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

Cashier, With Sixty Thousand Dollars.

"Well, As I Said, We Were Bogged; Patience Was Necessary, Laments Were

Of No Use, So We Dined with As Much Appetite As If Nothing Had Happened,

And Some Of The Regular 'Boys' Took To 'Yooka,' To Kill The Time. They

Were Regular Hands, To Be Sure, But I Was Myself Trump No. 1. Pity We

Have No Cards With Us; It Would Be Amusing To Be The First Man

Introducing That Game Into The Western Prairies. Well, I Looked on, And

By-And-Bye, I Got Tired of Being Merely A Spectator. My Nose Itched, My

Fingers Too. I Twisted my Five-Dollar Bill In all Senses, Till A Sharp

Took Me For A Flat, And He Proposed kindly To Pluck Me Out-And-Out. I

Plucked him In less Than No Time, Winning Eighty Dollars At A Sitting;

And When We Left Off For Tea, I Felt That I Had Acquired consequence,

And Even Merit, For Money Gives Both. During The Night I Was So

Successful, That When I Retired to My Berth I Found Myself The Owner Of

Four Hundred and Fifty Dollars, A Gold Watch, A Gold Pin, And A Silver

'Bacco-Box. Everything Is Useful In this World, Even Getting aground.

Now, I Never Repine At Anything.

"The Next Day Another Steam-Boat Passed, And Picked us Up. It Was One Of

Those Light Crafts Which Speculate Upon Misfortune; They Hunt After

Stranded boats, As A Wolf After Wounded deer--They Take Off The

Passengers, And Charge What They Please. From Cincinnati To St. Louis

The Fare Was Ten Dollars, And The Unconscious Wreck-Seeker Of A Captain

Charged us Twenty-Five Dollars Each For The Remainder Of The Trip--One

Day'S Journey. However, I Did Not Care.

"An Arkansas Man, Who Had No More Money, Sold Me, For Fifteen Dollars,

His Wallet, A Fine Great-Coat, Two Clean Shirts, And A Hat; From Another

I Purchased a Pair Of Bran-New, Boston-Made, Elegant Black Breeches, So

That When I Landed at St. Louis I Cut A Regular Figure, Went To

Planter'S Hotel, And In the Course Of A Week Made A Good Round Sum By

Three Lectures Upon The Vanities Of The World And The Sin Of Desponding.

Well, To Cut Matters Short--By The Bye, There Must Be Something Wrong

Stirring In the Prairie; Look At Our Horses, How Uneasy They Seem To Be.

Don'T You Hear Anything?"

Our Horses, Indeed, Were Beginning To Grow Wild With Excitement, And

Thinking That Their Instinct Had Told Them That Wolves Were Near, I Tied

Them Closer To Where We Bivouacked, And Then Applied my Ears To The

Ground, To Try And Catch Any Sound.

"I Hear No Noise," Said I, "Except The Morning Breeze Passing Through

The Withered grass. Our Horses Have Been Smelling Wolves, But The Brutes

Will Not Approach Our Fire."

The Parson, Who Had A Great Faith In my "White Indian Nature," Resumed

The Thread Of His Narrative:--

"To Cut The Matter Short, I Pass Over My Trip To New Orleans And

Galveston. Suffice It To Say, That I Was A Gentleman Preacher, With

Plenty Of Money, And That The Texans, President, Generals, And All,

Condescended to Eat My Dinners, Though They Would Not Hear My Sermons;

Even The Women Looked softly Upon Me, For I Had Two Trunks, Linen In

Plenty, And I Had Taken The Precaution In louisiana Of Getting Rid Of My

Shin-Plasters For Hard Specie. I Could Have Married anybody, If I Had

Wished, From The President'S Old Mother To The Barmaid At The Tavern. I

Had Money, And To Me All Was Smiles And Sunshine. One Day I Met General

Meyer; The Impudent Fellow Came Immediately To Me, Shook My Hand In

Quite A Cordial Manner, And Inquired how My Health Had Been Since He Had

Seen Me Last. That Was More Than My Professional Meekness Could Endure,

So I Reproached him With His Rascality And Abuse Of Hospitality Towards

Me, Adding That I Expected he Would Now Repay Me What He Had So

Unceremoniously Taken From Me While I Was Asleep. General Meyer Looked

Perfectly Aghast, And Calling Me A Liar, A Scoundrel, And A Villain, He

Rushed upon Me With His Drawn Bowie-Knife, And Would Have Indubitably

Murdered me, Had He Not Been Prevented by A Tall Powerful Chap, To Whom,

But An Hour Before, I Had Lent, Or Given, Five Dollars, Partly From Fear

Of Him And Partly From Compassion For His Destitution.

