Wild Sports In The Far West

With the first streaks of red I commenced my journey homewards, and arrived about noon, to find that Uhl, with more luck than myself, had already caught a horse.

On the 8th of June I rode off to Blackfish lake swamp, to bring away the things we had left at Hamilton’s. Just as I entered the house, Mrs. Hamilton had a robust little fellow in front of her, a stepson, I believe, about three or four years old, and told him to jump about the room for a piece of cake she held in her hand. He began to jump, and looked very comical as he bobbed up and down like a cork. When he thought he had earned his cake, he came to ask for it, but was put off with the word “more.” He quietly went back to his place, and recommenced his exercise, but had lost the cheerful expression of his countenance – he was doing it as a duty. After dancing for some time longer, he came again for his cake, in the firm belief that this time he was sure of it, but a “more yet” made him start. He begged, protested, cried – all in vain; “more yet,” said his inexorable tormentor, holding the cake up for him to jump at. Tears ran down the poor little fellow’s cheeks, and he jumped and jumped, and sobbed, and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. It was impossible to keep one’s countenance any longer, and as I cried with laughing, he laughed through his tears. He then received the cake he had so well danced for, and jumped once more from free will, out of doors with it.

I packed all things on the horse, and set out on my return the same evening. On the following morning we began to build our house; we pulled down an old block-house, standing about three miles from the site we had chosen, and carted the logs to our prairie, where we could easily rebuild it. In the backwoods building is a very simple art. In the first place, small trees of oak, or some other good wood, are felled and cut to the requisite length. Next comes the foundation: two of the largest trunks are laid parallel to each other on the ground at the proper distance, two others are laid across their ends to form the square, and fitted into each other with notches, which makes the building all the firmer, and closes the crevices. In this way the walls are run up, but without any entrance. Ours being an old house rebuilt, the logs all fitted each other, and door and chimney were already cut, which, in other cases, has to be done with the axe after the walls are up. The roof is then laid, and, Swiss fashion, has to be secured with weights, to prevent its being blown away; but wood being more plentiful here than stone, heavy poles, called weight-poles, or young trees are used instead.

Although the heat was oppressive, our work went on rapidly, and we soon had the house up all but the chimney, which, it being summer, was not so necessary. Besides, dabbling with moist clay being dirty and disagreeable work, the chimney is generally left until it is too cold to do without it. June 10th, we began our fence, so that the cattle might not walk into the house, and also to secure the calves, that the cows might come to be milked.

The fences are formed of split logs of black or red oak, or hickory, ten or eleven feet long, and four or five inches thick, these woods splitting easily; the fences are laid zigzag, and carried to a height that no horse, much less a cow, can jump over. This was hard work, and the heat oppressive; I felt very feverish, and had a severe headache, but as the work could not go on without me, I would not hang back. On a sudden every thing began to dance before my eyes, then all was dark, and I fell fainting to the ground. I soon recovered, and lay for a short time in the shade of a tree, then continued my work till evening. Next day S. wanted to get in his wheat, and as I felt quite well again, we went to help him; I had hardly been half an hour at work, when, in spite of the burning heat, I felt a peculiar shivering and severe headache, while my lips and nails turned blue; in short, there was no doubt I had the ague. I went immediately to bed, and by noon was somewhat better. S. would not allow me to return to our hut, but insisted on my staying with them till my recovery, that I might always receive assistance. The fits returned on the second and third days, making me feel very weak and weary.

On the third day, a Saturday, at about two in the afternoon, I felt better, and went to the mill, where S. was at work, meaning to help him and take a little exercise, when I saw two strangers, a man and a woman, riding along the road. With horror, I recognized in the countenance of the man the Methodist preacher who had so tormented me some days before. It was not without reason that I dreaded a repetition of the scene. He rode past me with an important and expressive countenance, which seemed to say: “Here I am again you see, make yourself happy.” Uhl, to whom I had given a description of the former meeting, tried to slip off with me to the hut, but we were discovered, and invited to attend. The difference between this and the former meeting was that we had a sermon, in the course of which two women in succession jumped about in a pitiable state of excitement.

