CHAPTER XVI.
THE BEAR HOLE.
For about a week we traversed this extensive plain, first northward, following the base of the hills we had crossed, and then westward, towards the more western ranges. Everywhere we found the richest soil, and water in abundance, as well as game of every description, and many wild horses. We lived like fighting cocks, always had the best buffalo meat, as many deer as we wanted, and also killed several antelopes. In a narrow patch of wood Trusty aroused a one-year-old bear from its winter sleep, which it was enjoying under some old fallen trees, and drove it out into the prairie. We followed it, and Trusty pinned it to the spot by a few bites in its breeches. I was just going to fire when Tiger cried to me not to do so, sprang from his horse, and ran towards the bear, laughing and leaping, with his long knife drawn. Trusty leaped, barking, in front of the irritated animal, which showed its teeth savagely, and kept him off with its forepaws, while Tiger crept behind it, and—worthy of his name—leapt past the bear, digging his knife into its side. The bear made a blow at him, but too late; and Trusty attacked it on the other flank. Tiger soon passed again behind the bear, and buried his knife between its ribs; and thus the two fought till the bear fell breathless, and Tiger stabbed it to the heart. He was not a little proud of his grand exploit, laughed, and said that he had killed an old bear in the same way once, but had unfortunately lost his good dog. I was obliged to promise him a son of Trusty, to whom he henceforth especially gave his friendship. The bear weighed some hundred pounds, and supplied us with excellent meat, in addition to its skin. We packed a good lot of it on honest Jack, and improved our meal with it that evening at the foot of the Rio Grande mountains.
Here the limestone rocks ran down to the plain, and on the distant heights we could again notice dark masses of cedar forests which had so impeded our progress. From this point our road became fatiguing and at times dangerous, as the whole country consisted of rent limestone mountains, through whose gorges and crevices we had to wind our way. In the fear of being possibly obliged to camp without water, we followed a rivulet up stream into these mountains: though we frequently had to leave it, we still kept as close to it as we could; about noon we reached a plateau which was entirely covered with petrified wood, of which thick branches and even trunks lay scattered about. It was apparently cedar wood, and I took several fine specimens of it as souvenirs. In the evening we again reached our stream, and though it was still early, and the grass not particularly good, we unsaddled, and arranged our camp. While I was thus occupied, Tiger took his rifle and soon disappeared among the rocks, which were scattered about in enormous blocks on our left, while on the right they were several hundred feet high, and displayed numerous rifts, out of which a tree here and there grew. Tiger soon returned and told me he knew where a very old bear was asleep. We would go and fetch it next morning; it was lying in a rock crevice, and judging from its track it must be a sturdy fellow.
Day had scarce broken ere we quickly finished our breakfast, and in a short time came to a spot where good grass grew; here we unsaddled, fastened our horses to a tree, and then ascended the hill-side, which became steeper the farther we got. Quite at the top, between the highest peaks, Tiger went to an overhanging rock, and stopped before an opening only a few feet wide, which ran downwards. Here he plucked a quantity of long dry grass from between the stones, rolled it rapidly into a long, thick, loose band, and then made me a sign to stand near the hole; he next lit the torch and crawled on all fours with his rifle into the rocks. I could hear only for a few minutes the sound he produced by crawling farther into the cave, and then there was a silence again. I stood with Trusty for some time without hearing the slightest sound; when suddenly a stifled echo, resembling a powerful gust of wind, came out of the crevice, and directly after, a scratching and rustling were audible, advancing towards the orifice, till all at once a heavy black bear appeared with a bleeding face.
I was standing only a few yards from the cave, and for the sake of Tiger wished to let it come out entirely ere I fired, as I felt convinced that the brute was wounded, and by firing prematurely I might turn it back on my comrade. I pressed close to the rock, and the bear had made some forward bounds, when I sent both bullets through it, although without checking its pace. The bear disappeared behind the nearest rock, and at the same moment Tiger came out of the cave all right, and ran off as quickly as a deer after the bear. I followed, and was compelled to use every exertion to keep Tiger in sight, when I noticed that in running he reloaded, and suddenly sinking on one knee, fired. But he at once sprang up again, and while reloading, sprang from stone to stone, till he knelt once more and fired. I kept as close as I could behind him, and was running up a rather steep incline, over large masses of stones, when I heard Tiger's rifle crack for the third time. In a few minutes I got round a large rock table and saw him carelessly sitting on a stone and re-loading. When I went up to him he raised his left arm and pointed to a heap of piled-up rocks, where to my surprise I saw the bear peeping over one of them like a preacher in his pulpit. It had flown there, mortally wounded, to defend itself, and showed us its bleeding terrible range of teeth.
