The Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  We had now entered a tract of land similar to that which we hadtravelled over when on our route from the Wakoes to the Comanches. Theprairie was often intersected by chasms, the bottoms of which wereperfectly dry, so that we could procure water but once every twenty-fourhours, and that, too often so hot and so muddy, that even our poorhorses would not drink it freely. They had, however, the advantage overus in point of feeding, for the grass was sweet and tender, andmoistened during night by the heavy dews; as for ourselves, we werebeginning to starve in earnest.

  We had anticipated regaling ourselves with the juicy humps of thebuffaloes which we should kill, but although we had entered the veryheart of their great pasture-land, we had not met with one, nor evenwith a ground-hog; a snake, or a frog. One evening, the pangs of hungerbecame so sharp that we were obliged to chew tobacco and pieces ofleather to allay our cravings; and we determined that if, the next dayat sunset we had no better fortune, we would draw lots to kill one ofour horses. That evening we could not sleep, and as murmuring was of noavail, the divine entertained us with a Texan story, just, as he said,to pump the superfluous air out of his body. I shall give it in hisown terms:--

  "Well, I was coming down the Wabash River (Indiana), when, as it happensnine times out of ten, the steam-boat got aground, and that so firmly,that there was no hope of her floating again till the next flood; so Itook my wallet, waded for two hundred yards, with the water to my knees,till I got safe on shore, upon a thick-timbered bank, full ofrattle-snakes, thorns of the locust-tree, and spiders' webs, so strong,that I was obliged to cut them with my nose, to clear the way before me.I soon got so entangled by the vines and the briars that I thought I hadbetter turn my back to the stream till I should get to the upland, whichI could now and then perceive through the clearings opened between thetrees by recent thunder-storms. Unhappily, between the upland and thelittle ridge on which I stood there was a wide river bottom[24], intowhich I had scarcely advanced fifty yards when I got bogged. Well, ittook me a long while to get out of my miry hole, where I was as fast asa swine in its Arkansas sty; and then I looked about for my wallet,which I had dropped. I could see which way it had gone, for, close tothe yawning circle from which I had just extricated myself, there wasanother smaller one two yards off, into which my wallet had sunk deep,though it was comfortably light; which goes to illustrate the Indianasaying, that there is no conscience so light but will sink in the bottomof the Wabash. Well, I did not care much, as in my wallet I had only anold coloured shirt and a dozen of my own sermons, which I knew by heart,having repeated them a hundred times over.

  [Footnote 24: River bottom is a space, sometimes of many miles in width,on the side of the river, running parallel with it. It is always veryvaluable and productive land, but unhealthy, and dangerous to cross,from its boggy nature.]

  "Being now in a regular fix, I cut a stick, and began wittling andwhistling, to lighten my sorrows, till at last I perceived at the bankof the river, and five hundred yards ahead, one of those large rafts,constructed pretty much like Noah's ark, in which a Wabash farmerembarks his cargo of women and fleas, pigs and chickens, corn, whisky,rats, sheep, and stolen niggers; indeed, in most cases, the whole of thecargo is stolen, except the wife and children, the only portion whom theowner would very much like to be rid of; but these will stick to him asnaturally as a prairie fly to a horse, as long as he has spirits todrink, pigs to attend to, and breeches to mend.

  "Well, as she was close to the bank, I got in. The owner was GeneralJohn Meyer, from Vincennes, and his three sons, the colonel, thecaptain, and the judge. They lent me a sort of thing, which many yearsbefore had probably been a horse-blanket. With it I covered myself,while one of the *'boys spread my clothes to dry, and, as I had nothingleft in the world, except thirty dollars in my pocket-book, I kept thatconstantly in my hand till the evening, when, my clothes being dried, Irecovered the use of my pocket. The general was free with his 'Wabashwater' (western appellation for whisky), and, finding me to his taste,as he said, he offered me a passage gratis to New Orleans, if I couldbut submit myself to his homely fare; that is to say, salt pork, withplenty of gravy, four times a day, and a decoction of burnt bran andgrains of maize, going under the name of coffee all over the States--thewhisky was to be _ad libitum_.

