Bennett, Emerson - Prairie Flower 01

by The Prairie Flower (lit)

  What a powerful engine is ridicule ! It & the battermg-raui of the mind, and will

  often destroy by a single blow the mighti est fabric of reason. It is used by fools and men whose minds are too imbecile ib cope with the edifice of thought which towers above their limited grasp ; and y«-t the very architect of such construction fears it, as does the poor red-man the annihila ting artillery of the pale-face.

  I lay and thought ; and the more I thought, the more restless I became. J rolled to and fro in an agony of mind that at last became intolerable, and I arose. Stealing quietly from the sleeping circle, I proceeded to the creek, and having moist ened my parched and feverish lips, and bathed my heated temples and brow, ] took my way thence to a little bluff on the opposite side, whence I could overlook the valley for a considerable extent.

  Seating myself upon a rock, I gazed around. Below was our camp fire, bright ly burning, beside which I could tracw, with a shadowy indistinctness, the outlines ot the sleeper's dark forms. There th.y lay, all unconscious to the outer world, perhaps enjoying the pleasure of some de lightful dream. How I envied them their sleep i Beyond them, by the same light, I could faintly perceive our animals hop pled, but not picketed, the latter being thought unnecessary quietly grazing.

  It was a warm, still, starlight night. Above me the heavens were brilliantly studded with myriads of shining orlw whose light fell softly and sweetly upon the sleeping earth. Here, not a scild floated in the clear atmosphere ; but in tl*e west I could perceive huge black clouds, lifting their ill-shaped heads above the hor izon, darting forth the red bolts of heaven, while a far-off rumbling sound came jarr ingly upon my ear.

  Fixing my gaze at last in this direction, I sat and watched the rapid progress of an approaching storm. On it came like a mighty squadron, a few fleecy clouds as banners thrown out in advance, behind which flashed and thundered its dread artillery, making the very earth tremble beneath the sound.

  From youth up, the rapid play of light ning had strongly affected my nervous sys tem, and made me a coward ; and now- lonely, sad and gloomy I was in a proper condition to feel its effects more sensibly

  ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.

  49

  than ever. Half an hour past, and the rolling clouds had darkened the western heavens, while the almost incessant flashes of fire seemed to set the earth in a blaze, and as often vanishing, left it shrouded in a darkness almost impenetrable.

  Dismal as was the scene, I sat with my eyes rivetted upon it, while a painful sense of awe made my limbs feel weak and my blood move sluggishly through my veins, or rush over me with flashes of feverish heat. Several times I arose with the in tention of returning to camp, but as often resumed my former position, as if enchain ed to the spot by some powerful magic spell.

  On came the storm with startling velo city, and presently I could see the tops of distant trees bending to the blast the rain falling in broad, white sheets, as if about to deluge ^he earth and hear the truly dismal roaring of the rushing winds. I would have returned to my companions now, but our camp afforded no protection, and I fancied myself as safe where I was. At last it broke upon me in all its force ; ard such a storm I never witnessed before, and hope never to again. I feel myself in competent to describe it. The rain fell in torrents ; the wind blew a perfect hurri cane ; and tall, old trees, which had per haps stood for centuries, were broken and uprooted ; while others, together with sur rounding rocks, were shattered by the fiery bolts, whose crashing reports fairly deaf ened me. How I maintained my position why I was not hurled headlong down the cliff is still a mystery to myself. Oc casionally I caught a glimpse of my com panions moving about below, evidently trying to secure their powder from the stomi ; while Huntly was running to and fro in search of his friend, and, to all ap pearance, surprised, alarmed and distress ed. Our animals too had become fright ened, ind, rearing and plunging, they soon broke loose of their tethers, and dashed madly over the plain in every direction. I woui d have joined my companions now, but this had become impossible ; for the rain had already swelled the little creek j between me and them into a mighty stream, | that rolled its dark, angry waters with fury ! below me, and added its sullen roar to the bowlings of the storm. I shouted, but my

  ' voice was lost even to myself in the might ier ones of the furious elements.

