Evening meditations and morning reflections--Buffaloes, badgers,antelopes, and accidents--An old bull and the wolves--"Madtails"--Henri floored, etc. There is nothing that prepares one so well for theenjoyment of rest, both mental and physical, as along-protracted period of excitement and anxiety, followedup by bodily fatigue. Excitement alone banishesrest; but, united with severe physical exertion, it preparesfor it. At least, courteous reader, this is ourexperience; and certainly this was the experience of ourthree hunters as they lay on their backs beneath thebranches of a willow bush and gazed serenely up at thetwinkling stars two days after their escape from theIndian village.
They spoke little; they were too tired for that, alsothey were too comfortable. Their respective suppers offresh antelope steak, shot that day, had just been disposedof. Their feet were directed towards the smallfire on which the said steaks had been cooked, andwhich still threw a warm, ruddy glow over the encampment.
Their blankets were wrapped comfortably roundthem, and tucked in as only hunters and mothers knowhow to tuck them in. Their respective pipes deliveredforth, at stated intervals, three richly yellow puffs ofsmoke, as if a three-gun battery were playing upon thesky from that particular spot of earth. The horseswere picketed and hobbled in a rich grassy bottom closeby, from which the quiet munch of their equine jawssounded pleasantly, for it told of healthy appetites,and promised speed on the morrow. The fear of beingovertaken during the night was now past, and thefaithful Crusoe, by virtue of sight, hearing, and smell,guaranteed them against sudden attack during the hoursof slumber. A perfume of wild flowers mingled withthe loved odours of the "weed," and the tinkle of atiny rivulet fell sweetly on their ears. In short, the"Pale-faces" were supremely happy, and disposed to bethankful for their recent deliverance and their presentcomforts.
"I wonder what the stars are," said Dick, languidlytaking the pipe out of his mouth.
"Bits o' fire," suggested Joe.
"I tink dey are vorlds," muttered Henri, "an' havepeepels in dem. I have hear men say dat."A long silence followed, during which, no doubt, thestar-gazers were working out various theories in theirown minds.
"Wonder," said Dick again, "how far off they be.""A mile or two, maybe," said Joe.
Henri was about to laugh sarcastically at this, buton further consideration he thought it would be morecomfortable not to, so he lay still. In another minutehe said,--"Joe Blunt, you is ver' igrant. Don't you know datde books say de stars be hondreds, tousands--oh!
milleryons of mile away to here, and dat dey is morebigger dan dis vorld?"Joe snored lightly, and his pipe fell out of hismouth at this point, so the conversation dropped.
Presently Dick asked in a low tone, "I say, Henri,are ye asleep?""Oui," replied Henry faintly. "Don't speak, or youvill vaken me.""Ah, Crusoe! you're not asleep, are you, pup?" Noneed to ask that question. The instantaneous wag ofthat speaking tail and the glance of that wakeful eye,as the dog lifted his head and laid his chin on Dick'sarm, showed that he had been listening to every wordthat was spoken. We cannot say whether he understoodit, but beyond all doubt he heard it. Crusoenever presumed to think of going to sleep until hismaster was as sound as a top, then he ventured to indulgein that light species of slumber which is familiarly knownas "sleeping with one eye open." But, comparatively aswell as figuratively speaking, Crusoe slept usually withone eye and a half open, and the other half was neververy tightly shut.
Gradually Dick's pipe fell out of his mouth, anevent which the dog, with an exercise of instinct almost,if not quite, amounting to reason, regarded as asignal for him to go off. The camp fire went slowlyout, the stars twinkled down at their reflections in thebrook, and a deep breathing of wearied men was theonly sound that rose in harmony with the purlingstream.
Before the sun rose next morning, and while many ofthe brighter stars were still struggling for existencewith the approaching day, Joe was up and buckling onthe saddle-bags, while he shouted to his unwilling companionsto rise.
"If it depended on you," he said, "the Pawneeswouldn't be long afore they got our scalps. Jump, yedogs, an' lend a hand, will ye?"A snore from Dick and a deep sigh from Henri wasthe answer to this pathetic appeal. It so happened,however, that Henri's pipe, in falling from his lips, hademptied the ashes just under his nose, so that the sighreferred to drew a quantity thereof into his throat andalmost choked him. Nothing could have been a moreeffective awakener. He was up in a moment coughingvociferously. Most men have a tendency to vent ill-humouron some one, and they generally do it on onewhom they deem to be worse than themselves. Henri,therefore, instead of growling at Joe for rousing him,scolded Dick for not rising.
