Part 33 (2/2)
It was a strange voyage The Indians had never been to sea before, and had never dreamed that such an expanse of water existed on the planet
They would stand at the rail, after the first days of seasickness were over, gazing out across the waves, and trying to descry so that seemed familiar and like hoo below, to brood and es
The joy that seized theht of land, and were assured that we did not intend to keep on sailing till we fell over the edge of the earth, was so flying the American colors, and when the band on board responded to our cheers with ”The Star-Spangled Banner”
even the Indians tried to sing Our band replied with ”Yankee Doodle,”
and as we moved toward port there was more noise on board than I had ever heard in any battle on the Plains
When the landing was made the members of the party were sent in special coaches to London Crowds stared at us frouards on the train were a little afraid of the sole Indians, but they were a friendly and jovial crowd, and when they had recovered fros they were soon on good terms with the Britishers
Major John M Burke, as my lifetie troupe We went to work at our leisure with our preparations to astonish the British public, and succeeded beyond our wildest drea London amphitheater, a third of a mile in circumference, was just the place for such an exhibition The artist's brush was employed on lavish scale to reproduce the scenery of the Western Plains I was busy for many days with preparations, and when our spectacle was finally given it was received with such a burst of enthusiasan, after the grand entry, with the hour of dawn on the Plains Wild animals were scattered about Within their tents were the Indians sleeping As the dawn deepened the Indians cah one of their sole on the British audience held its breath You could have heard a whisper in almost any part of the arena
Then in cahborhood of a hostile tribe
Instantly there was a wild scramble for mounts and weapons The enemy rushed in, and for ten minutes there was a sham battle which filled the place with noise and confusion This battle was copied as exactly as it could be copied froes in which I had taken part in ave them a buffalo hunt, in which I had a hand, and did a little fancy shooting As a finish there was a Wild Western cyclone, and a whole Indian village was blown out of existence for the delectation of the English audience
The initial perforiven before the Prince and Princess of Wales, afterward King Edward and his Queen, and their suite At the close of the program the Prince and Princess, at their own request, were introduced to all the leadingirls of the shoere presented to the Princess they stepped forward and offered their hands, which were taken and well shaken in true democratic fashi+on
Red shi+rt, the hly pleased when he learned that a princess was to visit hiift of oratory, and he replied to her greeting with a long and eloquent speech, in which his gestures, if not his words, expressed plainly the honor he felt in receiving so distinguished a lady The fact that he referred to Alexandria as a squaw did not seem to mar her enjoyment
That the Prince was really pleased with the exhibition was shown by the fact that he made an immediate report of it to his mother Shortly thereafter I received a command from Queen Victoria to appear before her
This troubled er to obey this flattering command, but that I was totally at a loss how to take reat residences occupied by Her Majesty
Finally, after many cautious inquiries, I discovered that she would be willing to visit the show if a special box was prepared for her This we did to the best of our ability The box was placed upon a dais covered with crimson velvet and handsomely decorated When the Queen arrived I met her at the door of the box, with my sombrero in my hand and welcomed her to ”the Wild West of America”
One of the first acts in the perfor to the front This was done by a soldier Walking around the arena, he offered the Stars and Stripes as an emblem of the friendshi+p of A directly to the royal box, and dipped it three tireat throng Then the Queen rose and saluted the flag with a bow, her suite following her example There was a wild cheer from everyone in the show, Indians included, and soon all the audience was on its feet, cheering and waving flags and handkerchiefs
This gave us a fine start and we never put on a better performance
When it was all over Her Majesty sent for me, and paid me many compliments as well as to racious and charhtiness which I had supposed was inseparable from a person of such exalted rank My subsequent experiences with royalty convincedthe rulers of the countries of Europe than you will find ae
It was interesting to watch old Red shi+rt when he was presented to the Queen He clearly felt that this was a cerenity hich he went through the introduction onderful to behold One would have thought to watch his and queens, and that he was really a little bored with the effort required to go through with them A second command from the Queen resulted in an exhibition before a nus of Saxony, Denians, and the Crown Prince of Austria
The Deadwood coach, one of the features of the shoas of particular interest to uests This was a coach with a history It was built in Concord, NH, and sent by water to San Francisco to run over a route infested with road-agents A number of times it was held up and robbed Finally, both driver and passengers were killed and the coach abandoned on the trail It reht into San Francisob an old stage-driver and placed on the Overland trail