"The Next Day I Started for Houston, Where I Settled, And Preached to

Old Women, Children, And Negroes, While The White Male Population Were

Getting Drunk, Swearing, And Fighting, Just Before The Door Of The

Church. I Had Scarcely Been There A Month When A Constable Arrested me

On The Power Of A Warrant Obtained against Me By That Rascally Meyer.

Brought Up Before The Magistrate, I Was Confronted with The Blackguard

And Five Other Rascals Of His Stamp, Who Positively Took Their Oaths

That They Had Seen Me Taking The Pocket-Book Of The General, Which He

Had Left Accidentally Upon The Table In the Bar Of Tremont'S. The

Magistrate Said, That Out Of Respect For The Character Of My Profession

He Would Not Push The Affair To Extremities, But That I Must Immediately

Give Back The Two Hundred dollars Meyer Said I Had Stolen From Him, And

Pay Fifty Dollars Besides For The Expenses. In vain I Remonstrated my

Innocence; No Choice Was Left To Me But To Pay Or Go To Gaol.

"By That Time I Knew Pretty Well The Character Of The People Among Whom

I Was Living; I Knew There Was No Justice To Whom I Could Apply; I

Reckoned also That, If Once Put In gaol, They Would Not Only Take The

Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars, But Also The Whole I Possessed. So I

Submitted, As It Was The Best I Could Do; I Removed immediately To

Another Part Of Texas, But It Would Not Do. Faith, The Texans Are A Very

Ugly Set Of Gents."

"And Meyer," I Interrupted, "What Of Him?"

"Oh!" Replied the Parson, "That Is Another Story. Why, He Returned to

New Orleans, Where, With His Three Sons, He Committed an Awful Murder

Upon The Cashier Of The Legislature; He Was Getting away With Twenty

Thousand Dollars, But Being Caught In the Act, He Was Tried, Sentenced,

And Hanged, With All His Hopeful Progeny, And The Old Negro Hangman Of

New Orleans Had The Honour Of Making, In one Day, A Close Acquaintance

With A General, A Colonel, A Major, And A Judge."

"What, Talking Still!" Exclaimed the Doctor, Yawning: He Had Just Awoke.

"What The Devil Can You Have Babbled about During The Whole Blessed

Night? Why, 'Tis Morn."

Saying This, He Took Up His Watch, Looked at It, Applied it To His Ear,

To See If It Had Not Stopped, And Exclaimed:--

"By Jingo, But I Am Only Half-Past One." The Parson Drew Out His Also,

And Repeated the Same, "Half-Past One."

At That Moment The Breeze Freshened, And I Heard The Distant And Muffled

Noise, Which In the West Announces Either An Earthquake, Or An

"Estampede" Of Herds Of Wild Cattle And Other Animals. Our Horses, Too,

Were Aware Of Some Danger, For Now They Were Positively Mad, Struggling

To Break The Lassoes And Escape.

"Up!" I Cried, "Up! Gabriel, Roche, Up!--Up, Strangers, Quick! Saddle

Your Beasts! Run For Your Lives! The Prairie Is On Fire, And The

Buffaloes Are Upon Us."

They All Started upon Their Feet, But Not A Word Was Exchanged; Each

Felt The Danger Of His Position; Speed was Our Only Resource, If It Was

Not Already Too Late. In a Minute Our Horses Were Saddled, In another We

Were Madly Galloping across The Prairie, The Bridles Upon The Necks Of

Our Steeds, Allowing Them To Follow Their Instinct. Such Had Been Our

Hurry, That All Our Blankets Were Left Behind, Except That Of Gabriel;

The Lawyers Had Never Thought Of Their Saddle-Bags, And The Parson Had

Forgotten His Holsters And His Rifle.

For An Hour We Dashed on With Undiminished speed, When We Felt The Earth

Trembling Behind Us, And Soon Afterwards The Distant Bellowing, Mixed up

With The Roaring and Sharper Cries Of Other Animals, Were Borne Down

Unto Our Ears. The Atmosphere Grew Oppressive And Heavy, While The

Flames, Swifter Than The Wind, Appeared raging Upon The Horizon. The

Fleeter Game Of All Kinds Now Shot Past Us Like Arrows; Deer Were

Bounding Over The Ground, In company With Wolves And Panthers; Droves Of

Elks And Antelopes Passed swifter Than A Dream; Then A Solitary Horse Or

A Huge Buffalo-Bull. From Our Intense Anxiety, Although Our Horses

Strained every Nerve, We Almost Appeared to Stand Still.

