TRUSTY AND THE ALLIGATOR. [[p. 402.]
About ten o'clock I rode through a prairie which ran down to the Mustang, which here an insignificant stream, flowed between high banks over loose pebbles, and was only deep at isolated spots. The prairie was covered with clumps of tall cactus and sunflowers, and I was riding between some of them when a large stag got up before me and stopped a little way ahead. I turned Czar half round and shot the stag, which fell, but got up again and ran off to the Mustang. As I saw that it was very sick, I sent Trusty after it, who soon disappeared with it in a thicket, and I had scarcely reloaded when I heard his hoarse bark and recognised by its tone that he was occupied with something else than the stag. I went up the wood as fast as Czar could carry me, leapt off and ran through the bushes to the bank where I heard Trusty's voice. A mortal terror assailed me on seeing Trusty in shallow water near a deep spot, with his left hind leg in the jaw of an alligator, whose skull he was smashing with his teeth, though this did not make it open its clenched teeth. I sprang at one bound into the river, in order to prevent the horrible brute from reaching deep water, to which it was retreating and was only a few feet from it. I sprang on the beast's back, held it between my knees tightly, and lifted it into the shallow water while it lashed its tail madly. I now pulled out a revolver, held it against the hinge of the jawbone, and fired one bullet after the other till the bones were splintered and the lower jaw fell off, liberating Trusty from his arrest. I examined him and found that his leg bone was not injured, though the flesh had suffered severely: at the same time he was losing much blood and appeared to be enduring great pain. The stag lay close to the scene of contest, so I drew it ashore and cut off the haunches; then I fetched Czar, bound one of them on either side of the saddle, packed a lot of bushes on the lot and spread my blanket over them, on which I raised Trusty, after I had bound up his wounds as well as I could with wet pocket handkerchiefs. I reached home in the afternoon, and at once made a decoction of the roots of the tulip and pomegranate and willow bark, in order to check the fever, which it soon effected, combined with a strict regimen.
Though these illnesses may usually be checked so easily, their frequent return affects the body greatly, and makes it more and more susceptible to injurious climates and atmospheric influences, so that the slightest change is often sufficient to bring back the fever. Still, all the diseases produced in these regions by an alteration in the surface of the ground are less dangerous than in any other part of the United States, which may be chiefly ascribed to the free unimpeded motion of the air, and the fact of no large swamps or standing waters existing here.
Tiger returned, after accompanying his friend to the Puerco River, whence the latter travelled on alone to Santa Fé, at which place he had promised to meet his friends about this time. My young Indian friend now complained very often that I allowed him to ride out hunting alone, which was most disagreeable to him, as I did not permit him to take Trusty, who was of such great value in the bear hunts, which are principally carried on at this season. I had certainly placed Leo, an excellent dog, at his service, but he was only half the value of Trusty. One evening Tiger returned from hunting, and told me that he knew where a very large bear was sleeping, but it would be difficult to get at it, as it was living in an old cypress that grew in the middle of the river and was too large to fell. He described the spot to me, and I at once recognised the tree. We talked about the matter at supper, and resolved to make an attempt to get hold of the sleeper on the next day.
On the following morning we put our weapons, axes, and dinner in the canoe and floated down the river in it. It was carried along by the current like a dart, so that we were obliged to steer very carefully between the numerous rocks. In an hour we stopped at the cypress, which was nearly six feet in diameter. We cut down some saplings on the bank, conveyed them to one side of the tree, and fastened them together so as to form a raft on which we could stand; we then placed the canoe on the other side of the tree, and set to work with our axes felling it. In addition to Tiger and myself, Königstein and Antonio had come, so that one of us was always able to rest. About noon we had got some distance through the tree, and as we had heard nothing of the bear, we began greatly to doubt whether it was in it; but Tiger insisted, in spite of our laughter and chaff, that it was sleeping there. We dined, drank the health of the occupant of the tree, and then set to work again. In a few hours the supports of the tree became so weak that it was time to take precautions lest it should fall on us. We had hewn it on the side of the raft, toward which it naturally hung, and we now all proceeded to our canoe and held ourselves in readiness to push off at any moment. We gave the tree a few more cuts, and ere long we heard the first sound of cracking in its wood. We were certain that it could only fall over the raft, and the only danger was that it might slip backwards from the stump, in which case we might easily be sunk. A couple more blows and the lofty crown of the cypress bent more over the raft, one more stroke and it groaned and cracked at its base: we pushed off, and with a frightful crash it fell into the river and splashed up the water so high that we were completely wet through, while the splinters and broken branches flew in all directions. We involuntarily held our heads down into the boat, which was raised a great height by the waves; but after the first oscillation, we all burst into a hearty laugh and mockingly asked Tiger, "Where is our bear?" At the same moment, however, the bear leapt out of the middle of the splinters covering the surface of the river, and while the water poured down and prevented it from seeing, it laid its huge fore-paws on the floating pieces of wood and sought a support, by means of which it could lift itself out of the disagreeable element. "The bear!" everybody shouted, and we seized our rifles and fired at it. At the moment when it reached the stern of our boat and was trying to get into it by means of its paws, Königstein ran at the brute with his sharp axe and buried it deep in the skull of the enormous animal, and then drove into its carcase the bent iron point of the boat-hook to prevent it from sinking. We pulled quickly ashore, where we hauled in our quarry with lassos.
