THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION THE FIRST MKKTINC,. ROBERT ^ * * <* ^ ^GORDON JOHN E. BEADLES Published PUBLISH I 83 5 BROADWAY BROADWAY NG COMPANY NEW YORK Copyright 1903 by J. E. BEADLES THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO LUTIE AS A SLIGHT MEMORIAL OF A FATHER'S AFFECTION FOR AN ONLY DAUGHTER. October 20, 1902. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAOK My Native Land 1 CHAPTER II. Near the Dark River 12 CHAPTER III. Ameng the Comanche Indians 20 CHAPTER IV. The Captive 31 CHAPTER V. The Rescue 45 CHAPTER VI. The Conde's Proposition 64 CHAPTER VII. An Acceptable Position 76 CHAPTER VIII. Durango 93 CHAPTER IX. A Teacher of English 104 CHAPTER X. The Thunder Storm 121 CHAPTER XI. The Heretic 139 CHAPTER XII. Driven Away 154 CHAPTER XIII. A Rebel Colonel . 173 2209205 vi Contents. CHAPTER XIV. PAO Battle of Mt. Mextpal 202 CHAPTER XV. The Two Camps United 217 CHAPTER XVI. Twice a Captive 225 CHAPTER XVII. Rescued Again 241 CHAPTER XVIII. The Tide Turned 260 CHAPTER XIX. Friends Indeed 283 CHAPTER XX. In the Mountains Again 291 CHAPTER XXI. Three Graves 318 CHAPTER XXII. Bound for the United States 335 CHAPTER XXIII. The Parting 343 CHAPTER XXIV. Among Friends and Enemies 352 CHAPTER XXV. Love, the Power that Conquers All 379 CHAPTER XXVI. Kidnapped 396 CHAPTER XXVII. United at Last 415 CHAPTER XXVIII. Conclusion 434 INTRODUCTION. WK desire to say to you, before you read this work, that it is not all original, for a great part has been compiled from the best histories of Mexico, and also from the diary of my grandfather, who traveled over a large part of the territory which my hero travels. You will find that we have interwoven with these historical facts, fiction enough to give it the form of a story; thinking that by so doing, it will be more interesting. And believing that personal experience is always more attractive when related by the principal actor, we have assumed in this work, that he is giving a history of his own life. But while you notice the acts of our hero, we wish you to look into the conditions of thait country, one of the brightest portions of the American continent, rich in minerals, vegetation and natural resources; but a pauper in everything that makes a nation. Then see if you cannot find a parallel in the condition of every country where tyranny has ruled. However this may be, if we can entertain, instruct, and make you better by what we have here written, we will have done all that we have attempted. J. E. B. ROBERT GORDON. CHAPTER I. MY NATIVE LAND. Where'er I roam, whatever lands I see, My heart, untraveled, fondly turns to thee. GOLDSMITH. IN the autumn of the year 1828, I set out from Massa- chusetts for the remote regions of the southwest on the Spanish frontier, where I reside. When I entered the steamboat from Philadelphia to Baltimore, having taken a general survey of the motley group, which is usually seen in such places, my eyes finally rested on a young gentleman, apparently between twenty-five and thirty years of age, remarkable for his handsome face, the symmetry of his form, and for his uncommon union of interest, benevolence, modesty and manly thought, which are seldom seen united in a male countenance of great beauty. I am a firm believer in animal magnetism, but I admit that this electrical attraction of kindred minds at first sight is 2 Robert Gordon. inexplicable. The world may laugh at the impression if it pleases. I have, through life, found myself attracted or repelled at first sight, and oftentimes without being able to find in the object of these feelings any assignable reason, either for the one or the other. I have experienced, too, that, on after acquaintance, I have seldom had occasion to find these first impressions deceptive. There was something in this young gentleman, which immediately and strongly enlisted my feelings in his favor, and I watched, during the passage, to make such acquaint- ance with him as such places admit. No decorous opportunity for such acquaintance occurred, and I only learned from the way-book that his name was Eobert Gordon, for Durango in Mexico. Perhaps the circumstances which so much fixed my attention, upon the young gentleman were an indescribable air of contentment and tranquillity, as though satisfied with himself; a carelessness of the observation of others as though he had been alone in the boat. Nothing interests me so much in a person as to see him deriving his resources from himself, and not drawing upon the feverish stimulants of display, and the fancied figure which he makes in the eyes of another; but on the reflections and enjoyments which spring up spontaneously within himself. His dress and his servants indicated wealth, and his countenance wore the tinge of a southern sun. I noticed that there was a common feeling on board the boat to learn who he was. This was particularly discernible among the young ladies. But, though his manners indicated great courtesy, he seemed rather shy of communication; and there were many who left the boat, probably suffering more from the pain of ungratified curiosity, than I did. In Baltimore I lost sight of him. I crossed the mountains on the national road to Wheel- My Native Land. 3 ing and descended the Ohio to Louisville, at which place I embarked on board a steamboat bound for the place of my final destination. My first look upon my fellow passengers discovered among them the fine looking, digni- fied stranger, who had interested me so much on my way to Baltimore. The river was very low. His course must be the same as mine for several hundred miles. Our captain calculated that his boat would frequently ground, and, of course, did not think of running at night. The passengers were mostly young men of that empty and boisterous character that is but too common on these waters; men equally without manners, who know only to swear, play cards and drink. I felt pleased to think that the .stranger could not escape my acquaintance; that, in our assortment of passengers, a man of his apparent character could not have a fellow feeling with them, and that I should find in his society a relief from the tedium of a long and tiresome passage and the impatience of a prolonged absence 'from my family. A steamboat without a suitable companion becomes a prison. Our passage was made under very pleasant circumstances apart from the character of the passengers. We had a fine boat, an obliging captain, and an excellent fare. It is a beautiful river, particularly in the autumn. Its shores furnished us with plenty of game, and when we lay by on its wide, clean sandbars, we amused ourselves by shooting among the countless multitude of ducks and geese. When the boat grounded, as it often did, while the hands were getting her off, we had our pleasant prome- nades in the woods, some in pursuit of game and some for wild fruits. The weather was delightful. Nature, too, was laying on iher best coloring in her grand painting of the season, in all the hues of red, purple, yellow and green. When disengaged from the bars our boat swept 4 Robert Gordon. swiftly and majestically around the curves of the river. The rest raised their reckless laugh, told their stale jests, and played their cards to their own satisfaction. Our mutual want of taste for these enjoyments brought us together, and acquaintance led to intimacy. Our com- munications became frank and cordial, and we as naturally seated ourselves under the awning on the deck to enjoy the autumnal landscape and taste the cool breeze, and to enter into these pleasant conversations, as the rest sat down to their cards. Of course, we inquired the place of each other's birth and residence, and were naturally led, in the progress of this acquaintance, to go into the color and events of our past lives. I communicated without reserve "the short and simple annals" of my career thus far on life's pilgrimage; encouraged by the promise that this confidence should be repaid by the history of his own. It was commenced, laid aside and resumed, as our feelings, the temperature and circumstances dictated. As his story advanced, my interest became intense. This story I now propose to give to the reader, as I received it from him. If