Part 4 (1/2)
”Well, ht to look upon--those fierce, gaunt wolves--thechild Of course, the wolves fled at the approach of ht Well they ht, poor brutes! for had we not coainst such fearful odds
Although the battle had not been a long one, and commenced most likely after we had driven the wolves fro in many places As I stooped down to take up the little Luisa, she still clung close around the neck of herfor her 'ain She was lifeless and cold There was an arrow in her breast
It was plain, that after receiving this wound she had fled into the thicket--no doubt followed by the faithful dogs--and, favoured by the darkness, had kept on, until she had fallen and died The position of her ar her child to her bosouard the body, I carried the child back to h so lately terrified with the battle of the wolves and dogs, the little creature cried at being separated froled in ain interrupted by the sobs of McKnight, who--although a fir to these painfully affecting details The children of Rolfe, too, repeatedly wept aloud The ”dark sister” herself seemed least affected of all Perhaps that terrible scene, occurring at such an early period of her life, had impressed her character with the firmness and composure which afterwards marked it Every now and then she bent towards the ”fair one,” throwing her ar to restrain her tears
”I gave the child to my wife,” continued Rolfe, after a pause, ”and in the coe, she soon ceased crying, and fell asleep in oing back dug a grave; and, with the help of Cudjo, hastily interred the body I say _hastily_, for we did not know the ht stand in need of some one to do as much for ourselves
It seems that our labour was in vain; yet even had we known this was to be the case, we should not the less have acted as we did There was so this last sacred and Christian ceremony for ourer near the spot, but hastening back to our wagon, I led the oxen in aht be hidden fro my wife and little ones to God, I shoulderedwhether the savages had left the place, and in what direction they had gone It was my intention, should I be able to satisfy o by so o on to the country of New Mexico I knew very well that at that late season, and with oxen worn-out, as ours were, I could never get back to Saint Louis--which was nearly eight hundredthrough bushes, and skulking behind rocks--I saw the trail of the Indians striking out into an open plain, in a due westerly direction They e band, and allthat they hadtwo or three days' journey to the south, and afterwards turning in a westerly direction This wouldes of the Rocky Mountains through which I ht pass into the valley of New Mexico I had heard h these mountains, than that which lies near Santa Fe; and I hoped to be able to reach it, although I believed it to be two hundred miles distant With these plans in my mind, I returned to where I had left ot back to the wagon, and I found Mary and the children in great distress at ood news--that the Indians were gone away
”I first thought of re yet fully satisfied that the Indians were gone, I changedthat ere to have a moon, and that a smooth plain stretched away towards the south, I concluded that it would be better to ht journey of it, and put twenty reed with this proposal In fact, ere all equally anxious to get away from that fearful spot; and had we stayed by it, not one of us could have slept a wink The apprehension that the savages s--to say nothing of the terrible howling of the wolves--would have kept us awake; so, resolving to take our departure, aited for the rising of the moon
”We did not waste tireat want in these deserts, both for ht next find it; so we took the precaution to fill our vessels at the stream We filled all we had that would hold water
Alas! these were not enough, as you shall hear
”The th She seemed to smile upon the horrid picture that lay below at the deserted ca our oxen out of their _cache_, we struck out into the open plain, in a direction as nearly south as I could guide myself I looked northward for the star in the tail of the Little Bear--the polar star--which I soon found by the pointers of the Ursa Major; and keeping this directly on our backs, we proceeded on
Whenever the inequalities of the ground forced us out of our track, I would again turn to this little star, and consult its unfailing index
There it twinkled in the blue heavens like the eye of a friend It was the finger of God pointing us onward
”And onent--here creeping around so over a sandy swell--and anon rolling briskly along the s through was a parched and treeless desert
”We ht's journey of it, cheered by the prospect of escaping froes When day broke, ere twenty h hills that surrounded it were completely lost to our view, and we knew fro way; for soht We knew that we must have passed over a considerable arc of the earth's surface before their tops could have sunk below the horizon Of course, soes, such as the sandy swells I have mentioned, helped to hide them from our view; but, at all events, we had the satisfaction of knowing that the savages, even had they returned to the camp, could not now see us fro our tracks, and following us Urged by this apprehension, we did not halt when the day broke, but kept on until near noontide Then we drew up--for our oxen, as well as the horse, were coo no farther without rest
”It was but a poor rest for thereen except the _artemisia_ plant, the ood--which, of course, neither horse nor oxen would touch This grew all around us in low thickets Its gnarled and twisted bushes, with their white silvery leaves, so far fro the eye, only served to render the scene more dreary and desolate--for we knew that this plant denoted the extrerew, the desert was around it
”It was, indeed, but a poor rest for our ani the noon hours,them still more thirsty We could not afford them a drop of the precious water; for we ourselves were oppressed with extre It was as s, Castor and Pollux
”Long before night, we once more yoked to the oxen, and continued our journey, in the hope of reaching so By sunset we had made ten miles farther to the south, but no land to indicate the presence of water We could see nothing around us but the sterile plain stretching on all sides to the horizon--not even a bush, or rock, or the form of a wild animal, relieved the monotonous expanse We were as much alone, as if we had been in an open boat in the row alaro back? No, that would never do Even had the prospect at the end of a backward journey been ht be able to reach the stream we had just left We should surely reach water as soon by keeping forward; and with this thought we travelled on through all the livelong night
”When ain surveyed the horizon, but could see no object along its level line I was riding gloo their laborious efforts, when a voice sounded inin the fore part of the wagon, looking out from under the tilt
”'Papa! papa!' cried he, 'look at the pretty white cloud!'
”I looked up at the boy, to see what heto the south-east, and I turned my eyes in that direction I uttered an exclamation of joy, which startled my companions; for I saw that what Frank had taken for a white cloud was the snowy cap of a ht have seen it before, hadin that quarter; but they were not, as I was exa the sky more towards the south and west
”Guided by no very extraordinary experience, I knew that where there was snow there must be water; and, without another word, I directed Cudjo to head his oxen for the ht not of that, for the saving of our lives had now come to be the only question with us
”The mountain was still twenty miles distant We could have seen it ht The question ould our oxen be able to reach it? They were already tottering in their tracks If they should break down, could we reach it? Our water was all gone, and ere suffering froht I,of its snows Perhaps weat the mountain-foot But, no;--the plain evidently sloped down froo the other way We should find no water before reaching the mountain-- perhaps, not then; and, tortured with these doubts, we pushed glooive out One of theo much farther Every article that was of no present use was thrown fro on the plain; but still the poor brutes were scarce able to drag it along We went at a snail's pace
”A short restonised by the cries ofchildren Mary bore up nobly; so, too, did the boys For myself, I could not offer a word of consolation, for I knew that ere still ten ht of the possibility of riding on ahead, and bringing back some water in the vessels; but I saw that my horse could never stand it He was even now unable to carryhim Cudjo also walked by the side of the oxen Another of these now gave up, and only two re the vehicle