About noon next day, the dogs ran round and round the field, always stopping at one particular place. S. said there must be a fox there. I hastened to get a shot at him, but without success, till suddenly, by the barking of the dogs, I knew that Reynard must have come to a stop, and supposed him to have run to earth; but what was my surprise on finding him perched on a tree, from which he was seriously contemplating the furious dogs beneath him! I was so astonished that at first I did not fire. When I did so, he remained hanging between the two branches where he had squeezed himself, which was all the better for his skin, as the dogs would have spoiled it. I afterwards learnt that the foxes here always climb a tree, when driven to the last, but they can only manage it with small trees, nor can they get higher than ten or twelve feet; in the swamps they generally live in the hollows of trees.

On returning to the house I found the little schoolmaster in the height of his glory. He was dressed all in white; – white trousers, a snow white shirt and jacket, white neckcloth, a light-colored, almost white, straw hat, and light tanned shoes, also almost white. To all this garb of innocence, the red hair, red face, redder nose, and bluish red hands, offered a striking contrast; he seemed to be well satisfied with himself, stepped carefully over the fence, and was soon lost, like a sunbeam, in a dark forest.

On the 20th June we finished our fence. On the 21st we began the floor of our house, and on the 22nd the grand work was all complete. In the afternoon we went to S.’s to fetch our things, and towards evening, as it was very warm, I plunged into the cool stream flowing past the back of the house, and had to pay for it severely on the following day by a return of ague. Perhaps a rather too copious indulgence in blackberries, which abounded here, may have somewhat contributed to this result. Be the cause what it may, the attacks were repeated, and so severely that I was confined to the house, when S., his brother-in-law, and Uhl rode away for a buffalo hunt. I passed two tedious days in bed, but on the third, feeling better, I took my rifle, and lounged along the banks of the river, to try and pick up a couple of young wild ducks, which were just in season. In the course of half an hour I had killed three, and was on my way home, feeling much fatigued, when immediately before me, almost under my feet, I perceived a mocassin snake, ready to attack me, with its head drawn back, and its tongue darting out. These snakes are very venomous; so jumping back, by no means leisurely, I seized a long stick, and belabored him with it till he could do no harm. This deep moist ground is full of venomous snakes; but it is very rarely that any person is bitten, because they are shy, and always try to escape when any one approaches.

On my return I found a fresh bear’s trail very near the house. Bruin had crossed the river since I had passed, but the buffalo hunters had taken all the dogs; and I was too weak to follow him alone. They returned in the evening without having seen any buffaloes, though they had crossed their trail. Uhl had shot a deer or two, which was all their booty.

On the 2nd July we rode off to a farm belonging to a Mr. Dunn, about eleven miles off, to drive home some cattle that S. had bought. We did not arrive till dusk, and found Mr. Dunn at home; he was a fat man with a copper-colored nose, that seemed to do no dishonor to the sign before his door; and a bottle of whiskey soon glittered on the table. S. drank no spirits, so only just tasted it once: we did not follow his example, but drank and laughed and talked till late in the night.

I was much surprised next morning by the view from Dunn’s house. We were again amongst the hills, the house standing on the eastern spur, which stretches out towards the swamps like a peninsula. The thick white fog, through which not a tree was visible, north, south, or east, looked like the sea, and I was prompted to look out for a sail; the glowing red ball of the sun as he worked his way through it, cast a roseate hue over all. As the sun rose higher the fog began to disperse, and the tips of the highest trees appeared. As the fog vanished, it gave place to a boundless extent of green, unbroken by any rise, save that on which we stood. I remained for a long time in silent admiration of the fascinating sight.

After breakfast we collected our animals, and drove them towards home, through thorns, creepers, morasses, cane brakes, streams, and woods. Driving a number of cattle, which have never before been under the hand of man, is about as hard work as one can imagine, and a man who never swore in his life would be sure to learn it then. But cattle-driving was now our business, and we followed it up with a will. After immense difficulty, we succeeded in bringing them all within the fence in our prairie, secured them with the lasso, branded them with Saint’s mark, and left them to themselves till the morning. At dark we spread my buffalo skin on the ground, covered ourselves with Uhl’s blanket, and were soon fast asleep.