it interests him half as much as it did me he will not complain that I have token him along with me as a companion. He premised his narrative by observing that he should have to apologize for the frequent use of the important pronoun of the first person, and the necessity of recurring to this own exploits and his own praises. I insisted that he should begin, and that he should tell all. "If," he replied, "you find me in this history as a very pretty fellow, only ask yourself how I could help it ? And when you hear extravagant and foolish praise of this sort, or any other, we will agree not to look in each other's faces, and you must suppose this the idle exaggeration of a very partial third person. My Native Land. 5 "Besides, I forewarn you, that, although nothing will be related but what most certainly did take place, nothing but what is most strictly true, much of my story will have in your eye the semblance of being too wide from the common course of events, and of drawing largely on your readiness to believe on the faith of the narrator. But if the whole story of the Mexican Eevolution could be told, a thousand adventures, in comparison of which mine would assume the air of commonplace occurrences. I forestall another charge: if I really describe myself as I have been, and my adventures as they occurred, this true history will seem to you little short of a romance. You matter-of-fact people here in the States are inclined either to ridicule romantic feelings and adventures, or, still worse, to view it as having immoral tendencies and tending to unbalance the mind, and unfit it for the severer and more important duties of life." "Have no fears on that score," I cried, "for I, at least, am not one of them. It is so long since I have heard any- thing but dollars and cents, the mere mercenary details of existence, that I long to be introduced to another world. I heartily despise the idle declamation against romance, which I so often hear. Poesy and romance are the higher and holier matters of the intellectual world. All noble conceptions, all holy thoughts in the mind, are undoubt- edly connected with the qualified love and indulgences of romantic feelings. It is the only thing that will cause one to die for his country. It is the very foundation of patriotism. "God know* the tendency of everything in this country, and in the world at this time, is just toward this order of things. The first question of the marriageable daughter is that of the sagacious father, how much money has he? What are his expectations? We would not have silly 6 Robert Gordon. damsels pine over sickening and long-winded tales of love ; but the more chivalrous, high-minded and romantic our young people are raised the better. I would have little hopes of a young man until I was persuaded that his bosom had at some time expanded with dreams of romance. How delightfully Addison lets us into this bosom in detailing one of his day dreams. Away with the miserable idea of rendering men more selfish than they are. I would much rather the eye of my child would kindle at hearing the recitation of beautiful verses than to be dazzled by the glitter of gold. Indiscriminate avidity for romance may be a great evil. I contend not for the abuse of anything. Deprive life of its poesy, existence of imagi- nation, and what do you leave us? You need have no fears of being romantic. You have awakened curiosity from a new source; and this is just the time and place to listen to a story of that sort." He then told the following story: I am happy to find that we are natives of the same State. I was born in a small village not far from Boston. I was the youngest but two, of eight chil- dren, and reared in the strictest form of the Puritan church, and I feel the benefit of this early training. I am sure that my early impressions were engraven too deeply on my heart to be erased. With, what delight I trace the remembrance of my youth in that dearest and best of all lands! Where can be found on this earth better principles, better nurtured and happier families than those of that region? Even yet, after so many years of wandering and vicissitudes, I recall in my dreams the hoary head and the venerable form of that father, who used to bend the knee before us in family prayer, and who taught my infant voice to pray. My Native Land. 7 I find pictured in my mind that long range of meadows, which front our village church. I see my father at the head, and my mother and the rest of the family, according to their ages, following each other's steps through those delightful meadows, as we went up to the house of God. I see even now the meadow-pink, and hear the note of the lark, startled and soaring from our path. There is the slow and limpid stream, in which I have angled and bathed a thousand times. There was the hum of the bees on the fragrant clover. Well, too, do I remember the venerable minister, with his white hair, his earnest voice and familiar form. The small and rustic church was filled to overflowing with those who had there received baptism, and who expected to repose with their fathers in the adjoining consecrated enclosier. And there, opposite to the church, was the village school house, one of those thousand nurseries of our country's greatness. Dear remembrances ! How often ye visited my dreams in the desolate land of the stranger. Excuse digressions which force themselves upon me whenever I compare the land of my birth with the coun- tries in which I have since sojourned. I pass over the events of my early years, observing only that I was the most limber athlete, the best wrestler, swimmer and skater in school. I was the favorite of my father and mother, and was therefore selected to be the scholar of the family. I was the favorite of the school, too, until it was divulged that I was to be sent to college. From that time I had to encounter my full share of envy. I was sent to an academy, and thence in due process of time to Harvard College, where I graduated with the usual honors. Of the character I formed, of the impressions I received at that rich and noble institution, I am not, perhaps, an adequate judge. I believe you were educated in the same 8 Robert Gordon. school. I was naturally studious and sedentary in my habits, reading and devouring everything that came in my way. A strong propensity inclined me to visionary musings, and dreaming with my eyes open. I theorized, speculated, doubted and tasked my thoughts to penetrate the nature of mind, and the region of possibility. I investi- gated with eagerness the evidence of an eventful hereafter. I read the works of Socrates, Plato, Cicero and Seneca, and was prepared by reading them for the perusal of the Gospel. I placed before my mind the simple grandeur of the lowly Nazarene, compared with these sages. I was deeply struck with the tender and affectionate spirit of the apostles. In what a different world was the empire of their thoughts and hopes! How wide in their views, sentiments and aims from the men of the world ! Here were men, to whom riches, power, ambition and distinction were as nothing. All that the world hopes or fears was to them a mere childish dream. What motives for an unalterable resignation ! None had yet discovered my propensities for display. It had kindled with the dreams of ambition. Nothing had fed my thoughts like our national celebrations and gatherings of the people upon solemn or festive occasions. When the long and solemn procession was formed, when all that was imposing and venerable in place and office joined it, when the gorgeous ranks of the volunteer corps were displayed, and the full band struck up, unobserved tears would fill my eyes. My bosom swelled. And I would return to my study, and "Thou," I said to myself, "art destined to poverty and obscurity. Every avenue to wealth and fame has been preoccupied, and you must expect to make your grave with the countless millions who are forgotten." The first and favorite wish of my parents was that I should become a minister of the gospel, But I My Native Land. 9 had too high an estimate of the sacredness of those func- tions, and too deep and just a sense of my constitutional disqualifications to assume that profession. I graduated in my