years, teaching the only regular school they had in the country. I had, after a fearful struggle, gained a sort of resignation. " But once I heard some ribald fellows of that rude society ridiculing a " crazy old cove," as they called him. They said he did nothing but ' work ! work I work ! all day ; and that nobody could understand what the poor old fool was doing with his wheels and his stupid machines.' " I at once determined to know this man ! To be abused by such fellows was enough to persuade me in his favor. I went to see him. I found him as you have seen him — a mighty intellect with a feeble physique ! We became friends at once. My enthusiasm had only been ' driven in' — so to say, and now came rushing back to the surface of expression. I found him alone, and almost helpless. He had no one to care for him, and could not care for himself — for, although he possessed some means, he was too much abstracted to notice minor details of comfort — so he lived in the most pain- fully squallid manner. He did his own cooking, and made his bed once a week — for he would not have a servant about him, because he feared he might disturb his work — the apparent chaos of which was his order! " I talked with this man, — for he talked then ! long and eagerly. He told me much that satisfied me. He showed me that the reform, for which so many true and devoted spirits were really laboring, was a different thing from the cant of the professional reformers. They prayed in public places to be " seen of men ;" they, who are in earnest, pray in deeds, and not in words ; and neither do they let the right hand know what the left hand doeth ! " He showed me that the popular schemes of reform were all purely theoretical. That they could, and would accom- plish nothing direct ! That all true reforms must begin in the physical ! That men were moved only through material means. THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 841 and that it was through such means that the material was to be reached and elevated. That the laws of Mechanics were the laws of the universe in dimuendo ! and that the hatreds, the oppressions, the crimes, the monstrosities of our social system, were only to be reached through Mechanics ! The law of order was supreme, and this law required a material medium. Mankind was only to be, emancipated into leisure to cultivate the spiritual by the aid of machinery ! — of rail-roads, canals, &c. ! Then the working classes would have leisure, leisure to think and feel; leisure to cultivate the arts; to make the flowers grow ! " But, yet, as he taught, they need a higher Mechanics ! They have steam, and air and electricity, — they have appro- priated the water and the gasses, — ^brutes, minerals, vegeta- tion, — all ! — ^but one Power ! superior to them all ! " The law of gravitation is the law of labor, of life, and of progress ! This great law remains to be conquered ! We have conquered the elements and made them our slaves ! — how slow they carry us ! We want to rein the law that governs spheres ! "He was making the audacious attempt! He overwhelmed me with the calm profundity of his knowledge — he dazzled me in a very different sense from that first dazzle, which was delirious, and simply, simple !" She placed her hands upon her eyes, and they looked very thin and feeble ! A shudder passed through her frame. She muttered : — " He dared attempt the ^perpetual motion,' and I dedicated my life to him — ^but more to the great thought ! We came apart from civilization, and made us a home here by the unaided labor of our own hands. Here he has worked and I have slaved, to the mighty thought that G-od may reveal himself in Mechanics ! as well as by other revelations, — and the children of Eve be thus released from all slavery !" 342 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. She fell back upon her pillow, and, as I started to my feet, a strange, dull cry came from the husband ! She was dead ! I turned my head in horror from the realization of the scene, and there was Tom, crouching close beside me, with his eyes rolled up in such an expression of horror and sympathy, that I was even more profoundly moved. He had evidently crept in, and been listening to everything she said ! Poor Tom ! He buried this strange woman with many tears, and then we took the old man back to the Planter's house, with all his wheels and models ; but he soon fell into idiocy, and died not long after, leaving his life's labor in the hands of strangers, to come to nothing ! — as all attempts must do at asserting the prerogative of Divinity Himself — whose life is the only perpetual motion that can exist in the Universe! Here was a sad and stern first lesson of the presumption which goeth aside in the confidence of its own strength to search after the " strange gods," — ^yet, alas, it was in vain for me, as I only came forth from this experience a more cold and impious doubter. CHAPTER XII. METAPHYSICS OF BEAR-HUNTINO. There are those who can learn nothing through the ex- ^.eriences of others, however impressively presented; who Liust hear, see, taste, smell and feel for themselves, before tliey can understand the most self-evident truths. The knock- J"WTi argument is the only one that has availed wi^h me for evil or for good; and that, it seems, I was to have the full benefit of, before the frantic scepticism, which had fastened upon this period of my life, could be reached. The passion of the hunter-naturalist for solitary communion with the soul of nature, which had strengthened the life of my childhood 343 344 WILD SCENES AND WILD' HUNTERS. and youth into the holier calms of full contentment, had now become so morbidly distorted that this solitude was terrible, unless filled with the action and excitement of danger. My late adventure, from the still farther confusion in which it involved my spiritual and mental sense, proved only the incentive to yet more blind and headlong plunges, into — I knew and cared not what — desperate extremes of adventure. I hurriedly parted with my friend C , determined to push on to the uttermost verge of settlement, or even beyond if might be ! Now, by way of parenthesis, as to this novel metaphysics, upon an exposition of which I am about to enter, I would say, if there be sermons in stones, and the minnow-rippled, silvery- gabbling brooks be all oracular, and the mute trees yet panto- mime of homilies, — not to speak of the obstreperous tongue, nimble-stroked, of "cross, quick lightning," which, "in the dead vast, and middle of the night" doth fright us with its ethics, — if, I say, these have, every one, high teachings of their own, why may there not be more in the metaphysics of bear-hunting than has been dreamed of in any fire-side philosophy ? I am hiunan enough to love this linking of the invisible with forms ; this association with the material gives it to the palpable. Every thought of mirth, or vision of delight, is ours forever, when, clothed in fit habiliments, we have given it "a local habitation and a name." "These are the adept's doctrines; every element Is peopled with its separate race of spirits ; The airy sylph on the blue ether floats, Deep in the earthy caYems skulks the gnome, The sea-green Naiad skims the ocean billow. And the fierce fire is yet a friendly home To its peculiar sprite, the Salamander !" Now, though I have no special dealing at present with the Sylph, Naiad, Gnome, or Salamander, I would submit whether METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 345 the century-lived glory of ttat antique Faith be not referable to this " bodying forth" of rare ideals, with all the circumstance of an " earthly house," a name — of the chisel and the pencil! So in these latter times, when a truth comes to us out from the Infinite, that is to abide with us, it is sent, not with the destroying splendors of its source, but through the gross types of sense, wearing the shapes of most familiar creatures, or acting through the common elements of things. Miracles Are BO impounded now by the stem laws Of sentient things, that poor short-sifted reason, Yielding the divination up to Faith, Submits these rerelations under rule, As only given to her far ken 1 Miracles are above us, around us, and beneath us; it is only when the higher sense bends its inner vision upon them, that we recognize them so. The very triteness of the incidents and imagery through which they appeal to our eyes, " ever staring, wide-propped, at marvels, or lazily glouting on the moon," prevents the recognition of their import. But are they the less miraculous, that our own stultification will not permit us to see them thus ? There are times, though, when they come to us right solemnly, in sternness, in strangeness, through chastenings, — when the veil is torn aside, and we are made to look in awe on holy, hidden things, to tremble and believe. In such times our stolidity is no refuge; "we know that we do see!" — and when that time has passed, what are the symbols and the images through which that truth dwells forever after with the soul ? The incidents through which the Godhead came, the material forms through which He was made visible ! be they pigmy or huge in man's esteem, they ever, henceforth, in one certain collocation, must stand linke.d, the eternal, moveless, silent witnessess of that Revelation, and of God, against the aoul. 346 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. When we would reproduce for other wayfarers the lessona vouchsafed to us, how, in what better way can it be done, than by dragging from under the broken seals of the past, that deep-lined imagery, in the array God stamped it on our life, that brother souls may regard it. Perhaps they, too, may see the miracle, and be moved bj it as we have been. Though a thousand eyes might look on the same facts, and sneer that you talk of Crod ! yet there are those with the " gift and faculty divine" who know when to sneer wisely, if they sneer at all ! Such will understand us, when we aver that faith can find "the evidence of things unseen" only as it is mated with the actual. How can it be thought or expressed otherwise ? This necessity for the actual, is the true old Pantheistic element, though modern ethics will be gravely horrified by the profane juxtaposition ! The elder Penates were things, ours are words ; but not the less things for all that, if they be sacred. But though this be a " bear story," why may it not convey a lesson of higher import and severer teaching than the name would promise? Why may it not be made to trace and arrange the progress of incidents which led to a new birth of the spiritual life within me ? Which taught me, raving doubter that I was, through the simplest and most natural means — curiously enough presented, indeed — that first and most subhme of truths — God is ! Which has linked the " pathless- desola- tion" and " the lowly instrument" forever with my memories of adoring gratitude, of love and awe, and left them to me, the sentient demonstrations, strong as proof of Holy Writ, of a benevolent and active Providence — wielding appreciable laws inscrutably on my behalf ! But to return to my narrative. A solitary and perilous journey brought me to San Antonio de Bexar, then the extreme frontier post of Texas. On my arrival, I found the company of reckless scamps who called themselves Rangers, and made this old town their head- METAPUYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 347 quarters, in a very bad humor — what would you conjecture was the cause ? Simply that there had been no fighting to do for a whole month ! I had never heard a spoiled belle complain half so pajiheti- cally of a decaying season, and the scarcity of victims, as did these petulant amateurs, of the late difficulties, in the way of raising a fight ! They seemed to imagine the whole world was conspiring against them — that a coalition, including not Mexicans and Indians only, but even " His celestial highness, the brother of the sun," had been formed for the express pur- pose of killing them ofi", through a stagnation of blood, super- vening upon the horrible monotony of an endless peace ! Eather than die so base a death, they were just vowing to rush into any alternative extreme — sack some village or Catholic Mission on the other side of the Rio Grande — or go up into the mountains and burn an Indian town, and see if that would not stir the hornets and give them something to do. After the deliberation due in so dire a strait, Hays, their good-natured little captain, too much moved, perhaps, by the tenderness of his sympathy, and a desire to give them full amends for all they had endured, decided upon the latter of these alternatives. Lither of them was promising enough ; but he, as in duty bound, of course selected that around which clustered the fullest fruition in perspective! To form some idea of his , accommodating temper and their insatiable gourmandie, imagine a party of eight white men and two Mexicans, traversing an almost desert prairie, three hundred miles in width, with the purpose to reach the mountainous region near the sources of the San Saba river, in which lay the fastnesses of those formidable tribes that scour the plains of Mexico and Texas — ^intending, when gained, to penetrate them, and destroy some one of the towns hid away in their gorges — with, furthermore, the pleasant prospect of having thousands of infuriated warriors howling on their trail back to the very 348 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. square from which they started — ^that is, if, contrary to all probabilities, they ever should reach it again. If possessed of a vivid imagination, after grasping all that this view pre- sents, you may form some faint conception of what these remarkably moderate young gentlemen were contented to consider sport !" For myself, being, as has been perceived by this time, just in the mood for so reasonable and matter-of-fact an undertaking, I was aelighted at having arrived in time to join the party, and nothing the less delighted at the extravagant gusto with which the fellows seemed to relish the idea of this highly seasoned joke. Captain Hays had thrown out a hint, as the climactric attraction to any one who might need further incentive or dream of hesitating, that if we had not seen too many Indians by the time we reached the foot of the San Saba ridge, we would recreate there a day or so in killing bears, which animals were reported to be wonderfully abundant, and collecting wild honey, to be drunk with the oil ! This last mellifluous, argument proved too much for a rotund and doughty little Doctor — like myself, lately from the States — who had been slightly aff'ected by some natural qualms of prudence; but now, "in fine phrensie rollihg," his inner visuals were all preoccupied and inspired by the scenes round the camp-fire — himself, with sleeves rolled up — the sharp knife in his dumpy red hand — the fat streaks falling off beneath his strokes upon the napkin of leaves — the steam, "like rich distilled perfumes," that rose as they hissed upon the spit before the cheery fire. Then the brown honey in stately 'iquid flow from the tin cups, strewed over the tenderly crisped flesh ! Oh ! it was too delicious ! What cared he for Coman- ches after that rapt vision ! Yes, go he would, though they swarmed by thousands to turn him from his bliss ! The best of the joke, though, was, that after this we could not get the Doctor anyhow to realize that there would be METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 349 Indiana to fight. He ■vfould not and could not conceive the possibility of the tawny rascals interposing "betwixt the wind" and that odorous revelation. " " Faugh ! give me an ounce of civet !" good apothecary, he would ejaculate, with the parenthetic addition, " or bear-steak and honey would do as well," whenever the thing was mentioned by us. Remon- strate as we might, he would see and know of nothing else ahead but these rare delicacies ; nor could he be induced to make provision in his equipments for any thing other than securing them. He had gotten hold of something he called a bear spear, which a wag had quizzed him into believing to be an infallible weapon in hunting that animal; then, in addition, slinging a small axe to his saddle-bow, to be used in cutting out the honey, along with a huge pair of holster- pistols, he declared himself, with great vivacity, "Ready, boys!" We tried to induce him to throw away his spear and take a gun. " Never ! What, would you have me unsteady my nerves by lugging a great gun ? How shall I then be able to dissect with that nicety of skill so indispensable to attain- ing the true flavor of a bear-steak ? You are surely demented gentlemen !" and spurring his bob-tailed and vicious-looking pony into a canter, he led the way out of the square. We were all soon clattering after him. It requires precious little time, after an expedition has been determined upon, for a troop like this to get ready for it ; with his rifle, his pistols, his bowie knife, his tin cup, "water gourd," buffalo robe, lariat, Mexican bridle, saddle and spurs, the jolly Ranger feels himself prepared to go wherever his horse can carry him, and to meet " all imminence the gods address their dangers in !" He never troubles himself to-day about what he shall eat or what he shall wear to-morrow; for, so long as his eye is true, and his aim steady, his good ' rifle will supply him with meat for food, and skins for clothes ; and what more could any reasonable mortal ask ? 350 WI^D SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. In truth, Tve were an odd-looking set — each one dressed in buckskin, fashioned and trimmed very much to suit individual taste, with no sort of respect to uniformity — our whole equip- ment making up a singular amalgamation of Mexican, Indian and American costumes, while our arms were of almost every conceivable stamp. The most experienced hunters carried the old-fashioned long-barreled rifle, single-barreled pistols, and a heavy knife ; while those of us just from the States, were loaded down with the newest inventions — six-shooting revolvers, double-barrels, and all sorts of nev-fangled notions, which we supposed were to make us, individually, a host — for which unwarranted supposition we got ourselves laughed at most heartily, and were afterwards glad to have time for repentance. Our horses, some of them mustangs, others American, had been carefully selected with reference to their speed and endurance ; and all, with the exception of the Doctor's nondescript pony, were fine looking animals. After clearing the narrow streets of the dilapidated town, and gaining the open prairie, which lay stretched like an ocean before us, with its long waves stilled upon the leap — ^it was a glorious intoxication to feel the noble brutes exulting in their strength beneath us, as they bounded over the undu- lations; and, in one full ringing shout, our pent-up spirits greeted the mountain winds.that came dashing their cool wel- come against our faces ! r Ho ! for the mountains I ho I atray I For merry men are we 1 A short but rapid ride through a lovely region — whose diversified features shifted in panoramic changes every moment as we dashed by — brought us to a small stream, which was to be our camping place for the night; and here, we must confess, that as is invariably the case on the first night out, there was a sort of intoxication rife round our camp-fires very METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 351 different from that healthy exhilaration we have spoken of. Our " water-gourds" we had discovered would hold " nouya" and "absynthe" just as well, and the time was decidedly at a discount for the evening, which was spent in as gay and reckless a carouse as ever chased the " lagging night-shades," with songs and laughter through the " sma' hours." Of course, in such a state of things, there was no watch set — and we all felt very foolish, on waking the next morning, to find some of our best horses gone — among them my own gallant American. Some of the thieving Mexicans of Bexar, having in view the well-known custom of the Rangers, to com- mence all long and perilous expeditions with a spree, had slunk and crawled upon our trail, since we left town, and having ascertained our camping ground, kept themselves invisible until we were far gone in the profound sleep which followed our excesses ; then ere t near the camp, and cutting the lariats of those horses on the outside, rode them off! Great as our vexation was, a, general burst of laughter run^; out on all sides when it was discovered that an attempt had been made to carry off the Doctor's pony, too ; but from the indications, it was plain that the vicious little rascal had been too much for the thief — for it had compelled that luckless personage to leave his "sombrero" under its heels, and the print of his prostrate form was plain enough on the damp Pony rose a hundred per cent, in the estimation of all parties, forthwith, and his quaint owner with him. There was nothing for it but to wait patiently until those who had horses should return, and replace the stolen ones by pur- chases from the nearest " Cavayard." As they had nearly a thousand to select from, we were consoled by the hope that we should get at least passable horses. The return of our messengers late in the evening was awaited by myself, as well as the other unfortunates, with great anxiety, for all that could be hoped of either pleasure 352 WILD SCENES AXD WILD HUNTERS. or security, on an expedition such as this, depended very much upon the character and mettle of our horses. It was in vain to regret the noble fellow I had lost, for he would be across the Rio Grande in the shortest possible time. I could only mutter vengeance a^inst Mexican horse thieves in general, and hope he might be at least tolerably replaced. It will be seen in the event, that we did not attach too much importance to this circumstance. When the detachment arrived, I was agreeably surprised to find a powerful, wild-eyed, fine-looking animal assigned to me ; but my pleasure was not a little dashed at discover'ng, as soon as I undertook to handle him, that he had never had a saddle on his back ! Here was a poser with a vengeance ! What was I to do with an untamed Mustang, as strong as a buffalo, and vicious as a wild cat? After enjoying a laugh at my chap-fallen, chagrined look, on realizing this astounding fact, my tormentors suggested to me the only alleviation, which was to pay one of our Mexican guides a dollar, mount his horse, and let him take mine in hand for a day or two, in which time he would make him "cahello de buena rienda" for me. In a little while the copper-skinned knave was careering like the wind over the plains on my frantic steed, while the mischievous Rangers comforted me with the assurance, that wfe would probably catch up with him " in a day or two !" However, he came into camp late at night, with the horse sweltering in foam, and nearly exhausted by a run of some ten miles and back, and assured me that he was " muey buena" —very good ! — ^that is, he had been able to stand this tremeij- dous race, without falling dead in his tracks, which constituted the Mexican standard of excellence in these cases. I was eager to mount him myself next morning, for I did not fancy the idea of having his wind broken, by this Mexican and summary process of taming. I was approaching him incautiously, without paying any METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HDNTINd. 353 attention to the guide's reiterated " N'o ! no ! por Dios!" when he suddenly threw out his heels in such devilish earnest that they clattered together just ahove my forehead, and reminded me that "prudence was the hetter part," &c., so far as he was concerned, yet awhile. I turned off with a feeling of high indignation at this ungrateful reception of my kindly intentions, and consigned him over to the tender mercies of the Mexican, with the petulant and unnecessary injunction, to "kill him, or ride that devil out of him!" I have some times since thought that the horse must have understood this cruel speech, and to have hided his time to avenge himself right royally — and he did it, too, as you wiU presently see ! Our westward march was now resumed. We soon recovered that careless buoyancy which had somewhat been checked by the unpromising "first night." The scenery was glorious, the air deL'ciously fresh and bracing, the Doctor and his pony irresistibly comic ; and the grouse was soon startled, whirring up from its grassy couch by the joyous bursts of tameless merriment. That same Doctor, and his better part, on four legs, were enough to have kept an army in a roar. I say better part, for the pony was as self-opinionated as he was cross-grained, and scarcely an hour passed that he and his rider had not some misunderstanding to settle, in the final adjustment of which "bobtail" generally managed to get the best of it. On the slightest matter of offence being given, the irrascible little wretch would stop and bite at the Doctor's short legs; when he, of coiirse, jerking them back suddenly to avoid snaps, his armed heels would prick the pony's flank, who would spring forward with several quick successive leaps, which would sadly discommode his rider's equilibrium, and, not unfrequently, would keep them up with such rapidity, that the tight, round personalities of the Doctor, after a flying ascension over his head, would plump mto the grass ; but as thjat happened to be very thick, and 23 364 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. the ground very soft, nothing worse would come of it than a smart jolt, which the Doctor would aver, with the most, indomitable good humor, "assisted his digestion." Pony never seemed to feel at liberty to desert his friend, after he had demonstrated his affection in this curious fashion, but would stand perfectly still, and with a very demure, repentant look, take the kick which the Doctor always favored him with before remounting. I have laughed till my sides ached at this quaint couple. The Doctor was the strangest compound of simplicity and good humor that can be conceived. The Rangers were most of them gentlemen, in breeding at least, so that the days of our travel glided by delightfully, enlivened with pleasantries and tales of curious adventure, to which I was a most untiring listener. I had, in the mean- time, received my horse at the hands of the Mexican, and was very well pleased at his behavior. The character of the scenery was now entirely changed. It had been agreeably diversified before, but now we had stretched around us to the horizon, the fatiguing monotony of a dead-level, sterile plain, covered with coarse thin grass, with only once in fifteen or twenty miles a clump of stunted bushes to relieve the eye. This continued for several days. At last, however, just as we were beginning to be exces- sively bored by it, a dim broken line looked in the hlac distance before us like a great bank of clouds. This, to our great relief, was announced to be the San Saba HUls. "Now," said the little Doctor, who had been looking some- what disconsolate, but brightened up when ,^he heard this, "Now for the bear-steaks ! And I warn you, gentlemen, that I shall win the first that are eaten, with this same spear of mine, which has been the subject of so much wit among you all ! You need not laugh, I shall confound you before to- morrow night." And saying this, he plunged his spurs into the sides ol METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 355 bobtail with such unwonted energy, that he, feeling himself furiously insulted, commenced a series of caperings evea more vivacious and complicated than usual, and persevered in them with such determination, that, after a h^rd struggle, the Doctor was fairly somerseted, bear-spear and all, amidst a roar of merriment. He got nimbly to his legs again, dealt two kicks this time, with a little more vigor than usual, and remounted. By night, we could clearly distinguish the different knobs, and the shaded valleys between them. We camped in high spirits, for no traces had yet been discovered of Indians, and we were near enough the hills to reach them in time for sport in the morning. Bright and early we were under way — our arms all over- hauled and in fine order — ^with a keen relish for the rough work before us. As we neared the hills, they presented singular features. They rose directly and abruptly from the level of the plain we had been traversing. It seemed to be a succession of ridges, marched out like an army of Titans upon the meadows — ^the lowest in front — ^rising higher and higher as the eye traced each line back until it grew up into the clouds ; and, from the level, we could look into the deep, cool, green valleys that went winding among their feet. Those in front were by no means precipitous, but rose from the valleys with a gentle curve, clothed all the way to the top with mighty live oaks, bearded like patriarchs, whose trunks stood far apart to give room for their long knotty arms, festooned with silvery moss, to spread, over the girth, not unfrequently of half an acre. As these trees forked very soon, and as there was no underbrush beneath, the hefwy drapery of the moss hung drooping as from a low- roofed temple of the Druids; and the thick green sward spread under it, mellowed the gray shades deliciously. The trees became gradually smaller and more sparse, as the eye descended to the valleys, and then in the centre of each was 356 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. a strip of prairie of the deepest verdure, open to the sun, which produced the illusion of a gold and emerald flood, stilly creeping beneath the grim towering shadows. A few small trees were scattered along the feet of the ridges a short distance out into our prairie. We were all entranced into gazing upon this marvelous scene, which opened in new traits of surpassing loveliness and grandeur as we approached. The awed silence which had fallen round the party was broken by a quick, vehement exclamation of the Doctor, — " Egad ! there they are ! I'm into 'em, boys !" and away he dashed, with " bobtail" at his best speed, and flourishing the spear above his head ! Looking around in astonishment for the cause of this sudden outbreak, I saw the whole party bending forward in the act of letting out their horses, while their eyes were strained with a half eager, half comic look after the Doctor. Following the same direction, I could distinguish, three or four hundred yards ahead, several black, unwieldy-looking objects, that seemed to be rooting in the long grass, just at the foot of one of the low Knobs, and a little distance out in the prairie. One of them raised its head at the moment, and I saw that is was a bear ! Hays exclaimed, as he spurred his horse — " Boys, we're lucky ! They come down to feed on the snails !" at the same moment the company broke off hke madmen. I followed, but having been pre-occupied, and less on the alert, was soon among the hindmost. The valiant Doctor had between fifty and eighty rods the start of us. His fiery little pony carried him straight up to the nearest b^r, which stood upon its hind feet stupidly snuffing the air, evidently greatly puzzled what to make of these new visitors ! The gallant ^sculapian dashed up to it, and was raising his spear to strike, before the astonished animal had concluded to turn tail, which, when it did, it waddled off with great speed. But, as the Doctor drove away manfully at its shaggy back with his weapon, in his eagerness METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 357 he had riddta so close that pony, too, entering into the spirit of the affair, was biting with great vigor at its haunches. Such a combination of assailants was too much for Bruin's patience, and it wheeled so suddenly, that, before pony could dodge, it had given him a wipe with his tremendous paws which brought him to his knees, y This unexpected, stoppage, of course, sent the Doctor vaulting over the head of his beast. His dumpy figure looked so natural, so much like the old trick, as it went sprawling through the air, that one universal yell of laughter broke impulsively from every throat in spite of the imminent peril of his predicament ! Happily for the Doctor, the pony, as the largest object, distracted the attention of the bear from him for an instant,, and gave him time to regain his feet, and make for a low live oak which stood near. Into this he mounted with inconceivable nimbleness, but the bear was close at his heels. He ran out upon a limb, but the inexorable monster still pur^ ued. He finally got out so far as the limb would sustain his weight, and there he stood, swayed to and fro in the air, holding on with one hand to the branches above him, while with the other he was pushing away most vehemently at the bear's nose with his spear, endeavoring to keep it at a respectful distance. This arrangement Bruin did not seem to feel disposed to agree to, but was cautiously and slowly pushing his way out on the limb, for the purpose of making a closer acquaintance. To complete the picture, pony was prancing, stamping his feet, looking up into the tree and whining most furiously, as if he fully appreciated his master's danger, and was eager to get up to the rescue. The whole scene occupied but a few seconds. The foremost of the party seeing the Doctor mount the tree, had gallopped on, laughing, in pursuit of the other bears ; while we were 80 much convulsed with merriment, that I verily believe the creature might have eaten the poor fellow whole, before any of us would have recovered sufficiently to shoot, but for the '6bS WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEBS. interposition of Hays. He, by a great , exertion of his remarkable self-command, so far recoTered as to be able to send a ball through its head, which brought it to the ground. There were now four bears in sight, who were making for the Knobs, and seeing that the Doctor, was safe, without, pausing, we all swept by in headlong career, to arrest these fellows before they left the plain. The last I saw of the Doctor for many a day, he was dangling from the end of that live oak limb, in the act of driving his spear into the body of the wounded bear, while pony, with his ears laid back, was kicking most vehemently at its writhing body ! The intensity of individual excitement was all now given to the chase. Our party had broken up into four groups, each of which had selected for pursuit one of the unwieldy brutes, who were getting over the ground with astonishing speed in a direct line for the Knobs. We pushed them so hard, though, that instead of attempting to ascend the ridges, they all diverged into some one of the narrow valleys I have spoken of. It happened that a young Virginian and myself had selected the same animal, and, before we entered the gorge, up which he ran, all the others of the party had disappeared into gorges of the same character, which led them to the opposite sides of the ridges. I now began to notice, for the first time, that there was trouble brewing with my horse. He had caught scent of the bear, and seemed to be terribly alarmed, snorting and bouncing up from the ground with a short, stiff spring, that almost jerked me out of my seat. Though his natural action was fully as great as that of the Virginian's horse, yet he, somehow or other, contrived not to get over much ground, and would not keep up. His manoeuvres made me feel a little curious, though I am, and was then, a practical horseman. I saw my companion closing upon the bear, which suddenly diverged from the valley, up the hill, and lost sight of both beliind an immense live oak hung to the very ground with METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 359 moss. In another instant he had fired two shots in quick succession. The idea of losing my shot entirely, made me desperate, and reining the horse's head -with all my strength, I plunged the spurs furiously into his flanks. Three or four frantic hounds, and he had brushed through the dense moss curtain under the live oak, and came through on the other side, within five paces of the object of his terror, the bear, the loins of which had been broken by the two shots, and it was swaying its huge carcass to and fro, and gaping its great red mouth with roars. Had my horse been suddenly turned to stone he would not have been more rigid than he became the instant his feet touched the earth. There was something positively awful in the paralysis of fright which seized him. His skin had been perfectly dry, and in a second, big drops had started, running ofi" to the ground. His legs were set and stiff; his nostrils prodigiously distended, but motionless ; his eyes shot out, and fixed, in the fascination of terror, upon the hideous object. I was shocked. I drove my spurs into him with redoubled strength, wrenching at the bit at the same timp. His head felt like a rock, and only a slight quiver of the muscles answered the spur. I fairly yelled with rage as I struck him over the head with my gun barrel. The blow sounded dull and heavy, but there was no motion, not even of an ear. I never felt so strangely in my life. I was frightened myself. At this instant, for all had passed in an instant, just as the Virginian was leveling his pistol for & third shot, our attention was arrested by the quick succession of firing, like a platoon, from the other side of the ridge, followed up by the stunning clamor, which has only to be heard once to be remembered forever, of the Comanche war-whoop ! and then, above us, the heavy tramp and rush of a troop descending the hill directly towards us ! There was no time for deliberation .' "The Indians! take care of yourself, Kentuck!" hastily 860 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. exclaimed my companion, as he wlieeled his horse and dashed down the hill for the valley. Cold comfort that — "take care of yourself," indeed ! I made one more desperate and iinaTailing effort to break the trance of the vile brute I strode, then sprang from his back, ran under the drooping moss, stepped up into the live oak, the forks of which were not over three feet from the ground, ran along up one of its massive limbs, and had barely time to conceal myself behind a dense cluster of the moss, when, with deafening whooping, a bronzed and feather- bedizened crew of some twenty Comanches swept into the valley just beneath me. They paused for an instant on seeing my horse, who was standing as I left him, and one of them took the lariat from the saddle-bow, but just then they caught sight of the flying Virginian, and, with a yell that made the very leaves shiver, dashed on in pursuit of him. This broke the spell upon my Mustang, and, with a sudden start and shrill neigh, he plunged wildly through the cro'^d, dragging the warrior who held the lariat from his seat,_and nearly unhorsing two or three others ; then, as if the very fiends were lashing him with red hot steel, he flew, rather than ran, out of the valley into the plains, neighing louder than the savages howled, till he was out of sight ! In a little while they, too, had disappeared ; a gun or two followed at momentary intervals, and then the echoes faded into pulseless and oppressive silence, broken only by the sobbing moans of the wounded bear beneath me. I was stupefied. These events were so strange, and had followed each other so rapidly, that I was dizzy and utterly confounded. Was it enchanted land? Here was I, three hundred miles beyond the remotest outskirts of civilization, perched in a tree; my horse gone; friends scattered or scalped; this infernal silence weighing upon my lungs. No! There is the dismal moan again ! I must go down and stop METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 361 that, or it'll run me crazy, sure enough ! Ha ! ha ! thi^ is a funny joke ! what a laugh I'll have with the fellows when we all get together again ! Oh ! they have all hid as I have done, and we will all meet out there at the mouth of the gorge after awhile ! Pooh ! the Fates merely mean to try my nerves ! Curse that moaning ! I must go down and kill that bear. Pity to kill him, too ; it's a sort of companionship ! Doleful friends we'll be ! Confound it, if it wouldn't whine so piteously I could stand it ! Pshaw ! the fellows will be here directly, and what will they say to find I have been so unmanned by a Httle silence, that I could not finish a wounded bear, when I came all this way to hunt it ? So down I went ! The great monster, I found, was too far gone to be savage. He merely stared at me through half-closed eyes, then tossed his head about, gaped his jaws, and moaned. I went dose up to him. I wanted him to show fight and excite me. It looked like I cold-blooded murder to kill him so, and we the only live things near : but he wouldn't notice me. His back was broken, and he had enough to occupy him. Wouldn't it be merciful to put him out of pain ? Yes ! but who's going to be merciful to me when I'm starving, after my ammunition gives out ! I felt jealous of the bear's good luck, in having me there with a large knife to kill him at once! All my logic wouldn't do. Sophise as I might, the awful conviction was settling about my brain that the party had been hopelessly scattered, and that I was left alone, with no experience to guide me back, and no hope of getting back on foot if I had possessed experience. But it wouldn't do to let this feeling gain the ascendant. I must have something to employ me. They might come yet. So, I deliberately split the bear's skull open with my bowie-knife, and went to work very formally to dissect him. I managed to protract this operation to such a length, that, 362 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBKS. when I looked up, I was surprised to find that the sun was setting. But I had no longer to complain of the stillness. This was the signal for the voices of the wilderness to break forth. A long, screeching cry, that seemed right at my ear, made my blood curdle. I looked around. The limbs of a live oak, near, were rustling and swaying, as under some great weight. The head of a panther peered out from between two bunches of moss. We looked at each other very coolly. He stretched his white throat from the covert, turned up his nose and snuffed towards me. He smelt the blood. His eyes were very large and gleaming, but he looked innocent enough; his face seemed so good-natured and familiar, that I felt for the moment we must be old acquaintances, that I ought to offer to take his paw. There's no harm in him ! He stretched his jaws to scream again, and I saw his long, white fangs : the cat tribe are well furnished about the jaws. . But, horror ! his cry has a dozen echoes all around, far away and near. What a caterwauling ! God of heaven ! it is said they like man's meat the best ! Oh ! but these are ■simple boors, uncontaminated by luxurious tastes. They won't know any better, unless they have heard the tradition. But, then, it is something of a risk if they haven't. What shall I do ? Shoot that meek-looking panther in the eyes ? Dead panthers tell no tales ! No, the Indians will hear the gun, and I shall have them swarming through the ridges, to-morrow, sky-larking. That won't do. What then ? Why, I'll climb to the top of this live oak, so that these nimble gentry can't get above me, unless they jump out of the moon ; and I'll tie myself up there, and swing about 'till morning. So long as I'm above 'em, I'm safe, for I can see their eyes as they come up, and rake down the limb. This conclusion was forthwith acted upon. I didn't like that panther to stand there watching me, though, for he METAPHYSICS OF BEAK HUNTINfl. 363 vould be sure to tell, and I should be besieged all night; so I picked up some round pebbles that were strewed along the hill side, and took deliberate aim at his broad, innocent face. The first one cut the moss, just above his head. He looked up, with a quick movement, and low growl, evidently wondering prodigiously where it came from. He had no suspicion of me at all, and looked down again very friendly, and very inquisitive. I tried it again. This time I struck the limb near him, and the stroke rang sharply. He clapped his paw over the . place, clawed it and smelt. The simple fellow didn't look at me, at all. I felt almost ashamed to be imposing upon him so. But while he was thus engaged, I sert another, this whistled past him on the other side. He wheeled and clawed at the sound. At last I struck him, plumb ! He saw the pebble fall, and go rolling down the hill, and with a savage growl leaped out of the tree after it, and went chaaing it down into the valley. It was clear he tl ought the place bewitched; for he didn't come back again until it had grown quite dark, if he came even them ! I took some of the choicer pieces of the bear and hung them to a swinging limb, where they would be out of reach, and then ascended the live oak. I climbed and climbed until I got so high, that, by standing straight, I could look out above, the top, and see the stars twinkling in a very sleepy sort of fashion, as if they had been called up too early, and had not decided whether they should wake at all, yet a while. ■ The moon was just wheeling up her chaste disc from behind the mountains. They all looked too much like old times to be pleasant just then ; so I dodged my head beneath the shade of the moss again, and made my arrangements with the most accommodating forks for the night. That settled, I went to sleep counting the answers to the nearest panther's cry, guessing how many there were to the acre , 364 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. or conjecturing whether wolves learned to howl by gamut, and how many fc[uavers made their endless bars, or wondering wl.-ther "rattle! rattle! snap! snap!" was considered a l'.f;itimate chorus to "tu whit! tu whoo !" by the San Saba owls. " I got tired conjecturing about the owls, for they seemed to have taken that matter in hand with regard to me, and came flapping and hooting about the tree tops, and shining their great eyes curiously at me, as they went by, till I almost foamed with spite, because I couldn't punch them out. The moon got up over head at last, and that narrow little valley, which looked so pretty in the morning sunshine, now lay along the deep bosom of the shadow, in the light, braiding them like a silver ribbon. Those graceful little creatures stepping across it, one, two, three, they are ocelotSj spotted like a pard. What a carouse is going on down there over that bear's ■ carcass. The brutes are about to hold a carnival here to-night, in celebration of my release from the thraldom and restraints of civilization. Confound 'em, if they hadn't such rakish ways about them, I would come down and do the "honors" for them genteelly, as a civil host should ! Can't trust 'em, though ! How their eyes do sparkle and flash green flames, as they spit and claw at each other over the bones. The panther rules the roost down there. I wonder if the puma is going to come. I wish he would. There'll ^be rare scintillating fire-works from their eyes should they get to battling. I suppose I should see all the cat family by the Hght, sitting on their haunches around, connoisseuring. That would be funny, for they are a sober, demure-looking generation. Look at that pack of wolves sitting ofiF there in the moonlight. How they fidget, and whine, and lick their chops. They dare not come nearer ! Good for them, the sneaking grave-robbers ! Those panthers are gleaming their eyes up this way. Have they scented ? Can it be they suspect ? There go the gleams METAPHYSICS OF BEAK HUNTING. 