The War Trail: The Hunt of the Wild Horse

The question took me by surprise, and, for the moment, I did not know what answer to make. The excitement of the chase, the encounter, and its curious developments--perhaps abov...

Thus disappointed, I gave up all hope of meeting her for whose sake I had come to the ball. She was either _not_ there, or did not wish to be recognised, even by _me_. The latte...

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...

In ill-humour I journeyed along. The hot sun and the dusty road did not improve my temper, ruffled as it was by the unpleasant incident. I was far from satisfied with my first l...

My adventure did not end with the day; it was continued into the night, and repeated in my dreams. I rode the chase over again; I dashed through the magueys, I leaped the _zequi...

Doomed beyond doubt--doomed to quick, awful, and certain death was the earless trapper. In five minutes more he must perish. The wall of flame, moving faster than charging caval...

I could have broken the rascal's thick skull, but that the queenly douceur gave proof of the satisfaction with which my offering had been received. Even on this trivial circumst...

Though our enemies were once more in motion, we no longer anticipated a direct attack; the time for that had passed. The fate of their comrade had evidently checked their ardour...

We had bidden adieu in that phrase of pleasant promise, "_hasta la manana_" (until to-morrow). To-morrow we should meet again. To-morrow, and to-morrow, we should visit that swe...

Ijurra was alone, and I continued to advance to the spot where he was standing. His back was towards me, for he still fronted in the direction in which Isolina had galloped off....

Our hearts beat anxiously--at least I can answer for my own. Rube watched the guerrilleros, permitting his head to be seen by them. My eyes were bent upon the rocky wall, but th...

In half-an-hour after, with the vaquero for my guide, I rode quietly out of the rancheria. A dozen rangers followed close behind; and, having crossed the river at a ford nearly...

This bear was one of the largest; but it was not his size that impressed me with fear, so much as the knowledge of his fierce nature. It was not the first time I had encountered...

The fight could not have lasted more than ten minutes. The whole skirmish had the semblance of a moonlight dream, interrupted by interludes of darkness. So rapid had been the mo...

The centre of the piazza presents a salient point in the picture. There the well (_el poso_), with its gigantic wheel, its huge leathern belt and buckets, its trough of cemented...

It was after nightfall,--in fact, near midnight, when I awoke. The air had grown chilly, but I found I had not been neglected; my serape was wrapped closely around me, and with...

I rode slowly, and but a few paces before reining up my horse. Although I was under the impression that it would be useless remaining, and that an interview with Isolina was imp...

Wheatley now rode after the troop, with which Holingworth had already entered the corral. A band of drivers was speedily pressed into service; and with these the two lieutenants...

I was musing upon the singular character of this _triangular_ war, when my reverie was disturbed by the hoof strokes of a horse. The sounds came from a distance, outside the vil...

It was a struggle between Aurora and the moon which of them should rule the sky, when our bugle rang its clear _reveille_, rousing the rangers from their slumber, and startling...

On facing towards the hill, I perceived the steed still not so distant. His white body, gleaming under the clear moonlight, could have been easily distinguished at a far greater...

It was but a short-lived light--a passing gleam--and soon again fell the shadow, dark as ever. Strive as I might, I could not cast the load that weighed upon my bosom; reason as...

After a breakfast of buffalo-flesh, seasoned with splendid appetites, and washed down by a cup of cold water from the arroyo, we "saddled up," and headed for a high _butte_, jus...

"Durn the weemen!" (I recognised Rube's voice); "thur allers a gittin a fellur into some scrape. Hyur's a putty pickle to be in, an all through a gurl. Durn the weemen! sez I."

I have encountered dangers--not a few--but they were the ordinary perils of flood and field, and I understood them. I have had one limb broken, and its fellow bored with an ounc...

A sudden hope crossed my mind, that it might be a party of my own people, out in search of me. "By twos" was our favourite and habitual order of march. But no; the long lances a...

I bethought me of an apology. What excuse could I offer for such unceremonious intrusion? Accident? She would not believe it; the time and the place were against such a supposit...

My wounds pain me. Some one is binding them up. His hand is rude; but the tender expression of his eye tells me that his heart is kind. Who is he? Whence came he?

Yes, the voice was Ijurra's. I knew it well. While listening to it by the mesa, I had noted its tones sufficiently to remember them--round, sonorous, of true Spanish accent, and...

