CHAPTER XV.
THE WEICOS.
On the third evening we approached the western mountain chain, which bordered the northern end of the plain we were crossing. Our road slowly rose, while we steered toward a gap in the mountains, where we hoped to find an available path. For an hour our path was steep and vegetation had nearly entirely disappeared, only a few reeds were visible in the crevices between the rocks. Deep yawning gorges and cañons opened between the overhanging limestone strata, round which we had to make fatiguing circuits, while frequently we had hardly room to lead our horses along the precipices over deep abysses. The sun was setting, and the lofty mountain sides cast their broad shadows over the rocky depths. It soon became dark, but we pushed on, still hoping to find a suitable spot for camping. We had almost reached the highest point, when we saw gigantic red granite walls rising in front of us like a fortress. They hung a long way over us and the deep abyss, from which wildly scattered colossal blocks, illumined by the parting sunbeams, rose, while on the other side of the gorge the mountains were heaped up against the dark purple evening sky. Our path was very narrow and strewn with small pebbles, so that we were obliged to lead our horses with a short rein.
All at once Tiger shouted to me to halt, and immediately after I heard him utter "Pah," in his Indian language. It was water he wished to indicate, and he told me he could hear the rustling of a stream. Our path grew rather broader, and ran into the granite masses on our left, while on our right the slope was not so steep, and sank into the ravine between a few large blocks of stone. We had scarce gone one hundred yards when the road before us proved to be blocked by scattered masses of stone, between which stunted oaks and bushes grew, while I found myself in short grass, which Czar greedily attacked. I shouted to Tiger that I could go no farther, and he led his piebald up to my side, who with the never-failing Jack also went at the grass. Tiger was of opinion that it was a famous spot, as the water was close at hand below us, and disappeared among the rocks. He soon returned, dragging after him several dry branches, while we broke up and lit a fire, which soon lit up the immediate neighbourhood. The rocks on our left were deeply excavated, and hung in large strata with broad cracks, covering a large tract of ground, which bore at various points traces of fires which must have been lit by Indians, who had camped here like ourselves. We prepared our supper, but had great difficulty in putting the spits up before the fire, as Tiger had not lit it on the grass, but under the rocks. While we were thus employed the moon rose slowly behind the mountains, and threw her first pale rays into our wild valley. Gradually her light became more brilliant, and the dark masses around us emerged in their various shapes. Tiger now leapt up, placed one of my revolvers in his belt, took a cedar brand, and went down a narrow path between the rocks, carrying our two large gourds by a strap over his shoulders. I watched the ruddy dancing light of the torch which lit up at one moment the rocks, at another the dark green foliage of the oaks; it continually grew smaller, till it appeared in the depths below like a bright point. It soon returned, however, and Tiger appeared between the rocks with our bottles full of spring water, so cold and clear that my lips had not tasted anything to equal it for a long time. He told me that below was a small pool, into which the springs ran; buffaloes must have been standing there a little while before, and he therefore believed that we should be able to lead our cattle down to water by daylight. I gave Czar a share of the refreshing draught.
We seemed to have entered the kingdom of owls, for their hoot was audible on all sides. Tiger listened for awhile very attentively to these sounds, but then lay down tranquillized on his buffalo hide, saying that one of the sounds resembled the voice of a Weico; but he had not signalled again, or he (Tiger) was mistaken. The fire was supplied with large logs, and we then wrapped ourselves in our skins and slept till daybreak. We blew up our fires, put on our horses' bridles, and led them down the hill side to water, along a path on which we now distinctly noticed fresh buffalo signs. It was a tiring road by which we at length reached the bottom, where a small basin filled the entire breadth of the gorge, into which a clear stream noisily poured. The basin was washed out of the stony ground, and we led our horses into it after a number of mocassin and rattlesnakes had taken to flight with a menacing hiss. We then turned back to reach our camp again. Tiger led his piebald in front, but stopped and said he felt much inclined to climb up the opposite wall of the gorge, as it was full of crevices in which doubtless bears were hybernating. He also said he had heard from his people that the Delawares always shot a great number of bears at this spot, though he had never visited it before himself. I hence took his horse's bridle, and called Czar to follow me, while Jack completed the party, and Trusty trotted on ahead.
