PS 2060 .ftl 1871 Copy 1 y^. / w aH: \/^ *. EISS, El 2-06P )0(ik ^ I'RKSKNTKn BY m- >^ tp -^ ■^ : ^r^: > IRVING' S CRAYON MISCELLANY, RIVERSIDE EDITION. WITH VIGNETTE TITLE-PAGE. c: R A'y N ivj I s c ell Ar^ ii'' BY WASHINGTON IRVING. THE CRAYON MISCELLANl' 1!Y WASHINGTON IRVING. THE AUTUOR'S REVISED EDITION. COMPLETE IN OXE VOLUME. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1871. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by Georoe p. Putnam, m the Clerk's OfBce of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. CONTENTS. A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. PAOS CHAPTER I. The Paivnee Hunting-Grounds. — Travelling Compan- ions. — A Commissioner. — A Virtuoso. — A Seeker of Adventures. — A Gil Bias of the Frontier. — A Young Man's Anticipations of Pleasure 11 CHAPTER II. Anticipations disappointed. — New Plans. — Preparations to join an Exploring Party. — Departure from Fort Gibson. — Fording of the Yeidicris. — An Indian Cav- alier 17 CHAPTER HI. An Indian Agency. — Riflemen. — Osages, Creeks, Trap- pers, Dogs, Horses, Half-breeds. — lieatte, the Hunts- man 22 CHAPTER IV. The Departure 27 CHAPTER V. Frontier Scenes. — A Lycurgus of the Border. — L^-nch's Law. — The Danger of finding a Horse. — The Young Osage 30 CHAPTER VI. Trail of the Osage Hunters. — Departure of the Count and his Party. — A Deserted War-Camp. — A Vagrant Dog. — The Encampment 36 CHAPTER VII. N'ews of the Rangers. — The Count and his Indian Squire. — Halt in the Woods. — Woodland Scene. — Osage Village. — Osage Visitors at our Evening Camp 40 iv CONTENTS. PAQB CHAPTER VIII. The Iloney Camp . . 49 CHAPTER IX. A Bee-Hunt . .... 52 CHAPTER X. Amusements in llie Camp. — Consultations. — Ilurters* Fare and Feasting. — Evening Scenes. — Camp Mel- ody. — 'i'lie Fate of an Amateur Owl . . .57 CHAPTER XL Breaking up of tlie Encampment. — Picturesque March. Game. — Camp-Scenes. — 1 liiimph of a Young Hunt- er. — 111 Success of Old Hunters. — Foul Murder of a Polecat 64 CHAPTER XII. The Crossing of the Arkansas 72 CHAPTER Xni. The Camp of the Gi.en. — Camp-Gossip. — Pa^mee3 and their Habits. — A Hunter's Adventure. — Horses found, and Men lost 76 CHAPTER XIV. Deer-Shooting. — Life on the Prairies. — Beautiful En- campment. — Hunter's Luck. — Anecdotes of the Dela- wares and their Superstitions 86 CHAPTER XV. The Search for the Elk. — Pawnee Stories . . .94 CHAPTER XVI. A Sick-Camp. — The INlarcli. — The Disabled Horse. — Old Kyan and the Stragglers. — Symptoms of Change of Weather, and Change of Humors . . . .102 CHAPTER XVIL Thimder-Storm on the Prairies. — The Storm-Encamp- ment. — Night Scene. — Indian Stories. — A Fright- ened Horse 109 CHAPTER XVHI. \ Grand Prairie. — Cliff Castle. — Buffalo Tracks.— Deer hunted by Wolves. — Cross Timber . . . 115 CONTENTS. V PAOH CHAPTER XIX. Hunters' Anticipations. — The Rugged Ford. — A "Wild Horse 120 CHAPTER XX. TnE Camp of the Wild Horse. — Hunters' Stories. Habits of the Wild Horse. — The Half-breed and his Prize. — A Horse-Chase. — A Wild Spirit tamed . 126 CHAPTER XXI. The Fording of the Red Fork. — The Dreary Forests of the "Cross Timber." — Bufialol 134 CHAPTER XXII. The Alarm Camp 139 CHAPTER XXIII. Beaver Dam. — Buffalo and Horse Tracks. — A Pawnee Trail. — Wild Horses. — The Young Hunter and the Bear. — Change of Route 149 CHAPTER XXrV. Scarcity of Bread. — Rencontre with Buffaloes. — Wild Turkeys. — Fall of a Buffalo Bull . . . .155 CHAPTER XXV. Ringing the Wild Horse 160 CHAPTER XXVI. Fording of the North Fork. — Dreary Scenery of the Cross Timber. — Scamper of Horses in the Night. — Osage War-Partv. — Effects of a Peace Harangue. — Buflalo. — Wild 'Horse 166 CHAPTER XXVII. Foul-Weather Encampment. — Anecdotes of Bear-Hunt- ing. — Indian Notions about Omens. — Scruples Re- specting the Dead 171 CHAPTER XXVIII. A. Secret Expedition. — Deer-Bleating. — Magic Balls . 182 CHAPTER XXIX. the Grand Prairie. — A Buffalo Hunt . . . .188 v\ CONTENTS. PAQE CHAPTER XXX. \ Comrade lost — A Search for tlie Camp. — The Com- missioner, the Wild Horse, and the Butialo. — A Wolf Serenade 199 CHAPTER XXXI. A Hunt for a Lost Comrade 204 CHAPTER XXXn. A Republic of Prairie-Dogs 210 CHAPTER XXXni. A Council in the Camp. — Reasons for Facing Home- wards.— Horses lost. — Departure with a Detachment on the Homeward Route. — Swamp. — Wild Horse. — Camp -Scene by Nigbt. — The Owl, Harbinger of Dawn 215 CHAPTER XXXIV. Old Creek Encampment.— Scarcity of Provisions. — Bad Weather. — Weary Marching. — A Hunter's Bridge . 225 CHAPTER XXXV. A Look-out for Land. — Hard Travelling and Hungry Halting. — A Frontier Farm-house. — Arrival at the Garrison 232 ABBOTSFORD. Abbotsford 243 NEWSTEAD ABBEY. Historical Notice 323 Arrival at thk Abbey 334 The Abbey Garden 342 Plough Monday 350 Old Servants 355 Superstitions of the Abbey 361 Annesley Hall 371 The Lake 395 Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest .... 399 The Rook Cell 410 The Little White Lady 416 INTRODUCTION. AVING, since my return to the United States, made a wide and varied tour, for the gratification of my curiosity, it has been supposed that I did it for the purpose of writing a book ; and it has more than once been inti- mated in the papei-s, that such a work was actually in the press, containing scenes and sketches of the Far West. These announcements, gratuitously made for me, before I had put pen to paper, or even contemplated anything of the kind, have embarrassed me exceed- ingly. I have been like a poor actor, who finds him- self announced for a part he had no thought of play- ing, and his appearance expected on the stage before he has committed a line to memory. I have always had a repugnance, amounting almost to disability, to write in the face of expectation ; and, in the present instance, I was expected to write about a region fruitful of wonders and adventures, and which had already been made the theme of spirit-stirring narratives from able pens, yet about which I had nothing wonderful or adventurous to offer. Sini;e such, however, seems to be the desire of the public, and that they take sufficient interest in my viii INTRODUCTION. wanderings to deem them worthy of recital, I have hastened, as promptly as possible, to meet in some degree the expectation which othere have excited. For this purpose, I have, as it were, plucked a few leaves out of my memorandum book, containing a month's foray beyond the outposts of human habita- tion, into the wilderness of the Far West. It forms, indeed, but a small portion of an extensive tour ; but it is an episode, complete as far as it goes. As such I offer it to the public with great diffidence. It is a simple narrative of evcry-day occurrences, such as happen to every one who travels the prairies. I have no wonders to describe, nor any moving accidents by flood or field to narrate ; and as to those who look for a marvellous or adventurous story at my hands, I can only reply in the words of the weary knife-grinder: " Story ! God bless you, I have none to tell, sir.