CHAPTER XIV.
MOUNTAINS.
It was on a bright healthy morning in November that I, accompanied by Tiger and Trusty, left the fort, and rode down the river toward the Rio Grande Mountains. I had never made any excursions far beyond that river, and even when hunting had rarely reached its banks, as it is enclosed on both sides by savage rocky mountains, which neither man nor brute can easily traverse. Tiger had formerly been several times on the other side of the Rio Grande, and told me there was more game, and more especially more bears there, while rich valleys ran between the mountains. Hence I resolved to spend some weeks in those regions, and provided myself for this tour with provisions, some buffalo robes, and a small tent, which articles were carried by Jack, a most excellent mule. The animal followed my horse without being led, and I may say that it could not be kept away from it except by force. We had no trouble with it but to saddle and load it in the morning, and take off its burden again at night. It would certainly stop now and then at a fresh patch of grass and snatch a few mouthfuls, but then it galloped after us again and followed at our heels.
We rested at noon at the mountain springs, which I had not visited for some time, and we were forced to cut an entrance into the little thicket, as it was completely overgrown. They rewarded us on our arrival with some fat turkeys, which were never absent there, and whose delicate meat we enjoyed, while our horses rested from their hot march over the open prairies. About 3 P.M. we started again, and rode in a northern direction toward the foot of the mountains, as Tiger told me that higher up a river ran towards the Rio Grande, with a rather broad valley on either side, and I believed that this stream must be Turkey Creek. We crossed the Leone toward evening at a shallow spot well known to me. This spot, at which I had often rested, surprises the traveller coming from the open prairie with a very pleasant scene. Bordered on both sides by the grandest vegetation, magnolias, plane-trees, and enormous oaks covered with the most splendid creepers, the foaming silvery stream dashes between scattered masses of rock, with such a roar that visitors can hardly understand each other. The atmosphere beneath these dense masses of foliage is cool and constantly fanned by the breeze produced by the violent motion of the current as it breaks on the rocks, and falls over them in countless small cascades.
When we arrived the scene was enlivened by silver herons and flamingos, some soaring high in air, others standing on the dry rocks jutting out of the water, and forming a striking contrast with their white and green plumage against the dark green background. We cautiously guided our horses between the rocks, while Jack followed close behind, and the birds raised a hoarse croak of surprise over our heads. The primeval forest on the other side of the stream is broad, and day had yielded the supremacy to night, as we moved along the buffalo path which was only at intervals illumined by the moon. I knew here nearly every step, and we reached the prairie all right, when we remounted, and half an hour later reached the equally familiar sources of a stream which falls into the Leone a little lower down.
It was a favourite spot of mine, where we took the load off our animals. A cheerful fire soon blazed and threw its light upon them, while they lay in the young grass around us. The moon had not set when we had finished supper and fell into a refreshing sleep. The eastern sky was already tinged with red, when I woke and saw several spits with meat already put before the fire. The horses were grazing round our camp, but I missed Tiger, whose weapons lay on his buffalo hide. I went a little way round the bushes, and saw him on the open prairie on his knees with folded hands and uplifted face, awaiting the appearance of the sun, in order to offer his adoration to it. I heard him speaking softly to himself as it sent its first beams towards us, and he continued his prayer till it had fully risen above the horizon; then he rose, and with a pleasant smile came back to his seat at the fire. He then produced his small mirror and box of vermilion, laid the former on his crossed knees and painted his face, as he supposed, very grandly; then he arranged his splendid hair with a comb I had given him, rubbed it with bear's grease and tied it up with strips of red leather.
During breakfast Tiger told me about his last tour in the Rocky Mountains; of the mountains covered with eternal snow; the beautiful valleys containing famous pasturage; his fight with a desperate grizzly bear, which he killed, &c., and accompanied his words with the most animated gestures. It is a peculiarity of Indians to enliven their remarks with signs and gestures which render it easy to understand what they say; and Tiger, in spite of his knowledge of English, had retained the sign language, which had grown habitual to him. I remarked that I felt a great inclination to take a trip there in the next spring, and he was delighted at the prospect of being allowed to accompany me.
It was late when we started, and continued our journey in a northern direction. The prairies here grew narrower; the woods closer connected, and the country more uneven. Although we kept as far as we could from the mountains on our left, we crossed small streams, which either came down from the mountains and went to form the larger streams, with which they flowed through the hills to the Rio Grande, or which had their sources in the eastern plateaus, and pursued the same course. The country was picturesque; the small prairies, beset by clusters of bushes and clumps of trees of the most varying shapes, were covered with juicy fresh grass and a quite new flora; here and there huge blocks rose out of it, in whose crevices grew large yuccas and mimosas of different sorts, cactuses and aloes, which represented the southern world of plants; on the left the hills rose over each other in terraces, and indicated the course of the large river.