"Ha, mauvais dog! bad chien! vill you dare to lookto me?"Crusoe did look with amiable placidity, as though tosay, "Howl away, old boy, I won't budge till Dick does."With a mighty effort Giant Sleep was thrown off atlast, and the hunters were once more on their journey,cantering lightly over the soft turf.
"Ho, let's have a run!" cried Dick, unable to repressthe feelings aroused by the exhilarating morning air.
"Have a care, boy," cried Joe, as they stretched outat full gallop. "Keep off the ridge; it's riddled wi'
badger--Ha! I thought so."At that moment Dick's horse put its foot into abadger-hole and turned completely over, sending itsrider through the air in a curve that an East Indianacrobat would have envied. For a few seconds Dicklay flat on his back, then he jumped up and laughed,while his comrades hurried up anxiously to his assistance.
"No bones broke?" inquired Joe.
Dick gave a hysterical gasp. "I--I think not.""Let's have a look. No, nothin' to speak o', begood luck. Ye should niver go slap through a badgercountry like that, boy; always keep i' the bottoms, wherethe grass is short. Now then, up ye go. That's it!"Dick remounted, though not with quite so elastic aspring as usual, and they pushed forward at a morereasonable pace.
Accidents of this kind are of common occurrence inthe prairies. Some horses, however, are so well trainedthat they look sharp out for these holes, which are generallyfound to be most numerous on the high and drygrounds. But in spite of all the caution both of manand horse many ugly falls take place, and sometimesbones are broken.
They had not gone far after this accident when anantelope leaped from a clump of willows, and made fora belt of woodland that lay along the margin of a streamnot half-a-mile off.
"Hurrah!" cried Dick, forgetting his recent fall.
"Come along, Crusoe." And away they went againfull tilt, for the horse had not been injured by itssomersault.
The antelope which Dick was thus wildly pursuingwas of the same species as the one he had shot sometime before--namely, the prong-horned antelope. Thesegraceful creatures have long, slender limbs, delicately-formedheads, and large, beautiful eyes. The horns areblack, and rather short; they have no branches, likethe antlers of the red-deer, but have a single projectionon each horn, near the head, and the extreme pointsof the horns curve suddenly inwards, forming thehook or prong from which the name of the animalis derived. Their colour is dark yellowish brown.
They are so fleet that not one horse in a hundredcan overtake them; and their sight and sense of smellare so acute that it would be next to impossible to killthem, were it not for the inordinate curiosity whichwe have before referred to. The Indians manage toattract these simple little creatures by merely lyingdown on their backs and kicking their heels in the air,or by waving any white object on the point of an arrow,while the hunter keeps concealed by lying flat in thegrass. By these means a herd of antelopes may beinduced to wheel round and round an object in timidbut intense surprise, gradually approaching until theycome near enough to enable the hunter to make sure ofhis mark. Thus the animals, which of all others oughtto be the most difficult to slay, are, in consequence oftheir insatiable curiosity, more easily shot than any otherdeer of the plains.
May we not gently suggest to the reader for his orher consideration that there are human antelopes, so tospeak, whose case bears a striking resemblance to theprong-horn of the North American prairie?
Dick's horse was no match for the antelope, neitherwas Crusoe; so they pulled up shortly and returned totheir companions, to be laughed at.
"It's no manner o' use to wind yer horse, lad, aftersich game. They're not much worth, an', if I mistakenot, we'll be among the buffalo soon. There's freshtracks everywhere, and the herds are scattered now. Yesee, when they keep together in bands o' thousands yedon't so often fall in wi' them. But when they scattersabout in twos, an' threes, an' sixes ye may shoot themevery day as much as ye please."Several groups of buffalo had already been seen onthe horizon, but as a red-deer had been shot in a beltof woodland the day before they did not pursue them.
The red-deer is very much larger than the prong-hornedantelope, and is highly esteemed both for its flesh andits skin, which latter becomes almost like chamoisleather when dressed. Notwithstanding this supply offood, the hunters could not resist the temptation to givechase to a herd of about nine buffaloes that suddenlycame into view as they overtopped an undulation in theplain.
"It's no use," cried Dick, "I must go at them!"Joe himself caught fire from the spirit of his youngfriend, so calling to Henri to come on and let the pack-horseremain to feed, he dashed away in pursuit. Thebuffaloes gave one stare of surprise, and then fled as fastas possible. At first it seemed as if such huge, unwieldycarcasses could not run very fast; but in a fewminutes they managed to get up a pace that put thehorses to their mettle. Indeed, at first it seemed as............