Wild Life in the Far West: Being the Personal Adventures of a Border Mountain Man. Captain James Hobbs
and face covered with mud, his mother wit came to his relief and he declared he had accomplished the hunter's task, "For sure," said he, "havn't I fetched the mate into camp, and there was no bargain whether it should be dead or alive, at all, at all."
Upon asking O'Neil where his gun was—
"Sure, " says he, "that's more than I can tell you."
Next morning Kit Carson and I took his tracks and the buffalo' s, and, after hunting an hour or so, found 0' Neil's gun, though he had little use for it afterwards as he preferred to cook and help around the camp to exposing his precious life in fighting buffaloes.
One morning Kit Carson and I discovered some fresh signs of Indians while we were out on a tramp prospecting the chances for trapping. On our return to camp we warned our partners to keep a good look- out for them and not to stray away from camp with- out due precaution.
The next day while out with a company, including Kit Carson and Spiebuck, we discovered that otter and beaver were plenty in the neighborhood; before night we made an interesting capture of an old "Crow" Indian squaw, who was over one hundred years old. We took her into camp, fed her, and gave her a blanket to sleep on. None of us could converse with her except Peg-leg Smith, and he having lived among the Crow Indians could talk with her some, and gain a little information, though she was too old and timid to be very chatty with him even.
Next day we divided into two parties for setting
MEETING WITH CROWS. 57
beaver traps, hunting game, &c, and at night one party reported in camp that they had discovered eight Crow Indians that day at some distance, but had no communication with them. Peg-leg Smith, who lost his leg among the Crows several years before and was acquainted with their habits and language, said he should like to hunt them up, and, taking only Shawnee Jake for a companion, sallied forth the next morning to visit the Crows; though we offered to send an escort, they refused, thinking there was no danger. The rest of us were busy all day in hunting game and skinning our beaver and otter, having caught in our traps by the river side, seventy -six beaver and a dozen otter, which we thought good luck for the first night's trapping. At night all of us were gathered in camp except Peg-leg Smith and Jake, for whom we had fears, but concluded to wait another day for them to come in, and if we saw nothing of them, to then go in pursuit. The second night we had only caught fifty beaver and five otter, but on returning to camp we espied ten Indians near where we found the old squaw and they were apparently looking for her. After watching them awhile, Kit Carson advised us to show ourselves, as we might have some communica- tion with them. On discovering us they started to run; but Kit placed a white handkerchief on his ramrod and made other friendly signs which induced them to stop, and one of their number cautiously approached to meet Kit, previously laying down his bow and arrows as Kit threw down his gun. After they had conferred alone, chiefly by signs, the Indians advanced to meet us, and after a good smoke all round they had confidence enough to go with us on our return to camp for they saw from our game that we were simply
58 PARTING WITH THE CROWS.
friendly hunters. When they saw the old squaw they were much pleased, and one Indian who looked about sixty years of age, said she was his mother and appeared very thankful that we had given her a blanket.
Kit Carson said to us that as Peg-leg and Jake had not returned, we might keep these fellows as hostages and take their scalps, if they should not return.
He felt so anxious that Spiebuck and I concluded to go with him to hunt up our missing comrades, and we finally found them returning to our camp in company with the Crow chief and four warriors. When we got in, there was great joy among the Indians to meet their chief.
Smith declared the Crows rather treacherous, but he had a wife among them and lost his leg fighting for them, which would be a sufficient guaranty of our safety so long as he remained with us. The chief staid in camp till next day and Peg-leg Smith pro- posed to take his people to Bent's Fort to trade with Bent; but the chief declined as it was dangerous for the Crows to leave their mountain country, and get down among the Cheyennes, Comanches, and Arapa- hoes. But the chief was desirous to trade with the whites if they would bring their goods up there. Car- son immediately started a Shawnee Indian with a letter to Bent's Fort, over two hundred miles, with instructions to send him some goods on our pack mules, which had been sent down with furs.
After the Indian and his letter had started to the fort, the chief and his warriors left, mostly on foot; but before going he assured us that none of us should be hurt and promised to come back in about a month to trade. Smith furnished the Indian with a pack mule
RETURN TO BENT'S FORT. 59
to carry his mother home and lie returned with it in four days, according to promise.
We kept on trapping and hunting there until the pack mules arrived with the goods from the fort. Bent sent four or five hundred dollars worth of goods and we traded them to the Crows for three or four thousand dollars worth of furs. Then we all returned to Bent's Fort with our train heavily laden with furs and buffalo-robes.
We stayed two or three weeks at Bent's Fort, re- cruiting up and having a good time with old friends. Bent was highly pleased with our trip. Trappers always have many thrilling yarns and funny stories to tell each other when they meet at head-quarters, and we had our share. Often did we have a good laugh over the adventures of Mclntire and O'Neil.
Bent proposed that we should go back to the Crow nation and establish a post among them, but Carson objected on account of furs being scarce up there, and he considered that we had drained that market already, and he thought there were other places where we could do better.
In a short time, we were ready for another hunt. Kit Carson, Peg-leg Smith, and myself, with a number of our Shawnee Indian trappers, started for New Mexico, going over what was called the Taos moun- tain. We stopped in Santa Fe some two or three weeks, meeting there Colonel Owens, Nicholas Gentry, and other traders from Independence, Mo. Soon after (in December, 1840), a report came that Albert Spey- ers' s train was snowed in on the Cimarron creek, about two hundred and fifty miles from Santa Fe, and that over four hundred of his mules were frozen to death. He had seventy-five wagons and ten mules to the
60 A RELIEF TRAIN.
wagon. All the American mules died, and the Mexi- can mules sustained life by eating off the manes, and tails from the dead carcasses. The snow was two feet deep, and the teamsters could make no fire, except by tearing up their wagon-boxes and side-boards, as the buffalo chips were all covered up, and the nearest timber was about ten miles off, at Cottonwood Grove. The storm had come on suddenly, and the cold was so intense that the animals had frozen, and their bones remain there to this day, which gave that place the name of Bone Yard.
Colonel Owens came to me, when the report of this disaster reached Santa Fe, and, knowing I had been among the Comanches, he begged me to take charge of a relief train and start off immediately. As the route lay through a part of the Comanche country, and I spoke their language, he offered me a good price to go, and I consented. The train was fitted up with dispatch, and the mules, oxen, and provisions were soon ready. We had ten Mexicans to drive the loose oxen and mules, and teamsters to drive the wagons. A Mexican in the employ of Mr. Speyers, who had come in with the news, returned with us as guide. We were twenty days in reaching the perishing train, and found them in an awful situation. They had driven what mules remained alive to the cottonwood grove, ten miles away, and, loading part of them with wood, had taken it back to camp. They had also cut down immense quantities of the cottonwood trees for shelter, and the mules lived on the buds and bark. If the storm, which lasted several days, had not come on so fiercely and suddenly the first night, they might have saved the whole train, by starting at once for this grove.
ALBERT SPEYERS. 61
My trip for their relief was through a wild country, and, as we encountered deep snows, our progress was necessarily slow. We had four hundred mules and sixty yoke of Mexican cattle; but it was hard work to move