** A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. CHAPTER I. THE PAWNEE HUNTINO-OROUXDS. — TRAVELLING COMPANIONS. —A COM- MISSIONER. — A VIRTUOSO. — A SEESER OF ADVENTURES. — A GIL BLA3 OP TUE FRONTIER. — A YOUNG MAN'S ANTICIPATIONS OF PLEASURE. N the often vaunted regions of the Far West, several hundred miles beyond the Mississippi, extends a vast tract of un- inhabited country, where there is neither to be Been the log house of the white man, nor the wifjwam of the Indian. It consists of ":reat grassy plains, interspersed with forests and groves, and clumps of trees, and watered by the Arkan- sas, the grand Canadian, the Red River, and their tributary streams. Over these fertile and verdant wastes still roam the elk, the buffalo, and the wild horse, in all their native freedom. These, in fact, are the hunting-grounds of the va- rious tribes of the Far West. Hither repaii- the Osage, the Creek, the Delaware and other tribes that have linked themselves with civilization, and live within the vicinity of the wliite settlements. Here resort also the Pawnees, tlie Comanches, 12 CRAYON MISCELLANY. and other fierce and as yet independent tribes, (he nomads of the prairies, or the inhabitants of the skirts of the Rocky Mountains. Tlie regions I have mentioned form a debatable ground of these warring and vindictive tribes ; none of thrm presume to erect a permanent habitation within its borders. Their hunters and " Braves " repair tliither in numerous bodies during the season of game, throw up their transient hunting-camps, consisting of liglit bowers covered with bark and skins, commit sad havoc among the innumerable herds that graze the prairies, and having loaded themselves with venison and buffalo meat, warily retire from the dangerous neighborhood. Tiiese expeditions partake, always, of a warlike charac- ter ; the hunters are all armed for action, offen- sive and defensive, and are bound to incessant vig- ilance. Should they, in their excursions, meet the hunters of an adverse tribe, savage conflicts take place. Their encampments, too, are always sub- ject to be surprised by wandering war parties, and their hunters, when scattered in pursuit of game, to be captured or massacred by lurking foes. Mouldering skulls and skeletons, bleaching in some dark ravine or near the traces of a hunt- ing-camp, occasionally mark the scene of a fore- gone act of blood, and let the wanderer know the dangerous nature of the region he is traversing. It is the purport of the following pages to nar- rate a month's excursion to these noted hunting grounds, through a tract of country which had not as yet been explored by white men. It was early in October, 1832, tliat I arrived A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES 13 at Fort Gibson, a frontier post of the Far West, situated on the Neosho, or Grand River, near its confluence with the Arkansas. T had been trav- elling for a month past, with a small party from St. Louis, up the banks of the Missouri, and along the frontier line of agencies and missions, that extends from the Missouri to the Arkansas. Our party was headed by one of the Commissioners appointed by the government of the United States to superintend the settlement of the Indian tribes migrating from the east to the west of the Missis- sippi. In the discharge of his duties, he was thus visiting the various oUtposts of civilization. And here let me bear testimony to the merits of this worthy leader of our little band. He was a native of one of the towns of Connecticut, a man in Avhom a course of legal practice and po- litical life had not been able to vitiate an innate simplicity and benevolence of heart. The greater part of his days had been passed in the bosom of his family and the society of deacons, elders, and selectmen, on the peaceful banks of the Connec- ticut ; when suddenly he had been called to mount his steed, shoulder his rifle, and mingle among stark hunters, backwoodsmen, and naked savages, on the trackless wilds of the Far West. Another of my fellow-travellers was Mr. L., an Englishman by birth, but descended from a foreign stock ; and who had all the buoyancy and accommodating spirit of a native of the Conti- nent. Having rambled over many countries, he had become, to a certain degree, a citizen of the world, easily adapting himself to any change. 14 CRAYON MISCELLANY. He was a man of a thousand occupations ; a bot- anist, a geologist, a hunter of beetles and butter- flies, a musical amateur, a sketcher of no mean pretensions, in short, a complete virtuoso ; added to which, he was a very indefatigable, if not al- ways a very successful, sportsman. Never had a man more irons in the fire, and, consequently, never was man more busy nor more cheerful. My third fellow-traveller was one who had ac- companied the former from Europe, and travelled with him as his Telemachus ; being apt, like his prototype, to give occasional perplexity and dis- quiet to his Mentor. He was a young Swiss Count, scarce twenty-one years of age, full of talent and spirit, but galliard in the extreme, and prone to every kind of wild adventure. Having made this mention of my comrades, I must not pass over unnoticed a personage of in- ferior rank, but of all-pervading and prevalent importance, — the squire, the groom, the cook, the tent-man, in a word, the factotum, and, I may add, the universal meddler and marplot of our party. This was a little, swarthy, meagre, French Creole, named Antoine, but familiarly dubbed Tonish, — a kind of Gil Bias of the frontiers, who had passed a scrambling life, sometimes among white men, sometimes among Indians ; sometimes in the employ of traders, missionaries, and Indian agents ; sometimes mingling with the Osage Inint- ers. We picked liim up at St. Louis, near which he has a small farm, an Indian wife, and a brood «>f half-blood children. According to his own ac- > Miut, however, he liad u wife in cverv tribe; in A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 15 fact, if all this little vagabond said of himself were to be believed, he was without morals, without caste, without creed, without country, and even without language ; for he spoke a jargon of mingled French, English, and Osage. He was, withal, a notorious braggart, and a liar of the first water. It was amusing to hear him vapor and gasconade about his terrible exploits and hair- breadth escapes in war and hunting. In the midst of his volubility he was prone to be seized by a spasmodic gasping, as if the springs of his jaws were suddenly unhinged ; but I am apt to think it was caused by some falsehood that stuck in his throat, for I generally remarked that im- mediately afterwards there bolted forth a lie of the first magnitude. Our route had been a pleasant one, quartering ourselves, occasionally, at the widely separated establishments of the Indian missionaries, but in general camping out in the fine groves that bor- der the streams, and sleeping under cover of a tent. During the latter part of our tour we had pi'essed forward in hopes of arriving in time at Fort Gibson, to accompany the Osage hunters on their autumnal visit to the buffalo prairies. In- deed the imagination of the young Count had iiecome completely excited on the subject. The gi'and scenery and wild habits of the prairies had set his spirits madding, and the stories that little Tonish told him of Indian braves and Indian beauties, of hunting buffaloes and catching wild liorses, had set him all agog for a dash into sav- age life. He was a bold and hai-d rider, and 2 16 CRAYON MISCELLANY. longed to be scouring the hunting-grounds. It was amusing to hear his youtliful anticipations of all that he was to see, and do, and enjoy, when mingling among the Indians and participating in their hardy adventures ; and it was still more annising to listen to the gasconadings of little Tonisli, who volunteered to be his faithful squire in all his perilous undertakings ; to teach him how to catch the wild horse, bring down the buf- falo, and win the smiles of Indian princesses ; — " And if we can only get sight of a prairie on fire !" said the young Count — " By Gar, I '11 set ODC on fire myself!" cried the little Frenchman. CHAPTER n. ANTICIPATIONS DISAPPOINTED. — NEW PLANS. — PREPARATIONS TO JOIN AN EXPLORING PARTY. — DEPARTURE FROM FORT GIBSON. —FORDING OF TflE VERDIGRIS. — AN INDIAN CAVALIER. HE anticipations of a prone to meet with !i^A|^feii| IJnfortunately for the young man are disappointment. Count's scheme of wild campaigning, before we reached the end of our journey, we heard that the Osage hunters had set forth upon their expedition to the buffalo grounds. The Count still determined, if possible, to follow on their track and overtake them, and for this purpose stopped short at the Osage Agency, a few miles distant from Fort Gibson, to make inquiries and preparations. His travelling companion, Mr. L., stopped with him ; while the Commissioner and myself proceeded to Fort Gib- son, followed by the faithful and veracious Ton- ish. I hinted to him his promises to follow the Count in his campaignings, but I found the little varlet had a keen eye to self-interest. He was aware that the Commissioner, from his official du- ties, would remain for a long time in the country, and be likely to give him permanent employment, while the sojourn of the Count would be but tran- .