MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (novel books to read txt) 📖
- Author: FREDERICK MARRYAT
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Thrown Into Darkness, Or One Eagle, Blind And Winged, Falls Down The
Rocks And Leaves The Whole Nest To Its Conqueror. The Arrapahoes Would
Not Fight A Cowardly Crow, Except For Self-Defence, For He Smells Of
Carrion; Nor Would A Shoshone.
"Crows, Umbiquas, And Flat-Heads, Cayuses, Bonnaxes, And Callapoos Can
Hunt All Together And Rest Together; They Are The Blackbirds And The
Parrots; They Must Do So, Else The Eagle Should Destroy Them During The
Day, Or The Hedgehog During The Night.
"Now, Owato Wanisha, Or His Manitou, Has Offered a Bold Thing. I Have
Thought Of It, I Have Spoken Of It To The Spirits Of The Red-Skin; They
Said It Was Good; I Say It Is Good! I Am A Chief Of Many Winters; I Know
What Is Good, I Know What Is Bad! Shoshones, Hear Me! My Voice Is Weak,
Come Nearer; Hearken To My Words, Hist! I Hear A Whisper Under The
Ripples Of The Water, I Hear It In the Waving Of The Grass, I Feel It On
The Breeze!--Hist, It Is The Whisper Of The Master Of Life,--Hist!"
At This Moment The Venerable Chief Appeared abstracted, His Face
Flushed; Then Followed a Trance, As If He Were Communing With Some
Invisible Spirit. Intensely And Silently Did The Warriors Watch The
Struggles Of His Noble Features; The Time Had Come In which The Minds Of
The Shoshones Were Freed of Their Prejudices, And Dared to Contemplate
The Prospective Of A Future General Domination Over The Western
Continent Of America. The Old Chief Raised his Hand, And He
Spoke Again:--
"Children, For You Are My Children! Warriors, For You Are All Brave!
Chiefs, For You Are All Chiefs! I Have Seen A Vision. It Was A Cloud,
And The Manitou Was Upon It. The Cloud Gave Way, And Behind I Saw A Vast
Nation, Large Cities, Rich Wigwams, Strange Boats, And Great Parties Of
Warriors, Whose Trail Was So Long That I Could Not See The Beginning Nor
The End. It Was In a Country Which I Felt Within Me Was Extending From
The North, Where All Is Ice, Down To The South, Where All Is Fire! Then
A Big Voice Was Heard! It Was Not A War-Whoop, It Was Not The Yell Of
The Fiends, It Was Not The Groan Of The Captive Tied to The Stake; It
Was A Voice Of Glory, That Shouted the Name Of The Shoshones--For All
Were Shoshones. There Were No Pale-Faces Among Them--None! Owato Wanisha
Was There, But He Had A Red skin, And His Hair Was Black; So Were His
Two Fathers, But They Were Looking Young; So Was His Aged and Humble
Friend, But His Limbs Seemed to Have Recovered all The Activity And
Vigour Of Youth; So Were His Two Young Friends, Who Have Fought So
Bravely At The Post, When The Cowardly Umbiquas Entered our Grounds.
This Is All What I Have Heard, All What I Have Seen; And The Whisper
Said To Me, As The Vision Faded away, 'Lose No Time, Old Chief, The Day
Has Come! Say To Thy Warriors, Listen To The Young Pale-Face. The Great
Spirit Of The Red-Skin Will Pass Into His Breast, And Lend Him Some
Words That The Shoshone Will Understand.'
"I Am Old And Feeble; I Am Tired; Arise, My Grandson Owato Wanisha;
Speak To My Warriors; Tell Them The Wishes Of The Great Spirit. I
Have Spoken."
Thus Called upon, I Advanced to The Place Which The Chief Had Left
Vacant, And Spoke In my Turn:--
"Shoshones, Fathers, Brothers, Warriors,--I Am A Pale-Face, But You Know
All My Heart Is A Shoshone'S. I Am Young, But No More A Child. It Is But
A Short Time Since That I Was A Hunter; Since That Time The Manitou Has
Made Me A Warrior, And Led me Among Strange And Distant Tribes, Where He
Taught Me What I Should Do To Render The Shoshones A Great People. Hear
My Words, For I Have But One Tongue; It Is The Tongue Of My Heart, And
In My Heart Now Dwells The Good Spirit. Wonder Not, If I Assume The Tone
Of Command To Give Orders; The Orders I Will Give Are The Manitou'S.
