Tracks Of A Rolling Stone by Henry J. Coke (free e reader txt) 📖
- Author: Henry J. Coke
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Which Had Strayed A Long Distance Amongst The Rank Herbage By
The Banks Of The Platte. The Heat Was Intense, Well Over 120
In The Sun; And The Mosquitos Rose In Clouds At Every Step In
The Wet Grass. It Was An Easy Job For Me, On My Little Grey,
To Gallop After The Cows And Drive Them Home, (It Would Have
Been A Wearisome One For Her,) And She Was Very Grateful, And
Played Dorothea To My Hermann. None Of Our Party Wore Any
Upper Clothing Except A Flannel Shirt; I Had Cut Off The
Sleeves Of Mine At The Elbow. This Was Better For Rough
Work, But The Broiling Sun Had Raised Big Blisters On My Arms
And Throat Which Were Very Painful. When We Got Back To
Camp, Dorothea Laved The Burns For Me With Cool Milk. Ah!
She Was Very Pretty; And, What 'Blackguard' Heine, As
Carlyle Dubs Him, Would Have Called 'Naive Schmutzig.' When
We Parted Next Morning I Thought With A Sigh That Before The
Autumn Was Over, She Would Be In The Seraglio Of Mr. Brigham
Young; Who, Artemus Ward Used To Say, Was 'The Most Married
Man He Ever Knew.'
Chapter 21 Pg 110
Sport Had Been The Final Cause Of My Trip To America - Sport
And The Love Of Adventure. As The Bison - Buffalo, As They
Are Called - Are Now Extinct, Except In Preserved Districts,
A Few Words About Them As They Then Were May Interest Game
Hunters Of The Present Day.
No Description Could Convey An Adequate Conception Of The
Numbers In Which They Congregated. The Admirable
Illustrations In Catlin's Great Work On The North American
Indians, Afford The Best Idea To Those Who Have Never Seen
The Wonderful Sight Itself. The Districts They Frequented
Were Vast Sandy Uplands Sparsely Covered With The Tufty
Buffalo Or Gramma Grass. These Regions Were Always Within
Reach Of The Water-Courses; To Which Morning And Evening The
Herds Descended By Paths, After The Manner Of Sheep Or Cattle
In A Pasture. Never Shall I Forget The First Time I
Witnessed The Extraordinary Event Of The Evening Drink.
Seeing The Black Masses Galloping Down Towards The River, By
The Banks Of Which Our Party Were Travelling, We Halted Some
Hundred Yards Short Of The Tracks. To Have Been Caught
Amongst The Animals Would Have Been Destruction; For, Do What
They Would To Get Out Of One's Way, The Weight Of The
Thousands Pushing On Would Have Crushed Anything That Impeded
Them. On The Occasion I Refer To We Approached To Within
Safe Distance, And Fired Into Them Till The Ammunition In Our
Pouches Was Expended.
As Examples Of Our Sporting Exploits, Three Days Taken Almost
At Random Will Suffice. The Season Was So Far Advanced That,
Unless We Were To Winter At Fort Laramie, It Was Necessary To
Keep Going. It Was Therefore Agreed That Whoever Left The
Line Of March - That Is, The Vicinity Of The North Platte -
For The Purpose Of Hunting Should Take His Chance Of Catching
Up The Rest Of The Party, Who Were To Push On As Speedily As
Possible. On Two Of The Days Which I Am About To Record This
Rule Nearly Brought Me Into Trouble. I Quote From My
Journal:
'Left Camp To Hunt By Self. Got A Shot At Some Deer Lying In
Long Grass On Banks Of A Stream. While Stalking, I Could
Hardly See Or Breathe For Mosquitos; They Were In My Eyes,
Chapter 21 Pg 111Nose, And Mouth. Steady Aim Was Impossible; And, To My
Disgust, I Missed The Easiest Of Shots. The Neck And Flanks
Of My Little Grey Are As Red As If Painted. He Is Weak From
Loss Of Blood. Fred's Head Is Now So Swollen He Cannot Wear
His Hard Hat; His Eyes Are Bunged Up, And His Face Is Comic
To Look At. Several Deer And Antelopes; But Ground Too
Level, And Game Too Wild To Let One Near. Hardly Caring What
Direction I Took, Followed Outskirts Of Large Wood, Four Or
Five Miles Away From The River. Saw A Good Many Summer
Lodges; But Knew, By The Quantity Of Game, That The Indians
Had Deserted Them. In The Afternoon Came Suddenly Upon Deer;
And Singling Out One Of The Youngest Fawns, Tried To Run It
Down. The Country Being Very Rough, I Found It Hard Work To
Keep Between It And The Wood. First, My Hat Blew Off; Then A
Pistol Jumped Out Of The Holster; But I Was Too Near To Give
Up, - Meaning To Return For These Things Afterwards. Two Or
Three Times I Ran Right Over The Fawn, Which Bleated In The
Most Piteous Manner, But Always Escaped The Death-Blow From
The Grey's Hoofs. By Degrees We Edged Nearer To The Thicket,
When The Fawn Darted Down The Side Of A Bluff, And Was Lost
In The Long Grass And Brushwood, I Followed At Full Speed;
But, Unable To Arrest The Impetus Of The Horse, We Dashed
Headlong Into The Thick Scrub, And Were Both Thrown With
Violence To The Ground. I Was None The Worse; But The Poor
Beast Had Badly Hurt His Shoulder, And For The Time Was Dead
Lame.
