MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (novel books to read txt) 📖
- Author: FREDERICK MARRYAT
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Like A Hungry Wolf. There Is, However, An End To Everything, And When
Satiety Had Succeeded to Want, They Related to Us The Circumstance That
Had Led them Where They Were.
They Had Come As Journeymen With A Small Caravan Going From St. Louis To
Astoria. On The Green River They Had Been Attacked by A War-Party Of The
Black-Feet, Who Had Killed all Except Them, Thanks To The Irishman'S
Presence Of Mind, Who Pushed his Fat Companion Into A Deep Fissure Of
The Earth, And Jumped after Him. Thus They Saved their Bacon, And Had
Soon The Consolation Of Hearing The Savages Carrying away The Goods,
Leading The Mules Towards The North. For Three Days They Had Wandered
South, In the Hope Of Meeting With Some Trappers, And This Very Morning
They Had Fallen In with Two French Trappers, Who Told Them To Remain
There And Repose Till Their Return, As They Were Going after Game.
While They Were Narrating Their History, The Two Trappers Arrived with A
Fat Buck. They Were Old Friends, Having Both Of Them Travelled and
Hunted with Gabriel. We Resolved not To Proceed any Further That Day,
And They Laughed a Great Deal When We Related to Them Our Prowess
Against The Crows. An Application Of Bruised leaves Of The Gibson Weed
Upon The Legs Of The Two Sufferers Immediately Soothed their Pain, And
The Next Morning They Were Able To Use Roche'S And Gabriel'S Horses, And
To Follow Us To Brownhall, An American Fur-Trading Port, Which Place We
Reached in two Days.
There We Parted from Our Company, And Rapidly Continued our March
Towards The Settlement. Ten Days Did We Travel Thus In the Heart Of A
Fine Country, Where Game At Every Moment Crossed our Path. We Arrived in
The Deserted country Of The Bonnaxes, And Were Scarcely Two Days'
Journey From The Eastern Shoshone Boundary, When, As Ill-Luck Would Have
It, We Met Once More With Our Old Enemies The Arrapahoes. This Time,
However, We Were Determined not To Be Put Any More On Dog'S Meat
Allowance, And To Fight, If Necessary, In defence Of Our Liberty.
We Were Surrounded, But Not Yet Taken; And Space Being Ours And Our
Rifles True, We Hoped to Escape, Not One Of Our Enemies Having, As We
Well Knew, Any Firearms. They Reduced their Circle Smaller And Smaller,
Till They Stood At About A Hundred and Fifty Yards From Us; Their Horses
Fat And Plump, But Of The Small Wild Breed, And Incapable Of Running a
Race With Our Tall And Beautiful Mexican Chargers. At That Moment
Gabriel Raised his Hand, As If For A Signal; We All Three Darted like
Lightning Through The Line Of Warriors, Who Were Too Much Taken By
Surprise Even To Use Their Bows. They Soon Recovered from Their
Astonishment, And Giving The War-Whoop, With Many Ferocious Yells Of
Disappointment, Dashed after Us At Their Utmost Speed.
Their Horses, As I Have Said, Could Not Run A Race With Ours, But In a
Long Chase Their Hardy Little Animals Would Have Had The Advantage,
Especially As Our Own Steeds Had Already Performed so Long A Journey.
During The Two First Hours We Kept Them Out Of Sight, But Towards Dark,
As Our Beasts Gave In, We Saw Their Forms In the Horizon Becoming More
And More Distinct, While, To Render Our Escape Less Probable, We Found
Ourselves Opposed in front By A Chain Of Mountains, Not High, But Very
Steep And Rugged.
"On, Ahead, We Are Safe!" Cried gabriel. Of Course, There Was No Time
For Explanation, And Ten Minutes More Saw Us At The Foot Of The
Mountain. "Not A Word, But Do As I Do," Again Said My Companion. We
Followed his Example By Unsaddling Our Animals And Taking Off The
Bridles, With Which We Whipped them. The Poor Things, Though Tired,
Galloped to The South, As If They Were Aware Of The Impending Danger.
"I Understand, Gabriel," Said I; "The Savages Cannot See Us In the
Shades Of These Hills; They Will Follow Our Horses By The Sounds."
