OCR Text |
Show 326 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. held out his foot for me to buckle it on. As soon as I had done so, he struck it with all his force into the side of his horse, who gave a violent leap. The Indian laughed and spurred harder than before. At this the horse shot away like an arrow amid the screams and laughter of the squaws, and the ejacu.' lations of the men, who exclaimed : " W ashtay !-Good!' at the potent effect of my gift. The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in place of a bridle except a leather string tied round the horse's jaw. The animal was of course wholly uncontrolla. ble, and stretuhed away at full speed over the prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a distant swell. I never saw the man again, but I presume no harm came to him. An Indian on horseback has more lives than a cat. The village encamped on the scorching prairie, close to the foot of the mountains. The heat was most intense and pene. trating. The coverings of the lodgings were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to procure some circulation of air ; and Reynal thought proper to lay aside his trapper's dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty costume of an Indian. Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself in his lodge on a buffalo-robe, alternately cursing the heat and puffing at the pipe which he and I passed between us. There was present also a select circle of Indian friends and relatives. A small boiled puppy was served up as a parting feast, to which was added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of gooseberries, from the mountains. 'Look there,' said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge ; 'do you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off? Well, now do you see that farthest one, with the • PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS. 327 white speck on the face of it? Do you think you ever saw it before ?' 'It looks to me,' said I, ' like the hill that we were 'camped under when we were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago. ' ~ 'You've hit it,' answered Reynal. 'Go, and bring in the animals, Raymond,' said I ; 'we'll camp there to-night, and start for the fort in the morn.m g. ' The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge. We saddled them, and in the mean time a number of Indians collected about us. The virtues of Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were well known in camp, and several of the visitors were mounted upon good horses which they had brought me as presents. I promptly declined their offers, since accepting them would have involved the necessity of transferring poor Pauline into their barbarous hands. We took leave of Reyna!, but not of the Indians, who are accustomed to dispense with such superfluous ceremonies. Leaving the camp, we rode straight over the prairie towards the white-faced bluff, whose pale ridges swelled gently against the horizon, like a cloud. An Indian went with us; whose name I forget, though the ugliness of his face and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell vividly in my recollection. The antelope were numerous, but we did not heed them. We rode directly towards our destination, over the arid plains and barren hills ; until, late in the afternoon, half spent with heat, thirst, and fatigue, We saw a gladdening sight ; the long line of trees and the deep gulf that mark the course of Laramie Creek. Passing through the growth of huge dilapidated old cotton-wood trees that bor- |