MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (leveled readers txt) 📕

Sandwich Islanders Swarming all Along The Coast Of California, Between

Which And The Sandwich Islands A Very Smart Trade Is Carried on By The

Natives And The Americans. The Vessels Employed to Perform The Voyage

Are Always Double Manned, And Once On The Shores Of California, Usually

Half Of The Crew Deserts. Accustomed to A Warm Climate And To A Life Of

Indolence, They Find Themselves Perfectly Comfortable And Happy In the

New Country. They Engage Themselves Now And Then As Journeymen, To Fold

The Hides, And, With Their Earnings, They Pass A Life Of Inebriety

Singularly Contrasting With The Well-Known Abstemiousness Of The

Spaniards. Such Men Had Fonseca Taken Into His Service, And Having

Seized upon A Small Store Of Arms And Ammunition, He Prepared for His

Expedition.

In The Meanwhile, The Governor Of Sonora Having Been Apprized of The

Movements At Monterey, Took Upon Himself To Punish The Outbreak,

Imagining That His Zeal Would Be Highly Applauded by The Mexican

Government. Just At This Period, Troops Having Come From Chihuahua, To

Quell An Insurrection Of The Conquered indians, He Took The Field In

Person, And Advanced towards California. Leaving The Ex-Governor Fonseca

And The Governor Of Sonora For Awhile, I Shall Return To My Operations

Among The Indians.

I Have Stated that Upon The Resolution Of The Shoshones To Unite The

Tribes, I Had Despatched my Old Servant To Monterey, And Gabriel To The

Nearest Apache Village. This Last Had Found A Numerous Party Of That

Tribe On The Waters Of The Colorado Of The West, And Was Coming In the

Direction Which I Had Myself Taken, Accompanied by The Whole Party. We

Soon Met; The Apaches Heard With Undeniable Pleasure The Propositions I

Made Unto Them, And They Determined that One Hundred of Their Chiefs And

Warriors Should Accompany Me On My Return To The Shoshones, In order To

Arrange With The Elders Of The Tribe The Compact Of The Treaty.

On Our Return We Passed through The Arrapahoes, Who Had Already Received

My Messengers, And Had Accepted as Well As Given The "Brides," Which

Were To Consolidate An Indissoluble Union. As To The Comanches, Seeing

The Distance, And The Time Which Must Necessarily Be Lost In going and

Returning, I Postponed* My Embassy To Them, Until The Bonds Of Union

Between The Three Nations, Shoshones, Apaches, And Arrapahoes, Should Be

So Firmly Cemented as Not To Be Broken. The Arrapahoes Followed the

Example Of The Apaches; And A Hundred warriors Well Mounted and

Equipped, Joined us To Go And See The Fathers, The Shoshones, And, Smoke

With Them The Calumet Of* Eternal Peace.

We Were Now A Gallant Band, Two Hundred and Fifty Strong And In order To

Find Game Sufficient For The Subsistence Of Many Individuals, We Were

Obliged to Take A Long Range To The South, So As To Fall Upon The

Prairies Bordering The Buona Ventura.* Chance, However, Led us Into A

Struggle, In which Became Afterwards Deeply Involved. Scarcely Had We

Reached the River When We Met With A Company Of Fifteen Individuals

Composed of Some Of My Old Monterey Friends. They Were On Their Way To

The Settlement, To Ask My Help Against The Governor Of Sonora; And The

Indians Being all Unanimous In their Desire To Chastise Him, And To

Acquire The Good-Will Of The Wealthy People Of Monterey, I Yielded to

Circumstance And Altered our Course To The South. My Old Servant Had

Come With The Deputation, And From Him I Learnt The Whole Of The

Transaction.

It Appears That The Governor Of Sonora Declared that He Would Whip Like

Dogs, And Hang The Best Part Of The Population Of Monterey, Principally

The Anglo-Saxon Settlers, The Property Of Whom He Intended to Confiscate

For His Own Private Use If He Could But Have Kept His Own Counsel, He

Would Of A Certainty Have Succeeded, But The Montereyans Were Aware Of

His Intentions, Even Before He Had Reached the Borders Of California.

