Bennett, Emerson - Prairie Flower 01

by The Prairie Flower (lit)

  " Whar'll ye go ?" asked his companion, in unusual glee.

  " Whar no such scamps as you can

  find me."

  " But afore you leave, I spose you'll pay your debts ? " retorted the other.

  " What debts ? "

  " Did'nt I jest win your body fixins ? "

  "Well, do you claim them, too? I thought as how you'd got enough without them."

  " ('"nini all my property wharever I can find it," returned the other, more in jest than earnest. "Of course, ef you're go in to leave, so as I won't see you agin, I can't afford to trust."

  " You'ie a villain!" cried the loser,

  turning fiercely ipon his ,'riend : " A mean, dirty, villainous thief, and a liar ! "

  "Come, come, Sam them's hard words," replied the one cal'ed Jim, in a mood of some displeasure.

  "Well they're true, you know it, and you darn't resent 'em."

  "By !" cried the other, his eyet

  flashing fire, and his whole frame trem bling with a newly roused passion "I dare and will resent it, at any time and place you please."

  "The time's now, then, and the place hearabouts."

  " And what the way ? "

  " Rifles thirty paces."

  "Enough, by !" and both proceeded

  to get their rifles and arrange themselves upon the ground a spot some forty yards distant from the encampment whither they were followed by a large crowd, all eager to be witnesses of a not uncommon, though what often proved a bloody scene, as was the case in the present instance.

  Selecting a level spot, the parties in question placed themselves back to back, and having examined their rifles, each marched forward fifteen paces, and wheel ed face to his antagonist. Sam then called out:

  "All ready?"

  " Ready," w^s the reply.

  " Somebody give the word, then," re turned the first speaker, and at the same instant both rifles were brought to the faces of the antagonists.

  For a moment a breathless silence suc ceeded, which was broken by the distinct, but ominous word,

  " Fire ! "

  Scarcely was it uttered, when crack went both rifles at once ; and bounding up from the earth, with a yell of pain, Sam fell back a corpse, pierced through the brain by the bullet of his friend. Jim was unharmed, though the ball of the other had passed through his hat and grazed the top of his head. Dropping his rifle, with a look of horror that haunts na still, he darted forward, and was the first to reach the side of the dead. Bending down, he raised the body in his arms, and wiping the blood from its face with his hands, called out, in the most endearing and piteous tones:

  ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.

  " Sam ! Sam ! look up ! speak to me ! it's Jim your friend. I did not go to do it. I was mad, or drunk. Sam ! Sam ! speak to me ! for Heaven's sake speak, if only once, and say you forgive mf ! Sam, why don't you speak ? Oh ! I shall go distracted ! My brain seems on fire! You know, dear Sam, I would not murder you you my friend my dearly loved friend the playmate of my childhood! Oh. speak ! speak ! speak ! God ! speak, Sam, if only once ! It was the cursed liquor that did it. Oh speak ! if only to curse me f God ! God ! he don't answer me ! " cried the wretched man, turning an anguished, imploring look upon the spectators, as if they could give him ' aid, and then wildly straining the dead man to his heart.

  " He'll never speak agin," said one.

  " Oh no ! do not say that ! " shrieked die duellist, " Do not say that ! or I shall go mad. I feel it here here in my head in my brain. I killed him, did I ? I killed him murdered him the only friend I had on earth ? And you all stood and saw me do it. Yes, I murdered him. See ! see ! thar's blood his blood I did it -ha, ha, ha ! " and he ended with a maniacal* laugh, threw himself upon the ground, and hugged the corpse of his friend to his heart.

  " Poor feller ! " said one, " he'd better be taken into one o' the lodges, for he looks like he'd lost his sense."