•^ient . The gasconading of the little braggart wa« 18 CRAYON MISCELLANY. suddenly therefore at an end. He spoke not another word to the young Count about Indians, buifaloes, and wild horses, but putting himself tacitly in the train of the Commissioner, jogged silently after us to the garrison. On arriving at the fort, however, a new chance presented itself for a cruise on the prairies. We learnt that a company of mounted rangers, or riflemen, had departed but three days previous, to make a wide exploring tour, from the Arkan- sas to the Red River, including a part of the Pawnee hunting-grounds, where no party of white men had as yet penetrated. Here, then, was an opportunity of ranging over those danger- ous and interesting regions under the safeguard of a powerful escort ; for the Commissioner, in virtue of his office, could claim the service of this newly raised corps of riflemen, and the country they were to explore was destined for the settlement of some of the migrating tribes connected with his mission. Our plan was promptly formed and put into execution. A couple of Creek Indians were sent off express, by the commander of Fort Gibson, to overtake the ran<2:ers and bring: them to a halt until the Commissioner and his party should be able to join them. As we should have a march uf three or four days through a wild country, before we could overtake the company of rangers, an escort of fourteen mounted riflemen, under the command of a lieutenant, was assigned us. We sent word to the young Count and Mr. L. at the Osage Agency, of our new plan and pros- A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 19 pects, and invited them to accompany us. The Count, however, could not forego the deb'ghts he had promised himself in mingling with absolutely savage life. In reply, he agreed to keep with us until we should come upon the trail of the Osage hunters, when it was his fixed resolve to strike off into the wilderness in pursuit of them ; and his faithful Mentor, though he grieved at the madness of the scheme, was too stanch a friend to desert him. A general rendezvous of our party and escort was appointed, for the following morning, at the Agency. We now made all arrangements for prompt departure. Our baggage had hitherto been trans- ported on a light wagon, but we were now to break our way through an untravelled country, cut up by rivers, ravines, and thickets, where a vehicle of the kind would be a complete impedi- ment. We were to travel on horseback, in hun- ters' style, and with as little encumbrance as pos- sible. Our baggage, therefore, underwent a rigid and most abstemious reduction. A pair of sad- dlebags, and those by no means crammed, sufficed for each man's scanty wardrobe, and, with his great-coat, were to be carried upon the steed he rode. The rest of the baggage was placed on pack-horses. Each one had a bear-skin and a couple of blankets for bedding, and there was a tent to shelter us in case of sickness or bad weather. We took care to provide ourselves with flour, coffee, and sugar, together with a small supply of salt pork for emergencies ; for our main subsistence we were to depend upon the chase. 20 CRAfON MISCELLANY. Such of our horses as had not been tired out ill our recent journey, were taken with us as pack- horses, or supernumeraries ; but as we were go- ing on a long and rough tour, where there would be occasional hunting, and where, in case of meeting with hostile savages, the safety of the rider might depend upon the goodness of his steed, we took care to be well mounted. I pro- cured a stout silver-gray ; somewhat rough, but stanch and powerful ; and retained a hardy pony which I had hitherto ridden, and which, being somewhat jaded, was suffered to ramble along with the pack-horses, to be mounted only in case of emergency. All these arrangements being made, we left Fort Gibson on the morning of the tenth of October, and crossing the river in the front of it, set off for the rendezvous at the Agency. A ride of a few miles brought us to the ford of the Ver- digris, a wild rocky scene overhung with forest- trees. We descended to the bank of the river and crossed in straggling file, the liorses stepping cautiously from rock to rock, and in a manner feelino; about for a foothold beneath the rushins; and brawling stream. Our little Frenchman, Tonish, brought up the rear with the pack-horses. He was in liigh glee, having experienced a kind of promotion. In oui journey hitherto he had driven the wagon, which he seemed to consider a very inferior employ ; now he was master of the liorse. He sat perched like a monkey behind the pack on one of the horses : he sans:, he shouted, he A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 21 yelped like an Indian, and ever and anon blas- phemed the loitering pack-horses in his jargon of mingled Frencli, English, and Osage, which not one of tliem could understand. As we were crossing the ford we saw on the opposite shore a Creek Indian on horseback. He had paused to reconnoitre us from the brow of a rock, and formed a picturesque object, in unison with the wild scenery around him. He wore a bright -blue hunting -shirt trimmed with scarlet fringe ; a gayly colored handkerchief was bound round his head something like a turban, with one end hanging down beside his ear ; he held a long rifle in his hand, and looked like a wild Arab on the prowl. Our loquacious and evei'-meddling little Frenchman called out to him in his Baby- lonish jargon, but the savage, having satisfied his curiosity, tossed his hand in the air, turned the head of his steed, and galloping along the shore soon disappeared among the trees. CHAPTER III. AN DfDUN AGEXCY. — RIFLEMEN. — OSAGES, CREEKS. TRAPPERS, D003 ; UOaSES, HALF-BREEDS. — BEATTE, TUB HUNTSMAN. AVING crossed the ford, we soon reached the Osage Agency where Col. a^i Choteau has his offices and magazines, for the dispatch of Indian affairs, and the distri- bution of presents and supplies. It consisted of a fiiw log houses on the banks of the river, and presented a motley frontier scene. Here was our escort awaiting our arrival ; some were on horse- back, some on foot, some seated on the trunks of ftdlen trees, some shooting at a mark. They were a heterogeneous crew : some in frock-coats made of green blankets ; others in leathern hunt ing-shirts, but the most part in marvellously ill cut garments, much the worse for wear, and evidently put on for rugged service. Near by these was a group of Osages : stately fellows ; stern and simple in garb and aspect. They wore no ornaments ; their dress consisted merely of blankets, leggins, and moccasons. Their heads were bare ; their hair was cropped close, excepting a bristling ridge on tlie top, like the crest of a helmet, with a long scalp-lock hanging behind. They had fine Roman countenances, and Ji TOUR ON TEE PEAIRIES. 