"The Twelve Wisest Heads Of The Shoshones Will Go To The Arrapahoes.
With Them They Will Take Presents; They Will Take Ten Sons Of Chiefs,
Who Have Themselves Led men On The War-Path; They Will Take Ten Young
Girls, Fair To Look At, Daughters Of Chiefs, Whose Voices Are Soft As
The Warbling Of The Birds In the Fall. At The Great Council Of The
Arrapahoes, The Ten Girls Will Be Offered to Ten Great Chiefs, And Ten
Great Chiefs Will Offer Their Own Daughters To Our Ten Young Warriors;
They Will Offer Peace For Ever; They Will Exchange All The Scalps, And
They Will Say That Their Fathers, The Shoshones, Will Once More Open
Their Arms To Their Brave Children. Our Best Hunting-Ground Shall Be
Theirs; They Will Fish The Salmon Of Our Rivers; They Will Be Arrapahoes
Shoshones; We Will Become Shoshones Arrapahoes. I Have Already Sent To
The Settlement Of The Watchinangoes My Ancient Pale-Face Friend Of The
Stout Heart And Keen Eye; Shortly We Will See At The Post A Vessel With
Arms, Ammunition, And Presents For The Nation. I Will Go Myself With A
Party Of Warriors To The Prairies Of The Apaches, And Among The
Comanches.
"Yet I Hear Within Me A Stout Voice, Which I Must Obey. My Grandfather,
The Old Chief, Has Said He Should Be No More A Chief. It Was Wrong, Very
Wrong; The Manitou Is Angry. Is The Buffalo Less A Buffalo When He Grows
Old, Or The Eagle Less An Eagle When A Hundred winters Have Whitened his
Wings? No! Their Nature Cannot Change, Not More Than That Of A Chief And
That Chief, A Chief Of The Shoshones!
"Owato Wanisha Will Remain What He Is; He Is Too Young To Be The Great
Chief Of The Whole Of A Great Nation. His Wish Is Good, But His Wisdom
Is Of Yesterday; He Cannot Rule. To Rule Belongs To Those Who Have
Deserved doing So, By Long Experience. No! Owato Wanisha Will Lead His
Warriors To The War-Path, Or Upon The Trail Of The Buffalo; He Will Go
And Talk To The Grandchildren Of The Shoshones; More He Cannot Do!
"Let Now The Squaws Prepare The Farewell Meal, And Make Ready The Green
Paint; To-Morrow I Shall Depart, With Fifty Of My Young Men. I
Have Spoken."
The Council Being Broken Up, I Had To Pass Through The Ceremony Of
Smoking The Pipe And Shaking Hands With Those Who Could Call Themselves
Warriors. On The Following Morning, Fifty Magnificent Horses, Richly
Caparisoned, Were Led to The Lawn Before The Council Lodge. Fifty
Warriors Soon Appeared, In their Gaudiest Dresses, All Armed with The
Lance, Bow, And Lasso, And Rifle Suspended across The Shoulder. Then
There Was A Procession Of All The Tribe, Divided into Two Bands, The
First Headed by The Chiefs And Holy Men; The Other, By The Young
Virgins. Then The Dances Commenced; The Elders Sang Their Exploits Of
Former Days, As An Example To Their Children; The Voting Men Exercised
Themselves At The War-Post; And The Matrons, Wives, Mothers, Or Sisters
Of The Travellers Painted their Faces With Green And Red, As A Token Of
The Nature Of Their Mission. When This Task Was Performed, The Whole Of
The Procession Again Formed their Ranks, And Joined in a Chorus, Asking
The Manitou For Success, And Bidding Us Farewell. I Gave The Signal; All
My Men Sprang Up In their Saddles, And The Gallant Little Band, After
Having Rode Twice Round The Council Lodge, Galloped away Into
The Prairie.
Two Days After Us, Another Party Was To Start For The Country Of The
Arrapahoes, With The View Of Effecting a Reconciliation Between Our
Two Tribes.
Chapter XVIAt This Time, The Generally Bright Prospects Of California Were Clouding
Over. Great Changes Had Taken Place In the Mexican Government, New
Individuals Had Sprung Into Power, And Their Followers Were Recompensed
With Dignities And Offices. But, As These Offices Had Been Already
Filled by Others, It Was Necessary To Remove The Latter, And,
Consequently, The Government Had Made Itself More Enemies.
