Wallis had been a great deal amongst the Indians, and had adopted many of their manners and customs. He was the best white hunter I ever met with, and never failed in discovering bees, if once he came on their traces. He had been for a long time in Texas, and extraordinary stories were related of him during his absence; at last, news came that he was dead. His wife, in course of time, became acquainted with another man, who succeeded in gaining her good graces, and so she married him. One evening, about a year after her second marriage, a horseman, dressed as an Indian, stopped before the door, dismounted, and tied up his horse. He entered the house, and the woman recognized, with delight and astonishment, the husband she had mourned as dead. At the same moment, the other returned from shooting, with the dogs, which joyfully bounded about their old master, and he was not a little perplexed at meeting the lawful owner of the property; but Wallis was a reasonable man, and told his wife very gravely, that she was at liberty to take her choice between the two, provided he might have the children, two fine boys, and that he would give her till the morrow to decide: so saying, he shouldered his rifle, mounted his horse, and trotted off to the forest, where he made his fire, and camped for the night.
Next day, after finishing his breakfast, he saddled his horse, and rode back to the house, to learn how his wife had decided; he found his representative on the point of departure, who openly acknowledged that Wallis had the prior rights, that he should be very sorry to be a cause of discord, excused himself for the accident, begging him not to take it amiss, and ended by offering his hand, which the other accepted. He then rode off to the West, to seek another wife with better luck next time. The long separated pair lived together afterwards as happily and contentedly as if nothing had happened; it was not necessary for him to excuse himself for not writing, as he had never learned the art, and, even if he had sent her a letter, she would have been in the same difficulty as to reading it.
I had long conversations with him about shooting, and he lamented very much the decrease of game, which, as he said, had become very sensible for some years at the Fourche le Fave, formerly the best hunting ground in Arkansas. Among other things we talked of the dreams of dogs. When I told him what I had heard, and what I had experienced myself, he confirmed it, assuring me that he had tried it with the dog which was then lying at his feet. He said: “I was stretched before the fire one evening, and could not sleep. The dog was lying by me fatigued with his day’s work, for we had been out the whole day; he had been for some time snoring lightly, and now began to scramble with his feet, and to whine and bark in a low tone; a sure sign that he was dreaming. I had heard from my father, when I was a child, that any one might have the same dream as a dog, if they can catch it in a handkerchief; so I spread my neckcloth over the dog’s head, and waited in patience till he woke. At length when he left off barking, and raised his head to shake off the unaccustomed covering, I took the cloth, folded it up, and laying it under my head, I was soon asleep; I dreamed that I was running after a rabbit, with most inexplicable rage, following it through the thickest thorn bushes, and as at last it escaped into a hole, I thrust my head into it, and barked, and tried to scrape away the earth to get it out. I have tried it several times since, and always with the same effect.” Without being superstitious, I determined to take the next opportunity of repeating the experiment.
My hunting-shirt being finished, I took a kind leave of the old hunter and his family, and returned to Slowtrap’s, with whom I remained only a few days, notwithstanding his pressing invitation to pass the summer there, and then proceeded to Kelfer’s. From hence I revisited the salt licks, repaired the scaffold, collected kindlers, and passed twelve nights successively under the fire, until the mosquitoes, and other insects almost carried me off piecemeal; yet without getting a single shot. I never could imagine what had driven the game all away; perhaps it was too late in the season; I only know that I lay on the look-out many long, long nights, listening for the tread of a deer, watched the moon rise, follow her appointed course, and set behind the trees; hearkened patiently to the hootings of the owls, and the complaint of whip-poor-will, and left the place each succeeding morning, without seeing a single head of game, to seek some cool spot to sleep in, and await the coming night. At last, my provisions being exhausted, I was forced to return to Kelfer’s for a fresh supply. While there I decided on giving up the fire, and trying daylight again, when I succeeded in killing a few fine deer. One of them was the largest I ever shot. I was going along a mountain-side, and had just fired at and missed a young buck that was standing behind a fallen tree, with nothing but his head visible, when, just as I had reloaded, this splendid fellow showed himself above me, at about fifteen paces distance. My ball knocked him over, and I never saw fatter venison.
