The Trappers of Arkansas: or, The Loyal Heart

The guide shrugged his shoulders.

"We are in the prairies;" he said.

"That is true," the general murmured.

In the meantime, the individual we have described, tired, no doubt, of the hesitation of the little party before him, and wishing to know what their disposition was, resolutely accosted them.

"Eh! eh!" he said in English, "Who the devil are you – and what are you seeking here?"

"Caramba!" the general replied, throwing his gun behind him, and ordering his people to do the same; "we are travellers, fatigued with a long journey; the sun is hot, and we ask permission to rest a short time in your rancho."

These words being spoken in Spanish, the trapper replied in the same language, —

"Approach without fear; Black Elk is a good sort of fellow when people do not seek to thwart him; you shall share the little he possesses, and much good may it do you."

At the name of Black Elk the guide could not repress a movement of terror; he wished even to say a few words, but he had not time, for the hunter, throwing his gun upon his shoulder, and leaping into his saddle with a bound, advanced towards the Mexicans.

"My rancho is a few paces from this spot," said he to the general; "if the señorita is inclined to taste the well-seasoned hump of a buffalo, I am in a position to offer her that piece of politeness."

"I thank you, caballero," the young lady replied, with a smile; "but I confess that at this moment I stand in more need of repose than anything else."

"Everything will come in its time," the trapper said sententiously. "Permit me, for a few moments, to take the place of your guide."

"We are at your orders," said the general; "go on, we will follow you."

"Forward! then," said the trapper, placing himself at the head of the little troop.

At this moment his eyes fell by chance upon the guide – his thick eyebrows contracted. "Hum!" he muttered to himself, "what does this mean? We shall see," he added.

And without taking further notice of the man, without appearing to recognise him, he gave the signal for departure.

After riding for some time silently along the banks of a moderately wide rivulet, the trapper made a sharp turn, and departing from the stream suddenly, plunged again into the forest.

"I crave your pardon," he said, "for making you turn out of your way; but this is a beaver pond, and I do not wish to frighten them."

"Oh!" the young lady cried, "how delighted I should be to see those industrious animals at work!"

The trapper stopped.

"Nothing more easy, señorita," he said, "if you will follow me, while your companions remain here, and wait for us."

"Yes, yes!" Doña Luz replied eagerly; but checking herself all at once, added, "Oh, pardon me, dear uncle."

The general cast a look at the trapper.

"Go, my child," he said, "we will wait for you here."

"Thank you, uncle," the young girl remarked joyfully, as she leaped from her horse.

"I will be answerable for her," the trapper said frankly; "fear nothing."

"I fear nothing when trusting her to your care, my friend," the general replied.

"Thanks!" And making a sign to Doña Luz, Black Elk disappeared with her among the bushes and trees.

When they had gone some distance, the trapper stopped. After listening and looking around him on all sides, he stooped towards the young girl, and laying his hand lightly on her right arm, said, —

"Listen!"

Doña Luz stood still, uneasy and trembling.

The trapper perceived her agitation.

"Be not afraid," he rejoined; "I am an honest man; you are in as much safety here alone with me in this desert as if you were in the Cathedral of Mexico, at the foot of the high altar."

The young girl cast a furtive glance at the trapper. In spite of his singular costume, his face wore such an expression of frankness, his eye was so soft and limpid, when fixed upon her, that she felt completely reassured.

"Speak," she said.

"You belong," the trapper resumed, "I perceive now, to that party of strangers who, for some days past, have been exploring the prairies in every direction. Do you not?"

"Yes."

"Among you is a sort of madman, who wears blue spectacles and a white wig, and who amuses himself – for what purpose I cannot tell – with making a provision of herbs and stones, instead of trying, like a brave hunter, to trap a beaver, or knock over a deer."

"I know the man you speak of; he, as you suppose, forms part of our troop; he is a very learned physician."

"I know he is; he told me so himself. He often comes this way. We are very good friends. By means of a powder, which he persuaded me to take, he completely checked a fever which had tormented me two months, and of which I could not get rid."

