Newspaper Page Text
346
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
The. Sailor'Boys.
HE boys who to the sea go down
i-jlvx In ships that are strong and fleet,
(MSy Have less than you of joy to crown
CUfg* The wanderings of their feet.
Rough and rude is their life in port,
oT 5 Whilo the freights go out and in;
* They have not much of work or sport
That is not mixed up with sin.
“ 0 heave ahoy ! 0 heave ahoy!
And now pull, my hearties, strong!”
These are the words the sailor boy
Doth sing for his daily song.
And when he is out upon the sea
The ship is his only home ;
There is no place to which to flee
When the strong temptations come.
But with Christ (a sure refuge then,)
And the Bible for his friend,
Though the ship were a lion’s den,
He could life and soul defend.
Yet there no altar fires burn bright,
No church-bell sendeih abroad
The welcome call, at morn and night,
For the worship of the Lord.
Then pray for sailor boys at sea,
From mother and home afar.
That the teachings of Christ may be
To them as a guiding star.
That when Life’s voyage is ended
A heaven of bliss they’ll gain,
Where joy and peace are not blended
With sorrow, and care, and pain.
Sidney Herbert.
Clayton, Alabama, 1870.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
THE ADVENTURES OF
BIG-FOOT WALLACE,
The Texas Ranger and Hunter.
By the Author of “ Jack Dobell; or , A Boy's
«. Adventures in Texas."
CHAPTER XLIV.
SAX LUIS POTOSI QUERETARO —TULI —
TIIE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA —MUR-
DER OF CAPT. CAMEROX —ARRIVAL AT
THE CITY OF MEXICO—PUT TO WORK OX
THE PUBLIC ROAD —HOW WALLACE GOT
HIS PAY —HOW OXE OFTHEMEX “PLAY
ED HORSE'' —ESCAPE OF PRISONERS —
WHY WALLACE WAS CALLED “BIG-FOOT.”
“ TEXAS CANNIBALS.”
Vyjl HE next morning we took up
the line of march for San Luis
Potosi, but before leaving the
dreary old rancho, we were taken out
and drawn up in line in front of the
bloody and stiffened forms of our mur
dered companions. For what purpose
this was done I know not, unless it was
to inspire us with a wholesome dread of
a similar fate should we ever attempt to
rise upon our guard again.
In four or five days we arrived at San
Luis Potosi, the largest city we had yet
seen in Mexico. It has a population of
perhaps fifty or sixty thousand. Here
we remained several days, during which
time our handcuffs, or “bracelets,” as
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
we termed them, which we had worn
constantly for more than a month, were
taken off.
We then went on to Queretaro, also
a considerable city ; andjthence on to
Tuli, a little village, containing a few
hundred inhabitants.
At Tuli we were'all crammed into a
small room, without ventilation, and
came near suffocating before we were
liberated. It gave me a vivid concep
tion of the horrors of the “ black hole”
at Calcutta.
At a little place beyond this, the name
of which I have forgotten, the gallant
Capt. Cameron was taken out and shot
by order of Santa Anna. I understood
the plea for this second murder was,
that in the lottery of the black and white
beans, there was a fractional part of our
number (not quite ten men) for which
no additional black bean had been put
in the pot, and Capt. Cameron was shot
to make amends for the omission. The
truth is, however, the Mexicans were
afraid of him, and no doubt had deter
mined to put hinVout of the way “ by
fair means or foul.” No braver or bet
ter man than Capt. Cameron ever lived
or died. His death was universally re
gretted by the men.
In two or three days we arrived at the
City of Mexico, and were furnished with
quarters in the prison of Santiago, just
outside its limits. A description of the
city of Mexico has been so often given
by those better qualified for such a task
than I am that I shall not attempt it.
We remained at Santiago but a few
days, and were then transferred to the
prison of San Angel. Nearly every
thing and every place in Mexico is
named after some Saint, and among
them some of the most unmitigated ras
cals I have ever known have rejoiced in
the patronymic of “Jesus,” or “Hasoos,”
as they pronounce it.
From San Angel, at the expiration of
nine or ten days, we were taken to Mo
lino del Rey, where we were supplied
with picks, spades and shovels and put
to work on the public road between
Tacubaya and the Bishop’s Palace. We
remained at the city of Mexico from
about the first of May until the last of
October, during all of which time we
w r ere kept pretty constantly employed
on the public works, for which we have
never received one dime in the way of
compensation to this day. On reflec
tion, however, I am wrong in making
such an assertion, as far as I am indi
vidually concerned, for when General
Taylor captured Monterey in 1846, I
was amply repaid for all the work Iliad
done for the Mexican government, in
witnessing the defeat and discomfiture
of their “grand army” at that place,
to say nothing of a few “pesos” I pick
ed up in the row.