23 broad deep chests ; and, as they generally wore tlieir blankets wrapped round their loins, so as to leave the bast and arms bare, they looked like so many noble bronze figures. The Osages are the finest "looking Indians I have ever seen in the West. They have not yielded sufficiently as yet to the influence of civilization to lay by their simple Indian garb, or to lose the habits of the hunter and the warrior ; and their poverty pre- vents their indulging in mucli luxury of apparel. In contrast to these was a gayly dressed party of Creeks. There is something, at the first glance, quite Oriental in the appearance of this tribe. They dress in calico Inniting-shirts, of various brilliant colors, decorated with brigiit fringes, and belted with broad girdles, embroidered with beads ; they have leggins of di-essed deer-skins, or of green or scarlet cloth, with embroidered knee-bands and tassels ; their moccasons are fan- cifully Avrought and ornamented, and they wear gaudy handkerchiefs tastefully bound round their heads. Beside these, tliere was a sprinkling of trap- pers, hunters, half-breeds, Creoles, negroes of every hue ; and all that other rabble rout of nonde- script beings that keep about the frontiers, be- tween civilized and savage life, as those equivo- cal birds, the bats, hover about the confines of light and darkness. Tlie little hamlet of the Agency was in a com- plete bustle ; the blacksmith's shed, in pai'ticular, was a scene of preparation ; a strapping negro was shoeing a horse ; two half-breeds were fabri- 24 CBAYOX .yiSC£LLAXy. eating iron spoons in which to melt lead tor bul- lets. An okl trapper, in leathern luintin_i>-tVock anil nioecasons. had placed his riHe against a work-bench, while he superintended the opera- tion, and gossiped about his hunting exploits ; several large dogs were lounging in and out oi the shop, or sleeping in the sunshine, while a little cur, with head cocked on one side, and one ear erect, was watching, with that curiosity common to little dogs, the process of shoeing the hoi'se, as if studying the art, or waiting for his turn to be shod. We found the Count and his companion, the Virtuoso, ready for the march. As they in- tended to overtake the Osages, and pass some time in hunting the buffalo and the wild hoi*se, they had provided tliemselves accordingly ; hav- ing, in addition to the steeds which they used for travelling, others of prime quality, which were to be led when on the march, and only to be mounted for the chase. They had, moreover, engaged the services of a young man named Antoine, a half-breed of French and Osage origin. He Avas to be a kind of Jack- of-all-work ; to cook, to hunt, and to take care of the horses ; but he had a vehement propensity to do nothing, being one of the worthless brood en- gendered and brought up among the missions. He was, moreover, a little spoiled by being really a handsome young fellow, an Adonis of the front- ier, and still worse by fancying himself highly connected, his sister being concubine to an opu- lent white trader ! A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES, 25 For our own parts, the Commissioner and my- self were desirous; before setting out, to procure anotlier attendant well versed in wood-ci'aft, who might serve us as a hunter ; for our little French- man would have his hands full when in camp, iu cooking, and on the march, in taking care of the pack-liorses. Such a one presented himself, or rather was recommended to' us, in Pierre Beatte, a half-breed of French and Osage parentage. We were assured that he was acquainted with alL parts of the country, having traversed it in all directions, both in hunting and war parties ; that he would be of use both as guide and interpreter, and that he was a first-rate hunt(jr. I confess I did not like his looks wlien he was first presented to me. He was lounging about, in an old hunting-frock and metasses or leggins, of deer-skin, soiled and greased, and almost japanned by constant use. He was apparently about thirty-six years of age, square and strongly built. His features were not bad, being shaped not unlike those of Napoleon, but sharpened up, with high Indian cheek-bones. Perhaps the dusky greenish hue of his complexion aided his resem- blance to an old bronze bust I had seen of the Emperor. He had, however, a sullen, saturnine expression, set off by a slouched woollen hat, and elf-locks that hung about his ears. Such was the appearance of the man, and his manners were equally unprepossessing. He was cold and laconic ; made no promises or profes- sions ; stated the terms he required for the ser- vices of himself and his horse, which we thought 26 CRAYON MISCELLANY. rather high, but showed no disposition to abate them, nor any anxiety to secure our employ. lie liad ahogether more of the red tlian the M'hite man in his composition ; and, as I had been taught to look upon all half-breeds with distrust, as an uncei'tain and faithless race, I woidd gladly have dispensed with the services of Pierre Beatte. We had no time, however, to look out for any one more to our taste, and had to make an arrange- xpent with him on the spot. He then set about making his preparations for the journey, promising to join us at our evening's encampment. One thing was yet wanting to fit me out for the Prairies — a thoroughly trustworthy steed ; I was not yet mounted to my mind. The gray I had bought, though strong and serviceable, was rough. At the last moment I succeeded in get- ting an excellent animal : a dark bay ; powerful, active, generous-spirited, and in capital condition. I mounted him with exultation, and transferred the silver gray to Tonish, who was in such ecsta- sies at finding himself so completely en Cava- lier, that I feared he might realize the ancient and well-known proverb of " a beggar on horse- back." ^f^h CHAPTER IV. THE DEPARTURE. HE lonsr-drawn notes of a buo;le at len2:th gave the signal for departure. Tlie ran- gers filed off in a straggling line of march through the woods : we Avere soon on horseback and following on, but were detained by the irregularity of the pack - horses. They were unaccustomed to keep the line, and straggled from side to side among the thickets, in spite of all the pesting and bedevihng of Tonish ; wlio, mounted on his gallant gray, with a long rifle on his shoulder, worried after them, bestowing a superabundance of dry blows and curses. We soon, therefore, lost sight of our escort, but managed to keep on their track, thridding lofty forests, and entangled thickets, and passing by Indian wigwams and negro huts, until towards dusk we arrived at a frontier farm-house, owned by a settler of the name of Berryhill. It was situated on a hill, below which the nmgers had encamped in a circular grove, on the margin of a btream. The master of the house received us civilly, but could offer us no accommodation, for sickness prevailed in his family. He appeared 28 CRAYON MISCELLANY. himself to be in no very thriving condition, for though bulky in frame, he had a sallow, unhealthy complexion, and a whiffiinGf double voice, shiftino abruptly from a treble to a thorough-bass. Finding his log house was a mere hospital, crowded v/ith invalids, we ordered our tent to be pitched in the farm-yard. We had not been long encamped, when our re- cently engaged attendant, Beatte, the Osage half- breed, made his appearance. He came mounted on one horse and leading another, which seemed to be well packed with supplies for the