The Perils and Adventures of Harry Skipwith by Land and Sea
Page 5
CHAPTER FIVE.
OFF BY STEAMER TO HOUSTON--ANTS, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM--BY WAGGONTHROUGH FORESTS--SILAS SLAG, OUR KENTUCKIAN DRIVER--I BUY HORSES ANDENGAGE AN INDIAN GUIDE--THE PRAIRIE--TWO HUMAN SKULLS--THE COMANCHES.
The founders of Galveston must have been very fond of sand. It standson sand, is surrounded by sand, and in high winds almost covered withsand. We could scarcely get along: We sank over our ankles at everystep. I heard Peter groan frequently, and poor Ready dragged his wearylegs after my heels with his tongue out, till I began to be afraid thathe would go mad with the heat. As to fresh water, that seemed animpossibility, and there was nothing cooling in the appearance of thebright shining surface of the surrounding ocean. Still to stop wouldpositively have been death, so on we trudged, I doing my best to keep upthe spirits of my two-legged as well as four-legged companion. At last,in no very dignified guise, we entered among the streets of woodenhouses, bordered by odoriferous and flowering trees, which composeGalveston. Two white people carrying a load was a sight rarely seen,and when we reached the door of an hotel the clerk and waiters looked atme with so supercilious an air, that I saw it would be necessary toassume an authoritative manner.
"Here, some of you lend a hand," I exclaimed. "A pretty country this ofyours, where a gentleman on landing can find neither porter nor carriageto convey his baggage! All I can hope is that your hotel will make someamends for the inconvenience I have suffered."
The people, as I knew they would, began to defend their country, toassert that there was not a finer in the world; and then, to prove thattheir hotel was a good one, gave me one of the best rooms.
Galveston struck me as remarkable for the pungent sting of themosquitoes, the undrinkable nature of the water, and the number ofvociferating negroes, though there were some tolerable buildings andbroadish streets. Perhaps I was prejudiced, for, not feeling verycomfortable as to my safety, I was anxious to get out of the placeagain.
Having got a bill cashed at a somewhat high discount, and written homean account of my adventures to Aunt Becky, with a request that myepistle might be sent the round of the family, I put myself, with Peterand Ready, on board a steamer bound for Houston, the capital of Texas.We crossed the straits which separate Galveston from the mainland, andentering the Buffalo River found ourselves between lofty banks, coveredin the richest profusion with magnolias and other flowering shrubs, andgroves of lofty trees, among which flitted birds of the gayest plumage,while squirrels sported and leaped from branch to branch. Houston ispicturesquely situated, and will, I have no doubt, become an importantplace, as it already shows signs of the enterprise of its Anglo-Saxoninhabitants. I slept there only one night. My room was on the groundfloor. I found the four legs of my bed placed in as many basins ofwater. I inquired the reason, and was informed that it was to preventthe ants, which are not nautically inclined, from getting into it anddevouring the inhabitant in his sleep. Peter's bed, which was in thecorner of the room, was similarly guarded, and Ready very wisely jumpedup and slept on the foot of it.
The next morning Peter got up to procure water for me for washing, andto perform other duties of a valet; but scarcely had he donned hisclothes than I saw him jumping and twisting about, and slapping himselfin the most eccentric manner.
"Oh dear! oh dear! I shall be eaten, I shall be eaten!" he exclaimed,slapping himself harder and harder.
Ready barked, not knowing what to make of it, and jumped back on the bedagain. Peter set to work to tear off his clothes, which he had placedon a chair, and of which a colony of ants had taken possession. Heshook them out by hundreds, and then rushing out, he returned with abroom, with which he cleared the boards. The people of the house wererather astonished at my insisting on having a tub of cold water, whichPeter at length brought me, and I managed to dress without beingdevoured by the ants.
Two hours after this we were rattling away along the corduroy road in amail waggon, with a Kentuckian driver, through the forests of Texas. Itwas not altogether a pleasant style of locomotion, for we were bumpedabout terribly, our vehicle being innocent of springs; but it had theadvantage of novelty. We stopped at nights at settlers' huts, and slepton the roughest of rough beds, and sometimes without any beds at allexcept the bare boards and our cloaks; but I had made up my mind togrumble at nothing short of being scalped or positively starved. I hadbrought a saddle with me from England, and had procured another atGalveston for Peter, with the intention of purchasing at the firstopportunity horses for riding and for carrying the luggage and tent, andstarting away across country. I mentioned my intention to my Kentuckiandriver, Silas Slag by name.
"Then I guess, stranger, that you don't care very much about yourscalp," he observed, with a wink of his eye, as he made a significantgesture round his head.
"Why, who do you suppose would venture to take my scalp?" I asked,thinking that he was quizzing me, and wishing to turn the tables on him."Don't you know that if any one injures an Englishman, the Britishgovernment will hunt him out, in whatever part of the world he may be,and make him pay dearly for his folly?"
"I guess, stranger, that the Comanches, or any other Redskin varmint,care no more for your British government than I do, and that is about asmuch as that panther there does for your dog."
As Silas spoke, he pointed to a huge creature, which, half concealed bythe tangled underwood of a tropical forest, lay crouching down abouttwenty yards ahead of us, and apparently prepared to spring out as wepassed.
