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the night. Selecting a secure place for
our encampment —a little prairie sur
rounded on three sides by a dense
growth of chaparral —we posted Willie
as our sentinel on the open side, and
the balance of us went to work to stake
the horses, pitch the tent, and collect
sufficient fuel to last us through the
night.
We had now fairly entered the In
dian range, although we were still within
the settlements; and Uncle Seth again
enjoined upon us the necessity of keep
ing up from this time a regular watch
whenever we halted. Guard duty,
therefore, from this time came quite
heavy upon us ; but as Uncle Seth had
told us that we would run great risk of
losing our scalps whenever we neg
lected to put out sentinels, we of course
took our regular turns without a mur
mur. When Willie’s two hours’ watch
had expired, he came into camp bring
ing with him three or four huge fossil
oyster shells, which he had picked up
where he had been stationed. They
were very large, and of an extinct spe
cies ; at least, none precisely similar to
them are now found in the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico.
“ How do you suppose,” asked Wil
lie, throwing the shells down by the
camp fire, “ that these bivalves were
brought so far into the interior of the
country? It must be more than one
hundred and sixty miles from here to
the nearest salt water.”
nis
that these shells were found all over
the country, even upon the tops of the
highest hills and mountains, and that it
was the general belief now, that the
whole of Texas had been, at a compar
atively recent geological period, sub
merged beneath the waters of the sea.
“In no other way,” said he, “can we
satisfactorily account for the presence
of these shells, and the remains of ma
rine animals and fishes, everywhere
found upon the most elevated portions
of the country.”
Uncle Seth, however, dissented from
this theory of Mr. Pitt, and said he
believed “them ar shells, and other
things that berlonged by rights to the
sea, was just tuck up like the frogs and
little fishes by the water spouts, and
were rained down agin over the face of
the yearth.”
Mr? Pitt smiled superciliously at this
original and unscientific way of account
ing for the presence of the bivalves so
far from their native element; but by
this time he was too well disciplined to
dispute the opinion of his commanding
officer. Turning to Cudjo, he said :
“ And how do you suppose, Cudjo,
that these oysters got so far up into the
country ? ”
“ Bress de Lord! Mass Pitt,” re
plied Cudjo, “how you reckon dis nig
ger know anyting’bout dat? Maybe
so, dey’s a sort of highland ister, and
de Ingens eat ’em all up, and leave de
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
shell. Dats jist de way I puts it up.
But,” added Cudjo, giving the final
toss to the last “flap-jack” he was
cooking in the frying-pan, “Supper’s
ready, gemmen; ” and the subject of
bivalves was dropped for the time, in
our eagerness to discuss the venison
steaks and other viands that were smo
king upon the grass in our tin platters.
After supper, Uncle Seth ordered
Cudjo to stake the pack-mule in the
entrance to the little prairie, because,
as he said, “the mule would be certain
to sing out if an Ingen should venter to
sneak on us from that quarter. A
mule,” added Uncle Seth, “is the most
watchful anamule in creation ; they’s
always on the look-out, ’specially for
Ingens. There’s nothing ekal to ’em
in that way, ’cept a horse that the In
gens have once stole—they never gits
over their dread of’em, I suppose be
cause the Ingens ride ’em so hard, and
treat ’em so cruel.”
The night, however, passed off with
out any alarm, and we all slept soundly
after the fatigues of the day, in spite of
the howling of a pack of wolves, at
tracted I suppose to our vicinity by the
smell of some fresh meat we had in
camp. Cudjo was very scarey of wolves,
and in consequence he slept with his
head so close to the fire, that his brains
would certainly have been cooked, if
they had not been so well protected by
his matted wool and the thickness of
his skull.
up by the gobbling of a
large gang of turkeys, that were roost
ing in a piece of timber, a short dist
ance from our camp. Willie seized his
gun and hurried off in the direction of
the roost. In a few moments we heard
him fire, and presently we saw him
coming back with a gobbler slung across
his shoulder. The gobbler was a very
large and fat one ; but as we could not
carry it along with us, Uncle Seth
merely stripped the feathers from its
breast, from which he sliced off steaks
enough for our breakfast, and handed
them over to Cudjo ; and upon trial all
hands voted them superior even to the
best venison steaks in delicacy and flavor.
Saddling up, we were soon on the
road again, which led us through a
beautiful rolling prairie country, inter
spersed with many handsome groves of
live oak, elm, hackberry, and other
varieties of timber, until we came to a
little stream called by the Mexicans the
Potrance. Crossing this, we continued
our route to another stream, where Un
cle Seth thought it best to call a halt,
and graze the horses an hour or so. So
we turned off the road, and went up
the creek about half-a-mile, where the
grazing was better than that in the im
mediate vicinity of the road, and un
saddled and unpacked beneath some
shady elms on the bank of the stream.
Placing Henry on guard, we spread
our ponchos on the green grass, and
laid down, intending to make ourselves
comfortable, whilst Cudjo was pre
paring something for our mid-day meal.
