THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL by COLONEL HENRY INMAN (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

Chapter V (Fight With Comanches)

Early In the Spring Of 1828, A Company Of Young Men Residing In the

Vicinity Of Franklin, Missouri, Having Heard Related by A Neighbour

Who Had Recently Returned the Wonderful Story Of A Passage Across

The Great Plains, And The Strange Things To Be Seen In the Land Of

The Greasers, Determined to Explore The Region For Themselves;

Making The Trip In wagons, An Innovation Of A Startling Character,

As Heretofore Only Pack-Animals Had Been Employed in the Limited trade

With Far-Off Santa Fe.  The Story Of Their Journey Can Best Be Told

In The Words Of One Of The Party:[19]--

 

 

 

          We Had About One Thousand Miles To Travel, And As There Was

          No Wagon-Road In those Early Days Across The Plains To The

          Mountains, We Were Compelled to Take Our Chances Through

          The Vast Wilderness, Seeking The Best Route We Could.

 

 

 

          No Signs Of Life Were Visible Except The Innumerable Buffalo

          And Antelope That Were Constantly Crossing Our Trail.

          We Moved on Slowly From Day To Day Without Any Incident

          Worth Recording and Arrived at The Arkansas; Made The

          Passage And Entered the Great American Desert Lying Beyond,

          As Listless, Lonesome, And Noiseless As A Sleeping Sea.

          Having Neglected to Carry Any Water With Us, We Were Obliged

          To Go Withot A Drop For Two Days And Nights After Leaving

          The River.  At Last We Reached the Cimarron, A Cool,

          Sparkling Stream, Ourselves And Our Animals On The Point

          Of Perishing.  Our Joy At Discovering It, However, Was

          Short-Lived.  We Had Scarcely Quenched our Thirst When

          We Saw, To Our Dismay, A Large Band Of Indians Camped on

          Its Banks.  Their Furtive Glances At Us, And Significant

          Looks At Each Other, Aroused our Worst Suspicions, And

          We Instinctively Felt We Were Not To Get Away Without

          Serious Trouble.  Contrary To Our Expectations, However,

          They Did Not Offer To Molest Us, And We At Once Made Up

          Our Minds They Preferred to Wait For Our Return, As We

          Believed they Had Somehow Learned of Our Intention To Bring

          Back From New Mexico A Large Herd Of Mules And Ponies.

 

 

 

          We Arrived in santa Fe On The 20Th Of July, Without Further

          Adventure, And After Having Our Stock Of Goods Passed

          Through The Custom House, Were Granted the Privilege Of

          Selling Them.  The Majority Of The Party Sold Out In a

          Very Short Time And Started on Their Road To The States,

          Leaving Twenty-One Of Us Behind To Return Later.

 

 

 

          On The First Day Of September, Those Of Us Who Had Remained

          In santa Fe Commenced our Homeward Journey.  We Started

          With One Hundred and Fifty Mules And Horses, Four Wagons,

          And A Large Amount Of Silver Coin.  Nothing Of An Eventful

          Character Occurred until We Arrived at The Upper Cimarron

          Springs, Where We Intended to Encamp For The Night.

          But Our Anticipations Of Peaceable Repose Were Rudely

          Dispelled; For When We Rode Up On The Summit Of The Hill,

          The Sight That Met Our Eyes Was Appalling Enough To Excite

          The Gravest Apprehensions.  It Was A Large Camp Of

          Comanches, Evidently There For The Purpose Of Robbery

          And Murder.  We Could Neither Turn Back Nor Go On Either

          Side Of Them On Account Of The Mountainous Character Of

          The Country, And We Realized, When Too Late, That We Were

          In a Trap.

 

 

 

          There Was Only One Road Open To Us; That Right Through

          The Camp.  Assuming The Bravest Look Possible, And Keeping

          Our Rifles In position For Immediate Action, We Started

          On The Perilous Venture.  The Chief Met Us With A Smile

          Of Welcome, And Said, In spanish: "You Must Stay With Us

          To-Night.  Our Young Men Will Guard Your Stock, And We Have

          Plenty Of Buffalo Meat."

 

 

 

          Realizing The Danger Of Our Situation, We Took Advantage

          Of Every Moment Of Time To Hurry Through Their Camp.

