University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.

With the mind completely engrossed,
the body often acts mechanically, or by
instinct, and performs, without our knowledge
at the time, exactly what reason
would have dictated; and when some
trifling circumstance recalls us to ourself,
we arouse as from a dream, and are surprised
at what has been accomplished
during our brief alienation.

So was it with myself in the present
instance. On, on I sped as if riding for
life, my hand firmly upon the rein, guiding
unerringly my high-mettled beast, and yet
unconscious of anything external, with
thoughts wild and painful rushing through
my brain. How long or far I had ridden
thus, I do not exactly know; though
miles now lay between me and Oregon
city; nor how much longer I should have
continued at the same break-neck speed,
had my horse not stumbled and thus
broken the monotony of a steady ride, by
unseating and nearly throwing me over
his head.

Recovering my position, and reining my
steed to a halt, I found him covered with
foam, and very much blown from his late
run; and that I was upon a narrow upland
prairie, which stretched away before me
for several miles, fringed on either hand,
at no great distance, with a beautiful wood.

“Where am I!” was my first involuntary
exclamation—“how did I get here
with a whole neck? and where is Teddy?”

The last question found a more ready
answer than either of the preceding, in a
shout from the veritable Teddy O'Lagherty
himself. I looked behind and beheld
him coming as if on a race with death for
the last half hour of his existence. His
appearance was not a little ludicrous. His
body was bent forward at an angle of fortyfive
degrees, so as to allow him to grasp
the mane of the beast,—his only hope—
his feet having slipped from the stirrups
which were dangling against the animal's
flanks, and serving the purpose of spurs—
while his hat, for security, being held in
his teeth, smothered the shouts he was
making to attract my attention. Add to
this, that the horse had no guide but his
own will, that at every spring Teddy
bounced from the saddle to the imminent
danger of his neck, and greatly to the aid
of his digestive organs, and an idea of the
discomfiture of the poor fellow may be
formed, as his horse dashed up along side
of mine, and came to a dead halt.

It is said there is but one short step
from the sublime to the ridiculous, and I
certainly felt the force of the proverb on
the present occasion. I had been half
mad with distracting thoughts; but everything
was now forgotten, and I burst forth
in a roar of laughter, such as I am certain
had never startled those solitudes before.

“Be howly jabers!” cried Teddy, regaining
an upright position, with a face
the hue of a boiled lobster, “is ye mad
now, ye divil—beg pardon!—your honor
I maan. Howly jabers! what a ride!
Och! I'm done for—claan murthered
intirely—all pumice from me toes upward,
barring me body and head-piece, jist.”

“Why, Teddy,” returned I, as soon as
I could get calm enough to command my
voice, “what new feature of horsemanship
is this you have adopted? I am sure you
would make your fortune in any circus,
with such a heroic display of your animal
capacities.”

“Ah! ye may laugh and be d—plased
to yees; but it's me mother's own son as
feels more as crying, so it is. Fortune,
is it, ye mintioned! Be howly St. Patrick's
birthday in the morning! it's not
mesilf that'ud do the likes agin for twinty
on 'em. Och! I'm killed intirely—all
barring the braathing, as lingers still.”

“Well, well, Teddy, I trust you will
not have to repeat it,” pursued I laughing.
“But come—where do you think we are?”

“Think, is it? Ye ask me to think?
Sure, divil of a think I 'av in me now. I
lift it all on the road, that was no road at
all, but the worst traveled counthry I iver
put eyes on. We may be among the Hindoo
heathen, for all me knows conthrawise;
for not a blissed thing did I sae on
the journey, but r-rocks, traas and stumps,
and the divil knows what all, and thim a
going so fast I's could'nt git time to say
good-by to 'em.”

To the best of my judgment, we had
come about five miles, in a direction due
east. Far in the distance before me, I
now beheld the lofty, snow-crowned peak
of Mount Hood; and toward this, without
farther delay, we bent our steps, at a pace
strongly contrasting the speed which had
borne us hither.

“Why did you not call to me, when
you saw me riding at a rate so fearful?” I
inquired, as I rode along at a brisk trot.

“Call, is it?” replied Teddy. “Faith!
jist ax me lungs if I did'nt call, till me
breath quit coming for the strain upon'em.”

“And so you could not make me hear,
eh?”

“Make the dead hear! Och! I might
as well 'av called to a graveyard, barring
the looks of the thing. Was ye mad,
your honor?”

“O no, Teddy; only a little excited at
parting with my friends.”

“Ah! thim same parthings is mighty
har-r-d, now, so they is,” rejoined Teddy,
with a sigh.

“So you can speak from experience,
eh?”

“Be me troth, can I, now; and so can
Molly Stubbs, the swaat crathur, that she
is.”

“Did it break her heart, Teddy?”

“It's not asy for me to say, your honor;
but it broke her gridiron, and the ounly
one she had at that, poor dear!”