nineteenth year, and a little before that time my mind received that coloring, and took that bent, which has determined my course and caused me to become what I am. I became extravagantly fond of books of voyages and travels. I frequently wished to float down from the head waters of the Mississippi to the Gulf, or to follow the intrepid Lewis and Clark over the Eocky Moun- tains to the western sea. I have introduced this digres- sion to account to you for those original impulses, under the influences of which I have been a wanderer in the distant region where I now have my home. It pains me to remember the disappointment and distress of my parents when they ascertained that my mind had taken this new direction. Words would fail me to describe the remonstrances and disputes which they held with me, to persuade me from my purpose. How often did my mother paint to me the desolation and sinking of heart which I should experience, if I were cast on a sick bed in a strange land, and far away from her affectionate nurs- ing. When they demanded of me my plans, and what ulti- mate views I had in this new and boundless country, I could give them but a vague idea, for they were too indefi- nite for me to define. I knew that I intended to descend this river and the Mississippi, and ascend the Ked Eiver, of the beauty and wealth of which I had formed the most extravagant ideas; and I had a presentiment of future greatness, wealth, and happiness to befall me somewhere in the Spanish country beyond, that I intended to make my way as well as I could, and follow the leading of events. When my resolutions were once formed, I had inherited from my father inflexibility of purpose. My father had io Robert Gordon. so often applauded this trait in my character, and with no small satisfaction, had so often traced the lineage of this virtue to himself, that he could poorly blame me for the exercise of it in the present case. He hinted to me. indeed, what a glorious prospect there was, that I might succeed the present minister of our parish, who was old and infirm ; or if I would rather choose to he a lawyer, that when he should become a justice, a dignity to which he had been aiming for years, I might perhaps attend the sessions, and plead before him. He touched upon the universal homage paid to a doctor, his plump pony, his neat saddle bags, and his glorious long bills. All would not do ; and my friends all allowed that I was a headstrong and stubborn dog, just like my father before me ; and that it was a fine genius, a fine face, and a college education, all thrown away. My mother's remonstrance was the most painful of all, for I knew she loved me with her whole heart and soul. With how much earnestness and affection she painted to me the solid independence and greatness which I should be sure to attain at home, all of which I was throwing away on a romantic and visionary project in the wilderness of the West ; all this I had but too much cause to remember after- ward. Those who had envied me, already took up a lam- entation over me, as though the predictions about me had actually been accomplished ; and took it for granted that in poverty and misery I should end my days. When they saw that I was actually making arrangements to set off for my El Dorado, my father and mother, with the utmost consideration, made preparations of whatever they thought would conduce to my comfort and welfare. They furnished me with such a portion of the property as, added to my education, would equal me with what my father sup- posed he might leave the other children. The day in which I lost sight of the paternal roof was a sad one to me. Who My Native Land. II can describe the tenderness of the parting tears of such a mother as mine? When I left the cheerful, industrious and happy group, knowing, too, that they considered me as one forever lost to them, my resolutions would have given way, had not my established character of sticking to my purpose come to my aid. I received a great deal of excel- lent advice, and from the hands of my father a Bible, and earnest counsel to make good use of it. My mother and sisters had been provident in furnishing my trunk with the comforts necessary for a traveler; I received the parting blessing with indescribable emotion, and tore myself away. Robert Gordon. CHAPTEE II. NEAR THE DARK RIVER. "Happy the man, who has not seen the smoke ascending from the cottage of the stranger." AT [Boston I commenced the route which we are now traveling, and until I began to ascend the Alleghany Moun- tains, I did not feel all the ties of kindred and country completely severed. I could connect, by the chain of asso- ciation, points that were distant, if they were but in the same country, and inhabited by men of the same character and pursuits. But when such a wide barrier was interposed between me and "faderland"; when I began to descend among a people of a different character and foreign pur- suits; then I began to experience misgiving of mind, and the dismal feeling of homesickness. Then the image of my mother visited my dreams, and it was a dreary feeling to awake and find that the visit was but a dream. These feelings were not at all alleviated by my reception at the first town to which I came on the Ohio. A keelboat was on the eve of starting for Alexandria, on Eed Kiver. I took passage in it, and was immediately introduced to a mode of existence, not a little different from the seclusion and medi- tation of my studies at the university. The degree of water did not admit the descent of steam- Near the Dark River. 13 Duats. In fact, there were but few on these waters at that time, and I was compelled to take this conveyance or wait the rising of the river. At first the novelty of this way of life, the freshness of the scenery on this beautiful river, and the whimsical character of the boatmen amused me. Their strange curses, it is true, grated on my ear. It was an order of beings as different from any with whom I had yet become acquainted, as though they had descended from another planet. Their dialect, too, made up of equal pro- portions of a peculiar slang and profanity, is at the same time both ludicrous and appalling. The motto of this singular race is well known to be 'a short and merry life.' The reckless indifference with which they expose them- selves in places of danger, the damp and sultry atmosphere, and the mosquitoes at night, make their career generally short, and their death sudden. Their discourse with each other, like their dialect, strangely mixes a kind of coarse wit, ridicule and impiety together. They talk of death with the utmost indifference, and generally encounter it as they talk of it. A thrill of horror mixes with the involuntary smile, as you hear the strange phrase in which they dis- cuss this subject. We had much fatigue, encountered many dangers, and there were many quarrels and reconciliations before we reached our destination. The dark water of the river, only ruffled by the darting of huge fishes, the foaming path of the monster alligator or a thousand little silvery fishes leaping from the water and sparkling like diamonds; the lazy flight of ponderous birds, slowly flapping their wings, and sailing along just over the surface of these dark waters ; a soil greasy and slippery with a deposit of slime; trees marked fourteen feet high by an overflow of -half the year ; gullies several feet deep, and large enough to be the outlet of rivers, covered at the bottoms with decaying logs, and 14 Robert Gordon. connecting the river with hroad sluggish lakes, too thickly covered with a coat of green to be ruffled by the winds which can scarcely find their way through the dense forest ; snakes, writhing their ugly forms at the bottom of these gullies; such was the scenery that met my eye as I advanced into the region, which had been so embellished by my fancy. My eyes, ears, and nostrils joined to admonish that here fever had erected his throne. When I lay down at night millions of mosquitoes would raise their dismal hum and settle in my face. Drive away the first thousand, and another thousand was ready to succeed, and 'in that war there was no discharge/ A hundred owls, in all the tones of screaming, hooting, grunting, in every note, from the wail of an infant to the growl of a bear, sang our requiem. Sleep under such circumstances is little better than none. The inhabitants were in full keeping with the surround- ings. Their complexion was yellowish, or, to use their phrase, "tallow faced." To shake with the ague was their daily occupation. The children were dirty, ragged, and as mischievous as they were deformed. They rolled upon the slippery clay with an agility and alertness, from their ap- pearance altogether incredible, for you would suppose them too feeble and clumsy to move. There was something unique about the persons of both the old and young. They laughed and shouted and drank and blasphemed, and ut- tered their tale of obscenity, or, it may be of murder, with bacchanalian joyousness. Shut your eyes and you would suppose that you were in the merriest group in the world ; open them and you would almost believe the chilling stories of vampires. One evening while we were laying by, not far from the mouth of Bed River, on the verge of the bank above us, in a little opening in the dead forest, was a family such as I Near the Dark River. 