The Atmosphere Rapidly Became More Dense, The Heat More Oppressive, The

Roars Sounded louder And Louder In our Ears; Now And Then They Were

Mingled with Terrific Howls And Shrill Sounds, So Unearthly That Even

Our Horses Would Stop Their Mad Career And Tremble, As If They

Considered them Supernatural; But It Was Only For A Second, And They

Dashed on.

A Noble Stag Passed close To Us, His Strength Was Exhausted; Three

Minutes Afterwards, We Passed him--Dead. But Soon, With The Rushing

Noise Of A Whirlwind, The Mass Of Heavier And Less Speedy Animals Closed

Upon Us: Buffaloes And Wild Horses, All Mixed together, An Immense Dark

Body, Miles In front, Miles In depth; On They Came, Trampling and

Dashing Through Every Obstacle. This Phalanx Was But Two Miles From Us.

Our Horses Were Nearly Exhausted; We Gave Ourselves Up For Lost; A Few

Minutes More, And We Should Be Crushed to Atoms.

At That Moment, The Sonorous Voice Of Gabriel Was Heard, Firm And

Imperative. He Had Long Been Accustomed to Danger, And Now He Faced it

With His Indomitable Energy, As If Such Scenes Were His Proper

Element:--"Down From Your Horses," Cried he; "Let Two Of You Keep Them

Steady. Strip Off Your Shirts, Linen, Anything That Will Catch Fire;

Quick, Not A Minute Is To Be Lost." Saying This, He Ignited some Tinder

With The Pan Of His Pistol, And Was Soon Busy In making a Fire With All

The Clothes We Now Threw To Him. Then We Tore Up Withered grass And

Buffalo-Dung, And Dashed them On The Heap.

Before Three Minutes Had Passed, Our Fire Burned fiercely. On Came The

Terrified mass Of Animals, And Perceiving The Flame Of Our Fire Before

Them, They Roared with Rage And Terror, Yet They Turned not, As We Had

Hoped. On They Came, And Already We Could Distinguish Their Horns, Their

Feet, And The White Foam; Our Fuel Was Burning Out, The Flames Were

Lowering; The Parson Gave A Scream, And Fainted. On Came The Maddened

Myriads, Nearer And Nearer; I Could See Their Wild Eyes Glaring; They

Wheeled not, Opened not A Passage, But Came On Like Messengers Of

Death--Nearer--Nearer--Nearer Still. My Brain Reeled, My Eyes Grew Dim;

It Was Horrible, Most Horrible! I Dashed down With My Face Covered, To

Meet My Fate.

At That Moment I Heard An Explosion, Then A Roar, As If Proceeding From

Ten Millions Of Buffalo-Bulls--So Stunning, So Stupifying Was The Sound

From The Mass Of Animals, Not Twenty Yards From Us. Each Moment I

Expected the Hoofs Which Were To Trample Us To Atoms; And Yet, Death

Came Not. I Only Heard The Rushing as Of A Mighty Wind And The Trembling

Of The Earth. I Raised my Head And Looked.

Gabriel At The Critical Moment Had Poured some Whisky Upon The Flames,

The Leathern Bottle Had Exploded, With A Blaze Like Lightning, And, At

The Expense Of Thousands Crushed to Death, The Animals Had Swerved from

Contact With The Fierce, Blue Column Of Fire Which Had Been Created.

Before And Behind, All Around Us, We Could See Nothing But The Shaggy

Wool Of The Huge Monsters; Not A Crevice Was To Be Seen In the Flying

Masses, But The Narrow Line Which Had Been Opened to Avoid Our Fire.

In This Dangerous Position We Remained for One Hour, Our Lives Depending

Upon The Animals Not Closing The Line: But Providence Watched over Us,

And After What Appeared an Eternity Of Intense Suspense, The Columns

Became Thinner And Thinner, Till We Found Ourselves Only Encircled with

The Weaker And More Exhausted animals Which Brought Up The Rear. Our

First Danger Was Over, But We Had Still To Escape From One As

Imminent--The Pursuing Flame, Now So Much Closer To Us. The Whole

Prairie Behind Us Was On Fire, And The Roaring Element Was Gaining On Us

With A Frightful Speed. Once More We Sprang Upon Our Saddles, And The

Horses, With Recovered wind And With Strength Tenfold Increased by Their

Fear, Soon Brought Us To The Rear Of The Buffaloes.

It Was An Awful Sight! A Sea Of Fire Roaring In its Fury, With Its

Heaving Waves And Unearthly Hisses, Approaching Nearer And Nearer,

Rushing On Swifter Than The Sharp Morning Breeze. Had We Not Just

Escaped so Unexpectedly A Danger Almost As