The Dog Crusoe and His Master: A Story of Adventure in the Western Prairies, - [books for new readers .TXT] 📗

a few
moments.

"You had goods with you, and horses, I believe, when
you were captured," said the former.

"Ay, that we had. Yonder stand the horses, under
the pine-tree, along wi' the rest o' the Redskin troop; an'
a hard time they've had o't, as their bones may tell without
speakin'. As for the goods," he continued, glancing
round the camp, "I don't know where--ah! yes, there
they be in the old pack. I see all safe."

Cameron now addressed the Indians.

"The Peigans," he said, "have not done well. Their
hearts have not been true to the Pale-faces. Even now
I could take your scalps where you sit, but white men
do not like war, they do not like revenge. The Peigans
may go free."

Considering the fewness of their numbers, this was
bold language to use towards the Indians; but the boldest
is generally the best policy on such occasions. Moreover,
Cameron felt that, being armed with rifles, while
the Indians had only bows and arrows, the trappers had
a great advantage over them.

The Indian who had spoken before now rose and said
he was sorry there should be any cause of difference
between them, and added he was sorry for a great many
more things besides, but he did not say he was sorry for
having told a lie.

"But, before you go, you must deliver up the horses
and goods belonging to these men," said Cameron, pointing
to Joe and Henri.

This was agreed to. The horses were led out, the two
little packs containing Joe's goods were strapped upon
them, and then the trappers turned to depart. The Indians
did not move until they had mounted; then they
rose and advanced in a body to the edge of the wood, to
see the Pale-faces go away. Meanwhile Joe spoke a few
words to Cameron, and the men were ordered to halt,
while the former dismounted and led his horse towards
the band of savages.

"Peigans," he said, "you know the object for which
I came into this country was to make peace between
you and the Pale-faces. I have often told you so when
you would not listen, and when you told me that I had
a double heart and told lies. You were wrong when
you said this; but I do not wonder, for you live among
nations who do not fear God, and who think it right to
lie. I now repeat to you what I said before. It would
be good for the Red-men if they would make peace with
the Pale-faces, and if they would make peace with each
other. I will now convince you that I am in earnest,
and have all along been speaking the truth."

Hereupon Joe Blunt opened his bundle of goods, and
presented fully one-half of the gaudy and brilliant contents
to the astonished Indians, who seemed quite taken
aback by such generous treatment. The result of this
was that the two parties separated with mutual expressions
of esteem and good-will. The Indians then returned
to the forest, and the white men galloped back to their
camp among the hills.



CHAPTER XX.


New plans--Our travellers join the fur-traders, and see many
strange things--A curious fight--A narrow escape, and
a prisoner taken.


Not long after the events related in the last chapter,
our four friends--Dick, and Joe, and Henri,
and Crusoe--agreed to become for a time members of
Walter Cameron's band of trappers. Joe joined because
one of the objects which the traders had in view was
similar to his own mission--namely, the promoting of
peace among the various Indian tribes of the mountains
and plains to the west. Joe, therefore, thought it a
good opportunity of travelling with a band of men who
could secure him a favourable hearing from the Indian
tribes they might chance to meet with in the course of
their wanderings. Besides, as the traders carried about
a large supply of goods with them, he could easily replenish
his own nearly exhausted pack by hunting wild
animals and exchanging their skins for such articles as
he might require.

Dick joined because it afforded him an opportunity of
seeing the wild, majestic scenery of the Rocky Mountains,
and shooting the big-horned sheep which abounded
there, and the grizzly "bars," as Joe named them, or
"Caleb," as they were more frequently styled by Henri
and the other men.

Henri joined because it was agreeable to the inclination
of his own rollicking, blundering, floundering, crashing
disposition, and because he would have joined anything
that had been joined by the other two.

Crusoe's reason for joining was single, simple, easy to
be expressed, easy to be understood, and commendable.
He joined--because Dick did.

The very day after the party left the encampment
where Dick had shot the grizzly bear and the deer, he
had the satisfaction of bringing down a splendid specimen
of the big-horned sheep. It came suddenly out
from a gorge of the mountain, and stood upon the giddy
edge of a tremendous precipice, at a distance of about
two hundred and fifty yards.

"You could not hit that," said a trapper to Henri,
who was rather fond of jeering him about his shortsightedness.

"Non!" cried Henri, who didn't see the animal in the
least; "say you dat? ve shall see;" and he let fly with a
promptitude that amazed his comrades, and with a result
that drew from them peals of laughter.

"Why, you have missed the mountain!"

"Oh, non! dat am eempossoble."

It was true, nevertheless, for his ball had been arrested
in its flight by the stem of a tree not twenty yards before
him.

While the shot was yet ringing, and before the laugh
above referred to had pealed forth, Dick Varley fired,
and the animal, springing wildly into the air, fell down
the precipice, and was almost dashed to pieces at their
feet.
This Rocky Mountain or big-horned sheep was a particularly
large and fine one, but being a patriarch of the
flock was not well suited for food. It was considerably
larger in size than the domestic sheep, and might be
described as somewhat resembling a deer in the body
and a ram in the head. Its horns were the chief point
of interest to Dick; and, truly, they were astounding!
Their enormous size was out of all proportion to the
animal's body, and they curved backwards and downwards,
and then curled up again in a sharp point. These
creatures frequent the inaccessible heights of the Rocky
Mountains, and are difficult to approach. They have a
great fondness for salt, and pay regular visits to the
numerous caverns of these mountains, which are encrusted
with a saline substance.

