Thrilling Adventures by Land and Sea - James O. Brayman
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[Illustration: CHARGE OF THE BUFFALO.]
Our attention was entirely engrossed with the spoor, and thus we rode
boldly on until within a few feet of him, when, springing to his feet,
he made a desperate charge after Ruyter, uttering a low, stifled roar,
peculiar to buffaloes, (somewhat similar to the growl of a lion,) and
hurled horse and rider to the earth with fearful violence. His horn laid
the poor horse's haunch open to the bone, making the most fearful rugged
wound. In an instant, Ruyter regained his feet and ran for his life,
which the buffalo observing, gave chase, but most fortunately came down,
with a tremendous somersault, in the mud, his feet slipping from under
him; thus the bushman escaped certain destruction. The buffalo rose
much discomfitted, and, the wounded horse first catching his eye, he
went a second time after him; but he got out of the way. At this moment,
I managed to send one of my patent pacificating pills into his shoulder,
when he instantly quitted the field of action, and sought shelter in a
dense cover on the mountain side, whither I deemed it imprudent to
follow him.
A LEOPARD HUNT.
The dense jungles of Bengal was the place of the leopard's resort, and
the havoc which it committed among the cattle was prodigious. It was
dreaded, far and near, on this account, by the natives, and they
scrupulously avoided their spotted enemy, knowing well that when his
appetite was whetted with hunger, he was not over scrupulous whether his
victims were beasts or men. On one occasion, the monster made a dash
upon a herd of beeves, and succeeded in carrying off a large ox; and
loud was the lament of the poor Hindoos that one of the sacred herd had
thus unceremoniously been assailed and slaughtered before their eyes. A
party of the Bengal native infantry, consisting of an officer and five
others, having been informed of the circumstance, followed in the
direction of the leopard's den determined, if possible, to punish him
for this and the many other depredations he had committed. Having come
to an intervening ravine, they were about to cross it, when they saw the
object of their search on the opposite side. There he was, lying in his
lair, heedless of danger, and luxuriously feasting on the carcass of his
captive. It was the monster's last meal, however. The party approached
with stealthy steps, as near as they could without crossing the defile.
"Take your aim! fire!" cried the captain, in Hindostanee, we suppose.
They did so, and four balls pierced the leopard, three in the neck and
one in a more dangerous place, through the brain. Startled by this
unpleasant salute, the animal rose, gazed with glaring eyes on its
enemies, at the same time pawing the earth in its pain fury.
The sepoys were astonished that he did not roll lifeless at their feet;
but, instead of this, before they had time to reload, the creature,
after uttering a terrific cry, sprang across the ravine and seized one
of its assailants. It must have been, in some degree, weakened by its
wounds; but its strength was yet great, for the man seemed to have no
power of resistance to its attack. The leopard, having a hold of the
sepoy in its mouth, darted off in the direction of a jungle close at
hand, the other soldiers following up as fast as they could, but not
daring to fire, lest they should injure their luckless comrade Sometimes
they lost sight of the leopard and its bleeding burden; but the blood
marks on the grass or on the sand enabled them to regain the trail, and
to carry on the pursuit. The animal at length came to a small river; it
hesitated for a little on the brink, and then leaped in, still
tenaciously retaining its prey. The stoppage thus occasioned enabled the
pursuers to gain ground, and, just after the leopard had emerged from
the river, and was shaking its skin free from the watery drops, one of
the party seized the auspicious moment, and fired. The beast dropped its
prey at once, howled furiously, and then fell dead. To their great
surprise and joy, the soldiers found that their comrade was still in
life, though he had fainted from fear and from weakness occasioned by
the loss of blood. He gradually recovered, and, under the stimulating
influence of a cup of brandy, was able to proceed home with his
comrades. It was many weeks, however, before he was fit for service, and
he will retain till his dying day the dental marks received from the
leopard, by way of token what it would like to have done with him had
there been none but themselves two on the desert wide.
The soldiers returned, some time after, and skinned the animal, carrying
home its spotted covering for a trophy; and now, here it is, with the
marks of the musket-balls upon it, remembrances of the strange story we
have now recounted.
LIFE IN CALIFORNIA.
