Every point was now cleared up. There was mystery no longer, though, from an expression which Garey had dropped, I still desired a word with him in private.

On further inquiry, I learned that the trappers were on their way to take part in the campaign. Some barbarous treatment they had experienced from Mexican soldiers at a frontier post, had rendered both of them inveterate foes to Mexico; and Rube declared he would never be contented until he had "plugged a score of the yellur-hided vamints."

The breaking out of the war gave them the opportunity they desired, and they were now on their way, from a distant part of prairie-land, to take a hand in it.

The vehemence of their hostility towards the Mexicans somewhat surprised me--as I knew it was a recent feeling with them--and I inquired more particularly into the nature of the ill-treatment they had received.

They answered me by giving a detailed account of the affair. It had occurred at one of the Mexican frontier towns, where, upon a slight pretext, the trappers had been arrested and flogged, by order of the commanding officer of the post.

"Yes-s!" said Rube, the words hissing angrily through his teeth; "yes-s, flogged!--a mountain-man flogged by a cussed monkey of a Mexikin! Ne'er a mind! ne'er a mind! By the 'tarnal God!--an when I say thet, I swar it--this niggur don't leave Mexiko till he hes rubbed out a soger for every lash they gin him--an that's twenty!"

"Hyur's another, old hoss!" cried Garey, with equal earnestness of manner--"hyur's another that swars the same oath!"

"Yes, Billee, boy! I guess we'll count some in a skrimmage. Thur's two a'ready! lookee thur, young fellur!"

As Rube said this, he held his rifle close to my eyes, pointing with his finger to a particular part of the stock. I saw two small notches freshly cut in the wood. I knew well enough what these notches meant; they were a registry of the deaths of two Mexicans, who had fallen by the hand or bullet of the trapper. They had not been the only victims of that unerring and deadly weapon. On the same piece of wood-work I could see long rows of similar _souvenirs_, apart from each other, only differing a little in shape. I knew something of the signification of these horrible hieroglyphics; I knew they were the history of a life fearfully spent--a life of red realities.

The sight was far from pleasant. I turned my eyes away, and remained silent.

"Mark me, young fellur!" continued Rube, who noticed that I was not gratified by the inspection; "don't mistake Bill Garey an me for wild beests; we ain't thet quite; we've been mighty riled, I reck'n; but f'r all thet, we ain't a-gwine to take revenge on weemen an childer, as Injuns do. No--weemen an childer don't count, nor men neyther, unless thur sogers. We've no spite agin the poor slaves o' Mexiko. _They_ never did me nor Bill harm. We've been on one skurry, along wi' the Yutaws, down to the Del Nort settlements. Thur's whur I made them two nicks; but neyther Bill or me laid a finger on the weemen an childer.

It wur bekase the Injuns _did_, thet we left 'em. We're jest kum from thur. We want fair fight among Christyun whites; thet's why we're hyur.

Now, young fellur!"

I was glad to hear Rube talk in this manner, and I so signified to him.

Indianised as the old trapper was--with all his savageness, all his reckless indifference to ordinary emotions--I knew there was still a touch of humanity in his breast. Indeed, on more than one occasion, I had witnessed singular displays of fine feeling on the part of Rube.

Circumstanced as he was, he is not to be judged by the laws of civilised life.

"Your intention, then, is to join some corps of rangers, is it not?" I asked after a pause.

"I shed like it," replied Garey: "I shed like to join your company, capt'n; but Rube hyur won't consent to it."

"No!" exclaimed the other with emphasis; "I'll jine no kumpny. This niggur fights on his own hook. Yur see, young fellur, I hev been all my life a free mountaineeman, an don't understan sogerin, nohow. I mout make some mistake, or I moutn't like some o' the reg'lashuns; thurfor I prefers fightin arter my own fashun. Bill an me kin take care o'

ourselves, I reck'n. Kin we, Bill?--eh, boyee?"

"I guess so, old hoss," replied Garey mildly; "but for all that, Rube, I think it would be better to go at it in a reglar way--particlarly as the capt'n hyur would make the sogerin part as easy as possible. Wudn't yur, capt'n?"

