USA > Oregon > The Oregon trail : sketches of prairie and Rocky Mountain life > Part 4
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We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared on a little hill. "Hallo !" shouted
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THE OREGON TRAIL
the Kickapoo trader from over his fence, "where are you going ?" A few rather emphatic exclamations might have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of our way, and were not advanced an inch 5 toward the Rocky mountains. So we turned in the direc- tion the trader indicated; and with the sun for a guide, began to trace a "bee line" across the prairies. We struggled through copses and lines of wood; we waded brooks and pools of water; we traversed prairies as green Io as an emerald, expanding before us for mile after mile; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppaº rode over:
"Man nor brute, Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot, Lay in the wild luxuriant soil; No sign of travel; none of toil; The very air was mute."
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Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or more; and far in the 20 rcar against the horizon, the white wagons creeping slowly along. "Here we are at lastl" shouted the captain. And in truth we had struck upon the traces of a large body of horse. We turned joyfully and followed this new course, with tempers somewhat improved; and toward 25 sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot of which a lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It was getting dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. "Drive down the tent-pickets hard," said Henry Chatillon, "it is going to blow." We did so, and 30 secured the tent as well as we could; for the sky had changed totally, and a fresh damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy night was likely to succeed the hot clear
day. The prairie also wore a new aspect, and its vast swells had grown black and somber under the shadow of the 35 clouds. The thunder soon began to growl at a distance. Picketing and hobbling the horses among the rich grass at the foot of the slope, where we encamped, we gained a shelter just as the rain began to fall; and sat at the opening of the tent, watching the proceedings of the cap-
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" JUMPING OFF"
tain. In defiance of the rain he was stalking among the horses, wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme solicitude tormented him, lest some of his favorites should escape, or some accident should befall them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three wolves who were sneaking 5 along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if he dreaded some hostile demonstration on their part.
On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide, deep, and of an appear- 10 ance particularly muddy and treacherous. Deslauriers was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his mouth,' lashed his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian ejaculations. In plunged the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Deslauriers leaped out knee-deep in water, and by dint 15 of sacrés and a vigorous application of the whip, he urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long team and heavy wagon of our friends; but it paused on the brink.
"Now my advice is began the captain, who had 20 been anxiously contemplating the muddy gulf.
"Drive on !" cried R.
But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point in his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules, whistling in a low contem- 25 plative strain to himself.
"My advice is," resumed the captain, "that we unload; for I'll bet any man five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast."
"By the powers, we shall stick fast !" echoed Jack, the 30 captain's brother, shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
"Drive on ! drive on !" cried R. petulantly.
" Well," observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, much edified by this by-play among our con- 35 federates, "I can only give my advice, and if people won't be reasonable, why, they won't; that's all !"
Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly began to shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the French imprecations of 40 Deslauriers, sounded like the roaring of heavy cannon after
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THE OREGON TRAIL
the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers. At the same time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who hastily dived into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For a moment the issue was 5 dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle, and swore and lashed like a madman; but who can count on a team of half-broken mules? At the most critical point, when all should have been harmony and combined effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable disorder, and huddled Io together in confusion on the farther bank. There was the wagon up to the hub in mud, and visibly settling every instant. There was nothing for it but to unload; then to dig away the mud from before the wheels with a spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and branches. This agree- 15 able labor accomplished, the wagon at length emerged; but if I mention that some interruption of this sort oc- curred at least four or five times a day for a fortnight, the reader will understand that our progress toward the Platte was not without its obstacles.
