Thrilling Adventures by Land and Sea - James O. Brayman
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22
For many weeks Susan nursed her charge, as tenderly as if it had been
her sister. At first she lay almost motionless, and rarely spoke; then
she grew delirious, and raved wildly. Susan fortunately could not
understand what she said, but often turned shuddering away, when the
Indian woman would strive to rise from her bed, and move her arms, as if
drawing a bow; or yell wildly, and cower in terror beneath the
clothes--reacting in her delirium the fearful scenes through which she
had passed. By degrees reason returned; she gradually got better, but
seemed restless and unhappy, and could not bear the sight of Nero. The
first proof of returning reason she had shown, was a shriek of terror
when he once accidentally followed his mistress into the room where she
lay. One morning Susan missed her; she searched around the hut, but she
was gone, without having taken farewell of her kind benefactress.
A few years after, Susan Cooper,--no longer "pretty Susan," for time and
grief had done their work--heard, late one night, a hurried knock, which
was repeated several times before she could open the door, each time
more loudly than before. She called to ask who it was at that late hour
of night. A few hurried words in Iroquois was the reply, and Susan
congratulated herself on having spoken before unbarring the door. But,
on listening again, she distinctly heard the same voice say,
"Quick--quick!" and recognized it as the Indian woman's voice she had
nursed. The door was instantly opened, when the squaw rushed into the
hut, seized Susan by the arm, and made signs to her to come away. She
was too much excited to remember then the few words of English she had
picked up when living with the white woman. Expressing her meaning by
gestures, with a clearness peculiar to the Indians, she dragged rather
than led Susan from the hut. They had just reached the edge of the
forest when the wild yells of the Indians sounded in their ears. Having
gone with Susan a little way into the forest, her guide left her. For
nearly four hours she lay there, half dead with cold and terror, not
daring to move from her place of concealment. She saw the flames of the
dwelling, where so many lonely hours had been passed, rising above the
trees, and heard the shrill "whoops" of the retiring Indians. Nero, who
was lying by her side, suddenly rose and gave a low growl. Silently a
dark figure came gliding among the trees directly to the spot where she
lay. She gave herself up for lost; but it was the Indian woman, who came
to her, and dropped at her feet a bag of money, the remains of her late
husband's savings. The grateful creature knew where it was kept; and
while the Indians were busied examining the rifles and other objects
more interesting to them, had carried it off unobserved. Waving her arm
around to show that all was now quiet, she pointed in the direction of
Wilton's house, and was again lost among the trees.
Day was just breaking when Susan reached the squatter's cabin. Having
heard the sad story, Wilton and two of his sons started immediately for
the spot. Nothing was to be seen save a heap of ashes. The party had
apparently consisted of only three or four Indians; but a powerful tribe
being in the neighborhood, they saw it would be too hazardous to follow
them. From this time, Susan lived with the Wiltons. She was as a
daughter to the old man, and a sister to his sons, who often said,
"That, as far as they were concerned, the Indians had never done a
kindlier action than in burning down Susan Cooper's hut."
DEAF SMITH,
THE CELEBRATED TEXAN SPY.
About two years after the Texan revolution, a difficulty occurred
between the new government and a portion of the people, which threatened
the most serious consequences--even the bloodshed and horrors of civil
war. Briefly, the cause was this: The constitution had fixed the city of
Austin as the permanent capital, where the public archives were to be
kept, with the reservation, however, of a power in the president to
order their temporary removal, in case of danger from the inroads of a
foreign enemy, or the force of a sudden insurrection.
Conceiving that the exceptional emergency had arrived, as the Camanches
frequently committed ravages within sight of the capital itself,
Houston, who then resided at Washington, on the Brazos, dispatched an
order commanding his subordinate functionaries to send the state records
to the latter place, which he declared to be, _pro tempore_, the seat of
government.
It is impossible to describe the stormy excitement which the
promulgation of this fiat raised in Austin. The keepers of hotels,
boarding-houses, groceries, and faro-banks, were thunderstruck,--maddened
to frenzy; for the measure would be a death-blow to their prosperity
in business; and, accordingly, they determined at once to take the
necessary steps to avert the danger, by opposing the execution of
Houston's mandate. They called a mass meeting of the citizens and
farmers of the circumjacent country, who were all more or less
interested in the question; and, after many fiery speeches against
the asserted tyranny of the administration, it was unanimously resolved
to prevent the removal of the archives, by open and armed resistance.
