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

Better To Continue Our Fatiguing Journey. A Little Above Us Was Also

Discovered a Large Quantity Of Drift Timber, Left Dry Upon The Sand, And

In A Short Time Every One Of Us Were Actively Employed in preparing For

A Jovial Meal. Gabriel, Being The Best Marksman, Started for Game, And I

Continued fishing, To The Great Delight Of The Doctor And The Parson,

The First One Taking Under His Care The Cooking Department, And The Last

Scouring The Prairie To Catch Grasshoppers And Horse-Flies. In less Than

Three Hours I Had Twenty Large Trout, And A Dozen Cat-Fish, And Gabriel

Returned with Two Canadian Geese. Invigorated by An Abundant Meal And A

Warm Fire, We Soon Regained our Spirits, And That Night We Slept Sound,

And Made Up For Our Former Watching and Shivering.

The Next Morning, After Breakfast, We Filled our Saddle-Bags With The

Remainder Of Our Provisions, And Following The Stream For Ten Miles,

With Water To Our Horses' Shoulders, As Both Sides Of The River Were

Covered with Briars. The Parson Had Been Obliged to Ride Behind One Of

The Lawyers, Who Had A Strong Built, Powerful Horse; And Great Was Our

Merriment When One Of Our Steeds Stumbled into A Hole, And Brought Down

His Master With Him. For Nine Miles More We Continued wading Down The

River, Till At Last The Prickly Pears And Briars Receding From The

Banks, Allowed us Once More To Regain The Dry Ground: But We Had Not

Travelled an Hour Upon The Bank, When Our Road Was Interrupted by A

Broken Range Of Hills.

After Incredible Fatigue To Both Horses And Men, For We Were Obliged to

Dismount And Carry Our Arms And Saddle-Bags, The Ascent Was Finally

Achieved. When We Arrived at The Summit, We Found Below Us A Peaceful

And Romantic Valley, Through The Centre Of Which The River Winded its

Way, And Was Fed by Innumerable Brooks, Which Joined it In every

Direction. Their Immediate Borders Were Fringed with Small Trees, Bushes

Of The Deepest Green, While The Banks Of The River Were Skirted with A

Narrow Belt Of Timber, Of Larger And More Luxuriant Growth.

This Valley Was Encircled by The Range Of Hills We Had Ascended, So Far

As To The Belt Of The Forest. We Led our Horses Down The Declivity, And

In Less Than An Hour Found Ourselves Safe At The Bottom. A Brisk Ride Of

Three Or Four Miles Through The Valley Brought Us To The Edge Of The

Forest, Where We Encamped near A Small Creek, And After Another Good

Night'S Rest, We Pushed on Through A Mass Of The Noblest Maple And

Pine-Trees I Had Ever Seen. Now Game Abounded; Turkeys, Bears, And Deer,

Were Seen Almost Every Minute, And, As We Advanced, The Traces Of Mules

And Jackasses Were Plainly Visible. A Little Further On, The Footprints

Of Men Were Also Discovered, And From Their Appearance They Were But A

Few Hours' Old. This Sight Made Us Forget Our Fatigues, And We Hurried

On, With Fond Anticipations Of Finding a Speedy Termination To All Our

Sufferings.

Late In the Afternoon, I Killed a Very Fat Buck, And Although We Were

Anxious To Follow The Tracks, To Ascertain What Description Of

Travellers Were Before Us, Our Horses Were So Tired, And Our Appetites

So Sharpened, That Upon Reflection, We Thought It Desirable To Remain

Where We Were. I Took This Opportunity Of Making Myself A Pair Of

Mocassins, With The Now Useless Saddle-Bags Of The Parson.

That Evening We Were In high Glee, Thinking That We Had Arrived at One

Of The Recent Settlements Of Western Emigration, For, As I Have

Observed, We Had Seen Tracks Of Jackasses, And These Animals Are Never

Employed upon Any Distant Journey. We Fully Expected the Next Morning To

Find Some Log Houses, Within Ten Or Fifteen Miles, Where We Should Be

Able To Procure Another Horse For The Parson, And Some More Ammunition,

As We Had Scarcely Half A Pound Of Balls Left Between Us. The Lawyer

Enjoyed, By Anticipation, The Happiness Of Once More Filling His

Half-Gallon Flask, And The Doctor Promised to Give Us Dishes Of His Own

Invention, As Soon As He Could Meet With A Frying-Pan. In fine, So

Exuberant Were Our Spirits, That It Was Late Before We Laid Down

To Sleep.