By this time we began to feel a little more comfortable, having made a couple of rough benches, and fixed some shelves to hold our things; but as our utensils were not very numerous, cooking was one of our chief difficulties. There was, however, no want of food, for Saint supplied so plentifully.

We kept in all the calves of the new herd, leaving the cows at liberty, as they never strayed very far from their young. We were also obliged to confine some of the wildest, but the rest soon accustomed themselves to the prairie, particularly as we sprinkled salt before them, of which they are passionately fond. Indeed we gave it to all the cattle every evening, which kept them from straying far away. In the daytime we ranged the woods with our rifles.

CHAPTER VI

A FARMER’S LIFE IN THE WOODS. (CONTINUED.)

My comrade attacked by ague – Removal to a new locality – Snakes in the woods – Grinding corn – “Lying” Bahrens – Repeated attacks of ague – Sassafras tree – “An epileptic breakfast” – Night in the forest – The panther – Visit to Hilger – Shooting by torchlight – A distillery – A backwoods politician – Clearings – New farm – Illness, and want of medical aid – Negro children – Two American speculators – Bad characters in Arkansas – Removal to a new farm at Oiltrove bottom – White river – A gallant buffalo hunter – Home-sickness – Unhealthy swamps – Bear-hunting in companies.

On the 8th of July, I had killed a fawn. The flesh was very delicate, and we had made a hearty feast on it, when Uhl complained of headache and sickness, and though he had frequently boasted of his sound constitution, and maintained that he should never be ill, he began to feel some doubts on the subject. Next day he was very ill, and on the third, about noon, his sickness declared itself as a regular attack of ague. I did all I could to relieve him, but in our loneliness we had little to comfort an invalid. Towards evening he got better, and longed for some blackberries. I took a tin dish, and went to a place about eighty paces from our house, where they grew in quantities; there had formerly been a field here, and the thorns grew thick about the overthrown trees. I was plucking some of the ripest berries from one of the largest bushes, in which I had once or twice heard something move; but as all the cows and calves were near me, and I supposed it proceeded from some of them, I had not taken much notice of the fact, when suddenly the bush opened, and a large, powerful wolf walked deliberately forth; he looked steadily at me, and seemed inclined to declare war. I raised my foot to give him a kick with my heavy fisherman’s boot, for I had no weapon; but he seemed to think better of it, and walked away slowly towards the jungle. I hastened to the house, seized my rifle, and followed his trail; but too late, for he had taken to flight.

July 11th. Uhl was so far recovered as to be able to go to Saint’s, where he could receive better care, and for some time I was alone in my hermitage. I felt very comfortable, having no cares or troubles, paid attention to my charge, supplied them plentifully with salt, and constantly went out shooting, bringing home young turkeys, which were just large enough to be eaten. In the evening, when all was still, I sat in front of the house, by a blazing fire, playing my zither, and was very happy without seeing a human face.

On July 17th I went to Saint’s to see Uhl, and to get some flour and coffee. Uhl was better, and free from fever, but weak. I did not return, as Saint required my assistance. Saint then proposed that, for the summer and autumn, we should move further west, and pitch our camp near Brushy lake, about six miles from Saint’s, where there was better pasture, so that when once the cattle had been driven there, they would not be likely to stray. I was pleased with the plan, as there was more game there, and we only waited Uhl’s recovery to put it in execution.

On July 22nd Uhl felt tolerably well, so we started in company with a long Kentuckyman, who happened to be there, to have a look at the country, and to fix on a place for our tent. As it was late in the afternoon when we started, it was almost dark when we arrived. We were deceived in our expectations of finding game, and had to go hungry to sleep, having brought no provisions with us, except a morsel of bread and a couple of onions. We had made sure of killing a deer before dark, but had reckoned without our host. It was a beautiful night, mosquitoes excepted; we had nothing to wish for beyond a good supper. A bright fire was soon blazing up, for notwithstanding the heat of the days the nights were cold.

Our American friend, Jim by name, was very much afraid of snakes, which abounded in this neighborhood. He could not rest quiet, and repeated a number of stories of this person or that having been bitten by snakes in the night. I let him talk on, while I made preparations to go to sleep.