To that end, they organized a company of four hundred men; one moiety
of whom, relieving the other at regular periods of duty, should keep
constant guard around the state-house until the peril passed by. The
commander of this force was one Colonel Morton, who had achieved
considerable renown in the war for independence, and had still more
recently displayed desperate bravery in two desperate duels, in both of
which he had cut his antagonist nearly to pieces with the bowie-knife.
Indeed, from the notoriety of his character, for revenge as well as
courage, it was thought that President Houston would renounce his
purpose touching the archives, so soon as he should learn who was the
leader of the opposition.
Morton, on his part, whose vanity fully equaled his personal prowess,
encouraged and justified the prevailing opinion, by his boastful
threats. He swore that if the president did succeed in removing the
records by the march of an overpowering force, he would then, himself,
hunt him down like a wolf, and shoot him with as little ceremony, or
stab him in his bed, or waylay him in his walks of recreation. He even
wrote the hero of San Jacinto to that effect. The latter replied in a
note of laconic brevity:
"If the people of Austin do not send the archives, I shall certainly
come and take them; and if Colonel Morton can kill me, he is welcome to
my ear-cap."
On the reception of this answer, the guard was doubled around the
state-house. Chosen sentinels were stationed along the road leading to
the capital, the military paraded the streets from morning till night,
and a select caucus held permanent session in the city hall. In short,
everything betokened a coming tempest.
One day, while matters were in this precarious condition, the caucus at
the city hall was surprised by the sudden appearance of a stranger,
whose mode of entering was as extraordinary as his looks and dress. He
did not knock at the closed door--he did not seek admission there at
all; but climbing, unseen, a small, bushy-topped, live oak, which grew
beside the wall, he leaped, without sound or warning, through a lofty
window. He was clothed altogether in buckskin, carried a long and heavy
rifle in his hand, wore at the button of his left suspender a large
bowie-knife, and had in his leathern belt a couple of pistols half the
length of his gun. He was tall, straight as an arrow, active as a
panther in his motions, with dark complexion, and luxuriant, jetty hair,
with a severe, iron-like countenance, that seemed never to have known a
smile, and eyes of intense, vivid black, wild and rolling, and piercing
as the point of a dagger. His strange advent inspired a thrill of
involuntary fear, and many present unconsciously grasped the handles of
their side-arms.
"Who are you, that thus presumes to intrude among gentlemen, without
invitation?" demanded Colonel Morton, ferociously essaying to cow down
the stranger with his eye.
The latter returned his stare with compound interest, and laid his long,
bony finger on his lip, as a sign--but of what, the spectators could
not imagine.
"Who are you? Speak! or I will cut an answer out of your heart!" shouted
Morton, almost distracted with rage, by the cool, sneering gaze of the
other, who now removed his finger from his lip, and laid it on the hilt
of his monstrous knife.
The fiery colonel then drew his dagger, and was in the act of advancing
upon the stranger, when several caught him and held him back,
remonstrating. "Let him alone, Morton, for God's sake. Do you not
perceive that he is crazy?"
At the moment, Judge Webb, a man of shrewd intellect and courteous
manners, stepped forward, and addressed the intruder in a most
respectful manner:
"My good friend, I presume you have made a mistake in the house. This is
a private meeting, where none but members are admitted."
The stranger did not appear to comprehend the words; but he could not
fail to understand the mild and deprecatory manner. His rigid features
relaxed, and moving to a table in the center of the hall, where there
were materials and implements for writing, he seized a pen, and traced
one line: "I am deaf." He then held it up before the spectators, as a
sort of natural apology for his own want of politeness.
Judge Webb took the paper, and wrote a question: "Dear sir, will you be
so obliging as to inform us what is your business with the
present meeting?"
The other responded by delivering a letter, inscribed on the back, "To
the citizens of Austin." They broke the seal and read it aloud. It was
from Houston, and showed the usual terse brevity of his style:
"FELLOW CITIZENS:--Though in error, and deceived by the arts of
traitors, I will give you three days more to decide whether you will
surrender the public archives. At the end of that time you will please
let me know your decision."
SAM. HOUSTON.
After the reading, the deaf man waited a few seconds, as if for a reply,
and then turned and was about to leave the hall, when Colonel Morton,
interposed, and sternly beckoned him back to the table. The stranger
obeyed, and Morton wrote: "You were brave enough to insult me by your
threatening looks ten minutes ago; are you brave enough now to give me
satisfaction?"