  Two hours two long, never-to-be-for gotten hours did the storm rage thus in fury ; and in those two hours me thought I lived a lifetime. Then to my joy it began to abate ; and in half an hour more I again beheld the twinkling stars through rents in the driving clouds ; while the flashing lightning and the roaring thunder gradu ally becoming less and less distinct to eye and ear, told me the devastating storm was fast speeding on toward the east

  I now descended to the creek to join my companions, but finding it too much swol len to attempt a passage with safety, I again ascended the cliff, and shouted to them to assure them of my safety. At first I could not make them hear ; but after repeated trials, I had the satisfaction of receiving an answering shout from Huntly, who immediately set off in the direction whence he supposed my voice proceeded. After a minute's search, during which we both called to each other continually, Hunt ly, was enabled to make out my locality but the creek prevented our meeting dur ing the night.

  At day-break I discovered him and Teddy standing on the opposite side ; and as the flood had a little subsided, I plunged in and swam across not, however, with out much difficulty and danger, nor until the rushing waters had borne me some forty cr fifty yards down the stream. No sooner was I safe on the bank, than Huntly threw his arms around my neck and wept like a child.

  " Thank God ! Frank, my friend, " he exclaimed, " that I am able to clasp you once again ! Oh ! if you could but know my feelings of last night ! I thought you were lost lost to me forever ! " and again he was forced to dash the tears from his eyes. "But tell me, Frank how came you there ? "

  I proceeded to detail every particular.

  "A horrible night to you, too, Frank, " said Huntly, in reply. " But 'hereafter, my friend, you must not steal away from me in this way. If you have trouble*, share them with me."

  Teddy was greatly rejoiced to see m also ; and he got me by the hand, and by the leg, and capered around me like

  50

  THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR

  delighted child at the same time uttering Carious phrases in his peculiar style, which, in spi f e of all that had happened, did not fail to amuse and sometimes make me laugh aloud.

  I found the trappers surly and grumbling at what they considered their ill-luck be ing for the most part in the loss of a few pounds of powder, and their mules all of which had escaped, as well as our horses.

  " Augh ! " grunted Black' George as I came up. " Glad to see you, boy. Thought vou'd gone under. It was a screecher of a night, wasn't it? Lost heaps of powder,

  and all the critters gone to the .

  Augh ! "

  My powder had fortunately been so packed that nearly all was safe ; and as I had a great store on hand, I gave each of the mountaineers a pound, which served to put them in a better humor.

  We now separated and set off in differ ent directions to hunt our animals, with the understanding that this should be our ren dezvous. We had a wearisome time of it, and it was late in the day before we all got together again. All, however, had been recovered ; and mounting, we set forward once more rather briskly, and encamped some ten miles distant.

  CHAPTER XI.

  OUR COURSE ALONG THE PLATTE KILLING

  AND DRESSING A BUFFALO THEIR PATHS

  THE PKAJRIE-DOG THEIR TOWNS, AP PEARANCE, HABITS, FOOD, ETC. THE SOL ITARY TOWER- CHIMNEY BOCK SCOTT'S

  BLUFFS ORIGIN OF VHE NAME FORT

  LARAMIE ARRIVAL AT ITS APPEARANCE,

  INMATES, ETC. CURIOSITY.

  THE next morning we set forward again, and keeping a northwesterly course, mostly over a rolling prairie, encamped on the second night on the banks of the Nebras ka or Platte river. This river is very shal lo
w, and flows over a sandy bed. We found the bottom at this point some three or four miles wide, devoid of a tree, and covered with excellent grass, besprinkled with a salinous substance, which caused our animals to devour it greedily.

  Setting our faces westward, ve now fol

  lowed the course of the Platte for sevei^l days, without a single incident occurring worth being recorded. The Platte bot toms we found to vary from two to four miles in breadth, and in some places ouj animals fared slimly. On the fourth da} Fiery Ned shot a fat buffalo, which was the first I had ever seen close at hand. This animal dies very hard, even when mortally wounded ; and an individual un- acquainted with its nature or, as th ' mountaineers would term him, a " greeu horn" though never so good a marks- I man, would assuredly fail, using the hunt- ' ers' phrase, " to throw him in his tracks." One would suppose that a shot about the head or central part of the body would I prove fatal but nothing is more errone ous. To kill a bull, the ball must either ] divide his spine, or enter his body behind j the shoulder, a few inches ab«^e the bris- ] ket this being the only point through which his heart and lungs are accessible, i And even here, the vital part of all vitality, with a ball directly through his heart, I was informed by one of the hunters that he had known an old bull run half a mile before falling.