365 shooting up. What can it mean ? Ha ! the greedy rogue ! He is jumping up at the tit-bits, that I hung on a Umb. He's welcome to them if he can get them— if that'll satisfy him so far that he/wont attempt to make tit-bits oiit of me. Ha ! ha ! strange that that quaint song about the fairies ihould be buzzing through my brain now : — " From the silver tops of the moon-touched trees, Where they swing in their cobweb hammocks high. And rocked about in the evening breeze " I'd make a good-sized courtier for Queen Mab's «' HaU of state in the liUy's cup." I wonder how the " wee people" would fancy buckskins. I'm " rocked about in the evening breeze" with a vengeance. I wish I had "cobwebs," or something stouter in proportion, to laah my " hammock'/ a little more securely — " Ye Gods I— From fairies and tempters of the night Guard me !" Rather heathenish rendering that of — "And now I lay me down to sleep," &c. I fear I am no better than a heathen, anyhow ! But bless us, they say a fairy is " Something betwixt heaven and hell. Something that neither stood nor fell — Something that through thy wit or will, May work thee good, may work thee ill." t. e. it is a " betweenity !" But hush! they are "pesky folk," and won't stand being spoken of disrespectfully. They "may work thee ill," I am ill enough oflf already ! Curious notions to get into a body's head ! I woudor if 366 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. there should be any angels, whether my predicament does not remind them something of the young Hebrew they saw in the lion's den, three thousand cycles ago — except that I am a trifle higher up than he was. But lions didn't climb then. I believe they haven't learned yet so well as panthers — cases mightily alike, anyhow ! The angels pitied him, for they are said to be very compassionate ; and maybe they'd pity me, too, if I were not such an unmitigated sinner, and didn't feel ashamed to ask their pity. I have no hope in that direction, for I never believed in them ; though it would be a comfort now. I have sneered like a devil about their " harping on their harps," when they had never done me any harm — and I didn't want their help — even if I was to be overtaken with a belief in them now — I don't fancy such times as this for repentance and begging — don't think they would either. Roar away down there — that's right ! Saturnalia of the grizzly fiends ! That's the music for the brave Sceptic ! His religion is to hate and to defy ! Pooh ! I'm getting a Uttle cracked, I believe, and sleepy, too. Ticklish place this, to dream, unless it is of hugging ! Wonder what effect Mrs. Mab's chariot wheels, driven athwart one's nose, would have upon dreams up here ? Warrant her " time out of mind coach makers," "joiner squirrel and old grub," are plenty enough out this way. Ha ! ha ! to think of her " team of atomies" galloping across the panther's snout. Plague this unruly member ! I can't keep it from prating about God ! I'd like to know how high the Doctor roosts to-night ? I'm afraid that it is in Abraham's bosom ! I wonder if he has pony with him? Pity he couldn't have had a bear-steak, with honey, before he went ; I think he'd have gone without a murmur then. But they say that milk and honey flow through the streets up there — ^no •iccount of bears though, Sleep! "balmy sleep! tired METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 367 nature's sweet — " Sleep, indeed ! I fear I shall never go to sleep again. I find I shall have to take care of myself, and see fair play. Things are almost getting serious. Just to think how long that panthei 's teeth were ! He keeps them very white, considering ! I wonder if its daylight up in old Kentuck now, and what they are all doing. That good old man is trimming grape vines. He has prayed for me this morning. He can pray ! And the girls, — ^weeding flowers, I warrant. And Willie, that glorious boy, with the seraph struggling through his great eyes, — ^pranking ! pranking ! like an elf. That's a catamount mewing ; how soft his voice is — butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Confound this drowsy fit — I had like to have fallen. This nodding " 'twixt earth and sky" is rather more serious than, in my college days, I considered Homeric nods to be. ^ At it again down there ! " Celestial Syren's harmonies !" you are discord to it ! Howling, growling, snarling, yelling, spitting, snapping — whew! how the bones crack — sweet- tempered family these Felines ! They are giving each other farewell salutes and embraces — affectionate creatures ! But, thank Fate ! it is the order of nature that day must come, though it does seem to be a hundred years. And it has come at last. The wassailers of the night, striped, dotted, frecked, spotted, one and all, shrink away with mean, guilty looks, while " The mom, ia russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.'' Those surly panthers, though, unwilling to go, stop in full view under an oak, to lick their paws, and are looking back wistfully as if they would have thanked daylight to tarry yet awhile. But it will not do, you are not Joshuas, and the sun can't stand still for your convenience. Good-by ! When you 3G8 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 1-evisit the glimpses of the moon, "making night hideous," I am sorry to say I shan't be here ! " Such sweet com- pulsion doth in music lie," I shall be compelled to travel away from yours ! Well, as the coast is clear, I'U go down ! A pretty muss they've made of it down here. Fur, and blood, and bones ! That salient thief did get my tit-bits, sure enough. Well, it is said there is such a thing as starving possible ! I suppose I am beginning to feel some- thing like the premonitories. I have tasted nothing since daylight yesterday morning ; but they say an empty stomach for long wind, and I am likely to need all the wind I can raise before I get across this prairie. Some of the boys will be in sight though, by the time I reach the mouth of the gorge. It can't be that they are all scalped, and they must know that I am here. Oh, yes, I shall see them, and what a laugh we'll have comparing roosts. I set off down the valley, reached the prairie, strained my eye over the desolate expanse, and not a living thing was to be seen. I went to the tree where I left the Doctor dangling; the wolves had stripped the bones of the bear, and were still lingering around them. That immortal spear was sticking between the ribs, where he had driven it, no doubt, with splenetic vigor. I looked around for some trace of his bones, but none were to be seen. Great God, it can't be they are not coming ! Foolish expletive ! when one neither believes in the greatness or the Godship. Instinct of education! Bah! one needs something more get-at-able and substantial than instincts and old wives' tales at such times as this ! I climbed the tree to the top-most bough, and strained my eyes till they ached again. Wide and terrible solitude ; not an insect chirped, not a leaf stirred. The pulses of my heart sounded like the throes of a mountain,; I began to imagine it the centre of all vitality — the only thing that METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 369 tlirobbed and felt beneath the sun ; and that His great fire burnt alone for me. Pity that one couldn't live on beams, as they say the poets do. I wish I was a poet ! If things have been here, just as they look now, since the Flood, I wonder if the grass, and trees, and sun, have not become tired of each other's faces, everlastingly by the same. It must be quite a relief to them to have me here. Who — what hears me when I talk ? The earth, these stolid hills, or the solemn oaks, or the bowed grass ? They all have "airy tongues," and mysterious whisperings have been heard between them. It is evident if they talk they must hear, and if they hear, they surely must pity me. Pity! I must be whining of pity! What have I to do with it ? Have I been pitiful to friend or foe ? Have I hot swelled, till I was nigh to burst with ravings of defiance to the heavens above and the earth beneath, of the proud mastery of my own will ? Where is it now ? Cowed by silence ! Egad ! I did not know, that as he lay in his "old couch of space and airy cradle," this "silence" was so awful ! I wish I had Atlas' shoulders — ^that old couch and airy cradle are terribly heavy as they lean upon me ! What is this silence and this awe ? Oh, is it God's presence? Is this the way he looks and comes — ^with a fearful calm upon him! Is there a God out here in these tremendous wilds ? I cannot see Him — ^unless this vast stagnation, this breathless, bare infinitude of waste, this huge, levelled corse be He ! I cannot feel Him, unless it is He, striving to crush my hfe out with this hideous weight of stillness ! Hah ! He is not, or He is a God who loves to torture. They will not come. I have been set apart for an awful death, that His dread hate may gloat upon my agonies, because I have defied Him. It shall not be. I will not starve, I fairly screamed ; life IS strong in me, and where the wolf lives, I can live. I'll 24 370 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. be subtler than the serpent. My scent shall be keener than the sleuth-hound's, my sight than the vulture's. I'll run swifter than the deer. I will wrestle hand to claw with the prairie wolf, that I may tear out his heart to eat — but I will baulk that imperious Malignity. Die by inches? Not I. I'll set the prairie on fire to beacon the Comanches, and dare them to battle for my scalp, or give me food. And so the infidel fiend within me mouthed its impotent ravings, in the face of Heaven's Majesty, until I almost fainted with exhaustion. I slid out of the tree, and threw myself upon the grass. Long I lay there, half stupefied ; my blood raging and brain whirling with fearful images. A solitary raven "tolled in his hollow beak," and aroused me. I knew it was one of the "ill birds," though I had never seen or heard one before. I looked up. It sat upon the oak just over me, and the Hmba were swaying with its weight. It "tolled" that "sick man's requiem" again, then turned its head aside and stared, with "grave inquisition" in its black, glittering eyes, down upon me. You've come too soon, you eboily wizard! Not dead yet, I thank you! and I stared at its carnal glance. Its gray, scaly legs had stains upon them — ^iiairs were clotted on its claws, and the fellow had not even wiped his sharp, wedge-like beak clean. Think how slovenly, when he came to offer the services of the instrument to pick my eyes out ! What wonder I felt indignant, and the life began to wake up in me again. I did not want him go ! It was a, ghastly companionship, but then I had always felt strangely curious about them, for they are wonderful creatures. They live where nothing else can be seen to live — out in the trackless desert — vast wildernesses of desolation — ^where even the clouds have fled away, and there is nothing but the sky and sun above, and sands and rocks beneath; the winnow of their black wings stirs the dead air, and their harsh, sepulchral croak, startles METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 371 the torpid echoes from a sleep of ages. " He that feedeth the young ravens !" I felt now the striking sublimity of that figure. Dark-plumed spirit of the. desolation, in what grim wild hast thou thy home ? Thou hast snuffed the slaughter from afar, and been coursing with death around the world. Yet there are wide throats gaping with ravin in that foul nest of thine. How dost thou live, and how art they fed, while thou art crossing continentSj the mate of famine ? Waugh ! waugh! woo-a-ugh! he "tolled" again, and spread his black wings and flapped indignantly away ! The omen of his coming is not ill to me ; where he goes there must be something to live upon. It is no miracle that gives refreshing to these tireless wings. Ha ! I have it. . The snails ! Hays said the bears came down to feed upon them. I rose, with new hope, examined the ground about me, and, to my great joy fonndj scattered here and there over the surface, quite a number of snails, some of them as large as my thumb. Ah ! ha ! I said, I should not starve ! and ■& gleam of exultant triumph shot through my inmost soul. Defeated ! defeated ! I shouted, as I impiously shook my clenched, paltry hand toward the fathomless wide heavens ; I shall neither die of starvation, nor, unless I will it, at the hands of the Indians. There is game in the hills to be had for the shooting, but I do not choose to turn "root-digger," as I should have to do when my ammunition gives out. 1 burrow with my claws for the gratification of no one. The first shot would bring the Comanches upon me, and I am not ready for them yet ! I shall go back among men, and show the cowards how much a haughty purpose can accomplish. With nothing to creep behind, deer could not be approached on the dead level of the plain before me. These snails, that ghostly-eyed, jolly old croaker has helped me to, will last so long as the sterility and the sand 372 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. continue. What a fool I was to have lain there mumbling like a toothless crone, who pleads with death for one hour more of palsied life, when my veins are full of life. I am strong, and there is enough to eat scattered over the earth A child could hardly ask for more ! I soon collected enough to make, a meal. Oh, ye epicures, tell me not of your crustaceous delicacies, out of the deep sea. Snails — snails that grow upon the sands for me; though they are rather light food for a walk of three hundred miles, it must be confessed. Being refreshed in my inner man, I looked at matters very coolly. The plain must be crossed ; it lay between me and life; and the sooner the attempt was made the better. So I girded up my loins and started towards the sunrise. All that I knew about the course was, that we came west, and therefore east must be the direction back. There were no objects to assist me in keeping the right line. I must walk with my shadow behind me in the morning, and before me in the evening, looking steadily at the horizon, my gaze fixed upon some slight feature, a wave or curve of its contour just under the sun. All day long I walked with my eyes fixed on something, which turned out to be nothing that could be distinguished from the vast level plain around when I reached it. Yet, I felt that I had kept the line, and that was a great deal. I had always to stop before it grew dark, to look for snails and water. For a day or two the snails were abundant, and I came to water at least once a day, but then they both began to grow scarce. The gnawings and parchinga of hunger and thirst commenced at the same time. I could no longer keep my course steadily, for my eyes must be employed all the while in looking for food and water. A herd of Mustangs would go by now and then, stop a moment to shake their silky manes, snort and stare in startled wonder, and then sweep on before I could approach within gun shot. The deer would rise lazily from METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTINS. 373 their couches of "knot-grass, dew be-sprent," jirick their ears, toss their slight heads, whistle and bound away. The awkward cranes would stalk to and fro, gesticulate with their long necks, and croak; then stop, spread their broad wings, and go with, their long shanks dangling behind them. But I could never kill them ; for, though hunger made me reckless at last, and I could fire, I would hear the shot rattle smong their thick feathers: but it availed nothing. They still sailed croaking off. These were the only living things, except " horned frogs," .that i saw ; and while my strength held out, I would chase the last, nimble, ugly little creatures, with an eagerness inconceivable. Yes, there were wolves, too; but they are minions of the devil, not honest, living things. Some of them were on my trail all the time, determined to be in at the death. Oh, how fiercely I hated them. I tried all manner of devices to lure them within gun-shot, but it was of no avail. They were too subtle. The hairy ghouls ! they have the " second sight." They can see death before he strikes, and they will slink and creep with horrid patience in his wake, for one lap of blood. It would make me shiver to turn and see them, like my shadow, forever trailing me. And then at night they would sit around and hbwl and moan for hours and hours, as if they were determined I should learn my own requiem by heart ! Snails and water were becoming yet more difficult to obtain, and I weaker and weaker every hour. Still Ijjtravelled on, though my gait was staggering. I had drawn my hunger- belt, until I looked like a wasp. My senses be(jame painfully acute. The clang of a crane's wing, or his croak as he rose, would thump and crash against my tympanum like thunder, and roar through my brain in reverberations for minutes after. The earth's smell became rank and oppressive ; and when the breeze swept by, it sounded like the whirring of 374 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS.' ten thousand wings. I began to see strange sights on the prairie. Armies with banners would hurtle by, and their tread would shake the earth. It would turn out to be a flying troop of mustangs. Great lakes of water would glimmer in the sun before me, and when I would reel along a little faster to reach them, they would still travel on, and I could not lessen the distance between them and me. I was too weak to curse, but I thought of heaven-doomed Tantalus ! The star-beams hurt me with their icy keenness, and the moon's light made my teeth chatter ; mist forms of those I loved would sail along the air, solemnly and» slow, their still eyes fixed on me. The wail of the accursed wolves would sound like the clamoring volume of agonies rolled up from a teeming bell-pick, or the moaning of a northern ocean through cavernous icebergs. The blood tingled sharply and stung along my veins ; while my stomach was cold as if it were dead. I felt as if I were cut in two, and my head and feet acting from different volitions. At night, I would lie with my mouth open and tongue out, gasping for the dew. I would eat the grass like a beast, before the sun had dried.it. Yet I travelled on, for while I was in motion/ 1 felt the horrors less; and sometimes my body seemed to drink in unnatural vigor from the atmosphere, giving me ecstatic visions. The most delicious moments of my life would crowd upon me, bringing all familiar faces, wearing the expression I loved best to remember them by. But they were spiritualized, and seemed to be the angels of old joys ; and they looked with such pitying tenderness into my eyes, that tears would gush from them in hot torrents. And then &I1 mirthful phantasies would dance and gleam about me, in such quaint shapes of sparkling beauty, that I would laugh aloud and stretch my arms to clasp, that I might kiss them. But when, from sheer exhaustion, I was compelled to lie down, then the awful hell of torture would commence to METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 375 rage within me ; and famine would tear and wrench at my vitals. Thirst, fiery thirst, would seethe, and boil, and shoot like electric flame along my veins. In this condition I had been moving along like one in a dreadful dream, for two days, and yet no alleviation. I still clung to my gun ; but, merciful heavens ! how heavy it had become. It felt like Goliath's beam ; sunk into my flesh, and seemed to be crushing the very bones. Yet I would not give it up. I could not bear the thought of being killed without the opportunity of revenge. It would have been a glorious happiness to have met the Comanches, and died defiant. Those fiend-whelps, the wolves, to have them snarling their white fangs over me, while I was yet alive, was too horrible. I had almost lost the capability of further wrestling with inevitable fate, when I suddenly noticed on the prairie before me, that which appeared like a cluster of trees. I was strong again in an instant. My feet seemed to bo shod with some buoyant principle. " Water ! water ! water .'■ my parched lips, articulated at every step. As I approached, I could perceive there were other "motts" scattered at wide intervals of miles in a line across the plain. This I knew indicated the presence of a stream ; and oh, what a thrill of hope, for I was humbled now, it sent through my weakened frame. In an hour I reached the nearest "mott," — a cluster of scrubby timber, covering about thirty square feet — and I almost screamed with eager delight, as I saw from the gully on which it stood, the gleam of water. I dropped my gun, tumbled down the bank, threw myself prostrate on the brink, and plunged my head up to the shoulders in the clear fluid. I gulped several huge rapid swallows on the instant ; but when I paused for breath — horror of horrors ! — Great God ! it was as salt as brine ! It all came up in an instant, and it was like tearing out my vitals. The blackness of darkness came around my brain. I was insensible. 376 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. I cannot tell how long I lay there, but I fell with a portion of my body in the water, and this revived me. I waked to consciousness, with my brain clearer than it had been for I several days. I felt that the game was all up now, and a strange calmness took possession of me. I smiled even, to think what a wild feverish struggle I had gone through to preserve a boon so utterly worthless as life now seemed — and how foolishly obstreperous and bitter I had been about things that now appeared as mere conventional whimsicalities ! To die ! why it is a sweet, a glorious prospect ! What was life without the joy and happiness of dying? To die of starvation ! It will be deliciously pleasant, as being lulled to sleep by the roundelays of home. Strange ! I never thought of God now but as a name ; it was an inevitable law of being I obeyed, gladly and meekly ! The fancy took possession of me that I wanted to lie down on the green moss under the trees. I must make one more effort to get there. I attempted to crawl, but was too weak, and fell ! I lay for some time, and still that fancy haunted me so singularly, that my powerless limbs regained a partial vigor ; I crawled on my hands and knees up the bank. It took me a long time to do this. I felt as if it was my last duty, and desperately I struggled to accomplish it. I passed my gun and dragged it along with me. I thought of the wolves, and wanted to go to sleep in peace. I reached the mott. There was one bright green spot, under the largest tree, in the, centre. That's the place. It will be a lovely couch. I managed to reach it, and stretched myself upon my back, with my gun by my side, and my head resting on a cushion of moss near the root. My eyes were closed. An indescribable sense of weakness pervaded my being. I felt that I should never rise from that place again. But I was happy. The agony was over ; the "fitful fever" had grown cal.n, and was slowly sinking me to rest. The loved faces of that far away home came METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 377 around me for tlie farewell. Others stooped from the clouda and beckoned and smiled for me to come on. They wore wings — oh, how I longed to be with them. It was a pleasant trance. I felt that I should never lose sight of them again : that before many hours I should feel myself, buoyant as they, rise up from the damp earth, and float away towards the stars. A sunbeam, struggling through the leaves, fell on my closed lids, and shocked me back to earth again. I opened my eyes for one more look at the glad sun and beautiful earth. I looked up. What ! can it be ? Strange ! strange ! There is a God ! That very being I- — ^poor I — had thought to scorn, is here in the sublimity of mercy. He has work for thee to do, and has willed thou shalt not die yet ! Directly above me, within six feet of my face, crouching close to the body of the tree, was a large Fox squirrel. The instant my eye fell upon it, I felt that I had been reprieved, and life and all its objects rushed back upon my heart again. Not sk shadow of an idea crossed my mind that there was even a possibility of the creature escaping me. I felt as well assured that I should get back to Bexar, and home, as if I had already been sitting in the old rocking chair. I felt awed, too, for here was the rebuke, broad and bright as the sun's path, of my feeble and impious presumption ! Who shall sound Thy compassion with a plummet, thou marvelous Majesty of Heaven ? His hand — ^the hand of the God of Jacob ! This is His act ! I have looked upon that hand, and in that act have heard his pitying voice. " Go, thou poor worm, — ^live, and sin no more !" I lay perfectly still several minutes, watching it breathe, and thinking how its poor life had been given for mine. I had been too weak to raise my hand before, now I slowly, and with care, lifted my gun with one hand, without changing my position at all, raised it without aim, for I felt I couldn't miss it, and fired. It fell upon my breast. I sat up, drew my knife, cut it up 378 WILD SCENES AND WILD HTJNTBKS. deliberately, and ate as mucli as I cared at once, raw ! and then, with the first prayer of Faith, of thanksgiving, and of praise that ever breathed upon my lips, sunk* back, and was sound asleep in a moment. I slept for twenty-four hours, as near as I can judge. On waking, I finished the remainder of the squirrel, and felt quite able to walk again ; though, on attempting to rise, I staggered sorely for awhile. But the conviction that I should meet with no further difficulty, had become a matter of such positive certainty, that I never dreamed of a doubt. "The evidence of things unseen" had reached me through the material at last. Faith looked' farther and higher than the senses. I knew that I knew ! ' The Penates of the soul, the image of j;he desolation and the humble instrument, had assumed their holy niches ! I was happy, full of love, and humble. Spring-time visions came again. The brazen, glowing sky, and the red, cloudy earth, had passed from before my eyes, and the blue heavens and a natural sun were over me. The ice-ring melted from around my heart, sense and thought and brain were clear again ! The madness had passed away, I clapped my hands and laughed aloud for joy ! In about two hours I saw two men on horseback, herding a drove of cattle. I was not surprised. I expected something of the sort. The men rode towards me. I saw they were Mexicans. I knew there was nothing to expect from these traitorous wretches, by fair means, so I concealed my gun by running it up my hunting-shirt, and waited for them to come within range. They approached very cautiously, and when they were within thirty paces of me, I drew my gun suddenly forth and brought it to bear upon them. Thty were desperately frightened, and would have wheeled and galloped off", but something in my look showed that I was not joking. I ordered them up to me, dismounted the one on the best horse, took his seat, waved my hand in adieu to METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 379 the ohapfallen-looking scoundrels, who had expected to plunder me, and galloped off. The motion of the horse was dreadful. I remember dropping the bridle, and seizing the high pommel with both hands, while the horse dashed off towards the eastward, at the top of his speed. The next thing I remember was being lifted off by the Rangers at the door of Johnson's, in the square of Bexar. I heard some of them say, " Poor fellow ! I thought it was his ghost." The days were a blank then for several weeks. My next waking was in a pleasant room, in bed, with the little Doctor bending anxiously over me. I was safe — the crisis was past ! The Doctor had been wounded, and was now a spare, thin little body. I supposed Tie, too, had seen his troubles. It appeared that the body of Comanches had been very large. They had attacked the differeiit detachments of our scattered party, very nearly at the same time, and so entirely dispersed it, that not more than two ever got together again. Two men had been killed, and several others wounded. Hays had saved the Doctor's life, with the faithful aid of pony; and it is said the Doctor means to have pony embalmed when he dies. All had a hard time coming in; but my case was rather the most desperate. The sagacious critic will no doubt smile at the importance I have attached to these simple incidents. He is free to sneer — rthey are facts, and the most remarkable under the circumstances that ever came under my observation. This "mott" was not more than thirty feet square; the trees dwarfish, and none of them nut-bearing. It was fully six miles, above and below, to the other motts, and they were not so large as this one, and were thirty miles from any other timber. The stfirile prairie produced nothing which I could perceive to be natural food for such an animal. It may have been S80 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. migrating, but they generally do so in large numbers, keeping near the water ; there was none in this region. How the creature got there, and how it lived, will always be a positive mystery to me. The impression made by this combination of singular circumstances — the fact of its being there at all — then of my seeing it, just at the crisis when I thought I was dying — ^its crouching so close to me as to make it a matter of impossibility almost for me to fail of killing it, even in my feeble condition, — all together, it can never fade from my meraory. CHAPTER XIII. HUNTING Pli JARIBS IN TEXAS — A BEAR-HUNT WITHOUT THE METAPHYSICS. Naturalists are very fond of calling our American ani- mals cowardly. This sweeping statement is only a partial ti ^11 ; and I, for one, have got tired of hearing it reiterated. The animals of this continent were originally just as ferocious towards man, — if that's what they call bravery, and the fear of him cowardice ! — as were any of the most formidable of the Eastern hemisphere, in proportion to the size and strength of the races. Our forefathers, with their terrible rifles in hand, found our wild beasts quite sufficiently disposed, for their ^.omfort, 381 382 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. to dispute ascendency with them in the land. They had been accustomed to grapple with the Red man, armed only as he was with lance and bow, and in these conflicts, the animals were by no means unfrequently the conquerors. Now they are compelled to battle with a new and invisible power — an agent as mysterious in its operations, as it is terrible in its effects — which, as it overawed and intimidated their ancient foes, the Red men, might well be expected to fill them with the panic of an indefinable dread. The growth of this wholesome fear has been very gradual and slow. The rifle had driven them from f-xinti-r r to frontier of all the older States, before any marked cnaiige in their respect for the genus homo began to be apparent. The Panther, which at first made fight wltli the hunter wherever he met him, had learned to be mtre circumspect, and instead of becoming the assailant, and k aping from the limb whereon he crouched above, dt^vs^n on his foe below, was content to let him pass, and staivd cnt'.-cly upon the defensive ; even the Black Bear, who formerly had been notorious for his unceremonious habit of pufhing his cold nose into what- ever he might perceive going on before him, be the actors who they might, became almost a proverb of prudence. The wild cat, who sometimes lost his temper in love-making time, and challenged any buck-skinned intruder he might meet on the war-path for a fight hand to claw, now contented himself with "giving the road" as his sagacious nostrils recognized the smell of gunpowder ahead. Now these changes should not by any means be stigmatized as the result of cowardice, but be honorably set down to the credit of a cautious reasoning : they had found an enemy armed with an agency, the nature or effects of which they could neither comprehend nor counteract ; they therefore wisely concluded to avoid it — just as any other logical thinkers, reasoning from experience, would have done. However, let any of those believers in the cowardice of nUNTINtt PECCAEIES IN TEXAS. 383 our wild animals, even at this late day, venture into tha fastnesses of the Dismal Swamp, or any of those enormous cane-brakes locked up within the sluggish embrace of the bayous of the Mississippi, and propose to shake hands with the first Panther he meets, or offer the fraternal hug to Bruin, and he will see what a reception he will find ? — ^let him be armed with as many guns and pistols, as he can carry, I'll engage he will need to make the most of them, the first timri he comes within spring of a panther, or treads on the tail (?) of a bear. The fact is, the introduction of fire-arms, in modifying the face of the whole globe, physically as well as morally and mentally, has not failed, of course, in its efiects upon savage animals as well as savage men. If it has thundered civiliza- tion or extermination into the ears of one, it has as well detonated circumspection into the ears of the other. BiBfore the East India conquests of the British introduced Gre-arms, the bold and open ravages of lions, tigers, and other wild beasts, were frequently carried to such a formidable extent, that whole villages of the imbecile natives were depopulated by a single animal, to destroy which armies had to be assembled ; and even they have been beaten back from the jungles, without effecting their object more than partially. When British officers first commenced lion and tiger hunting, it was considered the most dangerous sport in the world; and the records and correspondence of that period teem with fearful tales of bloody deaths at the horrid jaws of those animals. At that time, the tiger, without hesitation, attacked large parties of men, leaping into their midst from the jungle, and carrying off a' victim without regard to epaulettes ur color : while the lion charged boldly into camps, carrying off men, oxen, or any other dainties that happened to suit his taste. In hunting on elephants, it was so exceedingly rare to find one who would charge a jungle after the scent of the tiger 384 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. had reached him, that such an animal commanded the highest prices. Now the tables are so entirely turned, that we never hear of any one being carried ofiF by these animals, whether native or not, except in the remote interior of the forests of Bengal and Africa, into which the heavy and formidable rifle of the British sportsman has not yet carried its ounce-ball terrors. While hunting on elephants has become a sport, attended with so little danger, that even the placid nerves of a clerk from Threadneedle street may now venture to partake of the indulgence, fortified with a little cotton stuffed in his ears to drown the roars of the brute, and a little sal volatile to stay his spirits when the blood begins to flow. The dreaded tiger now skulks in caves and deepest jungles, until frightened forth by the maddening and incessant play of rockets, grenades, and every other species of torturing fire-works. While the lordly lion waits behind the bush for the assault of his foes, and is not known to charge, even until several times wounded. In yielding to the mastery m"/n has thus established, these animals have lost nothing of their original characteristics, except so far as their rela- tions to him are concerned — and in this the difference is rather, as we have before remarked, to man the mechanical intelligence, than to man the animal. Nor are these gradual ameliorations of temper and habits, 80 far as mankind are concerned, confined to quadrupeds alone — birds, and all other creatures, partake of them, in degrees proportioned to their intelligence. It is notorious how soon game birds, and the whole family of rapacious birds, learn to distinguish a man with a gun from a man without a gun, and with such sagacity will they do this, too, that we are seldom able to surprise them, by any stratagem of concealed weapons. And yet the white-headed eagle remains the white-headed eagle, so far as its relations to the rest of the Arorld arc concerned. It continues to thrash the vultures, to make HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS. 385 them disgorge their food — robs the fish-hawk of his shining prey with just as splendid audacity as ever, and continues with quite as ferocious astuteness to tear out the eyes of any wounded deer or buffalo cow that it may perceive go aside from the herd. But, all rules have their exceptions — and it was to treat concerning one of these exceptions, that this chapter has been written. Certainly, however much other wild animals may have yielded to the awful supremacy of that dread machine, behind which man has entrenched his physical inferiority, the Peccary cannot be accused of the same weakness ; for of a verity, it does seem to me that if those same formidable tubes were to pour forth the thunders and fires of Hecla itself, instead of the respectable little volcano, of which they at present can boast, the belching of this huge and noisy chaos would only increase the irate valor of this curious Uttle animal. It seems to be entirely insensible to all those sudden influences, the unexpected supervention of which are sure to cause panic in other animals. Ungovernable rage seems to take the place of this panic — a rage quite as head- long and as blind. Though scarcely more than eighteen inches high by two and a half feet in length, it is yet, really, one of the most formidable animals belonging to our hemisphere. It is gregarious, and goes in droves of from ten to fifty. Its jaws are armed after the manner of the wild boar, with tushes, but they are of very different shape, and if possible, more to be dreaded. They stand straight in the jaws, instead of curving upwards, and have the form as well as keenness of the lancet blade. Their motions are as quick as lightning, and with shoulders, head and neck possessing extraordinary muscular power, they manage to slash and gash in the most horrible manner with these villainous little weapons, which are only about an inch and a half in length. As they do not hesitate to attack any thing or any body, big or little, provocation or no provo- 25 386 WILD SCENES AND WILD HTTNTEKS. cation, that may chance to cross their paths, men an3 animals very soon learn that their only safety is in flight. As they rush upon the object in a body, and fight until the last of their pumber is slain, it is fruitless to stop and battle with them, as they would cut either a man or the largest animal, so badly, before they could all be despatched, that the victory would prove a dear one indeed. There is no wild animal that will stop to fight them, and men, dogs and horses run from them in the most ridiculous consternation — indeed, they are the very terror of hunters. This droll creature seems to be exactly the intermediate between the family of hedge-hogs and that of the wild boar, or common hog. Its general form, so far as the body is concerned, resembles rather more that of the hedge-hog, while its hair, which is about the average length of the bristles of the common hog, is thinly set in a rough skin, and flattened and sharp, as are the spines of the hedge-hog, and of the same bony consistence in appearance, though so thin as not to be prickly to the touch, except very slightly, when erected — as they always are if the animal is enraged, after the manner of the whole family of porcupines. These thin spines, or hairs, are also parti-colored — -"being barred with the muddy white and bluish chocolate, producing the general effect of a roan — they are destitute of a taU, (excepting merely a fleshy protuberance,) in common with the hedge-hog, and have that curious gland which is vulgarly called the " navel on the back." They have no appearance of the navel underneath; and this depression of the spine, which is directly over the loin, looks more like a navel than anything else, though it contains a deposite of a certain musk, which the animal gives forth when excited, and which assimilates it again with the civet-cat of the East. Its shoulders, neck and head resemble the wild boar quite closely in conformation, though the outline, of course, is much more delicate, and sharpened at the snout. Its legs HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS. 387 and feet, also, are much like those of the boar. Its food partakes of the character of that of both the boar and the hedge-hog, consisting of mast, wild fruits, grains, grasses, shoots of cane, roots, herbs, reptiles, &c. But, with all its other peculiarities to answer for, the drollest is yet to come. I refer to their mode of sleeping. They usually frequent those heavy cane-brakes, through which are scattered, at wide intervals, trees of enormous size and age. These, from their isolated condition, are most exposed to the fury of storms, and, therefore, most liable to be thrown down. We find their giant stems stretched here and there, through the cane-brakes of Texas, overgrown with the densest thickets of the cane, matted together by strong and thorny vines. In these old trees the Peccaries find their favorite lodgings. Into one of these logs a drove of twenty or thirty of them will enter at night, each one backing in, so that the last one entering stands with his nose at the entrance. The planters, who dread them and hate them — as well on account of the ravages on their grain crops which they commit, the frequent destruction or mutilation by them of their stock, their favorite dogs, and sometimes horses even, as on account of the ridiculous predicaments, such as taking to a tree, or running for dear life, ect., to which they have been subjected themselves by them, — seek their destruction with the greatest eagerness. When a hollow log has been found, which bears the marks of being used by them, they wait with great impatience till the first dark, cloudy day of rain. A dark drizzle is the best, as it is well known that on such days they do not leave their lodgings at all. The planter, concealing himself just before day carefully out of view, but directly in front of the opening of the log, awaits in patient silence the coming of suflScient light. Soon as the day opens, peering cautiously through the cane he 388 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. can perceive the protruded snout and sharp watchful eyes of the sentinel Peccary on duty, while his fellows behind him sleep. Noiselessly the unerring rifle is raised, the ring of its explosion is heard, and with 'a convulsive spring the sentinel leaps forward out of the hole, and rolls in its death struggle on the ground. Scarcely an instant is passed, a low grunt is heard, and another pair of eyes is seen shining steadily in the place the others had just held. Not a sound is heard, the planter loads again with such dexterity that not even a branch of the embowering cane is stirred. Again, with steady nerve, the piece is fired, out springs the second victim, as the first had done; then another takes its place, and so on to the third, fourth, fifth, or twentieth, even to the last of the herd; unless he should happen, by some carelessness, to make a stir in the cane around him, when out it springs, with a short grunt, without waiting to be shot this time, and followed by the whole herd, when they make a dash straight at the unlucky sportsman, who is now glad enough to take to his heels, and blesses his stars if he should be able to climb a tree or a fence, in time to save his legs. If, during the firing, the sentinel should happen to sink in the hole without making the usual spring, the one behind him roots out the body to take its place. They do not understand what the danger is, or whence it comes. Neither do they fear it, but face its mysterious power dauntless to the last. They never charge towards unseen enemies, until guided either by the sight of some disturbance caused by a motion in the thicket, or by those sounds, with which they are familiar, indicating their position. Incredible as this account may appear, it is actually the method in which the settlements along Caney Creek and on the Brazos Bottoms have been, of late years, in a great measure relieved of this dangerous annoyance. When one is taken in a snare or trap, it is torn to pieces by the others in their eagerness to HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS. 389 get it free. The planters amuse themselves very much by relating these adventures, as there are many mirth-provoking scrapes connected with them. My first adventure with the peccaries I shall never forget. I was stopping with a planter on Caney Creek for a few days of rest and recreation. He was an old friend from my native State, had been one of the early emigrants to Texas, and was now settled with his brothers on a, magnificent plantation, of which their joint enterprise had made them possessors. I was yet comparatively a new-comer, young, eager, and withal the tragic incidents of my late initiation to such life, an enthusiastic sportsman. Of course, I listened curiously to their many relations of adventures in the chase, which always form the chief topic of the social intercourse of the border. It happened that the Peccaries had lately been doing much mischief to their crops of grain, and as they had been hunting them with great zeal and wrath, they formed the principal theme of denunciation and narrative. Their invective became quite amusing as they took me out to show me several of their finest dogs, which had been disabled by the shocking mutilation received in accidental meetings with this fierce little animal. I say accidental, because no dog could be found hardy enough to hunt it, after having had one taste of its quality. The eldest brother told me of a meeting with them the day before. He had walked out with his rifle into a field of grain, on the border of the plantation, to look for fresh traces of the bear, which, together with the Peccary, had almost utterly destroyed his corn. Here, by way of parenthesis, he exclaimed, " And I did find the tracks of a whopping old he!" "Let us go hunting him then, this morning!" we all exclaimed in a breath. "Yt^ell, well, we'll see." When near the outside fence, he suddenly came upon a drove of Peccaries in the very act of demoHshmeiit. It was 890 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. too late to retreat decorously, for he had already been seen, and as is usual, they came charging headlong upon him, grunting and snapping their white tusks at every jump. It was useless to stop to shoot, taking to his heels was his only chance. He made for the fence, which he succeeded in climbing before they reached him. The foremost of them reared themselves on their hind legs, endeavoring to reach him, cutting at his feet with their sharp tusks most viciously. It was a loose worm fence, and not very high, and they kept him there for a few moments, dancing, to use his own expression, " like a hen upon a hot griddle," while he fired as rapidly as he could load. He had killed seteral, without any diminution of their ferocity. It rather indeed seemed to be increased, if possible, when suddenly, to his unutterable consternation, the frail fence broke down, and he measured his length backward, in the cane outside. He sprang to his feet, as you may imagine, with some celerity, and, before they could reach him, over the ruins of the fence, had fairly vacated. After a hearty laugh at this ridiculous misadventure, the preparations for the bear hunt immediately commenced. We were soon mounted and under weigh, four of us, and attended by a negro " driver" on horseback, who, with his long cow's-horn swung about his neck, was to "put out" the pack. The dogs were a fine and powerful breed, used exclusively for bear hunting, and came of a cross of the bull-dog on the fox-hound — they were all scarred with the tusks of the Peccary and the claws of the bear. On our way across the plantation my friend was particular in counselling me how to behave in the event of any unpleasant rencontre with the Peccaries — ^for he assured me flight was my only alternative, unless I desired to have my horse ham-strung, or every leg hopelessly gashed. I promised to be very prudent, of course, but with the opening yell of our dogs, all recollection of the existence of such creatures as Peccaries vanished. HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS- 391 There was a nobler quarry on foot, and we plunged our horses eagerly into the narrow tracks opening into the cane-brake in the direction of the chase. We soon found ourselves riding beneath the matted arches formed by the meeting of the cane-tops, bound together by vines, ten or twelve feet above our heads. The cane on either side formed a wall so close, and seemingly so impregnable, that it seemed to me that a starved lizard would have found diflSculty in making its way between the stems. So long as we could remain in the paths, of which there were but few, it was all very nice and exciting to listen to the fitful music of the chase ; but when it came bursting on us with a roar of fitful yells, that made our horses shiver with eagerness, and we scattered each man for himself, trusting to his own ear, to enable him to intercept the chase, and win the honor of the first shdt, then the rough and fierce realities of a bear hunt began to be realized. My fiery horse plunged into the thickest of the brake, requiring my whole strength to keep him within anything like bounds. Xow the bear had commenced circling in short turns through the tallest and most dense of the cane ; and very soon, when the thundering chase went crashing past me, utterly invisible, though within fifteen paces, my horse became entirely unmanageable, and in three or four furious bounds, I was torn from the saddle by the interlacing \jines, through which he was endeavoring to burst his way. I held on to the reins, and recovered my seat, without stopping to count bruises ; but the shock of the fall had brought me to my memory. I now did what I should have done at first, had I retained my self-possession, drew my heavy bowie knife, and commenced cutting my way through the brake. Ho ! the chase has made another tack ; and followed by the yells of my half-crazy comrades, the wild route turns crashing and roaring towards me again. This time my horse was even worse than before. At the first plunge ho again became entangled in the vines, and 392 WILD scENjas and wild hunters. whirling round and round in Ms furious efforts to release himself, I soon had the satisfaction of finding myself and horse. twisted up in a net that would have defied the strength of Samson to have burst. The pleasure of this predicament was not a little increased, by the sight of the bear rushing past at a few feet distance, with the whole pack biting at his heels. Alas for my prowess ! in what a helpless case was I. The moment my horse saw the bear, he uttered a wild neigh — it was the first one he had ever faced — and backed \nth such ungovernable terror and strength, that I was almost torn to pieces by the vines, and choked in the bar- gain. However, at the expense of my coat sleeve, which was torn out at the arm-hole, my bleeding right arm was freed from the infernal mesh, when a few desperate strokes of my bowie-knife freed us from our desperate thraldom. Now came, from near at hand, the deafening clamor of baying, of shrieks, and hoarse growling, which told that the bear had stopped to fight the dogs. Now is the chance for the coveted shot, and it required no spur to urge my horse in that direction. I commenced hewing my way towards the scene, which seemed to be at the foot of a large tree. I heard the shouts of my friends, who seemed to be urging their way towards the same point. At about the same moment two of us burst our way through the wall of cane into the open space, about twenty feet in circum- ference, that had been beaten down by the weight of the enormous bear, during the battle. And such a scene as it was ! The bear, hearing our approach, had made an attempt to climb the_ tree, and the dogs, encouraged by the same sounds, had made a simultaneous rush, and were literally all over his huge carcass, having hold of him on every side ; our guns were instantly presented, but we feared to fire lest we should kill the dogs. While we stood thus hesitating, and the bear was tossing HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS. 39-3 tte joor dogs like shuttlecocks to the right and left, quicker than thought, a troop of grunting Peccaries came rushing in, and charged headlong upon hear, dogs, and all. Such yells, and screams, and roars of pain, and such a medley helter- skelter rout as now occurred, would be difficult to describe. The wounded dogs, with tails between their legs, came skulking towards us. The bear, frantic with pain, rolled his great carcass to and fro, and gaped his red mouth, as he struck blindly about him here and there. The grunting and rushing patter of an addition to the herd coming in behind us, waked us from the sort of stupor this unexpected scene had thrown us into for the instant. " Run, run !" shouted my friend, with a voice half choked with mingled rage and laughter, and such a scurrying on all sides, for the other hunters had just come in, and the cry of "Peccaries ! Peccaries ! run ! run !" and the popping of our guns all round at them, as we urged our horses to escape through the cane, closed this eventful scene, of my first introduction to the Peccaries ! CHAPTER XIV. THE BUFFALO. But the wildest scenes to be witnessed on this hemisphere are those connected with buffalo-hunting on the great plains. This huge and shaggy brute affords a strong contrast in size with the fierce and bristling little peccary, though in many respects the formidable character of the two may be traced to a single and similar cause. The " downward eye," common to them, is this cause. Neither of them, from the stiff and peculiar structure of the neck and placing of the eye-balls, can, without an effort, see beyond the direct plane of vision presented to the habitual carriage of the head. Whatever is thus exhibited to the peccary that has motion, if it be merely the legs of an animal, it charges upon, as we have seen ; while the buffalo, which is less spontaneously pugnacious, may regard the same as an object of stupid suspicion, or of headlong, blundering terror. The buffalo must be wounded to turn upon the pursuer, and then the charge of the goaded and frantic monster, being always in a straight line, is disarmed of half its dangerous character, as the hunter is thus readily enabled to elude the effects by a quick side motion. The eye of the horse being more prominently placed, it is enabled soon to acquire this facility of advantage; and it is most surprising with what wary confidence the tiained eteeds of a Black-feet, Sioux, or a Comanche will dash in and through an interminable herd of these prodigious beasts, 3yi THE BUFFALO. 