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Written for Burke’s Weekly.
JACK DOBELL;
Or, A Boy’s Adventures in Texas.
A STORY FOR BOYS.
CHAPTER XL
I)EER AND ANTELOPES —MORE INDIANS —
THE MEXICAN LION —AN INCIDENT—SIGNS
OF AN AMERICAN SETTLEMENT —A MEXI
CAN CAMP —CAPTURED.
FTER passing through a
skirt of dense bottom
timber, more than a mile
fjjpf in width, we entered up
on a large prairie, in
which we saw many herds of deer,
and also a drove of antelopes.
«ET The antelope is a beautiful ani-
T mal, and much swifter than the
deer. They do not run, as the lat
ter, by springs or bounds, but regularly
and evenly, as the horse. Their horns
consist of two curved shafts with a single
prong to each. A man on a good saddle
horse can easily overtake a deer upon the
open prairie, but it would require a thor
ough-bred racer and a light rider to come
up with an antelope.
We also saw to-day a party of Indians
on horseback, but we eluded them by se
creting ourselves in the tall grass at the
bottom of a ravine. About night, we
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reached the timber on the further side of
the prairie, in which we struck camp, un
der the sheltering limbs of a huge live
oak tree.
In the morning we continued our route,
and after passing through some open post
oak timber, we came to a small stream,
called by the Mexicans the “ Garcitas,” as
I afterwards ascertained, which was not
more than knee deep, and of course easily
fordable. Crossing this, we went through
some more post oak woods, and then en
tered a large prairie, and it was late in
the evening, owing to our weakened con
dition, and the difficulty we had in ma
king our way through the tall and tang
led grass, before we came to the timber
on the opposite side, where we encamped
under some live oaks, enclosed by a dense
growth of underwood. Here we built up
a fire and slept soundly till morning, not
withstanding the howling of wolves, great
numbers of which had congregated in the
vicinity.
As soon as daylight appeared, we re
sumed our march, and passing through a
skirt of post oak woods, we came to an
other small stream called the “Arenosa,”
which was also fordable. After crossing
this stream, we soon entered another
large prairie, on the opposite side of which
BURKE’ S WEEK LY .
a long line of timber was dimly visible in
the distance. All day long, stopping oc
casionally to rest, we toiled through the
matted grass with which this prairie was
covered, and about night came to the
woods which we had seen, where we en
camped near a pool of water.
During the night we heard the roaring
of a Mexican lion, and for fear he might
make an attack upon us, we took good
care not to let our fire burn down too
low. The “ Mexican lion ”is the same, I
believe, as what is described in books of
Xatural History as the “Puma,” or South
American lion. They are of a tawny or
dun color, about the size of the East In
dian tiger, with a large round head, and
a short mane upon the neck. Their nails
are very long, sharp and curved, coming
to an edge upon the inside nearly as keen
as that of a knife. Their roar is precise
ly similar to that of the African lion.
They are fierce and strong, and when
pressed by hunger have been known to
attack men in open daylight. One in
stance of such an attack has come within
my own knowledge. Several wagoners,
with their wagons and teams, were trav
elingaroad running through an unsettled
part of the country. One of the wagon
ers, who was in want of a staff for his
whip, went off eighty or a hundred yards
from the road to cut one. Whilst busily
engaged in cutting down a small sappling
with his pocket knife, a “Mexican lion’
stealthily crept up behind him, and sprang
upon him before he was aware of its prox
imity. Ilis cries of distress reached the
ears of his comrades, and one of them in
stantly hastened to his assistance. He
had nothing in the shape of a weapon but
his ox whip, and with this he boldly at
tacked the lion, who, frightened by the
approach of another man, or the loud
popping of his whip, let go his hold and
retreated rapidly into the woods; but the
poor fellow was dreadfully bitten and torn
by his sharp claws, and it was a long time
before his wounds were healed. The
Mexican lion is now hardly ever found,
except in the large jungles or “ chappa
rals,” as they are called in Texas, lying
between the Xueces and Rio Grande
rivers.
As soon as day had fairly broke, we
again started, and passing through a
heavily timbered bottom, came to the La
vaca or Cow river, a small stream about
thirty yards in width, at the place where
we struck it. In going through the bot
tom we observed several piles of rails and
some scattering clapboards, which con
vinced us that we were in the vicinity ot
some place that had been settled by
Americans. We also saw a drove of hogs
in the bottom, which confirmed us in this
impiession, but they were as wild as deer,
and,although by this time our hunger was
almost as pressing as ever, we made no
attempt to catch any of them, as we knew
it would be useless to do so.
We swam the river without difficulty,
and stopped for several hours upon the
bank to rest ourselves and dry our clothes.
We then started again, but the bottom on
that side was very wide, and the day be
ing cloudy, we lost our way, so that it
was nearly sundown when we came to
the open prairie.
A few hundred yards below where we
came out of the timber, we observed about
a dozen horses staked out in the prairie,
and upon approaching them we heard the
voices of their owners proceeding from
the woods in their vicinity. I advised a
hasty retreat, as I was satisfied the peo
ple in the woods were Mexicans, but
II took up tne impression that the
horses belonged to American spies, and
recommended an opposite proceeding, or
rather that we should secrete ourselves
in some clumps of bushes, from which the
horses, and any one that might come out
to look after them, could be seen. H—’s
counsel prevailed, and B and myself
hid ourselves in a small bunch of bushes,
and II in another close by. A dog
that the Mexicans had with them, all this
time kept up an incessant barking, which
probably may have aroused their suspi
cions that all was not right, for in a few
moments a strapping “ranchero” came
out of the timber, and, after looking to
see if the horses had been disturbed in
any way, he came on as straight as he
could walk to the clump of bushes in
which B and myself had hidden our
selves, and was just on the eve of enter
ing it, when he discovered us. He sprang
back instantly, exclaiming, “ Hay Ameri
canos ! Que quiereis ustedes aqui f Quiereis
rob(iv robar nuestros ccivallos / which may
be translated, “Here are some Ameri
cans! What do you want here? Do
you want to steal our horses ? ’ lie then
beckoned us to follow him, which we did,
knowing that resistance in our u eakened
condition would be worse than useless,
and that one shout from the “ranchero ”
would bring the whole party of Mexicans
out of the timber upon us.
Self-Dependance.
Were we to ask one hundred men,
who from small beginnings have attain
ed a condition of respectability and influ
ence, to what they imputed their success
in life, the general answer would be, “It
was from being early compelled to think
for and depend on ourselves.”
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