Walter Cameron now changed his intention of proceeding
to the eastward, as he found the country not so
full of beaver at that particular spot as he had anticipated.
He therefore turned towards the west, penetrated
into the interior of the mountains, and took a
considerable sweep through the lovely valleys on their
western slopes.

The expedition which this enterprising fur-trader was
conducting was one of the first that ever penetrated
these wild regions in search of furs. The ground over
which they travelled was quite new to them, and having
no guide they just moved about at haphazard, encamping
on the margin of every stream or river on which
signs of the presence of beaver were discovered, and
setting their traps.

Beaver skins at this time were worth 25s. a-piece in
the markets of civilized lands, and in the Snake country,
through which our friends were travelling, thousands of
them were to be had from the Indians for trinkets and
baubles that were scarce worth a farthing. A beaver
skin could be procured from the Indians for a brass
finger-ring or a penny looking-glass. Horses were also
so numerous that one could be procured for an axe or a
knife.

Let not the reader, however, hastily conclude that the
traders cheated the Indians in this traffic, though the
profits were so enormous. The ring or the axe was indeed
a trifle to the trader, but the beaver skin and the
horse were equally trifles to the savage, who could procure
as many of them as he chose with very little
trouble, while the ring and the axe were in his estimation
of priceless value. Besides, be it remembered, to
carry that ring and that axe to the far-distant haunts of
the Red-man cost the trader weeks and months of constant
toil, trouble, anxiety, and, alas! too frequently cost
him his life! The state of trade is considerably modified
in these regions at the present day. It is not more
justly conducted, for, in respect of the value of goods
given for furs, it was justly conducted then, but time
and circumstances have tended more to equalize the relative
values of articles of trade.

The snow which had prematurely fallen had passed
away, and the trappers now found themselves wandering
about in a country so beautiful and a season so delightful,
that it would have seemed to them a perfect paradise,
but for the savage tribes who hovered about them,
and kept them ever on the qui vive.

They soon passed from the immediate embrace of stupendous
heights and dark gorges to a land of sloping
ridges, which divided the country into a hundred luxuriant
vales, composed part of woodland and part of prairie.
Through these, numerous rivers and streams flowed deviously,
beautifying the landscape and enriching the
land. There were also many lakes of all sizes, and
these swarmed with fish, while in some of them were
found the much-sought-after and highly-esteemed beaver.
Salt springs and hot springs of various temperatures
abounded here, and many of the latter were so hot that
meat could be boiled in them. Salt existed in all directions
in abundance and of good quality. A sulphurous
spring was also discovered, bubbling out from the base
of a perpendicular rock three hundred feet high, the
waters of which were dark-blue and tasted like gunpowder.
In short, the land presented every variety of
feature calculated to charm the imagination and delight
the eye.

It was a mysterious land, too; for broad rivers burst in
many places from the earth, flowed on for a short space,
and then disappeared as if by magic into the earth from
which they rose. Natural bridges spanned the torrents
in many places, and some of these were so correctly
formed that it was difficult to believe they had not been
built by the hand of man. They often appeared opportunely
to our trappers, and saved them the trouble and
danger of fording rivers. Frequently the whole band
would stop in silent wonder and awe as they listened to
the rushing of waters under their feet, as if another
world of streams, and rapids, and cataracts were flowing
below the crust of earth on which they stood. Some
considerable streams were likewise observed to gush
from the faces of precipices, some twenty or thirty feet
from their summits, while on the top no water was to
be seen.

Wild berries of all kinds were found in abundance,
and wild vegetables, besides many nutritious roots.
Among other fish, splendid salmon were found in the
lakes and rivers, and animal life swarmed on hill and
in dale. Woods and valleys, plains and ravines, teemed
with it. On every plain the red-deer grazed in herds
by the banks of lake and stream. Wherever there were
clusters of poplar and elder trees and saplings, the beaver
was seen nibbling industriously with his sharp teeth,
and committing as much havoc in the forest as if he
had been armed with the woodman's axe; others sported
in the eddies. Racoons sat in the tree-tops; the marten,
the black fox, and the wolf prowled in the woods in
quest of prey; mountain sheep and goats browsed on
the rocky ridges; and badgers peeped from their holes.

Here, too, the wild horse sprang snorting and dishevelled
from his mountain retreats--with flourishing
mane and tail, spanking step, and questioning
gaze--and thundered away over the plains and valleys, while
the rocks echoed back his shrill neigh. The huge,
heavy, ungainly elk, or moose-deer, trotted away from
the travellers with speed equal to that of the mustang:
elks seldom gallop; their best speed is attained at the
trot. Bears, too, black, and brown, and grizzly, roamed
about everywhere.

So numerous were all these creatures that on one
occasion the hunters of the party brought in six wild
horses, three bears, four elks, and thirty red-deer; having
shot them all a short distance ahead of the main body,
and almost without diverging from the line of march.
And this was a matter of everyday occurrence--as it
had need to be, considering the number of mouths that
had to be filled.

The feathered tribes were not less numerous. Chief
among these were eagles and vultures of uncommon size,
the wild goose, wild duck, and the majestic swan.

In the midst of such profusion the trappers spent a
happy time of it, when not molested by the savages, but
they frequently lost a horse or two in consequence of
the expertness of these thievish fellows. They often
wandered, however, for days at a time without seeing
an Indian, and at such times they enjoyed to the full
the luxuries with which a bountiful God had blessed
these romantic regions.

Dick Varley was almost wild with delight. It was
his first excursion