I quickly loaded and shot it through the head, upon which it rolled down from its elevation. I took out my pocket-book and made a sketch of the rocks, while Tiger skinned and broke up the bear. I did not notice the latter retire; but when I missed him I rose and looked about for him. On going a few paces round the rock, I saw him on his knees among the bushes praying, while before him smoke curled up from a fire of leaves. I quietly walked nearer, and heard him muttering to himself, while a piece of the bear hung before him on the bush over the smoke. He soon rose, came up to me, and when I asked him what he had been about, he laughed cunningly, and answered that this meal of meat out of the bear's chest was for the god of hunting; other Indians were not acquainted with this, and hence the Delawares alone shot fat bears, while the others had lean ones. I asked him how it was the bear had not choked him in the cave. He said, laughingly, "Bear no love fire," and told me that he had crept a long way into the rocks, till the cave became very spacious; then holding his torch aloft he looked about him, and saw the bear's eyes glittering a long way in the background. He fired at it, but his bullet hit the beast on the cheek. The bear sprang up and rushed at him, but he placed himself close to the rock and held out his torch, while the bear rushed past him.
We hurried back to our horses, which took us nearly half an hour, although we went for the most part down hill. They whinnied as we approached, and waited impatiently to be noticed. Tiger mounted his piebald and rode back to the bear to fetch the skin, claws, and some of the meat, and was back in camp by noon. We merely drank coffee, packed our animals, and laid the bear's enormous ragged skin, with the fleshy side upwards, over Jack, who looked terrible in consequence.
We still followed the rocky valley up till about evening, when we reached a capital spot for our cattle, and I had dismounted to pass the night here; but Tiger pointed to the north, where the sky was slightly overcast, and then up the hill, where brushwood was hanging about the loose stones, and said, "We must go higher up the stream, or else we should sleep in the water." He now showed me that this brushwood had been lodged among the stones by the swollen stream, and we consequently camped higher up. For the first time during this tour our tent was put up, and our baggage placed under it. Then we dug a deep trench round it, and laid in an ample stock of firewood. We lit the fire under a large rock, so that it was protected from the north wind and drove strong pickets into the ground in order to fasten up our cattle close to the tent. We consequently let them graze by the water side till it grew dark, and then led them up to the camp, where we secured them. We sat till a late hour over the fire, while all nature seemed to have gone to rest. There was not a breath of air, and only the crackling of our fire interrupted the silence, and lit up the great masses of rock around us.
As we were both sleepy, I went into the tent and lay down on my buffalo robe, but Tiger lay by the fire, and we were both in the deepest sleep, when a frightful crash startled me, and a flash of lightning illumined my tent. I leaped up and found Tiger busied in blowing the fire. A pitchy darkness surrounded us, so that I could not see the horses, which were but a few yards off. Suddenly the lightning shot down the rocks, accompanied by a deafening peal of thunder, which was quickly followed by other peals. The storm soon rolled over the hills, and the rain fell in torrents. Although we had blown our fire into an enormous flame, it was put out by the rain. The flashes darted here and there, and an uninterrupted thunder rolled along the valley, while the rustling and plashing of a rapid stream became audible, and we soon saw beneath us the white foamy crests of a terrible stream pouring over the banks of the rivulet, where our horses had been peacefully grazing a few hours previously.
We stood by our horses with our buffalo robes over our heads, turning our back to the wind, and waited longingly for the moment when the storm would break. It lasted, however, till shortly before daylight.
"How are we to light a fire now?" I said to Tiger, for our wood was wet, and no hollow trees grew between the rocks around us, in which we could look for dry wood. He laughed, however, ran a short distance, returned with an armful of dry twigs which he had hidden there on the previous evening under a rock, and said, "Indian more cautious than white men." Our fire soon burnt up again, and produced a tremendous glow, before which we hung up our buffalo robes and tent to dry. The bearskin of the previous day not being dry yet either, we also hung it up to the fire, and then prepared a breakfast, a meal our cattle were obliged to go without, as the grass was completely flooded.
So soon as the wet things were dry, we started for the higher mountains in order to find a spot where our cattle could satisfy their hunger; as the road was very bad we progressed slowly, crossing a great number of morning trails of panthers, leopards, and ocelots, which were deeply trodden into the soft lime soil, and reached about noon a grassy plateau which extended to the dark cedar woods. Here we hobbled the cattle while we lit a fire against a withered mosquito-tree, and enjoyed the delicate bear meat. The air was cool, and the conical mountain peaks covered with cedars were smoking.