395 winding in and winding out, amidst the surging tumult of liorns and heels, without receiving a scratch. On no other conditions could this powerful animal be assailed with sufficient effect to answer the requisitions of the numerous tribes upon it for their yearly subsistence. Were they able only to assail the outskirts of the herds, the foraging they might do would be meagerly enough eked out upon the weakly bodies of the sick and wounded and super- annuated lingerers. Indeed, were the buffalo possessed of the same alert, high- headed and agile motions of the mustang, in addition to the "bovine rage" with which it seems so easily inspired, the weight of the fore-parts of its body, and of the closely- packed, incalculable columns in which it moves, of choice, would make it the most formidable brute on earth, and enable it to trample the mightiest armies of men like grass in its path. There is no object in nature so terrible as the headlong advance of a great herd of these animals thoroughly aroused by terror. Niagara itself is not more tremendously resistless than that black, bellowing torrent which is thus sometimes poured through narrow defiles of Rocky Mountain steppes, or which is suddenly turned loose like a new rdaring flood, to overwhelm the slant and trembling plains. No sights equalling this are witnessed elsewhere on the face of the earth, though South Africa exhibits an approxi- mating parallel in the migratory movements of the Spring- bock and other antelopes, to which we shall refer. A herd of elephant bulls, may be, and is properly esteemed "pro-di-gi-ous," by English adventurers in that direction, but the oceanic mases in which the native bison of our plains are accust')med to move, have no real parallel except those in which our people urge and act towards a given point of empire ! When we come to think that at a rough estimate, more than seventy thousand souls of our native tribes upon the 396 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. plains depend, the year round, solely upon the slaughter of buffalo for food, covering, and in a great measure, implements, and then put this together, with the consideration -that probably not more than one out of twenty of the animals slain is consumed, beyond the mere hide or hump, by these thriftless and wasteful people, some estimate may be formed of the aggregate increase necessary to keep up a supply for the demand in this one quarter. The inroads of our own race upon them, though great, _ are as yet comparatively insignificant. We are merely guided by the utilities, and have slaughtered them rather as objects of necessary food, than of commercial interchange and profit. The wealth and dignity of the Indian warrior, on the other hand, is nearly proportioned to the number of buffalo robes he can afford to dispose of to the traders, and therefore this article is to him the representative of value. Hence he follows upon the track of the migratory herd, and when undisturbed, continues to slay them with the sole and improvident reference to the value of the skins at the nearest trading post; while the object of food, amidst its reeking abundance, is merely an incidental one. As it may chance he merely cuts out some tit bit from the individual slain, or leaves it, after stripping the skin, to the wolves who follow faithfully in the wake of their sure purveyor. The extent to which this reckless massacre is, and has been habitually carried by the prairie Indians, can hardly be computed ; yet we have the strange and significant fact that they have among them no tradition even of an appreciable diminution in the numbers of the buffalo thus wantonly slaughtered by them from remotest periods, which antedate the first appearance of the white man upon their plains with his sulphurous and panic-spreading engines of destruction. From this ominous event the tribes date those fatal refluxes in the stated periods and courses of migration of the herds, which have been attended by most disastrous famines among THK BTJFF^iO. 397 their people. Before this hated coining they and their fathers had been accustomed to calculate, with the same certainty with which the sailor does the ebb and flow of ocean tides, these annual migrations, and could move with or follow them at leisure and with confidence ; but suddenly the mighty herds have snuffed some hidden danger on the tainted breeze, and breaking away in mad and scattered career over the plains, have defied pursuit, to gather again in some remote and unaccustomed pastures beyond the reach of this vague, indefinite dread which has met them on the coming air. Thus' all calculations for the usual supply of the season having been thrown entirely out, the tribes are left to struggle with the precarious chances of again finding the bufi'alo. They, too, have been accustomed heretofore to watching the signs of the seasons, and could even scent a drought as far as the grayest muzzle of the leaders of these herds, and could, with unfailing sagacity, foresee what variation from the usual trail this would cause with them. But now a new sign was in the heavens, a prognostic of evil, which, as it could only be felt in dread by their savage souls, was now first more nearly interpreted by the sure instincts of their brute co-occupants of these great solitudes and in these wild panics, distant, so unaccountable to them at first, they soon learned to recognize a mysterious apprehension of the remote advance of that destroying Power, the realization of which has now, though later, come to them more clearly. The brute sense proved surer than the man's in this, as in all other instances in which circumstances have enabled us to measure its actions and their results in regard to the approaches of our race into the wildernesses of earth with the fearful appliances of civilization. The shudder of approach- ing dissolution has already passed through all those vast herds, as well as felt in the awed souls of these savage hunters. 898 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Of all the modes of hunting the buffalo practised by the prairie tribes, there is no one, the accompaniments of which are of such characteristic and terrible wildness, as that of which the lithograph given is a strikingly accurate delineation. The Indians are driving a maddened herd of buffalo over the edges of one of those tremendous prairie rifts or eanones, as they are sometimes incorrectly called by the border men. These are vast yawning fissures, which suddenly open on the great Piano Estaeado, which stretches in one prodigious plain from the foot of the Rocky Mountains to the head waters of the Red River, Arkansas, &c. Mr. Kendall's description of this scene in his Santa Fe Expedi- tion, is so nearly accurate, that I give it here in his own words. We had scarcely proceeded six miles, after drying our blankets, when we suddenly came upon another immense rent or chasm in the earth, exceeding in depth the one we had so much difficulty in crossing the day before. No one was aware of its existence until we were immediately upon its brink, when a spectacle, exceeding in grandeur any thing we had previously beheld, came suddenly in view. Not a tree or bush, no outline whatever, marked its position or course, and we were all lost in amazement, as one by one we left the double-file ranks and rode up to the verge of the yawning abyss. In depth it could not be less than eight hundred feet, was from three to five hundred yards in width, and at the point where we first struck it, the sides were nearly perpendicular. A sickly sensation of dizziness was felt by all as we looked down, as it were, into the depths of the earth. In the dark and narrow valley below, an occasional spot of green relieved the eye, and a small stream of water, now rising to the view, then sinking beneath some huge rock, was foaming and bubbling along. Immense walls, columns, and in some places what appeared to be arches, were seen standing, modelleJ by THE BUFFALO. 399 the wear of the ■water, undoubtedly, yet so perfect in form that we could with diflSculty be brought to believe that the hand of man had not fashioned them. The rains of centuries, falling upon an immense prairie, had here formed a reservoir, and their workings upon the different veins of earth and stone had formed these strange and fanciful shapes. Before reaching the chasm we had crossed numerous large trails, leading a little more to the west than we were travel- ling ; and the experience of the previous day had led us to suppose that they all terminated at a common crossing near by. In this conjecture we were not disappointed, for a trot of half an hour brought us into a large road, the thoroughfare along which millions of Indians, buffalos and mustangs had evidently travelled for years. Perilous as the descent appeared, we well knew that there was no other near. The leading mule was again urged forward, the steadier and older horses were next driven over the sides, and the more skittish and intractable brought up the rear. Once in the narrow path, which led circuitously down the descent, there was no turning back, and our half-maddened animals finally reached the bottom in safety. Several large stones were loosened from their fastenings by our men, during this frightful descent ; these would leap, dash and thunder down the precipitous sides, and strike against the bottom far below tia with a terrific and reverberating crash. We found a running stream on reaching the lower level of the chasm, on the opposite side of which was a romantic dell, covered with short grass and a few scattered cotton-woods. A large party of Indians had encamped on this very spot but a few days previous, the wilted limbs of the trees and other "signs," showing that they had made it a resting-place. We, too, halted a couple of hours to give our horses an opportunity to graze and rest themselves. The trail, which led up on the opposite side, was discovered g, short distance 400 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. above us, to the south, winding up the steep and rugged sides of the acclivity. As we journeyed along this dell all were again struck with admiration at the strange and fanciful figures made by the washing of the waters during the rainy season. In some places perfect walls, formed of reddish clay, were seen standing, and were they any where else, it would be impossible to believe that other than the hand of man formed them. The veins of which these walls were com- posed were of even thickness, very hard, and ran perpen dicularly; and when the softer sand which had surrounded them was washed away, the veins still remained standing upright, in some places a hundred feet high, and three or four hundred in length. Columns, too, were there, and such was their appearance or architectural order, and so much of chaste grandeur was there about them, that we were lost in wonder and admiration. Sometimes the breastworks, as of forts, would be plainly visible; then again the frowning turrets of some castle of the olden time. Cumbrous pillars of some mighty pile, such as is dedicated to religion or royalty, were scattered about; regularity was strangely mingled with disorder and ruin, and Nature had done it all. Niagara has been considered one of her wildest freaks, but Niagara sinks into insignificance when compared with the wild grandeur of this awful chasm — this deep, abyssmal solitude, as Carlyle would call it. Imagination carried us back to Thebes, to Palmyra, and to ancient Athens, and we could not help thinking that we were now among their ruins. Our passage out of th\s place was effected with the greatest difiSculty. We were obliged to carry our rifles, holsters, and saddlebags in our hands, and in clambering up a steep pitch, one of the horses, striking his shoulders against a projecting rock, was precipitated some fifteen or twenty feet directly THE BUFFALO. 401 upon Hs back. All thought he must be killed by the fall ; but, strangely enough, he rose immediately, shook himself, and a second effort in climbing proved more successful — the animal had not received the slightest injury ! By the middle of the afternoon we were all safely across, after passing some five or six hours completely shut out from the world. Again we found ourselves upon the level prairie, and in looking back, after proceeding some hundred yards, not a sign of the immense chasm was visible. The plain we were then upon was at least one hundred and fifty miles in width, and the two chasms I have mentioned were the reser- voirs of the heavy body of rain which falls during the wet season, and at the same time its conductors to .the running streams. The prairie is undoubtedly the largest in the world, and the canons are in perfect keeping with the size of the prairie. Whether the waters which run into them sink into them, or find their way to the Canadian, is a matter of unsertainty — ^but I am inclined to believe the latter is the case. This description is accurate as the language is striking — ^no language, indeed, can fully convey the sudden appal with which this gaping waste of piled and torn immensity fills one coming upon it for the first time. It forms a stern and most charac- teristic feature of these dreary steppes, that climb through thousands of miles by imperceptible slopes towards the white soaring crests of the Rocky Mountain chain. The buffalo trails leading from every conceivable direction to centre at the far separated crossing places, are, most probably, as old as the face of the continent, and are frequently themselves worn into deep and impracticable gullies, as you approach the point of convergence, by the tramp of myriad hoofs through unrecorded centuries. Nothing more strongly indicates the fatuitous recklessness of the Indian tribes, whose sole dependence is upon this animal, than the constant recurrence of such wanton and 26 402 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. wholesale massacres as this of whicli we give an illustration. Although the bufiFalo, for causes at which I have hinted, are yearly becoming less accessible to them — whether their num- bers be so appreciably diminished in reality or not, yet they persist, as of old, whenever they can come upon a herd, however immense, feeding in such relative position to one of these rifts as to offer the inducement of possible success, in urging the panic-stricken masses over the sudden abyss, where, bounding from rough point to point — down ! down ! — their great bodies are piled in a huge hecatomb of blackened, writhing, sweltering slaughter, such as could rejoice only these Red Demons of destruction. Next to this, in wholesale wantonness, among the methods of hunting buffalo peculiar to their Indian foes, is the "Prairie Surround." The widely scattered line of the Surround, enclosing some valley containing a herd, is rapidly closed up by the yelling warriors composing it, who drive the frightened animals from its circumference, urging towards a centre, where, precipitated in the headlong crush upon each other, the helpless mass sways, bellowing^ — while amidst the dust-clouds of their collision, the forms of the warriors, who have leaped from their horses upon the backs of the buffalo, may be dimly seen treading the horned tumult with fierce gestures, and wielding the long lance as a rope dancer does his balance pole, with the slight difference, that with nearly every step they thrust its sharp point down through joint and marrow, between the spine and skull of some new victim, whose shaggy back they have but pressed in passing with their moccasined feet. Thousands are thus slaughtered in a few moments. This scene, as weird and wild as it is real, tamae, by contrast, all midnight phantasmagoria beneath the blaze of the noon-tide. CHAPTER XV. PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER FELINES. In preceding articles I protested against any wholesale denunciation of the native wild beasts of our continent as naturally cowards. It sounds like a sort of imputation upon our soil, that it is not strong enough to have grown even wild cats, panthers, bears, etc., with the full instincts of destructiveness peculiar to their species elsewhere. Mr. Audubon and Dr. Bachman, the editors of the new work on the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, entirely discredit what they call "the stories" of its boldness in attacking larger animals, men or even children. I agree 403 404 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. that caution is a higMy commendable trait in the character of the Naturalist, but it may carry him into absurdities, too. What is here asserted may be true enough of such poor persecuted feeble specimens of these animals as may be met with occasionally, lurking still about the bordei-s of swamps in the old States, and even at no great distance from some of our southern cities — but that the wild cat did, and does still, in remote localities, q,nd during the rutting season, attack grown up men with a prompt and formidable fierceness, there is abundant evidence. I have spoken fully of that salutary effect which the terror of our formidable rifle has gradually impressed upon such creatures in the progress of our civilization — but the frontier settlements furnish many indubitable instances of their natural ferocity. Indeed, I have myself heard from the venerable lips of some of the honored compeers of Boone, in the settle- ment of Kentucky, relations of personal encounters held by themselves on unexpected meetings with creatures of this feline family, for which they were unprepared, and from which they necessarily came off terribly mutilated. I remember particularly one instance in which the wild cat was met by the narrator in the narrow path which led from his cabin to the spring. The hardy hunter, though he had no weapon upon him but a common belt or sheath-knife which he always carried, met his assailant with that, and although he was fearfully wounded in the struggle, and would, undoubtedly, have had his bowels torn out, but for the partial protection which his stout buck-skin dress afforded him, yet he succeeded in despatching it with this small weapon. The venerable soldier, who, by the way, is the ancestor of a very large and respectable family in Kentucky, showed me the plain scar of wounds from its claws and teeth upon his person. All corroborative circumstances which family reminiscences and tho character of the man furnished, left PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 405 one no hook to bang a doubt upon in this case, and left me more inclined to believe the many anecdotes of the same kind, which are as familiar to us of the southwest as house- hold words. Nor are such gelations to be thus summarily disposed of, as old wives' tales ; the hearsay and hap-hazard gossip of the borders, for they are sound, substantial realities — -just as much historical truths of those times as the battle of the Horse Shoe, of the River Raisin, or of the Blue Licks, or any other collision that might be named between the white race and a foe quite as savage as even I can suppose the most ferocious of these animals to have been, and like them rapidly disappearing before our coming. There can be no question that the port of the civilized man, even without the adventitious aid of the fearful engines he wields, is in itself sufficient, when he chooses to assert his God-like supremacy upon a physical world, to overawe and subdue the most untameable brutes ; utterly changing their relations to himself, by the majesty of his presence and his will ! The Editors of the Quadrupeds of America give, in a short anecdote, an illustration to the point : During a botanical excursion to the Edista river, our attention was attracted by the barking of a small terrier at the foot of a tree. On looking up, we observed a wild cat, about twenty feet from the ground, and at least three times the size of the dog, of whom he did not appear to be much afraid. He seemed to have a greater dread of man, however, than of this diminutive specimen of the canine race, and leaped from the tree when we drew near ! Yet with all the timidity this anecdote is intended to illustrate, the wild cat, from its desperate fighting and cunning, affords a very exciting sport to the hunter. When overtaken by the dogs, several of them are frequently killed by it, and Mr. Audubon gives some instances of its subtlety 406 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS, in eluding pursuit, which would do credit to Reynard himself. One of them is, that he makes for some half dried swamp or pond, and runs into the most sticky clay, seeming to be aware that the stockings with which his legs would be defended when he came out, would prevent the scent being deposited from his feet, and dull the "trail! A shrewd conjecture that ! but not, as I think, particularly plausible, for in a few bounds the mire would be rubbed off the soles of his feet, from which alone the scent is emitted, and leave him badly off as ever. I have described the cunning strategy of this creature, in the Night Hunt of an earlier chapter. But I know hundreds of well authenticated instances in which the cougar or panther attacked the early hunters — springing upon them as readily from ambush, as they would have done upon a deer. I should not feel authorized to mention at second-hand any incident of the many I could command, as entitlei' to stand among the facts of natural history, but that in my own personal experience I have so frequently witnessed such, that I am compelled to allow some of theSe a weight propor- tioned to their authority. In an excursion towards the Rocky Mountains, I have met all our most formidable animals under the -most varied circumstances of sudden collision. On this expedition we saw several skins and two specimens in the flesh of the puma, which is yet unrecognized by any American Naturalist. It is evidently a transitional genus, partaking of the charac- ters of both the lion and the cougar. It has clearly the rudimental mane and tufted tail, which characterizes the former, while its habits approximate those of the latter. I once, while hunting around a camp on one of the head streams of the Red River, encountered a puma, in a manner much resembling the instance of the wild cat given above. I had gone out in the early morning to hunt, with a comrade, and we were carelessly walking through the thick woods in PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 407 Indian file, when I, who was behind, suddenly observed a creature, which I supposed to be a panther, in the act of springing from the low limb of a bending tree on my companion — who was a few feet in advance of me. I shouted in warning to him, when he sprang forward, and I fired. The ball struck the creature "on the leap" just between the eyes, and it fell at my feet. The eyes were burst from the sockets, and its yells and dying struggles were terrific. On firing another load into it, these struggles ceased. After our surprise had subsided, I examined it coolly, and found it to be entirely distinct from the cougar, both in size, which I am convinced was considerably greater, (I took no measurement,) and color, which instead of tawny, was a light roan, or mingled red and dull white. Then the head was of greater size in proportion to the body, and the rudiments of a mane and tufted tail were sufficiently distinctive. I regret that I was not more careful at the time, for my measurement might have substantiated a new species. A hunter attached to Sir William Drummond Stewart's Expeditions, was assailed by a Puma leaping down upon him from off the face of a bluff, as he rode beneath. He was walking his horse slowly, when his attention was aroused by the rolling down of a pebble or some fragment of rock. Looking up quickly, the terrible brute was crouching above him, with ears laid back close upon its head, and he saw the wavy stir of the tail in the grass, and brambles above. To whip out his holster was the act of an instant, and he fired into its face, as the yellow glare of those eyes was almost against his own in the descent of its leap. He was considerably torn by its claws in the death-struggle, but the heavy ball of his holster had crushed its skull to pieces. Mr. Miller afterwards made a sketch of the scene of this occurrence on the spot, and it is given at the head of this chapter. But what is more in point, we saw several skins of these 408 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS, creatures, wMcli had been killed near San Antonio de Bexar, in Texas, which is a very old Spanish town; yet, on the most careful inquiry, we learned from the hunters, that they were quite as cowardly, and averse to attacking man as the cougars, which yet linger in the swamps of the Mississippi, the pine woods of the Carolinas, or along the course of our Western rivers, are known to be. The secret of this is, that the creatures we met on the remote waters of the Red River, where the hunter's rifle had probably been never heard, were in fact living in entire unconsciousness of its formidable prognostics and accompani- ments. I had also an adventure once with the oceolet, which fully illustrates the progress this sort of intimidation has made in altering our relations to such creatures. The oceolet — which is, next to the common house cat, the base of the felines, and has always been set down in old books of natural history as, in proportion to its size, one of the most incorrigibly fierce of its tribe, and which may still with truth be called the most untameable, as it is the most beautiful of all — ^yet showed itself to be even more timid than I, in a sudden rencontre ! I was hunting with a friend near his ranche, on the San Antonio river, one morning. The two untrained dogs which accompanied us soon ran off far enough ahead down the course of the heavily timbered river bottom. We were talking through a field which had been opened into the timber, and which being now uncultivated, was fringed by a thick briar-path. As we approached this, some creature sprang up from its outer edge, where it had probably been sunning itself, and we heard it rattling away into the adjacent forest, which at this place was below where we stood. On looking down over the top of the thicket, we saw the beautifully mottled form of an oceolet, clinging to the trunk PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 409 of a large cotton-wood tree, some ten feet from its base, with its striped face turned back over its shoulders, curiously regarding us. It was in short point blank range, and I immediately fired. It dropped out of view, and when I forced my way through the thicket and reached the foot of the tree, it had disappeared. There was a large hollow in the foot of the tree, into which we supposed the creature had fallen, for I felt sure of my aim. On looking down, I saw it extended along the bottom, apparently dead. I was anxious to obtain its skin, and accordingly, after reloading my rifle, I, by a side-way movement, pushed my arm, shoulders and head with diffi- culty into the narrow gap, in hope that I should be able to reach and draw it out. My head had scarcely been iatroduced before a pair of flaming eyes looked up into mine from the darkness, apparently within a few inches. I, of course, struggled out as quicklji as possible, under the impression that the creature I supposed to have been killed was only stunned. I put the muzzle of my rifle down the hollow — and fired, as I thought, directly between the glowing eyes. When the smoke was dissipated, I ventured to look in again, and there lay the same creature, as I supposed, stretched, and still in the old position. I now determiaed on a second trial to draw it out. I had forced in — arms, shoulders and head — so far as they would go, when suddenly the fiery eyes made their appearance again, so close to mine that they seemed almost to burn them ! I scuffled desperately to extricate my person, for the idea of a pair of long white claws stuck into my phiz, was not the most pleasant that could be conceived, I was just in time ; for, as I drew my face out, plump against ii came the heavy crush of soft fur, with a strong body behind At, and I was prostrated on my back. I was roused from the stun and fright together, by the loud guffaws of my companion, who was toj much convulsed with 410 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. laughter to be able to shoot the cat, which we saw going off through the woods at full speed. On examination, I found the roots of the great tree had been hollowed far under and beyond the line of vision, and concluded that the shot into the hollow had missed aim, as I found the first animal dead, which I had seen lying from the first. We now called the dogs, which soon traced the fugitive to another hollow •tree, from which we smoked it down — as is the practice in taking hares when they are "treed!" — and shot it dead as it sprang out. We found this to be the dam, while the first was a cub just grown. It is a somewhat curious commentary upon the nature of these animals, that the cub was found to have been so badly torn by the teeth of the dam as to render its skin useless. I suppose its falling into the den so suddenly and unusually, was the cause of this unnatural act on the part of the mother, who mistook it for some assailant. I have no doubt I should have been badly mutilated by this creature had the incident occurred any where but in this neighborhood, where it had been thoroughly initiated into the terrors of gunpowder and the rifle. The genus Lynx is very celebrated in" those classic and European legends, which, under the name of facts, have come down to us as Natural History. The metaphor in which a "Lynx's eye" is represented as being able to pierce through stone walls, is familiar to our childhood. From very ancient times, it has been known through curious and various associations. It is a sort of anomaly — neither canine or feline, strictly, but holding an intermediate position both in grade and notoriety. Though it has been much identified with the old world progress and story, yet it is even more intimately connected with the associations of the new world pioneer life. With us, north or south, every body has heard of the Lynx rufus, (or common wild cat,) even though some may have identified it with the Canada Lynx, and others, 411 puzzled by its varied marking and size, may have called it by sundry names, sucli as catamount, etc. In truth, even Naturalists have been sadly perplexed with regard to the true place of this genus, and we should not wonder that the common people of all countries should be as well. It is unquestionably the transition species from the more defined genera, felis and canis, and consequently, as a sub-genus, its definitions have become more involved. In the dental arrange- ment, there is only the slight variation from that of the felines of one molar less on each side above ; for the rest, they have shorter bodies in proportion to the length of the legs, and shorter tails. Their resemblance to the genus canis (to which those of lupus and vulpes are sub-genera,) seems to be less defined. They approach the dogs, not by very distinct stages of transition, through both these sub- genera. They live more like the fox, on the ground, and approach its associations more in choice of localities and manner of taking its prey. It resembles the dog in its fieetness, and more particularly in its acute sense of smtll, which no doubt gave rise to the legend about its being able to see through a stone wall — the acuteness of one sense being vulgarly substituted for that of another. But the true physical characteristic, which distinguishes this from all the other genera, is the tuft or pencil of hair which appears, when they are in full pelage, on the points of their ears. This is the most prominent character of the genus, which I have left to be considered last, because it varies so much with the shedding time and seasons, that it has been the most fruitful source of confusion in classifying the animal. At one time it is long, and at another scaa-cely visible— hence careless observers have insisted upon a most com- plicated subdivision of the genus. Certainly this difficulty has quite naturally been increased, by the extraordinary variations in markings or color, which are peculiar to the Lynx rvfus ; although the Canada lynx 412 WILD SCENES AND WILD HtJNTEES. is more strictly defined. Rafenesque even confounded it into fifteen varieties ; and wKen a Naturalist is led into such errors, it is not astonishing that the popular judgment should make mistakes.- Indeed, I myself for a long time held the opinion, based not only on the varied size, markings, length of tail and ear-tufts, of the specimens which I had either killed, or seen others kill, but as well upon a patient survey of thousands of skins at the fur warehouses 'in St. Louis — that the catamount, or common wild cat, was a cross upon the oceolet and Canada lynx. The oceolet is a true feline. Indeed, all these singular variations have had their effect on me, for I had seen the tail from one inch to four, and the pelage not alone faintly banded, but mottled, through such regular transitions, from plain olive brown to distinct mark- ings, and then to the very peculiar black and unmistakable rosette, which belongs to the pelage of the oceolet, that I could not help thinking that the Canada lynx and the oceolet may have perpetuated a middle species, partaking, as well in habits as in markings, the characteristics of the two. The authors of the Quadrupeds of America, however, take a different view of the subject. They certainly bring up many formidable instances to show that they are right ; and until I have spent as many years as they have in personal dedication to such investigations, I shall fully accept their nomenclature. They remark, in general terms, concerning the " pelage :" There are, however, at all seasons of the year, even in the same neighborhood, strongly marked varieties, and it is difficult to find two individuals precisely alike. Some specimens are broadly marked with fulvus under the throat, whilst in others the throat as well as the chin is gray. In some, the stripes on the back and spots along the sides are very distinctly seen, whilst in others they are scarcely visible, and the animal is grayish-brown above, with a dark dorsal stripe. There are six species of lynx known to the old world, and, PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 413 as they say, only two to North America ! I am surely right with regard to the old world, but whether they are, upon this knotty point, right as to thiB, we will leave for future investi- gation to determine. Be scientific truth on which side of the controversy it may, the animal itself is a very interesting one, and intimately associated with the legend and character, not only of the pioneers, bm of the older population of our wide country, for it is found every where, from the middle to the extreme southern and southwestern limits of settlement. The Canada lynx, which is so frequently identified with it, extends from the mountains of Pennsylvania to the northern districts of Canada. With regard to the habits of the Lynx rufus, the authors of the Quadrupeds of America say : . The general appearance of this species conveys the idea of a degree of ferocity, which cannot with propriety be con sidered as belonging to its character, although it will, when at bay, show its sharp teeth, and with outstretched claws and infuriated despair, repel the attacks of either man or dog, guttering the while and rolling its eyes like the common cat. It is, however, generally cowardly when attacked, and always flies from its pursuers if it can ; and although some anecdotes have been related to us of the strength, daring and fierceness of the animal, such as its having been known to kill, at difi'erent times, a sheep, a full grown doe, attack a child in the woods, etc., yet in all the instances that have come under our own notice, we have found it very timid, and always rather inclined to beat a retreat, than to make an attack on an animal larger than a hare or young pig. Dr. Bachman, Associate Editor of the Quadrupeds of America, describes with some minuteness and reality the most common mode of hunting the wild cat by daylight, when undertaken in set fashion by the southern gentry, with all the appliances of "hound and horn," etc.; but his chase is wound up by the shooting of the exhausted animal by some one of the huntsmen. 414 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS In a southern foxchase there can be nothing more unortho- dox than such an expenditure of ammunition, for the hunters would have been somewhat dangerously furious, and the hounds themselves ready to tear in pieces the unlucky marks- man who should have dared to interpose between their heated ferocity and a legitimate consummation of the chase, in " the death!" The wild cat injures the dogs, though, so much, that after losing a few of the most valued leaders of the, pack in the bloody death-struggle with this savagely formi- dable creature, the huntsmen soon learn to differ from our friend Dr. Bachman's opinion concerning its courage, and become very cautious how they run the risk of having their dogs overtake it. They easily tell, from the cry of the hounds, when it is becoming exhausted, and has reached its short doublings ; and, as by this time they have enjoyed the excitement of a long chase, they can very well afford to listen to the dictates of prudence in shooting it,' as described above. The dogs used in a night hunt are not the full-blooded hounds of the chase above. A cross of the fox or stag-hound upon the fiercer, snapping, wire-haired cur, which seems to be peculiarly the dog of the negro, makes a far more swift, though not so long-winded or so sure a hunter; and, from its strength and activity, is considered a much better fighter than the aristocratic hound, which is owned solely by the master. Indeed, the half-breeds of this and various other crosses are almost exclusively used for the chase and destruc- tion of the carnivorous animals throughout this country — the game " full-bloods," which, when heated by their long chases, habitually rush in, closing instantly with their quarry, when it has been brought to bay, suffer terribly when it turns out to be wild cat, panther or bear ; and, if permitted to chase these animals, the pack is soon exterminated by them. It is curious to observe the instant change in the appear- ance of all dogs used in the chase, on striking the trail of any one of these animals, but more especially that of th» PANTHKES, AND OUR OTHER OATS. 415 wild cat or panther. The hair "roughs," as the hunters term it, that is, stands on end over the hack and tail ; and their cry becomes a sort of eager growl. The drivers understand these signs .well, and when heating for deer or fox they immediately call the dogs off the dangerous scent. As a hunter, the bay lynx exhibits a good deal of cunning and sagacity — quite as much, it would appear, as Reynard himself. Dr. Bachman gives some curious relations upon this head. One incident, which occurred at the plantation of Dr. Desel, in South Carolina, is worth giving. It seems that "the drove of geese were nightly lodged near the house in an enclosure which was rendered apparently safe by a very high fence. As an additional security, several watch dogs were let loose about the premises; besides, an excellent pack of hounds, which, by an occasional bark or howl during the night, sounded the alarm in case any marauder, whether biped or quadruped, approached. Not- withstanding these precautions, a goose disappeared almost every night, and no trace of the ingress or egress of the robber could be discovered. Slow in attaching suspicion to to his servants, the Doctor waited for time and watchfulness to solve the mystery. At length, the feathers and other remains of his geese were discovered in a marsh, about a quarter of a mile from the house, and strong suspicion was fastened on the wild cat ! Still, as he came at odd hours of the night, all attempts to kill or shoot him proved, for a time, unavailing. One morning, however, he came about daylight, and having captured a good fat goose, was traced by the keen noses of the hounds." The hounds tracked him up, and he was finally shot ; but his subtle in-goings and out-comings sound to us very like the German stories of the witch or weir-wolf. It was surely ticklish walking, though his toes be padded, for the wary plunderer amid so many foes. But his astuteness and dexterity are quite as remarkable in those wild wood forays, 416 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. which the editors of the " Quadrupeds" have had an oppor- tunity of witnessing. Such examples are confirmed by my own experience. When this animal discovers a flock of wild turkeys, he will generally follow them at a little distance for some time, and after having ascertained the direction in which they are proceeding, make a rapid detour, and concealing himself behind a fallen tree, or in the lower branches of some leafy maple, patiently wait in ambush until the birds approach, when he suddenly springs on one of them, if near enough, and with one bound secures it. "We once, while resting on a log in the woods, on the banks of the Wabash river, perceived two wild turkey-cocks at some distance below us, under the bank near the water, pluming and picking their feathers ; on a sudden one of them fled across the river, and the other we saw struggling in the grasp of a wild cat, which almost instantly dragged it up the bank into the woods and made ofi'. On another occasion, we observed an individual of this species almost nine miles from Charleston, in pursuit of a covey of partridges — [Ortyx Virginiana,) — so intent was the cat upon its prey, that it passed within ten steps of us, as it was making a circle to get in advance, and in the path of the birds ; its eyes were constantly fixed on the covey, and it stealthily concealed itself behind a log it expected the birds to pass. In a second attempt, the marauder succeeded in capturing one of the partridges, when the rest, in great afiright, flew and scattered in all directions. The Canada lynx is something larger than the bay lynx, and though more formidable-looking, is not so flerce, bold, or restless. Indeed, it seems to be quite remarkable for a shy timidity, even when far removed from the neighborhood of man. It is not mottled as the bay lynx, but is gray above, a little clouded with irregular dark spots, and lighter beneath. It is well protected against the cold of its northern home by its long fur. It is very dexterous in capturing the PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 417 grouse, hares, squirrels, and other small creatures, which constitute its habitual prey. It has even been represented as having killed a deer — though I conjecture it must have been a wounded one. It is true there is less known of its habits than of those of the southern species; but on the whole, I am disposed to regard it as a less enterprising, and therefore Jess interesting species. Indeed, it is by no means through the character of this gray, northern animal, that the wide-spread notoriety of the wild cat, in connection with border life, has obtained in this country. It is to the moro fierce, predatory,: and pugnacious temperament of its tawny and mottled brother of the south, that the family reputation is mainly owing. The panther, (or cougar,) with even its greater size and more formidable attributes, is not more entirely identified with our wildest legends, scenes, and adventures, than is this bay lynx. I give, in conclusion, a characteristic paper, in which a Cougar hunt is described by Mr. Audubon. This, as afi'ord- ing an additional glimpse of the adventurous out-door life of the great Naturalist, possesses a greater interest than any relation of personal adventure I could give, although such are abundant enough. He says : — There is an extensive Swamp in the section of the State of Mississippi which lies partly in the Choctaw territory. It commences at the borders of the Mississippi, at no great distance from a Chickasaw village, situated near the mouth of a creek known by the name of Vanconnah, and partly inundated by the swellings of several large bayous, the principal of which, crossing the swamp in its whole extent, discharges its waters not far from the mouth of the Yazoo River. This famous bayou is called False River. The swamp of which I am speaking follows the windings of the Yazoo, until the latter branches off to the north-east, and at this point forms the stream named Cold Water River, below which the Yazoo receives the draining of another bayou 27 418 -WILD SCENES AKD WILD HUNTEKS. inclining towards the north-west, and intersecting that known by the name of False River, at a short distance from the place where the latter receives the waters of the Mississippi. This tedious account of the situation of the Swamp, is given with the view of pointing it out to all students of nature who may chance to go that way, and whom I would earnestly urge to visit its interior, as it abounds in rare and interesting productions : birds, quadrupeds and reptiles, as well as mol- luscous animals, many of which, I am persuaded, have never been described. In the course of one of my rambles, I -chanced to meet with a squatter's cabin on the banks of the Cold Water River. In the owner of this hut, like most of those adven- turous settlers in the uncultivated tracts of our frontier districts, I found a person well versed in the chase, and acquainted with the habits of some of the larger species of quadrupeds and birds. As he who is desirous of instruction ought not to disdain listening to any one, who has knowledge to communicate, however humble may be his lot, or however limited his talents, I entered the squatter's cabin, and imme- diately opened a conversation with him respecting the situation of the swamp, and its natural productions. He told me he thought it the very place I ought to visit, spoke of the game which it contained, and pointed to some bear and deer skins, adding, that the individuals to which they had belonged, formed but a small portion of the number of those animals which he had shot within it. My heart swelled with delight ; and on asking if he would accompany me through the great morass, and allow me to become an inmate of his humble but hospitable mansion, I was gratified to find that he eordially assented to all my proposals. So I immediately unstrapped my drawing materials, laid up my gun, and sat down to partake of the homely but wholesome fare intended for the supper of the squatter, his wife, and his two sons. The quietness of the evening seemed in perfect accordance PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER OATS. 419 with the gentle demeanor of the family. The wife and chil- dren, I more than once thought, seemed to look upon me as a strange sort of person, going about, as I told them I was, in search of birds and plants ; and were I here to relate tne many questions which they put to me in return for those which I addressed to them, the catalogue would occupy several pages. The husband, a native of Connecticut, had heard of the existence of such men as myself, both in our own country and abroad, and seemed greatly pleased to have me under his roof. . Supper over, I asked my kind host what had induced him to remove to this wild and solitary spot. " The people are too numerous now to thrive in New Eng- land," was his answer. I thought of the state of some parts of Europe, and calculating the denseness of their population compared with that of New England, exclaimed to myself, " How much more difficult must it be for men to thrive in those populous countries !" The conversation then changed, and the squatter, his sons and myself, spoke of hunting and fishing, until at length tired, we laid ourselves down on pallets of bear skins, and reposed in peace on the floor of the only apartment of which the hut consisted. Day dawned, and the squatter's call to his hogs, which, being almost in a wild state, were suffered to seek the greater portion of , their food in the woods, awakened me. Being ready dressed, I was not long in joining him. The hogs and their young came grunting at the well known call of their owner, who threw them a few ears of corn, and counted them, but told me that for some weeks their iiumber had been greatly diminished by the ravages committed upon them by a large Panther, by which name the cougar is designated in America, and that the ravenous animal did not content himself with the flesh of his pigs, but now and then carried off one of his calves, notwithstanding the many attempts he had made to shoot it, The Painter, as he sometimes called 't, had on several occasions robbed him of a dead deer ; and 420 •WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. to these exploits the squatter added several remarkable feats of audacity which it had performed, to give me an idea of the formidable character of the beast. Delighted by his description, I offered to assist him in destroying the enemy, at which he was highly pleased, but assured me that unless some of his neighbors should join us with their dogs and his own, the attempt would prove fruitless. Soon after, mount- ing a horse, he went off to his neighbors, several of whom lived at a distance of some miles, and appointed a day of meeting. The hunters, accordingly, made their appearance, one fine morning, at the door of the cabin, just' as the sun was emerging from beneath the horizon. They were five in number, and fully equipped for the chase, being mounted on horses, which in some parts of Europe might appear sorry nags, but which in strength, speed and bottom, are better fitted for pursuing a cougar or a bear through woods and morasses than any in that country. A pack of large ugly curs were already engaged in making acquaintance with those of the squatter. He and myself moimted his two best horses, whilst his sons were bestriding others of inferior quality. Few words were uttered by the party until we had reached the edge of the Swamp, where it was agreed that all should disperse and seek for the fresh track of the Painter, it being previously settled that the discoverer should blow his horn, and remain on the spot, until the rest should join him. In less than an hour, the sound of the horn was clearly heard, and, sticking close to the squatter, off we went through the thick woods, guided only by the now and then repeated call cf the distant huntsmen. We soon reached the spot, and in a, snort time the rest of the party came up. The best dog was sent forward to track the Cougar, and in a few moments, the whole pack were observed diligently trailing, and bearing in their course for the interior of the Swamp. The rifles PANTHEKSj AND OUR OTHER CATS. 421 were inniiediattly put in trim, and the party followed the dogs, at separate distances, but in sight of each other, deter- mined to shoot at no other game than the Panther. The dogs soon began to mouth, and suddenly quickened their pace. My companion concluded that the beast was on the ground, and putting our horses to a gentle gallop, we followed the curs, guided by their voices. The noise of the dogs increased, when, all of a sudden, their mode of barking became altered, and the squatter, urging me to push on, told me that the beast was treed, by which he meant that it had got upon some low branch of a large tree to rest for a few moments, and that should we not succeed in shooting him when thus situated, we might expect a long chase of it. As we approached the spot, we all by degrees united into a body, but on seeing the dogs at the foot of a large tree, separated again and galloped oflF to surround it. Each hunter now moved with caution, holding his gun ready, aiid allowing the bridle to dangle on the neck of his horse, as it advanced slowly towards the dogs. A shot from one of the party was heard, on which the Cougar was seen to leap to the ground, and bound off with such velocity as to show that he was very unwilling to stand our fire longer. The dogs set off in pursuit with great eagerness and a deafening cry. The hunter who had fired came up and said that his ball had hit the monster, and had probably broken one of his fore-legs near the shoulder, the only place at which he could aim. A slight trail of blood was discovered on the ground, but the curs proceeded at such a rate that we merely noticed this, and put spurs to our horses, which galloped on towards the centre of the Swamp. One bayou was crossed, then another still larger and more muddy; but the dogs were brushing forward, and as the horses began to pant at a furious rate, we judged it expedient to leave them and advance on foot. These determined hunters knew that the Cougar being wounded, would sliortly ascend another tree, 422 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. where in all probability "he would remain for a considerable time, and that it would be easy to follow the track of the dogs. We dismounted, took off the saddles and bridles, set the bells attached to the horses' necks at liberty to jingle, hoppled the animals, and left them to shift for themselves. Now, kind reader, follow the group marching through the swamp, crossing muddy pools, and making the best < of their way over fallen trees and amongst the tangled rushes that now and then covered acres of ground. If you are a hunter yourself, all this will appear nothing to you ; but if crowded assemblies of " beauty and fashion," or the quiet