"Indeed! I am happy to hear of such a result."

"I should like to do something for you, to show my gratitude for that service."

"I thank you, my friend, but I cannot see anything in which you can be useful to me, unless it be in showing me the beavers."

The trapper shook his head.

"Perhaps in something else," he said, "and that much sooner than you may fancy. Listen to me attentively, señorita. I am but a poor man; but here in the prairie, we know many things that God reveals to us, because we live face to face with Him. I will give you a piece of good advice. That man who serves you as a guide is an arrant scoundrel, and is known as such throughout all the prairies of the West. I am very much deceived if he will not lead you into some ambush. There is no lack here of plenty of rogues with whom he may lay plans to destroy you, or least, rob you."

"Are you sure of what you say?" the girl exclaimed, terrified at words which coincided so strangely with what Loyal Heart had said to her.

"I am as sure as a man can be who affirms a thing of which he has no proof; that is to say, after the antecedents of the Babbler everything of the sort must be expected from him. Believe me, if he has not already betrayed you, it will not be long before he will."

"Good God! I will go and warn my uncle."

"Beware of doing that! that would ruin all! The people with whom your guide will soon be in collusion, if he be not so already, are numerous, determined, and thoroughly acquainted with the prairie."

"What is to be done, then?" the young lady asked in great alarm.

"Nothing. Wait; and, without appearing to do so, carefully watch all your guide's proceedings."

"But – "

"You must be sure," the trapper interrupted, "that if I lead you to mistrust him, it is not with a view of deserting you when the moment comes for requiring my help."

"Oh! I believe that."

"Well, then, this is what you must do: as soon as you are certain that your guide has betrayed you, send your old mad doctor to me, – you can trust him, can you not?"

"Entirely!"

"Very well. Then, as I have said, you must send him to me, charging him only to say this to me. 'Black Elk' – I am Black Elk."

"I know you are; you told us so."

"That is right. He will say to me, 'Black Elk, the hour is come,' and nothing else. Shall you remember these words?"

"Perfectly. Only, I do not clearly understand how that can serve us."

The trapper smiled in a mysterious manner.

"Hum!" he said, after a short pause, "these few words will bring to you, in two hours, fifty men, the bravest in the prairies, – men who, at a signal from their leader, would allow themselves to be killed rather than leave you in the hands of those who will have possession of you, if what I expect should happen."

There was a moment of silence, – Doña Luz appeared very thoughtful.

The trapper smiled.

"Do not be surprised at the warm interest I take in you," he said, "a man who has entire power over me, has made me swear to watch over you, during an absence he has been compelled to make."

"What do you mean by that?" she said with awakened curiosity. "And who is this man?"

"He is a hunter who commands all the white trappers of the prairies. Knowing that you had the Babbler for a guide, he suspects that the half-breed intends to draw you into some snare?

"But the name of the man?" she cried, in an anxious, excited tone.

"Loyal Heart. Will you have confidence in me now?"

"Thanks, my friend, thanks!" the young lady replied, with great emotion. "I will not forget your instructions; and when the moment comes – if unfortunately it should come – I will not hesitate to remind you of your promise."

"And you will do well, señorita, because it will then be the only means of safety left you. You understand me perfectly, and all is well. Be sure to keep our conversation to yourself. Above all, do not appear to have any secret understanding with me; that devil of a half-breed is as cunning as a beaver; if he suspect anything, he will slip through your fingers, like the viper he is."

"Be satisfied; I will be mute."

"Now let us pursue our way to the Beaver Pond. Loyal Heart watches over you."

"He has already saved our lives on the occasion of the conflagration of the prairies," she said with emotion.

"Ah! ah!" the trapper murmured, fixing his eyes upon her with a singular expression, "everything is for the best, then." And he added in a loud voice: "Be without fear, señorita, if you follow strictly the advice I have given you, no evil will happen to you in the prairies, whatever be the treachery to which you may be exposed."

