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

Off Out Of Range As Fast As

          Their Ponies Could Carry Them.  Some, More Brave Than

          Others Would Venture Closer To The Corral, And One Of These

          Got The Contents Of An Old-Fashioned flint-Lock Musket

          In his Bowels.

 

 

 

          We Were Careful Not All To Fire At The Same Time, And

          Several Of Our Party, Who Were Watching The Effects Of

          Our Shots Declared they Could See The Dust Fly Out Of

          The Robes Of The Indians As The Bullets Struck Them.

          It Was Learned afterward That A Number Of The Savages

          Were Wounded, And That Several Had Died.  Many Were Armed

          With Bows And Arrows Only, And In order To Do Any Execution

          Were Obliged to Come Near The Corral.  The Indians Soon

          Discovered they Were Getting The Worst Of The Fight, And,

          Having Run Off All The Stock, Abandoned the Conflict,

          Leaving Us In possession Of The Camp, But It Can Hardly

          Be Said Masters Of The Situation.

 

 

 

          There We Were; Thirty-Five Pioneers Upon The Wild Prairie,

          Surrounded by A Wily And Terribly Cruel Foe, Without

          Transportation Of Any Character But Our Own Legs, And With

          Five Hundred miles Of Dangerous, Trackless Waste Between

          Us And The Settlements.  We Had An Abundance Of Money,

          But The Stuff Was Absolutely Worthless For The Present,

          As There Was Nothing We Could Buy With It.

 

 

 

          After The Last Savage Had Ridden Away Into The Sand Hills

          On The Opposite Side Of The River, Each One Of Us Had A

          Thrilling Story To Relate Of His Individual Narrow Escapes.

          Though None Was Killed, Many Received wounds, The Scars

          Of Which They Carried through Life.  I Was Wounded six

          Times.  Once Was In the Thigh By An Arrow, And Once While

          Loading My Rifle I Had My Ramrod Shot Off Close To The

          Muzzle Of My Piece, The Ball Just Grazing My Shoulder,

          Tearing away A Small Portion Of The Skin.  Others Had

          Equally Curious Experiences, But None Were Seriously Injured.

 

 

 

          After The Excitement Incident To The Battle Had Subsided,

          The Realization Of Our Condition Fully Dawned upon Us.

          When We Were First Robbed, We Were Only A Short Distance

          From Santa Fe, Where Our Money Easily Procured other Stock;

          Now There Were Three Hundred miles Behind Us To That Place,

          And The Picture Was Anything But Pleasant To Contemplate.

          To Transport Supplies For Thirty-Five Men Seemed impossible.

          Our Money Was Now A Burden Greater Than We Could Bear;

          What Was To Be Done With It?  We Would Have No Use For It

          On Our Way To The Settlements, Yet The Idea Of Abandoning

          It Seemed hard To Accept.  A Vigilant Guard Was Kept Up

          That Day And Night, During Which Time We All Remained

          In camp, Fearing a Renewal Of The Attack.

 

 

 

          The Next Morning, As There Were No Apparent Signs Of

          The Indians, It Was Decided to Reconnoitre The Surrounding

          Country In the Hope Of Recovering a Portion, At Least,

          Of Our Lost Stock, Which We Thought Might Have Become

          Separated from The Main Herd.  Three Men Were Detailed

          To Stay In the Old Camp To Guard It While The Remainder,

          In squads, Scoured the Hills And Ravines.  Not A Horse

          Or Mule Was Visible Anywhere; The Stampede Had Been

          Complete--Not Even The Direction The Animals Had Taken

          Could Be Discovered.

 

 

 

          It Was Late In the Afternoon When I, Having Left My

          Companions To Continue The Search And Returning To Camp

          Alone, Had Gotten Within A Mile Of It, That I Thought I Saw

          A Horse Feeding Upon An Adjoining Hill.  I At Once Turned

          My Steps In that Direction, And Had Proceeded but A Short

          Distance When Three Indians Jumped from Their Ambush In

          The Grass Between Me And The Wagons And Ran After Me.

          The Men In camp Had Been Watching My Every Movement,

          And As Soon As They Saw The Savages Were Chasing Me,

          They Started in pursuit, Running at Their Greatest Speed

          To My Rescue.

