MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV), FREDERICK MARRYAT [easy novels to read .txt] 📗

and Swallowing

Like A Hungry Wolf. There Is, However, An End To Everything, And When

Satiety Had Succeeded to Want, They Related to Us The Circumstance That

Had Led them Where They Were.

 

 

 

They Had Come As Journeymen With A Small Caravan Going From St. Louis To

Astoria. On The Green River They Had Been Attacked by A War-Party Of The

Black-Feet, Who Had Killed all Except Them, Thanks To The Irishman'S

Presence Of Mind, Who Pushed his Fat Companion Into A Deep Fissure Of

The Earth, And Jumped after Him. Thus They Saved their Bacon, And Had

Soon The Consolation Of Hearing The Savages Carrying away The Goods,

Leading The Mules Towards The North. For Three Days They Had Wandered

South, In the Hope Of Meeting With Some Trappers, And This Very Morning

They Had Fallen In with Two French Trappers, Who Told Them To Remain

There And Repose Till Their Return, As They Were Going after Game.

 

 

 

While They Were Narrating Their History, The Two Trappers Arrived with A

Fat Buck. They Were Old Friends, Having Both Of Them Travelled and

Hunted with Gabriel. We Resolved not To Proceed any Further That Day,

And They Laughed a Great Deal When We Related to Them Our Prowess

Against The Crows. An Application Of Bruised leaves Of The Gibson Weed

Upon The Legs Of The Two Sufferers Immediately Soothed their Pain, And

The Next Morning They Were Able To Use Roche'S And Gabriel'S Horses, And

To Follow Us To Brownhall, An American Fur-Trading Port, Which Place We

Reached in two Days.

 

 

 

There We Parted from Our Company, And Rapidly Continued our March

Towards The Settlement. Ten Days Did We Travel Thus In the Heart Of A

Fine Country, Where Game At Every Moment Crossed our Path. We Arrived in

The Deserted country Of The Bonnaxes, And Were Scarcely Two Days'

Journey From The Eastern Shoshone Boundary, When, As Ill-Luck Would Have

It, We Met Once More With Our Old Enemies The Arrapahoes. This Time,

However, We Were Determined not To Be Put Any More On Dog'S Meat

Allowance, And To Fight, If Necessary, In defence Of Our Liberty.

 

 

 

We Were Surrounded, But Not Yet Taken; And Space Being Ours And Our

Rifles True, We Hoped to Escape, Not One Of Our Enemies Having, As We

Well Knew, Any Firearms. They Reduced their Circle Smaller And Smaller,

Till They Stood At About A Hundred and Fifty Yards From Us; Their Horses

Fat And Plump, But Of The Small Wild Breed, And Incapable Of Running a

Race With Our Tall And Beautiful Mexican Chargers. At That Moment

Gabriel Raised his Hand, As If For A Signal; We All Three Darted like

Lightning Through The Line Of Warriors, Who Were Too Much Taken By

Surprise Even To Use Their Bows. They Soon Recovered from Their

Astonishment, And Giving The War-Whoop, With Many Ferocious Yells Of

Disappointment, Dashed after Us At Their Utmost Speed.

 

 

 

Their Horses, As I Have Said, Could Not Run A Race With Ours, But In a

Long Chase Their Hardy Little Animals Would Have Had The Advantage,

Especially As Our Own Steeds Had Already Performed so Long A Journey.

During The Two First Hours We Kept Them Out Of Sight, But Towards Dark,

As Our Beasts Gave In, We Saw Their Forms In the Horizon Becoming More

And More Distinct, While, To Render Our Escape Less Probable, We Found

Ourselves Opposed in front By A Chain Of Mountains, Not High, But Very

Steep And Rugged.

 

 

 

"On, Ahead, We Are Safe!" Cried gabriel. Of Course, There Was No Time

For Explanation, And Ten Minutes More Saw Us At The Foot Of The

Mountain. "Not A Word, But Do As I Do," Again Said My Companion. We

Followed his Example By Unsaddling Our Animals And Taking Off The

Bridles, With Which We Whipped them. The Poor Things, Though Tired,

Galloped to The South, As If They Were Aware Of The Impending Danger.

 

 

 

"I Understand, Gabriel," Said I; "The Savages Cannot See Us In the

Shades Of These Hills; They Will Follow Our Horses By The Sounds."