"Oh!" the girl cried, with great warmth, "in the hour of danger I will not hesitate to have recourse to you – I swear I will not!"

"That is settled," said the Black Elk, smiling; "now let us go and see the beavers."

They resumed their walk, and at the end of a few minutes arrived on the verge of the forest. The trapper then stopped, and making a sign to the young girl to be motionless, turned towards her, and whispered —

"Look!"

CHAPTER XV.

THE BEAVERS

Doña Luz gently pushed aside the branches of the willows and bending her head forward, she surveyed the scene.

The beavers had not only intercepted the course of the river by means of their industrious community, but, still further, all the rivulets that ran into it had their courses stopped, so as to transform the surrounding ground into one vast marsh.

One beaver alone was at work, at the moment, on the principal dam; but very shortly five others appeared, carrying pieces of wood, mud, and bushes. They then all together directed their course towards a part of the barrier which, as the lady could perceive, needed repair. They deposited their load on the broken part, and plunged into the water, but only to reappear almost instantly on the surface.

Everyone brought up a certain quantity of slimy mud, which they employed as mortar to join and render firm the pieces of wood and the bushes; they went away and returned again with more wood and mud; in short, this work of masonry was carried on till the breach had entirely disappeared.

As soon as all was in order, the industrious animals enjoyed a moment's recreation; they pursued each other in the pond, plunged to the bottom of the water, or sported on the surface, striking the water noisily with their tails.

Doña Luz beheld this singular spectacle with increasing interest. She could have remained the whole day watching these strange animals.

Whilst the first were amusing themselves thus, two other members of the community appeared. For some time they looked gravely on at the sports of their companions, without showing any inclination to join them; then climbing up the steep bank not far from the spot where the trapper and the young girl were watching, they seated themselves upon their hind paws, leaning the fore ones upon a young pine, and beginning to gnaw the bark of it. Sometimes they detached a small piece, and held it between their paws, still remaining seated; they nibbled it with contortions and grimaces pretty much resembling those of a monkey shelling a walnut.

The evident object of these beavers was to cut down the tree, and they laboured at it earnestly. It was a young pine of about eighteen inches in diameter at the part where they attacked it, as straight as an arrow, and of considerable height. No doubt they would soon have succeeded in cutting it through; but the general, uneasy at the prolonged absence of his niece, made up his mind to go in search of her, and the beavers, terrified at the noise of the horses, dived into the water and disappeared.

The general reproached his niece gently for her long absence; but she, delighted with what she had seen, did not heed him, and promised herself to be frequently an invisible spectator of the proceedings of the beavers.

The little party, under the direction of the trapper, directed their course towards the rancho, in which he had offered them shelter from the burning rays of the sun, which was now at its zenith.

Doña Luz, whose curiosity was excited to the highest pitch by the attractive spectacle at which she had been present, determined to make up for her uncle's unwelcome interruption by asking Black Elk all the particulars of the habits of the beavers, and the manner in which they were caught.

The trapper, like all men who live much alone, had no objection, when opportunity offered, to relax from the silence he was generally obliged to preserve, and therefore did not require much pressing.

"Oh, oh, señorita," he said, "the redskins say that the beaver is a man who does not speak; and they are right – he is brave, wise, prudent, industrious, and economical. Thus, when winter arrives, the whole family go to work to prepare provisions; young as well as old, all work. They are often obliged to make long journeys to find the bark they prefer. They sometimes bring down moderately large trees, cutting off the branches, whose bark is most to their taste; they cut it into pieces about three feet long, and transport them to the water, where they set them floating towards their huts, in which they store them. Their habitations are clean and convenient. They take great care, after their repasts, to throw into the current of the river, below the dam, the piece of wood off which they have gnawed the bark. They never permit a strange beaver to come and establish himself near them, and often fight with the greatest fury to secure the freedom of their territories."

"Oh! nothing can be more curious than all this!" Doña Luz exclaimed.