Deputations Were Sent To The Neighbouring Towns, And Immediately A Small

Body Of Determined men Started to Occupy The Passes Through Which The

Governor Had To Proceed. There They Learnt With Dismay That The Force

They Would Have To Contend With Was At Least Ten Times More Numerous

Than Their Own; They Were Too Brave, However, To Retire Without A Blow

In Defence Of Their Independence, And Remembering The Intimacy

Contracted with Me, Together With The Natural Antipathy Of The Indians

Against The Watchinangoes, Or Mexicans, They Determined to Ask Our Help,

Offering In return A Portion Of The Wealth They Could Command In

Cattle, Arms, Ammunition, And Other Articles Of Great Value

Among Savages.

The Governor'S Army Amounted to Five Hundred men, Two Hundred of Them

Soldiers In uniform, And The Remainder Half*D Stragglers, Fond Of

Pillage, But Too Cowardly To Fight For It. It Was Agreed that I And My

Men, Being all On Horseback, Would Occupy The Prairie, Where We Would

Conceal Ourselves In an Ambush. The Montereyans And Their Friends Were

To Make Way At The Approach Of The Governor, As If Afraid Of Disclosing

The Ground; And Then, When The Whole Of The Hostile Enemy Should Be In

Full Pursuit, We Were To Charge Them In break And Put Them To Rout. All

Happened as Was Anticipated; We Mustered about Three Hundred and Fifteen

Men, Acting Under One Single Impulse, And Sanguine As To Success. On

Came The Governor With His Heroes.

A Queer Sight It Was, And A Noisy Set Of Fellows They Were;

Nevertheless, We Could See That They Were Rather Afraid Of Meeting With

Opposition, For They Stopped at The Foot Of The Hill, And Perceiving

Some Eight Or Ten Montereyans At The Top Of The Pass, They Despatched a

White Flag, To See If It Were Not Possible To Make Some Kind Of

Compromise. Our Friends Pretended to Be Much Terrified, And Retreated

Down Towards The Prairie. Seeing This, Our Opponents Became Very Brave.

They Marched, Galloped, And Rushed on Without Order, Till They Were

Fairly In our Power; Then We Gave The War-Whoop, Which A Thousand Echoes

Rendered still More Terrible.

We Fired not A Bullet, We Shot Not An Arrow, Yet We Obtained a Signal

Victory. Soldiers And Stragglers Threw Themselves On The Ground To

Escape From Death; While The Governor, Trusting To His Horse'S Speed,

Darted away To Save Himself. Yet His Cowardice Cost Him His Life, For

His Horse Tumbling Down, He Broke His Neck. Thus Perished the Only

Victim Of This Campaign.

We Took The Guns And Ammunition Of Our Vanquished opponents, Leaving

Them Only One Fusil For Every Ten Men, With A Number Of Cartridges

Sufficient To Prevent Their Starving On Their Return Home. Their Leader

Was Buried where He Had Fallen, And Thus Ended this Mock Engagement. Yet

Another Battle Was To Be Fought, Which, Though Successful, Did Not

Terminate In quite So Ludicrous A Manner.

By This Time Fonseca Was Coasting along The Shore, But The

South-Easterly Winds Preventing Him From Making Monterey, He Entered

The Bay Of St. Francisco. This Settlement Is Very Rich, Its Population

Being Composed of The Descendants Of English And American Merchants, Who

Had Acquired a Fortune In the Pacific Trade; It Is Called _Yerba Buena_

(The Good Grass), From The Beautiful Meadows Of Wild Clover Which Extend

Around It For Hundreds Of Miles.

There Fonseca Had Landed with About Two Hundred rascals Of His Own

Stamp; And His First Act Of Aggression Had Been To Plunder And Destroy

The Little City. The Inhabitants, Of Course, Fled in every Direction;

And On Meeting Us, They Promised the Indians Half Of The Articles Which

Had Been Plundered from Them If We Could Overpower The Invaders And

Recapture Them. I Determined to Surprise The Rascals In the Midst Of

Their Revellings. I Divided my Little Army Into Three Bands, Giving To

Gabriel The Command Of The Apaches, With Orders To Occupy The Shores Of

The Bay And Destroy The Boats, So That The Pirates Should Not Escape To

Their Vessels. The Arrapahoes Were Left In the Prairie Around The City

To Intercept Those Who Might Endeavour To Escape By Land. The Third

Party I Commanded myself. It Consisted of Fifty Well-Armed shoshones And

Fifty-Four Mexicans From The Coast, Almost All Of Them Sons Of English

Or American Settlers.

