University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

Pursuing our course along the banks
of the Walla-Walla, we passed Dr. Whitman's
station, and camped the following
night in a romantic dell at the foot of a
ridge adjoining the Grand Round. In the
course of the evening we were visited by
several Indians, with whom we held a
small traffic for provisions. For fear of
evil consequences, we kept well on out
guard, but they displayed no hostile intentions.
Pierre complained somewhat of
his arm, which I had bandaged at the time
as well as circumstances would permit.
I advised him to consult the Indians, who
are known to be great proficients in the
healing art. He did so, and the result
proved highly beneficial; so much so.
that he was able to use it sooner than I
expected.

The next day we crossed the Grand
Round, (a delightful valley of twenty miles
in extent, watered by a pleasant stream,)
also the Blue Mountains, and descended
into the valley of the Snake River. The
scenes we passed over were, many of them,
wild, and some of them romantic in the
extreme; but as more important matters
press me, I cannot pause to describe them.

The Indians we now beheld on every side
of us—but they offered no violence. The
third day from crossing the Grand Round
we reached Fort Bois, where we passed
the night.

The next morning we pursued our journey,
having learned, meantime, that Black
George, for whom I made particular inquiries,
had passed here a few days before,
in company with two other trappers, on
their way to Fort Hall. This was cheering
news to me, and we pushed forward
as fast as circumstances would permit, in
the hope of overtaking him.

About noon of the third day from leaving
Fort Bois, we came upon some half
a dozen fine-looking springs, when Teddy
declared he must quench his thirst.

As he descended from his horse, the
Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and
gave me a very significant wink.

“What do you mean, Pierre?” I inquired,
fully at a loss to comprehend what
seemed to him a capital joke.

“Paix! le diable!” he exclaimed, laying
his hand on my arm and pointing to
Teddy, who, having reached a spring, was
just in the act of bending down to the
water. “Monsieur sall see.”

“See?” I repeated.

“Oui, Monsieur.”

“What shall I see?”

“Och! howly murther! be St Pathrick!
jabers!” cried Teddy at this moment,
springing to his feet and running toward
us with all his fleetness, holding his tongue
with one hand, and pressing the other upon
his forehead. “Och! murther! I'm dead
intirely—bit—ate up—claan killed, I is!”

“What is the matter?” I inquired, unable
to comprehend the meaning of such
strange actions, while Pierre leaned forward
on his saddle and held both hands
upon his ribs, fairly screaming with laughter.

“Mather, is't?” rejoined Teddy. “Musha!
but it's mather intirely. Me tongue's
burnt out of me, jist, barring about sax
inches on't.”

“Burned, Teddy?”

“Ay, burnt your honor — that's the
wor-r-rd, now. Sure, that's the divil's
pool, and so it is—and hell must be hereabouts.
Och! but I'm in a hurry to lave
the spot betimes;” and springing into his
saddle he rode away, in spite of my calls
to the contrary, as fast as his beast could
carry him.

“What is it, Pierre?” I exclaimed; but
Pierre was too much convulsed to answer
me; and dismounting, I approached the
miraculous water myself.

Now I understood the joke; and to do
myself justice, I must say I so far imitated
the Frenchman, that I was unable to quit,
the spot for at least ten minutes. In his
eager desire for a cool, refreshing draught,
Teddy had plunged his face into, and
gulped a mouthful of boiling water, from
what are known as the Hot Springs. Of
these there are some five or six, the water
of which bubbles up clear and sparkling,
and, all meeting, form a small stream,
which rolls away with a pleasing murmur.
No wonder Teddy, not understanding the
phenomenon, and being superstitious too,
should imagine Old Nick had something
to do with it.

“Vell, you see, eh?” exclaimed Pierre,
as I remounted. “By gar! him von ver
moche good joke. He tink him von diable,
eh?” and he ended with another
hearty laugh, in which I was forced to
join.

About three miles further on we overtook
Teddy, whose running ardor had
cooled down to a quiet walk.

“Ah, faith!” said he, dolefully, “it's
mighty feared I's beginning to git, that
ye'd not come at all, at all.”

“Why so, Teddy?”

“Oh, worra! worra! that I should iver
live to taste the divil's pool! And did ye
sae him, body and bones, your honor?—
and how did he look, if it's all the same
to yees, and he no forbid your tilling raasonably?”

“Why, Teddy, there was nothing to be
alarmed at;” and I proceeded to explain
the mystery. “It's a very natural phenomenon,
I assure you.”

“Nath'ral, is it? Och! thin I have it,
'pon me sowl!”

“Have what?”

“Why sure, your honor, I sae claan
through it.”

“Well, what do you see, Teddy?”