'For An Hour At Least I Hunted, For My Pistol. It Was Much
More To Me Than My Hat. It Was A Huge Horse Pistol, That
Threw An Ounce Ball Of Exactly The Calibre Of My Double
Rifle. I Had Shot Several Buffaloes With It, By Riding Close
To Them In A Chase; And When In Danger Of Indians I Loaded It
With Slugs. At Last I Found It. It Was Getting Late; And I
Didn't Rightly Know Where I Was. I Made For The Low Country.
But As We Camped Last Night At Least Two Miles From The
River, On Account Of The Swamps, The Difficulty Was To Find
The Tracks. The Poor Little Grey And I Hunted For It In
Vain. The Wet Ground Was Too Wet, The Dry Ground Too Hard,
To Show The Tracks In The Now Imperfect Light.
'The Situation Was A Disagreeable One: It Might Be Two Or
Three Days Before I Again Fell In With My Friends. I Had Not
Touched Food Since The Early Morning, And Was Rather Done.
To Return To The High Ground Was To Give Up For The Night;
But That Meant Another Day Behind The Cavalcade, With
Diminished Chance Of Overtaking It. Through The Dusk I Saw
What I Fancied Was Something Moving On A Mound Ahead Of Me
Which Arose Out Of The Surrounding Swamp. I Spurred On, But
Only To Find The Putrid Carcase Of A Buffalo, With A Wolf
Supping On It. The Brute Was Gorged, And Looked As Sleek As
"Die Schone Frau Giermund"; But, Unlike Isegrim's Spouse, She
Was Free To Escape, For She Wasn't Worth A Bullet. I Was So
Famished, That I Examined The Carcase With The Hope Of
Finding A Cut That Would Last For A Day Or Two; My Nose
Chapter 21 Pg 112Wouldn't Have It. I Plodded On, The Water Up To The Saddle-
Girths. The Mosquitos Swarmed In Millions, And The Poor
Little Grey Could Hardly Get One Leg Before The Other. I,
Too, Was So Feverish That, Ignorant Of Bacteria, I Filled My
Round Hat With The Filthy Stagnant Water, And Drank It At A
Draught.
'At Last I Made For Higher Ground. It Was Too Dark To Hunt
For Tracks, So I Began To Look Out For A Level Bed. Suddenly
My Beast, Who Jogged Along With His Nose To The Ground, Gave
A Loud Neigh. We Had Struck The Trail. I Threw The Reins On
His Neck, And Left Matters To His Superior Instincts. In
Less Than Half An Hour The Joyful Light Of A Camp Fire
Gladdened My Eyes. Fred Told Me He Had Halted As Soon As He
Was Able, Not On My Account Only, But Because He, Too, Had
Had A Severe Fall, And Was Suffering Great Pain From A
Bruised Knee.'
Here Is An Ordinary Example Of Buffalo Shooting:
'July 2nd. - Fresh Meat Much Wanted. With Jim The Half-Breed
To The Hills. No Sooner On High Ground Than We Sighted Game.
As Far As Eye Could Reach, Right Away To The Horizon, The
Plain Was Black With Buffaloes, A Truly Astonishing Sight.
Jim Was Used To It. I Stopped To Spy Them With Amazement.
The Nearest Were Not More Than Half A Mile Off, So We
Picketed Our Horses Under The Sky Line; And Choosing The
Hollows, Walked On Till Crawling Became Expedient. As Is
Their Wont, The Outsiders Were Posted On Bluffs Or Knolls In
A Commanding Position; These Were Old Bulls. To My
Inexperience, Our Chance Of Getting A Shot Seemed Small; For
We Had To Cross The Dipping Ground Under The Brow Whereon The
Sentinels Were Lying. Three Extra Difficulties Beset Us -
The Prairie Dogs (A Marmot, So Called From Its Dog-Like Bark
When Disturbed) Were All Round Us, And Bolted Into Their
Holes Like Rabbits Directly They Saw Us Coming; Two Big Grey
Wolves, The Regular Camp Followers Of A Herd, Were Prowling
About In A Direct Line Between Us And The Bulls; Lastly, The
Cows, Though Up And Feeding, Were Inconveniently Out Of
Reach. (The Meat Of The Young Cow Is Much Preferred To That
Of The Bull.) Jim, However, Was Confident. I Followed My
Leader To A Wink. The Only Instruction I Didn't Like When We
Started Crawling On The Hot Sand Was "Look Out For
Rattlesnakes."
'The Wolves Stopped, Examined Us Suspiciously, Then Quietly
Trotted Off. What With This And The Alarm Of The Prairie
Dogs, An Old Bull, A Patriarch Of The Tribe, Jumped Up And
Walked With Majestic Paces To The Top Of The Knoll. We Lay
Flat On Our Faces, Till He, Satisfied With The Result Of His
Scrutiny, Resumed His Recumbent Posture; But With His Head
Turned Straight Towards Us. Jim, To My Surprise, Stealthily
Crawled On. In Another Minute Or Two We Had Gained A Point
Whence We Could See Through The Grass Without Being Seen.
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