  "As I considered the terms moderate, I agreed, and the hospitablegeneral soon entrusted me with his plans. He had gone many times toTexas; he loved Texas--it was a free country, according to his heart;and now he had collected all his own (he might have said, 'and otherpeople's too'), to go to New Orleans, where his pigs and corn, exchangedagainst goods, would enable him to settle with his family in Texas in agallant style. Upon my inquiring what could be the cause of a certainabominable smell which pervaded the cabin, he apprized me that, in asmall closet adjoining, he had secured a dozen of runaway negroes, forthe apprehension of whom he would be well rewarded.

  "Well, the next morning we went on pretty snugly, and I had nothing tocomplain of, except the fleas and the 'gals,' who bothered me not alittle. Three days afterwards we entered the Ohio, and the current beingvery strong, I began to think myself fortunate, as I should reach NewOrleans in less than forty days, passage free. We went on till night,when we stopped, three or four miles from the junction with theMississippi. The cabin being very warm, and the deck in possession ofthe pigs, I thought I would sleep ashore, under a tree. The general saidit was a capital plan, and, after having drained half a dozen cups of'stiff, true, downright Yankee No. 1,' we all of us took our blankets (Imean the white-skinned party), and having lighted a great fire, thegeneral, the colonel, the major, and the judge lay down,--an examplewhich I followed as soon as I had neatly folded up my coat and fixed itupon a bush, with my hat and boots, for I was now getting particular,and wished to cut a figure in New Orleans; my thoughts running uponplump and rich widows, which you know are the only provision for uspreachers.

  "Well, my dreams were nothing but the continuation of my thoughts duringthe day. I fancied I was married, and the owner of a large sugarplantation. I had a good soft bed, and my pious wife was feeling aboutme with her soft hands, probably to see if my heart beat quick, and if Ihad good dreams;--a pity I did not awake then, for I should have savedmy dollars, as the hand which I was dreaming of was that of thehospitable general searching for my pocket-book. It was late when Iopened my eyes--and, lo! the sleepers were gone, with the boat, myboots, my coat, my hat, and, I soon found, with my money. I had beenleft alone, with a greasy Mackinaw blanket, and as in my stupefaction Igazed all round, and up and down, I saw my pocket-book empty, which thegenerous general had humanely left to me to put other notes in, 'when Icould get any.' I kicked it with my foot, and should indubitably havebeen food for cat-fish, had I not heard most _a propos_ the puffing of asteam-boat coming down the river."

  At that moment the parson interrupted his narrative, by observing:

  "Well, I'd no idea that I had talked so long; why, man, look to theeast, 'tis almost daylight."

  And sure enough the horizon of the prairie was skirted with that redtinge which always announces the break of day in these immense levelsolitudes. Our companions had all fallen asleep, and our horses, lookingto the east, snuffed the air and stamped upon the ground, as if toexpress their impatience to leave so inhospitable a region, I replied tothe parson:--

  "It is now too late for us to think of sleeping; let us stir the fire,and go on with your story."

  We added fuel to the nearly consumed pile, and shaking our blankets,which were heavy with the dew, my companion resumed his narrative:--

  "Well, I reckon it was more than half an hour before the steam-boat camein sight, and as the channel of the river ran close in with the shore, Iwas soon picked up. The boat was going to St. Louis, and as I had not acent left to pay my passage, I was obliged, in way of payment, to relatemy adventure. Everybody laughed. All the men declared the joke wasexcellent, and that General Meyer was a clever rascal; they told me Ishould undoubtedly meet him at N
ew Orleans, but it would be of no use.Everybody knew Meyer and his pious family, but he was so smart, thatnothing could be done against him. Well, the clerk was a good-humouredfellow; he lent me an old coat and five dollars; the steward brought mea pair of slippers, and somebody gave me a worn-out loose cap. This wasvery good, but my luck was better still. The cause of my own ruin hadbeen the grounding of a steam-boat; the same accident happening againset me on my legs. Just as we turned the southern point of Illinois, weburied ourselves in a safe bed of mud. It was so common an occurrence,that nobody cared much about it, except a Philadelphian going to Texas;he was in a great hurry to go on westward, and no wonder. I learnedafterwards that he had absconded from the bank, of which he was acashier, with sixty thousand dollars.