15 have described. The wife and mother in this family had once been pretty. She had had the ague for years in suc- cession and now had the swelling, filthiness, brilliant eye, flippant tongue, and ran on from istory to story with more than the garrulity of an old Frenchwoman. She informed me that for a month in the preceding spring they had been overflowed and were in the midst of a flooded swamp, thirty miles in diameter. They built a house on a raft of logs fastened together, and secured from floating away with grapevines. On this raft was stationed the family, oxen, pigs, and a barrel of whiskey to keep up their spirits. She took me for a cotton planter, and said : "Now, you planters have but one house, and we wood cutters have two. We have our floating house on the raft, and when the river falls we build another on the ground. Look you there ! Only three paces from my door used to lie of a sunny morning a couple of thundering alligators, and my Franky there," pointing to a boy who seemed to be about four years old, and as ugly an urchin as you would wish to see, "that there boy would needs be playing some of his rusty shines, and so he crawled out, and gave one of them a rap on the snout with a broomstick. The monster devil curled his tail and gave Franky a slap which tossed him in the air like a ball ; and the beast would have had the eating of Franky in a trice, but I heard him scream as the alligator struck him. I seized a kettle of boiling water and threw it on the horrid critter just as he showed his white teeth to eat Franky, and this drove the gentleman into the water." The well remembered song of my infancy rang in my ears: "No more shall the horn call me out in the morn," and a chill as of death came over me when I thought that this was the reality of that picture, which, to my imagina- 1 6 Robert Gordon. tion, had been so delightful. I felt, too, the depth and ap- plication of the old proverb, "that one-half of the world does not know how the other half lives." The comforting prediction of my friends rung in my ears, "In that savage country you will lay your hones." Certainly! thought I, the assignment of your hounds must be the sport of a blind destiny. There are hills and dales, and mountain streams, and beautiful breezes, and cheerful scenery, and millions of unoccupied acres of fertile country, where the means of subsistence even are at least as easy as here. How have voluntary agents, with the power of locomotion, fixed them- selves here from choice ? The boatmen accounted for it by saying that it took all sorts of people to make a world. I made my first residence in these regions, and my first acquaintance with Southern men, manners, and things at Alexandria. It may be supposed that I studied the country and people with an intense interest. I had many things to learn, and many things to unlearn, to prepare me for this study. I was at once aware that much that had been said of the country abroad was founded either on ignorance or misrepresentation. This town is in a rich cotton planting country, where fortunes have been very rapidly acquired. The planters, as a rule, are honorable and high minded men. They are all in the highest degree hospitable. Ac- quiring their money easily, they spend it with reckless profusion. I was invited with great courtesy to their balls, of which they were very fond. I shared their amuse- ments, as far as my habits of life would allow me, and more than all I joined them in their hunting parties, of which I was almost as fond as they were. Their favorite chase, and, I may add, mine, too, was hunting by night. But amidst these pleasures and sports, an evil was impending over my head, one of the terrible things wihich my mother had most often rung in my ears, as my probable Near the Dark River. 17 lot in a sickly and strange land. I had inhaled enough of the miasma to give me the fever of the country. I was seized so suddenly and violently as to become uncon- scious for some time. When I regained consciousness I found myself in bed surrounded by strange faces, and so extremely weak as to be unable to turn myself. The people were as kind to me as I had any right to expect. But accustomed to see many cases of the kind, and not used to making much discrimination, consider all cases as the same thing. A frightful ringing was in my ears. The continued uproar of the place where I was became con- founded in my head by this ringing, the effect of the disease. From the united influence of these things I fell into the wildest delirium. Frightful circles of light glared before my eyes, especially at night. At one time I imagined myself an inhabitant of the infernal regions. I saw the fiends about me, heard their exultant shouts, and felt them pouring baskets of burning coals upon my head. Then, in a moment, I was transported to the churchyard, back of the church in my native village, and saw my friends digging my grave. Then the scene would shift and become a little more pleasant. I would .see the beautiful meadows in front of my father's house and my father and the family going to church and chiding me for lingering behind. In those paroxysms one thought was always uppermost, that I was away from home and struggling to disengage myself from something that detained me, that I might escape and get home. Unknown to tihe people of the house I had my lucid intervals, in which I lay in a state of infantine weakness. Sick as I was, and apparently on the verge of death, I felt a kind of strange pleasure in hearing them discuss the subject of my death and burial. If any one wishes to know exactly of how much consequence he is in the eyes 1 8 Robert Gordon. of the people, who have no concern in him, and no motive to induce them to manifest what they have not, lei that person be sick in a strange place and hear the people discuss his case with all the recklessness of persons who think they are neither heard nor understood. We would then discover that there are many people in the world, who think it would get along very well without us. We might then have striking foretastes of how little they would disturb themselves about our exit after we are actually gone. There were other times, in which I felt keenly and bitterly the dread of death, the unwillingness to "cross the dark river," and an earnest desire that I might recover. I have reasons to think that I received great and uncommon attention; for, although they were people who subsisted by such cases as mine, they appeared to take great care of me. I lay sick a long time, and even after my fever had been checked, it was not expected for many days that I would recover. But, as it happened, the event disap- pointed all their calculations. The Author of my being had more for me to do and to suffer on the earth. I regained perfect consciousness, though in such extreme weakness, as not to be able to turn myself in bed. My first feelings were those of devout thankfulness. My first lucid thoughts expressed themselves in a question from the Bible, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Why had I wandered away from a peaceful and religious home, and from the tender and endeared relatives to a place like this ? The anxiety, the tenderness, the maternal nursing of my mother in a fever, which I had had at home, visited my mind. Oh! I thought all their evil omens fell far short of the actual state of things which I had experienced. 