Every man, both honest and dishonest, in California, has his own
horse--as a very good-looking, active one can be purchased, tamed to
carry the saddle and rider, from the Indians, for four or five dollars;
so that every one, I may add, of both sexes, ride in California. No one
walks far but the hunter, and he is carried in canoe a long way up the
river before he strikes into the forest after the animals he is in
pursuit of. This last class of men are the most wild, daring, yet
friendly and honest, of the lower class of the white population of
California. Well: as the robber as well as the honest man are equally
mounted, sometimes a very interesting steeple chase ensues,--ground
rough, not being previously chosen, occasionally leaping over pools of
water, large stones, and fallen trees. The Indians who use the lasso,
generally keep the lead, to strive to throw the noose over either the
man or horse they are pursuing. It is made of thongs of bullock-hide
twisted into a small rope about thirty or forty feet long, with a noose
formed by a running knot at the end of it. One end of the lasso is
fastened to the back of the saddle: the entire length of it is kept in a
coil on the right hand, and after two or three swings of it over their
heads, they will throw it with such accuracy that the smallest object
will come within the noose. Thus, then, if an equestrian traveler does
not keep a good look-out as he is passing by a bush or thicket, one of
these lassoes may be thrown out; the noose, falling over his head, will
be jerked tight round his body, and, in the twinkling of an eye, he will
be dragged off his horse, and away into the bush, to be stripped of
everything he has. By all the accounts I have heard, and from what I
have seen, the robbers of California are the most active in the world:
the end of the dangerous lasso being firmly fastened to the saddle,
enables the rider, as soon as his victim, either man or animal, is
noosed, to wheel round his horse, and dash off like an Arab, dragging
whatever he has fast after him. There is one method of averting the
fall of the lasso noose over the body of a man, either on foot or
horseback. If he holds, as he always ought, either sword or gun in his
right hand, when he sees the lasso coming, let him instantly raise
either and his arm in a horizontal position, and if the noose does fall
true, it cannot run farther down, being stopped by sword, gun, or
extended arm; then fling it off quick, or it may be jerked tight round
the neck. I have known this subterfuge save many a man from robbers and
perhaps murderers.
I once hunted for three months in company with a hunter well known in
California. In idea, he was wild and imaginative in the extreme; but, in
his acts of daring, &c., the most cool and philosophic fellow I ever
knew. A commercianto, or merchant, at San Francisco, on whose veracity I
know from experience I can depend, told me the following story of this
man, which will at once illustrate his general character. This hunter
was, some months before I had fallen in with him, making the best of his
way down the valley of the Tule Lakes from the interior, with a heavy
pack of furs on his back, his never-erring rifle in his hand, and his
two dogs by his side. He was joined at the northermost end of the valley
by the merchant I had spoken of, who was armed only with sword and
pistols. They had scarcely cleared the valley, when a party of robbers
galloped out before them. There were four whites, fully armed, and two
Indians with the lassos coiled up in their right hands, ready for a
throw. The hunter told the merchant, who was on horseback, to dismount
instantly, "and to cover." Fortunately for them, there was a good deal
of thicket, and trunks of large trees that had fallen were strewed about
in a very desirable manner. Behind these logs the merchant and the
hunter quickly took up their position, and as they were in the act of
doing so, two or three shots were fired after them without effect. The
hunter coolly untied the pack of furs from his back, and laid them
beside him. "It's my opinion, merchant," said he, "that them varmint
there wants either your saddle-bags or my pack, but I reckon they'll get
neither." So he took up his rifle, fired, and the foremost Indian, lasso
in hand, rolled off his horse. Another discharge from the rifle, and the
second Indian fell, while in the act of throwing his lasso at the head
and shoulders of the hunter, as he raised himself from behind the log to
fire. "Now," said the hunter, as he reloaded, laying on his back to
avoid the shots of the robbers, "that's what I call the best of the
scrimmage, to get them brown thieves with their lassoes out of the way
first. See them rascally whites now jumping over the logs to charge us
in our cover." They were fast advancing, when the rifle again spoke out,
and the foremost fell; they still came on to within about thirty yards,
when another fell; and the remaining two made a desperate charge up
close to the log. The hunter, from long practice, was dexterous in
reloading his gun. "Now, merchant," said he, "is the time for your
pop-guns, (meaning the pistols,) and don't be at all narvous, keep a
steady hand, and drop either man or horse. A man of them shan't escape."
The two remaining robbers were now up with the log, and fired each a
pistol-shot at the hunter, which he escaped by dodging behind a tree
close to, from which he fired with effect. As only one robber was left,
he wheeled round his horse with the intention of galloping off, when the
pistol-bullets of the merchant shot the horse from under him. "Well
done, merchant," said the hunter, "you've stopped that fellow's galop."
As soon as the robber could disentangle himself from the fallen horse,
he took to his heels and ran down a sloping ground as fast as he could.
