When we finally arrived at the crossing of the river, the river was belly-deep to the horses. Diego rode ahead and tested the bottom for depth. If it got too deep, we would find a better route so our packs would not get wet. We pulled out carbines out from the packs to keep them dry. Our shotguns were fastened on top of the packs. There was a big bank where we came out of the river, so Diego led us to where there was an easy slope that took us up to the level of the land.
We heard a couple distant shots, so Diego motioned us to stop and he rode up high enough to see over the bank. Then he motioned for us to come and take a look. There was a herd of about 150 horses heading for the crossing.
Diego said, “Bandits from Mexico stealing Texas horses.”
Luke said, “There are five men in the front. Let’s get them and then try to turn the horses. Whoever is shooting at them probably wants their horses back.”
I pointed at a bandit on the right and told Diego, “He is yours.”
Luke said, “I will take the middle.”
I stated “I will take the left.”
We emptied three saddles and then Luke and I rode into pistol distance and got the other two.
I then told Luke, “Turn the point.”
I rode back to get the packhorses while I was loading my carbine. One of the bandits was racing for us and I shot him out of his saddle. I immediately loaded my carbine again and I also loaded my pistol. Heavy firing broke out behind me. We saw some bandits riding away in all directions.
The horse herd now came to a halt and the horses started milling around. Luke spotted a bandit trying for the river and he shot the man with his six-gun. The horse the man was riding joined back up with the herd. Four men then rode in from the left. Diego said that they were rangers, Texas Rangers. He said that they were Texas police; we understood that.
The men came up to us with big smiles on their faces. They wanted to shake our hands, so we shook hands with them. They spoke to us in English and then they started to speak in Spanish. Diego told them that we thought they were bandits. They told us that had done our duty for Texas. Their leader was trying to tell me nice shooting but I didn’t understand him. I asked him if he spoke French. He understood me and said no, but then called out to one of his men. They called him Frenchie, and he came over to me and we exchanged pleasantries.
The French ranger then said, “The captain said that all of the horses and belongings on the men you shot now belong to the three of you.” The captain told Diego the same thing.
Diego and Luke started to bring in the dead. Luke picked up all of the weapons. I laid out a blanket and we put everything on it. Diego wanted the mens’ clothing and everything else they had on their bodies. I had never done this kind of thing before. The money, the guns, and the spurs piled up fast. We had a lot of loot. We also had a lot of food that we could use. The ammunition also piled up. I picked up one of the six guns; it was balanced perfectly. I also picked out an open holster I liked.
After we had everything gathered up, I told Diego that Luke and I would take the four carbines and he could take the other three guns. There were four six shooters and I said, “We will take two” and laid our guns aside. I picked out two sets of silver spurs and let him have the rest. We took four horses and our black back and Diego got his pick and took three horses. There were a lot of coins, Mexican and American. We had gold pieces, so we added all of the money up and divided it three ways with each of us getting equal shares. I told Diego that everything else was his. Luke got himself a knife to replace the one he gave to the Apache in Tampico.
One of the rangers came back and wanted to know if we could help them take the horses back to their rightful owners. I told him that we would help. As soon as Diego was finished packing his two packs, we took our new horses down to the water and let them drink. Frenchie said, “There is a creek a mile away that would be a lot easier,” so we headed for the creek.
Luke and Diego were both expert horsemen and were doing a fantastic job herding the horses. The horses were tired and hungry so letting them drink, we let them settle down and rest. We took care of our horses and Diego started cooking and I make up some coffee.
I put my saddle on one of our new horses and went out to ride around the herd. The captain set up watches and I ended up with the early watch with Frenchie. Diego had the midnight watch by himself, since he would be putting on the beans. I planned on starting the coffee at 4:00 a.m.
When I came back to the fire everybody was already eating. Frenchie jumped on a horse and rode around the herd. I ate and then rolled out my bed roll and rested a little. As soon as everybody was finished with the food, I helped clean everything up down by the creek. I then brought in a big handful of wood and went back to my bed roll. Luke was having a conversation with the captain. He told the captain that we were both in the Hussars and were both captains. The captain told him to stay in Texas because they needed men like us. The horses were all grazing peacefully and the night was a pleasant one.
We were going to a place close to San Antonio. Some big rancher out there owned the horses. We didn’t push the horses too much, so it was pretty easy going. The rangers didn’t have too much food, so we did the feeding. The captain kept saying that they would replace it.
Diego was slowly washing out the items that fit him and little by little he began to transform into a handsome man. One of the saddles that came with one of my horses was a nice Mexican type with silver all over it. Diego was eyeing it, so I asked him if he wanted to trade it out for one of his plain Texas saddles with a carbine scabbard. He jumped at the offer right away. I started riding the Texas saddle and I liked it.
I was mostly riding my new horses to learn how they behaved. One I definitely did not like, so I made him carry a pack. I figured I would swap him out for a niece filly or mare down the road. All four of my mares were bred, so I figured in about five months from now we would be settled down, at least for a while. I was practicing my English every chance I had.