1 earnestly wished that all those who had the wandering bump in their skulls could know what I did, without Near the Dark River. 19 knowing it at the same expense, that they could see and comprehend all that a sick and unfriended stranger has to hope under such circumstances. How quietly afterward they would set themselves down to any honest pursuit that would preclude the necessity of wandering. 2O Robert Gordon. jHAPTER III. AMONG THE COMANCHE INDIANS. BUT I perceive that I am digressing, and drawing too largely on your patience. About the time I regained my strength a party of young men were establishing a partner- ship to travel into the Spanish country, to traffic with the Spaniards and Indians for mules, horses and furs. Their project was such as would gratify my favorite pro- pensity to travel into that region. They appeared to be young men of standing, and had the appearance and manners of gentlemen. I joined them as a partner. There were eight of us in all, well armed and equipped, and furnished with as much merchandise as our fund's would allow us to purchase. They laughed heartily at one part of my outfit, which was a small, but choice collection of books. We packed our merchandise, provisions, tents, ammunition, etc., on mules, and smarted with gay hearts to enter tihe Spanish country by way of the Arkansas. We closed our arrangements at Natchitoehes, the last village in Louisiana toward the Spanish frontier. On the Kiamesia we passed the American garrison, and saw the cheering sight of the spirit-stirring stars and stripes, waving above the rude fortress and the comfortable quar- ters, three hundred leagues from the compact population of the country. We admired the genius of a country yet so 21 young, and which had thus early learned to stretch her maternal arms to these remote deserts in token of efficient protection to the frontier people from the terrors of the ruthless savages. It was not far from this garrison that my eyes dilated and my heart expanded, as we opened upon one of those boundless grassy plains that stretch beyond the horizon, and almost beyond imagination. Such a view presents to me the image of infinitude and eternity still more strongly /than a distant view of the ocean. We entered with the rising sun. One part of tfhe glorious orb seemed to touch the verdure, and the other the sky. On these level plains some of my dreams of the pleasure of wandering were realized. We were all in the morning of life, full of health and spirits, on horseback and breathing a most salubrious air, with a boundless horizon open before us, and shaping our fortune and success in the elastic mould of youthful hope and imagination, we could hardly be other than happy. Sometimes we saw, scouring from our path, horses, mules, buffaloes and wolves, in countless numbers, and we took with almost too much ease to give pleasure to the chase, whatever we needed for food. The course of streams across the prairies is marked by a fringe of wood and countless flowering shrubs. The day before we came in view of the Eocky Mountains I saw the greatest, and, to me, almost sublime spectacle, an immense herd of wild horses, for a long time hovering around our path across the prairie. I had often seen small numbers of them before, but here there were thou- sands of them. Their movements seemed to be almost as rapid as the wind. At one time they were in our front, then almost as quick as thought, they were seen on our flanks, and then in our rear. After viewing our cavalcade 22 Robert Gordon. for a time, they took to their heels with a noise like that of an earthquake and in a few seconds were all out of sight. It was in the opening of spring, after a slow and easy journey of five weeks from Natchitoches, that we arrived in sight of the Eocky Mountains at a point where the Arkansas finds its way from among them to the plains. No time will erase from my mind the impression of awe and grandeur, excited by the distant view and the gradual approach to them. The plains continue quite up to the point where the mountains seem to rise out of the earth almost perpendicularly for several thousand feet. With such contrast, and from such a pedestal, rises Pike's Peak. His blackening sides and hoary summit are a kind of seamark at an immense distance over the plains. He elevates his gigantic head, and frowns upon the sea of verdure below him. Solitary and detached from the hundred mountains, apparently younger members of tEe family shrink with filial awe at a distance from him. At the foot of this mountain it was arranged that each one of us should proceed to a different point among the Indians, to purchase horses and mules, and that we should reunite at Santa Fe. For my part, I now began to exercise self-scrutiny, and to feel myself disqualified in every -point of view for this kind of traffic. A certain percentage was ultimately to be awarded me, according to the profit and losses, and in proportion to my con- tribution to the common stock. As I frankly confessed my disinclination to the active labors of the partnership, it was stipulated tlhat on these conditions I should be a silent partner, and might find my way as I chose to the place of meeting, and at an assigned time in Santa F6. I was thus left at liberty to gratify my curiosity in my own way, and was esteemed a kind of good natured Among the Comanche Indians. 23 scholar, with my head turned too much to books to under- stand the value of money, or to enter into the pleasure of making it. One of the company, a young man from New York, had been educated to a considerable degree, and was, in other respects, a man of different order of thought and manners from the rest. Between him and me there existed a kind of companionship. He under- stood a smattering of French and enough of the language of the Comanches to converse with them. To him was assigned a central village of the Comanches among the mountains, as the place where he was to commence his traffic. He represented his place as being singularly romantic and beautiful, for he had been there before, and the Indians as the most noble and interesting people of all that region. He requested me to accompany him, holding forth all the usual inducements which operate with most force upon such adventures. From very different motives from those which he held out, I consented to follow him. The morning after our arrival at the mountains we made our final arrangements, and each member started for his assigned place. My companion and myself began to scramble up the rocky and precipitous banks of the Arkansas, and made our way toward the waters of the Eio Grande. We were often obliged to dismount and lead our horses through the defiles, and we found great difficulty in getting along, although we were on the track by which the savages come down to the plains. We came to the banks of a torrent, and wound along a path, barely wide enough for one horse to pass, with perpendicular points of mountains often hanging a thousand feet above our heads. On the evening of the third day, just before sunset, we entered a long and very narrow gorge between two stupendous elevations, with a narrow path of smooth 24 Robert Gordon. limestone, washed on the edge by the foaming waters of the torrent. We threaded this gorge perhaps two miles, and just as twilight was fading we entered the most beau- tiful valley that I had ever seen. Dusky as it was in the depths of the valley, the last rays of the sun still glittered on the eternal ices of the summit of the moun- tains. The bells of horses and cattle tinkled, dogs bayed and children hallooed. A compact village of Indian cabins dotted the opposite extremity of the valley. The squaws were crossing each other's paths, carrying water on their heads, and performing the other kitchen duties in the open air. Naked boys were shooting arrows at a mark, and the men were smoking. My companion, who knew the village, walked forward with the confidence of an acquaintance. He approached the sentinels, two of whom always guarded the point where the gorge opened into the valley. He moved with a firm step and a fearless countenance, and offered his hand. They gave a sharp cry of recognition, followed by a gentle grunt and a cordial shake of the hand A phrase introduced me to them, and I, too, received my shake of the hand. One of them went with us to introduce us to the village. The chiefs and warriors thronged around us. My companion ex- plained our object in this visit. As far as I could judge our reception was cordial, and we were welcome. A vacant cabin, fitted up with Indian magnificence, and its floor spread with skins, was assigned us. There seemed to be almost a contest among them, who should be the first to entertain us. I arose early the next morning to make a circuit of this lovely valley. At the extremity of the village a torrent poured down from a prodigious elevation, which seemed a sheet suspended in the air. It falls into a circular basin, paved with blue limestone of some rods in diameter. Among the Comanche Indians. 