"The discipline of my corps is not very severe. We are _Rangers_, and our duties are different from those of regular soldiers--"

"It ur no use," interrupted Rube; "I must fight as I've allers fit, free to kum an free to go whur I please. I won't bind myself to nuthin. I moutn't like it, an mout desart."

"But by binding yourself," suggested I, "you draw pay and rations; whereas--"

"Durn pay an rashuns!" exclaimed the old trapper, striking the butt of his rifle upon the prairie. "Durn pay an rashuns! Young fellur, _I fights for revenge_!"

This was said in an energetic and conclusive manner, and I urged my advice no further.

"Look hyur, cap!" continued the speaker in a more subdued tone. "Though I ain't a-gwine to jine yur fellurs, yet thur ur a favour I wud axe from yur; an thet is, to let me an Bill keep by you, or foller whuriver you lead. I don't want to spunge for rashuns; we'll git thet ef thur's a head o' game in Mexiko, an ef thur ain't, why we _kin eat a Mexikin_.

Can't we, Bill?--eh, boyee?"

Garey knew this was one of Rube's jokes, and laughingly assented; adding at the same time, that he would prefer eating any other "sort o' a vamint."

"Ne'er a mind!" continued Rube: "we ain't a-gwine to starve. So, young fellur, ef you agrees to our goin on them tarms, yu'll heve a kupple o'

rifles near you thet won't miss fire--_they_ won't."

"Enough! You shall go and come as you please. I shall be glad to have you near me, without binding you to any term of service."

"Hooray!--thet's the sort for us! Kum, Billee!--gie's another suck out o' yur gourd. Hyur's success to the Stars and Stripes! Hooray for Texas!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

A "Weed"-Prairie on Fire.

My recovery was rapid. My wounds, though deep, were not dangerous; they were only flesh-wounds, and closed rapidly under the cauterising influence of the _lechuguilla_. Rude as my doctors were, in the matter of such a malady, I could not have fallen into better hands. Both, during their lives of accident and exposure, had ample practice in the healing art; and I would have trusted either, in the curing of a rattle-snake's bite, or the tear of a grizzly bear's claw, in preference to the most accomplished surgeon. Old Rube, in particular, thoroughly understood the simple pharmacopoeia of the prairies; and his application to my wounds of the sap of the _pita_ plant, obtained among the rocks of the ravine, bespoke his skill. This plant, a bromelia, is of the same genus as the _Agave Americana_, and by travellers often confounded with the latter, though quite a distinct plant from the _maguey_ of cultivation. It grows in most parts of Mexico and South America, extending as far north as the latitude of 30 degrees, and even farther.

There is no spot too arid or barren to give support to it. It is a true desert plant; and even on the naked rock, its curved and thorny blades may be seen radiating on all sides from the tall flower-stalk, that shoots upward like a signal-staff, to the height of twenty feet. As already observed, its uses are manifold: the fibre of its leaves can be manufactured into thread, cordage, and cloth; fences are constructed of the growing plant, and thatch of the blades when cut; its sap, distilled, furnishes the fiery but not unwholesome mezcal; and the large egg-shaped core or stem is eaten for food. Tribes of Indians--Lipans, Comanches, and Apaches--use it extensively as an article of diet. One branch of the great Apache nation are distinguished--"_Mezcaleros_"

(eaters of the mezcal-plant). They bake it in ground-ovens of heated stones, along with the flesh of the wild-horse. It is firm when cooked, with a translucent appearance like candied fruits. I have eaten it; it is palatable--I might say delicious. The mastication of it is accompanied by a prinkling sensation upon the tongue, singular to one unaccustomed to it. It is a gift of nature to the desert regions--where it grows in greatest luxuriance, and where it serves the same purpose in the economy of the savage natives as the _ixias, mesembryanthemums_, and _zarnias_ (the Caffre bread), upon the arid karoos of Southern Africa.

One of the most esteemed qualities of this bromelia is the cauterising property of its juice--well known to the natives of the Mexican table-land, and to the Peruvians, where several species are found of like virtues. It will cause ordinary wounds to cicatrise in a few hours, and even "ugly gashes" will yield to it in time.