  " No, no, no ! you shan't you shan't part us ! " cried the frenzied man, draw ing his deai companion closer to his heart, a.s some of the party sought to carry out the suggestion just made. " No, no ! you shan't part us never, never, never ! This is Sam, this is Sam Murdoch he's my friend and we're goin a long journey to gether ain't we Sam ? We'll never part agin will we Sam ? Never ! never ! 0, never! ha, ha, ha! Thar! thar ! he continued, dropping the body, rising to a sitting posture, and staring wildly at some imaginary object: " I see, Sam I see! You're in great danger. That rock's about to fall. But hang on, Sam hang on to that root! Don't let go! Jim's a-comin. God ! who j» ut that chasm thar that mountain gorge to separate U* ? I can't git across. Help ! help 1 or

  Sam will die. Yes, he's fallin now ! Tharl thar ! he's goin down down down ' But heyar's what'll meet you, Sam. Comin ! comin ! " and whipping out hi knife as he said this, before any one vas aware what he was about, or had time to prevent him, he plunged it into his heart, and gasping the word " comin," rolled over upon the earth and expired beside his friend.

  I had been a silent witness of the whole bloody, terrible scene but my feelings can neither be imagined nor described. Speechless with horror, I stood and gazed like one in a nightmare, without the power to move, and was only roused from my painful revery by Huntly, who, tapping me on the shoulder, said :

  " Come away, Frank come away ! "

  Complying with his request, I turned, and together we quitted the ground, both too deeply affected and horrified at what we had seen to make a single comment.

  The mountaineers, with whom such and similar scenes were of common occurrence, proceeded to deposit the dead in a rude grave .near the spot where they had fallen. They then returned to the encampment, to take a drink to their memories, coolly talk over the " sad mishap," as they termed it, and again to engage in their usual routine of amusement or occupation. In a week the whole affair was forgotten, or mention ed only to some new comer as having hap pened " some time ago."

  Upon the mind of myself and friend, it produced an impression never to be erased ; and for a long time, apparitions of the un fortunate trappers haunted my waking senses by day, and my dreams by night.

  CHAPTER XII.

  RESOLVE TO DEPART DISCOURAGING OBSER VATIONS FAIL TO GBT A GUIDE SET OUT

  UL^'TAH FORT OUR JOURNEY TO UTAH

  LAKE KESOLVE TO CROSS THE GREAT IN TERIOR BASIN FIRST DAY'S PROGRESS

  CAMP KILL A RABBIT SUDDEN ATTAC1

  FROM THE DIGGERS REPULSE AND FORTU NATE ESCAPE.

  WE had been a month in Brown's Hole, without having seen or heard anything

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  THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR,

  concerning our old acquaintances during which time another mountaineer had been the victim of a quarrel, though his death we did not. witness when I proposed to Hu'itly to set forward at once, and leave a place so little adapted to our tastes and fee! in ;;.

  '' But where do you propose going, Frank ? " inquired my friend.

  " To California."

  " But can we find the way by our selves "

  " We shall hardly find a place less to our liking than this, at all events," I re plied.

  " But we are safe here, Frank."

  " I presume Charles Huntly does not fear danger, or he would not have ventured westward at all."

  " Enough, Frank ! Say no more ! I am your man. But when shall we start?"

  " What say you for to-morrow morn ing ?"

  " Agreed. But perhaps we can hire a guide ? "

  "We will try," I rejoined.

  But our trial proved fruitless. No guide coxilcl be found, whose love of money would tempt him, at this season of the year, to undertake the conducting of us to Califor nia : while on every hand we were assailed by the mountaineers, with the most start ling accounts of dangers from Indians, from snows, from floods, from storms, and from starvation.

  "You never can fetch through," said one. " It's a fixed impossibility."

  " You're fools ef you undertake it," join ed in another.

  " It's like jumpin on to rocks down a three hund
red foot precipice, and spectin to git off without no bones broke," rejoin ed a third.

  " Ef you know what's safe, you'll jest keep your eyes skinned, and not leave these here diggins," added a fourth.