 

 

 

          The Savages Soon Overtook Me, And The First One That

          Came Up Tackled me, But In an Instant Found Himself Flat

          On The Ground.  Before He Could Get Up, The Second One

          Shared the Same Fate.  By This Time The Third One Arrived,

          And The Two I Had Thrown Grabbed me By The Legs So That

          I Could No Longer Handle Myself, While The Third One Had

          A Comparatively Easy Task In pushing Me Over.  Fortunately,

          My Head Fell Toward The Camp And My Fast-Approaching

          Comrades.  The Two Indians Held My Legs To Prevent My

          Rising, While The Third One, Who Was Standing Over Me,

          Drew From His Belt A Tomahawk, And Shrugging His Head

          In his Blanket, At The Same Time Looking Over His Shoulder

          At My Friends, With A Tremendous Effort And That Peculiar

          Grunt Of All Savages, Plunged his Hatchet, As He Supposed,

          Into My Head, But Instead Of Scuffling To Free Myself

          And Rise To My Feet, I Merely Turned my Head To One Side

          And The Wicked weapon Was Buried in the Ground, Just

          Grazing My Ear.

 

 

 

          The Indian, Seeing That He Had Missed, Raised his Hatchet

          And Once More Shrugging His Head In his Blanket, And

          Turning To Look Over His Other Shoulder, Attempted to

          Strike Again, But The Blow Was Evaded by A Sudden Toss

          Of His Intended victim'S Head.  Not Satisfied with Two

          Abortive Trials, The Third Attempt Must Be Made To Brain Me,

          And Repeating The Same Motions, With A Great "Ugh!" He

          Seemed to Put All His Strength Into The Blow, Which, Like

          The Others, Missed, And Spent Its Force In the Earth.

          By This Time The Rescuing Party Had Come Near Enough To

          Prevent The Savage From Risking another Effort, And He Then

          Addressed the Other Indians In spanish, Which I Understood,

          Saying, "We Must Run Or The Americans Will Kill Us!"

          And Loosening His Grasp, He Scampered off With His

          Companions As Fast As His Legs Could Take Him, Hurried on

          By Several Pieces Of Lead Fired from The Old Flintlocks

          Of The Traders.

 

 

 

          By Sundown Every Man Had Returned to The Forlorn Camp,

          But Not An Animal Had Been Recovered.  Then, With Tired

          Limbs And Weary Hearts, We Took Turns At Guarding The

          Wagons Through The Long Night.  The Next Morning Each Man

          Shouldered his Rifle, And Having Had His Proportion Of

          The Provisions And Cooking Utensils Assigned him,

          We Broke Camp, And Again Turned to Take A Last Look At

          The Country Behind Us, In which We Had Experienced so Much

          Misfortune, And Started on Foot For Our Long March Through

          The Dangerous Region Ahead Of Us.

 

 

 

          Scarcely Had We Gotten Out Of Sight Of Our Abandoned camp,

          When One Of The Party, Happening To Turn His Eyes In that

          Direction, Saw A Large Volume Of Smoke Rising In the

          Vicinity; Then We Knew That All Of Our Wagons, And

          Everything We Had Been Forced to Leave, Were Burning Up.

          This Proved that, Although We Had Been Unable To Discover

          Any Signs Of Indians, They Had Been Lurking around Us

          All The Time, And This Fact Warned us To Exercise The

          Utmost Vigilance In guarding Our Persons.

 

 

 

          Though Our Burdens Were Very Heavy, The First Few Days

          Were Passed without Anything To Relieve The Dreadful

          Monotony Of Our Wearisome March; But Each Succeeding

          Twenty-Four Hours Our Loads Became Visibly Lighter,

          As Our Supplies Were Rapidly Diminishing.  It Had Already

          Become Apparent That Even In the Exercise Of The Greatest

          Frugality, Our Stock Of Provisions Would Not Last Until

          We Could Reach The Settlements, So Some Of The Most Expert

          Shots Were Selected to Hunt For Game; But Even In this

          They Were Not Successful, The Very Birds Seeming To Have

          Abandoned the Country In its Extreme Desolation.

 

 

 

          After Eight Days' Travel, Despite Our Most Rigid Economy,

          An Inventory Showed that There Was Less Than One Hundred

          Pounds Of Flour Left.  Day After Day The Hunters Repeated

          The Same Old Story: "No Game!"  For Two Weeks The Allowance

          Of Flour To Each Individual Was But A Spoonful, Stirred

          In water And Taken Three Times A Day.

