"Well, she went off at last, she did, with a whoosss-k cheeesss-cup cho-bang, and 1 hope I may be dogged for a possum, ef one o' my chasers didn't hev to pile himself on a level with his moccasin right ban some. Now I thought as how this 'ud start the wind out o' t'other, and put him on the back'ard track. But it didn't. He did'nt seem to mind it no more'n's ef it was the commonest thing out.
"'Well,' thinks 1 to myself, 'maybe you'll ketch a few ef you keep foolin your time that-a-ways ;' and so 1 set to work and foddered Sweetlove agin.
"By this time poor Skinflint, I seed, was gittin top-heavy right smart, and I knowed ef I done anything, it 'ud hev to be done afore the beginnin o' next month, 01 'twouldn't b«» o' no use, not a darned bit. Well, I took squint agin, plum-center, and blazed away ; but hang me up for Dar's meat, ef it made the least difference with the skunk of a Rapaho. I was par- feet dumfouzled ; complete used up ; for I'd never missed a target o' that size afore, ence I was big enough to shoot pop-guns
'Taking close sight.
to flies. I felt sort o' chawed up. Never felt so ail of a heap afore but once't, and that was when I axed Suke Harris to hev me, and she said 'No.'
" Now you'd better calculate I hadn't no great deal o' time to think, for thar he was the cussed Injin jest as plain as the nose on your face, and a-comin full split right at me, with his rope quirled in his hand, jest ready for a throw. Quicker as winkin, I foddered Sweetlove agin, and gin him another plum-center, which in course I spected would knock the hind sights off him. Did it ? Now you ken toke my possibles, traps and muleys, ef it did. Did it ? No ! reckons it didn't. Thar he sot, straight up and down, a thunderin on, jest as ef the arth was made for his special purpose. I begun to git skeered in arnest, and thought maybe it was the devil deformed into a Injin ; and I'd a no tion to put in a silver bullet, only I didn't happen to have none 'bout me.
" On he come, the scamp, and I bolted or tried to rayther for Skinflint had got used up, and down he pitched, sending me right plum over his noddle on to my back, whar I lay sprawlin like a bottle o' spilt whisky.
'"It's all up now, and I'm a gone pos sum,' sez I, as I seed the Injin come tearin ahead ; and I drawed the old butcher, and tried to feed one o' the pups, but my fin gers was so numb I couldn't.
" Well up rides old Rapaho, lookin as savage nor a meat-axe, his black eyes shinin like two coals o' fire. Well now, what d'ye think he did ? Did he shoot me ? No ! Did he rope (lassoo) me ? No ! Did he try to ? No, I'll be dog-gone ef he did!"
" What did he do ? " inquired I, quickly.
" Ay, ay, what did he do ? " echoed Huntly.
" Howly Mary ! if ye knows what he did, Misther George, spaak it, jist, and re- lave yer mind now, " put in the Irishman.
The old trapper smiled.
"Rash," he said, " ef that thar bottle isn't empty, I'll jest take another pull. "
" Taint all gone yit," answered Rash Will ; " 'spect 'twill be soon ; but go it, old hoss, and gin us the rest o' that .1 Rapahos affair."
The old man drank, smacked his lips, smiled, and remarked :
THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR,
" How comfortable deer meat smells. "
" But the Rapaho/' cried I, " what did IIP do ? "
"Do!" answered Black George, with a singular expression that I could not de- tine : "Do ! why he rid up to my hoss and stopped, he did ; and didn't do nothin else, he didn't."
" How so ? "
" Case he was done for."
" Dead ? "
" As dog meat augh ! "
" All ! you had killed him.then?" cried I.
" No I hadn't though. "
" What then ? '"
" He'd died himself, Ke had."
"How, died ?"
" Froze, young Bossons froze as stiff nor a white oak. "
_" Froze ! " echoed two or three voices, mine among the rest.
" Yes, blaze my old carcass and send me a wollin, ef he hadn't ! and I, like a
fool, had been runnin away from a
dead nigger. Maybe I did'nt swear some, andj^ay a few thataint spoke in the pulpit. You'd jest better believe, strangers, I felt soft as a chowdered possum."