expedi- tion. Beatte was evidently an " old soldier," as to the art of taking care of himself and looking out for emergencies. Finding that he was in government employ, being engaged by the Com- missioner, he had drawn rations of flour and bacon, and put them up so as to be weather-proof. In addition to the horse for the road and for or- dinary service, which was a rough, hardy animal, he had another for hunting. This was of a mixed breed like himself, being a cross of the domestic stock with the wild horse of the praifies ; and a noble steed it was, of generous spirit, fine action, and admirable bottom. He had taken care to have his horses well shod at the Agency. He came prepared at all points for war or hunting : his rifle on his shoulder, his powder-horn and bullet-pouch at his side, his hunting-knife stuck in his belt, and coils of cordage at his saddle-bow, which we were told were lariats, or noosed cords, used in catching the wild horse. Thub equipped and provided, an Indian hunter A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 29 on a prairie is like a cruiser on the ocean, per- fectly independent of the world, and competent to self-protection and self-maintenance. He can cast himself loose from every one, shape his own course, and take care of his own fortunes. I thought Beatte seemed to feel his independence, and to consider himself superior to us all, now that we were launching into the wilderness. He mauitained a half proud, half sullen look, and great taciturnity ; and his first care was to unpack his horses and put them in safe quarters for the night. His Avhole demeanor was in perfect con- trast ii. our vaporing, chattering, bustling little Frenchman. The latter, too, seemed jealous of this new-comer. He whispered to us that these half-breeds were a touchy, capricious people, little to be depended upon ; that Beatte had evidently come prepared to take care of himself, and that, at any moment in the course of our tour, he would be liable to take some sudden disgust or affront, and abandon us at a moment's warning : having the means of shifting for himself, and being perfectly at home on the prairies. CHAPTER V. FQONTIER SCENES. — A LTCCROUS OF THE BORCER. — LTKCn'S LAW.- TUE DANGER OF FIXDIXG A HORSE. —THE YO0XG OSAGE. N the following morning, (Oct. 11.) we were on the march by half-past seven o'clock, and rode through deep rich bot- toms of alluvial soil, overgrown with redundant vefretation, and trees of an enormous size. Our route lay parallel to the west bank of the Arkan- sas, on the borders of which river, near the con- fluence of the Red Fork, we expected to overtalce the main body of rangers. For some miles the country was sprinkled with Creek villages and farm-houses ; the inhabitants of which appeared to have adopted, with considerable facility, the rudiments of civilization, and to have thriven in consequence. Their farms were well stocked, and their houses had a look of comfort and abundance. We met with numbers of them returning from one of tlieir grand games of ball, for which their nation is celebrated. Some were on foot, some on horseback ; the latter, occasionally, with gayly dressed females behind them. They are a well- made race, muscular and closely knit, with well- A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 31 turned thighs and legs. They have a Gypsy fondness for brilliant colors and gay decoi-ations, and are briglit and fanciful objects when seen at a distance on the prairies. One had a scarlet handkerchief bound round his liead, surmounted with a tuft of black feathers like a cock's tail; another had a white handkerchief, with red feathers; while a third, for want of a plume, had stuck in his turban a brilliant bunch of sumach. On the verge of the wilderness we paused to inquire our way at a log house owned by a white settler or squatter; a tall, rawboned, old fellow, with red hair, a lank lantern visage, and an invet- erate habit of winking with one eye, as if every- thing he said was of knowing import. He was in a towering passion. One of his horses was miss- ing ; he was sure it had been stolen in the night by a straggling party of Osages encamped in a neighboring swamp ; but he would have satisfac- tion ! He would make an example of the villains. He had accordingly caught down his rifle from the wall, that invariable enforcer of right or wrong upon tlie frontiers, and, having saddled his steed, was about to sally forth on a foray into the swamp ; while a brother squatter, with rifle in hand, stood ready to accompany him. We endeavored to calm the old campaigner of the prairies, by suggesting that his horse might have strayed into the neighboring woods ; but he had the frontier propensity to charge overything to the Indians, and nothing could dissuade him from carrying fire and sword into the swamp. After riding a few miles further, we lost the 8 32 CHAYON MISCELLANY. trail of the main body of rangers, and became perplexed by a variety of tracks made by the Indians and settlers. At leno;th cominoj to a loi? o of? house, inhabited by a white man, the very last on the frontier, we found that we had wandered from our true course. Taking us back for some distance, he again brought us to the right trail ; putting ourselves upon which, we took our final departure, and launched into the broad wilderness. The trail kept on like a straggling footpath, over hill and dale, through brush and brake, and tangled thicket, and open prairie. In traversing the wilds, it is customary for a party, either of horse or foot, to follow each other in single file like the Indians ; so that the leaders break the way for those who follow, and lessen their labor and fatigue. In this way, also, the number of a party is concealed, the whole leaving but one nar- row well-trampled track to mark their course. We had not long regained the trail, when, on emerging from a forest, we beheld our rawboned, hard-winking, hard-riding knight-errant of the frontier, descending the slope of a hill, followed by his companion in arms. As he drew near to us, the gauntness of his figure and ruefulness of his aspect reminded me of the description of the hero of La Mancha, and he was equally bent on affairs of doughty enterprise, being about to pen- etrate the thickets of the perilous swamp, within which the enemy lay ensconced. While we were holding a parley with him on the slope of the hill, we descried an Osage on horseback issuinoj out of a skirt of wood about A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 33 half a mile off, and leading a horse by a halter. The latter was immediately recognized by our hard-winking friend as the steed of which he was in quest. As the Osage drew near, I was struck with his appearance. He was about nineteen or twenty years of age, but well grown, with the fine Roman countenance common to his tribe ; and as he rode, with his blanket wrapped round his loins, his naked bust would have furnished a model for a statuary. He was mounted on a beautiful piebald horse, a mottled white and brown, of the wild breed of the prairies, deco- rated with a broad collar, from which hung in front a tuft of horse-hair dyed of a bright scarlet. The youth rode slowly up to us with a frank open air, and signified by means of our interpreter Beatte, that the horse he was leading had wan- dered to their camp, and he was now on his way to conduct him back to his owner. I had expected to witness an expression of gratitude on the part of our hard-favored cavalier, but to my surprise the old fellow broke out into a furious passion. He declared that the Indians had carried off his horse in the night, with the intention of bringing him home in the