25 The dash near at hand has a startling effect, but at a little distance, it is just the murmur to inspire repose, and it spreads a delicious coolness all around the place. Its banks are fringed with pawpaw, persimmon and catalpa shrubs and trees, interlaced with vines, under which the green carpet is rendered gay with flowers of every scent and hue. The coolness of the vale and the shade, together with the irrigation of the stream, covers the whole valley with verdure. The beautiful red bird with his crimson tufted crest, the nightingale pouring forth a continuous stream of sound, and the mocking-bird, the buffoon of songsters, parodying the songs of all the rest, had commenced their morning voluntary. The sun, which had burnished all the tops of the mountains with gold, and here and there had glistened on banks of snow for some time, would not shine in the valley until he 'had almost reached his meridian height. The natives, fleet as the deer when on an expedition abroad, and at home lazy and yawning, were just issuing from their cabins, and stretching their limbs in the cool morning air. The smoke of the cabin fires had just begun to undulate and whiten in horizontal pillows athwart the valley. The distant roar of the cascade seemed to mingle and harmonize all other sounds in the valley. It was a charming assemblage of strong contrasts, rocky and inaccessible mountains, the deep and incessant roar of the cascade, a valley that seemed to sleep between these impregnable ramparts of nature, a little region of landscape surrounded by black and ragged cliffs, on every side dotted thick with brilliant and beautiful vege- tation, and fragrant with hundreds of plants in full bloom ; in the midst of a lazy, simple and indescribable people, whose forefathers had been born and died here for un- counted generations; a people, who could have recorded 26 Robert Gordon. wars, loves and all the changes of fortune, if they had had their historians. Such was this valley of the Comanches. There are places where I am at home at once wiith nature, and where she seems to take me to her bosom with all the fondness of a motfher. I forget that I am a stranger in a strange land; and this was one of those places. "Here would I live, unnoticed and unknown, 'Here unlamented would I die; *Steal from the world, and not a stone 'Tell where I lie." Having sauntered about in different parts of the valley for an hour, one spot struck me as peculiarly inviting to meditation, study and repose. It was a peninsula made by a bend in the stream, which almost curved back upon its own course, leaving an entrance scarcely three paces across, and the islet included an area of several rods. Even the Indians had a taste for the pleasantness of this place, for their devious paths had chequered out walks in the living turf. Even the Indian girls felt that here was the place to own their "dusky lovers." Weeping wil- lows and magnolias rendered it a perfect alcove. Here, thought I, shall be my study, while I reside in this sweet place. When I cast my eye around I applauded that fore- cast, which had drawn so much ridicule from my compan- ions, in having brought with me my books. After breakfast a council fire was kindled in the public wigwam. The council chiefs, the warriors, tJhe women and the children assembled around the council fire to welcome us to the village with the customary solemnities. The calumet went round. The savages all smoked, and gave it to us to smoke. A speech of welcome to us, and of Among the Comanche Indians. 27 invitation to our partners to visit them was uttered lay the most aged council chief. The elocution was strong, significant, and emphatic ; and at the close of each sentence the interpreter, a half-blood Frenchman, translated it into French, a language which we both understood. I felt thankful that, among other useful acquirements at college, I had mastered this language. I entered into this speech with intense interest, for I had heard much of Indian eloquence. In the name of the tribe the usual promises of hospitality and protection were promised; in return we were to furnish them with a suitable portion of beads, knives, looking glasses and vermilion. On these terms I was to be considered as under the special protection of the tribe for two months, and my companion was to have every facility for purchasing and noosing horses and mules. The council terminated with a religious ceremony, the chief actor being an old, tall, meager savage. His eyes sunk, bald headed except a small lock of dirty gray hair on the top of his head. He was the priest, physician and conjuror of the tribe. It was understood that we were to pay for his prayer in whiskey and tobacco. Then came the dancing, after which it was understood that we were medicined, charmed or under the pledged protection of the household divinities. The tribe of Comanches, of which this was the chief town, inhabited the valleys at the sources of the Eed, Arkansas, and the Eio Grande rivers, which all rise near each other. These were their winter and permanent head- quarters. In the summer they encamped and hunted the buffalo and other game, on the adjacent plains. To diversify their mode of life a little, they often made incursions into New Spain, sometimes for a kind of forced traffic in horses, mules, and pelts, but much oftener with the avowed purpose of war and plunder. They kept up 28 Robert Gordon. in this way a kind of border warfare with the Spaniards, sometimes practicing open hostilities, but generally main- taining a kind of armed neutrality, throwing their weight into the scale of the Apaches, a neighboring tribe of savages, with whom the Spaniards maintained a continual war, or of the Spaniards themselves, as their interest, their policy, or their ambition dictated. Their present relation with the Spaniards was a kind of hollow truce, which had not, however, prevented a recent excursion to Santa Fe with a select force of young warriors, in which they had brought off rich plunder, a number of captives of the lower order, and with them the only daughter of Conde Olmedo, Governor of Durango, and Superintendent General of the Mexican mines. A deputation from th tribe was now at Santa Fe to treat witih the governor for the ransom of his daughter, which they put at an exorbitant sum of money, proportioned to the vast wealth of the father, and the known affection of his daughter. This circumstance showed more than any other, that they held the Spaniards at entire defiance. Circumstances, which will explain themselves as I proceed, will show why they felt such a peculiar confidence at this point of time. The governor, with all his resources, power and thousands of tenants, appeared to think of no other way of regaining his daughter but by a ransom. The savages spoke of her with a kind of mysterious reverence, remarking that she was never seen abroad, sometimes designating her with the sacred name of "medicine," and at other times by the name of a flower, which is the garnish of Indian figure for whatever they deem most beautiful. This valley, which contained the chief town and the central position of the tribe, evinced no little wisdom in those who selected it as a place of residence. The fortifications of Gibraltar are works of mere gingerbread compared with these inac- Among the Comanche Indians. 