The Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas
Page 6
CHAPTER VI.
I felt chilly, and I awoke. It was daylight. I stood on my feet andlooked around me. I found myself floating on the deep sea, far from theshore, the outline of which was tinged with the golden hues of morn. Therope and stick to which the boat had been made fast towed through thewater, as the land-breeze, driving me gently, increased my distance fromthe land. For some moments I was rather scared; the oars were left onshore, and I had no means of propelling my little skiff.
In vain did I paddle with my hands and the stick which I had taken onboard. I turned and turned again round to all the points of the compass,but to no purpose. At last I began to reflect. The sea was smooth andquiet; so I was in no immediate danger. The Padre, when he awoke in themorning, would discover my accident, and perhaps see the boat; he wouldhasten to town, but he would not arrive till the evening; for he was anold man, and had to walk twenty-five miles. Boats would be despatchedafter me; even the Mexican schooner which lay in the bay. The nextmorning I was certain to be rescued, and the utmost of my misfortunewould amount to a day of fast and solitude. It was no great matter; so Isubmitted to my fate, and made a virtue of necessity.
Happily for me, the boat belonged to an American exceedingly fond offishing; and consequently it contained many necessaries which I hadbefore overlooked. Between the foremost thwart and the bow there washalf a barrel filled with ashes, some pieces of charcoal, and somedried wood; under the stern-sheets was a small locker, in which Idiscovered a frying-pan, a box with salt in it, a tin cup, some herbsused instead of tea by the Californians, a pot of honey, and anotherfull of bear's grease. Fortunately, the jar of water was also on boardas well as my lines, with baits of red flannel and white cotton. I threwthem into the water, and prepared to smoke my cigarito. In thesecountries no one is without his flint, steel, tinder, and tobacco.
Hours passed so. My fishing being successful, I lighted a fire, and soonfried a few fine mackerel; but by-and-bye the sun reached its highestposition, and the scorching became so intolerable that I was obliged tostrip and spread my clothes, and even my shirt, upon the benches, toobtain a shelter. By that time I had lost sight of land, and could onlyperceive now and then some small black points, which were the summits ofthe tall pines.
As soon as my meal was finished, I don't know why, but instead ofsleeping a decent siesta of two hours, the Spanish tonic to digest adinner, I never awoke before sunset; and only then because I began tofeel a motion which was far from being pleasant. In fact, the waves werebeginning to rise in sharp ridges, covered with foam; the mildland-breeze had changed into a cool sharp westerly wind.
A fair wind, however, was a comfort, and as I put on my clothes, I beganto think that by making a proper use of the helm and standing upright inthe boat, my body would serve as a small sail, when "He, he, hoe!"shouted twenty voices, on the larboard side of me. I started withastonishment, as may be imagined, and turning round, perceived, fiftyyards from me, a large boat driving before the waves, impelled on by tenoars. It was filled with men, casks, and kegs, and one at the helm wasmaking signals, apparently inviting me to stop. A few minutes after, wewere close to each other; and I daresay our astonishment wasmutual,--theirs to see me alone and without oars; mine, to behold such awretched spectacle. They were evidently the crew of a wrecked vessel,and must have undergone frightful privations and fatigues, so emaciatedwas their appearance.
No time, however, was to be lost. All of them asked for water, andpointed to the horizon, to know in which direction they should go. Mystone jug was full; I handed it to the man at the helm, who seemed to bethe captain; but the honest and kind-hearted fellow, pouring out a smallquantity in the cup, gave some to all his companions before he wouldtaste any himself. The jug was a large one, containing two gallons ormore, but of course was soon emptied.
I gave them a fried mackerel, which I had kept for my supper; theypassed it to the captain, and, in spite of his generous denial, theyinsisted upon his eating it immediately. Seeing which, I showed themnine or ten other raw fishes, two or three of which were heavy, andproposed to cook them. They sang and laughed: cook the fish! No; littlecooking is wanted when men are starving. They divided them brotherly;and this supply, added to the honey for the captain and the bear'sgrease for the sailors, seemed to have endowed them with new life.
The captain and four of the men, with oars, stepped into my skiff. Atthat moment the stars were beginning to appear; and pointing out to himone in the east as a guide, we ploughed our way towards the shore,greatly favoured both by the wind and the waves. In a singular mixtureof English, French, Italian, and Latin, the captain made me comprehendthat his vessel had been a Russian brig, bound from Asitka, in RussianAmerica, to Acapulco, in Mexico, for a supply of grain, tallow, andspirits; that it had been destroyed by fire during the night, scarcelyallowing time for the men to launch the long-boat. No provisions couldbe procured; the boxes and kegs that had been taken in the hurry were ofno use; that they had been rowing forty-eight hours without food orwater, and were ignorant of their distance from the shore; and, finally,that they had perceived my skiff a good half-hour before I awoke;thought it at first empty, but saw me rising, and called to me, in thehope that I would guide them to a landing-place. In return I explainedto him my adventure as well as I could, and made him promises of plentyfor the next day; but I might have talked for ever to no purpose; thepoor fellow, overpowered with fatigue, and now feeling secure, had sunkinto a deep sleep.
At the break of day we made the land, at the entrance of a small riverand close to some find old ruins. It was the very spot where I hadintended to go with the Padre. There were a few wild horses rambling inthe neighbourhood; I cleaned my gun, loaded it again, and killed one;but not before the tired and hungry crew, stretched on the strand,proved by their nasal concerts that for the present their greatestnecessity was repose after their fatigues. There were twenty of them,including the captain.