 

 

 

          One Afternoon, However, Fortune Smiled upon The Weary Party;

          One Of The Hunters Returned to Camp With A Turkey He Had

          Killed.  It Was Soon Broiling Over A Fire Which Willing

          Hands Had Kindled, And Our Drooping Spirits Were Revived

          For A While.  While The Turkey Was Cooking, A Crow Flew

          Over The Camp, And One Of The Company, Seizing a Gun,

          Despatched it, And In a Few Moments It, Too, Was Sizzling

          Along With The Other Bird.

 

 

 

          Now, In addition To The Pangs Of Hunger, A Scarcity Of

          Water Confronted us, And One Day We Were Compelled to

          Resort To A Buffalo-Wallow And Suck The Moist Clay Where

          The Huge Animals Had Been Stamping In the Mud.  We Were

          Much Reduced in strength, Yet Each Day Added new

          Difficulties To Our Forlorn Situation.  Some Became So Weak

          And Exhausted that It Was With The Greatest Effort They

          Could Travel At All.  To Divide The Company And Leave

          The More Feeble Behind To Starve, Or To Be Murdered by

          The Merciless Savages, Was Not Considered for A Moment;

          But One Alternative Remained, And That Was Speedily Accepted.

          As Soon As A Convenient Camping-Ground Could Be Found,

          A Halt Was Made, Shelter Established, And Things Made As

          Comfortable As Possible.  Here The Weakest Remained to Rest,

          While Some Of The Strongest Scoured the Surrounding Country

          In search Of Game.  During This Temporary Halt The Hunters

          Were More Successful Than Before, Having Killed two

          Buffaloes, Besides Some Smaller Animals, In one Morning.

          Again The Natural Dry Fuel Of The Prairies Was Called

          Into Requisition, And Juicy Steak Was Once More Broiling

          Over The Fire.

 

 

 

          With An Abundance To Eat And A Few Days' Rest, The Whole

          Company Revived and Were Enabled to Renew Their March

          Homeward.  We Were Now In the Buffalo Range, And Every Day

          The Hunters Were Fortunate Enough To Kill One Or More Of

          The Immense Animals, Thus Keeping Our Larder In excellent

          Condition, And Starvation Averted.

 

 

 

          Doubting Whether Our Good Fortune In relation To Food

          Would Continue For The Remainder Of Our March, And Our

          Money Becoming Very Cumbersome, It Was Decided by A Majority

          That At The First Good Place We Came To We Would Bury It

          And Risk Its Being Stolen By Our Enemies.  When Not More

          Than Half Of Our Journey Had Been Accomplished, We Came

          To An Island In the River To Which We Waded, And There,

          Between Two Large Trees, Dug A Hole And Deposited our

          Treasure.  We Replaced the Sod Over The Spot, Taking The

          Utmost Precaution To Conceal Every Sign Of Having Disturbed

          The Ground.  Though No Indians Had Been Seen For Several

          Days, A Sharp Lookout Was Kept In all Directions For Fear

          That Some Lurking Savage Might Have Been Watching Our

          Movements.  This Task Finished, With Much Lighter Burdens,

          But More Anxious Than Ever, We Again Took Up Our March

          Eastwardly, And, Thus Relieved, Were Able To Carry A

          Greater Quantity Of Provisions.

 

 

 

          Having Journeyed until We Supposed we Were Within A Few

          Miles Of The Settlements, Some Of Our Number, Scarcely Able

          To Travel, Thought The Best Course To Pursue Would Be To

          Divide The Company; One Portion To Press On, The Weaker

          Ones To Proceed by Easier Stages, And When The Advance

          Arrived at The Settlements, They Were To Send Back A Relief

          For Those Plodding On Wearily Behind Them.  Soon A Few

          Who Were Stronger Than The Others Reached independence,

          Missouri, And Immediately Sent A Party With Horses To

          Bring In their Comrades; So, At Last, All Got Safely To

          Their Homes.

 

 

 

In The Spring Of 1829, Major Bennett Riley Of The United states Army

Was Ordered with Four Companies Of The Sixth Regular Infantry To

March Out On The Trail As The First Military Escort Ever Sent For

The Protection Of The Caravans Of Traders Going and Returning Between

Western Missouri And Santa Fe.  Captain Philip St. George Cooke,

Of The Dragoons, Accompanied the Command,