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

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWELVE.

  THE BIGHORNS.

  "Next morning we were up by the earliest break of day, and had thepleasure of witnessing a beautiful phenomenon in the sunrise. The wholecountry to the east, as far as we could see, was a level plain; and thehorizon, of course, resembled that of the ocean when calm. As the greatyellow globe of the sun appeared above it, one could have fancied thathe was rising out of the earth itself--although he was more than ninetymillions of miles distant from any part of it. It was a beautiful skyinto which the sun was slowly climbing up. It was of a pale bluecolour, and without the smallest cloud--for on these high table-plainsin the interior of America, you may often travel for days without seeinga cloud as big as a kite. We were all in better spirits, for we hadrested well, and had no longer any fear of being followed by the savageswho had massacred our companions. They would have been fools, indeed,to have made that dreadful journey for all they could have gotten fromus. Moreover, the sight of our antelope, with its nice yellow fat,crisped by the cold night-air, was anything but disheartening. As Cudjowas a dexterous butcher, I allowed him to quarter it, while I shoulderedthe axe and marched off to the mountain-foot to procure more wood forthe fire. Mary was busy among her pots, pans, and platters, scouringand washing them all in the clear stream--for the dust of the barrenplains had blown into the wagon as we marched, and had formed a thickcoating over the vessels. Fortunately we had a good stock of theseutensils--consisting of a gridiron, a large camp-kettle, a couple ofmess-pans, a baking-dish, a first-rate coffee-pot and mill, half-a-dozentin-cups and plates, with an assortment of knives, forks, and spoons.All these things we had laid in at Saint Louis, by the advice of ourScotch friend, who know very well what articles were required for ajourney across the Desert.

  "I was not long in getting the wood, and our fire was soon replenishedand blazing brightly. Mary attended to the coffee, which she parched inone of the mess-pans, and then ground in the mill. I handled thegridiron and broiled the venison-steaks, while Cudjo collected a largesupply of locust-beans, and roasted them. These last were to serve usfor bread, as we had neither meal nor flour. The supply we had broughtfrom Saint Louis had been exhausted several days before; and we hadlived altogether upon dried beef and coffee. Of this last article wewere very sparing, as we had not over a pound of it left, and it was ourmost precious luxury. We had no sugar whatever, nor cream, but we didnot mind the want of either, as those who travel in the wilderness findcoffee very palatable without them--perhaps quite as much so as it is,when mixed with the whitest of sugar and the yellowest of cream, to thepampered appetites of those who live always at home. But, after all, weshould not have to drink our coffee without sweetening, as I observedthat Frank, while extracting the beans of the locust, was also scrapingthe honeyed pulp from the pods, and putting it to one side. He hadalready collected nearly a plate full. Well done, Frank!

  "The great mess-chest had been lifted out of the wagon; and the lid ofthis, with a cloth spread over it, served us for a table. For seats wehad rolled several large stones around the chest; and upon these we satdrinking the delicious coffee, and eating the savoury steaks of venison.

  "While we were thus pleasantly engaged, I observed Cudjo suddenlyrolling the whites of his eyes upwards, at the same time exclaiming,--

  "`Golly! Massa--Massa--lookee yonder!'

  "The rest of us turned quickly round--for we had been sitting with ourbacks to the mountain--and looked in the direction indicated by Cudjo.There were high cliffs fronting us; and along the face of these, fivelarge reddish objects were moving, so fast, that I at first thought theywere birds upon the wing. After watching them a moment, however, I sawthat they were quadrupeds; but so nimbly did they go, leaping from ledgeto ledge, that it was impossible to see their limbs. They appeared tobe animals of the deer species--somewhat larger than sheep or goats--butwe could see that, in place of antlers, each of them had a pair of hugecurving horns. As they leaped downward, from one platform of the cliffsto another, we fancied that they whirled about in the air, as thoughthey were `turning somersaults,' and seemed at times to come down headsforemost!