  The buffalo killed was a fat cow ; and j turning her upon her back, the trappers proceeded to dress her in the real moun tain style. Parting tne skin from head to tail with a sharp knife, directly across the belly, they peeled down the hide on eithei side, and then taking from her the " hump rib," "tenderloin," "fleece," "tongue," and "boudins," they left the remainder, with the exception of the skin, which was thrown across one of the mules, to the vigilant care of the wolves. The "bou- din," a portion of the entrails, is consider ed by the mountaineers the titbit of all. Slightly browned over a fire, it is swallowed, yard after yard, without being separated, and, I may add, without resulting in the least inconvenience to the gormand.

  Through this section of country I ob served innumerable buffalo paths, running from the bluffs to the river, and crossing each other in every direction. These paths present a striking appearance to one unused to the sight, being more than a foot in width, some three or four inches in depth, and as smooth and even as if cut artificially.

  But to Huntly and myself- the incwt

  ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.

  amusing and interesting sights of all we saw on the route, were the towns of the prairie-dog, which are to be found at dif ferent intervals along the whole course of the sandy Platte, and through several of which we passed. The first one we came to, so astonished and interested us, that Iluntly, Teddy and myself dismounted to take a closer view, while the trappers, being of course familiar with such things, steadi ly pursued their way.

  The prairie-dog is above the size of a large gray "nuirrel, somewhat longer than a Guinea-pig, of a brownish or sandy hue, with a head- somewhat resembling a bull dog. Being of a social disposition, they collect too-eiher in lary-e bodies, and build

  their towns on a gravelly plain, some of them being miles in extent, and with a population equalling the largest cities of df America, or even Europe. Their earth en houses, which are from two to three feet in hight, are made in the form of a cone. They are entered by a hole in the top or apex, which descends vertically some three feet or more, and then takes an oblique course and connects with others in ev;ry direction. Their streets are laid out with something approaching regularity, and they evidently have a sort of police, and laws to govern them, not unlike those of superior and more enlightened beings. In some of the towns, a house larger than ordinary occupies a central position, which is tenanted by a sleek, fat dog, supposed to be the presiding functionary of the place, whose sole employment appears to be in sunning himself outside his domicil, and noting with patriarchal gravity the doings of his inferiors.

  The town which myself and companions halted to examine, was one of the larger class, and covered an area, to the best of my judgment, of at least live hundred acres. On our approach, a certain portion of the little fellows ran to' the mouth of their holes, and squatting down commenc ed a shrill barking, not unlike that made by a toy-dog whereupon the pups and smaller sized animals betook themselves with the utmost despatch to their burrows. A nearer approach drove the more daring under cover, whence they took the liberty of peeping out to examine us, and occa sionally of uttering a shrill bark, as a gen

  tle hint that our company was anything but agreeable.

  The food of these interesting little fel lows consists, for the most part, of prairia grass and roots. They live a life of con stant alarm being watched and pounced upon continually by the wolf, the hawk, the eagle, &c. They are very hospitable to such animals as choose to come and live peaceably among them and the screech owl and rattlesnake are their constant guests ; and it is not unusual, I was told, to find all three burrowed together in one hole. They are sometimes eaten by the Indian and mountaineer.

  Spending an hour or more in examining the town, we remounted our horses and soon overtook the trappers, Teddy observ ing as we quitted the village :

  " Faith, your honors, but thim is' queer bir-r-ds now, isn't they ? Och ! be me mother's hair ! it's like they've bin down to St. Louey and got the notion in their heads and think they can baat the city, the spalpeens ! I'd like 'em to go and sae Dublin, now maybe that 'ud aston ish 'em a wee bit, and give 'em some new idees respicting public idifices, jist. Ochone ! Ireland's the place to laach 'em the baastly serpints of bir-r-ds that they is."