enjoyment of your "pleasure-grounds," alone delight you, I must mend my pen before I. attempt to give you an idea of the pleasure felt on such an expedition. After marching for a couple of hours, we again heard the dogs. Each of us pressed forward, elated at the thought of terminating the career of the cougar. Some of the dogs were heard whining, although the greater number barked vehemently. We felt assured that the Cougar was treed, and that he would rest for some time to recover from his fatigue. As we came up to the dogs, we discovered the •ferocious animal lying across a large branch, close to the trunk of a cotton-wood tree. His broad breast lay towards us ; his eyes were at one time bent on us and again on the dogs beneath and around him ; one of his fore legs hung loosely by his side, and he lay crouched, with his ears lowered close to his head, as if he thought he might remain undiscovered. Three balls were fired at him, at a given signal, on which he sprang a few feet from the branch, and tumbled headlong to the ground. Attacked on all sides by the enraged curs, the infuriated Cougar fought with desperate valor ; but the squatter advancing in front of the party, and almost in the midst of the dogs, shot him immediately behind and beneath the left shoulder. The Cougar writhed for a moment m agony, and in another lay dead. 423 The sun was no-w sinking in the west. Two of the hunters separated from the rest, to procure venison, whilst the squatter's sons were ordered to make the best of their way home, to be ready to feed the hogs in the morning. The rest of the party agreed to camp on the spot. The cougar was despoiled of its skin, and its carcass left to the hungry dogs. Whilst engaged in preparing our camp, we heard the report of a gun, and soon after one of our hunters returned with a small deer. A fire was lighted, and each hunter displayed his pone of bread, along with a flask of whisky The deer was skinned in a trice, and slices placed on sticks before the fire. These materials afforded us an excellent meal, and as the night grew darker, stories and songs went round, until my companions, fatigued, laid themselves down, close under the smoke of the fire, and soon fell asleep. I walked for some minutes round the camp, to contemplate the beauties of that nature from which I have certainly derived my greatest pleasures. I thought of the occurrences of the day, and glancing my eye around, remarked the singular effects produced by the phosphorescent qualities of the large decayed trunks which lay in all directions around me. How easy, I thought, would it be for the confused and agitated mind of a person bewildered in a swamp like this, to imagine in each of these luminous masses some wondrous and fearful being, the very sight of which might make the hair stand erect on his he^d. The thought of being myself placed in such a predicament burst over my mind, and I hastened to join my companions, beside whom I laid me down and slept, assured that no enemy could approach us without first rousing the dogs, which were growling in fierce dispute over the remains of the cougar. At daybreak we left our camp, the squatter bearing on his shoulder the skin of the late destroyer of his stock, and retraced our steps until we found our horses, which had not strayed far from the place where we had left them. These 424 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. we soon saddled, and jogging along, in a direct course, guided by the sun, congratulating each other on the destruc- tion of so formidable a neighbor as the panther had been, we soon arrived at my host's cabin. The five neighbors partook of such refreshment as the house could afford, and dispersing, returned to their homes, leaving me to foUow my favorite pursuits. CHAPTER XVI. CAPTAIN DAN HENRIB ; HIS ADVENTTJEE WITH THE WOLVES. Every body remembers the famous escape of Capt. Dan Henrie at Encarnacion. This reckless and daring Ranger probally passed through a greater number of perilous and singular adventures than any other man of the same age in the service. Though one of the most light-hearted mortals that the warm sun ever smiled upon, yet he had a careless knack of getting into the most desperate scrapes on every possible occasion, and then, of course, fought his way out again with the most dashing gallantry. Mark you, Dan never got into scrapes with his own people; 425 426 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. he was far too kindly and generous for that ; but he had a hatred for the " cussed yaller bellies," and " copper heads," as he called the Mexicans and Indians, which was refresh- ingly orthodox. His hatred of the Mexicans was amusingly bitter and contemptuous while you listened to him talk of them ; but when this hatred came to be expressed ia action, it was of the most savage and deadly character. At Encar- nacion, when the little band found themselves surrounded by the heavy masses of Minon's cavalry, the proposition, which, we believe, originated with Cassius M. Clay, was made to stand to their arms and fight it out with the Mexicans, to the last gasp, in spite of the disparity of numbers. ■ Lieu- tenant Dan, who was then their guide, seconded this propo- sition warmly, and went about among the men, urging them " to stand up to the rack," as he called it, representing that they could hope for nothing but bad faith, resulting in cold- blooded massacre, if they surrendered to the Mexicans. He reminded them of Goliad, and the Meir surrender, and of his own experience in the last case. After showing, to his own satisfaction, that the resolution of fighting their way through was the only possible chance of safety or honorable death left them, he concluded, with the characteristic piece of savage advice, " Shoot low, boys — shoot them through their bellies, so that their groans will frighten their comrades — one groaner is worth half a dozen dummies !" His perfect knowledge of the Mexican character, as well as his mortal hatred of them, was fully displayed in this advice. Dan knew perfectly that there would be no chance for liira, for he had abeady been recognized as one of the Meir men by several Mexicans, whose faces he remembered well ; the surrender, therefore, placed him in a desperate predicament. He knew, perfectly, that whatever faith they might keep with other prisoners, they would keep none ■vvith him, although his safety had been provided for in an expresa CAPTAIN DAN HBNRIE 427 stipulation of the terms of surrender. I have never seen the mode of his escape correctly related yet, so that it is worth Tvhile to give it in his own version. The Mexicans have a mortal hatred of the Meir prisoners, one and all — but most particularly do they detest those of them who rose at the Salado and escaped from Perote. Dan had, unfortunately, not only been prominent in both these affairs, but from the fact of speaking the language as well as a native, he had always acted as interpreter, and thus been put forward more conspicuously than any one of the other prisoners. Besides this, he had previously made him- self very notorious, too, as a Ranger, All these causes combined to make his recognition general and sure at almost any point on the whole route to Mexico ; and if it had not occurred immediately, there was no telling at what moment it might occur, and of course, when his body might be made the target of their cowardly hate. He saw those men who had recognized him whispering among themselves, and from his knowledge of the Mexican character, felt sure that so soon as the commanding officers had retired and left them in charge of the guard, he would be shot from the ranks. It fortunately occurred, that when they were started, Minon and his staff was moving in the same direction down the lines of the Mexican force. Colonel Gaines rode a very swift and beautiful mare. Dan rode up to his side and whispered to him the discoveries he had made, his fears, and his determination. Gaines at once, with a generous promptness, proposed that he should take his mare to make the attempt upon, as her high-blooded metal would distance any Mexican horse with ease. This was precisely ■what Dan desired, and he eagerly accepted the offer. The officers had not yet been deprived of their pistols, and the holsters of Gaines remained on the saddle. The mare was very spirited and fiery, and Dan slily roused up all her mettle by touching her with the spur. She began 428 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. to pitch and plunge, and throw out her heels. This compelled the escort, or rather guard, which rode on either side of the prisoners, to open their line occasionally. Dan kept it up for some minutes, so as to remove all suspicion, and watched his chance, until he saw the guard were beginning to become careless, and regard those unruly capers rather with amuse- ment than otherwise. Then seeing his way open as they moved slowly through the squadrons of green-coated cavalry, le suddenly reined up the mare in the midst of her capri- jolings, and plunging the spurs into her, she darted off like an arrow loosened from the bow, while he stooped, laying himself close along her side, after the manner of the Comanche Indians. A shower of balls was fired hurriedly after him, but without effect, as they all passed over him. The plain to the foot of the mountains was very narrow just here ; and he had observed, before he made his break, that they were opposite a road which came down a narrow valley. He made for this gap, running the gauntlet between several squadrons of cavalry, before he reached its shelter. Just as he was diving into it, he wheeled in his saddle, and amidst the whistling of balls, shook his clenched hand at them, and shouted back his defiance. This sudden escape caused great uproar and confusion among the Mexicans, and several hundred men started at full speed in the pursuit ; but the gallant mare soon left them all far enough behind^ as she clattered with sparkling hoofs along the deep ravine. Before the first two miles had been passed, the pursuit was out of sight in the rear. The valley road, which he had taken at hap-hazard, without the slightest idea of where it led, now opened upon a small plain of table-land, which was occupied by a hacienda of considerable extent. As he swept by in front of the build- ings, he saw a number of green-coats hastily mounting, and in another moment heard the clatter of their pursuing horses coming down the road. He looked over his shoulder and CAPTAIN DAN HENRIE. 429 saw that it was probably a foraging party of about ten lancers. The first agony was over now, and he felt sure of the game and speed of his mare; and with his usual audacity, he determined to give the "yaller bellies" some- thing to remember him by before he took his final leave. He accordingly reined up his mare gradually, and let them, gain upon him. They thought she was failing, and raised a yell of triumph as they urged their horses to yet greater exertions. He looked behind again, and the officer, with one of his men, was now considerably in the advance, and closing rapidly upon him. He loosened a pistol from the holster. The officer was foremost, and was already shouting to him, with many "Garachoes," to surrender, when he wheeled suddenly in his saddle and shot him dead. The lancer, who was close behind, and coming on at furious speed, attempted in vain to rein up his horse. It was too late — he was carried by the impetus of his speed within ten feet of Dan, who had by this time drawn his other pistol, with which he shot him through the head, and then galloped leisurely along, feeling sure that the remainder of his pursuers would be stopped effectually by this bloody barri- cade he had left across their path. He was not . mistaken, for they halted there, and this was the last he saw of their green coats. All that day long he kept the noble beast in swift motion, since at every little rancho or village he came to, it would be necessary for the fugitive to make a desperate run for it, before a pursuit could be organized. The roads were filled, too, with scouting parties of the enemy, and it required all his knowledge of their sort of tactics to enable him to dodge them. He several times very narrowly avoided rushing headlong into the very midst of these advance parties. The Mexicans are usually very noisy troops, and he would hear them talking on the march in time to dodge to one side and 430 WILD SCENES AND WILD HT3NTBKS. let them pass, for he had no fancy to try the hacienda trick over again with empty pistols, since he had nothing to load them with again. He finally threw them away as so much "make-weight," that was useless to him and embarrassing to his mare. So he hurried on, not daring to pause a moment to rest or obtain food, until the next day, when, in a deep, wild gorge among the mountains, his game and gallant mare fell beneath him, dead ! The ravenous and filthy galapotes, (turkey- Duzzards,) were gouging at her fawn-like eyes before they were fairly glazed, and before her stifiened and staggering rider was out of sight. Now came the most terrible part of this wild and remarkable adventure. He was totally without food, except what little fruit of the cactus he could gather during the day while he was skulking, for he only ventured to travel at night now. This was scarcely enough to keep body and soul together ; while his clothes soon became torn to pieces, and hung about his bleeding limbs like broad and tattered ribbons. He, however, still continued making his way steadfastly in the direction of General Wool's camp. At last, some of his scouts picked the poor fellow up when almost speechless with thirst and hunger ; — he was yet feebly reeling along like a ghostly and haggard drunkard. This afi"air very properly got him his promotion to a captaincy. But strange, perilous, and even wonderful as this escape seems, it is only one of many others quite as remarkable, by which his most eventful life has been checkered. In the Texan war with the Cherokees, which was a very bloody business while it lasted, he passed through scenes as bad, if not worse than this. Then his adventures as a Ranger are very remarkable, for of many of these I am myself personally cognizant ; and of his cruel sufferings and headlong daring during the Meir imprisonment, all the country has been, to a certain degree, made aware since the Dublication of General Green's book. CAPTAI3S' DAN HENKIE 431 Dan, who was my comrade in many a curious adventure, was the same Henrie of my previous narrative of the " Shot in the Eye." It is one of the drollest of his many personal affairs that I propose to relate now. I shall endeavor to give it as nearly as I can remember, in his own way, as he related it to me ; though I must confess, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to preserve the raciness of his rattle-pate and peculiar manner. It was before he joined the Meir expedition, and while yet with the Rangers, under the command of McCuUough. Dan, whose excellence as a guide was well known to the captain, was despatched by him, along with three others of the troop, on a scouting expedition, towards the head waters of the Nueces. This was in the early winter of the year before the Meir expedition, and the Mexicans were in many ways annoying and threatening the weak settlements along that river. This state of things had encouraged the Indians, as well, to make very bold descents. McCullough had on his first arrival given them both a severe lesson, upon which the marauders had taken the hint, and nothing further had been heard from either party for several months. Unwilling that his men should lie in camp at such a place as Corpus Christi, with nothing to do but drink and carouse, the prudent captain of Rangers had thought best to despatch all the most restless spirits on tours of observation in various quarters. Besides, the aspect of affairs in that part of Texas generally, had begun to seem rather forlorn, and seemed to call.for unremitting vigilance. Dan and his companions had reached the foot of the mountains in which the western branch of the Nueces takes rise, without meeting any other sort of incident than those which are common to prairie travel. Here they formed their camp, and as they had yet discovered no signs of Indians, it was concluded that they would take each his own course the next day, and after traversing as much ground as possible, 432 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. return to camp and report, and if it should then appear that no sign had yet been discoviered by any of them, it was agreed they should spend several days in a regular buffalo- hunting frolic, as these animals seemed to abound greatly in this region. Accordingly they were under way quite early, each man following the bent of his own humor and fancy for the time. Dan had been travelling in a leisurely sort of a way until noon, when he came upon a scene of such remarkable beauty that he involuntarily stopped to gaze upon it. He had, without observing it, followed up the west branch of the Nueces, until he now found himself at its very head-spring. In front of him a bold and broken mountain stood out somewhat from the chain, at the foot of which he had been riding all the morning. The front of this mountain was almost a square perpendicular, and looked as if it had been cleft from crest to foot by a bolt of thunder, and hurled from out the ranks of its peers. The huge masses of stone with which it seemed built were seamed with a sort of eccentric regularity, and evergreens were rooted along these seams. As the eye descended, these masses became more broken, and assumed a fantastic resemblance to the lines and forms of Gothic architecture in decay — while from the prairie level sprung a broken arch, one side of which was perfect in outline, and the other concealed by the over-hanging masses of evergreen shrubs. At a distance, this seemed the arched gateway of some huge cavern ; but when he approached it, he found that the rock slanted in at just sufficidht angle to give it, at a distance, the appea,rance of shadow. Instead of an enormous cavern, it proved to be only a recess or slanting niche, some twenty feet deep at the bottom — from the back part of which, a bold spring burst a little above the level of the prairie, and rushed down and out from the shadow, rejoicing over the white, sand, until it sparkled in the checkered sunlight, beneath the over-hanging evergreens outside — then it coursed CAPTAIN DAN HBNEIE. 433 xv&j toward the chain of mountains and wound ahout their feet. All off to the left, and beyond this remarkable mountain, seemed an interminable stretch of rolling prairies, over which, amidst clumps of cactus, were scattered herds of deer, mustangs and buffalo, in view at once. Dan has not much poetry in him, but he could not help being both astonished and enchanted by the strange, wild lovelinefes of this scene. He slid from his saddle, and stood leaning ' against it for only a moment or two of wrapt contemplation, when the habitual instinct of watchfulness, peculiar to the Ranger, caused him to change his position, and turn his head. As he did so he perceived one of the droves of mustangs (wild horses,) moving slowly towards him. They were a long way off, and there appeared nothing peculiar about them — ^but it served to remind him that he had a short time before seen the unshod tracks of horses and mules moving at a gallop, — or that, though they might be nothing more than mustangs, yet the simple fact of their going at a gallop, was in itself suspicious of another fact or so — either that they were the tracks of Indian horses and mules, or of mustangs that had been chased or otherwise frightened l^ them ; so that whatever of enchantment there may have been' for him in the scene, it now gave place quickly to caution, and his head turned rapidly from side to side, with the habitual manner of the old spy. His eye now and then fell upon the advancing drove, but not with any consciously defined suspicion. At length they disappeared slowly down a long valley, like the sway of the prairie undulations, and were out of sight so long that he had quite forgotten them, when suddenly they appeared again on this side, moving directly towards him, at a swift gallop. He bounded into his saddle as quick as thought, supposing that, may be, one or two Indians who were mustang-hunting, had lain in wait for this herd, in the deep grass of that prairie valley, and were now chasing them with 28 434 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. the lasso. He urged his horse behind one of the many clumps of cactus around him, with the intention of laying in wait to give these dusky wild horse hunters a trial for their scalps as they went past him. As he changed his position, the figures which were approaching became more distinctly defined against the back-ground of sky, for they were descending towards him ! He saw, what sent his heart into his throat, that each animal had an Indian slung along its side, by one hand and foot, holding to either horn of the saddle ! This is a common trick of theirs in approaching an enemy by day-light, on the prairies ; and it is difficult of detection at a distance, by the most experienced eye, as they ride close together, and no part of the body is shown above the outline of the horse. Dan was off in a twinkling ! The tables were very suddenly turned; for instead of taking a scalp or two himself, as he had expected, it would now require the best he knew to save his own. It was well that he could trust his horse, for they had got so close to him that his escape at all must be a matter of sheer speed — ^he must run away from them or be run through by them. " To be or not to be," was the question now with poor Dan, while he despera.tely urged his" good horse with quirt and spur. So soon as they saw him start, the rascals had Mjheeled up into their saddles again, and yelled their war-whoop like exulting devils. This was a sound which, though it came to his ears somewhat softened by the distance, was by no means calculated to diminish the energy or urgency of the calls upon the speed of his horse, which were made by Dan. He glanced furtively over his shoulder and saw that they were spreading out into the prairie with the intention of hemming him in against the mountains. He instantly perceived that his only chance was a desperate run for an elbow of the chain, which, if he could reach and turn first, he thought would secure hig scalp for the present, as around it CAPTAIN DAN HENRIE. 435 the stream became heavily timbered, and he knew they would not follow him into it for fear they might come upon his friends. It was a tremendous race, for the Indians knew the advantage as well as he; and Dan vows that his long curly hair began to straighten and lift his cap on its ends before he reached the point, they pushed him so close and hard. By the skin of his teeth he got by before they surrounded him, and now he says his " hair fell as smooth and sleek as if a pint of bear's grease had been poured over it ;" but not until he had reached up and taken down his cap off the stiff ends to wave as he shouted back at them in derisive triumph, and then darted beneath the shades of the friendly wood. They left him here as he expected ; but as this was most evidently a dangerous neighborhood, he concluded it would . be safest not to tarry here but get out of it as fast as possible, for there was no telling what new whim niight take these fellows when they had spread around on his trail and found him to be alone ! So away he went through the woods for five or six miles without halting. The hurry and necessities of his flight had taken him off his course back to the rendezvous of his companions. He now first discovered this as he emerged from the timber upon the prairie again, and found himself far enough away from the course of the stream. He paused but for a moment, to collect himself and try and get back the true idea of hia direction. Thinking he had it, he urged his horse into a swift run again. This was kept up for several hours, until night began to close around him, and his horse to give unmistakable indications that he must have rest before he went much further. He came at last to a small rivulet trickling along a deep, rough cut, and as he supposed, in the direction of the west branch of the Nueces. He had passed the camp far enough, he knew, but this would set him right if he followed it lip when daybreak came. So he selected 436 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. a small piece of meadow ground which was covered with musquit grass, and well protected from view by the great clusters of cactus which surrounded it on three sides. Here he stripped his faithful horae and turned him loose to graze, and then taking for supper a hearty draught of water, threw himself upon his blanket to sleep. He had lost his provision wallet in the chase, and it was more than he dare venture upon to shoot game, for fear of betraying his hiding-place ; and though hungry enough, he was fain this time " to go to bed supperless." He thought of home before sleep came, of course, and wished himself there most heartily, that he might attack the well-stocked pantry, the contents of which danced in most tantalizing visions before him during the whole night. This was too much a common predicament, however, to make any very strong impression upon him otherwise. He was mounted and off very early the next morning, and was by no means delighted to perceive that his horse was considerably gaunted by the yesterday's hard work and the somewhat narrow commons of the night. However, he moved on now with something less of a hurry, as there were no indications of pursuit apparent. Following the rivulet, he soon reached the west branch, and turned up this with a brisker movement, spurred by the cheerful hope of soon rejoining his companions and finding them safe. In an hour he was in sight of the ground, and put his horse into a swift gallop in his eagerness to pass over the interval quickly. On coming up, he saw, instead of his comrades, the dead body of an Indian warrior lying across the very ashes of their camp fire, all gashed and hewn with bowie-knife cuts. All around the earth was deeply broken up, with the evidences of a desperate hand to hand struggle. The breech of a rifle, which he recognized, and a number of arrows, with a broken lance and shield, were scattered around. He felt a choking sensation and his blood ran cold at this sight. CAPTAIN DAN HENRIE, 437 His comrades had been surprised, no doubt, by the sa'no party which had pursued him, but with what result it was impossible for him to tell certainly, though he had little choice but to believe and fear the worst. Amid the multitude of the tracks of unshod horses, he could distinguish the few tracks of their shod horses. There was no trace of their bodies in the hasty survey he had time to make, and it seemed very strange that this dead warrior should be left behind, so contrary to their well-known custom ! He followed the trail for some time, with great caution, but could make no discovery, except a great deal of blood on the ground, until towards noon, when rising the comb of a steep ridge, he looked down into the plain below upon a large body of Indians, encamped about a mile distant. This was a startling sight, and they perceived him at the same moment. Now he felt he would have indeed to run for his life. One glance, as he wheeled, was suflScient to show him warriors mounting the horses of his friends ! He did not dread a race with the horses of the Indians so much, because his horse was more than a match for the best of theirs; but the horses of his comrades were as swift, and in every sense as good as his — now they were to be turnjed against him ! He cursed the rashness that had induced him to follow up their trail, but this was no time to pause for regrets — ^he was ofiF, down the hill, at the best speed Ms horse, already somewhat fagged, could raise. All depended upon getting back to the timber and losing them! He could' hear their pursuing yells, distinctly, for a moment, and this was no syren's music to draw him back! He had a good mile the start, but that was no great matter, if, as he supposed, their horses were fresher than his own ! He had not time now to feel any alarm, but only that there was hot work before, and he had it to attend to ! His object was to get out of sight as soon as possible, for he gained a great deal by compelling them 438 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. to run on his trail. He strained his horse tremendously, and succeeded, for when the sudden hurst of their voices came from time to time, proving that they had reached the comb of the ridge, he looked back, and could not see it or them. He felt a little less tight about the heart now, and had time to think something of his best course. It seemed a forlorn chance for an escape — ^he was over six miles from timber. He suddenly remembered that he had observed, for several days past, a heavy smoke off towards the south, and looking now in that direction, saw it filling the whole horizon with gloomy masses, which seemed to be rising but a few miles off. Observing that it was not very high, it instantly occurred to him in his extremity, for he felt sure from the action of his horse, that he would not last much longer in the hard run before them, that the safest course for him would be the most desperate, and this was to make directly for the approaching line of this fire, and take his chance of being able to force his way through it alive. With such a barrier between himself and the Indians, he was safe ! Acting upon this stern and strange alternative, he urged his horse steadily towards the fire. It was not long before he met the dark advance guard of the smoke, as it rolled along the grass, and rode beneath its stifling shelter, the fire being yet a mile off. He was now securely enough out of sight of the Indians, and springing from his horse, proceeded to prepare himself for a trial of the fiery sea. He cut his blanket into pieces, with one of which he blindfolded his horse ; another he tied in a loose bag about the lower part of its head, enveloping the mouth and nostrils. He then enveloped his own face in a loose vizor of the same material. The blanket was coarse and let in air enough to barely sustain life for a short time, while it kept out the smoke. He could hear the yells of his pursuers seemingly close at hand. He was now in utter darkness, and mounting quickly again, headed CAPTAIN WAN HENEIB. 439 his horse directly for the fire. On he went, not knowing where; the reins were tightened, and the lash and spur applied with the energy of desperation. Hotter and iotter the air hecame, but on he careered, heady and blind. The fire has struck him with a roaring surge ! His hair flames crisply, and the flesh of his body seems to be burning! The frantic and panting horse attempts to shy: but no, the fierceness of the agony has turned that rider's arm and will to iron ! It cannot shy — the poor horse! On! on! scorching through the stifling blaze ! A few bounds more and the terrific surges are past ! The frdsh air has met him ! He tore the envelope from his face and leaped from the stag- gering horse upon the charred hot ground. The blanket is torn away from its mouth, and the animal begins to revive quickly, though it shivers and can scarcely stand for the mortal terror! He is safe! He has accomplished an unparalleled feat ! He hears faintly above the crackling and roar of the retiring flames a howl of triumph from his pursuers, who imagine they have driven him into the fire, and that he is burnt, horse and all. He makes a feeble attempt to answer them defiantly, but can scarcely hear his own voice. Stunned, and gaspinfg to recover the use of their almost stifled lungs, he and his horse stand, side by side, upon that blackened plain, without moving a step for more than an hour. But the perils of the day were by no means passed. Before him, as far as the eye could reach, there was only one charred, level, smouldering waste, which had to be crossed before he could reach water, for which both himself and horse were now almost perishing. He started on at last, taking his course at random, for one seemed to his bewildered sense about as good as another. He did not ride at first, but mercifully led his poor horse, until the 440 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. heat of the ground and the still smouldering stubs of grass became insufferable to his feet, and then he turned to mount. He now, for the first time, looked at the animal carefully, and to his horror, saw that nearly every haiir upon its body was gone, and little but the bare skin left, and that was so badly scorched in places, as to come off at the slightest touch. This was dreadful enough, but — water ! water ! water ! he must have that, or they would both die. He sprang into the saddle and urged the wretched creature along with the last energies of his sinking life. In an hour he had begun to grow dizzy, and the blg^ckened earth swam round and round, and tossed him to and fro ! Now a strange noise was about him ; and as the lifting waves of the earth would almost seem to leap up into his face, he would catch glimpses of huge wolves careering on them, turning up their fiery eyes to his, and howling at him with red hot open mouths and lolling tongues ! Suddenly his horse rushed down a steep bank, and there was a great splashing. Water! Blessed God, water ! He tumbled from his saddle into the cold delicious fluid. In an instant his senses had returned, and he saw himself surrounded by thirty or forty prairie wolves, some of whom were swimming in the water after him, while the others sat upon the bank of the small lake, and howled their gathering cry. He struck those which were nearest with his gun barrel and beat them off, while he had time to draw his heavy knife. One of them had seized his passive horse, who, while it was endeavoring to pull him down, stood still and drank — ^the long eager draughts. He split the wolf's head with his knife, and soon sent the rest back out of the water, yelling with their wounds. But those upon the bank only howled the louder, and they were answered near at hand and from afar by hundreds of others, who were swiftly gathering in at the well-known call to a banquet. CAPTAIW DAN HENRIB. 441 He now remembered that these weird and infernal brutes always collect in large numbers, to follow in the wake of a great prairie fire, and tear the carcasses of those animals that are killed^ or band together, to chase and drag, down those that come through alive, but scorched, blinded and staggering, as was his poor horse. They become very savage with blood, impunity and numbers, and very few creatures which have escaped from the hungry flames can escape from\ their yet more ravenous jaws. The creature, at other tim^s, is utterly contemptible for its cowardice; but he shuddered when he called to mind the dreadful Stories he had heard of its deadly fierceness on such occa- sions as this. "My God!" he moaned aloud: "Wasn't it bad enough for me to ■pass that h«ll of flames back yonder ! and have I only escaped that to meet a fate a thousand times more hideous ?" ■ He looked at his horse ; the animal was now, too, partially refreshed, and began to be conscious of the new danger as it ^zed around with staring eyeballs upon the eager and swiftly gathering crowd that howled along the bank. He snorted in affright, and lifted his head with a wildly mournful neigh, that seemed to poor Dan the most piteous sound that ever rung upon his ear before. There was some com- fort though, the horse had life enough in him to make one more run for safety. He mounted, and after having fired his rifle, with deliberate aim, into the thickest of them, charged right through at full speed. They leaped at his feet and attempted to seize his horse's legs, but the animal was too mortally frightened for them to impede his way for an instant. Through he trampled, and away across the prairie he flies, snorting with terror, and moving with as great speed as if perfectly fresh ; and away, too, in pursuit, swept the yelling herd of wolves. There were more than a hundred now, and seemed increasing in numbers 442 WILD SCENES AND 'WILD HUNTERS. at every jump ; for as Dan glanced his frightened eyes around, he would see them straitened out with speed and their mouths wide open, coming to join the terrible route from every direc- tion over the prairie. He looks behind him — ^they were close upon his heels. The great part of them, particularly those in front, and who seemed most fierce and ravenous, were scorched nearly naked ; and with the white foam flying, their long red tongues, their fiery glaring eyes, they presented the most hideous picture of unearthly terror that ever mortal lived, to be chased by unless by the horrible phantagmagoria of madness ! He fired his pistols back at them, but it made no difierence ; they only yelled the louder, and came on the more fiercely, while five joined their long train for each one that he had killed. If his horse should fall or give out, they would both be torn to fragments in an instant ! This appalling convic- tion caused him to give all of eye and nerve that were left him in the mortal fright to steadying and guiding his horse, for the only hope now lay in him. He soon perceived, however, that he was leaving the pack far behind, for there is little comparison between the speed of a horse and that of the prairie wolf. He now began to feel something of hope; and as the frantic speed of his horse placed yet a greater distance between them, the unimaginable dread seemed to be lifting from his life. Now he could not hear their yells, and could barely distinguish, far in the rear, the long snake-like train yet moving on in the relentless chase, over the undula- tions of the bare plain. He sees timber ahead, and shouts in an ecstacy of joyful relief, for then he himself at least id safe ! He can climb a tree — and in the delight of that thought, he has no time for thinking that his poor horse cannot climb trees ! The horse sees, and is inspirited, too — for to all creatures on the prairies there seems to be a vague feeling of safety CAPTAIN DAN HBNBIE. 443 ill the sight of woods. But, alas, poor horse ! They have reached ,the timber, but scarcely a hundred rods have been passed over, when the faithful creature gives out ; and after a few ineifectual efforts still to obey the urging spur, can only lean against the trunk of a tree, and pant and groan with exhaustion. Dan ascen4s the tree, tying the lariat of his horse to one of the lower limbs. He then loaded his arms in the forlorn hope of defending him if they came up. All was still as death, but the loud panting of the exhausted animal. He ascended higher to look out for the approach of the wolves, for he had a faint hope that they had given up the chase. But, alas ! his heart sinks again. There they come, the long yellowish looking train: and several large white wolves have joined them new. He knows well the tameless and pitiless ferocity of tiiese red-eyed monsters, and feels that his true, his noble horse, must go ! Now he can hear their cry ! They are in the woods. The poor horse shivers — looks back, and utters that wild and wailing neigh, as they rush upon him in a body. Dan fires down among them ; but what avail is it ! In a twink- ling, his gallant beast is down, and has been torn to atoms ! The halter of the lariat hangs empty beside the tree. Now they lie panting around the foot of the tree, with their fiery eyes turned wistfully up at him — for the horse had been only a mouthful a piece. Whenever he makes a movement, they rise with eager yells, and leap up towards him, as if to meet his fall. Dan says, that in the utter and dreadfully hopeless desperation of his position now, a grotesque sort of humor possessed him of a sudden, and he commenced deliberately firing down at the red glaring eyeballs of the white wolves, and would roar with laughter, and fairly dance upon his ticklish perch with glee, when he saw the creature tumble over with a shrill death-cry; and then the whole pack rush on it and tear it into shreds in an instant, with gnashing cries. 444 WILD SCENES AND WVA> HUNTERS. He says he amused himself in this way for an hour, and "made them tear to pieces every white wolf that had joined the chase. This sport delighted him so much, that he became careless, and narrowly escaped falling. He only saved himself by dropping his gun, which they seized, and almost tore its stock to pieces before they discovered it was not eatable. I saw the dents of their teeth in the barrel afterwards. Darkness was coming on, an^ they seemed not in the least disposed to go ; and he felt that he must tumble out from the faintness of hunger and fatigue, if he was compelled to spend another hour in that tree without food. He had become entirely reckless now, and loaded up his pistols, determined, if he must fall, to bring death with him for some more of them. Suddenly he heard a distant yelling on the prairie, like that which had sounded so dreadfully behind his flight. The wolves sprung to their feet in a body, and with pricked ears, listened. He looked out towards the prairie, and could faintly discover a large buffalo bull plunging along over the plain, surrounded by a great herd of wolves, who were tearing him at every jump. He could even hear the low bellowing of the creature's agony. Another victim ! and his thirsty guardians started to join the chase. One after another they went ; while those who staid behind would turn their heads to look back wistfully at him, and whine and lick their dry chaps. When the chase come in sight though, off they started in a body with savage yells. He fired his pistols after them in farewell, and killed one of the hindmost, while another, with a broken shoulder, kept on yelling with the pack. He knew he would be safe now if he could get a fire kindled before they returned, If they did so at all. Before they were out of sight, he had reached the ground, and with trembling eagernebs proceeded to light a fire with the help of his flint and steel, which every Banger carries. He CAPTAIN DAN HENRIE. 445 soon had a great fire blazing, and then cutting a piece from the last wolf he had. MUed, proceeded to roast it for food. When he had eaten, he felt so much refreshed that he could now proceed to make provision for the night's rest. He gathered a rgreat deal of dried wood, and built a large firo in a circle about the spot he had selected to *eep upon. The wolves came back in about an hour after he had finished hia arrangements for the night; but he now felt perfectly secure, for though he could see their hungry eyes shining a\\ round the outside of the circle, and they kept up a continued howling all night long, he laid himself down and slept soundly until morning. When he waked up, the wolves were all gone but one or two, craunching at the bones of yesterday's feast. He shot one of them with his pistol, and made a breakfast off of it He picked up the gun, and found that though very much torn, it could still be. used. He now took his course, and started to foot it into the settlements. After a week of almost incredible suffering, he got in safe, and saw nothing more of the wolves or of his comrades, who are thought to have been carried off prisoners, and afterwards murdered by the Indians on their attempting to escape. Dan was sick of a fever for several weeks at Corpus Christi after he got in, and raved incessantly about wolves. CHAPTER XVII. THE DARKIB FIDDLER AND TDE \.OLVLJ. Poor Dan Henrie's adventure with the wolves has reminded me of one or two other incidents sufficiently characteristic of the habits of that remarkable animal to be worthy of relation here, by way of interlude. The wolf, besides being the most ubiquitous of our predatory animals, is the most active, tenacious and difficult of extirpation. It is everywhere. It fills-in the chinks of desolation. Its savage, grinning head peers through all the broken glooms of our stern wildernesses — a ghoul-like presence — ^hideous, gaunt and fierce ! It knows no sympathies, apd 446 THE DARKIB FIDDLER. 447 we give it none. Yet there is one droll incident witli which my boyhood was familiar, which seems to indicate a certain susceptibility to the softer emotions — or more refiaed senses —at least. In the early days of the settlement of South Kentucky, there was great trouble with the wolves. The large gray wolf of the more wooded northern and middle districts, greatly abounded in the heavy forests of the Green River Bottom, particularly in tl^. neighborhood of Henderson, which is situated on the Ohio, not far below the mouth of Green River. The barn-yard suffered to a great extent, in the way of pigs, calves, etc., from their depredations, which frequently, in mid-winter, were even carried to the audacious extreme of attacking human beings. Indeed, it was no unusual thing for the belated footman, at such times, when they were pressed by hunger, to find himself surrounded by a herd of them in the woods. Some striking stories of hair-breadth escapes and desperate ventures, belong to this period and condition of things. No one of them ever made a stronger impression upon me than the adventure of old Dick, the fiddler. He was " a good old good-for-nothing darkie," as the word went in the neighborhood, whose sole merit consisted in his fiddling — ^but, by the way ! — singular as this merit was, — it in reality constituted him by far the most important "gemmen of color" within forty miles around. The fact is, nothing of any interest could occur without his presence ! It was as important — skinny as it was ! — as the very face of the man in the moon, — ^beneath whose auspices the corn-shoekings, the weddings, the "break-downs" and Juba dances of the neighborhood were enacted. Old Dick, who was the property of one of the Hendersons, from whom the town and county take their names, was esteemed by his good-natured and wealthy master as decidedly 448 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. a privileged character. He had his time pretty much to himself, and no one pretended to interfere with its disposal^ as his master humorously styled him a " necessary nuisance" to the neighborhood, because he kept the darkies in a good humor by his fiddle. Now Dick had most strongly developed the strongest and most marked traits of the fiddler, the world over, namely, punctiliousness and punctuality. Upon either of these points he was peculiarly irritable, nay even ferocious. With all the proverbial timidity of the "child of genius," Old Dick was yet as savage as a hyena at any improprieties of etiquette which might chance to turn up during the sable orgies over which he presided ; but nothing caused him to so far forget "the proprieties" in his own person, as the intervention of any unusual or accidental causes of delay which prevented his being on hand in time ! Poor Dick ! — but the story I have to tell of him will explain ! On the occasion of a grand wedding festival among the colored gentry of a neighboring plantation, some six miles distant, Old Dick was, of course, expected to officiate as master of the ceremonies. It had been an imusually severe winter, and a heavy snow lay upon the ground on the event- ful evening, when, having donned his "long-tailed blue," with its glittering gilt buttons, and mounted the immense shirt collar, by the aid of which the dignity of his official character was properly maintained, the ancient Apollo sallied forth, fiddle in hand, to dare the perils of the distant way alone : for the younger darkies had all gone to the frolic hours ago, with a haste and eagerness altogther unbecoming his importance. The moon was, out, and the stars twinkled merrily over head, as the spry old man trudged away over the crisp and crackling snow. The path, which was a very narrow one, led, for the greater part of the way, through the dark shadows of a heavy bottom forest, which yet remained as wild aa THE DABEIE FIDDLEB. 449 when the Indians roamed it, and was untraversed by a wagon road for many miles. The profound and dreary solitude of the way could not have failed to impress any one who was not either more or less than human, except under conditions of entire pre-occupa- tion in one absorbing thought, such as now held absolutely the body and soul of the old man, in the strained tension of an anxious hurry to reach the seat of: operations, in exact time. He was goaded at every step by the maddening vision of the expectant ranks of sable gentility, rolling the whites of their eyes and stamping their stocking feet upon the puncheon floor, impatient of his delay; for the truth was, that he had lingered a little too long over the polishing of those brass buttons and the setting of that plentitude of collar, and he now first became conscious of it as he had come forth beneath the moon and perceived its unexpected height above the horizon. On he dashed with unrelaxing energy, heedless of the black shadows and hideous night-cries in the deep forest. Wolves were howling around him in every direction, but he paid no attention to sounds that were so common. However, he was soon compelled to give more heed to these animals than was by any means pleasing or expected. He had now made nearly half of his journey, and the light opening ahead through the trees showed him the " old clearing," as it was called, through which his path led. The wolves had been getting excessively noisy for the last mile; and to the undescribable horror of the old man, he could hear them gathering about him in the crackling bushes on either side, as they ran along to keep pace with his rapid steps. The woods very soon seemed to the old man to be literally alive with them, as they gathered in yelling packs from far and near. Wolves are cautious about attacking, a human being at 29 450 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. once, but usually require some little time to work tliemselves up to thfe point. That such was the case, now proved most lucky for poor old Dick, who began to realize the horrible danger, as a dark object would brush past his legs every few moments, with a snapping sound like the ring of a steel trap; while the yells and patter of the gathering wolves increased with terrible rapidity. Dick knew enough of the habits of the animal to be fully aware that to run would insure his instant death, as the cowardly pack would be sure to set upon him in a body on the instant of observing any such indication of fear. His only chance was to keep them at bay by preserving the utmost steadiness until he could loach the open ground before him, when he hoped they li ight leave him, as they do not like to attack in the open fTOund. He remembered, too, that an old hut still stood in the middle of the clearing, and the thought that he might reach that haven gave him some comfort. The wolves were becoming more audacious every minute, and the poor old soul could see their green eyes glaring fiery death upon him from all the thickets around. They rushed at him more boldly one after another, snapping as they went past in closer and closer proximity to his thin legs — ^indeed, the frightened fiddler instinctively thrust at them with his fiddle to turn them aside. In doing so the strings were jarred, and the despairing wretch took on some hope to his shivering soul, when he observed the sudden- ness of the sound caused the wolves to leap aside with surprise. He instantly drew his hand across the strings with vehemence, and to his infinite relief they sprang back and aside as if he had shot amongst them. Taking imme- diate advantage of this lucky diversion in his favor, as he had now reached the edge of the clearing, he made a break for the hut, raking his hand across the fiddle strings at every jump, until they fairly roared again. The astonished wolves THE DAEKIE FIDDLER. 