29 cessible and everlasting battlements of nature. A gorge, or defile, of two miles in length, just wide enough to admit a single horse, and walled in by overhanging moun- tains of slate and granite, barred all approach, except of a single person at a time. A cabin, constructed rudely, but with great strength of massive rocks, and inhabited by select warriors, the most trustworthy of the tribe, was built at the point where the gorge opens into the valley, and every one who entered must pass through this cabin and by these warriors. So situated and so guarded it might be considered, as they considered it, impregnable to any force which, in the present fermenting and distracted state of the Spanish provinces, they could bring against it. The Comanches bear a general resemblance to the rest of the North American Indians. Inhabiting a healthful and temperate climate, living in constant abundance from their inexhaustible supplies of game, and having vast herds of cattle, horses and mules, and constantly exercising in the open air, they attain the most perfect development of the human form. They are of fine person, large, mus- cular and athletic. They are courageous, fierce and independent, knowing no law but their own proud wills. I saw manifest proof of their having put the Spaniards under frequent and heavy contributions. For, besides that their trade with the Americans supplied them with rifles and yagers, they had levied from the Spaniards carbines, powder and lead; and quantities of bullion, silver, gold and massive plate appeared in the cabins of the principal war chiefs. There were also cumbrous articles of mahog- any furniture, splendid dresses and trappings, and crosses of gold, decked with gems, among them. The Creole cap- tives from the Spaniards were retained as slaves. Some of them were intermarried among the savages, and there were a number of children of this mixed race. I had every 3 f the same sort." The patriots were the more numerous party, and, as was generally the case, fought the fiercest. But the royalists sustained the fight until the small area of the battle ground was slippery with blood and the greater number on both sides were either killed or wounded. The royalists, completely surrounded, at length threw down their arms and called for quarter. The cap- tain of the patriots, accompanied by Fergus, whom I had seen from the first playing his part manfully, came up to us all covered with blood and shook us by the hand, inform- ing us that we were free. The captain of the royalists was slain. The patriot chief informed the next surviv- ing officer that his only object in this affair was our rescue, that, having achieved it, he had nothing further to do with him. He ordered the prisoners to clear themselves, and let him see them so far away as to leave no fear of them an- noying us, and that he should then shift for himself. He advised us to fly in the direction which should seem to promise us the best chance of escape. While the patriot captain was attending to his wounded, and the royalists gathering up theirs, Fergus gave me the particulars of this plan for our rescue. The Conde had so far evinced himself an honest man, that, notwithstanding every effort of his intended son-in-law and the father con- fessor, he had exerted himself to the utmost to obtain our acquittal and permission for us to depart unmolested to the United States. He urged my character and my interposi- tion for his rescue from the assassins, as good ground for extending this favor to me and my friends. He was over- ruled in both requests, and had the further mortification to hear himself charged in the court with derelic- tion of duty and a leaning toward the patriot cause. It was so obvious to himself, and every one else, that he had 288 Robert Gordon. no longer any efficient influence in the council that he re- signed his command in disgust. A coolness existed be- tween himself and Colonel De Oli and the father confessor on the subject. He took Fergus home with him, and they planned the means of our rescue, as we were coming to Durango according to the order of the council. It was no difficult thing, on an estate like his, containing many thousands of tenants, all personally known to him, to find enough brave and trusty men, and patriots in principle, to form the company that effected our rescue. 'T5ut," said Fergus, "yer honor will see that he never showed his finger in the business. The business was all managed on the back stairs. As soon as yer honor and yer friends here are off he will be as sorry for yer escape as the rest. They will send out for ye, and maybe put a price on yer heads, as they have done for others. He will agree to it all, and join in the hue and cry against ye, just as though he were on a buffalo hunt." Here then we were on an open plain, forty miles from Durango, free indeed, but one of our party wounded, weak, and three ladies to encumber us, and surrounded by danger of pursuit and death on every side. The patriot captain proposed our taking any number of the horses, and any provisions, arms and ammunition that we wished. We consulted with him, as an experienced and trusty adviser, respecting our best course for flight. Between us and the United States were three hundred leagues and the royal army, with scouts and patrols, by whom we could not fail to be intercepted. Besides, the sinking strength of De Vonpelt was entirely unequal to any distant flight. In front of us was a city, strongly garrisoned by royal troops, and our only efficient friend obliged to assume the appear- ance of an enemy. The patriot commander only waited until we should select the direction of our flight, and Friends Indeed. 289 was impatient to be gone. The sun was sinking be- hind the summit of the mountains, and their shadows already covered us and the scene of battle with a cooling shade. "Let us fly," said Jeannette, "to these mountains. Any direction is better than to remain by this scene of carnage. I have always loved the mountains. They lift their sheltering heads in their unchangeable repose and remind me of the unfailing shelter over the friendless and the unchangeable protection of that Omnipotent Being who formed them. Let us call on the rocks to shelter us. Let us dwell in the dens and caves of the earth, and escape forever from man and these sickening scenes of battle and blood. You shall be our shepherd, and we will be shep- herdesses. We will find a soft and mossy couch for my poor father. We will nurse him and cheer him and sing to him; and we will live on fruits and game and water from the spring." All this pastoral counsel was uttered in a tone that partook partly of dismay and the terror of the recent combat and the groans of the dying that still rung in our ears, and partly of a wild, half frantic and assumed gaiety. But on the second thought it struck the captain and us all as the most prudent plan, which, in the present circumstances that could be devised. We hailed Jeannette's rhapsody as the result of inspiration. The younger sisters and the father fell in with the proposal. Fergus declared that he was with us for life or death, and that where we went, if we would allow him, there he would go too. "To the caves of the mountains," was the general voice. The captain gave us counsel and aid. The wagon that had brought us was unloaded of all unneces- sary articles. From the slain we were furnished with an ample supply of every kind of arms and ammunition. From the baggage wagon of the royalists, which they had left on the battlefield, provisions, axes, implements and 290 Robert Gordon. whatever articles a hasty consideration of our probable wants dictated as requisite, we took. We had six horses to our wagon, and we selected two of the best that were left on the field, and fastened them by the bridle to our wagon. We were most scrupulous on the score of pro- visions, exhausting the patriots as well as securing all that had been left by the royalists. Fergus mounted the seat as driver, and we disposed of our party amidst sacks of bread, pikes and muskets, somewhat more comfortable than we had come thus far. The patriot captain walked apart with me, and we held a private consultation for a moment. The royalists were already gone with their wounded be- yond sight. We tendered solemn and grateful thanks to our intrepid deliverer. He wheeled with his company in one direction. We waited until the measured gallop of their horses was no longer heard over the plain. Then we took a direction at right angles to the road, and the nearest direction to the mountains. In the Mountains Again. 