  "There was a spur of the cliff that sloped down to within less than ahundred yards of the place where we sat. It ended in an abruptprecipice of some sixty or seventy feet in height above the plain. Theanimals, on reaching the level of this spur, ran along it until they hadarrived at its end. Seeing the precipice they suddenly stopped, as ifto reconnoitre it; and we had now a full view of them, as they stoodoutlined against the sky, with their graceful limbs and great curvedhorns almost as large as their bodies. We thought, of course, theycould get no farther for the precipice, and I was calculating whether myrifle--which I had laid hold of--would reach them at that distance. Allat once, to our astonishment, the foremost sprang out from the cliff;and whirling through the air, lit upon his head on the hard plainbelow!" We could see that he came down upon his horns, and reboundingup again to the height of several feet, turned a second somersault, andthen dropped upon his legs, and stood still! Nothing daunted the restfollowed, one after the other in quick succession, like so manystreet-tumblers, and like them--after the feat had been performed--theanimals stood for a moment, as if waiting for applause!

  "The spot where they had dropped was not more than fifty paces from ourcamp; but I was so astonished at the tremendous leap, that I quiteforgot the rifle I held in my hands. The animals, too, seemed equallyastonished upon discovering us--which they now did for the first time.The yelping of the dogs, who rushed forward at the moment, brought me tomyself again, as it did also the strangers to a sense of their dangerousproximity; and, wheeling suddenly, they bounded back for the mountain.I fired after them at random; but we all supposed without effect, as thewhole five kept on to the foot of the mountain, followed by the dogs.Presently they commenced ascending, as though they had wings; but wenoticed that one of them hung in the rear, and seemed to leap upwardwith difficulty. Upon this one our eyes became fixed, as we now fanciedit was wounded. We were right in this. The rest soon disappeared outof sight; but that which lagged behind, on leaping for a high ledge,came short in the attempt, and rolled backward down the face of themountain. The next moment we saw him struggling between the mastiffs.

  "Cudjo, frank, and Harry, ran together up the steep; and soon returned,bringing the animal along with them quite dead--as the dogs had put anend to him. It was a good load for Cudjo, and proved upon closeracquaintance to be as large as a fallow-deer. From the huge wrinkledhorns, and other marks, I knew it to be the _argali_, or wild sheep,known among hunters by the name of the `bighorn,' and sometimes spokenof in books as the `Rocky Mountain sheep,' although in its generalappearance it looked more like an immense yellow goat, or deer with apair of rams' horns stuck upon his head. We knew, however, it was notbad to eat,--especially to people in our circumstances; and as soon aswe had finished our breakfast, Cudjo and I whetted our knives, andhaving removed the skin, hung up the carcass alongside the remainder ofthe antelope. The dogs for their pains had a breakfast to theirsatisfaction; and the rest of us, seeing so much fresh meat hanging tothe tree, with a cool stream of water running beneath it, began to fancywe were quite delivered from the Desert.

  "We now sat down together to deliberate on our future proceedings.Between the argali and the antelope, we had provision enough to last usfor a week at least; but when that was done, what likelihood was thereof our procuring a further supply of either? Not much, thought we; foralthough there might be a few more antelopes and a few more `bighorns'about the place, there could not be many with so little appearance ofanything for them to feed upon. Moreover, we might not find it so easyto kill any more of them,--for those we had already shot seemed to havefallen in our way by chance, or--as we more properly believed at thetime and still believe--by the guiding of a Providential hand. But weknew it was not right or wise to rely altogether on this,--that is, weknew it was our duty, while trusting in its guidance, at the same timeto make every effort wh
ich lay in our own power to save ourselves. Whenour present supply should be exhausted, where was the next to come from?We could not always live upon armadilloes, and argalis, andantelopes,--even supposing they were as plenty as the rocks. But thechances were ten to one we should get no more of them. Our ox in a weekwould have improved in condition. He would sustain us for a time; andthen--our horse--and then--and then--the dogs--and then--we shouldstarve to a certainty.

  "Any of these necessities was sufficiently fearful to contemplate.Should we kill our ox, we would be unable to take the wagon along, andhow could the horse carry us all out of the Desert? If we then killedthe horse, we should be still worse off, and utterly helpless on foot.No man can cross the Great Desert on foot--not even the hunters--and howcould we do it? To remain where we were would be impossible. Therewere a few patches of vegetation on the different runlets that filteredaway from the mountain-foot. There were clumps of willows growing alongthese, but not enough of grass to support any stock of game upon whichwe could live, even were we certain of being able to capture it. It wasevident, then, to us all, that we should have to get away from thatplace as speedily as possible.