451 paused for a moment on the edge of the clearing with tails between their legs, looking after him ; but the sight of his flying form renewed at once their savage instincts, and with a loud burst of yells, they pursued him at full speed. Alas for the unlucky fiddler, had he been caught now, it would have been all up with him, even had his fiddle continued to shriek more unearthly shrieks than that of Paganini ever gave forth. He had broken the speU by running, for had they caught him now, they would never have paused to listen, had he been an Orpheus in reality. Luckily the old man reached the hut just as they were at his heels, and slamming the rickety door behind him, he had time to climb out on to the roof, where he was comparatively out of danger. I say comparatively, for the perch he now occupied, was too rickety to make it any thing rather than desirable, except by contrast with the immediate condition from which he had escaped. The wolves were now furious, and thronging the interior of the hut, leaped up at him with wild yells of gnashing rage. The poor old sinner was horribly frightened, and it required the utmost activity of motion to keep his legs from being snapped by , them. Wild with the agonized terror as he was, paor old Dick had managed to cling to his fiddle through it all, and remembering that it had saved him in the woods, he now, with the sheer energy of desperaticm, drew his bow shrieking across the strings, with a sound that rose high above all their deafening yells, while, with his feet kicking out into the air, he endeavored to avoid their steel -like fangs. An instant silence followed this sudden outburst, and Dick continued to produce such frightful spasms of sound as his hysterical condition conceived. This outbreak kept the wolves quiet for a moment or two, but old Dick soon learned to his increased horror that even wolves are too fastidious to stand bad fiddling, for they com- 452 WILD SCENES AND WILD HTTNTERS. menced a renewal of the attack, as soon as the first surprise was over, more furiously than ever. This was too much for the poor fiddler, and most especially when the head of a great wolf was thrust up between the boards of the roof, within a few inches of where he sat. He gave himself up now for a gone darkie, and with the horrified exclamation — " Bress God !— r-who dar ?" He fell to fiddling Yankee Doodle with all his might, uncon- sciously, as the dying swan is said to sing its own requiem in its closing moments. With the first notes of the air silence commenced; Orpheus had conquered! the brutes owned the K ' luing spell, and the terror-stricken fiddler, when he came t. himself — astonished at the sudden cessation of hostilities^- saw he was surrounded by the most attentive and certainly appreciative audience he had ; ever played before-*for the moment there was the slightest cessation of the music, every listener sprang forward to renew the battle, and set his pipe- stem legs to flying about in the air again. ; But he had now learned the spell, and so long as he continued to play with tolerable correctness, was compara^ tively safe. The old fiddler soon forgot his terror now in professional pride, for he was decidedly flattered by such intense appreciation; and entering fully, into the spirit of the thing, played with a gusto and effect such as he thought he had never before surpassed or even equalled. Even the wedding, with its warm lights, its sweetened whiskey, was forgotten for the time in the glow of this new professiAplain and the St. Lawrence. Something of the "Wild Scenes" and characteristic incidents amidst the haughty solitudes of those rugged hemlock-bristled Ariondacks, and their chaste, cold, glistening Lakes, I must give in a fragmentary way. I had reached Lake Pleasant in Hamilton county, the semi-civilized outpost of the wilderness interior of " Sporting Grounds," through the ordinary tribulations of jolting, fat'jue, mud, rain, etc., in company with an English friend, a placid "son of the angle," in the strict Waltonian sense, but altogether an unaccustomed hunter of wilderness game. Lake Pleasant, upon the outlet end of which we were teiriMorarily located in a rude board hovel, dignified as " mine inn !" — ^was overlooked at the opposite by an abrupt moun- tain — one of the Ariondacks — named from the Indian name, the Speclater. The inlet came in at its foot, and from the steep top, a bird's-eye view could be obtained of the whole scene of our future operations. After a night's rest, we made a day of it to clamber the huge rocky sides of this ancient sentinel that from its bald crest we should look forth, that our eyes might be "made aware." I wanted to convey some idea of what we saw, but I find that though very nice in theory the practice is difiScult. I could only think, as we ascended, in the words of one who spake of old — " Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and east- ward, behold it with thine own eyes !" And, verily, when we , Hi WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. reachied the top of Mount Speclater did we lift our eyes and behold the promised land of sportsmen — the Canaan, not of milk and honey, by a long jump — ^but of the ferse naturae — " a whole yearth full 'er God-a-mighty's wild var- mints !" as a sublimity-struck Connecticut Pedlar ejaculated from the same point of view ! Of a truth it was a wonderful sight — looking down at your feet, then off to the South, and then to the North-west, upon this wild chaos of savage-looking hills, lit up by the scattered shine of thirty-six Lakes, which, within the space of about the same number of miles in length, look like bright patches which had fallen in benediction out of a summer's sky into these sullen glooms ! There they go, far away beneath us — those younger ranks of pine-haired Titans, that make the blue line of the Arion- dack ! See them stretch their misty arms to one another, rank upon rank, to form these cordons of impregnable defence about those shadowy basins, up from which the silver sheen of many a grotesque form of Lake is thrown into our dazzled eyes. What a sight is this, within twenty-four hours of New York, with its smoke, and din, and crush ! Hurrah! to think that these bright sheets are gleaming down through their still blue depths with shoals of the magnificent salmon trout, with their dark marbled backs and lustrous mottled sides, and that every silver thread of river, rivulet and inlet binding them together, glitters upon its ripples or within its shaded pools to the arrowy leap of that crimson flecked keystrel of the streams, the brook trout ! Hurrah ! hurrah ! to' think, too, that these unbroken forests which still wear the solemn look of Earth's Primeval births, yet shelter within their difficult fastnesses, her earliest chil- dren. That the huge moose which came before the red man, yet rouses the sluggish echoes with its hoarse bcUowings. That the red deer whistles and snorts to the boding how' WILD LAKES OF THE AEIONDAOK. 475 of the tireless gray wolf ; and the brown bear, like a clumsy boxer, cuffs the screaming panther away from its newly slain feast ! « The Indian is gone, but yet his ancient foes and victims have flourished apace, and may usurp their inheritance. Hurrah ! hurrah ! Arkwright and Fulton have not yet conquered the free earth of God in this direction — and bound all its limbs in chains ! "The undevout astronomer is mad" — and the devout sportsman may be forgiven, if a.t such a sight he, too, grow mad and should fall to capering, and become something of a heathen in his glee, shouting as I did. " Take my cap, Jupiter, and thank thee !" Against such uncanonical sins I hereby formally warn all other taithful sons of Nimrod, who maybe "taken aback" under similar circumstances. As to the propriety of capering and throwing up one's cap on the top of a mountain, I must in meekness confess to its being ^'■highly improper" — "unworthy the dignity," etc. — but bless our soul, who could help it ? Not any genuine sportsman, I am sure, whether he be "Venator," "Piscator," or "Anceps!" — or all combined as — "I flatter myself!" — ahem ! No, it was not in human nature — or more inclusively, sportsman's nature — to look down upon a scene so gloriously fresh — so impregnably savage — ^hemmed in with its blue- topped barriers forever! — without feeling rich — rich as the discoverer of some new gold-bearing island of the ti"pic sea of dreams — richer far than one of England's proud lords when he waved his hand towards his fenced and great domain ; for this, too, was mine— was ours — was all mankind's— was God's, as the executor for all ! And what if. I were guilty of some saltant absurdities ? There were no game law iniquities upon my shoulders to weigh down my heels !— all this was free, and the fatness 476 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. thereof was mine for the winning — mine to be struggled for manfully with my brother — ^mine to be pouched, carried oflf sBid eaten, if my right hand retained its cunning ! Even my placid friend, Piscator, felt within him the movings of a mild exultation, as he stretched forth his hands above it in calm blessing, and peacefully smiled ! Here and there the white mist-clouds lay along the hill- sides above them — seeming to form high up against the purpled green the serial double of the lakes — and there, ng doubt, the swift-winged swallows — though we couldn't see them — dived through the fleecy waves like brook-trout, and the fish-hawk swooped like the ravenous salmon^ — if they didn't at them below ! Of this we had much more palpable evidence, for we saw many of them rise, beating their wings with exulting screams as they went circling up and up, bearing a three to a five pounder in their talons. Fat pickings for fish-hawks, any how, in these thirty odd lakes ! How I envied the rascals, and wished to hear ithe war-cry of a bald eagle, and see him come down from the clouds above, hurled swiftly, like the bolt he once bore, upon resistless wings, to strike the gluttons and make them drop their struggling prey, and then to see the conquering robber pause and dive with a roar of plumes down the still air and snatch the glistening spoil before it reached the wave again. These are the quick, fierce battles of the air-kings that we sometimes see from such a perch ! But let us count our riches over, and name their names and places that we may know them. Sheer down from our pinnacle on the northern side lies Lake Pleasant — a great white opal, with an emerald in the centre. This is The captain jewel of the corcanet," and old earth wears it proudly for its beauty, and its name WILD LAKES OP THE AEIONDACK. 477 u most happily named. Its shape is somewhat irregular, and its length is four miles, with an average breadth of two miles, and a depth of sixty feet. At the opposite extremity is the narrow but deep outlet which forms the Sockendog River, after passing through Cungamunck Bay, a few nl'es farther on, and then strikes off to the north-east, a bold and boisterous mountain stream, clattering among the hills until it looses itself in the great Hudson, as its western branch. The shores of Lake Pleasant have quite a cultivated aspect — ^this is of course comparative. A number of beautiful grazing farms are opened to view around its rolling shores down to the water's edge. They are very rudely cultivated yet, but they might be made surpassingly lovely some day. At the N. W. extremity of Lake Pleasant is the inlet of Round Lake, which is about half a mile in length. Round Lake ! Gloomy, wild and picturesque Round Lake ! twin sister of Lake Pleasant, " but grander and more rude than she !" — rimmed, like a Titan's brimming drinking cup, with low rocks, all around and above them the unbroken forest slanting up to blue-topped hills. How deep, austere and solemn its repose. What a shadow beside the sunny loveliness of its contrasted sister ! It is three miles both ways, and deeper than Lake Pleasant. There is no sign of cultivation upon its savage shores except at the outlet. It has several inlets, which go glimmering faintly through the narrow valleys towards the north-west. They connect it still with smaller lakes. Echo Lake, Lake Sound, and — ! euphonious accord ! — Mud Lake! When a few miles to the west another chain commences with Long Lake, which is two miles and a half in length by a half in width. This connects with Fly Lake, which is smaller still, and this with Falls Lake, about the same size, which outlets into Piseco, eleven miles west. This is a 478 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBKS. famous lake, and is about seven miles long and twelve wide. Through its outlet, West Eiver, it is one of the feeders of Sockendog River, which forms the west branch of the Hudson. This, too, is a lovely lake, partaking of many of the features of Lake Pleasant. There is some rude presence of civilization on the north end and eastern side, where a few farms and a small village are to be seen along the smoothly undulating shore. The country opens level to the south-east, hut on the north-west the Panther mountain beatles over it protectingly stern. This lake has been made renowned among sportsmen by the feats of the noted Piseco Club — a fraternal band who went thither once a year upon a devout pilgrimage to offer up a sacrificial hecatomb of fish bones and buck's horns to the manes of their hirsute progenitor. Ham ! After very nearly exhausting its waters and shores, they have deserted them, and are now threatening some one of the wilder lakes we see towards the north-west. Here, when we talk of exhausting Piseco, we must be understood as when talking of the progress of civilization — in a comparative sense — for be it understood — these six devout pilgrims regarded one hundred pounds a day as the small expression of their fervid religious zeal ; and the beautiful lake fell into discredit with them so soon as it refused to render up this slight diurnal tribute. ' Sportsmen of less zeal still find it a charming resort. Now look away to the north-west, and you can count along the line of vision, until it is lost in the dim serrated line of the Blue Ariondack, twenty-five wild, lovely lakes, upon whose virgin solitudes no ^Piseco Club has ever intruded with its exhausting zeal. Look closely now, and you will be able to trace the threads of three of the finest trout streams in America. They form the eastern branch of the Hudson ! Here we are perched above and in the centre of the head WILD LAKES OP THE AEIONDACK. 479 springs of that majestic river, and can almost trace even the attenuated rills to their junction, and we can see, too, in the blue mountains, the dividing ridge between its waters and the clear, gelid flood of the St. Lawrence ! A glorious perch, is it not ? First: six miles N. W. we can see Jessup's Elver. This is the nearest stream abounding with speckled trout, and where sport at this season is sure to be abundant. To "the Bridge" and to "the Indian Clearing" everybody must go first " to feel the joy that anglers feel." This last place has been rendered immortal by the extra- jrdinary feat of our friend Porter, of the Spirit of the Times. We do not venture to give the number of pounds witlun a given time — he is " tall" enough and his sho\dders are broad enough to bear the responsibility — ^but we can bear witness, from our high and responsible position, in the presence of all these solemn-looking hills and lakes, that our " experience" at the Indian Clearing entirely bears him out in the assertion of prodigies to be wrought there. Then comes Whittaker Lake — thereby hangs a tale ! Then comes the two Dug Mountain Lakes and Mason Lake — ^these are all small. Now comes Louis Lake — the next most famous to Piseco, and affording now better fishing and hunting. It is twelve miles from the Speclater, and is the favorite resort of those who come for a short stay and ready sport. This is one of the most beautiful of the lakes — ^its outlet forms a junction with Jessup's River in a few miles, and is thence called Indian River to its junction with the east branch of the Hudson. But I have not space for more particular enumeration, I m' St pass to the curious Trinity of the Cedar Lakes, which empty, too, into the Hudson by Moose River — better fishing even than the Jessup's River — and here we are at Racquett's Lake, which is in this direction almost the ultima thule and 4.80 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. El Dorado of the sportsman crfmbined. It is fourteen by 83ven L.iles, average, broken into two great basins, connected by a narrow strait. It is the largest and most savagely picturesque of the lakes, and most abounding in game of every sort. Trout of both kinds are so abundant in the great basins and the numerous inlets, that the sport soon becomes fatiguing. It has twenty-four islands,, of from one hundred acres to ten feet. On the west side is the inlet of a singular chain of small lakes, eight in number, all of which abound in both varieties of trout, and the accompanying fish, suckers, chubs, shiners, blue cats, sun perch, etc. This remarkable chain extends about fourteen miles north and east of the lakes, is deep, clear and ice cold. On the east side of Racket Lake is the inlet of Blue Mountain Lake, which is cold — almost to freezing point — and like a solid crystal set upon a snowbank of blanched sand. You can see, as you hang suspended in mid-air here in your boat, the shoals of trout go by in twenty feet water ! Think of that ! Then comes Long Lake again — this time in earnest — for it is twenty miles long, with an outlet towards Lake Champlain. Here is the difficult paradise of sportsmen; and from Louis Lake, north, the moose becomes more abundant, with its attendant train of smaller game, and the distance, all told, from our perch on Speclater Mountain to Long Lake, is only sixty miles! These are the principal points of attraction within the range of our utmost vision which I have here noted ; though now we can perceive that even yet there are more than thirty-six lakes, the n.ames and distances of which I have not space to notice in this bird's-eye view. But verily, this view of this our exceeding riches, in a land so rude and unpromising in the mouth of fame, and it muy be together with the rareness of the air, has sharpened our appetite for testing again the flavor of the good tbinga WILD LAKES OF THE ARIONDACK. 481 therein contained. Yea, our placid friend, Piscator, stroketh his stomach as his anticipative eyes are turned towaida yonder humble looking house. Let us descend. What have we here, our tidy hostess? Fresh green peas — a salmon trout — a delicate steak of venison — strawberries, currants, cr«am ! 0, ye gods on high Olympus ! ^Shade of Epicurus ! Let us fall to ! The blessing of Piscator was somewhat curiously commen- tated — " Thank thee for thy manifold mercies, good Lord : Amen. Verily a good wife is a jewel unto her husband \" Amen ! we responded. 31 CHAPTER XXI. TROLLING IN JUNE. "Trolling," anywhere over good water, has its merits, but "trolling" oyer Lake Pleasant and Round Lake, of a sultry, pulseless summer's day, after the season has gone by, has its romance; and it is concerning this striking feature thereof, that I propose now to write. "Patience is a virture of the serene gods," say the meek brothers of the angle ; but I say their godships never sub- jected that sublimest attribute to the test of trolling one of the last days of June anywhere in Hamilton county; neither do I believe Old Nick ever thought of that merciful dispensation in favor of Job, or we should have heard a different story. It passeth all comprehension — ^not " still imagination in bottomless conceit — " could ! But I anticipate! I was extremely ambitious of salmon trout — or " lakers," as they call them; and must confess that my inner visuals were so preoccupied by the glistening image of a twenty- pounder dancing in the air before them, while preparing to come here, that it never once occurred to me to inquire whether I should be in season or out of season for thenr. As for my friend Piscator, his contented fancy had never soared above a brook-trout of three pounds; and when he heard the stories of these huge fellows, his large eyes would grow rounder, and lambent with a liquid inspiration at the thought. "With what an eager smile, betwixt wonder and awe, he would listen, while he toiled at bis delicate tackle, renewing 482 TROLLIKG. 483 its parts and strengthening its joints in preparation for the momentous struggle ! We impatiently questioned our oracle, George Holland, as to the chances of success in trolling; but George, like all other oracles, was both prudent and mystical. He saw that we were determined that it should be in season, whether or no; that we would take some salmon trout, "bite or no bite;" and therefore he waived answering our questions directly, but told of his success four weeks ago ; said the day was not very fine for 'em — ^but we might tri/, and if they did bite, we would probably take some ! Encouraging, very ! and the sly twinkle in the fellow's eye, still more so ! But we hadn't come two hundred miles to be discouraged, and we went. My friend had new-rigged his tackle with the painstaking skill of true science — ^while I, who pretend to no knowledge of the niceties of art, had left mine to the ' experience of George. The " shiners" were taken for bait with a dip net at the outlet, and then in a light boat we launched upon the lake. We were two in a boat — ^which is contrary to all precedent, as laid down in the Journal of Lake Piseco Trout Club, which has been appended to Wiley & Putnam's elegant edition of Walton and Cotton. There it is described ex cathedra, as follows — The trolling is done by rod and reel, each fisherman using two at the same time ; the reels are improved by having a bearing upon them instead of a catch, so that the rod may be laid down with the line extended without running out, unless struck by a fish or some other obstruction. When a fish seizes the bait the oarsman quits his oars, the other is handed to him, and he reels up the line to prevent its faUing upon the bottom, or the fish, from entanglement. This, of course, implies one fisherman to a boat — but with such an oarsman as ours, we found there was not the slightest danger of entanglement, with one at each end, while the oarsman w-is left free to use the gaff without any risk of 484 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. unsteadying the boat too much by giving him two things to do at a time. Our tackle, however, agreed precisely with their formula, which we give. The tackle is of the most delicate kind; a leader of from six to nine feet of single gut, with sncU having five hooks, arranged with two at the end placed back to back, two more one inch afeove, and a fifth, or slip hook, one inch above, which passes through and secures the upper and lower jaw of the minnow, which serves for bait ; one of the middle hooks is placed in the back of the bait, and one of the lower hooks in the tail. These hooks are so small that they will scarcely allow the barrel of a quill to rest in them. Thus far we were "conformists;" and George, after a few strokes of the oars, paused, and taking a shiner from the bucket in wh^ch they swam, placed one upon each of our lines. The operation is a very nice one — as the object is to retain the fish in the position of swimming, and keep it alive, too, as long as possible, by closing its jaws with the slip hook, which prevents it from drowning ; the two other hooks on the same side are so carefully placed under the back fin and through the tail, that I have seen them swim briskly ofi" after an hour's trolling. George then cast them off, and struck out for the deep •ffater with powerful strokes which made the boat fairly leap igain. The shores of Lake PI jasant on this side slope beautifully over a fair sand bottom for several hundred yards to the deep water. Before we reached this dark transparency, our lines had been reeled off to over a hundred and fifty feet, and were trailing a few feet below the surface, far in our rear. Our oarsman then altered his stroke to a slow and noiseless dip, which scarcely rippled the calm surface. Now a " strike," if we were to get one at all, might be expected — and with this skillful rowing, our wake closed far enough tlds side the bait to leave it floating in calm water, where the trout might see the flash of the shiner's side gleam slant TROLLING. 485 down the cold depths of the "spring-holes" where they lay. There we sat, stem and stern, Piscator and I, holding our poles erect, like statues, petrified by our own eagerness, while the angry sun looked down in sweltering wrath upon our simplicity. Not a breeze came with its blessing to turn aside his curse — ^not a cloud went up to the sky to shelter us with brooding wings. The pitiless lake held up its burnished shield — still as the death of winter — to hurl the sun's keen arrows, yellow with heat, full in our faces. Round and round Lake Pleasant (infernal mockery of name !) went the slow boat, until the silence of its glide became torture to me, for I longed to hear the ring of ripples and the cool splash of oars. How I began to curse the skill of our patient boatman. As we wheeled slowly past the island it looked like heaven, with the dark, cool shadows of its towering pines. How I longed to have said my prayers more regularly, that I might be permitted to lie down beneath them — and caught myself murmuring rapidly over and over, with my childhood's intonation of piety — i. e. through the nose — " And now I lay me down to sleep," &c. But I couldn't catch up ! Not a bite yet. That would have been some comfort ! I moaned as I tossed my basting limbs to and fro. "Curse all salmon-trout! would that the bull-frogs and mud-cats had ye in the spawn — hope ye may all be toasted alive upon the trident of the god of waters — ye illusory imps — ye speckled whelps, hag-born — may it be the fate of each of ye to be frozen stiff and be made into runners to some furred Kamskatkan's dog-drawn sled ! — but pshaw ! — there's no outlet that way; curse 'em anyhow! Phew, Bcizzors !" George — loquitur — " Gentlemen, think we'd better go into Round Lake — the water's colder and deeper there, we'li have a better chance ?" 486 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. Ego — " Yes ! in the name of mercy go anywhere — ^where its cold — ^into Round Lake or Nova Zembla. Wish Round Lake, Lake Pleasant and all the rest of your lakes were boiling in the cauldron of Hecla, and I was sitting on an iceberg to witness it — how I would rejoice to see the bleached salmon tossed up on the bubbles !" Piscator — solemnly — " but then we should eat them without the glory of capturing them alive. Unless I had felt them play upon my tackle I should have no stomach for their blanched sides. It is a wish unworthy a true brother of the angle !" Ego — "Piscator, when you die, the Zodiac will be the richer, for you will surely be translated into the sign of the fish! — to join the patriarchs who have gone before — Walton, and Cotton, Mr. Secretary Bibb — ^when he does go ! A breeze ! a breeze ! my kingdom for a breeze ! George, let us away to Eound Lake — this bad cannot be made worse !" We pass into the narrow inlet, and the boat glides briskly among the parched water lilies, the drooping flags and long bowed grass. A half mile of its winding way, and we are shot, with a long sweep of oars, into Round Lake. " Beau- tiful ! beautiful!" — I exclaimed aloud — "What a scene of fairie." Piscator — "Verily, it seems promising for trout here, at last, George. They are known to bite on this deep water such days as this ?" Ego — "No, unfortunate Piscator — ^you may rest assured never! They would scald their noses if they came near enough the surface to strike, even here." George — with a sly evasion — "It requires a breeze, sir, for them to bite most any time !" Piscator — " Here goes with another shiner — breeze or no breeze, we must have a trout for dinner ! Would that I had my hook of flies !" TROLLING. 487 Ego— "PiscatoP, thou unbelieving Thomas ! What would'st thou do with flies here ?" "Piscator — We of the brotherhood know them to work miracles, and therefore believe in their eflScacy." Ego — ^with a gasp and a sigh of exhaustion — " I see ! Ah, Piscator ! Piscator ! The ruling passion strong in death !" " George — ^Looking behind him — " A breeze ! There comes a breeze, gentlemen !" " Thank the good gods," and I almost overset the boat as I lifted up my forehead eagerly to catch the first cool brush of its coming wing. "Now for a trout," chuckled Piscator, with glistening eyes. Ah, it comes at last — so cool — so balmily delicious — driving the white-topped wavelets before it — on ! on with it came the black shadow of that angel-ridden cloud to shelter us. I could have shouted for my joy — ^aye, lifted up my exulting soul in pseans, as cloud after cloud came drifting on their white plumes over us, with a legion of airy ministers which had come to our relief ; but that my eyes fell upon the warm face of Piscator, shining with perspiration and expanded into a smile of pleasing expectancy as he watched the vibrations of his line. I was amazed into dumbness. I gazed upon the devotee in " a mute astound," when lo ! a heavy jerk — a lurch and a shout, " you've got him !" from George, made me aware that a fish had struck. " Reel him in !" said George, as I hastily let go the line. "Reel him in," he has line enough." I reeled away, while Piscator, too generous to show his disappointment, did the" like with his, watching at the same time with benevolent interest for my success. It was a pause of breathless interest, as I reeled rapidly up for a few moments. "Curse it, George," I exclaimed petulantly, "I feel nothing — the fellow has broken away." He was watching my line — " No ! no ! reel on — you have him, you'll feel him directly." Reel! reel! reel! and 488 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. now a few faint surges which bent the rod slightly. There ! the flash of his gleaming side darts up the blue wave ! now he has waked up ! Tug ! splash ! whiz — there he goes bound- ing clear out of water on the taut line ! Steady ! steady ! George is ready with the ga£F. Now he rises again — ^there, he has it ! Floundering over our feet lays a beautiful two- pound laker ! " No great shakes after all, Master George — ^but ah ! what a lovely creature it is. Here, let me look at him well before his glorious colors fade. See his long gracefully tapering body; see the dark greenish purple of his richly marbled back, how it lightens quickly down his side, like silver burnished bronze ; and then those rows of spots so regularly placed along it — the two outside of yellow, like gold drops, that down the middle of small carbuncles ! There ! there ! the splendors are fading already !" Beautiful dweller of the dark blue waters, farewell until we meet again at the dinner table ! Ah, Piscator ! Piscator ! my hapless friend ! you perceive the jealous Deities of the lake have visited an austere judgment upon you in permitting to me alone the "spoila opima" of the excursion, can you not perceive the reason ? Piscator — "To rebuke your want of faith and wishes on their behalf this day, I suppose !" Ego — " Infatuated ! can you not feel that it has been to punish your presumption in wishing you had flies — ^when George, our oracle and their High Priest, had already revealed to you that they would only take living shiners, and were not to be fooled by mimic monsters of wool and feathers ! you shamefully discredited their sagacity thereby !" Piscator — ^with suspended nostrils and lightning in his eye — " Pshaw, nonsense ! I shall take a trout greater than five of thine before we reach yonder shore !" Ego — compassionately — " Vain man !" ■ Again we glided off, across and about, around and around TUOLLINfl. 43S we went for a weary time the same noiseless way— when suddenly our curse came again, and I remembered— " Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 'Twas sad as sad could be.* And then : " All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun, at noon," &c. &c. I verily shuddered as I felt the hot stagnation settle upon my forehead and my lungs. I looked appealingly to Piscator. What? Horror!— the despairing wretch!— the disappoint- ment and all has been too much for him 1 "With head thrown back, and eyes rolling wildly towards the zenith— his large manly throat bared, he held — the brandy flask to his lips ! the forgotten brandy flask! and then my time came. I imbibed from it contemplatively and laid it aside solemnly. I had rested the end of my rod in the gunwale of the boat, and did not take it up again. I laid myself reposefully in the bow. The vanity of all sublunary things — but most that of trolling for lakers out of season, had been ma:le apparent to me. I looked up to the clouds — above us they had vanished, and all was "a hot and copper sky:" as if to the spell of some strange wizard of the North, their careering legions had been called down and rested toward the pole upon the mountain tops — still! — still as if they paused in the terror of a weird necromancy, which held th^ frozen in its dreadful will. They were strangely piled, and strewn, and marshalled. I never saw such clouds before — the forms were all of white, with a dark distinct outline. I became strangely elated and laughed out wildly, and then muttered — " Aye, yonder is the pageant of our lives — ^the substance whereof our realities are made, and yet how strange it seems, how it has become so palpable. Look at it closely ; you will see there 490 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. ' The shadows of all forms that think and live Till Death unite them, and they part no more ; Dreams and the light imaginings of men, And all that faith creates of love, desires Terrible, strange, sublime and beauteous shapes.' Every thing there, Piscator ! Even to that white throne, heaped up like a reflex of the frowning Speclater; and there on the cloudy Olympus I can see particular deities of Lake Pleasant and Kound Lake. It must be confessed, that though their 'brows are awful,' their tails look somewhat 'fishy!' See! there is a veritable representative of the salmon trout whom you have this day insulted ! He kneels with a graceful bend of his pedestal fin, and with open mouth is complaining to their Godships concerning you. See how they wag their misty heads and scowl the feathery bolts of their ire down at you ! Tremble, presumptuous Piscator !' Piscator — ^laughing dolorously — " Aye ! aye ! my Pithian ! Pass him the fiask, George !" Ego — with a grandiose wave of the arm — "No, sir! no more brandy. My inspiration is there— • All the gods Are there, and all the powers of nameless worlds ; Vast sceptred phantoms ; heroes, men and beasts ; And Demogorgon, a tremendous gloom ; And he, the supreme Tyrant on his throne Of burning gold.' Blind worm — (I should call you angle-worm, Piscator) — can you not see them ? Look, I say ! — there is the Northern Bear, distinct, upreared upon his mighty hinder parts, and boxing with his frosty paws the small and feathery curled effigy of a French poodle, which assails him from above with snarling jaws !" Piscator — "Bah! you are becoming a political prophet. Do you see John Bull there ?" Ego — indignantly — " Where are your eyes ? Do you not TROLLING. 491 see him on this side below the bear, tumbling down the white cliffs of Albion, from which he has just been brought by one stroke of those white gelid paws — with hoofs in air, and upward mouth wide-stretched with bellowings ? (Piscator ia an Englishman !) Eyeless Angle-worm ! can you not see ?" Piscator — placidly — " No, no ! I have no eyes for your mad visions !" Ego — with furious emphasis — " Mad, are they ? ' Call at will Thine own ghost or the ghost of Jupiter, Hades, or Typhon, or what mightier goda- •hey ! A tremendous lurch ! Boat nearly turned over ! My rod almost bent double ! as the boat is wheeled violently from its course, and we all thrown as violently upon our sides, for in the wake a huge trout leaped from the water, and when he falls back the boat rights, and we all look foolish. George, vehemently — " There, you've lost him !" Piscator, indignantly — " There ! if you had held your rod in your hand, instead of ranting nonsense on your back you wouldn't have lost that twelve-pounder !" Ego — faintly — " But he didn't bite iit a fly, or at the hook of a fly fisher !" Moral — never troll lake trout after the first of June. ^■^ *1 ^ 'ti *<^ •«* J" -«""*- ■v-* CHAPTER XXIL A NIGHT HUNT UP THE CUNflAMUNCK. Although the most inveterate of veteran fly-fishera, Pis- cator had, even in our short survey of these wild sporting grounds, become thoroughly aroused to a sense of "higher things" than brook trout, and not in the least discouraged at the signal failures of the first flights of his ambition at the great lake trout, he now breathed quicker, with a yet more eager emulation for nobler quarry still! In short, as our guide, George, said — "He's down on the deer up Cungar munck !" The reader is no doubt familiar with the mode of hunting 492 A NIGHT HUNT UP THE CUNGAMUNCK. 493 deer "by torch-light," which has been so often described— but I have some doubts about his being so with that of hunting them " by candle-light," which, I believe, is peculiar to the Lake country. This hunt must take place during the warm months, when flies are most abundant. Indeed, it is as much to escape from their persecutions as to browse upon certain varieties of water-plants, which then make their appearance along the edges of the marshes, streams, and lakes, that the deer come into the water to feed, and thus . afford an opportunity for this evening sport. Yes, the "dander" of my placid associate, Piscator, "is riz!" He vows in his mild, but not the less significant manner, that nothing short of a "ten prong buck" will satisfy him, and so proceeds in a severe and ominous silence with his preparation. The beautiful "double-barrel" — ^which had heretofore been guilty of nothing more serious than wood-cock and ducks — was to -be unscrewed, taken apart, and cleaned to the last degree of scrupulous nicety, in preparation for the more important work on hand. Then, with mathematical pre- cision, it was duly charged, and then, with a flask in each pocket — for two kinds of ammunition are indispensable on such occasions ! and a well-filled cigar case, he is ready ! And he casts his eyes about — something is wanting ! Yes ! yes! the "India rubber overall." For Piscator, like all true brothers of the angle that I have yet met, has a peculiar horror of risking the wetting his skin. I have, after much study, accounted satisfactorily for this phenomenon, by the philosophical conclusion, that they aro haunted by the constant apprehension of transmigration into the corporate forms of the trout, to which they are so devoted. I had even ventured to hint as much to Piscator, but the nervous dread with which he evidently avoided the subject, caused me to forbear, in courtesy, pressing it farther ! Being » zealous disciple of Priesnitz, I have no fear of cold water 494 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. before my eyes ; and therefore my equipment in this respect was considerably simplified, though I must confess to you I had an ever-present terror of the flies, which was quite an offset to Piscator's transmigration, and cost me quite as much preparation to guard against, I knew that the oil of pennyroyal was a specific against their attacks ; but aside from my aversion to the use of so disagreeable an article, I had forgotten it, so that the only resource left me, had been to buy a green veil at Northfield, and cutting a hole in the centre large enough for the crown of my broad brimmed leghorn to pass through, I had the ends taken up and a " puckering string" run around them, so that they could be drawn close about my neck — thus securely surrounding my face with a net which would defy even " black gnats." Thus, with rifle (which is my favorite weapon) in hand, and my personal dividend of ammunition in pocket, I, too, considered myself equipped for the night hunt. Piscator was characteristically disregardful of "the flies," and laughed quite as much at my precautions against them as I had done at his against getting wet. He said, somewhat pedantically, that " Patience was a more magnanimous divinity than Prudence, seeing that the one was always irritable, distrustful, and guarding herself against the wisdom of the Higher Powers, while the other was content in calm humility to abide the evil the Gods might send along with the good !" Whereto I replied — " The Gods do not send black gnats, Piscator ; for I have sufficient proof in their color that they are hatched in Acheron, and are loosed upon earth by the Evil Deities to make good men swear against Jupiter — ^there- fore, I guard against the crime rather than provoke it — while you impiously shield your shoulders against the rain, which is confessedly the chiefest benediction of the covering heavens." Piscator did not reply, but somewhat petulantly tossed his India rubber overall upon his shoulders, and calling our guide, tramped away, followed by me, towards the boat at A NIGHT HUNT UP THE CUNOAMUNCK. 495 the outlet. There we found every thing needful already in the boat. The additions to its ordinary equipment were very few and simple. A stout pine stick had been let into an auger hole through a board which had been placed across the bow. This stood some four feet high ; and upon the top of it was placed a triangular shaped box, open at the wide end, and which was intended to hold the lighted candles. Then there was a low seat, which was intended for the marksman, who sat forward, just behind the stafiF and box- lantern ; then we had a paddle, which was to be used when we reached the scene of operations, where the ordinary oars were to be laid aside. Now we embarked, and set off down the narrow but deep outlet. It here takes the name of Sockendog river, and its course towards the southeast is through a wide valley, between two chains of hills. The water spreads over the surface of this valley in reality, though it is so overgrown by the "mash" of tall grass, flags and water-lilies, that the real channel seems like a dark shining ribbon laid along a rippled and rustling waste of green. Soon we reached Cungamunck Bay, which spreads a quarter of a mile in width, with the hills rising abruptly on the east. It is a pretty sheet of water, covered with the white and yellow flowers of the lily. Sockendog plunges on through a gorge by the foot of the hills, while we turn towards the north-west, pushing through the grass and lilies for the thread-like channel of the Cunga- munck river, which comes winding down from out a forest of wild hills. Now the valley narrows rapidly, and the hills stand marshalled on either hand in close dark lines. The sun is yet over an hour high, and its yellow glitter is broken upon our faces through the firs and pines which bristle on the ridges. We are gliding with a " stilly creeping" glide, beneath their long shadows and up the tortuous vistas of this curious stream, which comes creeping slowly down through 496 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. the grass like a great snake out of its lair of night, with here and there the golden morning glistening on its scales. It was a strange, lonely scene, and a dream-like hush was over it, so that we could hear our hearts beat above the soft lapsing of the deeply winnowed oars. It seemed so wild, and was so still here, that no other sounds should intrude but the splash of the plunging bull-frog, the rustling ripple of the wading deer among the flags, and the musically shrill metallic warble of the black-winged scarlet tanager, from out the deep shadows of the hill-side forest of old pines and hemlock. Now is the time when the deer begin to come down from the hills to feed upon the tender grasses and water plants that grow in the bed and along the edges of the stream ; and we may expect any moment, when we make the short turns, which, although the stream is deep, are often hardly long enough for the boat to lie in, or wide enough for the oars, to see a tawny head uplifted in the startle, and reaching out from the long grass over the channel to gaze at our coming with pricked ears. Piscator and I drew lots for the first shot at starting, and I won, so that I had the forward seat, and with rifle at "present," I sat in statue-like and breathless expectation as we made each turn, and came upon a new and always wilder and more lovely picture of green islets, deep receding coves, where the trout leaped like quick gleams of moonlight over the white lilies — or small meadows waving to and fro, in live contrast with the gray and solemn-looking boulders of granite which are piled up behind them, with the matted and snake- like roots of the ancient pines above, twisted and twined along their edges. I was so lulled and enchanted by the constantly varying beauty and the presiding repose of these scenes, that, with all the eager instincts of the sportsman rampant in my veins, I could not help hoping, at moments, that no deer would make its appearance, and thus compel me to mar this harmonious calm. Nor did it happen so, for, A NIGHT HUNT UP THE CUNGAMUNCK. 491 contrary to our expectation, not one showed itself to tempt me, although it was three miles up to where this stream outlets in Elm Lake. It was in the last half mile of our approach to this dnd around its mashy shores, that we looked for the sport of the night to begin in earnest ; and any that might have occurred on the way would have been incidental, and could therefore be well dispensed with for the higher and more placid enjoy- ment of the scene. As we approached the Lake the stream became more shallow, and we were compelled at last to get out and let our guide drag the boat up the ripples. The sun was now setting, and at the first place where the low water thus compelled us to land for a few moments, we were suddenly introduced to that most inconceivable torment, the black gnat ! As ^e shades of evening advance, these gnats, which at first hover near the surface of the water, rise slowly on the strata of miasmatic air. Wishing to examine some object on the sand-bar more closely, I stooped, when instantly, as if an infinitesimal shower of red-hot sand or fine vitriol drops had been dashed into my face and eyes, I felt them — blister- ing against neck and bosom, up sleeves and pants, they at once invested me in a maddening reality of the fabled terrors of the shirt of Nessus ! No imagination is sufficiently vivid to . conceive the intensity of that keen-poisoned, stinging nettle-rash with which we found ourselves suddenly assailed by this invisible torturer from Acheron, rising to meet us on its thick, pestilent airs. I did not know what it meant at first, and, blinded with the pain, rushed with the instinct of the cold water man, to plunge my face in the stream for relief. This was, fortunately, the best thing I could have done ; and I now gasped out, " George ! George ! what is it !" " The gnats, sir ! the gnats — you had better put on your veil !" I did so as quickly as possible ; and when I turned, there 32 498 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. stood Piscator, with a wild look of endurance, earnestly fighting away at his invisible torturers with a leafy bough which he had plucked; his warm face glowed again with the malignant ardor of their stings, and he stopped at intervals in the fierce battle to rub his goaded limbs, and fairly danced in the restless shifting of his feet. Suffering as I was, or rather, had been, I could not help laughing at the comical sight. But he did not regard me, and coolly proceeded to stuff the legs of his pants down his boot-tops, to protect himself from their assaults in that quarter; and then turning up his coat collar, tied his handkerchief about his ears, and soon, with recovered equinimaty, came smiling to his seat in the boat, while the bough played yet faster about his face. I could but wonder at the man. I watched him in utter amaze; puzzled whether most to admire the thickness of his skin or the immovability of his ^mper. As soon as the boat was in motion they left us, for they were drifted behind on air-currents in our wake. We were soon at the wider mash meadows, which indicated our approach to the outlet of Elm Lake, and here was the ground where the night hunt was to commence. Darkness had not not yet settled down, and until it came our lights would be of no avail; so the oars were hid, and the boat run through the mash to shore, and there we were to stand until it became dark enough to light the candles ! We stood underneath the bordering pines, and as soon as we became stationary — heavens and earth ! the dusky air thickened with the black and venomous swarms of mosquitos, flies and gnats, and the hungry diapason of their blistering music was fairly roared into our ears ! No herd of famished wolves was ever so desperately ravenous as this fierce multi- tude seemed to be — for as I was fully protected by my veil, I could afford to be philosophical in my observations on the Buffering of the two outside unfortunates. George was very loquacious, and having provided himself A NIGHT HUNT UP THE CUNGAMUNCK. 499 with a thick bough, kept that in motion vrith his words; for he seemed to have a desperate sort of feeling that ho must keep up our courage and his ovra by talking, or else we would be compelled to give in! He amused us in this trying interval with many stories of his bold adventuring through these northern snows (a fortunate contrast !) in hunting the dangerous moose. While Piscator puffed his segar — ^patiently fought in open battle his myriad foes, and smiled appreeiatingly through his torture as the stories sped. How I admired the superhuman heroism of the man ! I could not help enjoying the forlorn and* melancholy efforts of the guide to be merry in his suffering. But the night settled rapidly, though it brought no alleviation of the plague of flies, which on warm evenings most abound after sunset for some hours. Now George stepped cautiously to the stern of the boat, and taking the candles from the box, proceeded to light them and place them in the triangular box on the staff at the bow. Then with great care we noiselessly took our seats, and he paddled the boat with surprising stillness up the outlet. Mine was the foremost seat — as allotted — and though the light above shone power- fully upon the shrubs and grass in front of us on the side of the channel, yet not one ray of it fell upon me ! So with a far-thrown light before us, we glided in darkness up the channel, seeing every blade of grass as we advanced, while we were ourselves unseen ! But the sky had now clouded, and the white mist began to curl up before us, and we only saw the^rank grass and elder bushes in advance as it lifted at intervals. We glided through the white-wreathed silence for awhile, with the mash plants and grass showing through the gloom on one side, and the tall shrubs on the other, when suddenly there is a splashing to our right — the boat stops — splash! splash ! splash ! off they go with ^ loud whistle as they plunge away — two deer are gone ! They had been frightened 500 ^ILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. by the incessant movement of our hands in striking off the clinging flies ! George curses strong and deep, " sotto voce," and we move on into the lake without a word from us. Now we are gliding along its marshy shore, and the only sound we make is that caused by the low grating of the bottom of our boat against the heavy leaves of the water-lilies, which cover the whole surface as far as we can see, but that is not far. The heavy mist-wreaths still curl up around us and arching to our light, roll and spread their whitened volumes murkily. The slow boat ploughs through these fantastic shapes as if it labored with their weight ; but now and then an eddy of the mountain wind lifts them, whirling in broken masses, and reveals the dark shadows of the forest on the shore, with the shining flags that push up among the bordering lilies. The night is becoming chill, and we have crept into every cove and winding strait among the inlets along the shore, and still the same slow-rising vapor twists and rolls in huge white phantoms, bushing past us ; and, lifting in solemn sweep upon the winds, the jaws of darkness open over the broad water, as if on that side the abyss of black infinity were yawning to engulph us. No deer yet, for they seem to have been all startled by our first misadventure; we should have seen a dozen eyes shine our light before this ! We are cold as cold can be, for much time has now passed^ and chilled, too, by the disappointment. Now we shoot into a narrow cove between two islands. The long grass and shrubs on either side nearly meet above our heads, we must move with still greater caution lest we brush them. Now the narrow way widens again somewhat, and we go winding on, while our advance light dawns with a strange gleam beneath the curling vapor upon the dense wall of leafy stems on either side, and we seem urging up, among ghastly clouds, the glistening steip of night. It is a wild, unearthly scene ; we shudder with chilly awe, for the vast weight of A NIGHT mjNT UP THE CUNGAMUNCK. 