My companions had full knowledge of its effects; and, having extracted the sap from its large succulent leaves, and boiled it to the consistency of honey, they applied it to my wounds. This operation they from time to time repeated, and the scratches were healed in a period marvellously short. My strength, too, was soon restored. Garey with his gun catered for the cuisine, and the ruffed grouse, the prairie partridge, and roasted ribs of fresh venison, were dainties even to an invalid.

In three days I was strong enough to mount; and bidding adieu to our camping-ground, we all three set forth, taking with us our beautiful captive. He was still as wild as a deer; but we had adopted precautions to prevent him from getting away from us. The trappers led him between them, secured to the saddles of both by a lazo.

We did not return in the direction of our old trail; my companions knew a shorter route--at least one upon which we should sooner reach water-- and that is the most important consideration on a prairie-journey. We headed in a more westerly direction; by which, keeping in a straight line, we expected to strike the Rio Grande some distance above the rancheria.

The sky was leaden-grey--the sun not being visible--and with no guide in the heavens, we knew that we might easily diverge from a direct course.

To provide against this, my companions had recourse to a compass of their own invention.

On taking our departure from camp, a sapling was stuck into the ground, and upon the top of this was adjusted a piece of bear's-skin, which, with the long hair upon it, could be distinguished at the distance of a mile or more. The direction having been determined upon, another wand, similarly garnished with a tuft of the bear's-skin, was set up several hundred yards distant from the first.

Turning our backs upon these signal-posts, we rode off with perfect confidence, glancing back at intervals to make sure we were keeping the line. So long as they remained in sight, and _aligned_ with each other, we could not otherwise than travel in a straight path. It was an ingenious contrivance, but it was not the first time I had been witness to the ingenuity of my trapper-friends, and therefore I was not astonished.

When the black tufts were well-nigh hidden from view, a similar pair-- the materials for which had been brought along--were erected; and these insured our direction for another stretch of a mile; then fresh saplings were planted; and so on, till we had passed over six miles of the plain.

We now came in sight of timber right ahead of us, and apparently about five miles distant. Towards this we directed our course.

We reached the timber about noon, and found it to consist of black-jack and post-oak groves, with mezquite and wild china-trees interspersed, and here and there some taller trees of the honey-locust (_Gleditschia triacanthos_). It was not a close forest, but a succession of groves, with openings between--avenues and grassy glades.

There were many pleasant spots, and, faint with the ride, I would fain have chosen one of them for a resting-place; but there was no water, and without water we could not halt. A short distance farther, and we should reach a stream--a small _arroyo_, an affluent of the Rio Grande.

So promised my companions, and we rode onward.

After passing a mile or so through the timber-openings, we came out on the edge of a prairie of considerable extent. It was full three miles in diameter, and differed altogether from the plain we had left behind us. It was of the kind known in hunter phraseology as a "weed-prairie"--that is, instead of having a grassy turf, its surface was covered in a thick growth of flowering-plants, as _helianthus, malvas, altheas, hibiscus_, and other tall annuals standing side by side, and frequently laced together by wild-pea vines and various species of convolvulus. Such a flower-prairie was the one now before us, but not a flower was in sight; they had all bloomed, faded, and fallen--perhaps unseen by human eye--and the withered stalks, burned by a hot sun, looked brown and forbidding. They tracked and broke at the slightest touch, their seed-pods shelling their contents like rain upon the loose earth.

Instead of striking across this prairie, we skirted around its edge; and at no great distance arrived on the banks of the arroyo.

We had made but a short march; but my companions, fearful that a longer ride might bring on fever, proposed to encamp there for the night, and finish our journey on the following day. Though I felt strong enough to have gone farther, I made no objection to the proposal; and our horses were at once unsaddled and picketed near the banks of the arroyo.

The stream ran through a little bottom-valley covered with a sward of grass, and upon this we staked our steeds; but a better place offered for our camp upon the higher ground; and we chose a spot under the shade of a large locust-tree, upon the edge of the great wilderness of weeds.

To this place we carried our saddles, bridles, and blankets, and having collected a quantity of dead branches, kindled our camp-fire.