After some time, news arrived from Little Rock, to say that letters were awaiting me there. I was soon ready to start, intending if their contents were favorable, to embark for the south. My few things were easily packed up, and I now took a warm farewell of Kelfer and his amiable family, from whom it grieved me to part. I had lived in his house like one of his relations, and had never been treated as a stranger; and if I ever had found a home in America, it would have been with him; there was only one point on which we disagreed; I was passionately fond of field sports, and he often severely blamed my useless loitering about in the woods, seriously representing to me that I could not go on so for ever, and that I should be forced, sooner or later, to settle somewhere, and become a useful and reasonable member of society. I saw clearly enough, on such occasions, that he was right, and was often inclined to accept the brotherly offers which he made, and to hang up the rifle, and take to the axe; but I had become too fond of the wild unsteady life; besides, a burning desire to revisit my native land prevented me, and my love of change was now stronger than any other feeling; I took up my rifle, threw my luggage over my shoulder, shook hands all round, and followed the course of the Fourche le Fave on my way to Little Rock.
On arriving at the mouth of the river, I was undecided whether I should continue my course by land or water. Unluckily, however, I found good shooting-ground there; so, throwing my bundle under a tree, I formed a hut of loose bark, and began shooting again to my heart’s content.
The end of June came. My provisions had latterly much diminished, as I had shot nothing for several days, and as the meat was soon spoilt by the heat unless it was well dried, I began to get tired of sport, and resolved to shoot only one more deer for provision, then go to Little Rock, take up my letters, and come to some decision as to my future course.
The intention of shooting one more deer seemed this time to be easier conceived than executed, and I lived for two days on whortleberries, a fruit which by no means suited my stomach. It happened one morning when I came again on the banks of the Fourche le Fave, I saw a canoe jammed amongst some drift-wood, which had stuck fast in the river. This suited my purpose exactly; so, without further consideration, I swam off and secured it, took it up to my camp, threw in all my havings and gatherings, and gained the river Arkansas the same afternoon.
Gliding smoothly along near the bank, I observed numerous signs of deer in several places. I landed at one of them, where the ground was all trodden down by their feet, and where there was only one narrow rocky path, by which they could descend to drink the brackish water, that of the Arkansas containing a considerable portion of salt. My plan was soon formed. I was not only excessively hungry myself, but I had some friends in Little Rock, to whom a nice piece of venison would be a treat; so, taking my tomahawk, I soon erected a small scaffolding over the canoe, which was all the more easily accomplished as it had been made to serve this purpose before, holes having been bored below the gunwales to receive the poles. Covering it with twigs and some inches of earth, I collected kindlers from the neighboring hills, and patiently awaited the approaching night. As soon as it was dark I lighted my fire, then leant back, giving the reins to my fancy and gazing on the beautiful starry sky. After a time, raising myself silently and looking towards the place where I expected the deer, I saw a glowing eye just above the water, and another reflected from its surface; it was a deer, which had descended without the least noise, and was eagerly drinking the brackish water, about twenty paces from the canoe. I raised the rifle slowly, took a careful aim and fired; loud sounded the report over the water’s surface, returning in repeated echoes from the hills, and then all was as quiet and silent as the grave. Taking a brand from the fire, I found a yearling buck lying dead at a short distance from the spot where he had been drinking. After breaking him up, I cut off no small portion to roast, my hunger being truly painful; when this was satisfied I threw him into the canoe, cast off from the bank, rolled myself in my blanket, and, floating softly down the stream in the stillness of night, I arrived at Little Rock in good condition on the following morning.
I found a letter from Germany, and another from Kean in Louisiana, from whom I had not heard for a long time; he requested me to come to him, telling me I might easily find employment with a good salary. The steamer “Arkansas” arrived the next day from Fort Smith, and notice was given that on the morning of the 5th July she would start for New Orleans. My arrangements were soon made, and not having much packing to plague me, I passed the intervening days very happily in the society of my friends.