The hunter drew his tomahawk from his belt, and gave chase after him. As
he was more of an equestrian than a pedestrian, the nimbleness of the
hunter soon shortened the distance between them, and the last of the
robbers fell. Thus perished this dangerous gang of six, by the single
hand of this brave hunter, and, as the "commercianto" informed me, he
acted as coolly and deliberately as if he were shooting tame bullocks
for the market. The affair was rather advantageous to the hunter, for,
on searching the saddle-bags and pockets of the robbers, he pulled forth
some doubloons, and a few dollars, with other valuables they had, no
doubt, a short time previously, taken from some traveler; the
saddle-bags, arms, and accouterments of the four white men, were packed
up, made fast on the saddles of the two horses, and the hunter mounted a
third, the merchant mounted another, his horse being shot, and thus they
left the scene of action, the bodies of the robbers to the wolves, who
were howling about them, and entered San Francisco in triumph.
A STORM AMONG THE ICEBERGS.
To prevent the ships separating during the fog, it was necessary to keep
fast to the heavy piece of ice which we had between them as a fender,
and with a reduced amount of sail on them, we made some way through the
pack: as we advanced in this novel mode to the south-west, we found the
ice became more open, and the westerly swell increasing as the wind
veered to the northwest, at midnight, we found it impossible any longer
to hold on by the floe piece. All our hawsers breaking in succession, we
made sail on the ships, and kept company, during the thick fog, by
firing guns, and by means of the usual signals: under the shelter of a
berg of nearly a mile in diameter, we dodged about during the whole day,
waiting for clear weather, that we might select the best lead through
the dispersing pack; but at nine P.M. the wind suddenly freshened to a
violent gale from the northward, compelling us to reduce our sails to a
close-reefed main-topsail and storm-staysails: the sea quickly rising
to a fearful height, breaking over the loftiest bergs, we were unable
any longer to hold our ground, but were driven into the heavy pack under
our lee. Soon after midnight, our ships were involved in an ocean of
rolling fragments of ice, hard as floating rocks of granite, which were
dashed against them by the waves with so much violence, that their masts
quivered as if they would fall, at every successive blow; and the
destruction of the ships seemed inevitable from the tremendous shocks
they received. By backing and filling the sails, we endeavored to avoid
collision with the larger masses; but this was not always possible: in
the early part of the storm, the rudder of the Erebus was so much
damaged as to be no longer of any use; and about the same time, I was
informed by signal that the Terror's was completely destroyed, and
nearly torn away from the stern-post. We had hoped that, as we drifted
deeper into the pack, we should get beyond the reach of the tempest; but
in this we were mistaken. Hour passed away after hour without the least
mitigation of the awful circumstances in which we were placed. Indeed,
there seemed to be but little probability of our ships holding together
much longer, so frequent and violent were the shocks they sustained. The
loud, crashing noise of the straining and working of the timbers and
decks, as she was driven against some of the heavier pieces, which all
the activity and exertions of our people could not prevent, was
sufficient to fill the stoutest heart, that was not supported by trust
in Him, who controls all events, with dismay.
At two P.M. the storm gained its height, when the barometer stood at
28.40 inches, and, after that time, began to rise. Although we had been
forced many miles deeper into the pack, we could not perceive that the
swell had at all subsided, our ships still rolling and groaning amid the
heavy fragments of crushing bergs, over which the ocean rolled its
mountainous waves, throwing huge masses one upon another, and then again
burying them deep beneath its foaming waters, dashing and grinding them
together with fearful violence. The awful grandeur of such a scene can
neither be imagined nor described, for less can the feelings of those
who witnessed it be understood. Each of us secured our hold, waiting the
issue with resignation to the will of Him who alone could preserve us,
and bring us safely through this extreme danger; watching with
breathless anxiety the effect of each succeeding collision, and the
vibrations of the tottering masts, expecting every moment to see them
give way, without our having the power to make an effort to save them.
Although the force of the wind had somewhat diminished by four o'clock,
yet the squalls came on with unabated violence, laying the ship over on
her broadside, and threatening to blow the storm-sails to pieces;
fortunately they were quite new, or they never could have withstood such
terrific gusts. At this time, the Terror was so close to us, that, when
she rose to the top of one wave, the Erebus was on the top of that next
to leeward of her; the deep chasm between them filled with heavy rolling
masses; and, as the ships descended into the hollow between the waves,
the main-topsail yard of each could be seen just level with the crest of
the intervening wave, from the deck of the other: from this, some idea
may be formed of the height of the waves, as well as of the perilous
situation of our ships. The night now began to draw on, and cast its
gloomy mantle over the appalling scene, rendering our condition, if
possible, more hopeless and helpless than before; but, at midnight, the
snow, which had been falling thickly for several hours, cleared away, as
the wind suddenly shifted to the westward, and the swell began to
subside; and although the shocks our ships still sustained were such
that must have destroyed any ordinary vessel in less than five minutes,
yet they were feeble compared to those to which we had been exposed,
and our minds became more at ease for their ultimate safety.