"Ah, but," the trapper rejoined, "that is not all. In the spring, which is the generating season, the male leaves the female in the house, and goes, like a great lord, on a tour of pleasure; sometimes to a great distance, sporting in the limpid waters he falls in with, And climbing their banks to gnaw the tender branches of the young poplars and willows. But when summer comes, he abandons his bachelor life and returns to his mate and her new progeny, which he leads to forage in search of provisions for winter."

"It must be confessed," said the general, "that this animal is one of the most interesting in creation."

"Yes," Doña Luz added, "and I cannot understand how people can make up their minds to hunt them as if they were mischievous beasts."

"What is to be said for it, señorita?" the trapper replied, philosophically; "all animals were created for man – this one above others, its fur is so valuable."

"That is true," said the general; "but," he added, "how do you set about this chase? All beavers are not so confiding as these; there are some that conceal their huts with extreme care."

"Yes," Black Elk replied; "but habit has given the experienced trapper so certain a glance, that he discovers, by the slightest sign, the track of a beaver; and although the hut be concealed by thick underwood and the willows which shade it, it is very seldom that he cannot guess the exact number of its inhabitants. He then places his trap, fastens it to the bank, two or three inches under water, and secures it by a chain to a pole strongly fixed in the mud or sand. A little twig is then deprived of its bark, and soaked in the medicine, for so we call the bait we employ; this twig is so placed as to rise three or four inches above the water, whilst its extremity is fixed in the opening of the trap. The beaver, which is endowed with a very subtle smell, is quickly attracted by the odour of the bait. As soon as it advances its snout to seize it, its foot is caught in the trap. In great terror, it tries to dive into the water, but the chained trap resists all its efforts; it struggles for some time, but at last, its strength being exhausted, it sinks to the bottom of the water, and is drowned. This, señorita, is the way in which beavers are generally taken. But in rocky beds, where it is not possible to fix the poles to retain the trap, we are often obliged to search for a length of time for the captured beavers, and even to swim to great distances. It also happens that when several members of the same family have been taken, the others become mistrustful. Then, whatever stratagems we have recourse to, it is impossible to get them to bite the bait. They approach the traps with precaution, let off the spring with a stick, and often even turn the traps upside down, dragging them under their dam, and burying them in the mud.

"What do you do then?" Doña Luz asked.

"Why, then," Black Elk replied, "we have but one thing left to do, and that is, throw our traps upon our backs, own ourselves beaten by the beavers, and go further afield to seek others less Cunning. But here is my rancho."

At this moment the travellers arrived at a miserable hut, made of interlaced branches of trees, scarcely capable of sheltering them from the rays of the sun, and in every respect resembling, as regarded convenience, those of other trappers of the prairies, who are men that trouble themselves the least about the comforts of life.

Nevertheless, such as it was, Black Elk did the honours of it very warmly to the strangers.

A second trapper was squatting before the hut, occupied in watching the roasting of the buffalo's hump which Black Elk had promised his guests.

This man, whose costume was in all respects like that of Black Elk, was scarcely forty years old; but the fatigue and numberless miseries of his hard profession had dug upon his face such a network of inextricable wrinkles as made him look older than he was in reality.

In fact, there does not exist in the world a more dangerous, more painful, or less profitable trade than that of a trapper. These poor people are often, whether by Indians or hunters, robbed of their hard-earned gains, scalped, and massacred, and no one troubles himself to learn what has become of them.

"Take your place, señorita; and you also, gentlemen," said Black Elk, politely. "However poor my hut may be, it is large enough to contain you all."

The travellers cheerfully accepted his invitation; they alighted from their horses, and were soon stretched comfortably upon beds of dry leaves, covered with the skins of bears, elks, and buffaloes.

The repast – truly a hunter's repast – was washed down with some cups of excellent mezcal which the general always carried with him in his expeditions, and which the trappers appreciated as it deserved.

Whilst Doña Luz, the guide, and the lanceros, took a siesta of a few minutes, till the heat of the sun's rays should be a little abated, the general, begging Black Elk to follow him, went out of the hut.