“Musha! but it's the divil's tae-pot.”

“Tea-pot?”

“Ah! troth and it is. Ould Sathan is

at the bottom of it, does ye mind! He
haats the wather there, now, to coax saints
to dhrink tae wid him, the spalpeen! and
thin he'll make the most of em, d'ye sae,
your honor? Och! it's a lucky man Teddy
O'Lagherty is for gitting off so asy,
barring he's more unlucky by token he
wint to the place at all, at all.”

It had become a fixed fact with Teddy,
which all my jests and arguments failed to
alter, that the Hot Springs and his Satanic
majesty were indissolubly connected. But
this did not lessen the joke, which for a
long time afterward served Pierre and myself
as a specific for blue devils and ennui.

As I said before, we were now traveling
through a country thickly peopled with
savages. What we had seen of these appeared
to be friendly; but knowing the
treacherous nature of many, we felt that
self-preservation demanded we should at
all times be on our guard. For this purpose,
our arms were always ready to our
hands in the day time, and at night each
took his turn of standing sentinel. Thus
far we had escaped all difficulty; but Pierre
often warned us not to be too sanguine of
reaching Fort Hall without a brush of some
kind, as he well knew the nature of those
surrounding us.

The sun was just sinking behind the
Blue Mountains, when we came to a small
stream—a tributary of Snake River—that
took its devious course through a valley
between two precipitous ridges, and thence
through a canon of a thousand feet in
depth. The valley was shaded by large
trees of various kinds, and was romantic
in its appearance. It contained good grazing
also, and good water, and this made
it a desirable camp-ground. Hoppling
our horses and setting them free, we kindled
a fire, around which we squatted to
cook our meat, smoke our pipes, and fill-up
the intervals with the most amusing
subjects, among which Teddy and his
“divil's tae-pot” came in for their full
quota of mirthful comment.

At length we began to grow drowsy,
and having seen our animals tethered
within the circle of the fire, and it being
Pierre's turn to stand guard, Teddy and I
threw ourselves upon the ground, our
blankets rolled around us, and soon were
fast asleep. For an hour or two everything
passed off quietly, when Pierre awoke me
with a gentle shake.

“Ver sorre, Monsieur, to—vot you call
him—deesturb you, eh?—but de tam Injen—sacre
le diable!”

“Well,” said I, starting up, “what is
it? Are we attacked?” and at the same
time I awoke Teddy.

“By gar!” returned the Frenchman,
“I see von leetle—vot you call him—
sneaker, eh? Him creep—creep—creep
—and I tink I wake you, sare, and soot
him, by tam!”

“Faith, that's it!” cried Teddy, grasping
his rifle and springing to his feet:
“That's it, now! Shoot the haathen!”

By this time I was fully aroused to the
sense of danger; and quickly learning
from Pierre where he had seen the savage,
I grasped my rifle and sprang beyond the
fire-light, in an opposite direction, followed
by my companions. We had not gained
ten paces, when crack, crack, went some
five or six muskets, the balls of which,
whizzing over our heads, did not tend to
lessen our speed. However, we reached
the covert unharmed, and for the time
considered ourselves safe. We turned to
reconnoiter; but not a sign of a living
thing could we see save our horses, which
stood with ears erect, trembling and snorting,
as if conscious of a hidden foe.

For an hour we remained in this manner,
when, concluding the enemy had departed,
I proposed returning to the fire.

“Hist!” whispered Pierre, grasping
my arm. “You sall see, Monsieur.”

And he was right; for not ten minutes
afterward, he silently directed my attention
to some dark objects lying flat upon
the ground, which, with all my experience
and penetration, I could not believe were
savages, until I perceived them gradually
near our horses. Then I became alarmed,
lest, reaching them, they might speedily
mount and escape, leaving us to make the
best of a perilous and toilsome journey on
foot.

“What is to be done, Pierre? I fear
we are in a bad fix.”

“Je me couche—je tire fur lui: I lie
down, sare—I soot at him. You sall see.
Wait von leetle minneet. Ven you hears
my cannon, den you soot and run at him
as le diable.”

Saving this, Pierre glided away as
noiselessly as an Indian, and I saw nothing
more of him for several minutes. Meantime,
Teddy and I kept our eyes intently
fixed upon our stealthy foes; and our rifles
in rest, ready to give them their deadly
contents at a moment's warning. Slowly,
like a cat creeping upon her game, did
these half naked Indians, serpent-like,
steal toward our animals, every moment
lessening the distance between them and
the objects of their desires. I began to
grow nervous. What had become of
Pierre! If he intended to do anything,
now I thought was the time. A few moments
and it would be too late; and acting
upon this thought, I drew a bead upon
the most advanced savage, and was about
pulling the trigger, when the latter suddenly
bounded to his feet, uttered a yell
of delight, and sprang toward the now
frightened animals, imitated in his maneuver
by some ten or twelve others.

