CHAPTER XI.
THE WILD HORSE.
The departure of the unfortunate Warden, who had fallen a victim to passions which had not been held in restraint at an early age, was very painful to me, and the evenings, which I generally spent alone, grew very long, as I had before gossiped half the night away with him. Hence I went to bed early, and followed my old habit of rising before daybreak, I generally took my rifle, went with Trusty across the river to the forest and watched for game. At that hour the wood was most beautiful; the coming day drove the darkness before it through the mighty masses of foliage, the birds aroused one another from their sleep, owls, blinded by the morning light, darted like the last shadows of night into the densest thickets, and deer returned home from their nocturnal excursions through the dewy grass; the bear, startled by the rapidly-increasing light, trotted with hoarse growls towards its secret hiding-place, while the herons, bearing the first golden sunbeams on their silver plumage, rose from the tall trees and passed with flapping wing through the refreshing morning breeze.
I was cautiously walking one morning along this my favourite spot, and inhaling the thousand perfumes which had filled the recesses of the forest during the tranquil night, avoiding every dry branch for fear of startling its denizens, while Trusty followed at a short distance all my windings round the bushes and fallen trees. It had become tolerably light, when I fancied I heard a rustling at an open spot, in the centre of which stood several very large pecan-nut trees. I stood still for a moment and listened, holding my breath, for a repetition of the noise. I heard it again, like the breaking of twigs ahead of me, but in spite of my utmost efforts could not perceive that even a leaf was moving.
Once again the same breaking and rustling reached me, and on looking up accidentally I saw a thick black lump shining among the foliage of the pecan-trees. I soon distinguished a young bear busily engaged in drawing to it with its long paws the thin branches of the nut-tree, and putting the unripe nuts in its mouth, I quickly sprang under the tree, so as to make sure of the bear, which was about the size of a sheep; but I remembered its mamma, who might be in the neighbourhood, and easily come up to fetch her pet home. I stationed myself under the tree on which the cub was, and made Trusty lie down by my side, as he was beginning to growl, and pressing his nose against the tree.
The bear saw me, and became greatly alarmed; sprang from one branch to the other, and looked timidly down to me. I did not move, but listened carefully to every sound in the vicinity, while my neighbour came down to the first floor, above my head; and, sitting among the lowest branches, produced a cry like that of little children. It soon repeated its wail, and I heard far away in the forest a hob, hob, hob, hob, coming towards me. I sprang up, and placed myself behind the trees, after again forcing Trusty's head into the grass. I distinctly distinguished by the leaps that it was an old bear hastening to the help of her cub. I pointed my rifle in the direction whence it was coming, and suddenly it parted the foliage in front of me with its broad shoulders, whereupon I gave a loud "pst." In a second the bear sat up on its hind-quarters, and as the fire flashed from my barrel it made a couple of leaps towards me, but was rolled over by a second bullet through the head, while I shouted a "Down, sir!" to Trusty, who was on the point of springing up. I drew a revolver, ran up to the old bear, and sent a bullet through her brain, as she was still furiously hitting out with her terrible paws.
I next reloaded my rifle, and looked up at my neighbour, who had fled to the top of the tree, and was swinging with the branches. I called Trusty away from under the tree, bade him lie down in the grass behind me, and gave the cub something which brought it down like a ball, crashing through the foliage to the ground, when I put the other barrel to its forehead, and stopped its young bearish existence. After reloading, I broke it up, to give Trusty his share of the spoil—the kidneys, the only bear-meat he ever touched, unless he was very hungry. I then hastened home, and after breakfast I went back to the forest with one of my men and three mules, when we broke up the old bear, and carried the meat home on two of the animals, and the cub entire on the third.
Thus several weeks passed, during which I went little beyond the immediate vicinity of my house, in order to lay in our stock of meat either in the morning or evening, when the heat was less oppressive. During the day we were cutting steps in the perpendicular river-bank, out of which a very strong spring gushed about ten feet from the top, and in building a small dairy over it. We led the spring through wooden troughs, in which we kept the milk and butter sweet; while we hung up on the walls meat which remained fresh for several days. The dairy was on the north side, so that it was very slightly exposed to the sun, whose effects we also neutralized by a thick layer of overhanging reeds. This spot was most agreeable in the midday heat, at which time the atmosphere in the houses was most oppressive, while here it always remained cool and refreshing through the ice-cold water. The spring, however, was not so pleasant for drinking as the one I had on the side of the prairie near the garden, from which we fetched our drinking water.
After finishing my job, most of my stores were nearly expended, and I required a number of new tools. Hence I went myself to the nearest settlement, sold there my stock of hides, honey, wax, and tallow, and took home the articles I needed on my pack animals. While at the settlement I met, at the store-keeper's with whom I was bargaining, a Mexican lad, sixteen years of age, who had accompanied a brace of mules brought here from Mexico for sale, and had remained as waiter at the hotel. His name was Antonio, and he offered to go with me and stop. He was recommended to me by an acquaintance as a first-rate horseman and lassoer, and as he pleased me in other respects, I accepted his offer, and he rode with me home.