  The first natural object of curiosity L be held after crossing the South Fork of the Platte, was the Solitary Tower, opposite which we encamped on the margin of a small stream called Little Creek. This tower, composed of sand and clay, resem bles a stone edifice, and being some seven or eight hundred feet in hight, can be seen at a distance of fifteen or twenty miles. To the distant beholder it presents the appearance of some mighty structure of feudal days ; but a near view dispels th illusion, arid the spectator sees before him only a rough, unseemly, but stupendous pile thus verifying the words of the poet, that

  "Distance lends enchantment to the view."

  I was informed by Black George, that this tower could be ascended, though at some risk to the adventurer; and that he and another trapper had made the trial some years before, and spent one cold'winter'a night in one of its damp crevices escap ing by this means a party of hostile savages

  THE PRAlKiE FLOWER; OR,

  on his trail. I did not attempt the ascent myself.

  The following day, before noon, we readied Chimney Rock, another natural curiosity, vh ch can be seen at a distance of thirty mili;s, and which afar off resem bles a shot Lower ; but as you near it, it gradually, assumes the appearance of a liaystack, with a pole protruding from the apex. It is about two hundred feet in hight, and is composed of much the same substance as the Solitary Tower. The rains are gradually wearing it away, and in course of time it will cease to be an ob ject of curiosity. Black George informed me that twenty years before, it was at least a hundred and fifty or two hundred feet above its present elevation.

  Pursuing our journey, we encamped in the evening on Scott's Bluffs, where we found a good spring, and plenty of grass for our animals. As wood was abundant here, we started a fire, and while sitting around discussing our meat and smoking our pipes, the old trapper, who had not been loquacious for several days, observed :

  " Strangers, heyar's what can't look rouua this spot without feelin badly I'll be dog-gone ef I can ! "

  " And why so ? " I asked.

  " Case one o' the almightiest best fellers yotvever seed, went under here. I knowed him like a trump ; and he was one o' them chaps you could bear to talk about real mountain grit, with a hand that u'd make your fingers ache when he squeezed 'em, and a fist that could knock a hole into your upper story and let in the atmospheric ef he didn't like ye. Yes, he was one o' the purtiest men that ever raised hair, throwed buiiler, trapped beaver, swallered " bou- dins," o
r I'm a liar. But all wouldn't do. Death sot his trap and cotched him, and left jest a few floatin sticks in the shape o' bones to let us know he was a goner. He died right down thar, 'bout six paces from whar you're settin."

  " Tell us the story."

  " It's purty easy told. Him and a heap o' other fellers had bin up on a right smart trade with the Injius, and was comin down this way, going to the States, when a lot o' the cussed varmints jumped on to 'em and stole every blessed thing they had, even to thar guns, powder, meat, and be to

  'em. Well, Jimmy Scott him as I's tell- in about he hadn't bin well for a week, and gittin aground o' fodder fetched him right over the coals. He kicked mighty hard at first ; but tindin it wasn't no use, he gin in, and told them as was with him that his time was up, and he would hev to do the rest o' his trappin in another country, and that they'd best put out while they'd got meat enough on thar bones to make wolves foller 'em. They hated to leave him like darnation but they had to do it ; and so they sot him up agin a rock and vamosed. This was about a mile down on tother side thar ; and arter they'd gone, Jimmy got up and paddled here, whar he laid down and went a wolfin. Nobody ever seed Jimmy Scott arterwards but they found his floatin sticks here, and gin this the name o' Scott's Bluffs."

  The next day, long before sundown, we came in sight of Fort Laramie, where it was the intention of Huntly and mystlf to spend a few days, to refresh ourselves and rest our animals, before attempting the perilous journey of the mountains. On our whole route, from the moment we crossed Kansas river, we had not befn gladdened by the sight of a single white man but ourselves ; and consequently my delight may be imagined, when I beht'jd the walls of this celebrated fortress appeu in the distance, and felt that there at leys! I could rest in safety.