morning, and claiming a reward for findinor him : a com- nion practice, as he affirmed, among the Indians. He was, therefore, for tying the young Indian to a tree and giving him a sound lashing ; and was quite surprised at the burst of indignation which this novel mode of requiting a service drew from us. Such, however, is too often the administra- tion of law on the frontier, " Lynch's law," as it 34 CRAYON MISCELLANY. is technically termed, in which the plaintiff Is apt to be witness, jury, judge, and executioner, and the defendant to be convicted and punished on mere presumption ; and in this way, I am con- vinced, are occasioned many of those heart-burn- ings and resentments among the Indians, whicli lead to retaliation, and end in Indian wars. \yhen I compared the open, noble countenance and frank demeanor of the young Osage Avitb . the sinister visage and high-handed conduct of the frontiersman, I felt little doubt on whose back a lash would be most meritoriously bestowed. Being thus obliged to content himself with the recovery of his horse, without the pleasure of flogging the finder into the bargain, the old Ly- curgus, or rather Draco, of the frontier, set off growling on his return homeward, followed by his brother-squatter. As for the youthful Osage, we were all pre- possessed in his favor ; the young Count espe- cially, with the sympathies proper to his age and incident to his character, had taken quite a fancy to him. Nothing would suit but he must have the young Osage as a companion and squire in his expedition into the wilderness. The youth was easily tempted, and, with the prospect of a safe range over the buffalo prairies and the prom- ise of a new blanket, he turned his bridle, left (he swamp and the encampment of his friends behind him, and set off to follow the Count in his wanderings in quest of the Osage hunters. Such is the glorious independence of man iii a savage state. This youth, with his rifle, his A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 35 blanket, and his horse, was ready at a moment's warning to rove the world ; he carried all his worldly effects with him, and in the absence of artificial wants possessed the great secret of per- sonal freedom. We of society are slaves, not so much to others as to ourselves ; our superflu- ities are the chains that bind us, impeding every movement of our bodies, and thwarting every im- pulse of our souls. Such, at legist, were my speculations at the time, though I am not sure but that they took their tone from the enthusiasm of the young Count, who seemed more enchanted than ever with the wild chivalry of the prairies, and talked of putting on the Indian dress and adopting the Indian habits during the time he hoped to pass with the Osages. CHAPTER VI. IRAIL OF THE OSAGE U0XTERS. — DEPARTURE OF THE COUNT AND HIS PARTY. — A DESERTED WAR-CAMP. — A VAGRANT DOG. — THE EN- CAMPMENT. N the course of the morning the trail we were pursuing was crossed bj another, which struck off through the forest to tlie west in a direct course for the Arkansas Kiver. Beatte, our half-breed, after considering it for a moment, pronounced it the trail of the Osage hunters ; and that it must lead to the place where they had forded the river on their way to the huntinsf-ojrounds. Here then the young Count and his companion came to a halt and prepared to take leave of us. The most experienced frontiersmen in the troop remonstrated on the hazard of the undertaking. They were about to throw themselves loose in the wilderness, with no other guides, guards, or at- tendants than a young ignorant half-breed, and a still younger Indian. They were embarrassed by a pack-horse and two led horses, with which they would have to make their way through mat- ted forests, and across rivers and morasses. The Osages and Pawnees were at war, and they might fall in with some warrior party of the latter, who A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 37 are ferocious foes ; besides, tlieir small number, and their valuable horses would form a great temptation to some of the straggling bands of Osages loitering about ,the frontier, who might rob them of their horses in the night, and leave them destitute and on foot in the midst of the prairies. Nothing, however, could restrain the romantic ardor of the Count for a campaign of buffalo-hunt- ing with the Osages, and he had a game spirit that seemed always stimulated by the idea of danger. His travelling companion, of discreeter age and calmer temperament, was convinced of the rash- ness of the enterprise ; but he could not control the impetuous zeal of his youthful friend, and he was too loyal to leave him to pursue his hazard- ous scheme alone. To our great regret, there- fore, we saw them abandon the protection of our escort, and strike off on their hap-hazard expedi- tion. The old hunters of our party shook their heads, and our half-breed, Beatte, predicted all kinds of trouble to therp ; my only hope was, that they would soon meet with perplexities enough to cool the impetuosity of the young Count, and induce him to rejoin us. With this idea we travelled slowly, and made a consider- able halt at noon. After resuming our march, we came in sight of the Arkansas. It presented a broad and rapid stream, bordered by a beach of fine sand, overgrown with willows and cotton- wood trees. Beyond the river, the eye wandered over a beautiful champaign country, of flowery plains and sloping uplands, diversified by groves 38 CRAYON MISCELLANY. and clumps of trees, and long screens of wood- land ; the whole wearing the aspect of complete, and even ornamental cultivation, instead of na- tive wildness. Not far from the river, on an open eminence, we passed through the recently- deserted camping-place of an Osage war-party. The frames of the tents or wigwams remained, consisting of poles bent into an arch, with each end stuck into the ground : these are intertwined with twigs and branches, and covered with bark and skins. Those experienced in Indian lore, can ascertain the tribe, and whether on a hunting or a warlike expedition, by the shape and dispo- sition of the wigwams. Beatte pointed out to us, in the present skeleton camp, the wigwam in which the chiefs had held their consultations round the council-fire ; and an open area, well trampled down, on which the grand war-dance had been performed. Pursuing our journey, as we were passing through a forest, we were met by a forlorn, half- famished dog, who came rambling along the trail, with inflamed eyes and bewildered look. Though nearly trampled upon by the foremost rangers, he took notice of no one, but rambled heedlessly among the horses. The cry of " mad dog " was immediately raised, and one of the rangers lev- elled his rifle, but was stayed by the ever-ready humanity of the Commissioner. " He is blind ! " Baid he. " It is the dog of some poor Indian, following his master by the scent. It would be a shame to kill so faithful an animal." The ranger shouldered his rifle, the dog blundered A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 39 blindly through tlie cavalcade unhurt, and keep- ing his nose to the ground, continued his course along the trail, affording a rare instance of a dog surviving a bad name. About three o'clock, we came to a recent camping-place of the company of rangers : the brands of one of their fires were still smoking ; 60 that, according to the opinion of Beatte, they could not have passed on above a day previously. As there was a fine stream of water close by, and plenty of pea-vines for the horses, we en- camped here for the night. We had not been here long, when we heard a halloo from a distance, and beheld