During the darkness of night and the thick weather, we had been carried
through a chain of bergs which were seen in the morning considerably to
windward, and which served to keep off the heavy pressure of the pack,
so that we found the ice much more open, and I was enabled to make my
way, in one of our boats, to the Terror, about whose condition I was
most anxious--for I was aware that her damages were of a much more
serious nature than those of the Erebus, notwithstanding the skillful
and seaman-like manner in which she had been managed, and by which she
maintained her appointed station throughout the gale. I found that her
rudder was completely broken to pieces, and the fastenings to the
stern-post so much strained and twisted, that it would be difficult to
get the spare rudder, with which we were fortunately provided, fitted so
as to be useful, and could only be done, if at all, under very favorable
circumstances. The other damages she had sustained were of less
consequence; and it was as great a satisfaction as it has ever since
been a source of astonishment to us to find that, after so many hours of
constant and violent thumping, both the vessels were nearly as tight as
they were before the gale. We can only ascribe this to the admirable
manner in which they had been fortified for the service, and to our
having their holds so stowed as to form a solid mass throughout.
FALL OF THE ROSSBERG.
The summer of 1806 had been very rainy; and on the first and second of
September it rained incessantly. New crevices were observed in the flank
of the mountain; a sort of cracking noise was heard internally; stones
started out of the ground; detached fragments of rocks rolled down the
mountain. At two o'clock in the afternoon, on the 2d of September, a
large rock became loose, and in falling, raised a cloud of black dust.
Toward the lower part of the mountain, the ground seemed pressed down
from above; and, when a stick or a spade was driven in, it moved of
itself. A man who had been digging in his garden ran away, from fright
at these extraordinary appearances; soon a fissure, larger than all the
others, was observed; insensibly, it increased: springs of water ceased
all at once to flow, the pine trees of the forest absolutely reeled;
the birds flew away screaming. A few minutes before five o'clock, the
symptoms of some mighty catastrophe became still stronger; the whole
surface of the mountain seemed to glide down, but so slowly as to afford
time to the inhabitants to go away. An old man, who had often predicted
some such disaster, was quietly smoking his pipe; when told by a young
man running by, that the mountain was in the act of falling, he rose and
looked out, but came into his house again, saying he had time to fill
another pipe. The young man, continuing to fly, was thrown down several
times, and escaped with difficulty; looking back, he saw the house
carried off, all at once.
Another inhabitant, being alarmed, took two of his children, and ran
away with them, calling to his wife to follow with the third; but she
went in for another, who still remained, (Marianne, aged five;) just
then, Francisca Ulrich, their servant, was crossing the room with this
Marianne, whom she held by the hand, and saw her mistress; at that
instant, as Francisca afterward said, "the house appeared to be torn
from its foundation, (it was of wood,) and spun round and round like a
teetotum; I was sometimes on my head, and sometimes on my feet, in total
darkness, and violently separated from the child." When the motion
stopped, she found herself jammed in on all sides, with her head
downward, much bruised; and in extreme pain. She supposed she was buried
alive, at a great depth; with much difficulty, she disengaged her right
hand, and wiped the blood from her eyes. Presently, she heard the faint
moans of Marianne, and called her by her name; the child answered that
she was on her back, among stones and bushes, which held her fast, but
that her hands were free, and that she saw the light, and then something
green; she asked whether people would not come soon to take them out.
Francisca answered that it was the day of judgment, and that no one was
left to help them, but that they would be released by death, and be
happy in Heaven. They prayed together; at last Francisca's ear was
struck by the sound of a bell, which she knew to be that of Stenenberg;
then seven o'clock struck in another village, and she began to hope
there were still living beings, and endeavored to comfort the child; the
poor little girl was at first clamorous for her supper; but her cries
soon became fainter, and at last quite died away. Francisca, still with
her head downward, and surrounded with damp earth, experienced a sense
of cold in her feet almost insupportable; after prodigious efforts, she
succeeded in disengaging her legs, and thinks this saved her life. Many
hours had passed in this situation, when she again heard the voice of
Marianne, who had been asleep, and now renewed her lamentations. In the
meantime, the unfortunate father, who, with much difficulty, had saved
himself and two children, wandered about till daylight, when he came
among the ruins to look for the rest of his family; he soon discovered
his wife, by a foot which appeared above the ground; she was dead, with
a child in her arms. His cries, and the noise he made in digging, were
heard by Marianne, who called out. She was extricated, with a broken
thigh, and saying that Francisca was not far off, a farther search led
to her release also, but in such a state that her life was despaired of.