Gabriel Chuckled with Delight. "Right," Said He, "Right Enough, But It
Is Not All. I Know Of A Boat On The Other Side Of The Mountain, And The
Ogden River Will Carry Us Not Far From The Buona Ventura."
I Started. "A Mistake," I Exclaimed, "Dear Friend, A Sad Mistake; We Are
More Than Thirty Miles From The River."
"From The Main River, Yes," Answered he, Shaking My Hand, "But Many An
Otter Have I Killed in a Pretty Lake Two Miles From Here, At The
Southern Side Of This Hill. There I Have A Boat Well Concealed, As I
Hope; And It Is A Place Where We May Defy All The Arrapahoes, And The
Crows To Back Them. From That Lake To The River It Is But Thirty Miles'
Paddling In a Smooth Canal, Made Either By Nature Or By A Former Race
Of Men."
I Need not Say How Cheerfully We Walked these Two Miles, In spite Of The
Weight Of Our Saddles, Rifles, And Accoutrements. Our Ascent Was Soon
Over, And Striking Into A Small Tortuous Deer-Path, We Perceived below
Us The Transparent Sheet Of Water, In which A Few Stars Already
Reflected their Pale And Tremulous Light. When We Reached the Shore Of
The Lake, We Found Ourselves Surrounded by Vast And Noble Ruins, Like
Those On The Buona Ventura, But Certainly Much More Romantic. Gabriel
Welcomed us To His Trapping-Ground, As A Lord In his Domain, And Soon
Brought Out A Neat Little Canoe From Under A Kind Of Ancient Vault.
"This Canoe," Said He, "Once Belonged to One Of The Poor Fellows That
Was Murdered with The Prince Seravalle. We Brought It Here Six Years Ago
With Great Secrecy; It Cost Him Twenty Dollars, A Rifle, And Six
Blankets. Now, In the Middle Of This Lake There Is An Island, Where He
And I Lived together, And Where We Can Remain For Months Without Any
Fear Of Indians Or Starvation."
We All Three Entered the Canoe, Leaving Our Saddles Behind Us, To
Recover Them On The Following Day. One Hour'S Paddling Brought Us To The
Island, And It Was Truly A Magnificent Spot. It Was Covered with Ruins;
Graceful Obelisks Were Shaded by The Thick Foliage Of Immense Trees, And
The Soft Light Of The Moon, Beaming On The Angles Of The Ruined
Monuments, Gave To The Whole Scenery The Hue Of An Italian Landscape.
"Here We Are Safe," Said Gabriel, "And To-Morrow You Will Discover That
My Old Resting-Place Is Not Deficient In comfort."
As We Were Very Tired, We Lay Down And Soon Slept, Forgetting In this
Little Paradise The Dangers And The Fatigues Of The Day. Our Host'S
Repose, However, Was Shorter Than Mine, For Long Before Morn He Had Gone
To Fetch Our Saddles. Roche And I Would Probably Have Slept Till His
Return, Had We Not Been Awakened by The Report Of A Rifle, Which Came
Down To Us, Repeated by A Thousand Echoes. An Hour Of Intense Anxiety
Was Passed, Till At Last We Saw Gabriel Paddling Towards Us. The Sound
Of The Rifle Had, However, Betrayed our Place Of Concealment, And As
Gabriel Neared the Island, The Shore Opposite To Us Began To Swarm With
Our Disappointed enemies, Who In all Probability Had Camped in the
Neighbourhood. As My Friend Landed, I Was Beginning To Scold Him For His
Imprudence In using His Rifle Under Our Present Circumstances, When A
Glance Showed me At Once He Had Met With An Adventure Similar To Mine
Near Santa Fe. In the Canoe Lay The Skin Of A Large Finely-Spotted
Jaguar, And By It A Young Cub, Playing Unconsciously With The
Scalping-Knife, Yet Reeking In its Mother'S Blood.
"Could Not Help It,--Self-Defence!" Exclaimed he, Jumping On Shore. "Now
The Red devils Know Where We Are, But It Is A Knowledge That Brings Them
Little Good. The Lake Is Ten Fathoms In depth, And They Will Not Swim
Three Miles Under The Muzzles Of Our Rifles. When They Are Tired of
Seeing Us Fishing, And Hearing Us Laughing, They Will Go Away Like
Disappointed foxes."