the young Count and his party advancing through the for- est. We welcomed them to the camp with heart- felt satisfaction ; for their departure upon so haz- ardous an expedition had caused us great unea- siness. A short experiment had convinced them of the toil and difficulty of inexperienced travel- lers like themselves making their way through the wilderness with such a train of horses, and such slender attendance. Fortunately, they deter- mined to rejoin us before nightfall ; one night's camping out might have cost them their horses. The Count had pD3vailed upon his protege and esquire, the young Osage, to continue with him, and still calculated upon achieving great exploits with his assistance, on the buffalo prairies. CHAPTER yil. NEWS OP THE RANGERS. —THE COUNT AND HIS INDIAN SQUIRE. — HALT IN THE WOODS. — WOODLAND SCENE. — OSAGE VILLAGE. — OSAGE VXS- ITORS AT OUR EVENING CAMP. N the morning early, (Oct. 12,) the two Creeks who had been sent express by the commander of Fort Gibson, to stop the company of rangers, arrived at our encamp- ment on their return. They had left the company encamped about fifty miles distant, in a fine place on the Arkansas, abounding in game, where they intended to await our arrival. This news spread animation throughout our party, and we set out on our march, at sunrise, with renewed spirit. In mounting our steeds, the young Osage at- tempted to throw a blanket upon his wild horse. The fine, sensitive animal took fright, reared and recoiled. The attitudes of the wild horse and the almost naked savage would have formed studies for a painter or a statuary. I often pleased myself, in the course of our march, with noticing the appearance of the young Count and his newly enlisted follower, as they rode before me. Never was preux chevalier bet- ter suited with an esquire. The Count was well mounted, and, as I have before observed, was a A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 41 bold and graceful rider. He was fond, too, of caracoling his horse, and dashing about in the buoyancy of youthful spirits. His dress was a gay Indian hunting-frock of dressed deer-skin, setting well to the shape, dyed of a beautiful purple, and foncifully embroidered with silks of various colors ; as if it had been the work of some Indian beauty, to decorate a favorite chief. With this he wore leathern pantaloons and moccasons, a foraging-cap, and a double-barrelled gun slung by a bandoleer athwart his back : so that he was quite a picturesque figure as he managed grace- fully his spirited steed. The young Osage would ride close behind him on his wild and beautifully mottled horse, which was decorated with crimson tufts of hair. He rode, with his finely shaped head and bust naked ; his blanket being girt round his waist. He car- ried his rifle in one hand, and managed his horse with the other, and seemed ready to dash off at a moment's warning, with his youthful leader, on any madcap foray or scamper. The Count, with the sanguine anticipations of youth, prom- ised himself many hardy adventures and exploits in company with his youthful " brave," when we should get among the buffaloes, in the Pawnee hunting-grounds. After riding some distance, we crossed a nar- row, deep stream, upon a solid bridge, the remains of an old beaver dam ; the industrious community which had constructed it had all been destroyed. Above us, a streaming flight of wild geese, high in air, and making a vociferous noise, gave note of the waning year. 42 CRAYON MISCELLANY. About half-past ten o'clock we made a halt iu a forest, where there was abundance of the pea- vine. Here we turned the horses loose to graze. A fire was made, water procured from an adja- cent spring, and in a short time our little French- man, Tonish, had a pot of coffee prepared for our refreshment. Wliile partaking of it, we were joined by an old Osage, one of a small hunting party who had recently passed this way. He was in search of his horse, which had wandered away, or been stolen. Our half-breed, Beatte, made a wry face on hearing of Osage hunters in this direction. " Until we pass those hunters," said he, " we shall see no buffaloes. They frighten away everything like a prairie on lire." The morning repast being over, the party amused themselves in various ways. Some shot with their rifles at a mark, others lay asleep half buried in the deep bed of foliage, with their heads resting on their saddles ; others gossiped round the fire at the foot of a tree, which sent up wreaths of blue smoke among the branches. The horses banqueted luxuriously on the pea-vines, and some lay down and rolled amongst them. We were overshadowed by lofty trees, with straight, smooth trunks, like stately columns ; and as the glancing rays of the sun shone through the transparent leaves, tinted with the many-colored hues of autumn, I was reminded of the effect of sunshine among the stained windows and cluster- ing columns of a Gothic cathedral. Indeed there is a grandeur and solemnity in our spacious for- ests of the West, that awaken in me the same A rOVR ON THE PRAIRIES. 43 feeling I have experienced in those vast jnid ven- erable piles, and the sound of the wind sweep- ing through them supplies occasionally the deep breathings of the organ. About noon the bugle sounded to horse, and we were again on the march, hoping to arrive at the encampment of the rangers before night ; as the old Osage had assured us it Avas not above ten or twelve miles distant. In our course through a forest, we passed by a lonely pool, covered with the most magnificent water-lilies I had ever be- held; among which swam several wood-ducks, one of the most beautiful of water-fowl, remarka- ble for the gracefulness and brilliancy of its plu- mage. After proceeding some distance forther, we came down upon the banks of the Arkansas, at a place v/here tracks of numerous horses, all en- tering the water, showed where a party of Osage hunters had recently crossed the river on their way to the buffalo range. After letting our horses drink in the river, we continued along its bank for a space, and then across prairies, where we saw a distant smoke, which we hoped might proceed from the encampment of the rangers. Following what we supposed to be their trail, we came to a meadow in which were a number of horses grazing : they were not, however, the horses of the troop. A little farther on, we reached a straggling Osage village, on the banks of the Arkansas. Our arrival created quite a sensation. A number of old men came forward and shook hands with us all severally ; while the women 44 CRAYON MISCELLANY. and children huddled together in groups, staring at us wildly, chattering and laughing among themselves. We found that all the young men of the village had departed on a hunting expedi- tion, leaving the women and children and old men behind. Here the Commissioner made a speech from on horseback ; informing his hearers of the purport of his mission, to promote a general peace among tlie tribes of the West, and urging them to lay aside all Avarlike and bloodthirsty notions, and not to make any wanton attacks upon the Pawnees. This speech being interpreted by Beatte, seemed to have a most pacifying effect upon the multitude, who promised faithfully that, as far as in them lay, the peace should not be disturbed ; and indeed their age and sex gave some reason to trust that they woidd keep their word. Still hoping to reach the camp of the rangers before nightfall, we pushed on until twilight, when we were obliged to halt on the borders of a ra- vine. The rangers bivouacked under trees, at the bottom of the dell, while we pitched our tent on a rocky knoll near a running