501 midniglit has crushed the world, the wide and mighty world, into that little circle of light with its wizard shapes, "thronging above and around us — all else is void — nothing ! nothing ! Ha ! close to my hand a little summer duck comes swim- ming. That looks as if there were an outer world — a something beyond this wizzard chao? ! See it comes close in our charmed circle — it cannot get away. Its great black eyes shine still, as if it were in a dream of dazzled splendors, it does not see us, it moves as the sleep walker moves, round and round, yet not away. There, I had nearly caught it with my hand, but it glided like a beam-eyed shadow from beneath my grasp. It seems as ghostly as all else here. Hark ! a splashing plunge in the deep marsh to our right, that sounds like earth — ^like a reality ! "Hist!" says George, in a whisper, "rise up ! rise softly, he stands there — over the bushes — see his eyes !" " Steady, George." I rise as carefully as my stiffened limbs would permit, and now the mist-wreaths on an eddy of the night-wind rise with me. Slowly ! slowly ! See the antlered head above the cover and the shining eyes. A shrill, loud whistle — I fire as he bounds — a heavy plunge — a struggle in the tossing covert and all is still ! "Touv'e got him! you got him that time, sir!" shouted George, and the sound of his human voice broke the spell that was upon me, as of a heavy vision, and with a long breath of suppressed excitement, I plunge after him to assist in dragging our prey to the boat. It was a fine buck, and I had shot him between the eyes. Ah, that was a moment of cruel exultation, but I will not tell you how I triumphed at the blank looks of poor Piscator, when, as he took his seat now in front, we discovered that the lights were nearly exhausted, and that there would be little chance for him to get a shot at all ! The candles soon gave out, 502 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEES. and we got lost upon the lake, where our bewildered guide continued to row up and down until nearly daylight, through the pitchy darkness ; at last he found a landing by accident; and, nearly frozen, we made our way to the house of a hunter, whose kind hospitality gave rest to our weary and chilled frames. CHAPTER XXIII. TROUTING ON JESSUP'S RIVER. We could not remain quiet long at a time, for my restless friend had not yet had a fair trial of the "flies" at trout. After all, laugh at Piscator's violent passion for it as I may, the sport which lasts longest, is the most abundant, the most admired, and most practised by the frequenters of the Late country, is that of taking the speckled or brook trout with the rod ! The larger lakes afford good trolling grounds, when resorted to in the right season ; but the trolling season, which begins in March, is too early for the majority of anglers, who cannot leave their spring business for mere sport. But when summer comes, business is over ; then the rejoicing anglers, like chil- dren broke loose^ from school, scatter abroad over the moun- tainous places of the land, literally gasping with panting bosoms for fresh air. To such it makes little difference, when they reach here, to find that the fishing-grounds for trout are not close at hand, but that they must go yet farther from five to thirty miles, among the rough wild hills, to fresher streams, amidst valleys deeper than these. It seems strange, to be sure, and very provoking to them, if they go without a proper knowledge of the season — to find that these wide clear sheets, with all their inlets and outlets, are but so much dead water to them — affording no sport after the tenth of June, worth notice. But they are soon over this, for the mountain breezes are very inspiriting ; and with expanding chests they look towards the blue ridges with emulation, and brace themselves up tc 503 i)Oi WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. meet tlie rude exigencies of a "tramp" and "shanteeing out" for a few days, amidst storm or sunshine, as the evening heavens may send ! " The Bridge" at Jessup's River, is well known to sports- men, and to this point we made our first fly-fishing expedition. The eyes of Piscator glistened at the thought, and early was he busied with almost hasty fingers through an hour of ardent preparation amongst his varied and complicated tackle. Now was Ms time for triumph ! In all the rud^r sports in which we had heretofore been engaged, I, assisted by mere chance, had been most successful — but now the infallible certainty of skill and science were to be demonstrated in himself, and the orthodoxy of flies vindicated to my unsophistic sense. The preparations are simple, and were early completed. The tidy housewife soon had ready the huge loaves of fresh nice bread — ^the can of yellow butter, and other minor appliances of a feast in the woods — ^the main condiments and dishes of which we were expected to supply from our OAvn sharpened appetites and skill. Then the cooHng appa- ratus, which was primitive enough to suit the taste of an ascetic, as it consisted in a single frying pan. Then the blankets, with the guns, ammunition, rods, &c. These were all disposed in the wagon of our host, which stood ready at the door. It was a rough afiair, with stiff' wooden springs, like all those of the country, and suited to the mountainous roads they are intended to traverse, rather than for civilized ideas of comfort. We, however, bounded into the low-backed seat ; and if it had been cushioned to suit royalty, we could not have been more secure than we were of luxurious comfort — a fanciful illusion which it took but little time, however, to dissipate in an astound, as we found ourselves rumbling, pitching, and jolting over a road even worse than that which brought us first to the lake. It seemed to me that nothing but the surprising docility of the pretty span of glossy black ponies which drew us, could TROUTING ON JBSSTJP's EIVER. 605 have saved us, strong wagon and all, from a sudden return to our original atoms. I soon got tired of this, and sprang out with my gun, determined to foot it ahead, in the hope of seeing a partridge or red squirrel. The wagon, with its thundering rumble, was soon left behind, and for several miles I tramped on alone through the oppressive stillness of those old spruce and hemlock forests, which line the road upon the hill-side and down steep shaded valleys. It was then I observed the extraordinary stillness, which I found characterized the woods there, in whatever direction I had penetrated. I wondered for some time what was the cause, and what it was I missed so much, until I discovered the almost total absence of the different varieties of squirrel. Then I under- stood at once. These creatures are the great enliveners of forest scenery, and we unconsciously as much expect to hear them rattling over the dry leaves — ^their rustling leap from bough to bough — ^the pattering of nuts they are unhusking over head — their saucy chattering and defiant bark — or to see their graceful forms leap across the path — dart up and around the standing trunks or along the dead logs, as we do,, to see the trees themselves, or hear the winds murmur through their leaves. Every where, except in the tropics, they are ever-present and more essential to the complete characteristics of forest scenery,. than even the birds themselves. This is particularly the case at the north, where the varieties of the birds are neither so abundantly musical or large as in the Middle States. I never saw woods before through which you might walk all day, from day to day, for weeks, and most probably not see or hear the sound of a single squirrel. I had spent much time in the woods, and had not been able to reconcile myself to this strange want, which impressed me, even before I heard the cause, with something like a funeral desolation — ^with the shadow of a feeling like that which we 506 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. would have in walking through the echoing streets of a plague-depopulated city. I was greatly surprised when I found how analogous the case really was. On inquiring among the old hunters, I heard from them the reason. In the first place, the chickaree, or common red squirrel, is the only one, except the little chip squirrel, they have there at all as a resident variety — ^for although the gray squirrel has occasionally made its appearance for a little while, the black martin, which is very abundant, is said to enter its hole and destroy it, before it has time to breed much, while the hole of the chickaree is too small for it to gain admittance. Well, about twenty years ago, the country was literally overrun one summer by a plague of red squirrels, curiously enough, too, accompanied by great numbers of the little deer mouse or jumping mouse. The two united, destroyed nearly the whole of the standing crops of grain, and swarmed over the outhouses and even the dwelling- houses themselves, and along the fences by the roadside, and indeed through the woods every where. The people were alarmed by the apprehension of great loss, and even a partial famine, when suddenly the curse was swept away in a most singular manner. The squirrels all at once began to act strangely; they were observed to drag themselves slowly along the ground across the roads, so that the people could crush them with their heels. Those on the fences would mope and stagger along the railg, or falling ofif, would be seen in dozens hanging by one claw, until they dropped dead to the ground. They could be killed by hundreds, with a small stick, and the very air became impure with the stench of their dead bodies. On examination, it was found they were literally covered over their whole bodies witn warty and vermillion-tolored pustules, which looked very foul and angry. The mice were visited in the same way, and nearly all, if not all, died off; since, for several years after, not a creature of either kind was to TKOUTING ON JESSUP'S RIVEB,. 507 be seen, and to this day they have remained remarkably scarce. This story seemed very strange to me, but one day I shot a young red squirrel, the first I had killed since I came — for lack of opportunity — and I found it covered by this same •warty disease, which had been described as causing their extermination so long ago. The pustules were quite small upon it, and not so thickly placed as in the time of the plague, when they were as large as a pea of good size, and there was not the space of a pin's head any where between them ! This accounts for their not having increased more rapidly — since the fact shows that the disease continues to linger with them, preventing, as I suppose, their arriving at maturity, in the majority of cases. But I have gone a good way aside from my theme to narrate these curious facts, and must get back to the 'Bridge' again, at which we arrived about the middle of the afternoon. There we found an old field just across the bridge. It was called Wilcox's Clearing, and like all such places I had seen in this fine grazing region, was still well sodded down in Timothy, blue grass, and clover. Our luggage having been deposited in the shantee, which consisted nearly of boards torn from the old house, which were leaned against the sides of two forks, placed a few feet apart, we set off at once for the Falls, a short distance above. This was merely an initial trial, to obtain enough for dinner, and find the prognostics of the next day's sport in feeling the manner of the fish. At the Falls the river is only about fifteen feet wide, though its average width is from twenty-five to thirty. The water tumbles over a ledge of about ten feet, at the bottom of which is a fine hole, while on the surface sheets of foam are whirled round and round upon the tormented eddies — for the stream has considerable volume and power. We stepped cautiously along the ledge, Piscator ahead, and holding his precious flies ready for a cast, which was most 508 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. artistically made, not without a glance of triumphing pity at poor me, who was preparing to do the same with the humble angle-worm. The 'flies' fall — I see the glance of half a dozen golden sides darting at them — but, by this time, my own cast is made, and I am fully occupied with the struggles of a fine trout. What a thrilling sensation it is! — the bite of the first trout ! — ^renewed each season, too, in all the strength of novelty, when you, perhaps, for the fiftieth time after the weary interval otherwise employed, feel again the electric shock of its pull, communicated through your arm to aU your frame — the heart boimds as gladly, and the eyes gleam in as wild an ecstacy of delight, for the moment, as on your boyhood's first capture. But the 'black flies' swarmed by this time with such a wounding, maddening buzz into my eyes, nostrils and mouth, behind my ears, and up my sleeves, that no mortal enthusiasm could stand it any longer. " Here, George, in heaven's name take my rod ! My veil ! — where is it ? I have forgotten it !" "No, here it is — ^I thought of it!" and he drew it from his bosom. How I blessed the fellow ! It was on and adjusted in an instant — and then I had time to draw a long breath and look around me. " Hey ! seven trout. What, did I catch all those in this little while ?" I exclaimed, in a surprise not very compli- mentary to Piscator's 'flies.' "I caught one of 'em!" growled he — while he persever- ingly whipped the foam with his flies. I turned towards him, and through my green veil his forlorn, despairing fac^ looked jaundiced. I was moved to pity. " Try the worms, good Piscator — ^here they are. This is not the right time of day for them to take the flies in this river, I judge !" He was soothed, and eagerly improving the door of escape thus opened to him, took oflF the flies and used worms with TKOtJTING ON JBSSUP'S RIVER. 609 immediate and brilliant success, which brought back the placid smile to his face, and he would now and then as calmly brush away the distracting swarm of flies from his face, as if they had been mere innocent motes. He had only taken the one with his flies at the first instant of his cast — and afterward, not a single trout would rise to them. But later that evening came a temporary triumph for Piscator. The hole at the Falls was soon exhausted, and we moved on down to glean the ripples. It was nearly sundown, and here the pertinacious Piscator determined to try the flies again. He cast with three, and instantly struck two half-pound trout, which, after a spirited play, he safely landed. Never did I see so proud a look of exulting triumph as that which glowed upon his as he bade me "look there !" when he landed them. " Very fine, Piscator ! a capital feat ! but I fear it was an accident ! Tou will not get any more that way !" "We shall see, sir!" said he proudly, and commenced whipping the water again, but to no avail, while I continued throwing them out with great rapidity. I carefully abstained from watching him, for I had no desire to spoil his evening sport by taunting him, to continue his experiment. I soon observed him throwing out the fish with great spirit again. I merely shouted to him across the stream — "The angle-worm, once more, Piscator?" "Yes!" with a laugh. As the sun went down, the black gnats began to make themselves felt in their smarting and infinitesimal myriads, and we forthwith beat a hasty retreat to the shantee. These crieatures, which are the most diabolical pests that ever haunted the air and water-side, are, I think, identical with the sand fly in Texas — where it is the terror of all low, sandy, bottom lands, and valleys below the sea range. It follows <;he black fly, which is about half the size and a good deal the shape of the common house fly. About an hour after its 510 -WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. appearance in the afternoon, and its coming is considered the universal signal for retreat from the fishing grounds, as no heroism, not even that of Piscator, could long withstand their assaults. We had taken about ten pounds of trout; and the first procedure, after reaching the camp, was to build a ' smudge,' or smoke-fire, to drive away these abominable gnats, which fortunately, take flight with the, first whiff of smoke — and the next was to prepare the fish for dinner, though not till all had been carefully dressed by the guide, and placed in the cold current of the little spring, stream near, that they might keep sound. Now came the rousing fire, and soon some splendid trout were piled upon dishes of fresh pealed elm bark before us. They were very skillfully cooked, and 0, ye deluded Epicu- reans! let me tell ye! ye know not, on your rich and massive plate, the true flavor of this rare morsel for the Gods to smack their lips at, that I took up in my fingers from the bark dish — no, the ripe, high color of the flesh — the sweet, melting, luscious, glorious titiUation of the palate by which I was exalted there in that rude shantee, to the highest heaven of the sense, you cannot know! The exquisite aroma haa passed away before it reaches you, fading with the splendid colors of the skin, and ye cannot catch it ! Not all your wealth can transport it in the season, delicious as we had it. You can get them so in the winter, when it is cold enough to freeze them instantly on coming from the water, but not otherwise. The feast being over, then to recline back upon the fresh couch of soft spruce boughs, and with a cigar in mouth, watch the gathering 'night-shades' brooding lower and more low upon the thick wild forest in front — far into the depths of which the leaping flames of our crackling fire go, darting now and then with a revealing tongue of quick light — and listening to the owl make hoarse answer to the wolf afar off TROUTING ON JESSUP'S KIVBR. 511 — to think of wild passages in a life of adventure years ago amidst surroundings such as this; with the additional spice of peril from savage and treacherous foes, and then, as the hushed life subsides into a stiller mood, see the faces of loved ones come to you through the darkness, with a smile from oui your distant home, and while it sinks sweetly on your heart, subside into happy and dream-peopled slumber ! " This ! this is bliss !" the bliss of the shantee to the wearied sportsman ! a bliss unattainable to the sluggish and jaded gourmand of the city ! We were on foot with the sun next morning, and after another feast, which we appreciated with unpalled appetites, we set oiF for some deep spring holes nearly a mile above the Falls. The morning set cloudy, and rain fell piteously for several hours. Daring this time we had reached the neigh- borhood of the holes, after an abominably rough scramble along the mountain side; and here George set to work to construct a raft of the decayed spruce which stood around. This completed, it was launched with great labor into the stream ; and as the day was beginning to clear off, Piscator BO far conquered his horror of getting wet, as to agree to start. We pulled noiselessly up to the spring hole, and found it very deep, and quite large for the general size of the stream. The instant my hook was in the water, a fine trout was hung, and even Piscator, who still persevered with the flies, was successful the first east, as usual. But as no further notice was taken of the flies by the trout, and I continued to pull out the noble fellows as fast as I could throw my hook in, he changed very quickly again to the worm. The sport was now magnificent, and all the time, one line or the other was singing through the deep water to the struggles of a trout, and often both at the same time. We found the raft very convenient, for having no landing 512 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. net, while they were playing vigorously, we would take tliem on a spring upward through the water, and by a quick move- ment, adding to their impetus, would land them on the raft. We took several of that most splendidly beautiful of all trout, the "red bellied" — for their bellies are as if of burnished gold, heated to a red heat, while the spots upon their sides fairly glitter, while their fins are black, bordered with white. The moment they were hooked, we could see their sides flash up from the depths of the hole like the gleam of an angry blaze, and they shot like fiery meteors through the air as they leaped from it. We moved on slowly down the stream with our raft, after they ceased to bite here, and took from one to two and four pounds from every hole we passed, until I became weary of the sport, and even Piscator con- fessed himself for once to have had enough of trout fishing. The time had come for our return home, and now the inter- minable rain set in again more violently than ever, and our guide, who had fifty pounds of trout upon his shoulder, shrank from clambering back over the mountain with such a burden, and we landed on the opposite side of the river, to return by a new and longer though more level route. Of all the dismal and exhausting walks ever taken, this seemed to me the most so. A violent west wind hard set in, dashing on its cold current the colder rain into our faces. We were chilled and wet in an instant after starting. Much of the way led through a deep tangle of elder and raspberry bushes, which were as high as our heads, and bent with the burden of icy rain drops. So this gave us a double bath. We managed — or, our guide did for us ! — to get lost in the bargain ; had five miles to tramp through the thick pine woods, plunging through swamps, and stumbling into deep holes, over roots, dead trees, and rocks. There was one comfort before us, at least, the prospect that we should find our host waiting for us at the bridge with the wagon. TROUTING ON JBSSU?'S RIVER. 513 On we staggered bravely — splash ! splash ! drip ! drip . Above us, under, and on every side, the gelid rain ! As is an incessant shower bath, far more exhausting than a pro- tracted plunge — so was this wading through wet bushes beneath the pitiless pelting rain. I am sure that it abstracted a greater amount of vital heat and strength from us than wading the same length of time in cold water would have done. At least I never remember to have been more utterly exhausted than when we reached the bridge, and found, to our great joy, the wagon in waiting. Fortunately, our host had been prudent enough to bring blankets with him, and wrapping our shivering bodies in these, we hurried off on our return. It was no use going to our shantee for comfort — the fire was out, and the rain had set in for a week to come, and it was a poor affair at best. Though it was a break-neck road, I urged him with chattering teeth, to drive faster ; but the immovable Piscator quietly suggested that I should " take it easy !" I stared at the man, for I was excessively nervous and irritable, politely wishing him in a warmer place with his philosophy. He only laughed, and as that made me still more angry, I was soon nearly warmed up again. Strange as the remedy may seem to those who are not familiar with the miracles of bathing, I took forthwith a bath of very cold water on reaching home. This warmed me instantly and thoroughly, and then the flesh brush and dry clothes completed the magical process of immediate transfer from the arctic to the tropics, which my sensations underwent, without the aid of fire or sun. I never felt more delightfuljy than I did when I sat down to a fine dinner that evening in the old Tavern, and viery much of this pleasurable feeling of entire comfort I attributed to the prompt use of the cold bath. I have mentioned Piscator's hydrophobia, so far as the external application of oo 514 be mistaken effluvia with which the wind was impregnated. Never having before seen the elephant in his native jungles, we gazed at the sight before us with intense and indescribable interest. Our feel- ings on the occasion even extended to our followers. As for Andries, he became so agitated that he could scarcely articu- 544 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTBES. late. "With open eyes and quivering lips he at length stuttered forth— " Dar stand de olifant !" Mohanycom and Lingap were immediately dispatched to drive the herd back into the valley, up which we rode slowly and without noise, against the wind ; and arriving within one hundred and fifty yards unperceived, we made our horses fast, and took iq) a commanding position in an old stone kraal. The shouting of the savages, who now appeared on the height, rattling their shields, caused the animals to move unsuspiciously towards us, and even within ten yards of our ambush. The group consisted of nine, all females, with large tusks. We selected the finest, and with perfect deliberation, fired a volley of five balls into her. She stumbled, but recovering herself, uttered a shrill note of lamentation, when the whole party threw their trunks above their heads, and instantly clambered up the adjacent hill with incredible celerity, their huge fan-like ears fiapping in the ratio of their speed. "We instantly mounted our horses, the sharp loose stones not suiting the feet of the wounded lady, soon closed with her. Streaming with blood, and infuriated with rage, she turned upon us with uplifted trunk, and it was not until after repeated discharges, that a ball took effect in her brain, and threw her lifeless upon the earth, which resounded with the fall. Turning our attention from the exciting scene we have described, we found that a second valley had opened before us, surrounded by bare strong hills, and traversed by a thinly wooded ravine. Here a grand and magnificent panorama was before us, which beggars all description. The whole face of the landscape was actually covered with wild elephants. There could not have been fewer than three hundred within the scope of our vision. Every height and green knoll was dotted pver with groups of them, whilst the bottom of the ELEPHANT HUNTING. 645 glen exhibited a dense and sable living mass — their colossal forms being at one moment partially concealed by the trees, which they were disfiguring with great strength ; and at others seen majestically emerging into the open glades, bearing in their trunks the branches of trees, with which they indolently protected themselves from the flies. The back-ground was filled by a limited peep of the blue mountainous range, which here assumed a remarkably precipitous character, and com- pleted a picture at once soul-stirring and sublime ! Our approach being still against the wind, was unobserved, and created little alarm, until the herd that, we had left behind suddenly showed itself, recklessly thundering down the hill to join the main body, and passing so close to us that we could not refrain from firing a broadside into one of them, which, however, bravely withstood it. , We secured our horses on the summit of a stony ridge, 'jA then station- ing ourselves at an opportune place on a ledge overlooking the wooded defile, sent Andries to maneuvre, so that as many of the elephants as possible could pass before us in order of review, that we might ascertain by a close inspection whether there was Hot a male amongst them. Filing slug- gishly along, they occasionally halted beneath an umbrageous tree, within fifteen yards of us, lazily fanning themselves with their ample ears, blowing away the flies with their trunks, and uttering the feeble and peculiar cry so peculiar to Indian elephants. They all proved to be ladies, and most of them mothers, followed by their little old-fashioned calves, each trudging close to the heels of her dam, and mimicking all her motions. Thus situated, we might have killed any number we pleased, their heads being frequently turned towards us in such a position, and so close, that a single ball in the brain would have sufficed for each; but whilst we were yet hesitating, a bullet suddenly whizzed past Richard- son's ear, and put the whole herd to immediate flight. We had barely time to recede behind a tree, before a party o^ 00 546 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. about twenty, with several little ones in their wake, were upon us, striding at their utmost speed, and trumpeting loudly with uplifted heads. I rested my rifle against the tree, and firing behind the shoulder of the leader, she dropped instantly. Another large detachment being close behind us at the same moment, we were compelled to retreat, dodging from tree to tree, stumbling amongst sharp stones, and ever coming upon fresh parties of the enemy. This scene of ludicrous confusion did not long continue, and soon approaching the prostrate lady, we put an end to her struggles by a shot in the forehead. Andries now came up in high good humor at his achievements, and in the most bravado manner, discharged his piece into the dead carcass, under the pretence that the animal was shamming. His object evidently was to confound the shots, for, thrusting his middle finger into the orifice made by my two-ounce ball, he with the most modest assurance declared himself the author of the deed, being pleased altogether to overlook the fact of the mortal shot having entered the elephant on the side opposite to that on which he was stationed, and that his own ball, whether designedly or not, had all but expended my worthy and esteemed fellow- traveller. On our way to the camp, of the exact position of which we were uncertain, in consequence of the late inundation, we passed three other large herds of elephants. One of these standing directly in the route, we attacked it, and pursued the fugitive about a mile over loose stones. Much has been said of the attachment of elephants to their young, but neither on this, nor on any subsequent occasion, did we perceive thdm evm2e the smallest concern for their safety. On the contrary, they left them to shift for themselves, and Mohany- com and Lingap, who were behind us, assagaied one, the tail of which they brought in. We slew another old female as we ascended the brow of an eminence, and at the same moment perceived our wagons within a few hundred yards of ELEPHANT HUNTING. 547 the spot. The whole herd dashed through the caap, causing indescribable consternation amongst cattle and foUo-wers, but fortunately no accident occurred ; and after the fatiguing day's work we had undergone, we were not sorry to find ourselves at home. Watery clouds hung about the sun as he set heavily behind the mountains. Loud peals of crashing thunder rent the air, and ere it was yet dark, we had a repetition of yesterday's storm ; the river roaring past us with frightful fury ; troops of elephants, ilying from the scene of slaughter, passed close to our wagons during the darkness, their wild voices echoing amongst the mountains, and sounding like trumpets above the tempest. It was impossible to keep the fires burning ; and the oxen and sheep were alarmed to such a degree that they broke from the kraal, and sought safety in the wilder- ness. Tired as I was, the excitement I had undergone banished sleep from my eyes. I ruminated on the spirit- stirring events of the day, and burned with impatience to renew them. Heedless of the withering blast that howled without, I felt that my most sanguine expectations had been realized, and that we had already been amply repaid for the difiiculties, privations and dangers that we had encountered in our toilsome journey towards this fairy-land of sport. It was still raining heavily when the day gloomily dawned. The mountain torrents having overflowed their banks, the valley in which we were encamped had become a continuous pool of water, and those of our followers who had slung their hammocks beneath the wagons, were partially sub- merged. High-roads had been ploughed through the mire by the passage of elephants, and whole acres of grass, by which we had been surrounded the preceding evening, had been completely trampled down. Soon after sunrise it cleared up, and the cattle having been recovered, we armed a party with hatchets, and proceeded on foot to cut out the teeth of 548 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. the flain elephants ; but walking was exceedingly toilsome, and our feet sinking to the ankles in black mud, were Extri- cated with inconceivable difficulty. Taking advantage of oui situation, an irritated rhinoceros sallied from behind an old stone wall ; and the damp causing three of the balls to misa fire, he was actually amongst us, when my ball fortunately pierced his eye, and he fell dead at our feet. Not an elephant was to be seen on the ground that was yesterday teeming with them ; but on reaching the glen, which had been the scene of our exploits during the early part of the action, a calf about three feet and a half high, walked forth from a bush, and saluted us with mournful piping notes. We had observed the unhappy little wretch hovering about its mother after she fell, and having probably been unable to overtake the herd, it had passed a dreary night in the wood. Entwining its little proboscis about our legs, the sagacious creature, after demonstrating its delight at our arrival by a thousand ungainly antics, accompanied the party to the body of its dam, which, swollen to an enor- mous size, was surrounded by an inquest of vultures. Seated in gaunt array, ■with their shoulders shrugged, these Idathe- some fowls were waiting its decomposition with forced resignation ; the tough hide having defied all the efforts of their beaks, with which the eyes and softer parts had been vigorously assailed. The conduct of the quaint little calf now became quite affecting, and elicited the sympathy of every one. It ran round its mother's corpse with touching demonstrations of grief, piping sorrowfully, and vainly attempted to raise her with its tiny trunk. I confess that I had felt compunctions in committing the murder the day before, and now half resolved never to assist in another; for in addition to the moving behavior of the young elephant, I had been unable to divest myself of the idea that I was firing at my old favorite, Mowla-Bukhsh, from whose gallant ELEPHANT HUNTINO. 549 back I had vanquished so many of my feline foes in Guzerat — an impression wliich, however ridiculous it must appear, detracted considerably from the satisfaction I experienced. The operation of hewing out three pairs of tusks occupied several hours, their roots, embedded in massy sockets, spread- ing over the greater portion of the face. My Indian friends will marvel when they hear of tusks being extricated from the jaws of a female elephant — but with very few exceptions, all that we saw had these , accessories, measuring from three to four feet in length. I have already stated my belief that the maximum height of the African male is twelve feet ; that of the female averages eight and a half — the enormous magni- tude of the ears, which not only cover the whole of the shoulder, but overlap each other on the neck, to the complete exclusion of the mahout, or driver, constituting another striking feature of difiference between the two species. The forehead is remarkably large and prominent, and consists of two walls or tables, between which, a wide celMar space intervening, a ball, hardened with tin or quicksilver, readily penetrates to the brain, and proves instantaneously fatal. The barbarous tribes that people Southern Africa, have never dreamed of the possibility of rendering this lordly quadruped serviceable in a domestic capacity; and even amongst the colonists, there exists an unaccountable super- stition that his subjugation is not to be accomplished. His capture, however, may readily be achieved ; and as he appears to possess all the aptitude of his Asiatic relative, the only diflSculty that presents itself, is the general absence, within our territories, of suflScient food for his support. Were he once domesticated and arrayed against the beasts of the forest, Africa would realize the very leau ideal of magnifi- cent sport. It is also worthy of remark, that no attempt has ever been made on the part of th^ colonists to naturalize another most useful animal, the camel, although the soil, cli- mate, and productions appear alike to favor its introduction. 650 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. All this is plain sailing, and something we common mor tals can comprehend, foreign and unusual as its picturings and details are ; but it is nothing comparatively with what Mr. Oummings has to tell of different modes of hunting the elephant, as practised by himself higher up in the extraordi- nary valley of the Limpopo. Hear him for his story — On the 17th of September I resolved to leave the fountain of Seboono, as it was much disturbed, and to proceed with a few Bakalahari to a small yet famous Avater about six miles to the south-east. We accordingly saddled up and held thither. On reaching this fountain, which is called by the natives "Paapaa," I found the numerous foot-paths leading to it covered, as I had anticipated, with fresh spoor of elephant and rhinoceros. I then at once proceeded to study the best spot on which to make oxii shooting-hole for the night. It would be impossible to prevent some of the game from getting our wind, for the foot-paths led to it from every side. The prevailing wind was from the east, so I pitched upon the south-west corner of the fountain. The water was not more than twenty y^rds long and ten broad. The west side was bounded by tufous rock, which rose abruptly from the water about five feet high. The top of this rock was level with the surrounding vley, and here all the elephants drank, as if suspicious of treading on the muddy margin on the other three sides of the fountain. I made our shooting- box within six or eight yards of the water, constructing it in a circular form, of bushes packed together so as to form a hedge about three feet high. On the top of the hedge I placed heavy dead old branches of trees, so as to form a fine clear rest for our rifles ; these clean old branches were all lashed firmly together with strips of thorn bark. All being completed, I took the Bakalahari and our steeds to a shady tree, about a quarter of a mile to leeward of the fountain, where we formed a kraall, and off-saddled. This day was particularly adapted to bring game to the water, the sun ELEPHANT HUNTING. f)51 being extremely powerful, and a hot, dry -wind prevailing all the afternoon. I told Carey that we were certain of having a good night's sport, and I was right, fer we undoubtedly had about the finest night's sport and the most wonderful that was ever enjoyed by man. A little before the sun went down, leaving our kraal, we held to the fountain, having with us our heavy-metaled rifles, karosses and two Bakalahari. We also had two small guns, my double-barreled Westley Richards and Carey's single- barreled gun. As we approached the fountain, a stately hull giraife stood before us ; the heat of the day had brought him thither, but he feared to go in and drink ; on observing us, he walked slowly away. Two jackals were next detected. Guinea-fowl, partridges, two or three sorts of pigeon and' turtle-dove, and small birds in countless thousands, were pouring in to drink from every airt, as we walked up to our hiding-place and lay down. In a few minutes the sun was under ; but the moon was strong and high (it being within three nights of the full), and the sky was clear, with scarcely a cloud. Very soon a step was heard approaching from the east : it was a presuming black rhinoceros. He came up within ten yards of the hiding-hole, and, observing us with his sharp, prying eye, at once came slowly forward for a nearer inspection. I then shouted to him ; but this he did not heed in the slightest. I then sprang up and waved my large kaross, shouting at the same time. This, however, only seemed to amuse BorMd, for he stood within four yards of us, with his horn threatening our momentary destruction, nor would he wheel about until I threw a log of wood at him. Black rhinoceroses are very difficult to scare when they do not get the wind ; the best way to do so is to hit them with a stone — that is, in the event of the sportsman not wishing to fire ofi" his gun. Soon after BorSl^ departed, four old bull elephants drsT! 552 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNXEKS. aear from the south. They were coming right on for the spot where we lay, and they seemed very likely to walk over the top of us. We therefore placed our two big rifles in position, and awaited their forward movement with intense interest. On they came, with slow and stately step, until within twenty yards of us, when the leading elephant took it into his head to pass to leeward. We let him come on until he got our wind ; he was then within ten yards of the muzzles of our hcavy-metaled rifles ; on winding us, he tossed his trunk aloft, and we instantly fired together. I caught him somewhere about the heart, and my big six-pound rifle burst in Carey's hands, very nearly killing us both. The elephant, on being fired at, wheeled about, and retreated to the forest at top speed. I now directed " Stick-in-the-mud" to make use of his single-barreled twelve to the pound in the event of more elephants coming up ; and thanking my stars that the old Dutch rifle had not sent us both to the land of the leal, I sat down and watched the dark masses of trees that cut the sky on every side, in the hope of seeing a mass as high and wide come towering forward into the open space that surrounded the fountain. Nor did I watch long in vain, for very soon three princely bull el'ephants appeared exactly where the first came on, and holding exactly the same course. They approached just as the first had done. When the leading elephant came within ten yards of us, he got our wind and tossed up his trunk, and was wheeling round to retreat, when we fired together, and sent our bullets somewhere about his heart. He ran two hundred yards and then stood, being evidently dying. His comrades halted likewise, but one of them, the finest of the three, almost immediately turned his head once more to the fountain, and very slowly and warily came on. We now lizard the wounded elephant utter the cry of death, and fall heavily on the earth. Carey, whose ears were damaged by ELEPHANT HUNTING. 553 the bursting of the big rifle, did not catch this sound, but swore that the elephant which now so stealthily approached the water was the one at which we had fired. It was interesting to observe this grand old bull approach the fountain : he seemed to mistrust the very earth on which he stood, and smelt and examined with his trunk every yard of the ground before he trod on it, and sometimes stood five minutes on one spot without moving. At length, having gone round three sides of the fountain, and being apparently satisfied as to the correctness of everything, he stepped boldly forward on to the rock on the west, and, walking up within six or seven yards of the muzzles of our rifles, turned his broadside, and, lowering his trunk into the water, drew up a volume of water, which he threw over his back and shoulders to cool his person. This operation he repeated two or three times, after which he commenced drinking, by- drawing the water into his trunk and then pouring it into his mouth. I determined to break his leg if possible; so, covering the limb about level with the lower line of his body, I fired, Carey firing for his heart. I made a lucky shot; and as the elephant turned and attempted to make away, his leg broke with a loud crack, and he stood upon his three sound ones. At once disabled and utterly incapable of escaping, he stood statue-like beside the fountain, within a few yards of where he had got the shot, and only occasion- ally made an attempt at locomotion. The patch of my rifie fired at this elephant's comrade had ignited a large ball of dry old dung, about eight yards to leeward of our kraal, and, fanned by the breeze, it was now burning away very brightly, the sparks flying in the wind. Presently, on looking about me, I beheld two bull elephants approaching by the self-same foot-path which the others had held. The first of these was a half-grown bull, the last was an out-and-out old fellow with enormous tusks. They came on as the first had done, but seemed inclined 554 -WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. to pass to windward of us. Tlie young bull, however, observed the fire ; he at once walked up to it, and, smelling at it with his trunk, seemed extremely amused, and in a gamboling humor threw his trunk about, as if not knowing what to think of it. The larger bull now came up and exposed a fine broadside; we took him behind the shoulder and fired together ; on receiving the shotSj he wheeled about and held west with drooping ears, evidently mortally wounded. Some time after this I detected an enormous old bull elephant approaching from the west. If we lay still where we were, he must in a few minutes get our wind, so we jumped up and ran forward out of his line of march^ Here a bor^l^ opposed our further progress, and we had to stone him out of our way. The elephant came on, and presently got the wind of where we had been lying. This at once seemed to awake his suspicions, for he stood still among the trees, stretching his trunk from side to side to catch the scent, and doubtful whether he should advance or retreat. We then ran toward him, and stalked in within forty yards of where he stood, and, taking up a position behind a bush, awaited his forward movement. The elephant came slowly forward, and I thought would pass to windward of us, when he suddenly altered his course, and walked boldly forward right for where we stood. He came on until within seven or eight yards, when I coughed loudly to turn him. He tossed up his trunk and turned quickly round to fly ; as he turned, however, we fired together, when the elephant uttered a shrill cry of distress, and crashed away, evidently hard hit. When this bull was standing before us, we both remarked that he was the finest we had seen that night : his tusks were extremely long, thick, and very unusually wide set. We now returned to the fountain, and once more lay down to watch. Rhinoceroses, both black and white, were parading around us all night in every direction. We had lain but a short time when I detected a single old bull elephant ELEPHANT HUNTING. 555 approaching froi)\ the south by the same path which all the others had held. This elephant must have been very thirsty, for he came boldly on without any hesitation, and, keeping to windward, walked past within about eight yards of us. We fired at the same moment ; the elephant wheeled about, and, after running a hundred yards, reduced his pace to a slow walk. I clapped Carey on the shou! ler, and said, " We have him." I had hardly uttered the words when he fell over on his side; he rose, however, again to his feet. At this moment the same presuming borMd who had troubled us in the early part of the night came vp to us again, and, declining as before to depart by gentle hints, I thought -it a fitting moment to put an end to his intrusion, and accord- ingly gave him a ball behind the shoulder. On receiving it, he galloped off in tremendous consternation, and passed close under the dying elephant, who at the moment fell dead with a heavy crash, and broke one of his hind legs under him in the fall. About an hour after two more elephants came towering on from the east. When they came up they stood for a long time motionless within forty yards of the water; and at length the finer of the two, which was a very first-rate old bull, and carrying immense tusks, walked boldly forward, and, passing round the north side of the fountain, commenced drinking on the rock, just as the crippled bull had done. We both fired together, holding for his heart ; the bullets must have gone nearly through him, for we had double charges of powder in our weapons. On receiving the shots he dropped a volume of water from his trunk, and, tossing it aloft, uttered a loud cry and made off, steering north ; but before he was out of our sight he reduced his pace to a slow walk, and I could quite plainly hear, by the loud, painful breathing through his trunk, that he was mortally wounded; but whether the natives were too lazy to seek him, or having found him would not tell me, I know not, but I never got 556 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. him. We shot another bull elephant shortly after this ; he, too, uttered a shrill cry, and went off holding the same course the last one did ; that was, however, all that I ever saw of him. f Eight elephants killed and four '.bagged' were the ' trophies' of this extraordinary night's sport, beside the 'borM^' and other 'small fry' — enough, surely, to have appeased the appetite for slaughter of the veritable Nimrod of old himself — ^but there follows a variation upon this comparatively tame sport. The next night I put in practice a novel experiment I had long entertained — that of hunting elephants by moonlight with dogs and horses, as in the day, being very much annoyed at wounding and losing in the last week no less than ten first- rate old bull elephants. I communicated my idea to ' Stick- in-the-mud,' and we hastily proceeded to saddle my steed. I led my dogs, eight in number, through the forest to leeward of where a bull who had come to the fountain to drink had gone in, and when I saw that they had got his wind I slipped them. They dashed forward and next minute I followed the baying of the dogs, and the crash and the trumpet of the elephant.' He rushed away at first without halting, and held right for the mountains to the south-west. When, however, he found that his speed did not avail, and that he could not get away from his pursuers, he began to turn and dodge about in the thickest of the cover, occasionally making charges after the dogs. I followed on as best I could, shouting with all my might to encourage my good hounds. These, hearing their master's voice beside them, stuck well by the elephant, and fought him better than in the day. I gave him my first two shots from the saddle ; after which, I rode close up to him, and, running in on foot, gave him some deadly shots at distances of from fifteen to twenty yards. The elephant very soon evinced signs of distress, and ceased to make away from us. Taking up positions in the ELEPHANT HUNTING. 