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

We Were Half-Naked,

          Foot-Sore, And Haggard, Presenting Such A Pitiable Picture

          That The Greatest Sympathy Was Immediately Aroused in

          Our Behalf.

 

 

 

          We Then Said That Behind Us On The Trail Somewhere, Fifteen

          Comrades Were Struggling Toward Independence, Or Were

          Already Dead From Their Sufferings.  In a Very Few Minutes

          Seven Men With Fifteen Horses Started out To Rescue Them.

 

 

 

          They Were Gone From Independence Several Days, But Had The

          Good Fortune To Find All The Men Just In time To Save Them

          From Starvation And Exhaustion.  Two Were Discovered

          A Hundred miles From Independence, And The Remainder

          Scattered along The Trail Fifty Miles Further In their Rear.

          Not More Than Two Of The Unfortunate Party Were Together.

          The Humane Rescuers Seemingly Brought Back Nothing But

          Living Skeletons Wrapped in rags; But The Good People Of

          The Place Vied with Each Other In their Attentions, And

          Under Their Watchful Care The Sufferers Rapidly Recuperated.

 

 

 

          One Would Suppose That We Had Had Enough Of The Great Plains

          After Our First Trip; Not So, However, For In the Spring

          We Started again On The Same Journey.  Major Riley, With

          Four Companies Of Regular Soldiers, Was Detailed to Escort

          The Santa Fe Traders' Caravans To The Boundary Line Between

          The United states And Mexico, And We Went Along To Recover

          The Money We Had Buried, The Command Having Been Ordered to

          Remain In camp To Await Our Return Until The 20Th Of October.

 

 

 

          We Left Fort Leavenworth About The 10Th Of May, And Were

          Soon Again On The Plains.  Many Of The Troops Had Never

          Seen Any Buffalo Before, And Found Great Sport In wantonly

          Slaughtering Them.  At Walnut Creek We Halted to Secure

          A Cannon Which Had Been Thrown Into That Stream Two Seasons

          Previously, And Succeeded in dragging It Out.  With A Seine

          Made Of Brush And Grape Vine, We Caught More Fine Fish Than

          We Could Possibly Dispose Of.  One Morning The Camp Was

          Thrown Into The Greatest State Of Excitement By A Band Of

          Indians Running an Enormous Herd Of Buffalo Right Into Us.

          The Troops Fired at Them By Platoons, Killing Hundreds

          Of Them.

 

 

 

          We Marched in two Columns, And Formed a Hollow Square

          At Night When We Camped, In which All Slept Excepting

          Those On Guard Duty.  Frequently Some One Would Discover

          A Rattlesnake Or A Horned toad In bed with Him, And It

          Did Not Take Him A Very Long Time To Crawl Out Of His

          Blankets!

 

 

 

          On The 10Th Of July, We Arrived at The Dividing Line

          Separating The Two Countries, And Went Into Camp.  The Next

          Day Major Riley Sent A Squad Of Soldiers To Escort Myself

          And Another Of Our Old Party, Who Had Helped bury The

          Ten Thousand Dollars, To Find It.  It Was A Few Miles

          Further Up The Arkansas Than Our Camp, In the Mexican

          Limits, And When We Reached the Memorable Spot On The

          Island,[20] We Found The Coin Safe, But The Water Had

          Washed the Earth Away, And The Silver Was Exposed to View

          To Excite The Cupidity Of Any One Passing That Way;

          There Were Not Many Travellers On That Lonely Route In

          Those Days, However, And It Would Have Been Just As Secure,

          Probably, Had We Simply Poured it On The Ground.

 

 

 

          We Put The Money In sacks And Deposited it With Major Riley,

          And, Leaving The Camp, Started for Santa Fe With Captain

          Bent As Leader Of The Traders.  We Had Not Proceeded far

          When Our Advanced guard Met Indians.  They Turned, And When

          Within Two Hundred yards Of Us, One Man Named samuel Lamme

          Was Killed, His Body Being Completely Riddled with Arrows.

          His Head Was Cut Off, And All His Clothes Stripped from

          His Body.  We Had A Cannon, But The Mexicans Who Hauled it

          Had Tied it Up In such A Way That It Could Not Be Utilized

          In time To Effect Anything In the First Assault; But When

          At Last It Was Turned loose Upon The Indians, They Fled

          In dismay At The Terrible Noise.