  "Well, as I said, we were bogged; patience was necessary, laments wereof no use, so we dined with as much appetite as if nothing had happened,and some of the regular 'boys' took to 'Yooka,' to kill the time. Theywere regular hands, to be sure, but I was myself trump No. 1. Pity wehave no cards with us; it would be amusing to be the first manintroducing that game into the western prairies. Well, I looked on, andby-and-bye, I got tired of being merely a spectator. My nose itched, myfingers too. I twisted my five-dollar bill in all senses, till a sharptook me for a flat, and he proposed kindly to pluck me out-and-out. Iplucked him in less than no time, winning eighty dollars at a sitting;and when we left off for tea, I felt that I had acquired consequence,and even merit, for money gives both. During the night I was sosuccessful, that when I retired to my berth I found myself the owner offour hundred and fifty dollars, a gold watch, a gold pin, and a silver'bacco-box. Everything is useful in this world, even getting aground.Now, I never repine at anything.

  "The next day another steam-boat passed, and picked us up. It was one ofthose light crafts which speculate upon misfortune; they hunt afterstranded boats, as a wolf after wounded deer--they take off thepassengers, and charge what they please. From Cincinnati to St. Louisthe fare was ten dollars, and the unconscious wreck-seeker of a captaincharged us twenty-five dollars each for the remainder of the trip--oneday's journey. However, I did not care.

  "An Arkansas man, who had no more money, sold me, for fifteen dollars,his wallet, a fine great-coat, two clean shirts, and a hat; from anotherI purchased a pair of bran-new, Boston-made, elegant black breeches, sothat when I landed at St. Louis I cut a regular figure, went toPlanter's Hotel, and in the course of a week made a good round sum bythree lectures upon the vanities of the world and the sin of desponding.Well, to cut matters short--by the bye, there must be something wrongstirring in the prairie; look at our horses, how uneasy they seem to be.Don't you hear anything?"

  Our horses, indeed, were beginning to grow wild with excitement, andthinking that their instinct had told them that wolves were near, I tiedthem closer to where we bivouacked, and then applied my ears to theground, to try and catch any sound.

  "I hear no noise," said I, "except the morning breeze passing throughthe withered grass. Our horses have been smelling wolves, but the bruteswill not approach our fire."

  The parson, who had a great faith in my "white Indian nature," resumedthe thread of his narrative:--

  "To cut the matter short, I pass over my trip to New Orleans andGalveston. Suffice it to say, that I was a gentleman preacher, withplenty of money, and that the Texans, president, generals, and all,condescended to eat my dinners, though they would not hear my sermons;even the women looked softly upon me, for I had two trunks, linen inplenty, and I had taken the precaution in Louisiana of getting rid of myshin-plasters for hard specie. I could have married anybody, if I hadwished, from the president's old mother to the barmaid at the tavern. Ihad money, and to me all was smiles and sunshine. One day I met GeneralMeyer; the impudent fellow came immediately to me, shook my hand inquite a cordial manner, and inquired how my health had been since he hadseen me last. That was more than my professional meekness could endure,so I reproached him with his rascality and abuse of hospitality towardsme, adding that I expected he would now repay me what he had sounceremoniously taken from me while I was asleep. General Meyer lookedperfectly aghast, and calling me a liar, a scoundrel, and a villain, herushed upon me with his drawn bowie-knife, and would have indubitablymurdered me, had he not been prevented by a tall powerful chap, to whom,but an hour before, I had lent, or given, five dollars, partly from fearof him and partly from compassion for his destitution.

  "The next day I started for Houston, where I settled, and preached toold women, children, and negroes, while the white male population weregetting drunk, swearing, and fighting, just before the door of thechurch. I had scarcely been there a month when a constable arrested meon the power of a warrant obtained against me by that rascally Meyer.Brought up before the magistrate, I was confronted with the blackguardand five other rascals of his stamp, who positively took their oathsthat they had seen me taking the pocket-book of the general, which hehad left accidentally upon the table in the bar of Tremont's. Themagistrate said, that out of respect for the character of my professionhe would not push the affair to extremities, but that I must immediatelygive back the two hundred dollars Meyer said I had stolen from him, andpay fifty dollars besides for the expenses. In vain I remonstrated myinnocence; no choice was left to me but to pay or go to gaol.

  "By that time I knew pretty well the character of the people among whomI was living; I knew there was no justice to whom I could apply; Ireckoned also that, if once put in gaol, they would not only take thetwo hundred and fifty dollars, but also the whole I possessed. So Isubmitted, as it was the best I could do; I removed immediately toanother part of Texas, but it would not do. Faith, the Texans are a veryugly set of gents."