Early In the Morning We Entered into What Had Been, A Few Days Before, A

Pretty Little Town. It Was Now Nothing But A Heap Of Ruins, Among Which

A Few Tents Had Been Spread For Night Shelter. The Sailors And Pirates

Were All Tipsy, Scattered here And There On The Ground, In profound

Sleep. The Sandwichers, Collected in a Mass, Lay Near The Tents. Near

Them Stood A Large Pile Of Boxes, Kegs, Bags, &C.; It Was The Plunder.

We Should Have Undoubtedly Seized upon The Brigands Without Any

Bloodshed had Not The Barking Of The Dogs Awakened the Sandwichers, Who

Were Up In a Moment. They Gave The Alarm, Seized their Arms, And Closed

Fiercely And Desperately With My Left Wing, Which Was Composed of The

White Men.

These Suffered a Great Deal, And Broke Their Ranks, But I Wheeled round

And Surrounded the Fellows With My Shoshones, Who Did Not Even Use Their

Rifles, The Lance And Tomahawk Performing Their Deadly Work In silence,

And With Such A Despatch In ten Minutes But Few Of The Miserable

Islanders Lived to Complain Of Their Wounds. My Mexicans, Having

Rallied, Seized upon Fonseca, And Destroyed many Of The Pirates In their

Beastly State Of Intoxication. Only A Few Attempted to Fight, The

Greater Number Staggering Towards The Beach To Seek Shelter In their

Boats. But The Apaches Had Already Performed their Duty; The Smallest

Boats They Had Dragged on Shore, The Largest They Had Scuttled and Sunk.

Charging Upon The Miserable Fugitives, They Transfixed them With Their

Spears, And Our Victory Was Complete.

The Pirates Remaining On Board The Two Vessels, Perceiving How Matters

Stood, Saluted us With A Few Discharges Of Grape And Canister, Which Did

No Execution; The Sailors, Being almost All Of Them Runaway Yankees,

Were In all Probability As Drunk As Their Companions On Shore. At Last

They Succeeded in heaving Up Their Anchors, And, Favoured by The Land

Breeze, They Soon Cleared the Bay. Since That Time Nothing Has Been

Heard Of Them.

Fonseca, Now Certain Of His Fate, Proved to Be As Mean And Cowardly As

He Had Been Tyrannical Before His Defeat. He Made Me Many Splendid

Offers If I Would But Let Him Go And Try His Fortune Elsewhere: Seeing

How Much I Despised him, He Turned to The Mexicans, And Tried them One

And All; Till, Finally, Perceiving That He Had No Hope Of Mercy, He

Began To Blaspheme So Horribly That I Was Obliged to Order Him To

Be Gagged.

The Next Morning Two Companies Arrived from Monterey, A Council Was

Convened, Twenty Of The Citizens Forming Themselves Into A Jury. Fonseca

Was Tried and Condemned, Both As A Traitor And A Pirate; And As Shooting

Would Have Been Too Great An Honour For Such A Wretch, He Was Hanged in

Company With The Few Surviving Sandwichers.

Our Party Had Suffered a Little In the Beginning Of The Action, Three

Mexicans Had Been Killed and Eighteen Wounded, As Well As Two Apaches.

Of My Shoshones, Not One Received the Smallest Scratch; And The

Arrapahoes, Who Had Been Left To Scour The Prairie, Joined us A Short

Time After The Battle With A Few Scalps.

The People Of San Francisco Were True To Their Promise; The Rescued

Booty Was Divided into Two Equal Parts, One Of Which Was Offered to The

Indians, As Had Been Agreed upon. On The Eve Of Our Departure, Presents

Were Made To Us As A Token Of Gratitude, And Of Course The Indians,

Having at The First Moment Of Their Confederation, Made Such A

Successful And Profitable Expedition, Accepted it As A Good Presage For

The Future. Their Services Being No Longer Required, They Turned towards

The North, And Started for The Settlement Under The Command Of Roche, To

Follow Up Their Original Intentions Of Visiting The Shoshones. As For

Me, I Remained behind At San Francisco.

Up To The Present Portion Of My Narrative, I Have Lived and