          Captain Means, Ellison, And Myself Were A Little Distance

          Behind The Wagons, On Horseback; Observing That The Balance

          Of Our Men Were Evading Them, The Blood-Thirsty Savages

          At Once Threw Off Their Masks Of Dissimulation And In an

          Instant We Knew The Time For A Struggle Had Arrived.

 

 

 

          The Indians, As We Rode On, Seized our Bridle-Reins And

          Began To Fire Upon Us.  Ellison And I Put Spurs To Our

          Horses And Got Away, But Captain Means, A Brave Man,

          Was Ruthlessly Shot And Cruelly Scalped while The Life-Blood

          Was Pouring From His Ghastly Wounds.

 

 

 

          We Succeeded in fighting Them Off Until We Had Left Their

          Camp Half A Mile Behind, And As Darkness Had Settled down

          On Us, We Decided to Go Into Camp Ourselves.  We Tied our

          Gray Bell-Mare To A Stake, And Went Out And Jingled the

          Bell, Whenever Any Of Us Could Do So, Thus Keeping The

          Animals From Stampeding.  We Corralled our Wagons For

          Better Protection, And The Indians Kept Us Busy All Night

          Resisting Their Furious Charges.  We All Knew That Death

          At Our Posts Would Be Infinitely Preferable To Falling

          Into Their Hands; So We Resolved to Sell Our Lives As

          Dearly As Possible.

 

 

 

          The Next Day We Made But Five Miles; It Was A Continuous

          Fight, And A Very Difficult Matter To Prevent Their

          Capturing Us.  This Annoyance Was Kept Up For Four Days;

          They Would Surround Us, Then Let Up As If Taking Time To

          Renew Their Strength, To Suddenly Charge Upon Us Again,

          And They Continued thus To Harass Us Until We Were Almost

          Exhausted from Loss Of Sleep.

 

 

 

          After Leaving The Cimarron, We Once More Emerged on The

          Open Plains And Flattered ourselves We Were Well Rid Of

          The Savages; But About Twelve O'Clock They Came Down On Us

          Again, Uttering Their Demoniacal Yells, Which Frightened

          Our Horses And Mules So Terribly, That We Lost Every Hoof.

          A Member Of Our Party, Named hitt, In endeavouring To

          Recapture Some Of The Stolen Stock, Was Taken By The

          Savages, But Luckily Escaped from Their Clutches, After

          Having Been Wounded in sixteen Parts Of His Body;

          He Was Shot, Tomahawked, And Speared.  When The Painted

          Demons Saw That One Of Their Number Had Been Killed by Us,

          They Left The Field For A Time, While We, Taking advantage

          Of The Temporary Lull, Went Back To Our Wagons And Built

          Breastworks Of Them, The Harness, And Saddles.  From Noon

          Until Two Hours In the Night, When The Moon Went Down,

          The Savages Were Apparently Confident We Would Soon Fall

          A Prey To Them, And They Made Charge After Charge Upon

          Our Rude Fortifications.

 

 

 

          Darkness Was Now Upon Us.  There Were Two Alternatives

          Before Us: Should We Resolve To Die Where We Were, Or

          Attempt To Escape In the Black Hours Of The Night?

          It Was A Desperate Situation.  Our Little Band Looked

          The Matter Squarely In the Face, And, After A Council

          Of War Had Been Held, We Determined to Escape, If Possible.

 

 

 

          In order To Carry Out Our Resolve, It Was Necessary To

          Abandon The Wagons, Together With A Large Amount Of Silver

          Coin, As It Would Be Impossible To Take All Of The Precious

          Stuff With Us In our Flight; So We Packed up As Much Of It

          As We Could Carry, And, Bidding Our Hard-Earned wealth

          A Reluctant Farewell, Stepped out In the Darkness Like

          Spectres And Hurried away From The Scene Of Death.

 

 

 

          Our Proper Course Was Easterly, But We Went In a Northerly

          Direction In order To Avoid The Indians.  We Travelled

          All That Night, The Next Day, And A Portion Of Its Night

          Until We Reached the Arkansas River, And, Having Eaten

          Nothing During That Whole Time Excepting a Few Prickly-Pears,

          Were Beginning To Feel Weak From The Weight Of Our Burdens

          And Exhaustion.  At This Point We Decided to Lighten

          Our Loads By Burying all Of The Money We Had Carried

          Thus Far, Keeping Only A Small Sum For Each Man.