 

 

 

Gabriel Chuckled with Delight. "Right," Said He, "Right Enough, But It

Is Not All. I Know Of A Boat On The Other Side Of The Mountain, And The

Ogden River Will Carry Us Not Far From The Buona Ventura."

 

 

 

I Started. "A Mistake," I Exclaimed, "Dear Friend, A Sad Mistake; We Are

More Than Thirty Miles From The River."

 

 

 

"From The Main River, Yes," Answered he, Shaking My Hand, "But Many An

Otter Have I Killed in a Pretty Lake Two Miles From Here, At The

Southern Side Of This Hill. There I Have A Boat Well Concealed, As I

Hope; And It Is A Place Where We May Defy All The Arrapahoes, And The

Crows To Back Them. From That Lake To The River It Is But Thirty Miles'

Paddling In a Smooth Canal, Made Either By Nature Or By A Former Race

Of Men."

 

 

 

I Need not Say How Cheerfully We Walked these Two Miles, In spite Of The

Weight Of Our Saddles, Rifles, And Accoutrements. Our Ascent Was Soon

Over, And Striking Into A Small Tortuous Deer-Path, We Perceived below

Us The Transparent Sheet Of Water, In which A Few Stars Already

Reflected their Pale And Tremulous Light. When We Reached the Shore Of

The Lake, We Found Ourselves Surrounded by Vast And Noble Ruins, Like

Those On The Buona Ventura, But Certainly Much More Romantic. Gabriel

Welcomed us To His Trapping-Ground, As A Lord In his Domain, And Soon

Brought Out A Neat Little Canoe From Under A Kind Of Ancient Vault.

 

 

 

"This Canoe," Said He, "Once Belonged to One Of The Poor Fellows That

Was Murdered with The Prince Seravalle. We Brought It Here Six Years Ago

With Great Secrecy; It Cost Him Twenty Dollars, A Rifle, And Six

Blankets. Now, In the Middle Of This Lake There Is An Island, Where He

And I Lived together, And Where We Can Remain For Months Without Any

Fear Of Indians Or Starvation."

 

 

 

We All Three Entered the Canoe, Leaving Our Saddles Behind Us, To

Recover Them On The Following Day. One Hour'S Paddling Brought Us To The

Island, And It Was Truly A Magnificent Spot. It Was Covered with Ruins;

Graceful Obelisks Were Shaded by The Thick Foliage Of Immense Trees, And

The Soft Light Of The Moon, Beaming On The Angles Of The Ruined

Monuments, Gave To The Whole Scenery The Hue Of An Italian Landscape.

 

 

 

"Here We Are Safe," Said Gabriel, "And To-Morrow You Will Discover That

My Old Resting-Place Is Not Deficient In comfort."

 

 

 

As We Were Very Tired, We Lay Down And Soon Slept, Forgetting In this

Little Paradise The Dangers And The Fatigues Of The Day. Our Host'S

Repose, However, Was Shorter Than Mine, For Long Before Morn He Had Gone

To Fetch Our Saddles. Roche And I Would Probably Have Slept Till His

Return, Had We Not Been Awakened by The Report Of A Rifle, Which Came

Down To Us, Repeated by A Thousand Echoes. An Hour Of Intense Anxiety

Was Passed, Till At Last We Saw Gabriel Paddling Towards Us. The Sound

Of The Rifle Had, However, Betrayed our Place Of Concealment, And As

Gabriel Neared the Island, The Shore Opposite To Us Began To Swarm With

Our Disappointed enemies, Who In all Probability Had Camped in the

Neighbourhood. As My Friend Landed, I Was Beginning To Scold Him For His

Imprudence In using His Rifle Under Our Present Circumstances, When A

Glance Showed me At Once He Had Met With An Adventure Similar To Mine

Near Santa Fe. In the Canoe Lay The Skin Of A Large Finely-Spotted

Jaguar, And By It A Young Cub, Playing Unconsciously With The

Scalping-Knife, Yet Reeking In its Mother'S Blood.

 

 

 

"Could Not Help It,--Self-Defence!" Exclaimed he, Jumping On Shore. "Now

The Red devils Know Where We Are, But It Is A Knowledge That Brings Them

Little Good. The Lake Is Ten Fathoms In depth, And They Will Not Swim

Three Miles Under The Muzzles Of Our Rifles. When They Are Tired of

Seeing Us Fishing, And Hearing Us Laughing, They Will Go Away Like

Disappointed foxes."