She was blind for some days, and remained subject to convulsive fits of
terror. It appeared that the house, or themselves, at least, had been
carried down about one thousand five hundred feet from where it
stood before.
In another place, a child two years old was found unhurt, lying on his
straw mattress upon the mud, without any vestige of the house from which
he had been separated. Such a mass of earth and stones rushed at once
into the lake of Sowertey, although five miles distant, that one end of
it was filled up, and a prodigious wave passing completely over the
island of Schwanau, seventy feet above the usual level of the water,
overwhelmed the opposite shore, and, as it returned, swept away into the
lake many houses with their inhabitants. The chapel of Olton, built of
wood, was found half a league from the place it had previously occupied,
and many large blocks of stone completely changed their position.
SIMOND'S SWITZERLAND.
THE RIFLEMAN OF CHIPPEWA.
At the time of the French and Indian wars, the American army was
encamped on the plains of Chippewa. Colonel St. Clair, the commander,
was a bold and meritorious officer; but there was mixed with his bravery
a large share of rashness or indiscretion. His rashness, in this case,
consisted in encamping on an open plain beside a thick wood, from which
an Indian scout could easily pick off his outposts, without being
exposed, in the least, to the fire of the sentinel.
Five nights had passed, and every night he had been surprised by the
disappearance of a sentry, who stood at a lonely post in the vicinity of
the forest. These repeated disasters had struck such a dread into the
breasts of the remaining soldiers, that no one would volunteer to take
the post, and the commander, knowing it would be throwing away their
lives, let it remain unoccupied several nights.
At length a rifleman of the Virginia corps, volunteered his services. He
was told the danger of the duty; but he laughed at the fears of his
comrades, saying he would return safe, to drink the health of his
commander in the morning. The guard marched up soon after, and he
shouldered his rifle, and fell in. He arrived at his bounds, and,
bidding his fellow-sentinels good-night, assumed the duties of his post.
The night was dark, from the thick clouds that overspread the firmament.
No star shone on the sentinel as he paced his lonely path, and naught
was heard but the mournful hoot of the owl, as she raised her nightly
wail from the withered branch of the venerable oak. At length, a low
rustling among the bushes on the right, caught his ear. He gazed long
toward the spot whence the sound seemed to proceed; but saw nothing,
save the impenetrable gloom of the thick forest which surrounded the
encampment. Then, as he marched onward, he heard the joyful cry of
"all's well," after which he seated himself upon a stump, and fell into
a reverie. While he thus sat, a savage entered the open space behind,
and, after buckling his tunic, with numerous folds, tight around his
body, drew over his head the skin of a wild boar, with the natural
appendages of those animals. Thus accoutred, he walked past the soldier,
who, seeing the object approach, quickly stood upon his guard. But a
well-known grunt eased his fears, and he suffered it to pass, it being
too dark for any one to discover the cheat. The beast, as it appeared to
be, quietly sought the thicket to the left; it was nearly out of sight,
when, through a sudden break in the clouds, the moon shone bright upon
it. The soldier then perceived the ornamented moccasin of an Indian,
and, quick as thought, prepared to fire. But, fearing lest he might be
mistaken, and thus needlessly alarm the camp, and also supposing, if he
were right, the other savages would be near at hand, he refrained, and
having a perfect knowledge of Indian subtlety and craft, quickly took
off his coat and cap, and, after hanging them on the stump where he had
reclined, secured his rifle, and softly groped his way toward the
thicket. He had barely reached it, when the whizzing of an arrow passed
his head, and told him of the danger he had escaped. Turning his eyes
toward a small spot of cleared land within the thicket, he perceived a
dozen of the same _animals_ sitting on their hind legs, instead of
feeding on the acorns, which, at this season, lay plentifully upon the
surface of the leaves; and, listening attentively, he heard them
conversing in the Iroquois tongue. The substance of their conversation
was, that, if the sentinel should not discover them, the next evening,
as soon as the moon should afford them sufficient light for their
operations, they would make an attack upon the American camp. They then
quitted their rendezvous, and soon their tall forms were lost in the
gloom of the forest. The soldier now returned to his post, and found the
arrow sunk deep in the stump, it having passed through the breast of
his coat.