20 We traveled six or seven miles farther, and "nooned" near a brook. On the point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down to water, my home- sick chargerº Pontiac made a sudden leap across, and set off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my re- 25 inaining horse, and started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway, hoping to drive him back to camp; but he instantly broke into a gallop, made a wide tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this plan re- peatedly, with the same result; Pontiac was evidently dis- 30 gusted with the prairie; so I abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along gently behind him, in hopes that I might quietly get near enough to seize the trail-rope which was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a dozen feet behind him. The chase grew interesting. For mile after 35 mile I followed the rascal, with the utmost care not to alarm him, and gradually got nearer, until at length old Hendrick's nose was fairly brushed by the whisking tail of the unsuspecting Pontiac. Without drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground; but my long heavy rifle encum- 40 bered me, and the low sound it made in striking the horn of the saddle startled him; he pricked up his cars, and
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"JUMPING OFF"
sprang off at a run. "My friend," thought I, remount- ing, "do that again, and I will shoot you !"
Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless night, and then set out 5 again in the morning. One hope, however, remained. The creek where the wagon had stuck was just before us; Pontiac might be thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept as near to him as possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him again; and the result proved Io as I had hoped: for he walked deliberately among the trees, and stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old Hendrick through the mud, and with a feeling of in- finite satisfaction picked up the slimy trail-rope, and twisted it three times round my hand. "Now let me see 15 you get away again !" I thought, as I remounted. But Pontiac was exceedingly reluctant to turn back; Hen- drick, too, who had evidently flattered himself with vain hopes, showed the utmost repugnance, and. grumbled in a manner peculiar to himself at being compelled to face 20 about. A smart cut of the whip restored his cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant behind, I set out in
search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near sunset, I saw the tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a line of woods, while the bands of horses 25 were feeding in a low meadow close at hand. There sat Jack C., cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a trail-rope, and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling stories. That night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively than any with which they had yet favored us; and 30 in the morning one of the musicians appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the horses, look- ing at us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a rifle leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred worthy of record. Should any one of my readers ever be impelled to visit the prairies, and should he choose the route of the Platte (the best, perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not think 40 to enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination.
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THE OREGON TRAIL
A dreary preliminary, protracted crossing of the threshold awaits him before he finds himself fairly upon the verge of the "great American desert"; those barren wastes, the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where the very 5 shadow of civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The intervening country, the wide and fertile belt that ex- tends for several hundred miles beyond the extremne fron- tier, will probably answer tolerably well to his preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it is from which picturesque Io tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who have seldom penetrated farther, have derived their conceptions of the whole region. If he has a painter's eye, he may find his period of probation not wholly void of interest. The
scenery, though tame, is graceful. and pleasing. Here 15 are level plains, too wide for the eye to measure; green
undulations, like motionless swells of the ocean; abun- dance of streams, followed through all their windings by lines of woods and scattered groves. But let him be as enthusiastic as he may, he will find enough to damp his 20 ardor. His wagons will stick in the mud; his horses will break loose; harness will give way, and axle-trees prove unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often of black mud, of the richest consistency. As for food, he Inust content himself with biscuit and salt provisions; for 25 strange as it may seem, this tract of country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he will see, molder- ing in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk, and farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarmn- ing over this now deserted region. Perhaps, like us, he 30 may journey for a fortnight, and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer; in the spring, not even a prairie hen is to be had.
Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he will find himself beset with "varmints" innu- 35 merable. The wolves will entertain him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day, just beyond riffe- shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from every marsh and mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and trilling of legions of frogs, infinitely various in color, 40 shape, and dimensions. A profusion of snakes will glide away from under his horse's feet, or quietly visit him in
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"JUMPING OFF"
his tent at night; while the pertinacious humming of un- numbered mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids. When thirsty with a long ride in the scorching sun over some boundless reach of prairie, he comes at length to a pool of water, and alights to drink, he discovers a troop 5 of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of his cup. Add to this, that all the morning the sun beats upon him with a sultry, penetrating heat, and that, with provoking regu- larity, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, a thunder- storm rises and drenches him to the skin. Such being Ic the charms of this favored region, the reader will easily conceive the extent of our gratification at learning that for a week we had been journeying on the wrong track! How this agreeable discovery was made I will presently explain.