In the afternoon we rode toward the gloomy forests to try and find a path through them. We certainly found a number of small tracks, but not one old and used enough for us to trust it, so we went southward on the plain till darkness stopped our march. We stopped for the night at a hollow filled with rain water, and on the next morning continued our journey along the woods till, to our great joy, we found a much trampled buffalo track, by which we entered them. It led us down between two high hills, and hence I was afraid lest it might be a path which, made by animals grazing on the hill down to a stream, would terminate there. In half-an-hour we reached some large springs which gushed out of a rock and flowed in a south-eastern direction through a very narrow gorge covered with bushes, dry wood, and overarching cedars. The path, however, ran hence, to our great joy, eastward, and we dismounted, as the cedar branches hung too near over the path.
We had almost reached the top, where only a few cedars stood before us. Suddenly I fancied I could hear a tremendous rustling some distance off. I cautiously ascended to the top of the hill, and saw here, about forty yards ahead of me, three enormous condors, one of which was standing on the ground with expanded wings, while the other two were springing round it, and rising each time some feet from the ground. I sank on one knee, and sent a bullet into the broad chest of the first, while the other two fluttered their wings with a frightful yell, and soon rose high in air above me. Just as I was going to fire the second barrel, Tiger's rifle cracked behind me, and the eagle I was aiming at turned over in the air and fluttered down. I turned round to the third, and fired at it as it was soaring over the depths near us. I saw the bullet enter the soft feathers under the belly, and it shot like a dart with outstretched wings between the hills, where it disappeared among the dark cedars.
Tiger had cut off his eagle's head by the time I ran up to mine, and found under it an antelope, which the brave bird had just killed, and which had only lost its eyes and tongue. Its body was but slightly ripped up, but the whole back was covered with blood, which flowed from countless small holes produced by the eight-inch long claws of these rulers of the air. Tiger was beside himself for delight, for the wing and tail-feathers of these birds are the greatest ornaments an Indian knows, and he will readily give his best horse for them. He wears them on the band which confines his hair, and the claws, sewn on a strap, form a necklace. I told him I intended to skin mine, and take it home to stuff; but he was of opinion that he must fetch the feathers of the third condor, which had fallen into the valley, and he at once disappeared. I did not consider it possible to get down there, and utterly so to find the eagle, for I had watched it fly at least a mile. I at once set to work skinning my bird, and had not finished when Trusty growled, and Tiger really soon ran up with the spoils of the other bird.
These condors rarely come down into the lower hills; they live exclusively on the highest points of the Andes, which no human foot treads, and from the lower lands can only be seen as black dots on the blue sky. The last night's storm must have surprised these wanderers in their eyrie, and carried them before it, till they sought shelter in these mountains. Starving from their involuntary journey, they wished to taste the delicate game of these countries, which are not situated so near the clouds, when our bullets cut off their return home. The condor I first shot was by far the largest, and probably the mother of the other two, which she was training to plunder; while, on the division of the spoil, she reserved the right of taking her share first. The outstretched wings of this bird measured from end to end very nearly fifteen feet.
It was noon when we mounted our horses and rode down the stony incline. We moved along around the hills again, and seemed hardly to leave the spot, for we frequently rode for half an hour, and then suddenly found ourselves again in front of an old withered tree, or a rock emerging from the cedars which we had seen before. We rode without interruption until the sun hid itself behind the highest peaks, and cast long shadows over the hills glistening in the evening light. The sunny spots on the mountains constantly grew smaller, until at length only a single cone stood up as if gilt above the dark country. We had not yet seen a trace of the Rio Grande, and we must still be a good distance from it, for from the highest points we crossed we could see nothing as far as the horizon, except the same conical hills covered with gloomy foliage.
We halted in one of the countless hollows of these stony mountains where rain-water had collected, and decent grass grew on a small open space, took the burdens off our very wearied horses, and soon lay on our skins near the fire. A very large dry cedar trunk rose with its upper half out of the coppice. We lit our fire against its side, so that it soon began to smoulder and gave out a great heat. During the night we scarce needed to look at it, and in the morning found small flames still playing round the half-burnt tree. A strong breeze was blowing when we crawled out from under our buffalo robes. We threw plenty of wood on the burning trunk, and felt very comfortable in the warmth. While our cattle were eating their scanty breakfast, we roasted bear and antelope meat, and drank in coffee the health of the condors that had supplied us with the game. Ere long, however, we mounted, in order to bid farewell the sooner to these inhospitable forests, and see once more the frontiers of my home—the Rio Grande.