Half asleep, I still heard the snake stories, till, overpowered by fatigue, Morpheus took me softly in his arms; but there were snakes hanging about me, and some of them grew to an immense size, till at last it seemed as if a very wicked-looking one came straight towards me, crawled under my left knee, and there coiled himself down – yet he kept fidgeting as if he could not make himself quite comfortable. I awoke, and lay for a moment quite still; Jim was yet telling his snake stories to Uhl, who was listening attentively, when I positively felt something move under my knee, and hearing of nothing else, thinking of nothing else, of course I supposed it must be a snake. I dared not raise myself slowly for fear of pressing on the snake, when he would certainly have bitten me. I sprang up as quickly as I could, and at once burst away from my couch: my two comrades, with their brains full of all sorts of monsters, no sooner saw me start up so suddenly, than they followed my example, as if they had been fired from a gun, and we looked at each other in dismay.

I examined the place where I supposed the snake to be, and found a little twig of about eight or nine inches growing out of the ground, and which had been under my knee. We all laughed heartily at our fright, and were soon fast asleep.

Our appetites next morning were very sharp. In the course of a couple of hours Jim shot a squirrel, which afforded but a meagre breakfast for three people. After breakfast we tried again, and with better success on my part, for, happening to espy a deer in the jungle, I knocked him over, and we returned to S.’s well laden with venison. Although we had found several spots suitable for our tent, we had not fixed on any one in particular, and we were well pleased with the place altogether, notwithstanding snakes and mosquitoes.

Hitherto we had always eaten maize bread, because, although S. could grind wheat, he had no means of bolting it; and as it was stacked in the field he decided on sending it to a mill about fifteen miles distant. The wheat was in sheaves, but there was neither barn nor thrashing floor, neither flail nor winnowing machine, nothing to clean it from the straw; however, we set to work Arkansas fashion. The weather was bright and dry, the road before the door as hard as a stone, but dusty: a space about thirty feet in diameter was fenced in, and swept as clean as possible; the sheaves were unbound and laid in a circle, every two sheaves with their ears together, one with the straw to the centre, the other with the straw outwards; six horses were mounted, and ridden round and round, while two men kept shaking down fresh corn; when it had been well trodden out, it had to be sifted.

I had probably worked rather too hard, caught another attack of ague, and was obliged to lie down till evening, when I felt somewhat better. This evening we were visited by a friend of S.’s, or neighbor, as he called himself, though living at a distance of twenty-five miles; but there was neither house nor road between the two. He was called Jim Bahrens, but S. whispered to me that he was nicknamed “lying Bahrens,” and indeed Munchausen would have been obliged to hide his face before him. He was very talkative and amusing; amongst other things, he told us that he had but a small tract of land, but that it was the best and most fertile in the whole world; that he could grow every thing on it, except corn beans (the common garden bean), because the corn grows so fast, that it drags the beans out of the earth. He invited us to come and see him, telling us that he could kill as much game in a day as would weigh 1000 pounds for that he lived among large herds both of buffaloes and deer. We promised to come, and see all these wonders.

On the 1st of August, Uhl told me that he wished to go, being tired of this sort of life; and, indeed, I must allow that I myself was rather sick of it. I was so weak that I could hardly crawl, and saw so many sickly faces around me, that I could not try to persuade him to remain. We divided our property, for hitherto we had had all things in common, and on the same day he marched off to the west. I had no time to indulge in sorrowful thoughts, for the ague attacked me again; having brought some medicine with me from Cincinnati, I took an emetic, and then a dose of quinine, which succeeded in subduing it.

On August 3rd, I felt better, and decided in the afternoon on driving to the mill; but the grain had first to be cleaned. This, without a machine, was rather a difficult matter, but the sharp Americans know how to manage it. Two of the stoutest fellows hold a blanket by the four corners; a third stands on a chair with a sieve full of grain, which he shakes, not too fast, nor too long at a time, while the two with the blanket make as much wind as they can, by working it up and down; the chaff is blown away, while the wheat falls to the ground, and is at once gathered into the sack, though not quite so clean as it would be with our system.