"But how had he followed you if he was dead ? "
" He hadn't, not pertikerlarly ; but his hoss had ; for in course he didn't know his rider was rubbed out ; and so he kept on arter mine, till the divin o' old Skinflint fetched him up a-standin."
"Of course you were rejoiced at your escape ? "
" Why, sort o' so, and sort o' not; for I felt so all-fired mean, to think I'd bin run nin from and shootin to a dead Injin, that for a long spell 1 couldn't git wind enough to say nothin.
"At last I sez, sez I, ' This here's purty business now, aint it ? I reckons, old bea ver, you've had little to do, to be foolin your time and burnin your powder this way ; ' and then I outs with old butcher, and swore I'd raise his hair.
" Well, I coaxed my way up to his old hoss, and got hold on himself; but it wasn't a darned bit o' use ; he was froze tight to the saddle. I tried to cut into him, but Til be dog-gone ef my kuife ud enter more'n 'twould into a stcr.e. Jest then luk a look round, and may I be rum-
boozled, ef the sun hadn't got thawed a leetle, and, arter strainin so hard, had gone down with a jump right behind a big ridge.
" ' Well,' sez 1, ' this nigger'd betterbe making tracks somewhar, or he'll spile, sure.'
"So wishin old Rapaho a pleasant time on't I tried Skinflint, but ^ndin it wasn't no go, X gathered up sieh things from my possibles as I couldn't do without, pulled the arrers out o' me, and off I sot for a ridge 'bout five mile away.
"When I got thar, it was so dark you couldn't tell a tree from a nigger ; and the wind phe-ew ! it blowed so one time that I had to hitch on to a rock to keep myself any whar. I tried to strike a fire, but my fingers was so cold I couldn't, and the snow had kivered up every tiling, so that thar wasn't nothin to make it on.
" ' It's a screech er,' I sez, to myself, ' and afore daylight I'll be rubbed out, sartin.'
" At last I begun to feel so queer, and so sleepy I couldn't hardly keep open my peepers. I knowed ef I laid down and slept, I was a gone beaver ; and so stum- blin about, I got hold o' a tree, and begun to climb ; and when I got up high enough, I slid down agin ; and you'd better believe this here operation felt good ef it didn't I wouldn't tell ye so.
" The whole blessed night I worked in this way, and it blowin, and snowin, amd freezin all the time like sixty. At h,st mornin come, but it was a darned long time about it, and arter I'd gin in tlat daylight wasn't no whar.
" Well, soon's I could see, off I sot, amd traveled, and traveled, I didn't know which way nor whar, till night had come agin, and I hadn't seen nothin human and besides, I'd eat up all my fodder. I tried to shoot somethin, but I'll be dogged ef thar was any varmints to shoot o' no kind they was all froze up tighter nor darnation.
" That night went like w. ther, in rubbin a tree ; and the next day I sot on agin, and traveled till night, without eatin a bit o' food. I had a leetle bacca, and that 1 chawed like all git out, until I'd chawed il all up, and begun to think I was chawed up myself. I'd got, though, whar 1 could find a few sticks, and I made a fire, and
ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.
33
tt'd a jest done ye good to seen the way I sot to it.
" The next mornin I put on agin, but I'd got so powerful weak, that I rolled round like I'd been spilin a quart. Night come agin, and I'd got worse tangled up nor ever, and didn't know the piht o' com pass from a buffler's tail.
"' WeH, it's all up with this here coon,' T sez ; ' and so what's the use o' tryin ? Might as well die now as when I've got more sins to count ; ' and so givin old Svveetlove a smack, and tellin her to be a o-ood gal, I keeled over as nateral as shoot- in. I looked up'ard, and seed a bright star that 'ud just thawed its way down, and thinkin maybe I'd be thar soon, I gin in and shut my peepers, as I spected for the last time.
" How long I laid thar I never knowed, and never spect t
o ; but when I seed day light agin, I found this here hoss in a In- jin lodge, somewhar about, and tickle me with a pitch pine-knot ef I ever knowed exactly whar for I forgot to 'blaze'* the place, and couldn't never find it agin. At fust, in course, I thought I was in the oth er country folks tells about ; and Chinks I, I've bin stuck among the Injins, jest to punish me for raisin so much hair while on the arth. I begun to git skeered, I tell ye ; but it wasn't long afore I seed a sight that made it seem like Heaven anyhow leastwise I felt perfectly willin to be pun ished that way etarnally, I did. (I say, Bosson, got any more bacca ? This here travels like a May frost.")
as I hastily supplied him with the desired
article.
