I cut off the best lumps of game and went back to the dark shade, in which Czar greeted me with a whinny of delight, and rested on my horse-rug, refreshed by the delicious perfumes of hyacinths, jonquils, daffodils, and narcissuses, that surrounded me. The night was warm, and I required no fire after I had finished supper. I slept splendidly, with Czar at my side, and the sun was high when I awoke, to find my horse browzing on the grass within reach of his tether. I washed Czar clean, which I never neglected when I had the chance, and rode out of my arbour down the side of the hill, whence I could survey the country before me for many miles.
A glorious picture was spread out. The sun was not very high yet, so that the shadows over the landscape were rather long, and the light mist gave the distance that reddish-blue tone which renders a landscape with a rich bold foreground so exquisite. I remained for some time at the spot, examining the road to the hills whither I was going, but which were still too far for me to reach them on this day. Up to these blue mountains the ground appeared to be much the same as I had ridden over yesterday; rich in arable land, supplied with the most luxuriant pastures and abundance of wood, and watered by magnificent streams. This earthly paradise awaited men to raise the unlimited treasures which it promised to bestow so bountifully. It was a saddening thought, that these boundless plains were entirely uninhabited, for the nomadic hordes of savages cannot be called such. From where I stood to the north pole, with the exception of a few trading ports of the fur companies, no white man had yet erected his cabin. Westward the enormous regions were unpopulated almost to the Pacific, and even eastward the distance to the first settlement was so great that I felt very solitary, and for the first time was overpowered by a sort of yearning for the social life which I had left in vexation. Still these feelings took no deep root in my breast; they were soon driven away by the joys of hunting, which can only be found in their full extent far away from the civilized world.
For two days I wandered through these gardens of nature without being checked by any material obstacle. On the third day I reached the mountains, and at evening found myself at the height where the limestone leaves off and the red granite begins. To my surprise I saw a splendid spring flowing from a narrow fissure in the granite, with sufficient grass growing near it to give Czar his supper and breakfast. I stopped here for the night, and had a glorious view from this stony height. The misty blue outlines of the Rocky Mountains were only just visible; between them and myself I looked down on the most fertile valleys, which were begirt by lofty mountains. The precipice behind me was overgrown with splendid cactuses, which were just opening their cups after sunset, and diffusing their fragrance. The moon had risen; it illumined the large snow-white clustering flowers of the yucca which grew in the rock fissures, and spread over the whole scene a silvery light, which, though inferior to that of the day in brightness, was far superior to it in pleasantness.
It was a rather cool night, so that from time to time I made up my fire with the dry wood of old mimosas, the only
tree that finds nourishment on these stony heights. Many of these grew round my fire, which when it flared up, displayed the beautiful pink flowers with which these trees are literally covered, so that the delicate pendulous leaves can scarce be distinguished. Rarely did a sound disturb the surrounding silence; now and then the yelp of a white wolf reached my ear through the cold damp fog from the valley below me, or the hoot of an owl was repeated by the echoes among the rocks.
Day awoke me from a refreshing sleep as the sun was gilding the summits of the mountains that emerged from the sea of fog at my feet, round which the large eagles were circling. Greatly invigorated, I bade adieu to my pleasant resting-place, and led Czar over the rocks to the nearest valley, which soon received us under its shady trees. I traversed the valley for about two hours in a northern direction, following the course of a clear stream which ran through, with a thousand windings, like a mighty snake, and was framed in on both sides by thick bushes and old overgrown trees.
About mid-day, as I was following one of these windings, I suddenly found myself a few paces from a camp of Cato Indians, and a general "ugh" reached my ear, as the men, about thirty in number, sprang up, and we gazed at each other in surprise, watching for a signal of peace or war. My presence of mind did not desert me; and knowing that these savages, when they have their wives and children with them, prefer a peaceful understanding, I waved a good morning to them with a pleasant smile, and rode, holding my rifle and watching every movement of the men, to the next bend in the river, while the savages looked after me with open mouth, as if petrified. When I had got round a curve and was protected by the bushes, my first idea was to give Czar the spur and gallop away, but this would only have been a challenge to the Indians to pursue me; hence I made him amble, as well as he could manage it in the tall grass, and hastened to get out of this unpleasant company. It was highly probable that the savages would follow me, if only to get hold of my fine horse; hence I was obliged to calculate my next steps. I had but the choice of two ways—either to throw out the savages by riding in the water and on stony ground, where they could not follow my trail, and then concealing myself at some easily defended spot—or else to ride quickly away from them so far that they could not follow me on their wretched horses. The former was difficult and dubious, as the Indian's eye surpasses the nose of the best pointer, and hence I chose the other, trusting to my horse's speed.
