The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER THREE.

  THE VALLEY OASIS.

  After so long and terrible a journey, of course, we all stood in need ofrest and refreshment. We made up our minds to stay by the stream allnight, and perhaps for a day or two. The fringe of willows extended onboth sides of it for a distance of fifty yards into the plain; and amongthese, growing under their shade, there were patches of grass--thatspecies known in Mexico as the _gramma_ grass. It is a rich, nutritiousherbage; and horses and cattle--as well as the buffaloes and other wildanimals--are very fond of it. Our mules and horses gave proof of this;for, as soon as they had satisfied themselves with the water, theyattacked it with open mouths, and eyes sparkling with delight. Werelieved them of their packs and saddles: and then, having picketedthem, left them to eat to their hearts' content.

  We now set about looking after something for our own supper. We had notyet suffered much from hunger, as we had occasionally chewed pieces ofour dried meat while crossing the plain. But we had eaten it quite raw;and _tasajo_--for that is its name--is no great eating, either raw orroasted. We had been living upon it for more than a week, and we longedfor something fresh. During all the route from El Paso we had fallen inwith no game, except some half-dozen lean antelopes, only one of whichwe had succeeded in shooting.

  While we were picketing our animals, and getting ready to cook oursupper of coffee and tasajo, one of the hunters--a tireless fellow namedLincoln--had stolen off up the ravine. Presently we heard the sharpcrack of his rifle ringing through the defile; and, looking up, we saw aflock of "bighorns"--so the wild sheep of the Rocky Mountains arecalled--leaping from rock to rock, and almost flying like birds up theface of the cliffs. It was not long before Lincoln made his appearanceat the mouth of the defile, carrying a large body upon his shoulders--which we knew, by the huge crescent-shaped horns, had once been a memberof the flock we had seen escaping. It proved to be as fat as a buck;and the knives of the skilful hunters were not long in skinning anddissecting it. Meanwhile, a couple of axes had been grappled by stouthands; a cotton-wood tree name crashing down after a few sharp blows;and, having been cut into "logs," was soon crackling under the redblaze. Over this, the ribs and steaks of the bighorn soon sputtered,and the coffee-kettle steamed, simmered, and bubbled, with its brown andaromatic contents. Our supper over, one and all of us rolled ourselvesin our blankets, and were soon forgetful of the perils through which wehad passed.

  Next morning we arose refreshed, and after breakfast a consultation washeld as to what course we should now take. We would have followed thestream, but it appeared to run in a southerly direction, and that wouldnot do for us. We wanted to go eastward. While we were deliberatingupon this, an exclamation from the hunter Lincoln drew our attention.He was standing in the open ground, at some distance out from thewillows, and pointing southward. We all looked in that direction, and,to our great surprise, beheld a pillar of blue smoke curling up into thesky, and seeming to rise out of the plain!

  "It must be Indians!" cried one.

  "I noticed an odd-looking hole in the prairie down there," said Lincoln;"I noticed it last night, when I was up after the bighorn. The smoke wesee comes out of it; and where there's smoke there must be a fire, theysay--there's somebody about that fire, be they Injuns or whites."

  "Indians, of course," rejoined several; "who else would be found withinhundreds of miles of such a place as this? Indians, they must be."

  A brief consultation was held among us, as to what was best to be done.Our fire was at once "choked out," and our mules and horses brought intothe cover of the willow thicket. Some proposed that a small party of usshould go down the stream and reconnoitre; while others advised that weshould climb the mountain, from which we might get a view of the strangeplace whence the smoke seemed to proceed. This was plainly the bestcourse to adopt--as, in case it should fail to satisfy us, we couldstill follow the other plan. Half-a-dozen of us, therefore, leaving theothers to guard the camp, immediately set out to ascend the mountain.

  We climbed up the ravine, occasionally stopping to look out over theplain. We climbed until we had reached a considerable elevation. Atlength we caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a deep barranca,--intowhich ran the stream--but we could distinguish nothing within it at sogreat a distance. We could see the plain stretching away beyond, nakedand sterile. On one side only, and that towards the east, there was abelt of verdure, with here and there a solitary tree, or at most two orthree growing together, stunted-like and shrubby. Running in the centreof this belt, we could distinguish a line or crack in the plain. Thiswas, no doubt, a channel by which the stream escaped from the barranca.As nothing farther could be gained by remaining upon the mountain, wedescended, and joined our companions at the camp.

  It was now agreed that a select party should follow the stream, until wehad approached the edge of this strange valley, and reconnoitred it withcaution. Six of us again started, leaving our horses as before. Westole silently along, keeping among the willows, and as near as possibleto the banks of the rivulet. In this way we travelled about a mile anda half. We saw then that we were near to the end of the barranca. Wecould hear a noise like the sound of a waterfall. We guessed that itmust be a cataract formed by the stream, where it leaped into thestrange ravine that already began to expand before our faces. We wereright in our conjectures, for the next moment we crept out upon the edgeof a fearful cliff, where the water of the rivulet swept over, and fellthrough a height of several hundred feet.