  But these remarks, instead of discour aging us, produced exactly the opposite ef fect, and roused our ambition to encounter the formidable dangers of which, all were BO tager to warn us. To Huntl) and my self, there appeared something bold and inanly in attempting what all seemed to dread ; and to each and all I accordingly replied :

  " It is useless, gentlemen, trying to dis courage us. We have tlecided on going, and go we shall at all hazards."

  " All I've got to say, then, is, that ii'll be the last goin you'll do in this world," rejoined the friend of Black George, who seemed uncommonly loth to part with us.

  The next morning rose clear and cold for the air in this part of the coun ry had become quite frosty and agreeably to our resolve of the preceding day, we equipped ourselves and horses once more, and bid ding our mountaineer friends adieu, set forward in fine spirits shaping our course, to the best of our judgment, so as to strike the southern range of the Bear River Mountains, in the vicinity of the Utah Lake, which connects with the Great Salt Lake on the north.

  To give our progress in -detail, would only be to describe a succession of scenes, incidents, and perils, similar to those al ready set before the reader, and take up time and space which the necessity of the case requires me to use for a more imporl- ant purpose. I shall, therefore, content myself with sketching some of the mosit prominent and startling features of our route a route sufficiently full of perils, as we found to our cost, to put to ilie test the temerity and try the iron constitution of the boldest and most hardy adventurer.

  While in Brown's Hole, we had succeed ed in purchasing of one of the traders, 'it i a high price, a map and compass, whu h. he had designed especially for his own ! use, and similar to those we had provided ourselves with on starting, but which, to gether with many other valuable articles, had been left in our possible sacks at Fort Laramie.

  On our compass and map we now placed our whole dependence, as our only guide over a vast region of unexplored country or explored only by a few traders, trap pers, and Indians Fremont's Celebrated expedition, which created at the time such universal interest throughout the United Suites, not being made till some three or four years subsequent to the date of which I am writing. And here, en }» Qs*tira* would remark, that in determining our course for California, we had particular reference to the southern portion of it ; for as every reader knows, who is acquainted

  ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.

  mtfc the geography of the country, or who das taken the trouble to trace our route on the map we were already within the northeastern limits prescribed to this mighty territory.

  Lea'vingthe delightful valley of Brown's Hole, we dashed swiftly onward in a south westerly direction, and our horses being in fine traveling order, we were enabled to pass a long stretch of beautiful country, and camp, at close of day, on the banks of a stream known as Ashley's Fork. Crossing this the next morning, we contin ued on the same course as the day previ ous, and night found us safely lodged in the Uintah Fort a solitary trading post in the wilderness which was then garrisoned by Spaniards and Canadians, with a sprink ling of several other nations, together with Indian women, wives of the traders and hunters, who comprised the whole female department.

  Here we sought to procure a guide, but with the same success as before not one caring to risk his life by an experiment so fool-hardy, as undertaking a journey of many hundred miles, with a force so small, over a pathless region of territory, and either peopled not at all, or by hostile tribes of savages.

  The accounts we received from all quar ters of the dangers before us, were cer tainly enough to have intimidated and changed the designs of any less venture some than we, and less firmly tixed in a foolish determination to push to the end what at best could only be termed an idle, boyish freak. But as I said before, our nmbkion WAS roused to perform what all wi-re afraid to dare, and we pressed on ward, as reckless of consequences as though we knew our lives specially guaranteed to as, for a term of years beyond the pre sent, by a Power from on high. I have often since looked back upon this period, and shuddered at the thought of what we then dared ; and I can now only account for our temerity our indifference to the warnings we received as resulting from a kind of monomania.

  A travel of some two or three days, brought us to a stream called the Spanish Fork ; and pushing down this, through a wild gorge in the Wahsatch Mountains, we encamped the day folk wing on its

  broad, fertile bottoms, near its junction with, and in full view of the Utah Lake. We were now in the country of the Utalis, a tribe of Indians particularly hostile to small parties of whites, and the utmost caution was necessary to avoid falling into their clutches. On either hand, walling the valley on the right and left, rose wild, rugged, frowning cliffs, and peaks of mountains, lifting their heads far heaven ward, covered with eternal snows.