Antonio ran back to the Fort and fetched our cart with two mules, with which he joined us before sunset. With the help of the animals we pulled first the bear and then the canoe on land, rolled the former into the cart, then raised the canoe on the back of it, where we secured it, and so drove back to the Fort, with the stern of our boat trailing along the grass. The bear gave us a large quantity of splendid fat, and its smoked flesh long supplied our table.
We and our friends on the Mustang now rarely visited the districts lying beyond the distance of a day's journey, as our domestic duties kept us more or less constantly at our settlements; but we became all the better acquainted with our immediate neighbourhood, and on our hunting excursions learnt every path and locality. I had found but a few miles from us the traces of an old Spanish settlement, and the remains of a forge, whence I concluded that the precious metals had been found here, and that they still existed in the vicinity. Old Lasar was a man of most enterprising spirit, and as he had more working power at his command than he could employ profitably on his cultivated ground, he always desired some other speculation by which he could derive greater profit from his slaves. A silver or gold mine was always one of his favourite schemes, and he quickly turned the conversation to the subject, expressing an opinion that the mountains near us certainly contained the precious metals. He came to me one day greatly excited, and told me with great mystery that an Indian had been to him and told him under a promise of the profoundest secrecy, that he knew a spot where the old Spaniards worked silver mines, and offered to show it to him if he would promise to hold his tongue as to whom he obtained his information from, as the Indians would certainly kill him if they discovered that he had revealed the spot. Lasar stated that he had told the Indian to return in eight days, when he would ride with him, and reward him if he really pointed out the silver mine. The old gentleman then begged me to join him on this excursion, on which he only intended to take his son John. I promised to do so, and when the appointed day arrived, I rode over to Lasar's, accompanied by Trusty, and found the Indian there, whom I took for a Mescalero, though he stated himself to be a Shawnee.
We left Lasar's settlement at noon, rode west toward the Rio Grande, and crossed the hills on that river by a path which I had not known before. We passed the night on the banks of this river, and on the next morning proceeded into the hills in a south-west direction. The path, to the great comfort of our horses, wound along the hill-sides without crossing any steep ascents, and our Indian guide appeared quite at home here, for he often left the main path and followed scarce visible tracks, which always brought us back sooner or later to the main path, while we had escaped a steep hill or a thick cedar coppice. We found here, too, though many miles farther south, traces of the forest fire which Tiger and I had occasioned against our will, and many bare knolls rose between the cedar woods which had been robbed on that occasion of their leafy covering. We passed the third night on the western slopes of these hills, and on the next day reached their spurs, whence we looked down on a very extensive plain, which appeared to be excellently watered, and displayed a rich tropical vegetation in its summer garb. Although these plants, which belong to the real tropical region, especially the varieties of the palm, do not attain such luxuriance and such gigantic size as they do farther south, they still grow in these protected valleys very powerfully, and surprise the traveller by their foreign but agreeable appearance. We marched through the valley, and camped for the night at the foot of the hills bordering it on the west, not far from which spot was said to be the ancient mine to which the Indian promised to lead us on the following morning.
It was one of those mild southern spring nights when man feels beneath the star-enamelled vault of heaven that he is nowhere better in health or stronger than in the open air. The odour of the flowers had sunk upon the earth with the motionless air, and the glistening insect world sparkled and flashed like streams of diamonds from the dark shade of the evergreen shiny foliage. Lying round our small camp-fire, we were soon lulled to sleep by the feathered songsters of the night, among which the mocking-bird appealing to its mate was the most remarkable, and we negligently allowed the last flames to die out; but at a late hour we were startled by the roar of a jaguar close to us, and on awaking we recognised the sound of flying horses. We ran to our cattle, and only found Czar and John's mare, snorting and dragging at their bonds, while the Indian's horse and Lasar's mule had bolted, and we heard Trusty barking down the glen. We quickly blew up our fire, and threw fresh wood on it; but the damage was done, and we might reckon with certainty on the loss of one if not both beasts. We spent the rest of the night on the watch, and just as day dawned, and we had breakfasted I rode accompanied by Trusty, down the glen, while John and the Indian proceeded to the mountains in search of our fugitives. Only Lasar remained in camp, as walking through the grass was too fatiguing for him. I followed the foot of the hills, along which ran a stream overshadowed by yuccas, tree-like aloes, gigantic cactuses, palms and mimosas, and had ridden about four miles, following the tracking dog, when the latter showed me on the clayey bank on which no grass grew the hoofmarks of our mule and the imprints of a jaguar running down to the stream. Not long after, on riding round a projecting clump of shrubs, I noticed in the grass Lasar's mule, and upon it an enormous jaguar, which appeared to be asleep, as its golden-spotted body lay stretched out and motionless. I led Czar back into the bushes, and then crept down the stream nearer to the beast of prey, until I concealed myself within shot in a tuft of old mimosa trees, from which I could survey it. Laying my rifle on a low branch, I aimed at the centre of the brute's back, which was turned toward me, as its head rested on the mule. I fired, the jaguar sprang up, but fell on its side immediately, and while uttering an awful roar, looked about the valley in search of its assailant. It was unable to rise on its hind-legs, and strove to drag itself on its forepaws to the adjacent water. I had reloaded in the meantime, and stepped out of my hiding-place on to the grass plot. The jaguar now saw me, its fury increased with every step I took, and dragging itself toward me it made the hills ring with its savage roars. I walked pretty nearly up to it, and put an end to its life with a bullet through the head; then I went to Lasar's mule, whose belly was slit up, and one of its legs devoured. The jaguar must have caught it up while running, for on its croup I found numerous wounds where the beast had buried its claws.