  "And Meyer," I interrupted, "what of him?"

  "Oh!" replied the parson, "that is another story. Why, he returned toNew Orleans, where, with his three sons, he committed an awful murderupon the cashier of the legislature; he was getting away with twentythousand dollars, but being caught in the act, he was tried, sentenced,and hanged, with all his hopeful progeny, and the old negro hangman ofNew Orleans had the honour of making, in one day, a close acquaintancewith a general, a colonel, a major, and a judge."

  "What, talking still!" exclaimed the doctor, yawning: he had just awoke."What the devil can you have babbled about during the whole blessednight? Why, 'tis morn."

  Saying this, he took up his watch, looked at it, applied it to his ear,to see if it had not stopped, and exclaimed:--

  "By jingo, but I am only half-past one." The parson drew out his also,and repeated the same, "half-past one."

  At that moment the breeze freshened, and I heard the distant and mufflednoise, which in the West announces either an earthquake, or an"estampede" of herds of wild cattle and other animals. Our horses, too,were aware of some danger, for now they were positively mad, strugglingto break the lassoes and escape.

  "Up!" I cried, "up! Gabriel, Roche, up!--up, strangers, quick! saddleyour beasts! run for your lives! the prairie is on fire, and thebuffaloes are upon us."

  They all started upon their feet, but not a word was exchanged; eachfelt the danger of his position; speed was our only resource, if it wasnot already too late. In a minute our horses were saddled, in another wewere madly galloping across the prairie, the bridles upon the necks ofour steeds, allowing them to follow their instinct. Such had been ourhurry, that all our blankets were left behind, except that of Gabriel;the lawyers had never thought of their saddle-bags, and the parson hadforgotten his holsters and his rifle.

  For an hour we dashed on with undiminished speed, when we felt the earthtrembling behind us, and soon afterwards the distant bellowing, mixed upwith the roaring and sharper cries of other animals, were borne downunto our ears. The atmosphere grew oppressive and heavy, while theflames, swifter than the wind, appeared raging upon the horizon. Thefleeter game of all kinds now shot past us like arrows; deer werebounding over the ground, in company with wolves and panthers; droves ofelks and antelopes passed swifter than a dream; then a soli
tary horse ora huge buffalo-bull. From our intense anxiety, although our horsesstrained every nerve, we almost appeared to stand still.

  The atmosphere rapidly became more dense, the heat more oppressive, theroars sounded louder and louder in our ears; now and then they weremingled with terrific howls and shrill sounds, so unearthly that evenour horses would stop their mad career and tremble, as if theyconsidered them supernatural; but it was only for a second, and theydashed on.

  A noble stag passed close to us, his strength was exhausted; threeminutes afterwards, we passed him--dead. But soon, with the rushingnoise of a whirlwind, the mass of heavier and less speedy animals closedupon us: buffaloes and wild horses, all mixed together, an immense darkbody, miles in front, miles in depth; on they came, trampling anddashing through every obstacle. This phalanx was but two miles from us.Our horses were nearly exhausted; we gave ourselves up for lost; a fewminutes more, and we should be crushed to atoms.

  At that moment, the sonorous voice of Gabriel was heard, firm andimperative. He had long been accustomed to danger, and now he faced itwith his indomitable energy, as if such scenes were his properelement:--"Down from your horses," cried he; "let two of you keep themsteady. Strip off your shirts, linen, anything that will catch fire;quick, not a minute is to be lost." Saying this, he ignited some tinderwith the pan of his pistol, and was soon busy in making a fire with allthe clothes we now threw to him. Then we tore up withered grass andBuffalo-dung, and dashed them on the heap.

  Before three minutes had passed, our fire burned fiercely. On came theterrified mass of animals, and perceiving the flame of our fire beforethem, they roared with rage and terror, yet they turned not, as we hadhoped. On they came, and already we could distinguish their horns, theirfeet, and the white foam; our fuel was burning out, the flames werelowering; the parson gave a scream, and fainted. On came the maddenedmyriads, nearer and nearer; I could see their wild eyes glaring; theywheeled not, opened not a passage, but came on like messengers ofdeath--nearer--nearer--nearer still. My brain reeled, my eyes grew dim;it was horrible, most horrible! I dashed down with my face covered, tomeet my fate.