“Her gridiron!” I exclaimed, struggling
to repress my risible faculties, and
keep a grave face, for I saw Teddy was in
sober earnest, and apparently totally unaware
there was anything ludicrous in his
remark. “How did it affect the gridiron,
Teddy?”

“Why, ye sae now, she was jist holding
it betwaan her two fingers, and fixing for
a fry maybe, whin up I comes, and tapping
her under the chin, by raason of our
ould acquaintance, I sez:

“ `It's a blissed day I saw ye first, my
darling.'

“ `That it was, Misther O'Lagherty,' see
she.

“ `I wish that first maating could last
foriver,' sez I.

“ `And so do I,' sez she.

“ `But it wo'nt,' sez I; and thin
sighed, and she axed me what was the
mather.

“ `Oh! worra! worra!' I sez; `it'
about to part we is, Molly, dear.'

“ `Ye do'nt say the likes,' sez she; and
thin down come the gridiron, as if the
Ould Scratch was a riding it, smash upon
the stone harth, and into my arms pitched
Molly, wid a flood of tears that made me
look wathery for a long occasion.

“Now it's not what we did afterwards
I'm going to till at all, at all; but while
we both come sensible, our eyes besaw
the gridiron all broke, and not wort a ha'-pence.
Molly cried, she did, and I give
her a month's wages to ase her conscience
Musha, now, but parthings is har-r-rd
they is.”

In this and like manner I managed to
relieve my mind of many gloomy thoughts
which otherwise must have depressed it
I had parted the second time with Lilian
for a journey equally as full of peril as the
first, and, if anything, of a more indefinite
character. I was going in search of my
lost friend, it is true; but what little
chance had I, I thought, when I came to
look at it soberly, of finding him, even if
alive. I might travel thousands on thousands
of miles—be months, even years, on
the search—and yet be no nearer revealing
his locality than when I set out. If living,
it was a mere chance we should ever
meet again; and nothing, perhaps, but a
kind Providence could bring us together.
As may be inferred, when I quitted my
friends in Oregon City, I had no definite
plan arranged; and now that I was really
on the journey, the question naturally
arose as to what I should do, how first
to proceed, and where to begin. I had
resolved on engaging assistance, but where

was this to be found? For some time I
puzzled my own brain with the matter,
and then referred it to Teddy.

Though brought up in an humble sphere
of life, with very little education, Teddy
was nevertheless a keen, shrewd observer,
and of excellent judgment in matters
coming within the range of his intellect
and experience; and accordingly I relied
much upon his advice.

Having heard the case fully stated, with
the dignified gravity of a judge, and asked
several pertinent questions, he replied, that
our best course, in his humble opinion,
was to continue our present route as far as
Fort Hall, where we would be likely to
augment our number to our satisfaction,
and could then proceed in a southerly
direction and be guided by succeeding
events.

As this tallied exactly with my own
views, the plan was quickly adopted, and
I rode forward with great mental relief,
that I now had a fixed purpose, whether
right or wrong.

For several miles our course lay over
the upland prairie I have mentioned, and
then the ground changed and became
more rolling, which in turn gave place to
hills, sometimes sparsely and sometimes
densely wooded, interspersed with rocks,
gullies, and deep ravines, that greatly impeded
our progress. We halted to noon
in a little valley, through which, with a
roaring sound over its rocky bed, dashed
a bright stream of pure water, on whose
banks grew rich, green grass, of such
luxuriance as to satisfy the appetites of
our animals in a very short time.

While partaking of some plain food, of
which we had a small store, we amused
ourselves by overhauling our rifles, examining
their priming, as well as our other
weapons and ammunition, and seeing that
everything was in proper condition to meet
danger. Scarcely was this over, when in
a whisper Teddy called my attention to a
fine, fat buck, which was trotting along
within rifle shot. Quick as thought, I
drew up my piece and fired. The animal
instantly bounded forward a short distance,
reeled, and fell over upon its side.

The next moment we were on our way
to examine the carcass, and take from it
the most suitable portions for our wants.
We had scarcely proceeded twenty paces,
when Teddy grasping my arm, exclaimed:
“Injins, be jabers!”

And sure enough, just issuing from a
clump of bushes on the opposite side of
the valley, distant less than two hundred
yards, were six half-naked savages, armed,
two of them with rifles or muskets, and
the others with bows and arrows. As it
was impossible to divine their intentions,
only by their acts, and as they made
straight toward us, I snatched Teddy's
rifle from his hands, and ordering him to
load mine as quick as possible, raised it
to my shoulder, determined, should they
prove hostile, to sell my life dearly, and
die, if I must, with the satisfaction of having
done my duty in self-defence.