We had scarcely settled ourselves snugly
upon our blankets, however, when we
heard the most distressing cries and
screams in the direction of the road we
had just left. We were all on the qui
vive immediately, and Uncle Seth, after
listening a few minutes attentively to
the sounds, suddenly exclaimed, start
ing to his feet, and seizing his gun :
“ Boys, the blasted Ingens are mur
derin’ some travellers on the road, sure,
and we must save ’em if we can ; ” and
suiting the action to the word, he set
off at a full run, and snatching up our
guns hastily, we followed after him as
fast as our legs could carry us.
Urged on by the distressing cries,
which grew louder and louder as we
approached the road, we exerted our
selves to the utmost, and rapidly neared
the locality where we supposed the sav
ages were murdering and scalping their
hapless victims. Between us and the
road, there was a sort of ridge or eleva
tion in the prairie, which concealed the
dreadful scene that was being enacted
from our view.
Lawrence, who had proved himself
the swiftest runner in the crowd, gained
the top of this ridge somewhat ahead of
the rest of us, when he halted and
gazed for a moment in the direction of
the sounds; then turning towards us,
he threw himself upon the grass in a
perfect paroxysm of laughter. We were
ceeding on his part; but as 4 we came
up one by one, puffing and blowing, to
the place where he lay—from which
spot a view of the road could be had —
the mystery was explained, and we
joined heartily in the laugh. Slowly
winding their way peacefully along the
road, were about a dozen Mexican car
retas, or carts, from whose unwieldy
wooden wheels proceeded those heart
rending cries of distress —for grease!
that had so horrified our ears. Any
one who has ever heard the dismal
sounds produced by the clumsy wooden
wheels of these vehicles can readily
imagine how natural it was, under the
circumstances, that we should have
mistaken them for the cries of persons
in pain and terror.
I said that we all joined in the laugh,
but I must except Uncle Seth, who was
evidently greatly annoyed at the idea
that an old experienced hunter and
woodsman like himself should have
been so badly taken in and done for.
“ Well, I declar’ boys,” said he, “if
this don’t beat all creation! I havn’t
run as fur nor as fast sence the Ingens
chased me and Dick Sturgis on the
head of York’s Creek. I thought cer
tain it was women and children that
was screechin’ so ; when all the time
’twant nothing but these dratted carts.
Es the Ingens was only to bounce the
blasted yellow cusses that’s driving
them, sure enough, I could lay right
here and see ’em lift the last har on
their heads with the greatest of plea
sure. I wouldn’t budge an inch to save
the whole ‘ lay out’ from being toma
hawked and sculped. It’s too bad, drat
if it ain’t.”
And so saying, Uncle Seth rose up,
and with an air of supreme disgust
started back towards camp. We all fol
lowed him, considerably crestfallen at
the unexpected termination of our chi
valrous attempt to succour the “ dis
tressed.”
“Cousin Jack,” said Willie to me,
“as Uncle Seth says, ‘don’t this beat
all creation ? ’ There never was a set
of fellows so badly fooled as we have
been. Why, I saw those Mexican chaps
who were driving the carts laugh at us,
when we came running up to the top of
the ridge with our guns in our hands.
They knew well enough what brought
us there.”
“ Yes, Willie,” said I, “ we have been
taken in ridiculously this time, it can’t
be denied; and perhaps it will be best
for us not to say anything about this
scrape with the Indians when we get
home. If we do, we shall never hear
the last of it.”
No allusion was ever afterwards made
to it, except on one occasion, when
Willie demurely inquired of Uncle Seth
if he didn’t think we had better go to
the relief of a gang of cayotes that were
screeching in the distance. Uncle Seth
made no direct reply to Willie’s imper
tinent question, but merely said, “He
oTten, that when the wolf did come sure
enough, the sheep was gone before
they found out anything was wrong.”
It was evidently a sore subject with
the old man.
After dinner, we saddled up, and re
turning to the road, continued our route
through a beautiful rolling country, very
similar to that we had passed over in
the morning, until we came to the Me
dina, opposite the little town of Castro
ville, where we pitched our camp for
the night, about two hundred yards
above the road, near a fine spring of
clear, cold water that burst out from
the bank only a few feet above the bed
of the river.
The Medina at this point is a rapid
stream, running over a clean, rocky
bottom, with here and there deep still
pools and eddies, which had a very invi
ting look to the lovers of the gentle
sport, and as Willie and I were both of
that class, we rigged up our tackle, and
started off to try our luck. Casting our
lines into the transparent depths of one
of these pools, with our hooks baited
with some fat, tempting grasshoppers
which we had bagged on the way, we
soon secured a fine mess of perch and
bass, which we carried to camp, and
which made a very acceptable addition
to our supper. As no danger could be
reasonably apprehended from Indians
so near the settlement, Uncle Seth re
lieved us from guard duty, and we all
got a good night’s rest.