I had turned Ready out to stretch his legs, and he, unconscious ofdanger, was running on in high glee, abreast of the horses. In anotherinstant he would have been in the jaws of the wild beast. I called tohim to come to me, and at the same time lifted my rifle from the bottomof the waggon to be ready to fire. Silas whipped on his horses in thehopes of passing the creature before he could make his spring, but theanimals, aware of the approach of an enemy, began to plunge and kick,and drove the waggon against some stumps of trees amid which the roadwound, with a force which sent Peter sprawling at the bottom of it, andat the same instant the panther, with a tremendous bound, sprang on oneof the leaders. The poor brute struggled so violently, that I wasafraid of wounding it instead of killing the panther if I fired. Atlast I got a fair aim at the wild beast's head, and to my infinitesatisfaction over he rolled dead. The horses stood trembling in everylimb, but I was afraid that they would dash on, before we could put theharness to rights, and leave us in the lurch. Once more, however, wewere on the road, through a forest composed of oaks, maples, acacias,sycamores, and other trees with which I was familiar, and many others tobe found in the tropics alone, interlaced with all sorts of creepers.On either side were a vast variety of flowers of every bright hue, butthe most attractive were the red and white blossoms of the cotton trees,which, waving to and fro in the breeze, were dazzling to look at, whilehumming-birds, butterflies, and insects innumerable made the air appearas if filled with the most gorgeous gems. All this sort of scenery wasvery interesting, but I was not sorry when we reached the town ofBillyville, I think it was called, bordering the prairies, where I wastold that I could purchase horses, and find a trustworthy guide for myfarther progress.
The name of Billyville was not significant of a very important place,nor had the town any great pretension of any sort, as it consisted of afew rough huts, while the surrounding fields were full of the stumps ofthe trees which had been cut down. I bought the horses required, and onthe evening of my arrival a thin wiry little fellow presented himself,saying that his occupation was that of a hunter, and that he could guideme safely through any part of the North American continent. Whether heconsidered himself a white man or a Redskin I could not tell, while hespoke English, Spanish, and French with great volubility, though absurdas to correctness, and asserted that there was not an Indian dialectwith which he was not acquainted. His garments were of fine tannedleather and ornamented with coloured threads and beads, while a strawhat covered his head. I inquired of Silas Slag if he knew
anything ofhim. He said that he believed that he was honest, and that he had thecharacter of being a very brave fellow and a successful hunter. He wasthe sort of man I wanted, so I engaged Mr Jack Lion, as he calledhimself in English, with an Indian to assist in taking care of thehorses. An old man and a young one now joined our party, and took ourvacated places in the waggon.
We were to accompany the mail another day's journey before we turned offto the north, where Mr Lion informed me I should find numbers ofbuffaloes and other large game.
"Well, I shall be sorry to part from you, stranger," said Silas Slag, asI rode alongside him on my trusty little steed. "I hope you'll come tono harm, but you'll just remember that while you're shooting buffaloesthere'll be people maybe looking out to shoot you. Those Comanches areterrible wild chaps, and you never know where they may turn up."
We had now entered a most desolate-looking prairie country. We had lostsight of the forest through which we had been travelling, and thereappeared before us only one uniform level of dry waving grass. As werode on, I saw some white objects glittering in the sun ahead. Gettingup to them, I found that they were two human skulls and other bones.There they lay grinning at each other. Near one was the barrel and lookof a gun. Close to the other was a hatchet and a scalping-knife, andseveral tips of arrows. A tale was thus told me of how a white man andan Indian had met, and fought, and died on that spot. I had dismountedto examine these miserable relics, speaking of human sin and folly, whenSilas cried out--
"Look there, stranger; look there Jack Lion! What do you say to thoseblack spots out there? Are they birds, buffaloes, or Redskins?"
The hunter stood up in his stirrups and took a long steady gaze in thedirection Silas pointed, just as a sailor does when he is looking outfor an enemy's cruiser at sea. Suddenly dropping into his saddle, heexclaimed, "Comanches! And they are coming this way."
"Then they'll scalp every mother's son of us," cried Silas, lashing onhis horses.
"Keep together, my men, at all events," I exclaimed, as my companionsbegan to move on; and away we dashed at a rapid rate.
We had not gone far, however, when, on turning my head, I discoveredthat we were pursued, and that the strangers were coming up with us. Idesired Lion to take another look at them, and to tell me what hethought they were.
"Comanches," he answered, "Comanches, there's no doubt about it."
"Is there any place we can hope to reach where we can defend ourselvesbetter than in the open plain?" I asked.
"None, none that I know of," was the answer.
"Then let us halt at once, before we have exhausted our strength, andfight it out like men," said I.
My companions listened to my appeal. Silas stopped his horses, andunharnessing them, placed them at one end of the waggon, while wesecured our steeds at the other end. A few boxes and bales which thewaggon contained, with some stout poles ready in case of necessity torepair it, were tumbled out, and with them we formed a very imperfectbarricade for our defence. Scarcely were our fortifications finishedthan the hoarse voices of the Indians uttering their war-whoops wereborne down to our ears on the breeze. They approached. There could beno doubt about their intentions. They were in their war-paint.Brandishing their gaily ornamented spears with horrible shrieks, which Iown, in spite of my resolution, made me feel very uncomfortable, on theycame on their mustangs at full tilt towards us. We cocked our riflesand stood ready to receive them, resolving if they wanted our scalps tomake them pay dearly before they got them.