  "The next point to be determined was, whether the Desert extended awayto the south, as we already knew that it did to the north. To ascertainthis, I resolved to go around the mountain, leaving the rest at the campuntil my return.

  "Our horse was by this time rested, and well fed; and, having saddledhim and shouldered my rifle, I mounted and rode off. I kept around themountain-foot, going by the eastern side. I crossed several rivuletsresembling the one on which we had encamped; and noticed that all theseturned off toward the eastward, making their way to a main stream. Inthis direction, too, I saw a few stunted trees, with here and there anappearance of greenness on the surface of the plain. On the way I sawan antelope, and another animal resembling a deer, but differing fromall the deer I had ever seen, in having a long tail like a cow. I knewnot at the time what sort of an animal it was, as I had never met withany description of it in books of natural history.

  "After riding about five miles, I got fairly round to the east side ofthe mountain, and could view the country away to the south. As far asmy sight could reach, I saw nothing but an open plain--if possible moresterile in its character than that which stretched northward. The onlydirection in which there were any signs of fertility was to the east,and that was but in patches of scanty vegetation.

  "It was a cheerless prospect. We should now certainly have a desert tocross before we could get to any inhabited country. To strikeeastwardly again, for the American frontier--circumstanced as we werewithout provisions and with worn-out cattle--would be madness; as thedistance was at least eight hundred miles. Besides, I knew there weremany hostile tribes of Indians living on that route, so that, evenshould the country prove fertile, we could never hope to get through it.To go northward or southward would be equally impossible, as there wasno civilised settlement for a thousand miles in either direction. Ouronly hope, then, would be, to attempt crossing the Desert westwardly tothe Mexican settlements on the Del Norte,--a distance of nearly twohundred miles! To do this, we should need first to rest our ill-matchedteam for several days. We should also require provisions enough for theroute, and how were these to be obtained? Again, thought I, we musttrust to Providence, who has already so manifestly extended a helpinghand to us.

  "I observed that the mountain on the southern face descended with aneasier slope toward the plain, than upon the north where it is bold andprecipitous. From this I concluded that a greater quantity of snow mustbe melted, and run off in that direction. Doubtless then, thought I,there will be a greater amount of fertility on that side; and Icontinued to ride on, until I came in sight of the grove of willows andcotton-trees, which line the stream above the valley here. I soonreached them, and saw that there was a stream with considerablepasturage near its borders--much more than where we had encamped I tiedmy horse to a tree, and climbed some distance up the mountain in orderto get a view of the country south and west. I had not got to a greatheight when I caught sight of the singular chasm that seemed to open upin the plain. I was attracted with this peculiarity, and determined toexamine it. Descending again to where I had left my horse, I mounted,and rode straight for it. In a short time I stood upon the brink of theprecipice, and looked down into this smiling valley.

  "I cannot describe my sensations at that moment. Only they, whose eyeshave been bent for days on the sterile wilderness, can feel the fulleffect produced by a scene of fertility such as there presented itself.It was late in the autumn, and the woods that lay below me--clad in allthe variegated livery of that season--looked like some richly-colouredpicture. The music of birds ascended from the groves below, waftedupward upon the perfumed and aromatic air; and the whole scene appearedmore like a fabled Elysium than a reality of Nature I could hardlysatisfy myself that I was not dreaming, or looking upon some fantastichallucination of the _mirage_.

  "I stood for many minutes in a sort of trance, gazing down into thelovely valley. I could observe no signs of human habitation. No smokerose over the trees, and no noises issued forth, except the voices ofNature, uttered in the songs of birds and the hum of falling waters. Itseemed as though man had never desecrated this isolated paradise by hispresence and passions.

  "I say I stood for many minutes gazing and listening. I could haveremained for hours; but the sinking sun admonished me to hasten away. Iwas nearly twenty miles from our camp, and my horse was neither strongnor fresh. Determined, therefore, to return on the morrow, bringingwith me my companions and all that belonged to us, I turned my horse'shead and rode back. It was late in the night--near midnight--when Ireached camp. I found everything as I had left it, except that Mary wasin great anxiety about what had delayed me so long. But my return, andthe discovery which I communicated, soon restored her spirits; and welaid out our plans for changing our camp to the valley, determined toset forth at an early hour in the morning."