I cut off a slice of the antelope's leg, which was hanging on my saddle, about enough for supper, and left the rest behind, not to give my horse any unnecessary weight; then I set Czar at a sharp trot where the grass was dry, and when I reached barren ground made him amble—a pace at which he could do his mile in three minutes when put to it, though he took eight minutes when not hurried, and could go on for hours without a rest. I followed the course of the water, and at the end of some hours reached a gorge where the river ran through perpendicular rocks, and where my horse had scarce room to pass. I could see the water for nearly two miles ahead; the current was wilder and swifter here, and on looking down at its surface I noticed several spots where the water rippled and foamed as it ran over rocks and stones. On both sides of the pass the granite walls rose many hundred feet, so that it was impossible to scale them; and though, farther to the right and left, buffalo paths ran up them, the Indians must be well aware of this fact, and were probably lying in ambush for me there, as they must have noticed from my course that I was quite a stranger to the country. There was only one choice for me, and I quickly made up my mind. I put my holsters over my shoulder, placed in them those articles which must not be wetted, and guided Czar into the river, in which he floated down with me at a tremendous pace past the rock walls. I was not at all afraid about swimming him for an hour; the sole danger of the undertaking consisted in the large masses of rock over which the stream broke, and against which we ran in less than ten minutes. The river bed was here rather wider, and hence fortunately the stream not so violent, or else we should probably both have found a watery grave. Czar raised himself by his forefeet on the rock, which was not covered by more than a foot of water, but his hind-quarters sank as he did so, for he found no bottom, and the waves dashed over my saddle. The current had turned us against the rock, when I pressed Czar with my thighs, and with a frightful effort he worked his way along to the end of the rock, where I felt that he had a footing, though it only consisted of a few boulders. I was compelled to cross this dam, as I could not go back, and the uncertain ground threatened every moment to bury us between its rocks. My horse, first slipping off the smooth stones, and then leaping up again, struggled in vain to find a footing in the rapid stream, and I saw that any hesitation would be certain destruction. I therefore dug both spurs into the flanks of my brave steed; he leaped desperately out of the foaming waves, sprang on the rocks before us, and scrambled over them into the river on the other side, where he sank up to the nostrils, and the waves met over my head. My alarm lest Czar had injured himself was alleviated by his speedy return to the surface, and as he blew the water from his nostrils we followed the stream to a wall of rock, where I noticed that the water was calm at the right hand end. I steered for this point, and we swam unimpeded through this channel into the deep water till the valley opened again before us, and my brave horse trod on the sand. I led him into the grass, examined him carefully, and found that he was slightly grazed on the near foreleg and the knee, but this caused me no apprehension. I let him rest in the shade for half an hour, as he was greatly excited, gave him all the white sugar I had brought expressly for him, and which was now wet, and then continued my journey along the river, as the grass, which must have been burnt here late in winter, and the fresh grown crop had not yet sprung up, did not impede Czar's speed.
The valley constantly grew wider, and trended to the west. I left it at about 6 P.M., and followed a stream which ran from the north. Going along it till nightfall, I reached its source in the mountains, and was at least forty miles from the Indians, when I unsaddled Czar, and hobbled him in the soft grass. I felt quite secure here, for I was no longer frightened about pursuit by the Catos, and it was not probable that accident would lead other Indians here at so late an hour, when they never march except for some special reason. My bivouac was in the only coppice far and wide, in which the springs bubbled up at the foot of a very tall cypress. All around me was a glorious meadow, and, further north, rose barren rocks, on which only a mimosa, a yucca, and varieties of brambles and cactus grew. Czar was tired, and soon came to me, holding up his hobbled leg, begging me to set him at liberty; and when I had thrown the lasso over his neck, he stretched his delicate limbs on the grass. I too fell back on my saddle, and slept so soundly till morning, that I did not once look after the fire, and on waking did not find a spark among the ashes. It was soon lighted again and breakfast prepared, before which I had a bathe in the spring. Then I lit a pipe, washed Czar all over, and left the well-head, going toward the mountains in the north.
The road was so steep and fatiguing that I dismounted; still, I seemed to be on a path at times trodden by buffaloes, which was continued when I reached the top, where a wide tableland covered with rich vegetation was expanded before me. This plain, only interrupted by a few hillocks, was about twenty miles in diameter: it was covered with very high grass and small patches of mosquito trees, elms, dwarf oaks, and yuccas. The ground was quite black and very rich, and this earth was in some places fifteen feet deep, as I could see by the numerous channels cut by rain storms. I did not see a trace of spring water. This country is entirely dependent on the rains, which are frequent in these mountains, as well as the peculiar nature of the soil, which long resists evaporation of the humidity. On all sides I saw herds of grazing buffalo, but, though my mouth watered for a slice of hump and a marrow bone, I did not like to distress my horse, or go too far away from him while stalking. More antelopes were feeding here together than I had ever seen, and the same was the case with deer. I rode quietly on through the tall grass, resolved only to shoot some animal I could ride up to, and succeeded in doing so toward evening, when I saw something dark moving in the grass, which I recognised as a black wolf. In a second I was off Czar's back, as I should be very glad of such a skin, and was just about to fire, when I saw, on the other side of a ditch I had not observed in the tall grass, a very large bear running away. Owing to the high plants, I could not fire, and, forgetting my former resolution, I leapt on Czar's back, and flew after the fat fellow. His road led through a number of low mosquito trees, so that I was obliged to bend down over my horse's neck to escape being caught in the branches. I was close to the bear, but it coursed so rapidly under the branches, that I could not give it a shot from my revolver. At length we emerged from the trees, and I flew a few yards after the bear, when suddenly Czar made such a leap to the right, that I must have been thrown, had it not been for the heavy holsters that kept me on. I turned the horse round again, and then noticed that the bear had disappeared in a gap before me; and on drawing near, I found a cañon, going down a hundred feet sheer, and about twenty feet wide at this part. It was a gully washed out by the rain, which I had not observed owing to the tall grass. I dismounted, and walked to the spot where the bear had disappeared: saw that the bushes had been uprooted about thirty feet lower down, but could not discover a trace of the bear. What I had been told by old hunters now appeared to me probable—that a bear will, in a case of need, put its head between its legs, and roll like a ball from some height, without hurting itself; which can be explained by the remarkable elasticity of its bones, and the thickness of the fat over its body, I owed it solely to the agility of my horse, that I had not followed the bear down the precipice, and I willingly resigned the delicate ribs which, in imagination, I had seen roasting at my camp fire.