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Show 478 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF appointed, but he failed to rejoin us. I rode on as far as my ranch; still he did not appear. I built a large fire before p.roceeding into the Indian country, thinking to attr~ct him by the smoke, and thus bring him on to our trail, but I saw ~o more of him, and it was supposed he was lost until he eventually turned up in the City of Washington. We both had a narrow escape from .Indians on that trip. I had, contrary to my usual practi~e, encampe~ one night in the prairie, and was to start In the mormng, when we heard buffalo running close to our camp. On looking out, I saw a great number chas~d b! the Pawnees, although the Indians were ~lOt yet In sight. We made all possible haste to the timber, threw our horses on their sides, gagged them and fastened them to the ground, and then secreted ourselves in the willows. The Indians flocked round, busied in their pursuit, and some of the buffaloes they dressed within gunshot of our secret camp. I thought that day the longest I had lived through, and ~ expect th~ poor animals thought so too, for they lay In one positiOn the whole time, without food or water, and without being permitted to whisper a comp. laint. At night we made good our escape, and arnved at the fort without further difficulty. When I was ready to return to Santa Fe I could :find ~lO one willing to accompany me. The' weather was Intensely cold, and no inducement that I could offer was sufficient to tempt men to leave their comfortable fires, and encounter the perils of the Indians and Jack Frost in the prairies. Many men had been frozen to death on the route, and a general shudder ran through the company when I proposed the journey to them. I could have .b~en fu!nished with soldiers in plenty, but I was unwilling to take them, as it imposed so much JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 479 trouble on the road to stay to bury every man that perished with the hardships of the journey. Important dispatches had arrived from Washington which must go through, and I looked fruitlessly round for a man hardy enough to go with me. At length a boy-a Kentuckian-volunteered. He had followed the army to the fort, and had lived about the barracks until he had become well accustomed to the privations of a camp life. He was an intelligent lad, but, unfortunately, had a malformation of one of his feet, which seriously impeded his walking. However, I liked his "pluck" in proposing, and eventually consented to take him·. I went with him to the sutler's store, and procured him the warmest clothing I could, and then bade him repair to my boarding-house, and stay there until I was ready to start. When I was prepared for departure, I furnished him with a good horse, and, taking an extra one between us, we started on the long journey. I gave him particular directions that if he should become very cold he was to acquaint me, and I would stay and build a fire to warm him by wherever there was any wood; but the proposition he declined. Three days after we reached the Arkansas, and encamped. Isaac was busied in preparing supper, while I walked to an eminence close by in order to survey the country. I perceived an immense number of In- · dians approaching directly toward us, and at not rnore than three or four hundred yards distance. I shouted to Isaac to catch the horses quickly and tether them, and I hastened back to the camp. He inquired what the matter was, and I told him there were a thousand Indians coming after us. The approaching individuals belonged to the Ca- • • ... |
