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Show • 124 we attached the two oxen to the tongue and started. After a march of seven miles we reached "Ash creek" and tlt~re encamped. I now resolved to let some of my men go .ob as ~apidly as they could, and get mules at West Port, Mo., with ~hich they could mee t me at Council grove. I therefore sent for Pdka, Dobson and; Wiseman, and having given them all necessary letters, the/prepared to set off by sunrise the next morning. February 15.-To·day the sky was cloudy, and threatened us with a storm · the air was very cold. After marching six miles we reacheJ "Pawn~e rock;" here we stopped a few minutes and kinsJled a fire · ag<lin con tin ui ng our route, we marched sixteen m il'es further, and eneamped on Walnut creek. Here ~e overtook the express party, anrl we had a hearty laugh at our having overtaken them; but Pilka was a good woodsman, and would not leave the timb er when the sky looked so thr~ aten i~g, otherwise they would have gone on and· have slept in the open prairie. ' February 16.-J ust as .we were about starting this morning, a fine mule came trotting into camp. We tried to catch it, but it had b~c_ome so wild tha~ it w~u~rl not _Jet us approach .sufficiently near. 'I h1s mule had a blmd bndle on Its 11ead, the rem hung dangling up on the ground . As soon as we crosser! Walnut creek, we came i11 sight of herds of buffalo. These animals were continually run~ ing. across our road as we au vanced .. Sometimes they would stop JU St In the road a few hundred yards m front of us, and kneeling down, to s ~ the dust into the air with their horns, or else take a roll over on their backs, then springing up, dash off again v,rith their long beards and manes waving in the w~nd. After a ~narch of fourteen miles \Ve encamped at "Plum buttes." \Ve got water from some ueighboring pools, and the plum bushes answ ered fur fuel. In tl1.e aftern0on a band of buffaloes started for the river; they came duectly towards our camp; we all secreted ourselves in the bushes at the top of the butte. We had "the winJ" of the buffalo and they c.ame on without discovering us; they walke.d slowly along; havmg suffered the old bulls to pass on, we selected a fine buffalo an.d fi~ed down upon him; he only ran a short distance before he. la1d hnnself clown. We approached warily, for we were all on foot., ar~cl fire~] a secon~ gun , which eaused the buffalo to lay flat llpon lw; sHle . yY e were Instantly upon him with our knives and tomahawks. Laing gave a mortal wound to a fine fat cow, but as she wou~d get up and walk off every time he tried to approach ar1 d as, mg.h "• 'Ya~ d raw1. ng . on us apace, he deeme.d it more prudent,. 10 leav.e lns Vldun to the wolves th an risk the loss of his own life by Indu1ns. We cut out all the marrow bones and all the choice pieces and spent. the best part of the night in cooking and eating, aud d~ring tne mght the wolves eat up everything we had left. .We waul~ bave been very glad if we could have carried .some of this. ~eat With us, but our packs felt heavy enough without any adtht10n. · February.17.-I had intended to march to Chavez creek, about 125 [ 23] 19 miles distant, but the poor fellows who were with me com-plained so much of the soreness of their feet, that I determined to encamp at "C O\" cree k, " w h1' c h.IS only 11 miles from "Plum butte." Here we found a goorl ox-yoke, a thing we greatly needed. 'There was also a wagon and several musketR, which must have been left by the party of teamsters who had preceded us. It was evident t~at the expres.s I ha~ sent on had encamped here last night; their fires were stdl burmng. _About 2 o'cl.o ck we saw some persons approaching; they proved to be Mr. Mdler and Mr. Hoffman, of Baltimore. They were nearly out of provisions, and their mules almost broken down From them we learnt everything with reference to the fiendish massacre that had been perpetrated at "Taos." Nothing I had undergone had caused me more unpleasant sensations than the news Of the horrid massac~e of G.overnor Bent and his compatriots. r. had. been acqua.Inted With Governor Ben~ ever since my first arnval w ~ ew Mexico . . I esteemed and admired him greatly, and every one m t};lat country looked upon Charles Bent as one i:1 a thousand. • · When the fiends were breaking through the roof 0f his house even after he had been wounded, his wife brought him his arms' .a~d told him to fight, to avenge him~elf; he could easily hav~ kllled some of the mob, who were entirely exposed to his aim from the hole they were making. ' "No," said he, "I will not kill any one of them, for the sake of you, my wife, and of you, my children. At present, my death is all these people wish." The murderers rush in, they kill him, they scalp him, and, horrible to relate, they parade the bloody ~calp through the streets of "Taos." ~r. Hoffman and his party continued their journey. In a little while afterwards we descried another body of men approaching; they proved to be a party under the command of Mr. James Brown; he had kindly picked up the men whom I had left at Pawnee Fork, .and had also raised my "cache," which he had brought along for me. Mr. Brown agreed to carry the baggage belonging to my men, and we now felt as if all our troubles were ended. .February 18.-vV e were up before the sun rose, and in a few tntnutes commenced our march. In the evening we encamped on the· " Little Arkansas," which is 20 miles distant from our point <lf de~arture this morning. we had started with the intention of marchm~ 10 miles further, but this evening it looked stormy and threatenmg, so we determined to encamp in the timber of the Little Arkansas. February 19.-This morning before we had proceeded more than 5 miles, we met J. Dobso~, whom I had sent on the express; .~e told me that there was a team belonging to the government. at c.otto~ Wood fork," in charge of the wagon master, Mr. Sm1th, who sa1d that he would carry every thing that I had on to Fort ~avenworth; fearing a storm he had set. out to reach "Cott~n ood fork," where he would await my arnval. We encamped m |