As soon as they were at a sufficient distance, the general seated himself at the foot of an ebony tree, motioning for his companion to follow his example which he immediately did.

After a moment's silence, the general said, —

"Allow me, my friend, in the first place, to thank you for your frank hospitality. That duty performed, I wish to put a few questions to you."

"Caballero!" the trapper replied, evasively, "you know what the redskins say: between every word smoke your calumet, in order to weigh your words well."

"You speak like a sensible man; but be satisfied that I have no intention of putting questions to you that concern your profession, or any object that can affect you personally."

"If I am able to answer you, caballero, be assured I will not hesitate to satisfy you."

"Thank you, friend, I expected no less from you. How long have you been an inhabitant of the prairies?"

"Ten years, already, sir; and God grant I may remain here as many more."

"This sort of life pleases you then?"

"More than I can tell you. A man must, as I have done, begin it almost as a boy, undergo all the trials, endure all the sufferings, partake all its hazards, in order to understand all the intoxicating charms it procures, the celestial joys it gives, and the unknown pleasures into which it plunges us! Oh! caballero, the most beautiful and largest city of old Europe is very little, very dirty, very mean compared with the desert. Your cramped, regulated, compassed life is miserable compared to ours! It is here only that man feels the air penetrate easily into his lungs, that he lives, that he thinks. Civilization brings him down almost to the level of the brute, leaving him no instinct but that which enables him to pursue sordid interests. Whereas, in the desert, in the prairie, face to face with God, his ideas enlarge, his spirit grows, and he becomes really what the Supreme Being meant to make him; that is to say, the king of the creation."

Whilst pronouncing these words the trapper was, in a manner, transfigured; his countenance assumed an inspired expression, his eyes flashed fire, and his gestures were impressed with that nobleness which passion alone gives.

The general sighed deeply, a furtive tear trickled over his grey moustache.

"That's true," he said, sadly; "this life has strange charms for the man who has tasted it, and they attach him by bonds nothing can break. When you arrived in the prairies, whence did you come?"

"I came from Quebec, sir; I am a Canadian."

"Ah!"

A silence of a few minutes ensued, but it was, at length, broken by the general.

"Have you many Mexicans among your companions?"

"Many."

"I should like to obtain some information respecting them."

"There is only one man who could give you any, sir; and, unfortunately, that man is not at this moment here."

"And he is called?"

"Loyal Heart."

"Loyal Heart!" the general replied, warmly; "surely I know that man."

"Yes, you do."

"Good heavens! what a fatality!"

"Perhaps it will be more easy than you suppose to meet with him again, if you really wish to see him."

"I have an immense interest in wishing it."

"Then make your mind easy; you will soon see him."

"How so?"

"Oh! very simply. Loyal Heart lays his traps near me; at the present time I am watching them; but it cannot be long before he returns."

"God grant it may be so!" said the general, with great agitation.

"As soon as he comes I will send you word, if between this and then you have not quitted your camp."

"Do you know where my troop is encamped?"

"We know everything in the desert," the trapper said, with a smile.

"I accept your promise."

"You have my word, sir."

"Thank you."

At that moment Doña Luz came out of the hut; after having made Black Elk a sign to recommend silence, the general hastened to join her.

The travellers remounted their horses, and after thanking the trappers for their cordial hospitality, they again took the road to the camp.

CHAPTER XVI.

TREACHERY

The return was dull, the general was plunged in profound reflections, caused by his conversation with the trapper. Doña Luz was thinking of the warning that had been given her; the guide embarrassed by the two conversations of Black Elk with the general, had a secret presentiment, which told him to keep on his guard. The two lanceros alone rode on carelessly, ignorant of the drama that was being played around them, and thinking but of one thing – the repose which awaited them on regaining the camp.

The Babbler incessantly cast anxious looks around him, appearing to seek for auxiliaries amidst the thickets which the little party passed silently through.

Day was drawing to a close; it would not be long before the sun disappeared, and already the mysterious denizens of the forest at intervals sent forth dull roarings.

"Are we still far from the camp?" the general said, all at once.