The stranger penned his reply: "I am at your service!"
Morton wrote again: "Who will be your second?"
The stranger rejoined: "I am too generous to seek an advantage; and too
brave to fear any on part of others; therefore, I never need the aid of
a second."
Morton penned: "Name your terms."
The stranger traced, without a moment's hesitation: "Time, sunset this
evening; place, the left bank of the Colorado, opposite Austin; weapons,
rifles; and distance, a hundred yards. Do not fail to be in time!"
He then took three steps across the floor, and disappeared through the
window, as he had entered.
"What?" exclaimed Judge Webb, "is it possible Colonel Morton, that you
intend to fight that man? He is a mute, if not a positive maniac. Such a
meeting, I fear, will sadly tarnish the luster of your laurels."
"You are mistaken," replied Morton, with a smile; "that mute is a hero
whose fame stands in the records of a dozen battles, and at least half
as many bloody duels. Besides, he is the favorite emissary and bosom
friend of Houston. If I have the good fortune to kill him, I think it
will tempt the president to retract his vow against venturing any more
on the field of honor."
"You know the man, then. Who is he? Who is he?" asked twenty voices
together.
"Deaf Smith," answered Morton, coolly.
"Why, no; that can not be. Deaf Smith was slain at San Jacinto,"
remarked Judge Webb.
"There, again, your honor is mistaken," said Morton. "The story of
Smith's death was a mere fiction, got up by Houston to save the life of
his favorite from the sworn vengeance of certain Texans, on whose
conduct he had acted as a spy. I fathomed the artifice twelve
months since."
"If what you say be true, you are a madman yourself!" exclaimed Webb.
"Deaf Smith was was never known to miss his mark. He has often brought
down ravens in their most rapid flight, and killed Camanches and
Mexicans at a distance of of two hundred and fifty yards!"
"Say no more," answered Colonel Morton, in tones of deep determination;
"the thing is already settled. I have already agreed to meet him. There
can be no disgrace in falling before such a shot, and, if I succeed, my
triumph will confer the greater glory!"
Such was the general habit of thought and feeling prevalent throughout
Texas at that period.
Toward evening a vast crowd assembled at the place appointed to witness
the hostile meeting; and so great was the popular recklessness as to
affairs of the sort, that numerous and considerable sums were wagered on
the result. At length the red orb of the summer sun touched the curved
rim of the western horizon, covering it all with crimson and gold, and
filling the air with a flood of burning glory; and then the two mortal
antagonists, armed with long, ponderous rifles, took their stations,
back to back, and at a preconcerted signal--the waving of a white
handkerchief--walked slowly and steadily off, in opposite directions,
counting their steps until each had measured fifty. They both completed
the given number about the same instant, and then they wheeled, each to
aim and fire when he chose. As the distance was great, both paused for
some seconds--long enough for the beholders to flash their eyes from one
to the other, and mark the striking contrast betwixt them. The face of
Colonel Morton was calm and smiling; but the smile it bore had a most
murderous meaning. On the contrary, the countenance of Deaf Smith was
stern and passionless as ever. A side view of his features might have
been mistaken for a profile done in cast iron. The one, too, was
dressed in the richest cloth; the other in smoke-tinted leather. But
that made no difference in Texas then; for the heirs of heroic courage
were all considered peers--the class of inferiors embraced none
but cowards.
Presently two rifles exploded with simultaneous roars. Colonel Morton
gave a prodigious bound upward, and dropped to the earth a corpse! Deaf
Smith stood erect, and immediately began to reload his rifle; and then,
having finished his brief task, he hastened away into the
adjacent forest.
Three days afterward, General Houston, accompanied by Deaf Smith and ten
other men, appeared in Austin, and, without further opposition, removed
the state papers.
The history of the hero of the foregoing anecdote was one of the most
extraordinary ever known in the West. He made his advent in Texas at an
early period, and continued to reside there until his death, which
happened some two years ago; but, although he had many warm personal
friends, no one could ever ascertain either the land of his birth, or a
single gleam of his previous biography. When he was questioned on the
subject, he laid his finger on his lip; and if pressed more urgently,
his brow writhed, and his dark eye seemed to shoot sparks of livid fire!