Perceiving my movement, they came to
a halt, and made me friendly signs, by extending
their open hands and then placing
them on their hearts. Dropping the muzzle
of my rifle, I did the same, and then
waited for them to come up, though, it
must be confessed, with not the most faith
imaginable in their amicable professions.
However, I kept well on my guard, and
by the time they had shortened the first-mentioned
distance between us by a hundred
paces, Teddy coolly announced that
two bullets were at their service, at any
moment they might choose.

Ere they joined us, I had made them out
by their costume and paint, to belong to
the Chinnook tribe, whose grounds lie due
north of Oregon city, on the opposite side
of the Columbia river. I had frequently
seen more or less of them in the village;
and had, in fact, purchased the horse,
mentioned as being stolen, from one of
their tribe; so that I now feared less a design
upon my life than upon my property.

The party in question were all inferior
beings, both in size and appearance; but
one seemed superior to the others, and
possessed of command. He approached
me in advance of his companions, and held
out his hand, which I accepted and shook
in a friendly manner. He next proceeded
to Teddy, and each in turn followed his
example. When all had done, the chief
addressed me in broken English:

“Where you come?”

“The village, yonder,” I replied, pointing
with my finger toward Oregon city.

“Where go?”

“Away beyond the mountains;” and I
pointed eastward.

“Good muskee (musket) got?”

I nodded in the affirmative.

“Good hoss got?”

I nodded again.

“Good present got, eh? poor Injin, eh?”

“I have nothing but some tobacco I can
spare,” I answered, of which I still had a
pretty good supply.

“Ugh! bacco good,” rejoined the chief,
with a smile.

This was in my sack on my horse, and
I was not sorry of an excuse to get to him
without showing myself suspicious of my
new acquaintances; for I had noticed
many a wistful glance cast in that direction,
and I feared lest, presuming on our
weakness, they might think proper to take
our animals by a coup de main, and leave
us to make the best of it. Accordingly, I
informed the savage where the article was,
and that I must go alone and get it.

“Why me no go?” he asked.

“Then your followers must stay beind.”

“Why dey no go?” he inquired, a little
angrily as I thought.

“Because I shall not permit it,” I replied,
decisively.

“Ugh! we so—you so,” he rejoined,
holding up first six
and then two fingers,
to indicate the number of each party.
“We strong—you weak, we go, eh?” and
he made a step forward.

In an instant the muzzle of my rifle was
pointed at his breast, and my finger on the
trigger, a movement imitated by Teddy,
who quickly covered another.

“Another step, chief,” I said, “and you
are a dead man,”

“Back, ye divils—ye dirthy blaggards!
d'ye hear the gintleman spaking to yees
now?” shouted Teddy.

This peremptory decision had a salutary
effect upon the white-livered knaves, who
instantly shrank cowering back, the chief
at once exclaiming, in a deprecating tone:

“No shoot. We no go. You go.”

Fearing treachery, we instantly started
for our horses, keeping our faces to our
foes, and our rifles leveled, prepared for
the worst. Having secured a few plugs
of the desired article, we both mounted
and returned to the savages, among whom
I made an immediate distribution. The
chief thanked me, and said they would
now go home. Accordingly, the whole
party set off in one direction, and we in
another, rifles in hand. We had scarcely
gone twenty paces, when crack went a
musket behind us, and a ball whizzed over
my head.

“The treacherous scoundrel!” I exclaimed;
and wheeling my horse as I
spoke, I beheld the whole six running and
dodging for their lives. Singling out the
villain that had fired at us, I drew up my
rifle and pulled trigger. The next moment
he lay howling in the dust, deserted
by his cowardly friends, whose speed
seemed greatly accelerated by this ever.

Teddy would have gone back for his
scalp, but this I would not permit, both
on account of its barbarity, and that by
delay we might encounter another party.
Setting spurs to our horses, therefore, we
dashed rapidly away, leaving our game
and foes behind us, and congratulating
ourselves upon our providential escape.

For the rest of the day our progress
was by no means slow, though the traveling
at times most execrable. The sun was
already throwing a long shade to the east-ward,
when, ascending a rough, stone
ridge, which we had been forced to do circuitously,
we beheld below us a beautiful
plain of miles in length and breadth
along the eastern portion of which towere
the lofty Cascade mountains, with the ever
lasting snow-crowned Mount Hood rising
grandly above all, till lost beyond the
clouds, glittering like a pinnacle of burnished
silver in the rays of the sinking sun.
It was a sublime and beautiful scene for
the painter and poet; and for many minutes
I paused and gazed upon it with feelings
of reverence and awe for the great
Author of a work so stupendous. A similar
feeling must have possessed Teddy
for he instantly crossed himself and repeated
the pater-noster.

Descending to the base of the hill, we
found a suitable place and encamped.
Though greatly fatigued, I did not rest
well; and either my thoughts, or the dismal
howl of surrounding wolves, or both,
combined with other circumstances, kept
me awake most of the night.