  At that moment I heard an explosion, then a roar, as if proceeding fromten millions of buffalo-bulls--so stunning, so stupifying was the soundfrom the mass of animals, not twenty yards from us. Each moment Iexpected the hoofs which were to trample us to atoms; and yet, deathcame not. I only heard the rushing as of a mighty wind and the tremblingof the earth. I raised my head and looked.

  Gabriel at the critical moment had poured some whisky upon the flames,the leathern bottle had exploded, with a blaze like lightning, and, atthe expense of thousands crushed to death, the animals had swerved fromcontact with the fierce, blue column of fire which had been created.Before and behind, all around us, we could see nothing but the shaggywool of the huge monsters; not a crevice was to be seen in the flyingmasses, but the narrow line which had been opened to avoid our fire.

  In this dangerous position we remained for one hour, our lives dependingupon the animals not closing the line: but Providence watched over us,and after what appeared an eternity of intense suspense, the columnsbecame thinner and thinner, till we found ourselves only encircled withthe weaker and more exhausted animals which brought up the rear. Ourfirst danger was over, but we had still to escape from one asimminent--the pursuing flame, now so much closer to us. The wholeprairie behind us was on fire, and the roaring element was gaining on uswith a frightful speed. Once more we sprang upon our saddles, and thehorses, with recovered wind and with strength tenfold increased by theirfear, soon brought us to the rear of the buffaloes.

  It was an awful sight! a sea of fire roaring in its fury, with Itsheaving waves and unearthly hisses, approaching nearer and nearer,rushing on swifter than the sharp morning breeze. Had we not justescaped so unexpectedly a danger almost as terrible, we should havedespaired and left off an apparently useless struggle for our lives.

  Away we dashed, over hills and down declivities; for now the ground hadbecome more broken. The fire was gaining fast upon us, when we perceivedthat, a mile ahead, the immense herds before us had entered a deep,broad chasm, into which they dashed, thousands upon thousands, tumblingheadlong into the abyss. But now, the fire rushing quicker, blazingfiercer than before, as if determined not to lose its prey, curled itswaves above our heads, smothering us with its heat and lurid smoke.

  A few seconds more we spurred in agony; speed was life; the chasm was tobe our preservation or our tomb. Down we darted? actually borne upon thebacks of the descending mass, and landed, without sense or motion, morethan a hundred feet below. As soon as we recovered from the shock, wefound that we had been most mercifully preserved; strange to say,neither horse nor rider had received any serious injury. We heard, aboveour heads, the hissing and cracking of the fire; we contemplated withawe the flames, which were roaring along the edge of the precipice--nowrising, now lowering, just as if they would leap over the space andannihilate all life in these western solitudes.

  We were preserved; our fall had been broken by the animals, who hadtaken a leap a second before us, and by the thousands of bodies whichwere heaped up as a hecatomb, and received us as a cushion below. Withdifficulty we extricated ourselves and horses, and descending the massof carcasses, we at last succeeded in reaching a few acres of clearground. It was elevated a few feet above the water of the torrent, whichran through the ravine, and offered to our broken-down horses amagnificent pasture of sweet blue grass. But the poor things were tooterrified and exhausted, and they stretched themselves down upon theground, a painful spectacle of utter helplessness.

  We perceived that the crowds of flying animals had succeeded in finding,some way further down an ascent to the opposite prairie; and as theearth and rocks still trembled, we knew that the "estampede" had notceased, and that the millions of fugitives had resumed their mad career.Indeed there was still danger, for the wind was high, and carried beforeit large sheets of flames to the opposite side, where the dried grassand bushes soon became ignited, and the destructive element thus passedthe chasm and continued its pursuit.

  We congratulated ourselves upon having thus found security, and returnedthanks to heaven for our wonderful escape; and as we were now safe fromimmediate danger, we lighted a fire and feasted upon a youngbuffalo-calf, every bone of which we found had been broken intosplinters[25].

  [Footnote 25: I have said, at a venture, that we descended more than ahundred feet into the chasm before we fairly landed on the bodies of theanimals. The chasm itself could not have been less than two hundred andfifty to three hundred feet deep at the part that we plunged down. Thiswill give the reader some idea of the vast quantity of bodies ofanimals, chiefly buffaloes, which were there piled up. I consider thatthis pile must have been formed wholly from the foremost of the mass,and that when formed, it broke the fall of the others, who followedthem, as it did our own: indeed, the summit of the heap was pounded intoa sort of jelly.]