He could write with astonishing correctness and facility, considering
his situation; and, although denied the exquisite pleasure and priceless
advantages of the sense of hearing, nature had given him ample
compensation, by an eye, quick and far-seeing as an eagle's; and a
smell, keen and incredible as that of a raven. He could discover objects
moving miles away in the far-off prairie, when others could perceive
nothing but earth and sky; and the rangers used to declare that he could
catch the scent of a Mexican or Indian at as great a distance as a
buzzard could distinguish the odor of a dead carcass.
It was these qualities which fitted him so well for a spy, in which
capacity he rendered invaluable services to Houston's army during the
war of independence. He always went alone, and generally obtained the
information desired. His habits in private life were equally singular.
He could never be persuaded to sleep under the roof of a house, or even
to use a tent-cloth. Wrapped in his blanket, he loved to lie out in the
open air, under the blue canopy of pure ether, and count the stars, or
gaze, with a yearning look, at the melancholy moon. When not employed as
a spy or guide, he subsisted by hunting, being often absent on solitary
excursions for weeks and even months together, in the wilderness. He was
a genuine son of nature, a grown up child of the woods and prairie,
which he worshiped with a sort of Pagan adoration. Excluded by his
infirmities from cordial fellowship with his kind, he made the inanimate
things of the earth his friends, and entered, by the heart's own
adoption, into brotherhood with the luminaries of heaven! Wherever there
was land or water, barren rocks or tangled brakes of wild, waving cane,
there was Deaf Smith's home, and there he was happy; but in the streets
of great cities, in all the great thoroughfares of men, wherever there
was flattery or fawning, base cunning or craven fear, there was Deaf
Smith an alien and an exile.
Strange soul! he hath departed on the long journey, away among those
high, bright stars, which were his night-lamps; and he hath either
solved or ceased to ponder the deep mystery of the magic word, "life."
He is dead; therefore let his errors rest in oblivion, and his virtues
be remembered with hope.
ESCAPE FROM A SHARK.
While she was lying in the harbor at Havana, it was very hot on board
the Royal Consort, about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th of
July. There was not the slightest movement in the air; the rays of the
sun seemed to burn down into the water. Silence took hold of the
animated creation. It was too hot to talk, whistle, or sing; to bark, to
crow, or to bray. Every thing crept under cover, but Sambo and Cuffee,
two fine-looking blacks, who sat sunning themselves on the quay, and
thought "him berry pleasant weather," and glistened like a new
Bristol bottle.
Sambo and Cuffee, as we have said, were sitting on the quay, enjoying
the pleasant sunshine, and making their evening repast of banana, when
they heard the plunge into the water by the side of the Royal Consort,
and presently saw Brook Watson emerging from the deep, his hands to his
eyes to free them from the brine, balancing up and down, spattering the
water from his mouth, and then throwing himself forward, hand over hand,
as if at length he really felt himself in his element.
"Oh, Massa Bacra!" roared out Sambo, as soon as he could recover from
his astonishment enough to speak, "Oh, Senor! he white man neber go to
swim! Oh, de tiburon! he berry bad bite, come de shark; he hab berry big
mouth; he eatee a Senor all up down!"
Such was the exclamation of Sambo, in the best English he had been able
to pick up, in a few years' service, in unlading the American vessels,
that came to the Havana. It was intended to apprise the bold but
inexperienced stranger, that the waters were filled with sharks, and
that it was dangerous to swim in them. The words were scarcely uttered,
and, even if they were heard, had not time to produce their effect, when
Cuffee responded to the exclamation of his sable colleague, with--
"Oh, Madre de Dios! see, see, de tiburon! de shark!--ah, San Salvador!
ah, pobre joven! matar, todo comer, he eat him all down, berry soon!"
This second cry had been drawn from the kind-hearted negro, by seeing,
at a distance in the water a smooth-shooting streak, which an
inexperienced eye would not have noticed, but which Sambo and Cuffee
knew full well. It was the wake of a shark. At a distance of a mile or
two, the shark had perceived his prey; and, with the rapidity of sound,
he had shot across the intervening space, scarcely disturbing the
surface with a ripple. Cuffee's practiced eye alone had seen a flash of
his tail, at the distance of a mile and a half; and, raising his voice
to the utmost of his strength, he had endeavored to apprise the
incautious swimmer of his danger. Brook heard the shout, and turned his
eye in the direction in which the negro pointed; and, well skilled in
all the appearances of the water, under which he could see almost as
well as in the open air, he perceived the sharp forehead of the fearful
animal rushing toward him, head on, with a rapidity; which bade defiance
to flight.