" See, sposin you guess now.
You're
what they calls Yankee, and ort to guess any thing."'
"0, I could not guess it, I am satis fied."
" I can now," said the Irishman.
" Well, Teddy, out with it."
" Why, he saan a bothel o' whisky, in course ; what else should he sae to make him happy all of a sudden ? "
A roar of laughter followed this witty
To " blaze *' a tree is to mark it with an axe, or in some way, so that it can be identified. A ' blazed path " is one so marked throughout.
3
reply, in which Black George good hu- moredly joined.
"Well, you is some at guessin, you is,"' replied the old trapper ; but you didn't quite hit it, hoss. I say, strangers, what's the purtiest sight you ever seed on the arth?"
" A beautiful female," I replied.
" Well, that's jest what I seen. I seed afore me a critter in the shape o' a gal, that was the most purty I ever drawed bead on."
" A beautiful girl ! " I exclaimed.
" Well, stranger, she wasn't nothin else, she wasn't I'll be dog-gone ef she was ! "
" Describe her ! "
" Jest describe a angel, and you've got her to a T ef you haven't, why was bea vers growed? that's all."
"Who was she?"
" Well now, hoss, you're gittin into the picters, and headin off this old coon right center. I never knowed who she was, unless she was a sperit for I'll be dog gone ef ever I seed a ny thing half as de cent 'bout a Injin."
" Can you not describe her ? "
" Describe thunder ! Why she was the tallest specimen of a human as ever sp'ilt par-flesh of buffler, she was. She had long hair, black as a nigger in a thunder cloud ; and eyes black too ; and so large and bright you could see to shave in 'em as easy as trappin. And then sich a face ! well that was a face, now, or I wouldn't tell ye so. It kept puttin me in mind o' summer weather and persimmons, it was
" Well, what did you see ? " I inquired, «, S o almighty warm and sweet lookin. 0,
T t i * 1 I'll- , 1 jl I " 1 O /
sich a nose sich lips sich teeth and, heavens and arth ! sich a smile ! (A drop more, Will, for this child's mouth's gittia watery a thinkin, and that meat looks like feedin time."
" Why, now, you have raised my curi osity to the highest point," I said, "and so I must have the rest of the story forth with."
" Boys often git thar curiosity raised out here-aways, and thar hair too some times," replied the old hunter, coolly, tak ing his meat off the stick and commencing to eat.
" But you're going to finish your story George ? " queried Huntly, quickly.
"Why, I spect I'll hev to; but l'I
34
THE PRAIRIE FLOWER; OR
make it short ; for I never likes to talk much 'bout that gal ; I al'ays feel so much all overish, I can't tell ye how."
"Perhaps you got in love with her," returned Huntly, jocosely.
Tho old trapper suddenly paused, with the meat half way to his mouth, and turn ed upon my friend with a frown and gleam ing eyes.
" Look heyar, boy," he said, "you didn't mean to insult this child, I reckon ? "
" Far from it," answered Hunliy, quick ly. "I only spoke in jest, and crave par don if I offended."
" 'Twon't do to jest about everything, young chap, case thar is spots as won't bear rub bin. Howsomever, I sees you didn't mean nothin, and so I'll not pack it. Talkin of love ! Now I doesn't know much 'bout the article, though I've seed nigh sixty year, and never was spliced to no gal ; but I'll tell you what 'tis, Bosson, ef I'd bin thirty year younger, ef I hadn't made tracks with that 'ar gal, and hitched, then call me a nigger and let me spile."
" How old was she ? " I asked.
" Jest old enough to be purty, she was."
" But how had she found you so oppor tunely?"
" That's whar I'm fooled ; for though I axed her, and she told me, I'll be dog-gone
O O
ef I wasn't thinkin how purty she looked when she talked, and let the whole on't slip me like tryin to throw a buffler with a greased rope. All I could ever ketch on't was, that she, or some other Tnjin, or some body else, come across me, and tuk me in, did up my scratches, and fetched me sen sible. She said she was purty much of. a beaver among the Injins, and could do 'bout as she tuk a notion ; but that ef I wanted my hair, I'd better be leavin right smartly, or maybe I'd be made meat of tugh !