 

 

 

So It Proved. That Day We Took Our Rifles And Went In the Canoe To

Within Eighty Yards Of The Indians, On The Mainland, We Fishing For

Trouts, And Inviting Them To Share In our Sport. They Yelled awfully,

And Abused us Not A Little, Calling Us By All The Names Their Rage Could

Find: Squaws, Dogs Of Pale-Faces, Cowards, Thieves, &C. At Last,

However, They Retired in the Direction Of The River, Hoping Yet To Have

Us In their Power; But So Little Had We To Fear, That We Determined to

Pass A Few Days On The Island, That We Might Repose From Our Fatigues.

 

 

 

When We Decided upon Continuing Our Route, Gabriel And Roche Were

Obliged to Leave Their Saddles And Bridles Behind, As The Canoe Was Too

Small For Ourselves And Luggage. This Was A Misfortune Which Could Be

Easily Repaired at The Settlement, And Till Then, Saddles, Of Course,

Were Useless. We Went On Merrily From Forty-Five To Fifty Miles Every

Day, On The Surface Of The Most Transparent And Coolest Water In the

World. During The Night We Would Land And Sleep On The Shore. Game Was

Very Plentiful, For At Almost Every Minute We Would Pass A Stag Or A

Bull Drinking; Sometimes At Only Twenty Yards, Distance.

 

 

 

During This Trip On The Ogden River, We Passed four Other Magnificent

Lakes, But Not One Of Them Bearing any Marks Of Former Civilization, As

On The Shores Of The First One Which Had Sheltered us. We Left The River

Two Hundred and Forty Miles From Where We Had Commenced our Navigation,

And, Carrying Our Canoe Over A Portage Of Three Miles, We Launched it

Again Upon One Of The Tributaries Of The Buona Ventura, Two Hundred

Miles North-East From The Settlement.

 

 

 

The Current Was Now In our Favour, And In four Days More We Landed among

My Good Friends, The Shoshones, Who, After Our Absence Of Nine Months,

Received us With Almost A Childish Joy. They Had Given Us Up For Dead,

And Suspecting The Crows Of Having Had A Hand In our Disappearance,

They Had Made An Invasion Into Their Territory.

 

 

 

Six Days After Our Arrival Our Three Horses Were Perceived swimming

Across The River; The Faithful Animals Had Also Escaped from Our

Enemies, And Found Their Way Back To Their Masters And Their

Native Prairies.

Chapter XV

During My Long Absence And Captivity Among The Arrapahoes, I Had Often

Reflected upon The Great Advantages Which Would Accrue If, By Any

Possibility, The Various Tribes Which Were Of Shoshone Origin Could Be

Induced to Unite With Them In one Confederacy; And The More I Reflected

Upon The Subject, The More Resolved i Became, That If Ever I Returned to

The Settlement, I Would Make The Proposition To Our Chiefs In council.

 

 

 

The Numbers Composing These Tribes Were As Follows:--The Shoshones

Amounting To About 60,000, Independent Of The Mountain Tribes, Which We

Might Compute At 10,000 More; The Apaches, About 40,000; The Arrapahoes,

About 20,000; The Comanches And The Tribes Springing From Them, At The

Lowest Computation, Amounting To 60,000 More. Speaking The Same

Language, Having The Same Religious Formula, The Same Manners And

Customs; Nothing appeared to Me To Be More Feasible. The Arrapahoes Were

The Only One Tribe Which Was Generally At Variance With Us, But They

Were Separated from The Shoshones Much Later Than The Other Tribes, And

Were Therefore Even More Shoshone Than The Apaches And Comanches.

 

 

 

Shortly After My Return, I Acted upon My Resolution. I Summoned all The

Chiefs Of Our Nation To A Great Council, And In the Month Of August,

1839, We Were All Assembled outside Of The Walls Of The Settlement.

After The Preliminary Ceremonies, I Addressed them:--

 

 

 

"Shoshones! Brave Children Of The Grand Serpent! My Wish Is To Render

You Happy, Rich, And Powerful. During The Day I Think Of It; I Dream Of

It In my Sleep. At Last, I Have Had Great Thoughts--Thoughts Proceeding

From The Manitou. Hear Now The Words Of Owato Wanisha; He Is Young, Very

Young; His Skin Is That