291 CHAPTER XX. IN THE MOUNTAINS AGAIN. WE arrived at their base just as the last twilight was fading from the sky. As is usual, where the smooth prai- rie is continued to the foot of the mountains, we were ar- rested by a high, perpendicular wall. We groped along its side for some distance, until a narrow opening admitted us under an immense projection, rising like an arched roof, and its summit reaching a hundred feet in advance of its base over the plain. Such shelters are common, and the wild buffaloes, we saw, had found an asylum there before us. It offered us a most welcome shelter for the weary De Vonpelt and his daughters, from a storm that seemed to be approaching. It was barricaded on three sides by im- passable heights of rock. At the entrance we placed our wagon as a defence. We unharnessed our horses and took the usual precaution to prevent their escape, and turned them out to their repast on the prairie. Fergus and I put ourselves cheerfully to the operation of wood cutting. Our hoary cavern was soon illumined with a blazing fire. We prepared a couch for the wounded Saxon of the cushions and buffalo robes of the wagon and placed him more at his ease than he had been since the battle. Barrels of bread and provisions furnished us with chairs. We brought forth our cold provisions and excellent parso. Fergus 292 Robert Gordon. would even add chocolate to our preparations. The gath- ering tempest of thunder and rain would shield us from pursuit until another day should enable us to find a secure retreat. We were at once most comfortably sheltered from the storm and] danger, and the open front of our shelter gave us a full and sublime view of the objects below us, for the moment, by the gleams of lightning. Cheered by the domestic blaze of our fire we sat down to our repast. We could not persuade Fergus to lay aside his duty as a servant and take his place at the table with us. But all his Irish vivacity was visible in his good nature and fresh countenance as he waited upon our table. The contrast of the tempest and the thunder abroad, compared with our late lonesome abode in the calaboose, and our pinioned im- prisonment in our wagon, as we journeyed to Durango, thoughts of our destiny after we arrived there, the bloody contest which had effected our deliverance from these dan- gers, the shelter, the comforts, the smoking chocolate, and the fragrant parso, received under these circumstances a zest which nothing else could have given. De Vonpelt ate with an appetite which he had not known for a long time, remarking that he should be content to live here the rest of his days and never give the royalists any more trouble about the "tamned liperties," if they would only let him alone, and leave him to the care of his son and daughters. If we could only find some safe retreat like this is the mountains and never let him see a "tamned Creole" more, he was sure that he should recover and re- gain his strength and appetite again. To hear their father talk this way brightened the faces of the daughters. They began to chat with their wonted gaiety and to find themes for conversation and amusement in their late adventures, and to descant upon the new character of shepherdesses that they proposed to assume. We began to compare our In the Mountains Again. 293 situation with our condition upon Mount Mextpal, and the ladies, whom the recent events had inspired with a new dislike of the Creole character, considered it a cir- cumstance in favor of our present condition that we had none of them here. We even took it for a good omen for the future that Providence, on our first approach to the mountains, just as a storm was impending, had furnished such a desirable shelter, as we might at other times have sought whole days without finding. The only circum- stance to be regretted was that in the morning we should be obliged to renounce it and seek in the mountains for one more remote from inspection and more easily defended. To our present retreat we could be traced by the marks of our wagon. There was no danger at least for this night. Everything that could would be sheltered while such a storm raged abroad. We agreed that in gratitude for such a great and happy deliverance we ought to waive all ap- prehensions, cast our fears, as far as we could, to the winds, and place a simple trust in Him who had thus far so gra- ciously and wonderfully delivered us, and who thus called upon us to trust Him for the future. After we had fin- ished our devotions, Fergus and I, with a little direction from the ladies, prepared our rustic but comfortable couches on the abundance of leaves which had drifted under the rocks, by spreading our cloaks and blankets upon them. With the first gleams of the morning light Fergus and I arose and took a long ramble in the mountains. The sun was bright in the sky and the morning glittering with renovation derived from the copious shower when we re- turned to the family. They had slept profoundly, and were refreshed, but had become painfully anxious on ac- count of our absence. Our breakfast was as cheerful as our supper had been. The clouds were all dispersed and 294 Robert Gordon. the mountains reeked with rolling mist that looked beauti- ful upon their summits after a great rain. The perfect clearness of the day admonished us that it was now that we ought to be apprehensive of pursuit. I had found a prac- ticable defile for our horses far into the mountains. How- ever reluctantly, we were compelled to leave our wagon here. De Vonpelt felt so much refreshed and better that he thought he was able to ride. We packed part of our baggage on the three spare horses. We secured the provisions and articles that were reserved to be carried up at another time, and Fergus and myself occasionally on foot we began to wind slowly around the spiral line of the defile. De Vonpelt soon complained of pain and fatigue, and shortly after declared himself unable to endure his situation any longer. The daughters dismounted and we placed the father at his ease under the shade of a tree, and left them to fan him and bestow upon him their filial at- tentions, while Fergus and I went in search of a place which would afford us the three requisites that our case called for shelter, secrecy and defence. At an elevation of perhaps twelve hundred feet and at a distance of a league and a half from the base of the moun- tain, we found a limestone cavern, of narrow entrance> which two persons might be able to defend against a hun- dred and yet the opening admitted light and air sufficient for habitation and comfort. At the foot was a small table plain, beautifully variegated with herbs and flowers, shel- tered by precipitous cliffs, and shaded with fine sycamores, and still further accommodated with a rivulet of pure, cool water, which gushed out in different springs at the foot of the rocks. A full mile of the defile below us, in all its wanderings, was completely under the eye, from the foot of the cavern, so that we could discern the approach of assailants a considerable time before they could reach In the Mountains Again. 295 us. Parroquets, red birds, mocking birds, nightingales, and a variety of unknown birds of beautiful song and plumage flitted and caroled among the branches of the sycamores. Alpine flowers were associated on the stream with splendid cups of the tropical flowering plants. The capability of the place to supply our wants for a long concealment was still more increased by the circumstance that herds of wild cat- tle, deer and buffalo, must pass near this cavern in wind- ing their way up and down the mountain. Fergus held up his hands in astonishment.