stream. The night came on dark and overcast, with flying clouds, and much appearance of rain. The fires of the rangers burnt brightly in the dell, and threw strong masses of light upon the robber-looking groups that were cookhig, eating, and drinking around them. To add to the wildness of the scene, several Osage Indians, visitors from the village we had passed, were mingled among the men. Three of them came and seated themselves A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 45 by our fire. They watched everything that was going on round them in silence, and looked like figures of monumental bronze. We gave them food, and, Avhat they most relished, coffee ; for the Indians partake in the universal fondness for this beverage, which pervades the West. When they had made their supper, they stretched them- selves side by side before the fire, and began a low nasal chant, drumming with their hands upon their breasts by way of accompaniment. Their chant seemed to consist of regular staves, every one terminating, not in a melodious cadence, but in the abrupt interjection huh ! uttered almost like a hiccup. This chant, we were told by our in- terpreter, Beatte, related to ourselves, our appear- ance, our treatment of them, and all that they knew of our plans. In one part they spoke of the young Count, whose animated character and eagerness for Indian enterprise had struck their fancy, and they indulged in some waggery about him and the young Indian beauties, that produced great merriment among our half-breeds. This mode of improvising is common through- out the savage tribes ; and in this way, with a few simple inflections of the voice, they chant all their exploits in war and hunting, and occasion- ally indulge in a vein of comic humor and dry satire, to which the Indians appear to me much more prone than is generally imagined. In fact, the Indians that I have had an oppor- tunity of seeing in real life are quite diffierent from those described in poetry. They are by no means the stoics that they are represented ; taci- 46 CRAYON MISCELLANY. turn, unbending, without a tear or a smile. Taci- turn they are, it is true, when in company with white men, whose good-will they distrust, and whose language they do not understand ; but the white man is equally taciturn under like circum- stances. When the Indians are among them- selves, however, there cannot be greater gossips. Half their time is taken up in talking over their adventures in war and hunting, and in telling whimsical stories. They are great mimics and buffoons, also, and entertain themselves exces- sively at the expense of the whites with whom they have associated, and who have supposed them impressed with profound respect for their grandeur and dignity. They are curious observ- ers, noting everything in silence, but with a keen and watchful eye ; occasionally exchangmg a glance or a grunt with each other, when anything particularly strikes them ; but reserving all com- ments until they are alone. Then it is that they give full scope to criticism, satire, mimicry, and mirth. In the course of my journey along the frontier I have had repeated opportunities of noticing their excitability and boisterous merriment at their games ; and have occasionally noticed a group of Osages sitting round a fire until a late hour of the night, engaged in the most animated and lively conversation ; and at times making the woods resound with peals of laughter. As to tears, they have them in abundance, both real and affected ; at times they make a merit of them. No one weeps more bitterly or profusely at the A TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 47 death of a relative or friend ; and they have stated times when they repair to howl and lament at their graves. I have heard doleful wailings at daybreak, in the neighboring Indian villages, made by some of the inhabitants, who go out at that honr into the fields to mourn and weep for the dead : at such times, I am told, the tears will stream down their cheeks in torrents. As far as I can judge, the Indian of poetical fiction is, like the shepherd of pastoral romance, a mere personification of imaginary attributes. The nasal chant of our Osage guests gradually died away ; they covered their heads with their blankets and fell fast asleep, and in a little while aU. was silent, excepting the pattering of scattered rain-drops upon our tent. In the morning our Indian visitors breakfasted with us, but the young Osage who was to act as esquire to the Count in his knight-errantry on the prairies, was nowhere to be found. His wild horse, too, was missing, and, after many conject- ures, we came to the conclusion that he had taken " Indian leave " of us in the night. We afterwards ascertained that he had been persuaded so to do by the Osages we had recently met with ; who had represented to him the perils that would attend him in an expedition to the Pawnee hunt- ing-grounds, where he might fall into the hands of the implacable enemies of his tribe : and, what wa& scarcely less to be apprehended, the annoyances to which he would be subjected from the capricious and overbearing conduct of the white men ; who, as I have witnessed in my own short experience, 48 CRAYON MISCELLANx. are prone to treat the poor Indians as little better than brute animals. Indeed, he had had a speci- men of it himself in the narrow escape he made from the infliction of " Lynch's law/' by the hard- winking worthy of the frontier, for the flagitious crime of finding a stray horse. The disappearance of the youth was generally regretted by our party, for we had all taken a great fancy to him from his handsome, frank, and manly appearance, and the easy grace of his deportment. He was indeed a native-born gen- tleman. By none, however, was he so much la- mented as by the young Count, who thus sud- denly found himself deprived of his esquire. I regretted the departure of the Osage for his own sake, for we should have cherished him through- out the expedition, and I am convinced, from the munificent spirit of his patron, he would have returned to his tribe laden with wealth of beads and trinkets and Indian blankets. CHAPTER Vm. THE HONEY OAMP. HE weather, which had been rainy in the night, having held up, we resumed our march at seven o'clock in the morn- ing, in confident hope of soon arriving at the en- campment of the rangers. We had not ridden above three or four miles when Ave came to a large tree which had recently been felled by an axe, for the wild honey contained in the hollow of its trunk, several broken flakes of which still remained. We now felt sure that the camp could not be far distant. About a couple of miles fur- ther some of the rangers set up a shout, and pointed to a number of horses grazing in a woody bottom. A few paces brought us to the brow of an elevated ridge, whence we looked down upon the encampment. It was a wild bandit, or Robin Hood, scene. In a beautiful open forest, trav- ersed by a running stream, were booths of bark and branches, and tents of blankets, — temporary shelters from the recent rain, for the rangers commonly bivouac in the open air. There were groups of rangers in every kind of uncouth garb Some were cooking at large fires made at the 50 CRAYON MISCELLANY. feet of trees ; some were stretching and dressing deer-skins ; some were shooting at a mark, and some lying about on the grass. Venison jerked, and hung on frames, was drying over the embers in one place ; in another lay carcasses recently brought in by the hunters. Stacks of rifles were leaning against the trunks of the trees, and sad- dles, bridles, and powder-horns hanging above them, while the horses were QY£izi\\