When we finally got to the ranch from where the horses had been stolen, I sort of hated to see this drive come to an end. The ranch cowboys rode out to help us and took the horses into their pasture. A lot of the cowboys were Mexican and there were Mexican women all over the place. The owners were very nice to us. They threw a big feast and invited their neighbors. We were the honored guests. We heard a lot of talk about Indians, so when the rangers were ready to ride for San Antonio, we asked if we could go with them. They were glad to have us along.
Diego got himself a job at the ranch and a little Mexican girl sort of attached herself to him. We said goodbye to him but kind of missed him after we started riding again.
The ride to San Antonio was pleasant. The rangers were good company. In San Antonio they introduced us to just about everybody in town. We sold our four new horses and got 20 dollars apiece for them. We stayed in their hotel for four days. We bought us some supplies in their store and bought ourselves a Texas hat. The rangers gave me a map of Texas. They also tried to pay us for our supplies but we wouldn’t have it. We got us two big canteens and a couple of water bags. We said our goodbyes to the rangers and headed for New Orleans.
We practiced with our six shooters every chance we got, until we felt that we could depend on them. The Texans called them dragoons. We carried our carbines in the saddle scabbards that we got off the other saddles. We only kept one of the bandits’ saddles for our black gelding.
6
We were six days out of San Antonia when we came upon a smoldering ranch home and barn. There was a woman’s body in the yard. She had been dead for several days. We scraped out a grave and buried her. Everything had been burned. We assumed that it had been done by the Comanches we had been told about.
We went back to our old ways of not trying to show ourselves and trying to keep cover. That night, we made camp in a clump of trees. We made coffee and had a little bit o
f bacon with the last of our bread. We didn’t feel like cooking. We saddled up the next morning when we heard some shooting.
We saw a rider with 12 Comanches pursuing him. He was fairly close when he went by. Then one of the Indians shot and the rider’s horse went down. The man got behind his dead horse and started firing at the Comanches and got one of them. They were almost even with us and Luke and I fired and dropped two of them. I grabbed another carbine and so did Luke. I told him, “I got the one with the feathers,” and shot and got him. Luke shot and got another one too. The Indians veered off. We heard a shot from behind the horse and another Indian fell. This was half their number. Luke reloaded and so did I. Luke jumped on his horse, got the black gelding by the reins and raced out to the man behind the dead horse. As soon as the man saw him coming, he pulled his saddlebag and bed roll loose and got on the black. The two of them rode in. The man was grinning from ear to ear and said, “That was close.” He then reached out to shake our hands.
He noticed that our English was very poor, so he started speaking Spanish. Luke then asked him where he was going. He said that he was going to LaGrange. I looked on my map and found it. We told him that we would take him there. I asked him if the Indians would come again.
He said, “They will come for their dead. You fellows got their chief. They lost too many.”
Luke asked him, “Should we get their horses?”
The man answered, “No. We should ride out of here, now.”
He led us out and we kept close to the trees for cover. We traveled quite a ways before we stopped to eat something. We had some cheese that we had bought in San Antonio and we munched on that while the horses were grazing. That night we made a fire and had some coffee. Our friend, Jack Wesley, made biscuits so we got our bacon out and made a meal out of that. We slept on watches.
That next morning we walked the horses around and had some coffee with some leftover biscuits. We saddled up and rode out of there. Jack stopped several times and studied the tracks. He told us that Indians were around. He also said that we would be in LaGrange that night. Later, he suggested we find a good place and stay there for a while because the Indians would pick up our tracks and come after us. He said, “If we keep riding, they will find us.”
We figured that he knew what he was talking about and time meant nothing to us. Jack was riding ahead of us. We were approaching a bunch of brush and some trees where the ground fell away into a deep creek bed that you couldn’t see out of. Jack held up his hand for us to stop. He got off his horse and went ahead on foot. Then he came back. When he got to us, he told us that a big bunch of Comanches were down there with a bunch of horses and they had some white children. I wanted to take a look and so did Luke, so we rode ahead with our horses. I went to a tree and looked out from behind it. The Comanches had about 30 horses. They were making a fire and they had some white children tied up, two little ones and an older girl who looked to be about 13. The girl was stripped nude. Luke came over to where I was and so did Jack.
I said, “Luke, you shoot anyone that goes near those children.”
I then told Jack, “Get the two by the horse and I will get the chief and one other. Then we’ll charge down there and blast them with our pistols. You two take out the horses up that slope and I will get the children. We each have two carbines.”
I aimed, shot the chief, dropped my carbine, picked up the other and shot another Indian. Luke and Jack were firing too. We then raced down the bank sliding our horses and blasting away with our pistols. Luke went for the horses and I went for the kids. The Indians went into the brush. I cut the kids loose and told the two little ones to run up the bank to some horses at the top and they ran. I told the older girl to stay with me. I ran to the chief and pulled off his leather shirt and put it on the girl. I told her to jump on the chief’s horse and to help Luke and Jack. I put a couple bullets into the brush where some Indians had disappeared to. I picked up the chief’s rifle, jumped on my horse and up the step bank I went. When I got to the kids, I picked up all of our carbines and shoved everything under some ropes on the packs. I picked up the little girl and put her in front of me and put the little boy behind me. I then rode out of there leading the four packhorses. Luke, Jack, and the girl were right behind me leading the horses. Jack rode over to me and lifted the little boy from in back of me and put him on his horse with him. I told him, “We are going straight through to LaGrange.”