 

 

 

          The Troops At The Crossing Of The Arkansas, Hearing The

          Firing, Came To Our Assistance.  The Next Morning The

          Hills Were Covered by Fully Two Thousand Indians, Who Had

          Evidently Congregated there For The Purpose Of Annihilating

          Us, And The Coming Of The Soldiers Was Indeed fortunate;

          For As Soon As The Cowardly Savages Discovered them

          They Fled.  Major Riley Accompanied us On Our March For

          A Few Days, And, Seeing No More Indians, He Returned to

          His Camp.

 

 

 

          We Travelled on For A Week, Then Met A Hundred mexicans

          Who Were Out On The Plains Hunting Buffalo.  They Had

          Killed a Great Many And Were Drying The Meat.  We Waited

          Until They Were Ready To Return And Then All Started for

          Santa Fe Together.

 

 

 

          At Rabbit-Ear Mountain The Indians Had Constructed

          Breastworks In the Brush, Intending To Fight It Out There.

          The Mexicans Were In the Advance And Had One Of Their

          Number Killed before Discovering The Enemy.  We Passed

          Point Of Rocks And Camped on The River.  One Of The

          Mexicans Went Out Hunting and Shot A Huge Panther;

          Next Morning He Asked a Companion To Go With Him And Help

          Skin The Animal.  They Saw The Indians In the Brush, And

          The One Who Had Killed the Panther Said To The Other,

          "Now For The Mountains"; But His Comrade Retreated,

          And Was Despatched by The Savages Almost Within Reach

          Of The Column.

 

 

 

          We Now Decided to Change Our Destination, Intending To Go

          To Taos Instead Of Santa Fe, But The Governor Of The

          Province Sent Out Troops To Stop Us, As Taos Was Not A

          Place Of Entry.  The Soldiers Remained with Us A Whole Week,

          Until We Arrived at Santa Fe, Where We Disposed of Our Goods

          And Soon Began To Make Preparations For Our Return Trip.

 

 

 

          When We Were Ready To Start Back, Seven Priests And A

          Number Of Wealthy Families, Comfortably Fixed in carriages,

          Accompanied us.  The Mexican Government Ordered colonel

          Viscarra Of The Army, With Five Troops Of Cavalry,

          To Guard Us To The Camp Of Major Riley.

 

 

 

          We Experienced no Trouble Until We Arrived at The

          Cimarron River.  About Sunset, Just As We Were Preparing

          To Camp For The Night, The Sentinels Saw A Body Of A

          Hundred indians Approaching; They Fired at Them And Ran

          To Camp.  Knowing They Had Been Discovered, The Indians

          Came On And Made Friendly Overtures; But The Pueblos Who

          Who Were With The Command Of Colonel Viscarra Wanted to

          Fight Them At Once, Saying The Fellows Meant Mischief.

          We Declined to Camp With Them Unless They Would Agree To

          Give Up Their Arms; They Pretended they Were Willing To

          Do So, When One Of Them Put His Gun At The Breast Of Our

          Interpreter And Pulled the Trigger.  In an Instant A Bloody

          Scene Ensued; Several Of Viscarra'S Men Were Killed,

          Together With A Number Of Mules.  Finally The Indians

          Were Whipped and Tried to Get Away, But We Chased them

          Some Distance And Killed thirty-Five.  Our Friendly Pueblos

          Were Delighted, And Proceeded to Scalp The Savages,

          Hanging The Bloody Trophies On The Points Of Their Spears.

          That Night They Indulged in a War-Dance Which Lasted

          Until Nearly Morning.

 

 

 

          We Were Delighted to See A Beautiful Sunshiny Day After

          The Horrors Of The Preceding Night, And Continued our March

          Without Farther Interruption, Safely Arriving at The Camp

          On The Boundary Line, Where Major Riley Was Waiting For Us,

          As We Supposed; But His Time Having Expired the Day Before,

          He Had Left For Fort Leavenworth.  A Courier Was Despatched

          To Him, However, As Colonel Viscarra Desired to Meet The

          American Commander And See His Troops.  The Courier Overtook

          Major Riley A Short Distance Away, And He Halted for Us

          To Come Up.  Both Commands Then Went Into Camp, And Spent

          Several Days Comparing The Discipline Of The Armies Of

          The Two Nations, And Having a General Good Time.

          Colonel Viscarra Greatly Admired our Small Arms, And

          Took His Leave In a Very Courteous Manner.

