Beyond the sunset

by Arthur D. Howden Smith

We were none of us disposed to continue eating horse-meat and we were all anxious to get as far as possible from a country which had been so singularly prolific in misfortune for us. So as soon as we had tested our bows and drunk deep of the brown stream that foamed along the gulch, we set out northeastward, aiming to work back to the river we had been following ever since we quit the Eastern skirts of the Sky Mountains. We were governed in adopting this course by the same reasons which had influenced us before: we were afraid to venture away from water, we were more likely to find game near a river, and finally, it served as a guide to us in threading this pathless territory. To be sure, as we had proved already, there was more danger of meeting savages adjacent to a considerable river; but that was a risk we had to take. We were resolved to be doubly vigilant after our experiences with the Comanches and Tonkawas.

For three days we paralleled the river, pitching our course several miles to the south of it and approaching its banks only when we were driven to do so by need of water. During this time we fed on hares and a small animal which lived in multitudes in burrows under the prairies, besides a few fish which Tawannears caught in the river, employing a bone-hook he fashioned himself and a string of rawhide from Kachina's shirt. We saw no other men or large animals, and the country gave every indication of having been swept bare by the storm.

On the fourth day we began to sight buffalo, and supped to satisfaction on the luscious hump of a young cow Tawannears shot, overjoyed at this welcome change in our diet. But the buffalo were the cause of our undoing. The small scattered herds that we first met were the usual advance-guards of an enormous army, grazing its way northward, and in order not to be delayed by its slow progress we crossed the river to the North bank and hurried east, intending to loop the front of the main herd. This we succeeded in doing, and then decided to remain on that side of the river, inasmuch as we knew we must be far south of the point at which we sought to strike the Mississippi, and ought really to be heading rather north of east.

'Twas this move which brought fresh trouble upon us, albeit conducing in the long run to our salvation. Had we remained on the south bank, we might have run the gauntlet of enemies by other means, but this story must have been shaped differently—additional evidence of the immutable determination of Destiny to govern the issue of our lives. And had we not been blinded by our desire for haste and the isolation we had found in the track of the storm we should have realized that the approach of so large a herd would be a bait for the first tribe whose scouts marked it down. But we were blinded—by accident or Destiny, as you please.

As I have said, we pushed on north of the river, adhering to our former plan of keeping out of sight of its channel, and scouting carefully the ground ahead. We never gave a thought to what was behind us, and were paralyzed when Kachina, idly surveying the country from the summit of one of the long, easy swells which broke the monotony of the level plains, caught Tawannears by the arm and pointed westward, too surprised for words, fear and amazement struggling in her face.

It was the middle of the forenoon, a warm, bright Summer day, yet not warm enough to bring up the dancing heat-haze which played strange tricks with vision in these vast open spaces. The next swell behind us was some two or three miles distant, and over its crest were galloping a string of tiny figures—horsemen with waving lances and glaring white shields. We were as distinct to them as they were to us, and the fact that they gave no special sign of exultation at seeing us was proof sufficient that they had been following us for some time. They were trailing us, scores of them, ay, hundreds, as they poured over the crest of the swell in a colorful, barbaric stream of martial vigor—and they could travel three feet to our one. Of course, they had picked up our trail in riding down to the river to meet the buffalo herd, and had followed it with the insatiable curiosity and rapacious instinct of their race.

So much we reasoned in the first second of discovery. We wasted no time in conversation, but dodged below the crest of the swell and ran at top-speed for the river as offering the nearest available cover under its banks. But the wily savages behind us divined our plan, and when, after we had traveled a mile, Tawannears reconnoitered their positions, it was to learn that they had detached a troop to ride diagonally up the slope of the swell and so cut us off from our goal. Two hundred of them were abreast of us at that moment less than a mile away.

Tawannears halted.

"'Tis useless," he said brusquely. "We shall wind ourselves to no purpose. All that is left for us is to sell our lives dearly."

He turned his face skyward and appealed to his gods as a warrior and an equal.