557 densest parts of the cover, he caught up the red dust with his trunk, "and throwii^g it over his head and back, endeavored to conceal himself in a cloud. This was a fine opportunity to pour in my deadly shafts, and I took care to avail myself of it. "When he had received about twelve shots, he walked slowly forward in a dying, state, the blood streaming from his trunk. I rode close up to him, and gave him a sharp right and left from the saddle : he turned and walked a few yards, then suddenly came down with tremendous violence on his vast stern, pitching his head and trunk aloft to a pro- digious height, and, falling heavily over on his side, expired. This was an extremely large and handsome elephant, decidedly the finest bull I had shot this year. Afraid of taking cold or rheumatism, for I was in a most profuse perspiration, I hastened back to my fireside, having first secured all the dogs in their couples. Here I divested myself of my leather - trowsers, sh-ooting-belt, and veldt-schoens, and, stretched on my kaross, I took tea, and wondered at tiie facility with which I had captured this mighty elephant. Feeling fatigued, I intended to lie down and rest till morning. Just, however, as I was arranging my saddles for a pillow, I beheld another first-rate old bull elephant advancing up the vley from the south. I at once resolved that he, too, should run the gauntlet wi:h the dogs. In immense haste, therefore, I once more pulled on my old leathers, and buckled on my shooting-belt, and ran down into the rank long grass beside the fountain to meet him, armed with the large two-grooved rifle, having directed Carey and Piet to come slowly up with the dogs and my horse and gun as soon as they were ready. The elephant came on, and stood drinking within thirty yards of me. When I saw Carey coming on with the dogs and steed, I fired, but my rifie hung fire. The shot, however, gave the dogs good courage, and they fought well. The elephant took away at a rapid pace toward the other fountain where the Bechu' 558 WILD SCENES AND WILD HTTNTEKS. anas lay, and at first led me through very bad wait-a-bit thorn cover, which once or twice nearly swept me but of the saddle. Presently he inclined to the west, and got into better country; I then rode close up to him, and bowled him over with four shots. With one more glimpse of the cool extravagance charac- teristic of the Professional Hunter, and of which Cummings has prided himself upon giving us so many specimens, we take our leave of elephant hunting in South Africa. The following is most refreshing. On the 31st I held south-east in quest of elephants, with a large party of the natives. Our course lay through an open part of the forest, where I beheld a troop of springboks and' two ostriches, the first I had seen for a long time. We held for Towannie, a strong fountain in the gravelly bed of a periodical river : here two herds of cow elephants had drunk on the preceding evening, but I declined to follow them ; and presently, at a muddy fountain a little in advance, we took up the spoor of an enormous bull, which had wallowed in the mud, and then plastered the sides of several of the adjacent veteran-looking trees. We followed the spoor through level forest in an easterly direction, when the leading party overran the spoor, and casts were made for its recovery. Presently I detected an excited native beckoning violently a little to my left, and, cantering up to him, he said that he had seen the elephant. He led me through the forest a few hundred yard?, when, clearing a wait-a-bit, I came full in view of the tallest and largest bull elephant I had ever seen. He stood broadside to me, at upward of one hundred yards, and his attention at the moment was occupied with the dogs, which, unaware of his proximity, were rushing past him, while the old fellow seemed to gaze at their unwonted appearance with surprise. Halting my horse, I fired at his shoulder, and secured him with a single shot. The ball caught him high upon the shoulder-blade, rendering him instantly dead lame ; and ELEPHANT HUNTING. 559 before the echo of the bullet could reach my ear, I plainly saw that the elephant was mine. The dogs now came up and barked' around him, but finding himself incapacitated, the old fellow seemed determined to take it easy, and, limping slowly to a neighboring tree, he remained stationary, eyeing his pm'suers with a resigned and philosophic air. I resolved to devote a short time to the contemplation of this noble elephant before I should lay him low; accordingly, having off-saddled the horses beneath a shady tree which was to be my quarters for the night and ensuing day, I quickly kindled a fire and put on the kettle, and in a very few minutes my coffee was prepared. There I sat in my forest home, coolly sipping my coffee, with one of the finest elephants in Africa awaiting my pleasure beside a neighboring tree. It was, indeed, a striking scene ; and as I gazed upon the stupendous veteran of the forest, I thought of the red deer which I loved to follow in my native land, and felt that, though the Fates had driven me to follow a more daring and arduous avocation in a distant land, it was a good exchange which I had made, for I was now a chief over boundless forests, which yielded imspeakably more noble and exciting sport. Having admired th6 elephant for a considerable time, I resolved to make experiments for vulnerable points, and, approaching very near, I fired several bullets at different parts of his enormous skull. These did not seem to affect him in the slightest; he only acknowledged the shots by a "salaam-like" movement of his trunk, with the point of which he gently touched the wound with a striking and peculiar action. Surprised and shocked to find that I was only tor- menting and prolonging the sufferings of the noble beast, which bore his trials with such dignified composure, I resolved to finish the proceeding with all possible dispatch ; accordingly, I opened fire upon him from the left side, aiming behind the shoulder; but even there it was long before my bullets 660 WILD SCENES AND VTILD HUNTERS. seemed to take effect. I first fired six shots with the two- grooved, which must have eventually proved mortal, but as yet he evinced no visible distress ; after which I fired three shots at the same part with the Dutch six-pounder. Large tears now trickled from his eyes,, which he slowly shut and opened ; his colossal frame quivered convulsively, and, falling on his side, the expired. The tusks of this elephant were beautifully arched, and were the heaviest, I had yet met with, averaging ninety pounds weight apiece. All this is cool — very ! It is picturesque, not to say theatrical ! Mr. Cummings, at this rate, might be educated into a good American Borderer, and some day " come up to the scratch" in a duello, hand-to-claw with a Grisly Bear, after having exchanged the compliments of the morning with him beneath the cold shadows of the Socky Mountain peaks ! CHAPTER XXVI. THE GIRAFFE. I HAVE before hinted at the degree in which Cnmmings has made Harris his model, in his new book, " Five Years in South Africa." I therefore propose to give, one after the other, the account each has furnished of his first interview with the giraffe. They are different, yet alike in many curious particulars; and as their faats are equally inter- esting, it is pleasing to compare the impressions of these two notorious, if not remarkable examples of the Himter- Naturalist, from nearly the same point of view. I give Cummings the advantage of presenting his first. This day was to me rather a memorable one, as the first on which I saw and slew the lofty, graceful-looking giraffe or camelopard, with which, during many years of my life, T Had longed to form an acquaintance. These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are admirably formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless plains of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In countries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found generally in herds varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not unfrequently met with herds containing thirty indi- viduals, and on one occasion I counted forty together ; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. / These herds are composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark, 86 561 662 -WILD SCENES ANl. WILD HUNTERS. chestnut-colored old bull of the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally attaining to a height of upwards of eighteen feet. The females are of lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in creation ; and when a herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must indeed be slow of concep- tion who fails to discover Ijjpth grace and dignity in all their movements. There can be no doubt that every animal is seen to the greatest advantage in the haunts which nature destined him to adorn; and among the various living creatures which beautify this fair creation, I have often traced a remarkable resemblance between the animal and the general appearance of the locality in which it is found. This I remarked at an early period of my life, when entomology occupied a part of my attention. No person following this interesting pursuit can fail to observe the extraordinary likeness which insects bear to the various abodes in which they are met with. Thus, among the long, green grass, we find a variety of long, green insects, whose legs and antennae so resemble the shoots emanating from the stalks of the grass that it requires a practiced eye to distinguish them. Throughout sandy districts, varieties of insects are met with of a color similar to the sand which they inhabit. Among the green leaves of the various trees of the forest innumerable leaf-colored insects are to found ; while, closely adhering to the rough, gray bark of these forest-trees, we observe beautifully-colored gray-looking moths of various THE FIRST GIRAFFE HUNT. 563 patterns, yet altogether so resembling the bark as to be invisible to the passing observer. In like manner, among quadrupeds I have traced a corres- ponding analogy; for, even in the case of the stupendous elephant, the ashy color of his hide so corresponds with the gray, thorny jungles which he frequents throughout the day, that a person unaccustomed to hunting elephants, standing on a commanding situation, might look down upon a herd and fail to detect their presence. And further, in the case of the giraffe, which is invariably met with among venerable forests, where innumerable blasted and weather-beaten trunks and stems occur, I have repeatedly been in doubt as to the presence of a troop of them until I had recourse to my spy-glass ; and on referring the case to my savage attendants, I have known even their optics to" fail, at one time even mistaking these dilapidated trunks for camelopards, and again confounding real camelopards with these aged veterans of the forest. Although we had now been travelling many days through the country of the giraffe, and had marched through forests in which their spoor was abundant, pur eyes had not yet been gifted with a sight of "Tootla" himself; it was there- fore with indescribable pleasure that, on the evening of the 11th, I beheld a troop of these interesting animals. Our breakfast being finished, I resumed my journey through an endless gray forest of cameel-dorn and other trees, the country slightly undulating, and grass abundant. A little before the sun went down my driver remarked to me, ." I was just going to say, sir, that that old tree was a camelopard." On looking where he pointed, I saw that the old tree was indeed a camelopard ; and, on casting my eyes a little to the right, I beheld a troop of them standing looking at us, their heads actually towering above the trees of the forest. It was imprudent to commence a chase at such a late hour, especially in a country of so level a 564 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. character, where the chances were against my being able to regain my wagons that night. I, however, resolved to chance everything ; , and directing my men to catch and saddle Colesburg, I proceeded in haste to buckle on my shooting-belt and spurs, and in two minutes I was in the saddle. The giraffes stood looking at the wagons until I was within sixty yards of them, when, galloping round a thick bushy tree, under cover of which I had ridden, I suddenly beheld a sight the most astounding that a sports- man's eye can encounter. Before me stood a troop of ten colossal giraffes, the majority of which were from seventeen to eighteen feet high. On beholding me they at once made off, twisting their long tails over their backs, making a loud, switching noise with them, and cantered along at an easy pace, which, however, obliged Colesburg to put his best foot foremost to keep up with them. The sensations which I felt on this occasion were different from anything that I had before experienced, during a long sporting career. My senses were so absorbed by the won- drous and beautiful sight before me, that I rode along like one entranced, and I felt inclined to disbelieve that I was hunting living things of this world. The ground was firm and favorable for riding. At every stride I gained upon the giraffes, and after a short burst at a swinging gallop I was in the middle of them, and turned the finest cow out of the herd. On finding herself driven from her comrades and hotly pursued, she increased her pace, and cantered along with tremendous strides, clearing an amazing extent of ground at every bound ; while her neck and breast coming in contact with the dead old branches of the trees, were con- tinually strewing them in my path. In a few minutes I was riding within five feet of her stern, and, firing at a gallop, I sent a bullet into her back. Increasing my pace, I next rode alongside, and, placing the muzzle of my rifle within a few feet of her, I fired my second shot behind the shoulder ; TUB FIRST GIRAFFE HUNT. 365 the ball, however, seemed to have little effect. I then placed myself directly in front, when she came to a walk. Dis- mounting, I hastily loaded both barrels, putting in dqjible charges of powder. Before this was accomplished she was off at a canter. In a short time I brought her to a stand in 'the dry bed of a wator-oourse, where I fired at fifteen yards, aiming where I thought the heart lay, upon which she again made off. Having loaded, I followed, and had very nearly lost her; she had turned abruptly to the left, and was far out of sight among the trees. Onee more I brought her to a stand, and dismounted from my horse. There we stood together alone in the wild wood. I gazed in wonder at her extreme beauty, while her soft, dark eye, with its silky fringe, looked down imploringly at me, and I really felt a pang of sorrow in this moment of triumph for the blood I was shedding. Pointing my rifle toward the skies, I sent a bullet through her neck. On receiving it, she reared high on her hind legs, and fell backward with a heavy crash, making the earth shake around her. A thick stream of dark blood spouted out from the wound, her colossal limbs quivered for a moment, and she expired. I had little time to contemplate the prize I had won. Night was fast setting in, and it was very questionable if I should succeed in regaining my wagons; so, having cut off the tail" of the giraffe, which was adorned with a bushy tuft of flowing black hair, I took " one last fond look," and rode hard for the spoor of the wagons, which I succeeded in reaching just as it was dark. No pen nor words can convey to a sportsman what it is to ride in the midst of a troop of gigantic giraffes : it must be experienced to be understood. They emitted a powerful perfume, which in the chase came hot in my face, reminding me of the smell of a hive of heather honey in September. The greater part of this chase led through bushes of the wait-a-bit thorn of the most virulent description, which 666 WILD SCKNES AND WILD HUNTERS. covered my legs and arms with blood long before I had killed the giraffe. I rode as usual in the kilt, with my arms bare to my shoulder. It was Chapelp ark ot Badenoch's old gray kilt, but in this chase it received a death blow which it never afterwards recovered. Now comes Harris's story — and between them we shall -get a pretty clear idea of the sensation of killing the first giraffe. He says : To the sportsman, the most thrilling passage in my adven- tures is now to be recounted. In my own breast, it awakens a renewal of past impressions, more lively than any written description can render intelligible ; and far abler pens than mine, dipped in more glowing tints, would still fall short of the reality, and leave much to be supplied by the imagination. Three hundred gigantic elephants, browsing in majestic tran- quillity amidst the wild magnificence of an African landscape, and a wide stretching plain, darkened, far as the eye can reach, with a moving phalanx of gnoos and quaggas, whose numbers literally baffle computation, are sights but rarely to be witnessed; but who amongst our brother Nimrods shall hear of riding familiarly by the side of a troop of colossal giraffes, and not feel his spirit stirred within him ? He that would behold so marvellous a sight must leave the haunts of man, and dive, as we did, into pathless wilds, traversed only by the brute creation — into wide wastes, where the grim lion prowls, monarch of all he surveys, and wHere the gaunt hyaena and wild dog fearlessly pursue their prey. Many days had now elapsed since we had even seen the camelopard — and then only in small numbers, and under the most unfavorable circumstances. The blood coursed through my veins like quicksilver ; therefore, as on the morning of the 19th, from the back of Breslar, my most trusty steed, with a firm wooded plain before me, I counted thirty-two of these animals, industriously stretching their peacock necks to crop the tiny leaves which fluttered above their heads, in a mimosa THE FIRST GHRAFFB HUNT. 567 grove that beautified the scenery. They were within a hun- dred yards of me, but haying previously determined to try the hoarding system, 1/ reserved my fire. Although I had taken the field expressly to look for giraffes, and had put four of the Hottentots on horseback, all excepting Piet had as usual slipped off imperceived in pursuit of a troop of koodoos. Our stealthy approach was soon opposed by an ill-tempered rhinoceros, -which, with her ugly calf, stood directly in the path ; and the twinkling of her bright little eyes, accompanied by a restless rolling of the body, giving earnest of her intention to charge, I directed Piet to salute her with a broadside, at the same moment putting spurs to my horse. At the report of the gun, and the sudden clatter- ing of hoofs, away bounded the giraffes in grotesque confusion, clearing the ground by a succession of frog-like hops, and soon leaving me far in the rear. Twice were their towering forms concealed from view by a park of trees, which we entered almost at the same instant ; and twice, on emerging from the labyrinth, did I perceive them tilting over an eminence immeasurably in advajice. A white turban, that I wore round my hunting cap, being dragged off by a projecting bough, was instantly charged by three rhinoce- roses ; and looking over my shoulder, I could see them long afterwards fagging themselves to overtake me. In the course of five minutes, the fugitives arrived at a small river, the treacherous sands of which receiving their long legs, their flight was greatly retarded ; and after floundering to the opposite side, and scrambling to the top of the bank, I perceived that their race was run. Patting the streaming neck of my good steed, I urged him again to his utmost, and instantly found myself by the side of the herd. The stately bull, being readily distinguishable from the rest by his dark chestnut robe, and superior stature, I applied the muzzle of my rifle behind his dappled shoulder, with the right hand, and drew" both triggers; but he still continued to shuffle 668 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. along, and being afraid of losing him, should I dismount, among the extensive mimoga groveg, with which the land- scape was now obscured, I sat in my saddle, loading and firing behind the elbow, and then placing myself across his path, until, the tears tricklmg from his full brilliant eye, his lofty frame began to totter, and at the seventeenth discharge from the deadly grooved bore, bowing his graceful head from the skies, his proud form was prostrate in the dust. Never shall I forget the tingling excitement of that moment ! Alone, in the wild wood, I hurraed with bursting exultation, and unsaddling my steed, sank exhausted beside the noble prize 1 had won. When I leisurely contemplated the massive frame before me, seeming as though it had been cast in a mould of brass, and protected by a hide of an inch and a half in thickness, it was no longer matter of astonishment, that a bullet dis- charged from a distance of eighty or ninety yards, should have been attended with little effect upon such amazing strength. The extreme height from the crown of the elegantly moulded head to the hoof of this magnificent animal, was eighteen feet; the whole being equally divided into neck, body, and leg. Two hours were passed in com- pleting a drawing ; and Piet still not making his appearance, I cut ofiF the tail, which exceeded five feet in length, and was measurelessly the most estimable trophy I had gained ; but proceeding to saddle my horse, which I had left quietly grazing by the side of a running brook, my chagrin may be conceived, when I discovered that he had taken advantage of my occupation to free himself from his halter, and abscond. Being ten miles from the wagons, and in a perfectly strange country, I felt convinced that the only chance of recovering my pet, was by following the trail, whilst doing which with infinite, difficulty, the ground scarcely deigning to receive a foot-print, I had the satisfaction of meeting Piet and Mohany- lom, who had fortunately seen and recaptured the truant THE FIRST GIRAFFE HUNT. 569 Returning to the giraffe, we all feasted heartily upon the flesh, which, although highly scented at this season with the rank mokaala blossoms, was far from despicable ; and after losing our way in consequence of the twin-like resemblance of two scarped hills, we regained the wagons after sunset. The spell was now broken, and the secret of cameleopard hunting discovered. The next day Richardson and myself killed three ; one a female, slipping upon muddy ground, and falling with great violence, before she had been wounded, a shot in the head dispatched her as she lay. From this time we could reckon confidently upon two out of each troop that we were fortunate enough to find, always approaching as near as possible, in order to insure a good start, galloping into the middle of them, hoarding the largest, and riding with him until he fell. The rapidity with which these awk- wardly formed animals can move, is beyond all things surprising, our best horses being unable to close with them under two miles. Their gallop is a succession of jumping strides, the fore and hind leg on the same side moving together instead of diagonally, as in most other quadrupeds, the former being kept close together, and the latter so wide apart, that in riding by the animal's side, the hoof may be seen striking on the outside of the horse, momentarily threat- ening to overthrow him. Their motion, altogether, reminded me rather of the pitching of a ship, or rolling of a rocking- horse, than of any thing living ; and the remarkable gait is rendered still more automaton-like, by the switching, at regular intervals, of the long black tail, which is invariably curled above the back, and by the corresponding action of the neck, swinging as it does, like a pendulum, and literally imparting to the animal the appearance of a huge piece of machinery in motion. Naturally gentle, timid and peaceable, the unfortunate giraffe has no means of protecting- itself but with its heels; but even when hemmed into a corner, it seldom resorted to this mode of defence. I have beforo 670 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. noticed the courage evinced by our horses, in the pursuit of game. Even when brought into actual contact with these almost unearthly quadrupeds, they evinced no symptom of alarm, a circumstance which may possibly be traced to their meagre diet. The colossal height, and apparent disproportions of this extraordinary animal, long classed it with the unicorn and the sphynx of the ancients, and induced a belief that it belonged rather to the group of chimeras with which the regions of imagination are tenanted, than existed amongst the actual I works of nature. Of its form and habits, no very precise notions were obtained until within the last forty years ; and even now, the extant delineations are far from the truth, having been taken from crippled prisoners instead of from specimens free in their native deserts. The giraffe is by no means a common animal, even at its headquarters. We seldom found them without having followed the trail, and never saw more than five-and-thirty in a day. A traveller whom I met in the Cape Colony, assured me, before I visited the interior, that he had himself counted eight hundred giraffes in a single day ; and during his travels, had ridden down hundreds. On my return, however, after a little cross- examination, the number destroyed dwindled gradually down to one; which solitary individual appeared, upon further investigation, to have been been taken in a pitfall! The senses of sight, hearing and smell, are acute and delicate ; the eyes, which are soft and gentle, eclipsing those of the oft-sung gazelle of the East, and being so constructed that, without turning the head, the animal can see both before and behind it at the same time. On the forehead there is a remarkable prominence ; and the tongue has the power of mobility increased to an extraordinary degree, accompanied with the faculty of extension, which enables it, in miniature, to perform the office of the elephant's proboscis. The lofty Xnaned neck, possessing only seven joints, appears to move THE FIEST GIRAFFE HUNT. 571 on a pivot, instead of being flexible like that of the swan or peacock, to which, from its length, it has been likened. The giraffe utters no cry whatever. Both sexes have horns, covered with hair, and are similarly marked with an angular and somewhat symmetrical pattern. The male increases in depth of color according to the age, and in some specimens is nearly black; but the female is smaller in stature, and of a lighter color, approaching to yellow. Although very extensive, the range of its habitat is exclu- sively confined to those regions in which the species of mimosa termed mokaala, or kameel-doorn, is a6undant, the leaves, shoots, and blossoms of that tree being its ordinary food. On the 22d, being encamped on the banks of a small stream, a cameleopard was killed by a lion, whilst in the act of drinking, at no great distance from the wagons. It ' was a noisy affair, but an inspection of the scene on which it occurred, proved that the giant strength of the victim had been paralyzed in an instant. Authors have asserted that the king of beasts is sometimes carried fifteen or twenty miles, "riding proudly" on the back of the giraffe; but notwithstanding the amazing and acknowledged power of this superb animal, I am greatly disposed to question his ability to maintain so long a race under such merciless jockeyship ! Sensations very well described — capitally, indeed ! — only it is surprising how much alike "First Giraffe Hunts" must be, since such a remarkable coincidence of feeling expe- rienced, and of the action described, should have occurred in these two thus, performed by different persons, at an interval of ten years. The fact of their being so much alike, may console those of us in this prosy real world who may chance to be emulous of a Giraffe Hunt. CHAPTER XXVII. SOUTH AFRICAN LIONS. Now for the lordly King of Beasts ! As these wild African Hunters found him, the grandeur of his ancestral name is not a little heightened. There are some pictures of this South African monarch of the wastes furnished as well by the daring missionaries of the Christian Church in this direction, which are quite as striking as those given by the professional Hunters themselves. These we shall give after first taking the general sketch of the habits of the animal furnished by Cumming. The night of the 19th was to me rather a memorable one, as being the first on which I had the satisfaction of hearing the deep-toned thunder of the lion's roar. Although there was no one near to inform me by what beast the haughty and impressive sounds which echoed through the wilderness were produced, I had little difiSculty in divining. There was no mistake about it ; and on hearing it I at once knew, as well as if accustomed to the sound from my infancy, that the appalling roar which was uttered within half a mile of me was no other than that of the mighty and terrible king of beasts. Although the dignified and truly monarch- ical appearance of the lion has long rendered him famous among his fellow quadrupeds, and his appearance and habits have often been described by abler pens than mine, never- theless I consider that a few remarks', resulting from my own personal experience, formed by a tolerably long acquaint- ance with them both by day and by night, may not prove uninteresting to the reader. There is something so noble .572 ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 573 and imposing in the presence of the lion, when seen -walking with dignified self-possession, free and undaunted, on his native soil, that no description can convey an adequate idea of his striking appearance. The lion is exquisitely formed by nature for the predatory habits which he is destined to pursue. Combining in comparatively small compass the qualities of power and agility, he is enabled, by means of the tremendous machinery with which nature has gifted him, easily to overcome and destroy almost every beast of the forest, however superior to him in weight and stature. Though considerably under four feet in height, he has little difficulty in dashing to the ground and overcoming the lofty and apparently powerful giraffe, whose head towers above the trees of the forest, and whose skin is nearly an inch in thickness. The lion is the constant attendant of the vast herds of buBfaloes which frequent the interminable forests of the interior ; and a full-grown one, so long as his teeth are unbroken, generally proves a match for an old bull bufi"alo, which in size and strength greatly surpasses the most powerful breed of English cattle : the lion also preys on all the larger varieties of the antelopes, and on both varieties of the gnu. The zebra, which is met with in large herds throughout the interior, is also a favorite object of his puisiuit. Lions do not refuse, as has been asserted, to feast upon the venison that they have not killed themselves. I have repeatedly discovered lions of all ages which had taken possession of, and were feasting upon, the carcasses of various game quadrupeds which had fallen before my rifle. The lion is very generally diffused throughout the secluded parts of Southern Africa. He is, however, nowhere met with in great abundance, it being very rare to find more than three, or even two, families of lions frequenting the same district and drinking at the same fountain. When a greater number were met with, I remarked it was owing to long-protracted droughts,, which, by drying nearly all the 574 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. fountains, had compelled the game of various districts to crowd the remaining springs, and the lions, according to their custom, followed in the wake. It is a common thing to come upon a full-grown lion and lioness associating with three or four large ones nearly full-grown ; at other times, fuU-growi males will be found associating and hunting together in a happy state of friendship; two, three, and four full-grown male lions may thus be discovered consorting together. The male lion is adorned with a long, rank, shaggy mane, which in some instances almost sweeps the ground. The color of these manes varies, some being very dark, and others of a golden yellow. This appearance has given rise to a prevailing opinion among the Boers that there are two distinct varieties of lions, which they distinguish by the respective names of "Schwart fore life" and "Chiel fore life;" this idea, however, is erroneous. The color of the lion's mane is generally influenced by his age. He attains his mane in the third year of his existence. I have remarked that at first it is of a yellowish color ; in the prime of life it is blackest, and when he has numbered many years, but still is in the full enjoyment of his power, it assumes a yellowish- gray, pepper-and-salt sort of color. These old fellows are cunning and dangerous, and most to be dreaded. The females are utterly destitute of a mane, being covered with a short, thick, glossy coat of tawny hair. The manes and coats of lions frequenting open-lying districts utterly destitute of trees, such as the borders of the great Kalahari desert, are more rank and handsome than those inhabiting forest districts. One of the most striking things connected with the lion is his voice, which is extremely grand and peculiarly striking. It consists at times of a low, deep moaning, repeated five or six times, ending in faintly audible sighs ; at other times he startles the forest with loud, deep-toned, solemn roars, repeated five or six times in quick succession, ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 57£ each increasing in loudness to the third or fourth, -when hia voice dies away in five or six low, muffled sounds, very much resembling distant thunder. At times, and not unfrequently, a troop may be heard roaring in concert, one assuming the lead, and two, three, or four more regularly taking up their parts, like persons singing a catch. Like our Scottish stags at the rutting season, they roar loudest in cold, frosty nights; but on no occasions are their voices to be heard in such perfection, or so intensely powerful, as when two or three strange troops of lions approach a fountain to drink at the same time. When this occurs, every member of each troop sounds a bold roar of defiance at the opposite parties ; and when one roars, all roar together, and each seems to vie with his comrade in the intensity and power of his voice. The power and grandeur of these nocturnal forest concerts is inconceivably striking and pleasing to the hunter's ear. The efiiect, I may remark, is greatly enhanced when the hearer happens to be situated in the depths of the forest, at the dead hour of midnight, unaccompanied by any attend- ant, and ensconced within twenty yards of the fountain which the surrounding troops of lions are approaching. Such has been my situation many scores of times ; and though I am allowed to have a tolerable good taste for music, I consider the catches with which I was then regaled as the sweetest and most natural I ever heard. As a general rule, lions roar during the night; their sighing moans commencing as the shades of evening envelop the fdrest, and continuing at intervals throughout the night. In distant and secluded regions, however, I have constantly heard them roaring loudly as late as nine and ten o'clock on a bright sunny morning. lu hazy and rainy weather they are to be heard at every hour in the day, but their roar is subdued. It often happens that when two strange male lions meet at a fountain a terrific combat ensues, which not unfrequently ends in the death of one of them. The habits 576 WILD SCENES AND WILD HTTNTBES. of the lion are strictly nocturnal; during the day he lies concealed beneath the shade of some low, bushy tree or ■wide- spreading bush, either in the level forest or on the mountain side. He is also partial to lofty reeds, or fields of long, yellow grass, such as occur in low-lying vleys. From these haunts he sallies forth when the sun goes down, and com- mences his nightly prowl. When he is successful in his beat and has secured his prey, he does not roar much that night, only uttering occasionally a few low moans ; that is, provided no intruders approach him, otherwise the case would be very different. Lions are ever most active, daring and presuming in dark and stormy nights, and consequently, on such occasions, the traveller ought more particularly to be on his guard. I remarked a fact connected with the lion's hour of drinking peculiar to themselves; they seemed unwilling to visit the fountains with good moonlight. Thus, when the moon rose early, the lions deferred their hour of watering until late in the morning ; and when the moon rose late, they drank at a very early hour in the night. By this acute system many a grisly lion saved his bacon, and is now luxuriating in the forest of South Africa, which had otherwise fallen by the barrels of my " Westley Richards." Owing to the tawny color of the coat with which nature has robed him, he is perfectly invisible in the dark ; and although I have often heard them loudly lapping the water under my very nose, not twenty yards from me, I could not possibly make out so much as the outline of their forms. When a thirsty lion comes to water, he stretches out his massive arms, lies down on his breast to drink, and makes a loud, lapping noise in drinking not to be mistaken. He continues lapping up the water for a long while, and four or five times during the proceeding he pauses for half a minute as if to take breath. One thing conspicuous about them is their eyes, which, in a dark night, glow like two balls of fire. The female is more ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 577 fierce and active than the male, as a general rule. Lionesses •which have never had young are much more dangerous than those which have. At no time is the lion so much to be dreaded as when his partner has got small young ones. At that season he knows no fear, and, in the coolest and most intrepid manner, he will face a thousand men. A remarkable instance of this kind came under my own observation, which confirmed the reports I had before heard from the nati/es. One day, when (5ut elephant-hunting in the territory of the "Baseleka," accompanied hj Wo hundred and fifty men, I was astonished suddenly to behold a majestic lion slowly and steadily advancing toward us with a dignified step and undaunted bearing, the most noble and imposing that can be conceived. Lashing his tail from side to side, and growl- ing haughtily, his terribly expressive eye resolutely fixed upon us, and displaying a show of ivory well calculated to inspire terror among the timid " Bechuanas," he approached. A headlong flight of the two hundred and fifty men was the immediate' result ; and, in the confusion of the moment, four couples of my dogs, which they had been leading, were allowed to escape in their couples. These instantly faced the lion, who, finding that by his bsld bearing he had succeeded in putting his. enemies to flight, now became solicitous for the safety of his little family, with which the lioness was retreating in the back-ground. Facing about, he followed after them with a haughty and independent step, growling fiercely at the dogs which trotted along on either side of him. Three troops of elephants having been discovered a few minutes previous to this, upon which I was marching for the attack, I, with the most heartfelt reluctance, reserved my fire. On running down the hill sid« to endeavor to recall my dogs, I observed, for the first time, the retreating lioness with four cubs. About twenty minuteq afterwards two noble elephants repaid my forbearance. Among Indian Nimrods, a certain class of royal tigers 37 578 ■WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. is dignified with tlie appellation of "man-eaters." These are tigers which, having once tasted human flesh, show a predilection for the same, and such characters are very naturally famed and dreaded among the natives. Elderly gentlemen of similar tastes and habits are occasionally met with among the lions in the interior of South Africa, and the danger of such neighbors may be easily imagined. I account for lions first acquiring this taste in the following manner : the Bechuana tribes of the far interior do not bury their dead, but unceremoniously carry them forth, and leave them lying exposed in the forest or on the plain, a prey to the lion and hyaena, or the jackal and vulture; and I can readily imagine that a lion, having thus once tasted human flesh, would have little hesitation, when opportunity presented itsWf, of springing upon and carrying ofi" the unwary traveller or " Bechuana" inhabiting his country. Be this as it may, man-eaters occur ; and on my fourth hunting expedition, a horrible tragedy was acted one dark night in my little lonely camp by one of these formidable characters, which deprived me, in the far wilderness, of my most valuable servant. In winding up these few observations on the lion, which I trust will not have been tiresome to the reader, I may remark that lion-hunting, under any circumstances, is decidedly a dangerous pursuit. It may nevertheless be followed, to a certain extent, with comparative safety by those who have naturally a turn for that sort of thing. A recklessness of death, perfect coolness and self-possession, an acquaintance with the disposition and manners of lions, and a 'tolerable knowledge of the use of the rifle, are indispensable to him who would shine in the overpoweringly exciting pastime of hunting this justly celebrated king of beasts. It would be a pity, if, amidst his other lauded character istics, the lion should not be quite as remarkable for manners as magnanimity. Moffat, the daring agent of the London Missionary Society in South Africa, who for twenty-thref ADVENTURES 'WITH LIONS. 679 years was exposed to all the perils of gcqaeral resident, and travelling supervision, of the Society operations in that wild region, has given many striking and memorable anecdotes of the lion, which are worth comparison with the rabidly egotistical narratives of Gumming, &c. We quote one, in his own language, of the authenticity of which there can be no reasonable doubt — at least it stands upon quite as broad a basis of authenticity as any thing in that species of literature. Conversing with the party one evening, when sitting around the fire, on the conduct of children to their parents, I observed that they were as bad as lions. " They are worse," replied Africaner. This he illustrated from the well-known charac- teristics of the king of beasts ; or, more properly, king of the beasts of prey. Much has been written about African lions, but the half has not been told. The following trait in their character may not be intrusive, or partaking of the marvelous, with which the tales of some travellers are said to abound. I give it as received from men of God, and men who had been experienced Nimrods, too. The old lion, when in company with his children as the natives call them, though they are nearly as big as himself; or, when numbers together happen to come upon game, the oldest or ablest creeps to the object, while the others crouch on the grass; if he be successful, which he generally is, he retires from his victim, and lies down to breathe and rest, for perhaps a quarter of an hour ; in the meantime, the others draw around, and lie down at a respectful distance. When the chief one has got his rest, he commences at the abdomen and breast, and after making havoc with the tit-bits of the carcass, he will take a second rest, none of the others presuming to move. Having made a second gorge, he retires, the others watching his motions, rush on the remainder, and it is soon devoured. At other times, if a young lion seizes the prey, and an old one happens to come up, the younger retires till the elder has dined. This 580 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. was what Africaner called better manners than those of the Namaquas. Here are others as droll from the same source : — Passing along a vale, we came to a spot where the lion appeared to have been exercising himself in the way of leap- ing. As the natives are very expert in tracing the maneuvres of animals by their foot-marks, it was soon discovered that a large lion had crept towards a short black stump, very }ike the human form ; when within about a dozen yards, it bounded on its supposed prey, when, to his mortification, he fell a foot or two short of it. According to the testimony of a native who had been watching his motions, and who joined us soon after, the lion lay for some time steadfastly eyeing its sup- posed meal. It then arose, smelt the object, and returned to the spot from which he commenced his first leap, and leaped four several times, till at last he placed his paw on the imagined prize. On another occasion, when Africaner and an attendant were passing near the end of a hill, from which jutted out a smooth rock of ten or twelve feet high, he observed a number of zebras pressing round it, obliged to keep the path, beyond which it was precipitous, A lion was 3een creeping up towards the path, to intercept the large stallion, which is always in the rear to defend or warn the troop. The lion missed his mark, and while the zebra rushed round the point, the lion knew well, if he could mount the rock at one leap, the next would be on the zebra's back, it being obliged to turn towards the hill. He fell short, with only his head over the stone, looking at the galloping zebra switching his tail in the air. He then tried a second and a tnird leap, till he succeeded. In ,the meantime two more lions came up, and seemed to roar and talk away about something, while the old lion led them round the rock, and round it again; then he made another grand leap, to show them what he and they must do next time. Africaner added, ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 581 v^ith the DLost perfect gravity, " They evidently talked to each other, but though loud enough, I could not understand a word they said ; and, fearing lest we should be the next objects of their skill, we crept away and left them in council." This is a fine story, and I do not regard it with near the suspicion with which I do' those vaunting ones of personal adventure to which I have referred. I do not at all doubt the sagacious measuring of strength with distance by the lion. How else could certainty be secured in the next experiment — though the self-educating processes of the young lion are plainly indicated. Another story of more tragic character is given. The following fact will show the fearful dangers to which solitary travellers are sometimes exposed. ' A man belonging to Mr. Schmelen's. congregation, at Bethany, returning home- wards from a visit to his friends, took a circuitous course in order to pass a small fountain, or rather pool, where he hoped to kiU an antelope, to carry home to his family. The -sun had risen to some height by the time he reached the spot, and seeing no game, he laid his gun down on a shelving low rock, the back part of which was covered over with a species of dwarf thorn-bushes. He went to the water, took a hearty drink, and returned to the rock, smoked his pipe, and being a little tired, fell asleep. In a short time the heat reflected from the rock awoke him, and opening his eyes, he saw a large lion crouching before him, with its eyes glaring in his face, and within little more than a yard of his feet. He sat motionless for some minutes, till he had recovered his presence of mind, then eyeing his gun, moved his hand slowly towards it ; the lion seeing him, raised its head, and gave a tremendous roar; he made another and another attempt, but the gun being far beyond his reach, he gave it up, as the lion seemed well aware of his object, and was enraged whenever he attempted to move his hand. His situation now became painful in the extreme; the rock on which he sat became 582 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. SO hot that he could scarcely bear his naked feet to touch it, and kept moving them, alternately placing one above the other. The day passed, and the night also, but the lion never moved from the spot; the sun rose again, and its intense heat soon rendered his feet past feeling. At noon the lion rose and walked to the water, only a few yards distant, looking behind as it went, lest the man should move, and seeing him stretch out his hand to take his gun, turned in a rage, and was on the point of springing upon him. The animal went to the water, drank, and returning, lay down again at the edge of the rock. Another night passed ; the man, in describing it, said, he knew not whether he slept, but if he did, it must have been with his eyes open, for he always saw the lion at his feet. Next day, in the forenoon, the animal went again to the water, and while there, he listened to some noise apparently from an opposite quarter, and dis- appeared in the bushes. The man now made another effort, and seized his gun ; but on attempting to rise, he fell, his ankles being without power. With his gun in his hand, he crept towards the water, and drank ; but looking at his feet, he saw, as he expressed it, his " toes roasted," and the skin torn off with the grass. There he sat a few moments, expect- ing the lion's return, when he was resolved to send the contents of the gun through its head; but as it did not appear, tying his gun to his back, the poor man made the best of his way on his hands and knees, to the nearest path, hoping some solitary individual might pass- He could go no farther, when, providentially, a person came up, who took him to a place of safety, from whence he obtained help, though he lost his toes, and was a cripple for life. The preceding lion stories, selected from many more, will ?erve for the present to illustrate something of the character jif that noble, but dangerous creature. Here is another from Moffat, of quite as curious though rather of the opposite and a more grotesque nature. ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 583 As to his being afraid of the human eye, I shall touch on that subject in another part of my work, when I describe those which have tasted human flesh, for which they ever afterwards retain an uncommon relish. With all their bold- ness, they are sometimes arrant cowards. On one occasion, I remember a man who, coming unexpectedly on a lion, fainted. The lion raised himself to look over the bushes, aa^ seeing no one, seemed to suspect a plot, and scampered on with his tail between his legs. It is but justice to add, that the man was no less cowardly ; for, on awaking from his swoon, and looking this way and that, he imagined the object of his terror was still there, and taking to his heels, he made towards the wagon. I have known Bushmen, and even women, drive the lion away from the prey he has just seized, by beating their clubs on dry hides, and shouting ; neverthe- less, by day, and especially by night, he is an object of terror. Here is yet another, from a Missionary of South Africa, which is analogous. It is from a narrative of a visit to the Mauritius and South Africa, by James Backhouse. A Bushman residing near the Orange river, in the direc- tion of Hardcastle Kloof, was hunting with some companions, and observing a considerable number of vultures soaring in the air, he concluded that some animal had been accidentally killed, of which he might possibly obtain a share ; he therefore left his companions and repaired to the spot, where he found a hartebeest lying, off which he drove a number of these birds. On doing this, a lion, which he supposed had killed the harte- beest and satisfied its hunger, came from behind a neighboring bush and growled at him. Petrifie^d with fear, the Bushman stood perfectly still. The lion walked round him, so close as to brush him with its tail, uttering at the same time a low growl ; it went to a short distance and sat down, looking at the Bushman, who kept hia eye upon it and drew back a few paces ; but when he drew back the lion advanced, he therefore stood quite still till the 684 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. lion retired a little and lay down. The Bushman seiz&d the opportunity, picked up a few straws of dried grass and began to try to strike a light ; but as soon as the lion heard the tapping of the flint and steel, it rose again and walked around the Bushman, brushing him as before; again the Bushman was still, and again the lion retired. The Bushman once more plied his flint and steel, and again the lion advanced from his retreat. At this moment the Bushman succeedetyjn obtaining a light, but such was his terror that, forgetting himself, he continued blowing at it till it scorched his face. The lion made a stand when he saw the flame, and as this increased when the burning grass was dropped into a dry bush, the lion fled. The Bushman, who had been thus detained from noon to sunset, lost no time, when the lion was sufiiciently far gone, in also making his retreat ; he said he had never run so fast before, and when he reached his companions he was pale and sick with fright. , These missionary stories most strikingly illustrate that mysterious power over "the beasts of the field" which is undoubtedly exercised by all beings, even though they be degraded Hottentots, who chance to bear the "upturned countenance" which was stamped upon the human race as a "sign of dominion." Gumming gives a still more extraordi- nary relation of an incident of the same class which happened to himself. Although this has generally been set down as an apocryphal anecdote, yet I am, from my own experience of animals, if not for many, other reasons, disposed to believe it a real incident, and therefore give it as he tells it literally. Euyter came towards me, and I ran forward to obtain a view beyond a slight rise in the ground to see whither the lioness had gone. In so doing I came suddenly upon them, within about seventy yards ; they were standing- looking back at Ruyter. I then very rashly commenced making a rapid stalk in upon them, and fired at the nearest, having only one shot in my rifle. The ball told loudly, and the ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 585 lioness at wliich I had fired wheeled right round, and came on lashing her tail, showing her teeth, and making that horrid, murderous deep growl which an angry lion generally utters. At the same moment, her comrade, who seemed hetter t» know that she was in the presence of man, made a hasty retreat into the reeds. The instant the lioness came on, I stood up to my full height, holding my rifle, and my arms extended, and high above my head. This cheeked her in her course ; but on looking round and missing her comrade, and observing Ruyter slowly advancing, she was still more ■ exasperated, and, fancying that she was being surrounded, she made another forward movement, growling terribly. This was a moment of great danger, I felt that my only chance of safety was extreme steadiness ; so, standing motionless as a rock, with my eyes firmly fixed upon her, I called out in a clear, commanding voice, " Holloa ! old girl, what's the hurry? take it easy; holloa! holloa!" She instantly once more halted, and sedined perplexed, looking round for her comrade. I then thought it prudent to beat a retreat, which I very slowly did, talking to the lioness all the time. She seemed undecided as to her future movements, and was gazing after me and snufSng the ground when I last beheld her. But here we have another adventure of his with a lioness, too, in which he does not prove altogether so successful in "running his face" upon the roused lady of the wastes. Suddenly I observed a number of vultures seated on the plain about a quarter of a mile ahead of us, and close beside them stood a huge lioness, consuming a blesbok which she had killed. She was assisted in her repast by about a dozen jackals, which were feasting along with her in the most friendly and confidential manner. Directing my followers' attention to the spot, I remarked, "I see the lion;" to which they replied, "Whar? whar? Yah! Almagtag! dat is he;" and instantly reining in their steeds and wheeling about, 586 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. they pressed their heels to their horses' sides, and were preparing to betake themselves to flight. I asked them what they were going td do. To which they answered, "Wo have not yet placed caps on our rifles." This was true ; but while this short conversation was passing, the lioness had observed us. Raising her full, round face, she, overhauled us for a few seconds, and then set off at a smart canter towards a range of mountains some miles to the north- ■^ard ; the whole troop of jackals also started off in another direction ; there was, therefore, no time to think of caps. The first move was to bring her to bay, and not a second was to be lost. Spurring my good and lively steed, and shouting to my men to follow, I flew across the plain, and, being fortuna.tely mounted on Colesburg, the flower of my stud, I gained upon her at every stride. This was to me a joyful moment, and I at once made up my mind that she or I must die. The lioness having had a long start of me, we went over a considerable extent of ground before I came up with her. She was a large, full-grown beast, and the bare and level nature of the plain added to her imposing appearance. Finding that I gained upon her, she reduced her pace from a canter to a trot, carrying her tail stuck out behind her, and slewed a little to one side. I shouted loudly to her to halt, as I wished to speak with her, upon which she suddenly pulled up, and sat on her haunches like a dog, with her back towards me, not even deigning to look round. She then appeared to say to herself, " Does this fellow know who he is after?" Having thus sat for half a minute, as if involved in thought, she sprang to her feet, and, facing about, stood looking at me for a few seconds, moving her tail slowly from side to side, showing her teeth, and growling fiercely. She next made a short run forward, making a loud, rumbling noise like thunder. This she did to intimidate me ; but, finding that I did not flinch an inch nor seem to ADVENTURES •WITH LIONS. 587 heed her hostile demonstrations, she quietly stretched out her massive arms, and lay down on the grass. My Hottentots now coming up, we all three dismounted, and, drawing our rifles from their holsters, we looked to see if the powder was up in the nipples, and put on our caps. While this was doing the lioness sat up, and showed evident symptoms of uneasiness. She looked first at us, and then behind her, as if to see if the coast were clear ; after which she made a short run towards us, uttering her deep-drawn, murderous growls. Having secured the three horses to one another by their rheims, we led them on as if we intended to pass her, in the hope of obtaining a broadside. But this she carefully avoided to expose, presenting only her full front. I had given Stofolus ' my Moore rifle, with orders to shoot her if she should spring upon me, but on no account to fire before me. Kleinboy was to stand ready to hand me my Purdey rifle, in case the two-grooved Dixon should not prove sufficient. My men as yet had been steady, but they were in a precious stew, their faces having assumed a ghastly paleness, and I had a painful feeling that I could place no reliance on them. Now, then, for it, neck or nothing ! She is within sixty yards of us, and she keeps advancing. We turned the horses' tails to her. I knelt on one side, and, taking a steady aim at her breast, let fly. The ball cracked loudly on her tawny hide, and crippled her in the shoulder, upon which she charged with an appalling roar, and in the twinkling of an eye she was in the midst of us. At this moment Stofolus's rifle exploded in his hand, and Kleinboy, whom I had ordered to stand rcidy by me, danced about like a duck in a gale of wind. The lioness sprang upon Colesburg, and fearfully lacerated his ribs and haunches with her horrid teeth and claws ; the worst wound was on his haunch, which exhibited a sickening, yawning gash, more than twelve inches long, almost laying bare the very bone. I was very cool and steady, and 688 MILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. did not feel in the least degree nervous, having fortuna^elj great confidence in my own shooting; but I must confess, when the whole afiair was over, I felt that it was a very awful situation, and attended with extreme peril, as I had no friend with me on whom I could rely. When the lioness sprang on Colesburg, I stood out from the horses, ready with my second barrel for the first chance she should give me of a clear shot. This she quickly did ; for, seemingly satisfied with the revenge she had now taken, she quitted Colesburg, and, slewing her tail to one side, trotted sulkily past within a few paces of me, taking one step to the left. I pitched my rifle to my shoulder, and in another second the lioness was stretched on the plain a lifeless corpse. In the struggles of death she half turned on her back, and stretched her neck and fore arms con- vulsively, when she fell back to her former position; her mighty arms hung powerless by her side, her lower jaw fell, blood streamed from her mouth, and she expired. At the moment I fired my second shot, Stofolus, who hardly knew whether he was alive or dead, allowed the three horses to escape. These galloped frantically across the plain, on which he and Kleinboy instantly started after them, leaving me standing alone and unarmed within a few paces of the lioness, which they, from their anxiety to be out of the way, evidently considered quite capable of doing further mischief. Such is ever the case with these worthies, and with nearly all the natives of South Africa. No reliance can be placed on them. They will to a certainty forsake their master in the most dastardly manner in the hour of peril, and leave him in the lurch. A stranger, however, hearing these fellows recounting their own gallant adventures, when sitting in the evening along with their comrades round a blazing fire, or under the influence of their adored " Cape smoke" or native brandy, might fancy them to be the bravest of the brave. Having skinned the lioness and cut off. her head, we ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 589 placed lier trophies upon Beauty and held for camp Before we had proceeded a hundred yards from the carcass, upwards of sixty vultures, whom the lioness had often fed, were feasting on her remains. These tawny ladies appear to have a temper of their own, in common with the sex generally ; indeed, it appears to be the united testimony of travellers, that the lioness is most apt to be aggressively dangerous when she has cubs ; while the attacks of the lion are only to be greatly dreaded when wounded, while he stands on the defensive. Harris, however, exhibits the monarch in one of those grand and terrible out- bursts of apparently causeless wrath, to which he, in common with the elephant and all the larger beasts, seem to be subject, both in their native wilds and in confinement. Here is his story. Peeping out, however, to ascertain if there was any prospect of its clearing up, we perceived three lions squltted within a hundred yards, in the open plain, attentively watching the oxen. Our rifles were hastily seized, but the ' dampness of the atmosphere prevented their exploding. One after another, too, the Hottentots spra:ng out of the pack wagon, and snapped their guns at the unwelcome intruders, as they trotted sulkily away, and took up their position oq a stony eminence at no great distance. Fresh caps and priming were applied, and a broadside was followed by the instantaneous demise of the largest, whose cranium was perforated by two bullets at the same instant. Swinging their tails over their backs, the two survivors took warning by the fate of their companion, and dashed into the thicket with a, roar. In another half hour the voice of Leo was again heard at the foot of the mountains, about a quarter of a mile from the camp ; and from the wagon top we could perceive a savage monster rampant, with his tail hoisted and whirling in a circle, charging furiously along the base of the range, and in desperate wrath, making towards John April, 590 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. who was tending the sheep. Every one instinctively grasped his weapon, and rushed to the rescue, calling loudly to warn the- expected victim of his danger. Without taking the smallest notice of him, however, the infuriated monster dashed past, roaring and lashing his sides, until concealed in the mist. Those who have seen the savage monarch of the forest, in crippled captivity only, immured in a cage barely double his own length, with his sinews relaxed by confinement, have seen but the shadow of that animal which " clears the desert with his rolling eye." This is by far the noblest picture of the king of brutes in all the magnificence of his freedom, and terror of his might and wrath, that I remember in the whole range of this species of literature. The simple grandeur of the recital is in most unfavorable contrast with a rather sputtering attempt, on the part of Gumming, to " do up the sublime," in his description of a#rencontre with the dreaded "man-eater lion," which carried off one of his men at night from the midst of his camp, and was next day slain by him. There is such huge overstraining of epithetical horrors on the part of the narrator of an event, sufiSciently hideous in itself, that I decline inserting it here — but shall quote instead from the gallant Missionary, Moffat, a much more modest and comprehensible account of an incident something parallel, which will at least convey a most clear idea of what the appetite of a lion is, as well as something of the dangers from them to be encountered by the traveller in South Africa. Having put my wagon in order, taken a driver, and a little boy as leader of the oxen, and two Barolongs, who were going to the same place, I left the station, my wife and family, for an absence of two or three months. Our journey lay over a wild and dreary country, inhabited by Balalas only, and but a sprinkling of these. • On the night of the third day's journey, having halted at a pool, (Khokhole), we listened, on the lonely plain, for the sound of an inhabitant, but all ADVBNTUKBS WITH LIONS. 591 was silent. We could discover no lights, and, amid tlie dark- ness, were unable to trace footmarks to the pool. We let loose our wearied oxen to drink and graze, but as we were ignorant of the character of the company with Which we might have to spend the night, we took a firebrand, . and examined the edges of the pool to see, from the imprints, what animals were in the habit of drinking there, and, with terror, discovered many spoors of lions. We immediately collected the oxen, and brought them to the wagon, to which we fastened them with the strongest thongs we had, having discovered in their appearance something rather wild, indi- cating that either from scent or sight, they knew danger was near. The two Barolongs had brought a young cow with them, and though I recommended their making her fast also, they very humorously replied that she was too wise to leave the wagon and oxen, even though a Hon should be scented. We took a little supper, which was followed by our evening hymn, and prayer. I had retired only a few minutes to my wagon to prepare for the night, when the whole of the oxen started to their feet. A lion had seized the cow only a few steps from their tails, and dragged it to the distance of thirty or forty yards, where we distinctly heard it tearing the animal, and breaking the bones, while its bellowings were most pitiful. When these were over, I seized my gun, but as it was too dark to see any object at half the distance, I aimed at the spot where the devouring jaws of the lion were heard. I fired again and again, to which he replied with tremendous roars, at the same time making a rush towards the wagon, so as exceed- ingly to terrify the oxen. The two Barolongs engaged to take firebrands, advance a few yards, and throw them at him, so as to afford me a degree of light, that I might take aim, the place being bushy. They had scarcely discharged them from their hands, when, the flame went out, and the enraged animal rushed towards them with such swiftness, that I had 592 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. barely time to turn the gun and fire between the men and the lion, and providentially the ball struck the ground imme- diately under his head, as we found by examination the following morning. From this surprise he returned, growling dreadfully. The men darted through some thorn-bushes with countenances indicative of the utmost terror. It was now the opinion of all that we had better let him alone if he did not molest us. Having but a scanty supply of wood to keep up a fire, one man crept among the bushes on one side of the pool, while I proceeded for the same purpose on the other side. I had not gone far, when, looking upward to the edge of the small basin, I discerned between me and the sky four animals, whose attention appeared to be directed to me, by the noise I made in breaking a dry stick. On closer inspection, I found that the large, round, hairy-headed visiters were lions; and retreated on my hands and feet towards the other side of the pool, when coming to my wagon-driver, to inform him of our danger, I found him looking, with no little alarm, in an opposite direction, and with good reason, as no fewer than two lions, with a cub, »were eyeing us both, apparently as uncertain about us as we were distrustful of them. They appeared, as they always do in the dark, twice the usual size. We thankfully decamped to the wagon, and sat down to keep alive our scanty fire, while we listened to the lion tearing and devouring his prey. When any of the other hungry lions dared to approach, he would pursue them for some paces, with a horrible howl, which made our poor oxen tremble, and produced any thing but agreeable sensations in ourselves. We had reason for alarm, lest any of the six lions we saw, fearless of our small fire, might rush in among us. The two Barolongs were grudging the lion his fat meal, and would now and then break the silence with a deep sigh, and expres- sions of regret that such a vagabond lion should have such a feast on their cow, which they anticipated would have afforded ADVENTURES WITH LIONS. 593 them many a draught of luscious milk. Before the day dawned, having deposited nearly the whole of the carcass in his stomach, he collected the head, back bone, parts of the legs, the paunch, which he emptied of its contents, and the two clubs which had been thrown at him, and walked off, leaving nothing but some fragments of bones, and one of my balls, which had hit the carcass instead of himself. When it was light we examined the spot, and found, from the foot-marks, that the lion was a large one, and had devoured the cow himself. I had some difficulty in believing this, but was fully convinced by the Barolongs pointing out to me that the foot-marks of the other lions had not come within thirty yards of the spot, two jackals only had approached to lick up any little leavings. The men pursued the spoor to find the fragments, where the lion had deposited them, while he retired to a thicket to sleep during the day. I had often heard how much a large, hungry lion would eat, but nothing less than a demonstration would have convinced me that it was possible for him to have eaten all the flesh of a good heifer, and many of the bones, for scarcely a rib was left, and even some of the marrow bones were broke as if with a hammer. After this, I think the curiosity of few would carry them so far as to desire to test the appetite of a hungry South African lion under any circumstances, where "proxy" could not conveniently be substituted as in this case, with the poor cow. Here I will take leave of the South African lion with the remark, that with all the grandeur of his roarings, his strength, and his appetite, he is on the whole a most pusil- lanimous sneak; and in consistent ferocity, is not near so much to be dreaded, or so formidable, indeed, as our Grisly Bear, which is not only fully his equal in strength, but sur- passes him in courage altogether. 38 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE RHINOCEROS AND HIPPOPOTAMUS. Our African adventurers plume themselves evidently upon having out-Heroded the llerods of all previous Romance of Hunting — ^in having capped the climax of dashing extrava- gance, by combatting both behemoth and the unicorn in their own meadows and beneath forests as hoar as their renown. It certainly constitutes a very striking ^lement of true romance — ^this picture of two young men penetrating the most ancient solitudes of earth, to battle, single-handed, with these sole representatives of monsters before the Flood, whose huge remains now fill the generations with such awe ! 594 BEHEMOTH AND THE TJNICOKN. 59li Verily the rifle has brought us back to the antediluvian prowess of that period, concerning which it is recorded, as I have before remarked, — " and there wer& giants in those Gumming, in his oiF-hand way, thus introduces us to the unicorn. Of the rhinoceros there are four varieties in South Africa, distinguished by the Bechuanas by the names of the borM^, or black rhinoceros, the keitloa, or two-horned black rhinoceros, the muchoch^, or common white rhinoceros, and the kobaoba, or long-horned white rhinoceros. Both varieties of the black rhinoceros are extremely fierce and dangerous, and rush headlong and unprovoked at any object which attracts their attention. They never attain much fat, and their flesh is tough, and not much esteemed by the Bechuanas. Their food consists almost entirely of the thorny branches of the wait-a-bit thorns. Their horns are much shorter than those of the other varieties, seldom exceeding eighteen inches in length. They are finely polished with constant rubbing against the trees. The skull is remarkably formed, its most striking feature being the tremendous thick ossification in which it ends above the nostrils. It is on this mass that the horn is supported. The horns are not connected with the skull, being attached merely by the skin, and they may thus be separated from the head by means of a sharp knife. They are hard and perfectly solid throughout, and are a fine material for various articles, such as drinking-cups, mallets for rifles, handles fot turner's tools, &c. &c. The horn is capable of a very high polish. The eyes of the rhinoceros are email and sparkling, and do not readily observe the hunter, provided he keeps to leeward of them. The skin is extremely thick, and only to be penetrated by bullets hardened with solder. During the day the rhinoceros will be found lying asleep or standing indolently in some retired 596 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. part of the forest, or under the base of the mountains, sheltered from the power of the sun by some friendly grove of umbrella-topped mimosas. In the evening they commence their nightly ramble, and wander over a great extent of country. They usually visit the fountains between the hoAirs of nine and twelve o'clock at night, and it is on these occasions that they may be most successfully hunted, and with the least danger. The black rhinoceros is subject to paroxysms of unprovoked fury, often ploughing up the ground for several yards with its horn, and assaulting large bushes in the most violent manner. On these bushes they work for hours with their horns, at the same time snorting and blowing loudly, nor do they leave them in general until they have broken them into pieces. The rhinoceros is sup- posed by many, and by myself among the rest, to be the animal alluded to by Job, chap, xxxix., verses 10 and 11, where it is written, " Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow ? or will he harrow the valleys after thee ? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great ? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him?" evidently alluding to an animal possessed of great strength and of untameable disposition, for both of which the rhinoceros is remarkable. All the four varieties delight to roll and wallow in mud, with which their rugged hides are generally incrusted. Both varieties of the black rhinoceros are much smaller and more active than the white, and are so swift that a horse with a rider on his back can rarely overtake them. The two varieties of the white rhinoceros are so similar in habits, that the description of one will serve for both, the principal difference consisting in the length and set of the anterior horn; that of the muchocho averaging from two to three feet in length, and pointing backwards, while the horn of the kobaoba often exceeds four feet in length, and inclines forward from the nose at an angle of forty-five degrees. The posterior horn of either species seldom exceeds six or seven inches in BEHEMOTH AND THE UNICOBN. 597 lengtb. The kobaoba is the rarer of the two, and it is found very far in the interior, chiefly to the eastward of the Limpopo. Its horns are very valuable for loading rodsj supplying a substance at once suitable for a sporting imple- ment and excellent for the purpose. Both these varieties of rhinoceros attain an enormous size, being the animals next in magnitude to the elephant. They feed solely on grass, carry much fat, and their flesh is excellent, being preferable to beef. They are of a much milder and more inoffensive disposition than the black rhinoceros, rarely charging their pursuer. Their speed is very inferior to that of the other varieties, and a person well mounted can overtake and shoot them. The head of these is a foot longer than that of the borM^. They generally carry their heads low, whereas the borM6, when disturbed, carries his very high, which imparts to him a saucy and independent air. Unlike the elephants, they never associate in herds, but are met with singly or in pairs. In districts where they are abundant, from three to six may be found in company, and I once saw upward of a dozen congregated together on some young grass, but such an occurrence is rare. Here, too, is his first introduction to the unicorn. Shortly after this I found myself on the banks of the stream beside which my wagons were outspanned. Follow- ing along its margin, I presently beheld a bull of the borSld, or black rhinoceros, standing within a hundred yards of me. Dismounting from my horse, I secured him to a tree, and then stalked within twenty yards of the huge beast, under cover of a large, strong bush. BorSl^, hearing me advance, came on to see what it was, and suddenly protruded his homy nose within twenty yards of me. Knowing well that a front shot would not prove deadly, I sprang to my feet and ran behind the bush. Upon this the villain charged, blowing loudly, and chased me round the bush. Had his activity been equal to his ugliness, my wanderings would 598 WILD SCESES AND WILD HUNTERS. have terminated here, but by my superior agility I had the advantage in the turn. After standing a short time, eyeing me through the bush, he got a -whiff of my wind, which at once alarmed him. Tittering a blowing noise, and erecting his insignificant yet saucy-looking tail, he wheeled about, leaving me master of the field, when I sent a bullet through his ribs, to teach him manners. But the most extraordinary fact connected with the history of the rhinoceros comes under the observation of Gumming immediately after this incident. It is thus introduced : — On the forenoon of the 23d a native came and informed me that he had discovered a white rhinoceros lying asleep in a thick cover to the south. I accordingly accompanied him to the spot, and commenced stalking in upon the vast muchocho. He was lying asleep beneath a shady tree, and his appearance reminded me of an enormous hog, which in shape he slightly resembles. He kept constantly flapping his ears, which they invariably do when sleeping. Before I could reach the proper distance to fire, several " rhinoceros birds," by which he was attended, warned him of his impending danger by sticking their bills into his ear, and uttering their harsh, grating cry. Thus aroused, he suddenly sprang to his feet and crashed away through the jungle at a rapid trot, and I saw no more of him. These rhinoceros birds are constant attendants upon the hippopotamus and the four varieties of rhinoceros, their object being to feed upon the ticks and other parisitic insects that swarm upon these animals. They are of a grayish color, and are nearly as large as a common thrush ; their voice is very similar to that of the mistletoe thrush. Many a time have these ever-watchful birds disappointed me in my stalk, and tempted me to invoke an anathema upon their devoted heads. They are the best friends the rhinoceros has, and rarely fail to awaken him even in his soundest nap. " Chu- kuroo" perfectly understands tHeir warning, and, springing BEHEMOTH AND THE UNICOEN. 599 to his feet, he generally first looks about him in every direc tion, after which he invariably makes oflF. I have often hunted a rhinoceros on horseback, -which led me a chase of many miles, and required a number of shots before he fell, during which chase several of these birds remained by the rhinoceros to the last. They reminded me of mariners on the deck of some bark sailing on the ocean, for they perched along his back and sides ; and as each of my bullets told on the shoulder of the rhinoceros, they ascended about six feet into the air, uttering their harsh cry of alarm, and then resumed their position. It sometimes happened that the lower branches of trees, under which the rhinoceros passed, swept them from their living deck, but they always recovered their former station ; they also adhere to the rhinoceros during the night. I have often shot these animals at mid- night, when drinking at the fountains, and the birds, imagining they were asleep, remained with them till morning, and on my approaching, before taking flight, they exerted them selves to their utmost to awaken Chukuroo from his deep sleep. This account of the bird guardians of the rhinoceros, though apparently extravagant, is not without many corres- pondencies throughout the natural world. We have among us a familiar instance in the habits of the cow-pen bird. A.udubon says, concerning it : This species derives its name from the circumstance of its frequenting cow-pens. In this respect it greatly resembles the European starling. Like that bird it follows the cattle in the fields, often alights on their backs, and may be seen diligently searching for worms and larvae among their dung. In spring, the cattle in many parts of the United States are much infested with intestinal worms, which they pass in great quantities, and on these the cow-bird frequently makes a delicious repast. Of the abundance of the rhinoceros in the upper part of 600 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. the valley of the Limpopo, Harris gives us the following graphic sketch : The country now literally presented the appearance of a menagerie ; the host of rhinoceroses in particular that daily exhibited themselves, almost exceeding belief. Whilst the camp was being formed, an ugly head might be seen pro- truded from every bush, and the possession of the ground was often stoutly disputed. In the field, these animals lost no opportunity of making themselves obnoxious — frequently charging at my elbow, when in the act of drawing the trigger at some object — and pursuing our horses with indefatigable and ludicrous industry, carrrying their noses close to the ground, moving with a mincing gait, which ill-beseemed so ungainly and ponderous a quadruped, and uttering the while, a sound between a grunt and a smothered whistle. In remov- ing the horn with an axe, the brain was discovered seated in a cavity below it, at the very extremity of the snout — a phe- nomenon in the idiosyncracy of this animal, which may in some measure account for its want of intelligence and piggish obstinacy, as well as for the extraordinary acuteness of smell with which it is endowed. Irrascible beyond all other quad- rupeds, the African rhinoceros appears subject even to unpro- voked paroxysms of reckless fury ; but the sphere of vision is so exceedingly limited, that its attacks, though sudden and impetuous, are easily eluded, and a shot behind the shoulder, discharged frOm the distance of twenty or thirty yards, generally proves fatal. On our way from the wagons to a hill, not half a mile distant, we counted no less than twenty-two of the white species of rhinoceros, and were compelled in self-defence to slaughter four. On another occasion, I was besieged in a bush by three at once, and had no little difiSculty in beating off the assailants. But we will dismiss this fierce, grotesque, and ridiculous animal, with the following striking remark from Moffat, which BEHEMOTH AND THE TJNIOORN. 601 exhibits its prodigious strength in a more formidable light than any thing else we have yet heard of it. He says, speaking of the black rhinoceros: They fear no enemy but man, and are fearless of him -when wounded and pursued. The lion flies before them like a cat ; the mohohu, the largest species, has been known even to kill the elephant, by thrusting his horn into his ribs. But Harris's account of behemoth is too graphic to be omitted or amended. Here it is : Of all the mammalia, whose portraits, drawn from ill-stuffed specimens, have been foisted upon the world, the Behemoth has perhaps been the most ludicrously misrepresented. I sought in vain for the colossal head — ^for those cavern-like jaws, garnished with elephantine tusks — or those ponderous feet with which " the formidable and ferocious quadruped" is wont " to trample down whole fields of corn during a single night." Defenceless and inoffensive, his shapeless carcass is but feebly supported upon short and disproportioned legs, and his belly almost trailing upon the ground, he may not inaptly be likened to an overgrown " prize pig." The color is pinkish brown, clouded and freckled with a darker tint. Of many that we shot, the largest measured less than five feet at the shoulder ; and the reality falling so lamentably short of the monstrous conception I had formed, the "river horse" or " sea cow," was the first, and indeed the only South African quadruped in which I felt disappointed. Our next movement brought us to the source of the Oori or Limpopo — ^the gareep of Moselekatse's dcminions. Led by many fine streams from the Cashan range, this enchanting river springs into existence as if by magic ; and rolling its deep and tranquil waters between tiers of weeping willows, through a passage in the mountain barrier, takes its course to the northward. Here we enjoyed the novel diversion of hippopotamus shooting, that animal abounding in the Lim- popo ; and dividing the empire with its amphibious neighbor, 602 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. the crocodile. Throughout the night, the unwieldy monsters might be heard snorting and blowing during their aquatic gambols, and we not unfrequently detected them in the act of sallying from their reed-grown coverts to graze by light of the moon ; never, however, venturing to any distance from the river, the strong-hold to which they betake themselves on the smallest alarm. Occasionally during the day they were to be seen basking on the shore amid oose and mud, but shots were more constantly to be had at their uncouth heads when protruded from the water to draw breath, and if killed, the bftdy rose to the surface. Vulnerable only behind the ear, however, or in the eye, which is placed in a prominence so as to resemble the garret window in a dutch house, they require the perfection of rifle practice, and after a few shots, become exceedingly shy, exhibiting the snout only, and as instantly withdrawing it. The flesh is delicious, resembling pork in flavor, and abounding in fat, which in the colony is deservedly esteemed the greatest of delicacies. The hide is upward of an inch and a half in thickness, and being scarcely flexible may be drawn from the ribs in strips, like the planks from a ship's side. Of these are manufactured a superior description of jamhoh, the elastic whip already noticed as being an indispensable piece of furniture to every boor pro- ceeding on a journey. Our followers encumbered the wagons with a large investment of them, and of the canine teeth, the ivory of which is extremely profitable. It is truly surprising how completely a little cool common sense will sometimes strip a favorite marvel of all prodigious attributes. Tlie thing was never more completely done than by Harris, in this instance. Being a clever artist himself, he took sketches of the animal on the spot; which fully confirm his words, if they were not equally strengthened by other travellers in the same region. But Mr. Gumming, however, has chosen to dissent from him after a fashion so peculiarly his own, that I cannot, among other reasons, BEHEMOTH AND THE UNICORN. resist giving it for the contrast between the mental habitudes of the two men it affords. While Harris is simply content with giving a clear and effective delineation of what he sees, Gumming is so egregiously beset with the mania for the pro- di-gi-ous and for the amplification of his own deeds, that it is evident if he had chanced to have seriously encotftitered "rats" during his "five years in South Africa," they would have been nothing short of mammoth rats — or colossal at the very least. He had come upon a herd of fourteen hippopotami, several of which he had already wounded and lost, having made his first shot at one which temporarily escaped. He says of it — The one I had first shot was now resting with half her body above water on a sand-bank in the Limpopo. From this resting-place I started her with one shot in the shoulder and another in the side of the head; this last shot set her in motion once more, and she commenced struggling in the water in the most extraordinary manner, disappearing for a few seconds, and then coming up like a great whale. Betting the whole river in an uproar. Presently she took away down the stream, holding to the other side; but, again returning, I finished her with a shot in the middle of the forehead. This proved a most magnificent specimen of the female of the wondrous hippopotamus, an animal with which I was extremely surprised and delighted. She far surpassed the brightest conceptions I had formed of her, being a larger, a more lively, and in every way a more interesting animal that certain writers had led me to expect. The "certain writers" alluded to so significantly, must include our friend Harris, who so clearly differs with the enthusiastic elephant-hunter in his admiring appreciation of the sprightly graces of the sea-cow. It is always a pity when doctors disagree, but it rather seems like adding insult to injury on the part of Gumming, when he first steals from his m^ter Harris, and then snubs him. CHAPTER XXIX. BUFFALO AND ANTELOPES OF SOUTH AFRICA. After treating of Behemoth, I suppose buffalo and antelopes must be classed as small game, although the Buffalo is represented as a larger animal than our Bison, and the Eland, which is classed as an antelope, " not unfrequentlj attains the height of nineteen hands, and weighing two thousand pounds !" Tolerable specimens these of small game for any country ! but we have to admit that all things are comparative, and where the giraffe of nineteen feet is the standard in height and the elephant of bulk, the processes in dimuendo must necessarily be slow. This South African is undoubtedly the true Buffalo, and is in some respects individually a more formidable animal than that known by the same name upon our plains. Harris speaks of a specimen of the African buffalo slain by him, standing sixteen hands and a half at the shoulder; his ponderous horns, measuring four feet from tip to tip, like a mass of rock, overshadowing his small, sinister, gray eyes, imparting a cunning gloom and vindictive expression to its head, which was of such weight that one powerful man could with difficulty lift it into the wagon; Gumming, however, surpasses him, as usual, since it required the utmOst strength of two men to lift the head of a similar monster he slew ! He says — I ordered the Bechuanas to release the dogs ; and spurring Colesberg, which I rode for the first time since the affair with the lioness, I gave chase. The buffaloes crossed the 604 AFRICAN SMALL GAME. 605 valley in front of me, and made for a succession of dense thickets in the hills to the northward. As they crossed the valley, by riding hard I obtained a broadside shot at the last bull, and fired both barrels into him. He, however, continued his course, but I presently separated him, along with two other bulls, from the troop. My rifle being a two-grooved, which is hard to load, I was unable to do so on horseback, and followed with it empty, in the hope of bringing them to bay. In passing through a grove of thorny trees I lost sight of the wounded buffalo; he had turned short and doubled back, a common practice with them when wounded. After following the other two at a hard gallop for about two miles, I was riding within five yards of their huge broad sterns. They exhaled a strong bovine smell, which came hot in my face. I expected every minute that they would come to bay, and give me time to load ; but this they did not seem disposed to do. At length, finding I had the speed of them, I increased my pace ; and going ahead, I placed myself right before the finest bull, thus expecting to force him to stand at bay ; upon which he instantly charged me with a low roar, very similar to the voice of a lion. Colesberg neatly avoided the charge, and the bull resumed his northward course. We now entered on rocky ground, and the forest became more dense as we pro- ceeded. The buffaloes were evidently making for some strong retreat. I, however, managed with much difficulty to hold them in view, following, as best I could, through thorny thickets. Isaac rode some hundreds yards behind, and kept shouting to me to drop the pursuit, or I should be killed. At last the buffaloes suddenly pulled up, and stood at bay in a thicket within twenty, yards of me. Springing from my horse, I hastily loaded my two-grooved rifle, which I had scarcely completed when Isaac rode up and inquired what had become of the buffaloes, little dreaming that they were standing within twenty yards of him. I answered by pointing 606 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. my rifle across his horse's nose, and letting fly sharp right and left at the two buffaloes. A headlong charge, accom- panied by a muffled roar, was the result. In an instant I was round a clump of tangled thorn trees ; but Isaac, by the violence of his efforts to get his horse in motion, lost his balance, and at, the same instant, his girths giving way, him- self, his saddle, and big Dutch rifle, all came to the ground together, with a heavy crash, right in the path of the infu- riated buffaloes. Two of the dogs, which had fortunately that moment joined us, met them in their charge, and, by diverting their attention, probably saved Isaac from instant destruction. The buffaloes now took up another position in an adjoining thicket. They were both badly wounded, blotches and pools of blood marking the ground where they had stood. The dogs rendered me assistance by taking up their attention, and in a few minutes these two noble bulls breathed their last beneath the shade of a mimosa grove. Each of them, in dying, repeatedly uttered a very striking, low, deep moan. This I subsequently ascertained the buffalo invariably utters when in the act of expiring. On going up to them, I was astonished to behold their size and powerful appearance. Their horns reminded me of the rugged trunk of an oak tree. Each horn was upward of a foot in breadth at the base, and together they effectually protected the skull with a massive and impenetrable shield. The horns, descending, and spreading out horizontally, com- pletely overshadowed the animal's eyes, imparting to him a look the most ferocious and sinister that can be imagined. This conveys to us a striking picture of the power aiid prowess of the individual animal, but ; although these gentle- men arts, with perhaps pardonable exaggeration, constantly using the term "vast," in reference to the herds of buffalo encountered by them in these regions, yet I am compelled to classify this use of a word so significant along with that they uniformly make of forest, which after all means in AFRICAN SMALL OAME. 607 reality, according to their own showing, nothing more than •what we term " bushy woodlands" — ^being groves of mimosa bushes or shrubs, eighteen or nineteen feet in height, on the tops of which the giraffe is represented as browsing. It sounds about as di'oU to a backwoodsman's ears to hear these shrubs called forest trees, as it would to hear a herd of three thousand buffaloes called " vast," when armies of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, are by no means considered either extraordinary or unusual on our plains. Things are comparative in more ways than one; and although the African buffalo may stand higher on its legs than our bison, the bulk is certainly not greater. And as for the petty herds in which it moves, expressing anything of that indescribable grandeur with which the American animal is poured along in countless shaggy legions over trembling plains, the very idea of comparison is like that of a mill-tail to Niagara ; or the dangers of shooting cowardly lions, helpless sea-cows, peaceful elephants and harmless giraffes, amidst the stupid, poorly armed, half-monkey tribes of Africa, accompanied by huge wains, lumbered with the luxuries of wines, cigars, tea, coffee and bread, — with the perils to be faced by the wild border hunter of America ! Mounted on his mustang, with the occasional luxury of a pack mule and coffee and sugar for the first week out, the Borderer will traverse thousands of miles alone, armed with rifle and knife, through desert regions, scour<}'i by the fiercest, most cruel, the best mounted Nomads in the world, whom he must baffle wile with wile and force by force — will meet, single-handed, the terrible Grisly Bear that knows no panic, and cannot be turned aside when roused, even by fire — or cross, unscathed, the thundering track of myriad Bisons ; and think himself very lucky, if, at the end of a year or two, after having eaten up his saddle skirts and made soup of his moccasins some half dozen times — ho gets back to a trading post or settlement. 608 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. and can obtain a taste once more of a " corn dodger," and a little "bald-face" or "old rye!" These are what we call Hunters in America, and such are the comparative conditions of suffering &ni danger in the life here and in South Africa ! yet Harris, on his return from his South African Expedition, with great simplicity, enumerates it among his other hardships, that he had lived for four or five months upon nothing but the monotonous round of tea, coffee, brandy, bread and meat ! ! ! ! Our Hunters and Hunter-Naturalists do not withal con- sider themselves heroes by any means — and would laugh at you for the supposition ; such things are too much matters of course with them. Yet I do not the less respect the manly and dashing achievements of these British South African adventurers, nor hesitate to deny to them in their fine zeal for " specimens," the true and hardy spirit of the Hunter- Naturalist. I would insist, nevertheless, upon having it understood, as before hinted, that some things are compara- tive as well as others. With one more short picture from Harris, I am done with the buffalo. He says — while on the Limpopo- Wild buffaloes, too, might often be seen from the wagons. Riding up a narrow defile, flanked by steep banks, I one morning found myself suddenly confronted with the van of a vast troop of these formidable animals, which were ascend- ing from the opposite side — their malevolent gray eyes scowling beneath a threatening brow. Unable to turn, they must have charged over me, had my horse not contrived to scramble up the bank ; from the top of which I fired both barrels into the leader, a ponderous bull, whose appearance 8ta^mped him father of the herd. Falling on his knees, the patriarch was instantly trampled under foot by his followers as they charged, bellowing, in close squadrons down the declivity, with the fury of a passing whirlwind, and making the woods re-echo to the clatter of their hoofs. a AFRICAN SHALL GAME. 609 Hut the only South African animal which at all approxi- mates in its habits the prodigious migratory movements of our bison, is a beautiful antelope of the smaller species, ailed by the Dutch Boers the Springbok. Gumming thus describes his first sight of the migrations of the springbok — A person anxious to kill many springboks might have bagged thirty or forty that morning. I never, in all my subsequent career, fell in with so dense a herd of antelopes, nor found them allow me to ride so near them. Having inspanned, we proceeded with the wagons to take up the fallen game. Vast and surprising as was the herd of spring- boks which I had that morning witnessed, it was infinitely supassed by what I beheld on the march from my vley to old Sweir's camp ; for, on our clearing the low range of hills through which the springboks had been pouring, I beheld the boundless plains, and even the hill sides which stretched away on every side of me, thickly covered, not with " herds," but with " one vast herd" of springboks ; far as the eye could strain the landscape was alive with them, until they softened down into a red mass of living creatures. To endeavor to form any idea of the amount of antelopes which I that day beheld, were vain ; but I have, nevertheless, no hesitation in stating that some hundreds of thousands of springboks were that morning within the compass of my vision-, Old Sweirs acknowledged that it was a very fair " trek-bokken," but observed that it was not many when compared with what he had seen. "You, this morning," he remarked, " behold only one flat covered with spring- boks, but I give you my word that I have ridden a long day's journey over a succession of flats covered with them, as far as I could see, as thick as sheep standing in a fold." My limits press upon me so, that, with regret, I take /cave of the antelopes, the most brilliant and interesting of the groups of African game, with a parting glimpse of the a9 610 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. magnificent riches of the great valley of the Limpopo, in strange, grotesque and lovely forms. Here may be seen the graceful pallah, shy and capricious, with knotted and excentrieally; inflected horns of extraordi- nary proportions 'J the rare and majestic water-buck, which is never found at a distance from rivers, in which he delights to plunge ; the sluggish roan antelope of the elevated downs an(J ridges, charging viciously, when unable to continue its flight, with its heavy build and size equaling that of a large horse. Here too, is found the majestic koo-doo, with its brilliant colors of lively French gray, approaching to 'blue ; with transverse white bands over the back and loins ; The grotesque and awkward gnoo wheels and prances in every direction, his shaggy and bearded head arched between slender and muscular legs ; his long, white tail streaming to the wind ; his wild, sinister eyes flashing fire, and his frequent snort, like the roar of a lion. The sassayby, with his crescent horns, drooping hind quarters and brilliant colors, purple and violet, and the hartebeest of bright orange, and legs excentrieally marked ; the splendid oryx, with its sweeping tail, reversed mane, shaggy breast ■ and straight, slender horns ; the beautiful zebra, with the more faintly banded quagga, and the riet-buck of the sedge-grown rivulets; the prodigious eland, fat always like a prize ox, and nearly as large; and most glorious of all, the swift and rare sable antelope, with its scimetar-shaped horns and snowy breast, flying along the mountain ridges. These are but a few of the twenty different varieties of the antelope, in which this veritable Paradise of the Ferse Naturae abounds, and most of those here enumerated are frequently in view in one landscape, which will yet be diversified by the presence of the larger beasts we have spoken of before. Verily is the life of the Hunter-Naturalist filled with " Wild Scenes !"