If the truth must be told, though, we
never injured ourselves much by work
whilst in Mexico. We resorted to all
sorts of expedients that would enable us
to slight the tasks imposed on us. For
instance, when carrying small rocks or
pebbles in the sacks furnished us for
that purpose, we would tear holes in
them and let our loads drip out gradu
ally on the way, so that by the time we
arrived at our destination, there proba
bly wouldn't be material enough left in
our sacks to have made a “dirt-daub
er's nest.”
On a certain occasion, when we were
all employed in transporting earth and
other materials from one part of the
road to another, the Mexicans hitched
up some of our stoutest men to little
carts, to enable us to carry on the work
more rapidly. Among them was a
stout active fellow by the name of J —,
who soon became so disgusted with
“playing horse” that he resolved to
“fly the track.” Whilst the train of
carts was traveling slowly along the
edge of the embankment, he suddenly
pretended to “ take fright” at some ob
ject on the roadside, and giving a snort
that a mustang wouldn’t have been
ashamed of, he started off with his cart
at railway speed. In vain the Mexican
guard that were stationed along the
road at intervals halloed to him to stop,
and even placed themselves in his way
in their endeavors to arrest his flight.
But nothing could stop his headlong
career after he had once got his cart
fairly under way, for the road was
smooth and hard and down hill in the
direction he was going.
At length he came to a favorable spot,
and kicking himself out of his traces, he
gave the cart a dexterous twist that
sent it whirling down to the bottom of
the embankment, where it was dashed
to pieces on the rocks. This was all
the work of an instant, and continuing
his flight dowm the road with increased
velocity when freed from the cart, he
ran on a hundred yards or so further,
when he suddenly halted, whirled round
and gave another snort that might have
been heard for a mile.
I verily believe the Mexicans thought
at first that he had run off involuntari
ly, supposing, perhaps, it was one of
the natural characteristics of the “ wild
Texans” to stampede occasionally like
wild horses; but when the fun of the
thing gradually dawned upon them they
laughed heartily, and as soon as the
runaway was captured and brought
back, instead of punishing him severely,
as we anticipated, they gave him his
shovel and told him to go, and never
afterwards hitched him in the traces
again.
While in the city of Mexico, nine or
ten of our men succeeded in making
their escape from prison, and eventual
ly the most of them, in various dis
guises, from the country. They got out
of their cells through a small tunnel
they had dug with their knives under
the foundations, barely large enough
for o«e man to pass through at a time.
They worked at this tunnel by turns
during the tiight, packing off the dirt
and other material excavated in their
haversacks, when they went out to their
daily tasks. There is no doubt that
they .labored much more faithfully at
this little private job than they ever did
upon the public works.
Among the men who escaped was one
named Thompson who had played “old
soldier” upon the Mexicans the whole
time. When we were recaptured in the
mountains, he bound up one of his legs
with old rags, and Jpretended to be too
lame to walk, and the guard was com
pelled to furnish him with a horse. He
never walked a foot of the way from
there to the city of Mexico. The Mexi
cans were, therefore, much astonished,
when these men made their escape from
prison, to find that the “ pobrecito
coxo,” as they called him, (the “poor
lame fellow,”) Thompson, was one of
the number. I knew all the while there
was nothing in the world the matter
with him, but of course I felt no dispo
sition to betray him.
It was while we were prisoners at the
city of Mexico that I acquired the name
of “ Big-Foot,” which has stuck to me
like Texas mud ever since. It happen
ed in this way. Some of the foreign
residents of the city, observing that we
were almost in a shoeless condition,
made up by contribution among them
selves a sufficient sum to purchase a
pair of shoes for each of us. Every one
was fitted with a suitable pair except
myself; but I searched in vain every
shop and “tienda” in the city for even
a pair of No. ll’s, though 12’s fit me
best, and finally I had no alternative
left me but to buy the leather and have
a pair put up on purpose for me by a
“ Zapatero,” or go barefooted. The
Mexicans are generally a small people
compared with the Americans, and their
feet are still smaller in proportion;
consequently they were much astonish
ed at the size of mine, and from that
time forward, and as long as I remained
in the city, I was known among them
as “ Big-Foot.”
I flatter myself, however, that my foot
is not a very large one, taking into con
sideration the fact that I am just six
feet two inches, and weigh upwards of
two hundred pounds net. But, even if
it were otherwise, there is nothing dis
honorable in the appellation, and I
would rather be called “ Big-Foot Wal
lace” than “Lying Wallace,” or “Thiev
ing Wallace.” Such handles to my
name would not be agreeable.
During our stay in Mexico, on one
occasion, when five or six of us were
being taken by a guard Irom one part
of the city to another for some purpose,
a mob of old men, women and boys
gathered around us, shouting “Death
to the Gringos!” “Down with the here
tics,” etc. Our guard endeavored in
vain to keep them back, and they were
pressing closer and closer upon us in
the most threatening manner. At last