 

 

 

          We Arrived at Fort Leavenworth Late In the Season, And

          From There We All Scattered.  I Received my Share Of The

          Money We Had Cached on The Island, And Bade My Comrades

          Farewell, Only A Few Of Whom I Have Ever Seen Since.

 

 

 

Mr. Hitt In his Notes Of This Same Perilous Trip Says:

          When The Grass Had Sufficiently Started to Insure The

          Subsistence Of Our Teams, Our Wagons Were Loaded with

          A Miscellaneous Assortment Of Merchandise And The First

          Trader'S Caravan Of Wagons That Ever Crossed the Plains

          Left Independence.  Before We Had Travelled three Weeks

          On Our Journey, We Were One Evening Confronted with The

          Novel Fact Of Camping In a Country Where Not A Stick Of

          Wood Could Be Found.  The Grass Was Too Green To Burn,

          And We Were Wondering How Our Fire Could Be Started

          With Which To Boil Our Coffee, Or Cook Our Bread.  One Of

          Our Number, However, While Diligently Searching For

          Something To Utilize, Suddenly Discovered scattered all

          Around Him A Large Quantity Of Buffalo-Chips, And He Soon

          Had An Excellent Fire Under Way, His Coffee Boiling and

          His Bacon Sizzling Over The Glowing Coals.

 

 

 

          We Arrived in santa Fe Without Incident, And As Ours

          Was The First Train Of Wagons That Ever Traversed the

          Narrow Streets Of The Quaint Old Town, It Was, Of Course,

          A Great Curiosity To The Natives.

 

 

 

          After A Few Days' Rest, Sight-Seeing, And Purchasing Stock

          To Replace Our Own Jaded animals, Preparations Were Made

          For The Return Trip.  All The Money We Had Received for

          Our Goods Was In gold And Silver, Principally The Latter,

          In consequence Of Which, Each Member Of The Company Had

          About As Much As He Could Conveniently Manage, And,

          As Events Turned out, Much More Than He Could Take Care Of.

 

 

 

          On The Morning Of The Third Day Out, When We Were Not

          Looking For The Least Trouble, Our Entire Herd Was

          Stampeded, And We Were Left Upon The Prairie Without

          As Much As A Single Mule To Pursue The Fast-Fleeing

          Thieves.  The Mexicans And Indians Had Come So Suddenly

          Upon Us, And Had Made Such An Effective Dash, That We

          Stood Like Children Who Had Broken Their Toys On A Stone

          At Their Feet.  We Were So Unprepared for Such A Stampede

          That The Thieves Did Not Approach Within Rifle-Shot Range

          Of The Camp To Accomplish Their Object; Few Of Them

          Coming Within Sight, Even.

 

 

 

          After The Excitement Had Somewhat Subsided and We Began

          To Realize What Had Been Done, It Was Decided that While

          Some Should Remain To Guard The Camp, Others Must Go To

          Santa Fe To See If They Could Not Recover The Stock.

          The Party That Went To Santa Fe Had No Difficulty In

          Recognizing The Stolen Animals; But When They Claimed them,

          They Were Laughed at By The Officials Of The Place.

          They Experienced no Difficulty, However, In purchasing

          The Same Stock For A Small Sum, Which They At Once Did,

          And Hurried back To Camp.  By This Unpleasant Episode

          We Learned of The Stealth And Treachery Of The Miserable

          People In whose Country We Were.  We, Therefore, Took Every

          Precaution To Prevent A Repetition Of The Affair, And

          Kept Up A Vigilant Guard Night And Day.

 

 

 

          Matters Progressed very Well, And When We Had Travelled

          Some Three Hundred miles Eastwardly, Thinking We Were

          Out Of Range Of Any Predatory Bands, As We Had Seen No

          Sign Of Any Living Thing, We Relaxed our Vigilance Somewhat.

          One Morning, Just Before Dawn, The Whole Earth Seemed to

          Resound With The Most Horrible Noises That Ever Greeted

          Human Ears; Every Blade Of Grass Appeared to Re-Echo

          The Horrid Din.  In a Few Moments Every Man Was At His Post,

          Rifle In hand, Ready For Any Emergency, And Almost

          Immediately A Large Band Of Indians Made Their Appearance,

          Riding Within Rifle-Shot Of The Wagons.  A Continuous

          Battle Raged for Several Hours, The Savages Discharging

          A Shot, Then Scampering