CHAPTER X.
THE BEE HUNTER.
I was the first to rise from my bed when day broke, and went forth to enjoy the cooling breeze. Czar was not yet awake, and merely raised his head a little from the ground, gazing at me with his glorious eyes as if he wished to say that it was too soon to rise, and then laid his head down on the ground again and accepted my patting without stirring. The cream-colour whinnied and turned about till it came up to me, when it took from my hand a piece of biscuit: the dogs leapt about me, but kept at a respectful distance, because Trusty was by my side and none dared venture near him. I aroused my garrison and then proceeded to the river, whence I could survey my maize field, which glistened like a dark pine forest, and in which a horseman would have been completely hidden; then I went into the garden, which I found in admirable order, and in which the most magnificent melons were ripening. When I returned to the fort the milch cows were leaving the enclosure, and shone in the morning sun as if they had been curry-combed. My favourite cock, Whip, called his numerous harem out to breakfast on the prairie; and two pigs hurried with their farrows towards the river, for the purpose of going to the wood.
After breakfast I saddled the cream-colour, for which the saddle girths had grown much too tight, and rode with one of my men and Trusty to the other side of the river, towards the old buffalo path that led to the prairie; we reached the skirt of the wood, and had not ridden far through it when Trusty, who was ahead, stopped and looked up at me. I dismounted and perceived a number of footsteps made by mocassins. A little farther on the grass was trampled down by a great number of horses' hoofs. My foreboding was then confirmed. The entire Indian tribe had laid wait for me in the woods, and I should certainly have fallen a victim to their treachery if my good star had not warned me of their design. I silently thanked my guardian angel, who had already led me through so many dangers, and rode back to the fort, which I reached shortly before noon, with a very fat deer I had shot on passing through the wood, and which hung across my comrade's saddle.
A few days' rest at home did me a wonderful deal of good; and I felt remarkably comfortable. In the afternoon I swung in a hammock in the verandah before my house, smoking a cigar; and in the evening I sat till a late hour in a rocking chair in my neatly furnished room, and sang to the guitar songs from the past days of youth and passion. My house consisted of but one large room, whose walls and ceiling were covered with the finest dark-haired buffalo hides, while a carpet of smooth summer deer hides enlivened the floor. Over my bed was the skin of a splendid spotted jaguar, and in front of it was spread a coal-black bear skin, on which Trusty slept. The walls were adorned with excellent oil-paintings; among them being a very fine specimen of Murillo; and from the ceiling hung a lamp, which, throwing its faint light on the dark walls, produced a weak but pleasant illumination. On the table in front of the glass stood two large orange-hued gourds filled with water, in which stood splendid bouquets of magnolias, which spread their vanilla perfume through the whole room; close by was a glass case containing my firearms; and on all the walls were displayed the most
splendid antlers of our common deer, the giant deer, elks, moose, and antelopes. A collection of good engravings, a small library, and my drawing apparatus, completed the furniture of this asylum, to which I frequently retired when I returned home from a long tour, covered with dust and blood, and was beginning to grow tired of this rough, savage mode of life. At such times I looked out the clothes of civilization—the tail coat and polished boots; and Trusty in his amazement would not take his eyes off me, as if he were afraid that I should at last become quite another man. Although this metamorphosis may appear so ridiculous, it had something about it most soothing and pleasant for me. I then occupied myself for some days with reading, answering my letters, drawing, and music; after which I again donned my deer-hide suit, and threw myself into the arms of nature with my faithful companions.
I had been at home for about a week, had only hunted close to the fort, and in addition to domestic arrangements, occupied myself principally with fishing, for which purpose I fastened a strong cord across the stream, on which were a number of lines and hooks hanging baited in the water. A small bell in the middle of the cord informed us when a fish or turtle was tugging at it, and we fetched them ashore with the canoe. We only cared for large fish, and it was no rarity for us to pull up cat-fish and buffalo-fish weighing thirty pounds, trout of twelve, and turtles of forty pounds.
Early one morning I was engaged in shoeing Czar's forefeet, as I always kept a stock of shoes and nails by me, after which I returned to my room to write letters, as I intended to send one of my men in a few days with commissions to the nearest settlement. I had been writing about half an hour, with Trusty lying under the table in the middle of the room, when the door opened, and I of course expected it was one of my own people. Trusty, however, sprang up barking, from under the table, and pulled me down as I tried to hold him back by the tail. In an instant the furious animal leaped at the throat of a stranger dressed in leather, who came into the room with a long Kentucky rifle, pulled him down, and would certainly have killed him in a few minutes, if I had not thrust my hands between the dog's jaws and forced them open, though his teeth were buried deep in my fingers.
With all my strength I lay on the desperate dog, and my men dragged the stranger out of the door, while I was scarce able to hold back the animal, which leaped up madly at the closed door. I hurried out to the stranger, in whom I recognised a bee-hunter, who had paid me a visit about a year previously. He was seriously hurt, though not mortally, as it seemed. I at once took him into the house, continually applied cold bandages and nursed him as well as I could during the four days he remained with me. Then I discharged him, after stocking him amply with powder and ball, coffee and salt, needles, thread, and other articles, and begging him, when he next visited me, to knock at my door first. I was very anxious not to have these bee-hunters against me, as they might prove even more dangerous than savages. They are generally scape-gallows from the States, and live in the desert with their horse and rifle by hunting, and collecting honey and wax, the former of which they pack in fresh-sewn deer hides, and carry it with the wax and peltry to the Indian settlements for the purpose of selling or swapping. He left me perfectly contented, and with assurances of gratitude and friendship, and I was very glad to get rid of this unbidden guest.