 | CHAPTER XIX. The Crayon miscellany |  |
19. CHAPTER XIX.
Hunters' anticipations. The rugged ford. A
wild horse
(Oct. 21.) This morning the camp was in a
bustle at an early hour: the expectation of falling
in with buffalo in the course of the day
roused every one's spirit. There was a continual
cracking off of rifles, that they might be
reloaded: the shot was drawn off from double-barreled
guns, and balls were substituted. Tonish,
however, prepared chiefly for a campaign
against wild horses. He took the field, with a
coil of cordage hung at his saddle-bow, and a
couple of white wands, something like fishing-rods,
eight or ten feet in length, with forked
ends. The coil of cordage thus used in hunting
the wild horse, is called a lariat, and answers to
the laso of South America. It is not flung, however,
in the graceful and dexterous Spanish
style. The hunter, after a hard chase, when he
succeeds in getting almost head and head with
the wild horse, hitches the running noose of the
lariat over his head by means of the forked
stick; then letting him have the full length of
into subjection.
All this Tonish promised to exemplify to our
full satisfaction; we had not much confidence
in his success, and feared he might knock up a
good horse in a headlong gallop after a bad one:
for, like all the French creoles, he was a merciless
hard rider. It was determined, therefore, to
keep a sharp eye upon him, and to check his
sallying propensities.
We had not proceeded far on our morning's
march, when we were checked by a deep
stream, running along the bottom of a thickly
wooded ravine. After coasting it for a couple
of miles, we came to a fording place; but to
get down to it was the difficulty, for the banks
were steep and crumbling, and overgrown with
forest trees, mingled with thickets, brambles,
and grape-vines. At length the leading horseman
broke his way through the thicket, and his
horse putting his feet together, slid down the
black crumbling bank, to the narrow margin of
the stream; then floundering across, with mud
and water up to the saddle-girths, he scrambled
up the opposite bank, and arrived safe on level
ground. The whole line followed pell mell after
the leader, and pushing forward in close order,
Indian file, they crowded each other down the
bank and into the stream. Some of the horsemen
head and ears; one was unhorsed, and plumped
head foremost into the middle of the stream:
for my own part, while pressed forward, and
hurried over the bank by those behind me, I
was interrupted by a grape-vine, as thick as a
cable, which hung in a festoon as low as the
saddle-bow, and, dragging me from the saddle,
threw me among the feet of the trampling horses.
Fortunately, I escaped without injury, regained
my steed, crossed the stream without further
difficulty, and was enabled to join in the merriment
occasioned by the ludicrous disasters of
the fording.
It is at passes like this that occur the most
dangerous ambuscades and sanguinary surprises
of Indian warfare. A party of savages, well
placed among the thickets, might have made
sad havoc among our men, while entangled in
the ravine.
We now came out upon a vast and glorious
prairie, spreading out beneath the golden beams
of an autumnal sun. The deep and frequent
traces of buffalo, showed it to be one of their
favourite grazing grounds; yet none were to be
seen. In the course of the morning, we were
overtaken by the lieutenant and seventeen men,
who had remained behind, and who came laden
with the spoils of buffaloes; having killed three
however, had little luck to boast of; his horse
having taken fright at sight of the buffaloes,
thrown his rider, and escaped into the woods.
The excitement of our hunters, both young
and old, now rose almost to fever height; scarce
any of them having ever encountered any of
this far famed game of the prairies. Accordingly,
when in the course of the day, the cry of
buffalo! buffalo! rose from one part of the line,
the whole troop were thrown in agitation. We
were just then passing through a beautiful part
of the prairie, finely diversified by hills and
slopes, and woody dells, and high, stately groves.
Those who had given the alarm, pointed out a
large black looking animal, slowly moving along
the side of a rising ground, about two miles off.
The ever-ready Tonish jumped up, and stood
with his feet on the saddle, and his forked sticks
in his hands, like a posture-master or scaramouch
at a circus, just ready for a feat of horsemanship.
After gazing at the animal for a moment, which
he could have seen full as well without rising
from his stirrups, he pronounced it a wild horse;
and dropping again into his saddle, was about
to dash off full tilt, in pursuit, when, to his inexpressible
chagrin, he was called back, and
ordered to keep to his post, in rear of the baggage
horses.
The Captain and two of his officers now set
off to reconnoitre the game. It was the intention
of the Captain, who was an admirable
marksman, to endeavour to crease the horse;
that is to say, to hit him with a rifle ball in the
ridge of the neck. A wound of this kind paralyzes
a horse for a moment; he falls to the
ground, and may be secured before he recovers.
It is a cruel expedient, however, for an ill directed
shot may kill or maim the noble animal.
As the Captain and his companions moved
off laterally and slowly, in the direction of the
horse, we continued our course forward; watching
intently, however, the movements of the
game. The horse moved quietly over the profile
of the rising ground, and disappeared behind
it. The Captain and his party were likewise
soon hidden by an intervening hill.
After a time, the horse suddenly made his appearance
to our right, just ahead of the line,
emerging out of a small valley, on a brisk trot;
having evidently taken the alarm. At sight of
us, he stopped short, gazed at us for an instant
with surprise, then tossing up his head, trotted
off in fine style, glancing at us first over one
shoulder, then over the other, his ample mane
and tail streaming in the wind. Having dashed
through a skirt of thicket, that looked like a
hedge-row, he paused in the open field beyond,
of the neck, snuffed the air, and then tossing
his head again, broke into a gallop, and took
refuge in a wood.
It was the first time I had ever seen a horse
scouring his native wilderness in all the pride
and freedom of his nature. How different from
the poor, mutilated, harnessed, checked, reinedup
victim of luxury, caprice, and avarice, in our
cities!
After travelling about fifteen miles, we encamped
about one o'clock, that our hunters
might have time to procure a supply of provisions.
Our encampment was in a spacious
grove of lofty oaks and walnuts, free from under
wood, on the border of a brook. While
unloading the pack-horses, our little Frenchman
was loud in his complaints at having been
prevented from pursuing the wild horse, which
he would certainly have taken. In the mean
time, I saw our half-breed, Beatte, quietly saddle
his best horse, a powerful steed of a half-savage
race, hang a lariat at the saddle-bow, take a rifle
and forked stick in hand, and, mounting, depart
from the camp without saying a word. It was
evident he was going off in quest of the wild
horse, but was disposed to hunt alone.
| CHAPTER XIX. The Crayon miscellany | |