Such Was The Case In california; But That The Reader May Understand The
Events Which Are To Follow, It Is Necessary To Draw A Brief Sketch Of
The Country. I Have Already Said That California Embraces Four Hundred
Miles Of Sea-Coast Upon The Pacific Ocean. On The East, It Is Bounded by
The Californian Gulf, Forming, In fact, A Long Peninsula. The Only Way
Of Arriving at It By Land, From The Interior Of Mexico, Is To Travel
Many Hundred miles North, Across The Wild Deserts Of Sonora, And Through
Tribes Of Indians Which, From The Earliest Records Down To Our Days,
Have Always Been Hostile To The Spaniards, And, Of Course, To The
Mexicans. Yet Far As California Is--Too Far Indeed for The Government Of
Mexico To Sufficiently Protect It, Either From Indian Inroads Or From
The Depredations Of Pirates, By Which, Indeed, The Coast Has Much
Suffered--It Does Not Prevent The Mexican Government From Exacting Taxes
From The Various Settlements--Taxes Enormous In themselves, And So
Onerous, That They Will Ever Prevent These Countries From Becoming What
They Ought To Be, Under A Better Government.
The Most Northerly Establishment Of Mexico On The Pacific Ocean Is San
Francisco; The Next, Monterey; Then Comes San Barbara, St. Luis Obispo,
Buona Ventura, And, Finally, St. Diego; Besides These Seaports, Are Many
Cities In the Interior, Such As St. Juan Campestrano, Los Angelos, The
Largest Town In california, And San Gabriel. Disturbances, Arising From
The Ignorance And Venality Of The Mexican Dominion, Very Often Happen
In These Regions; New Individuals Are Continually Appointed to Rule
Them; And These Individuals Are Generally Men Of Broken Fortunes And
Desperate Characters, Whose Extortions Become So Intolerable That, At
Last, The Californians, In spite Of Their Lazy Dispositions, Rise Upon
Their Petty Tyrants. Such Was Now The Case At Monterey. A New Governor
Had Arrived; The Old General Morreno Had, Under False Pre-Texts, Been
Dismissed, And Recalled to The Central Department, To Answer To Many
Charges Preferred against Him.
The New Governor, A Libertine Of The Lowest Class Of The People, Half
Monk And Half Soldier, Who Had Carved his Way Through The World By
Murder, Rapine, And Abject Submission To His Superiors, Soon Began To
Stretch An Iron Hand Over The Townspeople. The Montereyans Will Bear
Much, Yet Under Their Apparent Docility And Moral Apathy There Lurks A
Fire Which, Once Excited, Pours Forth Flames Of Destruction. Moreover,
The Foreigners Established in monterey Had, For A Long Time, Enjoyed
Privileges Which They Were Not Willing To Relinquish; And As They Were,
Generally Speaking, Wealthy, They Enjoyed a Certain Degree Of Influence
Over The Lower Classes Of The Mexicans.
Immediately After The First Extortion Of The New Governor, The
Population Rose _En Masse_, And Disarmed the Garrison. The Presidio Was
Occupied by The Insurgents, And The Tyrant Was Happy To Escape On Board
An English Vessel, Bound To Acapulco.
However, On This Occasion The Montereyans Did Not Break Their Fealty To
The Mexican Government; They Wanted justice, And They Took It Into Their
Own Hands. One Of The Most Affluent Citizens Was Unanimously Selected
Governor _Pro Tempore,_ Till Another Should Arrive, And They Returned to
Their Usual Pleasures And Apathy, Just As If Nothing Extraordinary Had
Happened. The Name Of The Governor Thus Driven Away Was Fonseca. Knowing
Well That Success Alone Could Have Justified his Conduct, He Did Not
Attempt To Return To Mexico, But Meeting With Some Pirates, At That Time
Ravaging The Coasts In the Neighbourhood Of Guatimala, He Joined them,
And, Excited by Revenge And Cupidity, He Conceived the Idea Of
Conquering California For Himself. He Succeeded in enlisting Into His
Service Some 150 Vagabonds From All Parts Of The Earth--Runaway Sailors,
Escaped criminals, And, Among The Number, Some Forty Sandwich
Islanders, Brave And Desperate Fellows, Who Were Allured with The Hopes
Of Plunder.
I May As Well Here Mention, That There Is A Great Number Of
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