[Illustration: ESCAPE FROM A SHARK]
In a moment, the dreadful monster had shot across the entire space that
separated him from Brook; and had stopped, as if its vitality had been,
instantly arrested, at the distance of about twelve feet from our
swimmer. Brook had drawn himself up in the most pugnacious attitude
possible, and, was treading water with great activity. The shark,
probably unused to any signs of making battle, remained, for one moment,
quiet; and then, like a flash of lightning, shot sidelong off, and came
round in the rear. Brook, however, was as wide awake as his enemy.
The plashing of the oars of Sambo and Cuffee warned the sagacious
monster of gathering foes. Whirling himself over on his back, and
turning up his long, white belly, and opening his terrific jaws, set
round with a double row of broad, serrated teeth, the whole roof of his
mouth paved with horrent fangs, all standing erect, sharp, and rigid,
just permitting the blood-bright red to be seen between their roots, he
darted toward Brook. Brook's self-possession stood by him in this trying
moment. He knew very well if the animal reached him in a vital part,
that instant death was his fate; and, with a rapid movement, either of
instinct or calculation, he threw himself backward, kicking, at the same
moment, at the shark. In consequence of this movement, his foot and leg
passed into the horrid maw of the dreadful monster, and were severed in
a moment,--muscles, sinews, and bone. In the next moment, Sambo and
Cuffee were at his side; and lifted him into the boat, convulsed with
pain, and fainting with loss of blood. Brook was taken on board,
bandages and styptics were applied, and in due season the youth
recovered.
The place of his lost limb was supplied by a wooden one; and industry,
temperance, probity, and zeal, supplied the place of a regiment of legs,
when employed to prop up a lazy and dissipated frame.
ADVENTURE WITH PIRATES.
FROM "FORTUNE'S ADVENTURES IN CHINA."
Early in the morning, the whole fleet was in motion, starting all
together, for the sake of mutual protection. The wind and tide were both
fair, and we proceeded along the coast with great rapidity, and were
soon out of sight of the Min and its beautiful and romantic scenery. The
plan of mutual protection soon seemed to be abandoned, and the vessels
soon separated into threes and fours, each getting on as well and as
fast as it could. About four o'clock in the afternoon, and when we were
some fifty or sixty miles from the Min, the captain and the pilot came
hurriedly down to my cabin, and informed me that they saw a number of
Jan-dous, right ahead, lying in wait for us. I ridiculed the idea, and
told them that they imagined every junk they saw to be a pirate; but
they still maintained that they were so, and I therefore considered it
prudent to be prepared for the worst. I got out of bed, ill and feverish
as I was, and carefully examined my fire-arms, clearing the nipples of
my gun and pistols, and putting on fresh caps. I also rammed down a
ball upon the top of each charge of shot in my gun, put a pistol in each
side-pocket, and patiently awaited for the result. By the aid of a small
pocket-telescope, I could see, as the nearest junk approached, that her
deck was crowded with men; I then had no longer any doubts regarding her
intentions. The pilot, an intelligent old man, now came up to me, and
said that he thought resistance would be of no use; I might manage to
beat off one junk, or even two, but I had no chance with five of them.
Being at that time in no mood to take advice, or be dictated by any one,
I ordered him off to look after his own duty. I knew perfectly well,
that if we were taken by the pirates, I had not the slightest chance of
escape; for the first thing they would do, would be to knock me on the
head and throw me overboard, as they would deem it dangerous to
themselves were I to get away. At the same time, I must confess, I had
little hopes of being able to beat off such a number, and devoutly
wished myself anywhere rather than where I was. The scene around me was
a strange one. The captain, pilot, and one or two native passengers were
taking up the boards of the cabin floor, and putting their money and
other valuables out of sight, among the ballast. The common sailors,
too, had their copper cash, or "tsien," to hide; and the whole place
was in a state of bustle and confusion. When all their more valuable
property was hidden, they began to make some preparations for defense.
Baskets of small stones were brought up from the hold, and emptied out
on the most convenient parts of the deck, and were intended to be used
instead of fire-arms, when the pirates came to close quarters. This is a
common mode of defense in various parts of China, and is effectual
enough when the enemy has only similar weapons to bring against them;
but on the coast of Fokien, where we were now, all the pirate junks
carried guns; and, consequently, a whole deck-load of stones could be of
little use against them.