So It Proved. That Day We Took Our Rifles And Went In the Canoe To
Within Eighty Yards Of The Indians, On The Mainland, We Fishing For
Trouts, And Inviting Them To Share In our Sport. They Yelled awfully,
And Abused us Not A Little, Calling Us By All The Names Their Rage Could
Find: Squaws, Dogs Of Pale-Faces, Cowards, Thieves, &C. At Last,
However, They Retired in the Direction Of The River, Hoping Yet To Have
Us In their Power; But So Little Had We To Fear, That We Determined to
Pass A Few Days On The Island, That We Might Repose From Our Fatigues.
When We Decided upon Continuing Our Route, Gabriel And Roche Were
Obliged to Leave Their Saddles And Bridles Behind, As The Canoe Was Too
Small For Ourselves And Luggage. This Was A Misfortune Which Could Be
Easily Repaired at The Settlement, And Till Then, Saddles, Of Course,
Were Useless. We Went On Merrily From Forty-Five To Fifty Miles Every
Day, On The Surface Of The Most Transparent And Coolest Water In the
World. During The Night We Would Land And Sleep On The Shore. Game Was
Very Plentiful, For At Almost Every Minute We Would Pass A Stag Or A
Bull Drinking; Sometimes At Only Twenty Yards, Distance.
During This Trip On The Ogden River, We Passed four Other Magnificent
Lakes, But Not One Of Them Bearing any Marks Of Former Civilization, As
On The Shores Of The First One Which Had Sheltered us. We Left The River
Two Hundred and Forty Miles From Where We Had Commenced our Navigation,
And, Carrying Our Canoe Over A Portage Of Three Miles, We Launched it
Again Upon One Of The Tributaries Of The Buona Ventura, Two Hundred
Miles North-East From The Settlement.
The Current Was Now In our Favour, And In four Days More We Landed among
My Good Friends, The Shoshones, Who, After Our Absence Of Nine Months,
Received us With Almost A Childish Joy. They Had Given Us Up For Dead,
And Suspecting The Crows Of Having Had A Hand In our Disappearance,
They Had Made An Invasion Into Their Territory.
Six Days After Our Arrival Our Three Horses Were Perceived swimming
Across The River; The Faithful Animals Had Also Escaped from Our
Enemies, And Found Their Way Back To Their Masters And Their
Native Prairies.
Chapter XVDuring My Long Absence And Captivity Among The Arrapahoes, I Had Often
Reflected upon The Great Advantages Which Would Accrue If, By Any
Possibility, The Various Tribes Which Were Of Shoshone Origin Could Be
Induced to Unite With Them In one Confederacy; And The More I Reflected
Upon The Subject, The More Resolved i Became, That If Ever I Returned to
The Settlement, I Would Make The Proposition To Our Chiefs In council.
The Numbers Composing These Tribes Were As Follows:--The Shoshones
Amounting To About 60,000, Independent Of The Mountain Tribes, Which We
Might Compute At 10,000 More; The Apaches, About 40,000; The Arrapahoes,
About 20,000; The Comanches And The Tribes Springing From Them, At The
Lowest Computation, Amounting To 60,000 More. Speaking The Same
Language, Having The Same Religious Formula, The Same Manners And
Customs; Nothing appeared to Me To Be More Feasible. The Arrapahoes Were
The Only One Tribe Which Was Generally At Variance With Us, But They
Were Separated from The Shoshones Much Later Than The Other Tribes, And
Were Therefore Even More Shoshone Than The Apaches And Comanches.
Shortly After My Return, I Acted upon My Resolution. I Summoned all The
Chiefs Of Our Nation To A Great Council, And In the Month Of August,
1839, We Were All Assembled outside Of The Walls Of The Settlement.
After The Preliminary Ceremonies, I Addressed them:--
"Shoshones! Brave Children Of The Grand Serpent! My Wish Is To Render
You Happy, Rich, And Powerful. During The Day I Think Of It; I Dream Of
It In my Sleep. At Last, I Have Had Great Thoughts--Thoughts Proceeding
From The Manitou. Hear Now The Words Of Owato Wanisha; He Is Young, Very
Young; His Skin Is That
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