One day, after a protracted morning's ride, we stopped 15 to rest at noon upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight; but close at hand, a little dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through a hollow; now forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mud in a scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly 20 bushes, and great clumps of tall rank grass. The day was excessively hot and oppressive. The horses and mules were . rolling on the prairie to refresh themselves, or feeding among the bushes in the hollow. We had dined; and Deslauriers, puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, scrubbing our service 25 of tin plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a while, before the word should be given to "catch up." Henry Chatillon, before lying down, was looking about for signs of snakes, the only living things that he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of disgust, at finding several 30 suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat leaning against the wheel in a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of hobbles to replace those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had broken the night before. The camp of our friends, a rod or two distant, presented the same scene of 35 lazy tranquillity.
" Hallo !" cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes, "here comes the old captain !"
The captain approached, and stood for a moment con- templating us in silence.
"I say, Parkman," he began, "look at Shaw there,
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THE OREGON TRAIL
asleep under the cart, with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder !"
At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part indicated, he found his hand glued fast to 5 his red flannel shirt.
" He'll look well when he gets among the squaws, won't he ?" observed the captain, with a grin.
He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories, of which his stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment Jo he would glance nervously at the horses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. "See that horse! There - that fellow just walking over the hilll By Jove! he's off. It's your big horse, Shaw; no it isn't, it's Jack's1 Jack! Jack! hallo, Jack l" Jack, thus invoked, jumped 15 up and stared vacantly at us.
"Go and catch your horse, if you don't want to lose him !" roared the captain.
Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons flapping about his feet. The captain 20 gazed anxiously till he saw that the horse was caught; then he sat down, with a countenance of thoughtfulness and care.
"I tell you what it is," he said, "this will never do at all. We shall lose every horse in the band some day or 25 other, and then a pretty plight we should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop. Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all yelling and flapping their buffalo 30 robes, in the way they do? Why, in two minutes not a hoof would be in sight." We reminded the captain that a hundred Pawnees would probably demolish the horse- guard, if he were to resist their depredations.
"At any rate," pursued the captain, evading the point, 35 "our whole system is wrong; I'm convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up."
40 "We are not in an enemy's country yet," said Shaw; "when we are, we'll travel together."
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"JUMPING OFF"
"Then," said the captain, "we might be attacked in camp. We've no sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow square, with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and a 5 regular password appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes, riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an enemy. These are my convictions. I don't want to dictate to any man. I give advice to the best of my judgment, that's all; and Io then let people do as they please."
We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to post- pone such burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of them; but he shook his head dubi- ously. The captain's sense of military propriety had been 15 severely shocked by what he considered the irregular pro- ceedings of the party; and this was not the first time he had expressed himself upon the subject. But his convic- tions seldom produced any practical results. In the present case, he contented himself, as usual, with enlarg- 20 ing on the importance of his suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted. But his plan of sending out vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and as no one else was disposed to second his views on this point, he took it into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself. 25
"Come, Parkman," said he, "will you go with me ?"
We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The captain, in the course of twenty years' service in the British army, had seen something of life; one extensive side of it, at least; he had enjoyed the best opportunities 30 for studying; and being naturally a pleasant fellow, he was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told stories for an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the prairie behind us stretching away to the hori- zon, without a horseman or a wagon in sight. 35
"Now," said the captain, "I think the vedettes had better stop till the main body comes up."
I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found on the other side a 40 fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and fasten-
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THE OREGON TRAIL
ing our horses to sonie bushes, we sat down on the grass; while, with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the superiority of the renowned rifle of the back- woods over the foreign innovation borne by the captain. 5 At length voices could be heard in the distance behind the trees.
"There they come !" said the captain: "let's go and see how they get through the creek."
We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where Io the trail crossed it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked down, we saw a confused crowd of horse- men riding through the water; and among the dingy habiliments of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.
15 Shaw came whipping his horse up the bank, in advance of the rest, with a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a crestfallen air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of the gentle- · 20 man, we had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had lately de- serted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now was to keep to the northward until we 25 should strike the trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out fromn St. Joseph's in Missouri.