We pressed on, uphill and downhill, at one moment riding, at another leading our horses, and frequently impeded by wide torrents and broad ravines. About noon we had a prospect of a deep rocky valley, on whose sides no cedars were to be seen, and greeted it as the bed of the long-looked-for river. The mountains sank, our path ran in a straighter line towards the valley, and in little more than an hour we were riding in a long broad gully through the rocks which bordered it. The familiar river lay before us, a little deeper than we swam through it a little while previously; but, to our sorrow, the rocks on the opposite side, as far as we could see, were so steep that it was impossible for our cattle to climb up them. Nor was it possible to ride down the river, owing to the boulders and masses of drift-wood which covered the whole bank, and hence nothing remained but to ride back and seek a passage to the south among the mountains. Our cattle certainly shook their heads when we turned them back into the gully, but Tiger laughed and said that we should still sleep this night across the river. On reaching the summit we at once selected the nearest hollow, and turned to the south, following the river. It was a fatiguing journey through loose stones, fallen trees, and at times dense cedar woods, but for all that we progressed better than I had feared, and at the end of an hour we saw at an angle of the river that another large stream flowing from the eastward, fell into it, which seemed to me to be the Leone. We were obliged to go higher up the hills here on account of numerous obstacles, and lost sight of the river for awhile; still the sun had a good hour before setting when we entered a broad buffalo path which led down in a straight line to the river. I soon recognised on this road objects I had seen before, and was now certain that the eastern river was the river of my home.
So we found it to be when we rode down the Rio Grande, and unsaddled our horses there. We consulted in what way we should get across, and agreed to make a raft again. We soon had a couple of cedar logs fastened together, a heap of brushwood laid on them and our baggage on the top, and lastly we covered it all with the large bearskin, and secured it all round with straps. Tiger left his rifle behind and rode into the stream, which was not very deep here. He held the end of the lasso fastened to the raft in his right hand, and thus dragged it along. When he had gone across about a third of the river his horse was obliged to swim. The current pulled him down stream, and he was compelled to follow with his horse. He was now in the strongest current, and I noticed that he had great difficulty in keeping on his horse, when he suddenly fell off it, but kept the line between his teeth and worked his way into dead water. He soon reached the other bank and gave a loud yell, while his faithless piebald had turned back in the middle of the river and trotted up to me, shaking himself. Tiger secured the raft, ran a little way up the bank, and swam across to me with incredible speed. We now mounted our horses and swam across, Jack saluting his native land with a song of joy.
The sun was setting as we trotted up the Leone in order to reach a camping place in the hills, where I had rested many a night undisturbed, and to which I knew the road perfectly. It soon became dark, but the stars were shining. We could see enough not to lose our way, and hurried forward wrapped in our buffalo robes, for the wind blew hard, and we had become chilly in crossing the river.
When near our destination, we were riding slowly up the last ascent, when Tiger uttered his familiar expression of surprise, "Hugh," and turning round pointed behind him, to the Rio Grande. I looked back and saw a column of flame rising on the hills on the opposite side, which rapidly spread southward. The flames covered the whole hill, and the brilliantly illumined smoke clouds rolled away over them. The fiery waves poured savagely and uninterruptedly from hill to hill, checked their speed but for a short time in the deep valleys, and then darted with heightened fury up the next hill, devouring everything that came in their way. The cedar woods were on fire, and probably our last night's camp fire was the cause of it. The violent wind had doubtless blown the ashes of the burning trunk into the coppice and assailed the surrounding cedars; ere long the whole southern horizon was a sea of fire, out of which here and there isolated hills, spared by the flames, rose like black islands. We lay till late at night by our small camp fire, and watched the terribly-beautiful scene, regretting our incautiousness or neglect, which had entailed such fearful destruction. How many thousand animals had found a martyr's death on that night, and how probable it was that Indians resting there had been devoured by the flames! After lying silently for a long time looking across, Tiger uttered the words, "Poor Indians, sleep warm," accompanied by a deep sigh.
It was not till morning that fatigue overpowered us, and we fell back on our saddles. We awoke when the sun was pouring its golden light over the world, and brilliantly illumined the gloomy scene of desolation. The bare, black burned lime hills rose there above each other, wrapped themselves in black smoke-clouds, and seemed to accuse us to awakening nature as the cause of the disaster. It was really a disagreeable reproach cast at me by those hills, and we soon set out, in order to escape the sad sight, and refresh our eyes as soon as possible by a view of our cheerful home.
We crossed the Leone about noon, at the same pretty spot as when we began our journey, and soon saw the pleasant mountain springs on our right. Our cattle also knew that we were going home, and increased their pace. At length we reached the hill where the first view of the fort could be obtained, and joyfully greeted its grey wooden walls. It was still early when we rode up to my settlement from the adjoining valley, and two shots of rejoicing welcomed us from the western turret of the fort, to which we responded by firing our rifles. Everything was in the old state, the garrison healthy, and the cattle in excellent condition; the only change that had occurred was, that one of my mares had enriched me with a young Czar, that several calves had been dropped, and some dozen little pigs more were running about the fort.