By two o’clock we were able to start, the cart being drawn by oxen, and, owing to their slow discreet pace, it was pitch dark when we arrived at the mill. At so late an hour grinding was out of the question; we lighted our fire, broiled our supper, and laid down in the wagon to sleep till daylight. But the night was so beautiful, the stars shining so mildly down upon us, the wind blowing so soft and warm through the green branches, that we could not sleep, but went on talking. Both my companions were Americans, one of them a strict Methodist, and there was nothing more natural than that we should talk of the stars, then of heaven, then of religion; and as we entertained very different views, our conversation degenerated into a hot dispute, which was put an end to about midnight by a heavy shower of rain, that forced us to seek shelter for ourselves and our sacks.

Next day we began to grind, and slow work it was, for we had to turn the mill with our own oxen, who had no idea of inconveniencing themselves; however, we managed to reach home the same night. The season was now far enough advanced for the leaves of Indian corn to be stripped and laid up as fodder for the winter. This plant, in the southern States, will grow to a height of eleven or twelve feet, and often bears three cobs: the white sort is the best for bread, the yellow, containing more sugar, is best for fodder and for whiskey.

On the 15th of August I received a letter from Uhl, telling me that he was with my old acquaintance, the Rhenish-Bavarian, at Little Red river, and that he was going to join Turowski in farming. I had too lively a remembrance of the kindness of old Hilger not to take a walk to visit him; therefore, as soon as our fodder was all in, I prepared for my journey, and early on the 20th of August I shouldered my rifle, and, with one of S.’s dogs by my side, set off in the hottest season of the year through the dried swamp. The atmosphere was sultry in the extreme, but by evening I had reached the bank of White river, a distance of thirty-two miles, where I passed the night.

I was ferried across at daybreak, and had forty miles to go to reach the Little Red river. The south bank of the White is one of the most fertile in America, on which account it rejoices in the name of “Oiltrove bottom.” Some say that the soil is better than that of the American bottom opposite St. Louis; and this is my opinion, having seen from sixty to seventy bushels of maize to the acre, and pumpkins larger than a man can lift. Trees grow to an enormous size, some of the trunks of the sassafras trees measuring from five to six feet in diameter; pawpaw trees are also very numerous. This last is a small tree bearing a fruit about four or five inches long, and two to two and a half inches thick, having a soft sweetish pulp, with numbers of oily kernels. Generally speaking, the Americans do not value it much, though some are very fond of it. It was not at all to my taste; its bark is very tough, and is useful for a variety of purposes, amongst others for ropes. The valley of the White river is full of these trees, and of the thick American canes, or reeds, which form impenetrable thickets, and are the favorite haunts of bears. Just now this fruit was quite out of favor, and even the pigs would no longer eat it, when a distiller of the name of Magnus tried its qualities, and extracted such a superior spirit from it, that he declared he would not sell a drop of it, but keep it all for his own drinking.

Not to lose time, I had set off in the morning without breakfast, and by the time I had walked six miles had a very respectable appetite. Looking out for a house, I espied one about an hundred paces from the path. The door was open, and the family were just sitting down to breakfast; nothing better could be wished for. I sprang over the fence, and asked a stout pale man if I could have something to eat by paying for it; on receiving the expected answer I joined the company. Maize bread, coffee, and bacon, the usual breakfast in this part of the world, was spread out on the table, and I was preparing to set to with a will, when the man sitting by my side, after looking at me with a mournful expression, asked if I had ever in my life seen a man who was subject to epilepsy. Now such a question could be nowhere more out of place than when addressed to a hungry man sitting down to a good breakfast, so I answered shortly, “Yes, sir.” “Well then,” said he, “don’t be surprised if you see me attacked before breakfast is over, for at times it comes on very suddenly.” If any one had told me that the meat on the table, instead of good pork, was a piece of salted negro, it could not have taken away my appetite more effectually than did this grave announcement. I looked at the man in astonishment: he was very pale, and looked serious, and not at all given to joking. I looked at his wife, who was pale almost to transparency: I looked at the children, who were also deadly pale, but more dirty than transparent. I gulped down the cup of coffee in despair, gave the dog, who probably had not heard the observation, or cared nothing for it, the bread off my plate, which he eagerly took, paid my quarter dollar, the usual price for a breakfast, and continued my journey.