In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill- starred spot; while the deserters, whose case admitted of 3º no delay, rode rapidly forward. On the day following, striking the St. Joseph's trail, we turned our horses' heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred iniles to the westward.
CHAPTER V
THE "BIG BLUE"
THE great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps around Independence, had heard reports that several additional parties were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph farther to the northward. The pre- vailing impression was that these were Mormons,° twenty- 5 three hundred in number; and a great alarm was excited in consequence. The people of Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on the best terms with the "Latter Day Saints"; and it is notorious throughout the country how much blood Ic has been spilt in their feuds, even far within the limits of the settlements. No one could predict what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these fanatics should encounter the most impetuous and reckless of their old enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the reach of law 15 or military force. The women and children at Independence raised a great outcry; the men themselves were seriously alarmed; and, as I learned, they sent to Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of dragoons as far as the Platte. This was refused; and as the sequel proved, there was no occa- 20 sion for it. The St. Joseph emigrants were as good Chris- tians and as zealous Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very few families of the Saints who passed out this season by the route of the Platte remained behind until the great tide of emigration had gone by; standing in quite as much 25 awe of the "gentiles"" as the latter did of them.
We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph's trail. It was evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehen- 30 sion of interruption.
The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day we rode on for hours, without seeing a tree or a bush; before,
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THE OREGON TRAIL
behind, and on either side, stretched the vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful swells, covered with the unbroken carpet of fresh green grass. Here and there a crow, or a raven, or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uni- 5 forinity.
"What shall we do to-night for wood and water ?" we began to ask of each other; for the sun was within an hour of setting. At length a dark green speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a tree, peering over Io a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we made all haste toward it. It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster of bushes and low trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an extensive hollow; so we encamped on the rising ground near it.
15 Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Deslauriers thrust his brown face and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to their utmost extent, announced supper. There were the tin cups and the iron spoons, arranged in military order on the grass, and the coffee-pot 20 predominant in the midst. The meal was soon dispatched; but Henry Chatillon still sat cross-legged, dallying with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage in universal use upon the prairie, and an especial favorite with him. He pre- ferred it in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or cream; 25 and on the present occasion it met his entire approval, being exceedingly strong, or, as he expressed it, "right black."
It was a rich and gorgeous sunset - an American sunset ; and the ruddy glow of the sky was reflected from some 30 extensive pools of water among the shadowy copses in the meadow below.
"I must have a bath to-night," said Shaw. "How is it, Deslauriers ? Any chance for a swim down here ?"
"Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur," 35 replied Deslauriers, shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and wishes of his bourgeois.
"Look at his moccasin," said I. "It has evidently been lately immersed in a profound abyss of black mud."
40 "Come," said Shaw; "at any rate we can see for our- selves."
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THE " BIG BLUE"
We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at some distance, we found the ground becom- ing rather treacherous. We could only get along by step- ping upon large clumps of tall rank grass, with fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking islands in 5 an ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved our boots in a catastrophe like that which had befallen Deslauriers' moccasins. The thing looked desperate; we separated, so as to search in different directions, Shaw going off to the right, while I kept straight forward. At Io last I came to the edge of the bushes: they were young water-willows, covered with their caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening between them and the last grass clump was a black and deep slough, over which, by a vigorous
exertion, I contrived to jump. Then I shouldered my way 15 through the willows, tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide stream of water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a bottom of sleek mud. My arrival produced a great commotion. A huge green bull- frog uttered an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank 20 with a loud splash: his webbed feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked them energetically upward, and I could see him ensconcing himself in the unresisting slime at the bottom, whence several large air bubbles struggled lazily to the top. Some little spotted frogs instantly fol- 25 lowed the patriarch's example; and then three turtles, not larger than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad "lily pad," where they had been reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly striped with black and yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed across to the other side; and 30 a small stagnant pool into which my foot had inadvertently pushed a stone was instantly alive with a congregation of black tadpoles.
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