“Good Heaven! all is lost!” I exclaimed,
bitterly.

The words had scarcely passed my lips,
when bang went a pistol from among the
horses; and the foremost savage—the one
I had singled out, and who was on the
point of grasping one of the tether ropes
—bounded into the air, with a horrible
yell, and fell back a corpse. This was
wholly unlooked for by his companions,
and checked for an instant those pressing
on behind. Remembering Pierre's request,
I whispered Teddy to “throw” his
man and charge. Both our rifles spoke
together, and down tumbled two more.
At the same moment Pierre's rifle sent
another to his account; and simultaneously
springing forward, all three of us made
the welkin ring with our shouts of joy and
defiance. This was the grand coup de
grace of the night. The Indians were
alarmed and bewildered. They had
counted on certain success in stealing our
horses without the loss of a man. Four
had fallen in as many seconds; and fancying
themselves in an ambuscade, they
turned, with wild yells of affright, and
disappeared in every direction; so that by
the time I had joined Pierre, we were
masters of the field, and not an unwounded
foe in sight.

“You see hoss safe, Monsieur,” said
Pierre, hurriedly, as we met; “and I see
to tam Injen, eh?” and without waiting a
reply, he darted forward, and the next
moment was engaged in tearing off the
bloody scalps of the slain.

As every mountaineer considers this his
prerogative, I did not interfere, but ordering
Teddy to assist me, cut the lariats and
led our horses back into the darkness, from
fear of another attack, in which we might
come out second best. In a few minutes
Pierre approached me leisurely, and laughingly
said:

“Tout va bien: All pe vell, sare;” and
he held up to the light four bloody scalps.
“Von, two, tree, not pe dead, I kill him.
Good for—vot you call him—stealer, eh?
—ha, ha, ha!” and taking out his box, he
deliberately proceeded to take snuff with
his bloody fingers, adding, by way of
accompaniment: “Von tam ver moche
exsallant joke, him—ha, ha, ha! Sacre!
me tink him get von leetle tam—vot you
call him—astonishment, eh? By gar!
ver moche good.”

As we did not consider it prudent to
venture again within the fire-light, we decided
to remain where we were through
the night, and guard against surprise. All
was dark around us, except in the direction
of the roaring fire, which, flickering
to the passing breeze, made the scene of
our late encampment look dismal enough.
To add to its gloom and cheerlessness, we
were presently greeted with the distant
howl of a hungry pack of wolves. Every
moment these howls grew louder, showing
the animals were approaching the spot,
while our horses snorted and became so
restless we could scarcely hold them.
Nearer and nearer came the hungry beasts
of prey, till at length we could perceive
their fiery eyeballs, and occasionally catch
a glimpse of their bodies, as they hovered
around the circle of the fire, fearing to approach
the carcasses they so much coveted.

For an hour or two they prowled and
howled around us, “making night hideous
with their orgies,” while the fire gradually
growing less and less bright, increased
their boldness accordingly.

At last one, unable longer to bear the
keen pangs of hunger, leaped forward
and buried his teeth and claws in the carcass
of one of our late foes. The others

followed his example, and in less than a
minute as many as fifty of these ravenous
animals were growling, fighting, gnashing
their teeth, and tearing the flesh from the
bones of the dead Indians.

Pierre now informed me we were in imminent
danger of being attacked ourselves,
as, having once tasted blood, and their
appetites being rather sharpened than
appeased, they would only become more
bold in consequence. To my inquiry as
to what should be done, he replied that we
must continue to kill one of their number
as fast as he might be devoured by his
companions; and setting the example, he
shot one forthwith. Sure enough! no
sooner had the beast fallen, than the rest
sprang upon and devoured him. By that
time my rifle was loaded, and I knocked
over another, which met the same fate.
In this manner we kept firing alternately
for a couple of hours, during which time
the old stock was replenished by new
comers, until I began to fancy all of the
genus would be present before daylight.
But at last one after another got satisfied,
and slunk away licking his chops. No
new ones appeared, and ere the stars grew
dim, nothing was visible of the last night's
butchery but a collection of clean-licked,
shiny bones. While the fire lasted, we
could see to take sight; but after that
went out, we fired at random; though,
knowing the exact location of the beasts,
our shots generally proved successful in
killing or wounding.

When morning again put a smiling face
upon the recent sable earth, we mounted
our horses and quitted the loathsome spot,
thanking God for our providential deliverance.