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Show 48 THR CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the s~peri~rity of the renowned rifle of the backwoods over the foreign Innovation borne by the Captain. At length voices could be heard in the distance, behind the trees. ' There they come !' said the Captain ; 'let's go and see how they get through the creek.' vV e mounted an:d rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees: as we looked down, we saw a confused crowd of hor emcn riding through the water; and among the dingy habiliments of our party, glittered the uniforms of four dragoons. Shaw came whipping his horse up the bank, in advance of the rest, with a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing fervently invoked on the head of R , who was riding, with a crest-fallen air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of this gentleman, we had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now was to keep to the northward until we should strike the trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St. Joseph's in Missouri. In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot '· wh. ile the des er t ers, w h ose case admi.t ted of no delay, rode rapidly forward · 0 n th e d ay 1l'0 l l owi. ng, stn.l n. ng the St. Joseph's trail ' we turn ed our h orses , heads toward Fort Larami.e , then about seven hundred miles to the westward. CHAPTER V. THE 'BIG BLUE.' " A man so various, that he seemed to ba Not one, but all manl<ind's epitome, Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was every thing by starts, and nothing long, But in the space of one revolvin<Y moon b ' Was gamester, chemist, fiddler, and buffoon." DRYDEN. THE great medley of Oregon and California emiarants at L; ' their camps around Independence, had heard reports that 8ev-eral additional parties were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph's, farther to the northward. The prevailing impression was, that these were Mormons, twenty-three hundred in number; and a great alarm was excited in consequence. The people of Illinois and lVIissouri, who composed by far the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on the best I/ terms with the 'Latter Day Saints;' and it is notorious throughout the country how much blood has been spilt in their feuds, even far within the limits of the settlements. No one could pre-d' Ict what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these fanatics s~ould encounter the most impetuous and reckless of their old enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the reach of 3 |