At About Two O'Clock In the Morning, Feeling a Pressure Upon My Breast,

I Opened my Eyes, And Saw Gabriel With A Finger Upon His Lips, Enjoining

Me To Silence. He Then Informed me, In a Whisper, That A Numerous Party

Of Thieves Were In our Neighbourhood, And That They Had Already

Discovered our Horses. Taking With Us Only Our Knives And Tomahawks, We

Crawled silently Till We Came To A Small Opening In the Forest, When We

Saw Some Twenty Fellows Encamped, Without Any Light Or Fire, But All

Armed to The Teeth. Three Or Four Of Them Appeared animated in their

Conversation, And, Being Favoured by The Darkness, We Approached nearer,

Till We Were Able To Hear Every Word.

"All Sleeping Sound," Said One Of Them, "But Looking Mighty Wretched;

Not A Cent Among Them, I Am Sure; If I Can Judge By Their Clothing,

Three Of Them Are Half-Breeds."

"And The Horses?" Said Another Voice.

"Why, As To Them, They Have Only Seven," Replied the First Voice, "And

They Are Broken Down And Tired, Although Fine Animals. They Would Sell

Well After A Three Weeks' Grazing."

"Take Them Away, Then; Are They Tied?"

"Only Two."

"Break The Halters Then, And Start Them Full Speed, As If They Were

Frightened; It Will Not Awaken Their Suspicion."

"Why Not Settle The Matter With Them All At Once? We Would Get Their

Saddles."

"Fool! Suppose They Are A Vanguard Of General Rusk'S Army, And One Of

Them Should Escape? No; To-Morrow At Sunrise They Will Run Upon The

Tracks Of Their Horses, And Leave Their Saddles And Saddle-Bags Behind;

Three Men Shall Remain Here, To Secure The Plunder, And When The Ducks

(Travellers) Are Fairly Entangled in the Forest, Being On Foot, We Can

Do What We Please."

Others Then Joined the Conversation, And Gabriel And I Returned to Our

Friends As Silently As We Left Them. Half An Hour Afterwards We Heard

The Galloping Of Our Horses, In a Southerly Direction, And Gabriel Going

Once More To Reconnoitre, Perceived the Band Taking another Course,

Towards The East, Leaving, As They Had Proposed, Three Of Their Men

Behind Them. For A Few Minutes He Heard These Men Canvassing as To The

Best Means Of Carrying The Saddles, And Having Drank Pretty Freely From

A Large Stone Jug, They Wrapped themselves In their Blankets, And

Crawled into A Sort Of A Burrow, Which Had Probably Been Dug Out By The

Brigands As A Cachette For Their Provisions And The Booty Which They

Could Not Conveniently Carry.

By The Conversation Of The Three Fellows, Gabriel Conjectured that The

Band Had Gone To A Place Of Rendezvous, On The Bank Of Some River, And

That The Party Who Had Carried away Our Horses Was To Proceed only Six

Miles South, To A Stream Where The Track Of The Horses Would Be Effaced

And Lost In case Of Our Pursuit. As Soon As They Considered that We Were

Far Enough From Our Encampment, They Were To Return By Another Road, And

Rejoin The Three Men Left Behind. Gabriel Conjectured that Only Four Men

Had Gone Away With The Horses. After A Little Consultation, We Awoke Our

Comrades, And Explaining To Them How Matters Stood, We Determined upon A

Counterplot.

It Was At First Proposed to Shoot The Three Scoundrels Left For Our

Saddle-Bags, But Reflecting That They Were Better Acquainted than We

Were With The Locality, And That The Report Of One Of Their Fire-Arms

Would Excite The Suspicion Of Those Who Had Charge Of Our Horses; We

Determined upon Another Line Of Conduct. Before Daylight, I Took My Bow

And Arrows And Succeeded in reaching a Secure Position, A Few Yards From

The Burrow Where The Thieves Were Concealed. Gabriel Did The Same, In a

Bush Halfway Between The Burrow And Our Encampment. In the Meantime,

Roche, With The Five Americans Played their Part Admirably--Walking Near

To The Burrow Swearing That Our Horses Had Been Frightened by Some

Varmin And Escaped, And Started upon The Tracks, With As Much Noise As

They Could Make; To Deceive The Robbers The More, They Left Their

Rifles Behind.