" Well, arter it come dark, she packed some fodder for me, and acterly went her self along and seed me through the camp for it wasn't a reg'lar village of Injins no tow.
" ' What tribe's this ? ' I axed, arter I'd got ready to quit.
" ' That you musn't know,' she scz. Ax no questions, but set your face that- -irays, and keep your nose afore ye till
daylight, and don't come heyar agin, os
you're dead nigger."
"'But ef you won't tell this child the Injins, tell me who you is ! "
" ' I'm called Leni-Leoti, or Perrarie- Flower,',sez she ; and then afore I could say, ' 0, you is hey! ' she turned anl put back like darnation.
" I'd a great notion to fuller her, and I cussed myself arterwards case I didn't; but I spect I was feelin green then, and so I did jest as she told me ef I didn't, I wish I may be dogged ! When, it come mornin, I looked all round, and concluded I was on tother side of the ' Divide.' So ! I tuk si new track, and arter many days' j travel, fetched up in Brown's Hole, whar I found lots of trappers, and spent the win ter augh ! Now don't ax no more, for you've got all this hoss is agoin to tell ; for the whisky's out, the bacca's low, this coon's hungered, and the meat's a spilin."
Here, sure enough, the old trapper came to a pause ; and although I felt a deep in terest to know more about the singular being he had described, Prairie-Flower, I saw it would be useless to question him further. The conversation now turned up on trivial affairs, in which neither Huntly nor myself took much interest. We felt wearied and hungry ; and so after regaling ourselves on toasted deer meat, without bread, and only a little salt, and having seen our animals driven in and picketed that is, fastened to a stake in the ground, by a long lariat or rope of skin, so that they could feed in a circle ve threw our selves upon the earth around the fire, and, with no covering but our garments and the broad canopy of heaven, brilliantly studded with thousands on thousands of stars, slept as sweetly and soundly as ever we did in a thick-peopled settlement.,
CHAPTER VII
MORNING SCENE CONVERSATION BOTH I*
LOVE LUDICKOUS MISTAOI OLD FEEir
INGS TOUCHED INTERKt'ETICX.
AT the first tinge of day bicj-k on tho following morning, I sprang to my feet, and rousing Huntly, we stole quietly from
ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.
the circle of sleeping trappers, and took our way to the eminence from which I had viewed the farewell of day the evening pre vious. It was a splendid morning, and the air, clear, soft and balmy, was not stirred by a single zephyr. As we ascended the knoll and looked toward the east, we could barely perceive a faint blush indicating the rosy d iwn of day, while a soft, gray light spread sweetly over the scene, and the stars, growing less and less bright, gradually be gan to disappear from our view. Presently the blush of morn took a deeper hue, and gently expanding on e
ither hand, blended beautiful ly with the deepening blue. Then golden flashes shot upward, growing bright er and brighter, till it seemed as if the world were on tire ; while night, slowly receding, gradually revealed the lovely prairie to our enchanted gaze. Brighter, more golden, more beautiful grew the east, and brighter
o ' O
the light around us, until the stars had all become hidden, and objects far and near could be distinctly traced, standing out in soft relief from the green earth and the blue and golden sky.
'Magnificent!" I exclaimed, turning toward my friend, who was standing with his face to the east, his gaze fixed on high, appaiently lost in contemplation.
He did not reply, and repeating my ex clamation, I lightly touched him on the arm. He started suddenly, and turned to mt with an expression so absent, so vacant, that I felt a slight alarm, and instantly added :
' Huntly, are you ill ? "
"111, Frank? No! no! not ill by any means," he replied. " Why do you ask ? "
" You appeared so strangely."
" Indeed ! Well, where think you were my thoughts ? "
" How should I know ? "
" True enough, and I will tell you. I was thinking of that fair being we rescued from the flames."
" And why of her now ? "
" Not only now, Frank, but she fills my thoughts more than you are aware. Often do I see her in my dreams ; and the mere resemblance of yonder sky to fire, vividly recalled to mind that never-to-be forgotten Bight when (irst I beheld her."
Bennett, Emerson - Prairie Flower 01 Page 7