Wild Life in the Far West: Being the Personal Adventures of a Border Mountain Man. Captain James Hobbs
and all the Shawnees were engaged by him, and went on with his train; but Smith and Carson returned to Bent's Fort, in company with other trappers.
CHAPTER IV.
WE met with no particular adventures, after leav- ing Santa Fe, until we had traveled about one hundred and fifty miles, to a small village on a tributary of the Rio Grande, when, one morning while driving in our mules and preparing to start the train, a band of Navajo Indians attacked us, for the purpose of creating a stampede among our mules. They did not succeed in getting any of our animals, and one of the Indians paid the forfeit of his life, as Spiebuck shot him at long range.
We had no further trouble till we reached Dead Man's plain, some two hundred and fifty miles from Santa Fe. This desert is ninety miles wide; and we rested on the border of it over one day, to rest our mules and provide water, preparatory to the terrible trial, as we were to travel night and day till we should strike the Rio Grande again. The morning; we were to start across the desert, I was on guard with eight others, and, just before daylight, nine Apaches made a raid on us, stampeding our mules, running them over three or four of the guard, and breaking one man's ribs. In our train were seventy-five wagons, ten mules to each wagon, and there were about seven hundred of the mules run off. It was all done by the nine Apaches, who ran in among the mules, rattling buffalo hides and stones in gourds, scaring the animals fearfully.
We were now in a bad predicament. Nearly all our
68 PURSUIT OF APACHES.
mules were scampering over the plain, and our camp thrown into terrible confusion. As soon as possible, I mustered a party of eighteen, saddled our best remain- ing mules, and, taking some bacon and bread, started in pursuit; feeling rather sore that the mules should be run off while I had charge of the guard, and deter- mined to bring them back, or leave my scalp with the Apaches. In our party I had James Littleton and several other Americans, with Spiebuck and some of the best shots among the Shawnees,—all picked men. We followed the tracks to the Rio Grande, and found the mules had crossed by the help of other Apaches, who had here joined the raiding, thieving Indians. The river was high, and we had to stop and hastily construct a raft to carry us over with our rifles and provisions, swimming our horses alongside. This de- tained us all day, and at night we slept on the opposite bank, wet and chilly, but determined to give chase as soon as it became light enough to see the tracks. Spie- buck took the lead, and we followed as rapidly as possible. The fourth day, our bacon and bread gave out, and we had nothing to eat. The fifth day, the largest game we saw was jack-ass rabbits, of which we killed two and divided among the company of eighteen persons. On the sixth day, I shot a wolf, but its flesh was so poor and bad-flavored, that we could not eat it, but lay down that night, hungry and nearly discour- aged. The sixth night, we held a council to decide whether to return or go forward, which was decided in favor of going ahead to the next mountain, and then, if no smoke appeared, or other signs of Indians, we would return. The seventh day, upon reaching the top of the hills, we found one of the mules with a leg broken by getting into a crevice in the rocks.
ATTACK ON APACHES. 69
"Here is my off- wheel mule, Poor Old Ned," said Enoch Barnes, one of the Americans in our party. We killed the mule and took off all his meat, packing it 0:1 the rear of our saddles, and proceeded down the other side of the mountain to a green flat, or "bottom," where we found good water and plenty of grass for our jaded animals. There we feasted on sweet mule-meat, without salt. Spiebuck said he was confident we should soon overtake the Indians, as the tracks were fresh. With only three hours' delay for feeding our animals and refreshing ourselves, we proceeded on our way, and just before sundown found two more mules that had given out. Spiebuck noticed that the animals were sweating, and remarked that the Indians were near. We took an early start the next morning, and soon arrived at the spot where the Indians had just broke camp, probably not two hours before. There was still fire burning, and remnants of a mule which had furnished their breakfast. Spiebuck, after closely examining the signs, said there were less than twenty-five Indians in the party. After going five miles further, we came in sight of our animals feeding. As the feed was good, the Apaches had stopped, and some of them were watching the stock, while nine were lying down in a hollow, apparently asleep. Dismounting from our mules, we advanced very cautiously, without being discovered, till we arrived on the bank above the sleeping Indians, when, each picking his man, we fired and killed or wounded the whole of them. At all events, we brought away nine scalps; but there were ten or twelve more Indians on the other side of the ravine, who fled up the hillside and escaped, though we fired at them and pursued them a short distance. Then we gathered our animals
70 "MULE VENISON."
together and started back as quickly as possible; for we were within one day' s travel of the Apache nation, and it was unsafe to stay long.
We started back with more animals than we lost, for we gained several mules from the Apaches whom we killed. We were pursued and fired upon, just as we arrived at the Rio Grande, by two hundred Apaches. The river having fallen, we forded it quickly, and were not pursued beyond the river, for they knew we were prepared to give them a warm reception. We reached our camp safely with the mules, after an absence of two weeks, and found that our friends had given us up for lost, knowing the light stock of provisions we had taken and the extreme danger of the enterprise.
There was great joy in camp when we returned. That evening we carried out a plan we had formed while on our return, to give those who remained in camp a taste of what we had encountered in the pur- suit. They came around us as we were unsaddling our mules, and, seeing what remained of Barnes's Old Ned, asked what that was. We very soberly told them it was venison,—the remainder of a fat buck we had shot. As they had been living for some days on bacon, beans, &c, they were all very anxious for pieces of it. We very generously supplied them, and soon a number of fires were started and the meat put down to roast. They all declared it to be the sweetest meat they ever tasted. After they had finished eating it, we disturbed their stomachs somewhat by telling them they had been feasting on Old Ned, whom they all knew very well, when some of them were dis- posed to resent it, but finally called it a good joke.
Mr. Speyers, having given us up for lost, had gene back to Santa Fe, to purchase a fresh supply of mules,
STARTING ACROSS DEAD MAN'S PLAIN. 71
and we immediately started a messenger to inform him of the recovery of his animals. He had not completed any purchases, and came back at once. Upon seeing us safe, and hearing of the perils of our expedition for the recovery of his mules, he was highly pleased, and paid us liberally, besides promising us one hundred dollars for each of the nine Apache scalps when we should arrive at Chihuahua, which promise he faith- fully kept.
Owing to the jaded condition of the mules, Mr. Speyers sent several wagons back ten miles to a Mexican settlement for corn, and we rested five days, herding the mules under a double guard, day and night. On the sixth day, we started to cross the ninety-mile stretch of desert, where there is not a drop of water or a stick of wood. We started at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and traveled till the next morning at 9 o'clock, when we were compelled to lay by on account of the extreme heat. We resumed our march in the evening, and thus traveled for three nights. The second day, we were overtaken by two Mexican mail-carriers, who were nearly in a perishing condi- tion, for want of water and provisions, and we supplied them. The next night, while I was driving the forward team, I became very sleepy, and got off and walked alongside to keep awake. Suddenly I stumbled over a man lying in the road, and fell, with my hand striking his face, and my flesh crept on my bones when I discovered that his head and face were mashed and bloody. I stopped the train, and Mr. Speyers, who rode in a carriage, drove up, and was considerably frightened when he saw, by the light of his lantern, that the body was that of one of the Mexican mail- riders, who had been fed by us the day before. We
72 FALSE ALARM.
found, a few feet distant, the body of the other