As Soon As They Were Gone, The Thieves Issued from Their Places Of

Concealment, And One Arming Himself With His Rifle, "Went," As He Said,

"To See If The Coast Was Clear," He Soon Returned with Two Of Our Rifles

And A Blazing Piece Of Wood, And The Worthies Began Laughing Together At

The Success Of Their Ruse. They Lighted a Fire, Took Another Dram, And

While One Busied himself With Preparing Coffee, The Other Two Started,

With No Other Weapon But Their Knives, To Fetch The Saddle-Bags

And Saddles.

They Had Not Been Gone Five Minutes When I Perceived an Enormous

Rattlesnake, Ready To Spring, At Not Half A Yard From Me. Since My Snake

Adventure Among The Comanches, I Had Imbibed the Greatest Dread Of That

Animal, And My Alarm Was So Great, That I Rushed out Of My Concealment,

And, At A Single Bound; Found Myself Ten Yards From The Fellow, Who Was

Quietly Blowing His Fire And Stirring His Coffee. He Arose Immediately,

Made Two Steps Backwards, And, Quite Unnerved by So Sudden An

Apparition, He Extended his Hand Towards A Tree, Against Which The

Rifles Had Been Placed.

That Movement Decided his Fate, For Not Choosing To Be Shot At, Nor To

Close With A Fellow So Powerful That He Could Have Easily Crushed my

Head Between His Thumb And Finger, I Drew At Him; Though Rapid, My Aim

Was Certain, And He Fell Dead, Without Uttering a Single Word, The Arrow

Having Penetrated his Heart. I Then Crawled to Gabriel, To Whom I

Explained the Matter, And Left Him, To Take My Station Near The Two

Remaining Brigands. I Found Them Busy Searching The Saddle-Bags, And

Putting aside What They Wished to Secrete For Their Own Use.

After They Had Been Thus Employed for Half An Hour, One Of Them Put

Three Saddles Upon His Head, And, Thus Loaded, Returned to The Burrow,

Desiring His Companion To Come Along, And Drink His Coffee While It Was

Hot. Some Five Minutes Afterwards, The Noise Of A Heavy Fall Was Heard

(It Was That Of The Thief Who Had Just Left, Who Was Killed by The

Tomahawk Of Gabriel), And The Remaining Robber, Loading Himself With The

Saddle-Bags, Prepared to Follow, Swearing aloud Against His Companion,

"Who Could Not See Before His Eyes, And Would Break The Pommels Of

The Saddles."

I Had Just Drawn My Bow, And Was Taking My Aim, When Gabriel, Passing

Me, Made A Signal To Forbear, And Rushing Upon The Thief, He Kicked him

In The Back, Just As He Was Balancing The Saddles Upon His Head. The

Thief Fell Down, And Attempted to Struggle, But The Prodigious Muscular

Strength Of Gabriel Was Too Much For Him; In a Moment He Laid Half

Strangled and Motionless. We Bound Him Firmly Hand And Foot, And Carried

Him To His Burrow; We Laid The Two Bodies By His Side, Stowed our

Luggage In the Burrow, And Having Destroyed all Traces Of The Struggle,

We Prepared for The Reception Of The Horse-Thieves.

Chance Befriended us. While We Were Drinking The Coffee Thus Left As A

Prize To The Conquerors, We Heard At A Distance The Trampling Of Horses.

I Seized one Of The Rifles, And Gabriel, After A Moment Of Intense

Listening, Prepared his Lasso, And Glided behind The Bushes. It Was Not

Long Before I Perceived my Own Horse, Who, Having Undoubtedly Thrown His

Rider, Was Galloping Back To The Camp. He Was Closely Pursued by One Of

The Rascals, Mounted upon Gabriel'S Horse, And Calling Out To The Three

Robbers, "Stop Him; Russy, Carlton--Stop Him!" At That Moment, Gabriel'S

Lasso Fell Upon His Shoulders, And He Fell Off The Horse As Dead As If

Struck By Lightning: His Neck Was Broken.

Having Gained our Horses, We Saddled them, And Took Our Rifles, Not

Doubting But That We Would Easily Capture The Remaining Rascals, As The

Speed of Our Two Steeds Was Very Superior To That Of The Others. After

Half An Hour'S Hard Riding, We Fell In with Roche And Our Companions,

Who Had Been Equally Fortunate. It Appeared that The Fellow Who Had Been

Riding My Horse Had Received a Severe Fall Against A Tree; And While One

Of His Companions Started in chase Of The Animal, Who Had Galloped off,

The Two Others Tied their Horses To The Trees, And Went To His

Assistance. When Thus Occupied, They Were Surprised, And Bound Hand And

Foot By Roche And His Party.

We Brought Back Our Prisoners, And When We Arrived at The Burrow, We

Found That, Far From Having Lost