  At this particular spot was good grazing for our horses ; but judging by the appear ance of the country around us, and tne in formation we had received from the moun taineers, we were about to enter a sterile region, with little or no vegetation in many places devoid of water and game (our main dependence for subsistence) peopled, if at all, the Diggers only an animal of the human species the very lowest in the scale of intellect in fact scarcely removed from the brute creation who subsist upon what few roots, lizards and reptiles they can gather from the moun tains sometimes in small parties of three and four, and sometimes in numbers and who, being perfect cannibals in their habits, would not fail to destroy us if possible, were it for nothing else than to feast upon our carcasses. Take into consideration, too, our education our luxurious habits through life our inability to contend with numbers that the only benefit we could derive from our expedition would be in satisfying our boyish love of adventure and I think even the most reckless will be free to pronounce our undertaking fool hardy in the extreme.

  So far, we had been very fortunate in escaping the savages ; but from all appear ances we could not do so much longer ; and what would be the result of our meet ing, God only knew. We were now on the borders of the Great Interior Basin, a region of country containing thousands on thousands of miles, never yet explored by a white man, perhaps by no living being! Should we mafee the attempt to cross it 1 We could but lose our lives at the worst, and we might perchance succeed, and find a nearer route to Western or Southern California than the one heretofore travel ed. There was something inspiring in the thought ; and the matter was discussed m

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  THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR

  our lone camp, in the dead hours of night, with no little animation.

  " What say you, Frank ? " cried Huntly the next morning, rousing me from a sweet dream of home. "Westward or south ward?"

  "Why," I replied, "there is danger in either choice so choose for yourself."

  "Well, I am for exploring this region left blank on the map."

  " Then we will go, live or die," I re joined ; " for I long myself to behold what has never as yet been seen by one of my race."

  The matter thus decided, we mounted our horses, and keeping to the south of the Utah Lake, crossed a small stream, and about noon came to a halt on the brow of a high hill, forming a portion of the Wah- satch range. Below us, facing the west, we beheld a barren tract of land, with here and there a few green spots, and an oc casional stream sparkling in the bright sunlight, which led us to the inference that there might be oases, at intervals of a day's ride, across the whole Great Basin, to the foot of the Sierra Nevada or Snowy Range, which divides it from the pleasant valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin.

  It was a delightful day, and everything before us, even the most sterile spots, looked enchanting in the soft mellow light. Descending the mountain with not a little difficulty, we set forward across the plain, shaping our course to the nearest point likely t
o afford us a good encampment. But the distance was much farther than we had anticipated, when viewing it from the mountain ; and although we urged our beasts onward as much as they could bear, night closed around us long ere we reached it. Reach it we did at last ; and heartily fatigued with our day's work, we hoppled our horses, and without kindling a fire, or eating a morsel of food, rolled ourselves in our robes of buffalo, and fell asleep.

  The sun of the succeeding morning, shining brightly in our faces, awoke us ; and springing to our feet, wj gazed around with mingled sensations of awe and delight. Doubtless we felt, in a small degree, the emotions excited in the breast of the ad venturer, when for the first time he finds himself on ground which he fancies has Miter yet been trod nor seen by a stranger.

  We had entered a country now, which th most daring had feared or failed to explore, and we felt a noble pride in tne thought that we should be the first to lay before the world its mysteries.

  The point where we had encamped, was green and fertile, abounding with what is termed buffalo grass, with trees unlike any I had before seen, and with wild flowers innumerable. Like an island from the ocean, it rose above the desert around it, covering an area of a mile in circumfer ence, and was watered by several bright springs of delightful beverage.

  Turning our gaze to the eastward, we beheld the snowy peaks of the Wahsatch Mountains, which we had left behind us, looming up in grandeur ; while, to the westward, nothing was visible but an un broken, barren, pathless desert. Here was certainly a prospect anything but charming yet not for a moment did we waver in our determination to press onward.