          Proceeding To A Small Island In the River, Our Treasure,

          Amounting To Over Ten Thousand Silver Dollars, Was Cached

          In the Ground Between Two Cottonwood Trees.

 

 

 

          Believing Now That We Were Out Of The Usual Range Of

          The Predatory Indians, We Shot A Buffalo And An Antelope

          Which We Cooked and Ate Without Salt Or Bread; But No Meal

          Has Ever Tasted better To Me Than That One.

 

 

 

          We Continued our Journey Northward For Three Or Four Days

          More, When, Reaching Pawnee Fork, We Travelled down It For

          More Than A Week, Arriving again On The Old Santa Fe Trail.

          Following The Trail Three Days, We Arrived at Walnut Creek,

          Then Left The River Again And Went Eastwardly To Cow Creek.

          When We Reached that Point, We Had Become So Completely

          Exhausted and Worn Out From Subsisting On Buffalo Meat

          Alone, That It Seemed as If There Was Nothing Left For

          Us To Do But Lie Down And Die.  Finally It Was Determined

          To Send Five Of The Best-Preserved men On Ahead To

          Independence, Two Hundred miles, For The Purpose Of

          Procuring assistance; The Other Fifteen To Get Along

          As Well As They Could Until Succour Reached them.

 

 

 

          I Was One Of The Five Selected to Go On In advance, And

          I Shall Never Forget The Terrible Suffering We Endured.

          We Had No Blankets, And It Was Getting Late In the Fall.

          Some Of Us Were Entirely Barefooted, And Our Feet So Sore

          That We Left Stains Of Blood At Every Step.  Deafness, Too,

          Seized upon Us So Intensely, Occasioned by Our Weak

          Condition, That We Coud Not Hear The Report Of A Gun Fired

          At A Distance Of Only A Few Feet.

 

 

 

          At One Place Two Of Our Men Laid Down Their Arms, Declaring

          They Could Carry Them No Farther, And Would Die If They

          Did Not Get Water.  We Left Them And Went In search Of Some.

          After Following a Dry Branch Several Miles, We Found

          A Muddy Puddle From Which We Succeeded in getting Half

          A Bucket Full, And, Although Black And Thick, It Was Life

          For Us And We Guarded it With Jealous Eyes.  We Returned

          To Our Comrades About Daylight, And The Water So Refreshed

          Them They Were Able To Resume The Weary March.  We Travelled

          On Until We Arrived at The Big Blue River, In missouri,

          On The Bank Of Which We Discovered a Cabin About Fifteen

          Miles From Independence.  The Occupants Of The Rude Shanty

          Were Women, Seemingly Very Poor, But They Freely Offered us

          A Pot Of Pumpkin They Were Stewing.  When They First Saw Us,

          They Were Terribly Frightened, Because We Looked more Like

          Skeletons Than Living Beings.  They Jumped on The Bed while

          We Were Greedily Devouring The Pumpkin, But We Had To

          Refuse Some Salt Meat Which They Had Also Proffered,

          As Our Teeth Were Too Sore To Eat It.  In a Short Time

          Two Men Came To The Cabin And Took Three Of Our Men

          Home With Them.  We Had Subsisted for Eleven Days On

          One Turkey, A Coon, A Crow, And Some Elm Bark, With An

          Occasional Bunch Of Wild Grapes, And The Pictures We

          Presented to These Good People They Will Never, Probably,

          Forget; We Had Not Tasted bread Or Salt For Thirty-Two Days.

 

 

 

          The Next Day Our Newly Found Friends Secured horses And

          Guided us To Independence, All Riding Without Saddles.

          One Of The Party Had Gone On To Notify The Citizens Of

          Our Safety, And When We Arrived general Muster Was Going On,

          The Town Was Crowded, And When The People Looked upon Us

          The Most Intense Excitement Prevailed.  All Business Was

          Suspended; The Entire Population Flocked around Us To Hear

          The Remarkable Story Of Our Adventures, And To Render Us

          The Assistance We So Much Needed.