I had led too much of an Indian life, not to know how to bear fatigue,and to be rapid in execution. The sun was not more than three hourshigh, when I had already cooked the best part of the horse. All theunfortunates were still asleep, and I found it was no easy matter toawake them. At last, I hit upon an expedient which did not fail; I stuckthe ramrod of my gun into a smoking piece of meat, and held it so thatthe fumes should rise under their very noses. No fairy wand was evermore effective; in less than two minutes they were all chewing andswallowing their breakfast, with an energy that had anything but sleepin it. It is no easy matter to satisfy twenty hungry Russians; but stillthere is an end to everything. One of them knelt before me and kissed myfeet. Poor fellow! he thought that I had done a great deal for him andhis companions, forgetting that perhaps I owed my own life to them.
The men were tired: but when they heard that they could reach a city inthe afternoon, they made preparation for departure with great alacrity.We pulled slowly along the coast, for the heat was intense, and therowers fast losing their strength. At one o'clock I landed at my formerencampment. The padre had, of course, left the oars, sail, and blankets.My skiff was rigged in a moment; and out of the blankets, those in thelong-boat managed to make a sail, an oar and a long pole tied togetheranswering for a mast. In doubling the northern point of the bay, Iperceived the Mexican schooner and many boats, pretty far at sea. Nodoubt they were searching for me.
At six o'clock in the evening we landed at Monterey, amidst theacclamations of a wondering crowd.
I was a general favourite, and my loss had occasioned much alarm; sothat when I landed I was assailed with questions from every quarter. Thewomen petted me, some kissed me (by-the-bye, those were d'un certainage), and all agreed that I should burn half a dozen of candles on thealtar of the Virgin Mary. There was one, however, who had wept for me;it was Isabella, a lovely girl of fifteen, and daughter to the oldGovernor. The General, too, was glad to see me; he liked me very much,because we played chess while smoking our cigars, and because I allowedhim to beat me, though I could have given him the queen and the move
. Iwill confess, sotto voce, that this piece of policy had been hinted tome by his daughters, who wished me to find favour in his sight.
"Dios te ayuda nino," said the Governor to me; I feared we should neverplay chess any more. "Que tonteria, andar a dormir in una barca, quandose lo podia sobre tierra firma!" (What folly to go sleep in a boat, whenit can be done upon solid ground!)
I told him the story of the poor Russians, and in spite of his pride,the tears started in his eye, for he was kind-hearted. He took thecaptain into his own house, and gave orders concerning the accommodationof the crew; but the universal hospitality had not waited for commandsto show itself, and the poor fellows, loaded with attention andcomforts, soon forgot the dangers which they had escaped. Fifteen daysafter they were sent on board the Mexican schooner, to the bay of St.Francisco, where a Russian brig of war, bound to Asitka, had justarrived. However, they did not part from us with empty hands. TheMontereyans having discovered their passionate love for tallow andwhiskey, had given them enough of these genteel rafraichissements, todrown care and sorrow for a long while. As to the captain, he receivedthe attention which his gallant conduct entitled him to, and on the eveof his departure he was presented with a trunk, of tolerable dimensions,well filled with linen and clothes.
A merry night was passed to celebrate my escape. Guns had been fired,flags hoisted to recall the boats, and at ten o'clock in the night, thewhole population was gamboling on the lawn, singing, dancing, andfeasting, as if it was to have been our last day of pleasureduring life.
Thus passed away four weeks, and I must admit to my shame, I hadwillingly missed two chances of going to Santa Fe. One morning, however,all my dreams of further pleasure were dispelled. I was just meditatingupon my first declaration of love, when our old servant arrived withfour Indian guides. He had left the settlement seven days, and had comealmost all the way by water. He had been despatched by my father tobring me home, if I had not yet left Monterey. His intelligence wasdisastrous; the Prince had been murdered by the Crows; the Shoshones hadgone on a war expedition to revenge the death of the Prince; and myfather himself, who had been daily declining, expected in a short timeto rejoin his friend in a better world. Poor Isabella! I would haveadded, poor me! but the fatal news brought had so excited me, that I hadbut few thoughts to give to pleasure and to love. My immediate returnwas a sacred duty, and, besides, the Shoshones expected me to join withthem on my first war-path. The old Governor judged it advisable that Ishould return home by sea, as the Arrapahoes Indians were at that momentenemies of the Shoshones, and would endeavour to cut me off if I were toascend the Buona Ventura. Before my departure I received a visit from anIrishman, a wild young fellow of the name of Roche, a native of Cork,and full of fun and activity. He had deserted on the coast from one ofthe American vessels, and in spite of the promised reward of fortydollars, he was never discovered, and his vessel sailed without him.
General Morreno was at first angry, and would have sent the poor devilto jail, but Roche was so odd and made so many artful representations ofthe evils he had suffered on board on account of his being a Catholic,that the clergy, and, in fact, all Monterey, interfered. Roche soonbecame a valuable acquisition to the community; he was an indefatigabledancer, and a good fiddler. Besides, he had already accustomed himselfto the Mexican manners and language, and in a horse or buffalo hunt nonewere more successful. He would tell long stories to the old women aboutthe wonders of Erin, the miracles of St. Patrick, and about the stone atBlarney. In fact, he was a favourite with every one, and would havebecome rich and happy, could he have settled. Unfortunately for him, hiswild spirit of adventure did not allow him to enjoy the quiet of aMontereyan life, and hearing that there was a perspective of getting hishead broken in the "Settlement of the Grandees," he asked permission tojoin my party.
I consented that Roche should accompany me: with my servant and theIndians, we embarked on board of the schooner. Many were the presents Ireceived from the good people; what with pistols, powder, horses,fusils, knives, and swords, I could have armed a whole legion. TheGovernor, his daughters, and all those that could get room in the boats,accompanied me as far as the northern part of the bay, and it was with aswelling heart that I bade my farewell to them all.