After a fatiguing climb I again reached our camp, where I hobbled the cattle in the grass and sat down to the fire to get breakfast ready. I had just finished and lit a pipe, when the crack of a rifle reached me from the opposite wall, and I supposed that Tiger had shot a bear, when a few moments later a second shot was fired, and the frightfully shrill sound of the Indian war-whoop echoed through the gorge. There was no doubt but that Tiger had come into collision with hostile Indians. The yell rolled down the valley, and ere long two shots were fired in rapid succession. I quickly threw our saddles and baggage behind large rocks, and led the piebald some way down the slope, while Czar and Jack followed me; then I fastened the cattle up to trees a little off the path, and sent my hunting cry across the gorge at the full pitch of my lungs. Tiger at once answered me. I ran down to the pond and up the opposite wall, continually uttering my cry and receiving an answer. Trusty went a little ahead to clear the way, and then I climbed on from rock to rock, until another shot was fired, and I heard Tiger's yell higher up the mountain. I carefully noticed the direction whence the yell came, and calling Trusty to me, I ran forward rapidly, though cautiously, between the scattered boulders.
I was standing before a small grass-covered mound when Trusty growled and sniffed; I went up in a stooping posture, and hardly had reached the top when I saw Tiger with his back turned to me, holding in one hand his rifle, in the other the bleeding scalp of his murdered foe, and gazing at the latter, who lay outstretched in the grass: without turning, he told me that the Weico had almost sent him to his fathers, but his heart trembled, and hence he aimed badly. Tiger had seen his enemy first, and fired soonest, but missed, and the other had not hit him either, as he ran. Tiger pursued him, and both reloaded while running, till the Weico reached the spot where he now lay, and the Delaware sprang on the grass plot a little higher up. The Weico fired and missed again, and Tiger in response sent a bullet through his loins, though without being aware that he had hit him. The Weico disappeared in the grass, and Tiger too, as he fancied the other was reloading; but when he had performed the same operation himself and saw nothing of his foe, he crept to an adjacent rock which he mounted, and saw the other in the grass reloading, upon which he sent a bullet through his heart and speedily scalped him. Tiger now took his conquered foe's gun, medicine-bag, beads, and armlets, and made me a sign to return to the horses, while he sprang from rock to rock with the lightness of a deer.
We saddled, and soon left our camp, as Tiger said there were several Weicos in the neighbourhood, for on the previous evening they had made each other signs with the owl hoot. Our road ran from here close to the precipice, and for some few hundred yards was very difficult. We were obliged to lead the horses, and make them leap over several granite blocks, while the grass grew to a man's height between the loose stones, and we could not see where we stepped. Here, however, the road became better and led us in a pretty valley through which a stream wound, while on both sides granite walls begirt it to a height of at least three hundred feet. Trusty was some distance ahead all the time, and was trotting along the birch-covered bank, when he suddenly barked, and I saw something leaping through the grass on his left. The piebald darted past me at the same moment, and Tiger shouted "a panther." I had no inclination, however, to join in the hunt, but merely cantered on, saw the piebald leap several times through the bushes, and a little later heard Tiger's rifle crack. But when I joined him he laughed, and said that the panther had too many feet, and pointed to a thicket on the right-hand hills, in which it had disappeared.
The valley here became very broad, and we saw, a long distance off, three buffaloes grazing under some mosquito-trees, and, when we drew nearer, Tiger proposed to chase them, as, in the fresh close grass, there was no other way of getting within shot of them. Suddenly the buffaloes noticed us and fled, but Tiger set his horse in a gallop, and stormed after them down the valley. I was just able to see that he had caught them up, when a small blue cloud of smoke rose before him, and I shortly after heard the crack of his rifle. He disappeared with the flying buffaloes on the prairie, and I followed him at a quick amble. At the spot where I last saw my comrade, thick bushes ran along both sides of the stream. I went into them, but was obliged to dismount in order to pass through the thicket. Crossing the wood, I gave my hunting-cry, which was answered close by, and, a short distance farther on, Tiger came to meet me, and said that it was no go with the buffaloes either; he had hit one of them clumsily, and not killed it. The piebald was in a frightful perspiration, so Tiger turned him round and we reached the skirt of the wood, where we sat down in the cool shade of the lofty trees, while our cattle, freed from their loads, grazed around us.
The stream wound out of the forest close by. I had gone to it to fill my bottle, when I noticed a number of bees on the bank, which, however, did not fly into the wood, but into the prairie before us. I called up Tiger, who seated himself by my side, and we accurately observed their course by the compass, and saw that they all flew to an old plane-tree which grew in the grass about a thousand yards from us. We went up to the tree, and found that the bees went to a very large bough, which had an opening at the top. We fetched our weapons and axes, and brought out our cattle under the plane, where I also ordered Trusty to lie down. Then we went up to the tree, whose stem was at least eight feet in diameter, threw a lasso over the lowest branch, clambered up it, and went to the branch containing the bees. It was at least a foot and a-half in thickness, and we had to work with our small axes for nearly an hour before it gave way, and fell with a crash to the ground, whereon the startled bees rose like a pillar of smoke, and swarmed off toward the forest. We soon went down the lasso, and began eating the clear honey which flowed out of the broken branch. We ate, and took pieces of the largest combs to our camp, where we laid them in the shade.