  It was a beautiful sight to look upon, as the long jet, curving like thetail of a horse, plunged into the foaming pool below; and then risingwith its millions of globules of snowy spray, glittered under thesunbeam with all the colours of the rainbow. It was, indeed, abeautiful sight; but our eyes did not dwell long upon it, for otherobjects were before them that filled us with wonder. Away below--farbelow where we were--lay a lovely valley, smiling in all the luxurianceof bright vegetation. It was of nearly an oval shape, bounded upon allsides by a frowning precipice, that rose around it like a wall. Itslength could not have been less than ten miles, and its greatest breadthabout half of its length. We were at its upper end, and of courseviewed it lengthwise. Along the face of the precipice there were treeshanging out horizontally, and some of them even growing with their topsdownward. These trees were cedars and pines; and we could perceive alsothe knotted limbs of huge cacti protruding from the crevices of therocks. We could see the mezcal, or wild maguey plant, growing againstthe cliff--its scarlet leaves contrasting finely with the dark foliageof the cedars and cacti. Some of these plants stood out on the verybrow of the overhanging precipice, and their long curving blades gave asingular character to the landscape. Along the face of the dark cliffsall was rough, and gloomy, and picturesque. How different was the scenebelow! Here everything looked soft, and smiling, and beautiful. Therewere broad stretches of woodland, where the thick foliage of the treesmet and clustered together, so that it looked like the surface of theearth itself; but we knew it was only the green leaves, for here andthere were spots of brighter green, that we saw were glades covered withgrassy turf. The leaves of the trees were of different colours, for itwas now late in the autumn. Some were yellow, and some of a deep claretcolour. Some were bright red, and some of a beautiful maroon; and therewere green, and brighter green, and others of a silvery, whitish hue.All these colours were mingled together, and blended into each other,like the flowers upon a rich carpet.

  Near the centre of the valley was a large shining object, which we knewto be water. It was evidently a lake of crystal purity, and smooth as amirror. The sun was now up to meridian height, and his yellow beamsfalling upon its surface caused it to gleam like a sheet of gold. Wecould not trace the outlines of the water--for the trees partially hidit from our view--but we saw that the smoke that had at first attractedus rose up somewhere from the western shore of the lake.

  We returned to the camp, where we had left our companions. It was nowagreed th
at we should all ride down the side of the barranca together,until we could find a place to descend into it. It was evident somesuch place existed, else, how could they have got in who had kindled thefire there?

  We left the Mexicans in camp with our mules, and all the rest of ushaving mounted our horses, rode off together. We went by the easternside, keeping well back upon the plain, so that we might not be seenuntil we discovered what sort of people were in the valley. When we hadgot opposite to where the smoke was still curling up, we stopped; andtwo of us, dismounting, crawled forward to the very edge of theprecipice. We took care to keep some bushes, that grew along the brink,between ourselves and the lake. At length we were able to get a goodview of everything below; and a very strange sight that was,--at leastit was very strange in such a place, where it was so little expected.There was a large lake--as I have already stated--and on its oppositeside, not over a hundred yards from its shore, was a fine-lookinglog-house, with other smaller ones standing in the rear. There wererail-fences around them, and a cleared space divided into fields, someof which appeared to be under cultivation, while others were green andfilled with flocks of animals. The whole picture was exactly like asnug farm-house, with its stables and other outhouses, with its gardenand fields, and horses and cattle! The distance was too great for us todistinguish what sort of cattle they were, but there appeared to be manykinds, both red, and black, and speckled. We could see several figuresof men and boys--four of them in all--moving about the enclosures, andthere was a woman near the door of the house. It was impossible in thedistance to tell whether they were white people, but we never imaginedfor a moment they could be Indians. No Indian could have built such ahouse. Of course we were filled with astonishment at finding such apicture in so unexpected a place; and a beautiful picture it was to oureyes, fresh as we were from looking upon the barren desert. The lakewas smooth as a mirror; the sun was shining upon it, and we could seeupon its farther shore several large animals standing up to their kneein the water.

  There were many other striking objects which met our eyes, but we had notime to dwell upon them, and we crawled back again to our companions.

  It was at once agreed that we should go still farther down, andendeavour to find a road leading into this most singular oasis. Wethought we could distinguish a sort of depression in the plain near thelower end of the valley, and for this point we directed our course.After riding a few miles farther we reached the place where the streamissued out in an easterly direction. There sure enough, was the veryroad we were in search of, winding down along the bank of the stream,and as if carved out from the face of the precipice. It was not muchwider than the track of a wagon, but was of very easy descent. We didnot hesitate a moment, but commenced riding downward.