The four of us kept the horses together real nice. The Indians’ horses were tired but ours were not. We got to LaGrange before dark.
There was a big corral on the edge of town, so Jack rode ahead and took down some poles. We drove the horses into the corral. We then got off our horses and Luke and I started to take off the packs. Some people came from town and Jack went over and talked to them. He handed the boy to one lady and another lady came out to get the little girl. She didn’t want to leave me, but I gave her a kiss and handed her to the woman. A bunch of men came over to us and wanted to shake our hands. Then one man said something in French and when he came to shake my hand I greeted him in French. He started praising us and told us what how brave we were. They assured us that the children would be taken care of. I asked the man if we would make camp there and he told me that would be fine. He went to get us some food. The older girl wanted to camp out with us. We were her saviors.
The town’s folk brought us a big pot of stew. It was very tasty. I asked for some corn for our horses and we got that too. All of us were tired so we rolled out or bed rolls and went to sleep.
That next morning the Frenchman came out and told us to come to the store to eat. His name was Pierre LaGrange. He founded the town 20 years back. He ran the store and the bar. There were only 12 houses and a blacksmith shop. The Colorado River went by the town and there was also a rope ferry.
The breakfast lasted a couple hours. Everybody came in to have some coffee with us. I took my shadow, Little Mary, and we looked for some dresses for her in the store. We found one and she went in the back and put it on. She handed me the chief’s shirt. It was a nice shirt. A lot of work must have gone into it. I told the people inside the store what a great job Mary had done with the horses. A woman brought over the two little ones and Mary went to them. Nobody knew where the little girl had come from.
A man rode into town; he was Mary’s father. Mary ran to him and they talked. Apparently his wife was dead. Mary didn’t know what had happened to her two brothers. They were away from the house when the Comanches hit. I asked Pierre to tell Mary’s father that Luke and I were very sorry to hear about the passing of his wife. He wanted to thank us for rescuing Mary. He listened to Jack explain everything that had gone on. Jack told everyone that we were real fighting men. Pierre asked us where we had learned how to fight the way we did and I told him that we were both Hussar captains from Hungary, and that we had just gone through a war.
Jack said, “You two went in there like you were having fun.”
I told him, “I admit, we did take a calculated risk, but when there are children involved, the risk is worth it.”
Pierre said, “You two can settle down around here if you’d like. We need men like you.”
After all the chit-chat was over, we went out and fed our horses. Jack looked over the horses and picked himself out a nice one. He said that he hoped his saddle was still out there somewhere. I told him that I thought it probably was. I didn’t want to give away our Texas saddle. I liked it and planned on using it myself.
Jack said that several of the horses had Texas brands. The question was raised about what to do with the Indians’ horses. Eighteen of the horses were Indian horses.
I suggested, “We can split the horses four ways, that’s 16. We can leave the other two for Pierre for taking care of the lot.
Jack asked, “Why would we split them four ways?”
I said, “Mary helped. If you want to take five then we can
just leave Pierre one.”
Jack agreed but he didn’t like me cutting Mary in on the deal. The next day we divided up the horses. Jack picked three, Mary picked two, and then Luke and I took four. Then Jack picked out another three, Mary two more, and Luke and I another four. We left one for Pierre. Pierre offered me 12 dollars apiece for more horses, so I sold all but one. The one I kept was a light gray mare.
According to Pierre, the trail to Beaumont was a good trail and it could be traveled in a wagon. He said that we would have to cross two rivers along the way, The Brazos and the Trinity.
I asked him, “How exactly would you cross them with a wagon?”
He replied, “You lash a bunch of big logs under the wagon and float them across. You save the biggest ones for the two sides.”
We found out that there was a wagon maker in town and he had one almost finished. He wanted 75 dollars for it, including a canvas cover. I told him that we would take it. He finished the wagon three days later. We bought some harnesses and rigged it for a six-in-hand. We then loaded up our packs. I bought an axe and a shovel. Later I bought an oil lamp, some kerosine, and all of the foodstuff we needed.
Mary’s brothers came riding in one afternoon. They had decided to ride home taking Mary’s horses with them. Jack went with them too.
A little while later, a man rode into town and he knew who the little girl belonged to, so they sent word to her folks and also the boy’s folks that the kids were in LaGrange.
We took my stallion with the Indian mare and hitched them up. We put the four mares ahead in a six-in-hand and I tied the black in the back while Luke rode ahead. I started to roll out of LaGrange. We said our goodbyes to all of the folks standing outside as we pulled out.
When we got to Brazos River, we came upon a ranch house and went in to talk to the owner. The water was low and he showed us where we could cross. We were able to cross without much trouble. We asked him about the trail ahead and he told us that the trail would turn south to Galveston. He said that the old trail to Beaumont was pretty well gone. He also told us that there would be another ranch before we got to the old trail to Beaumont.
The Nagyvradi Brothers Page 6