In the midst of my meditations, night descended upon the earth. It promised to be a moonless night. A robe of sable clouds formed a sombre lining to the sky, and through this ne...

I stayed to hear no more, but drove the spur against the ribs of my horse, till he sprang in full gallop along the road. Eager as were my men to follow, 'twas as much as they co...

Withal, I was not reckless. If not sanguine, I was far from despondent; and as I continued to dwell upon it, the prospect seemed to brighten, and success to appear less problema...

These "men of the mountains"--as they prided to call themselves--were peculiar in everything. While engaged in a duty, such as the present, they would scarce disclose their thou...

Our attitude of defence, thus suddenly assumed, produced a quick effect upon our pursuers, who pulled up simultaneously on the prairie. Some who had been foremost, and who fanci...

The next two days I passed in feverish restlessness. Holingsworth's conduct had quite disconcerted my plans. From the concluding sentences of Isolina's note, I had construed an...

In gazing out, my eye was attracted by some objects. They were animals, but of what species I could not tell. There are times upon the prairies when form and size present the mo...

My progress was far from being rapid. The water was occasionally deeper or shallower, but generally rising above my hips--deep enough to render my advance a task of time and dif...

It was nearly a quarter of an hour before the cloud moved away; and then, to my surprise, I saw a clump of horses--not _horsemen_--upon the prairie, and scarcely half-a-mile dis...

I had no mark to guide me, either on the earth or in the heavens. I had an indefinite idea that the chase had led westward, and therefore to get back to the prairie, I ought to...

On resuming the trail, I was cheered by three considerations. The peril of the flood was past--she was not drowned. The wolves were thrown off--the dangerous rapid had deterred...

The trail led north-west, as written upon the maguey. No doubt Isolina had heard her captors forespeak their plans. I knew that she herself understood something of the Comanche...

Breakfast I hardly tasted. A _taso_ of chocolate and a small sugared cake--the _desayuna_ of every Mexican--were brought, and these served me for breakfast. A glass of cognac an...

Scarcely staying to quench my thirst, I led my horse across the stream, and commenced scrutinising the trail upon the opposite bank. The faithful trackers were by my side--no fe...

"Now, Bill Garey, an you, young fellur, jest clap yur eyes on thet 'ere 'campmint, an see ef thur ain't a road leadin inter the very heart o' it, straight as the tail o' a skeea...

Halting at long-range, they fired their carbines and escopettes; but their bullets cut the grass far in front of us, and one or two that hurtled past were wide of the mark.

The pleasant excitement caused by the visit to my old comrades was soon over; and having nothing to do but lounge about my tent, I became again the victim of the same painful bo...

You may be asking, what the trapper meant by a war-trail? It has been a phrase of frequent occurrence with us. It is a phrase of the frontier. Even at the eleventh hour, let me...

I scarcely waited the echo of my words; I waited not the counsel of my comrades; but, plunging deeply the spur, galloped down the hill in the direction of the drove.

While these reflections were passing through my mind, I was standing, or rather leaning, with my back against the boulder, and my face towards the wall of the mesa. Directly in...

A dread feeling is jealousy, mortified vanity, or whatever you may designate the disappointment of love. I have experienced the sting of shame, the blight of broken fortune, the...

For several minutes, Rube preserved his meditative attitude, without uttering a word or making the slightest motion. At length, a low but cheerful whistle escaped his lips, and...

With shivering frame and dripping garments, I stood, uncertain what course to pursue. I was upon the opposite side of the lake--I mean opposite to where I had entered it. I had...

I had merely swooned. My nerves and frame were still weak from the blood-letting I had received in the combat of yesterday. The shock of the horrid news was too much for my powe...

A Mexican _pueblita_ on the banks of the Rio Bravo del Norte--a mere _rancheria_, or hamlet. The quaint old church of Morisco-Italian style, with its cupola of motley japan, the...

"Hietans!" began the chief, for such in reality was the old Indian, "my children, and brothers in council! I appeal to you to stay judgment in this matter. I am your chief, but...

If our enemies were awed by our sudden disappearance, it was soon robbed of its mysterious character. Our faces, and the dark barrels of our rifles, visible around the edges of...

The renegade, having raised the unresisting captive in his arms, proceeded to carry her from the spot. He scarcely carried her; her feet, naked and bound, trailed along the gras...

The soft blue light of morning was just perceptible along the eastern horizon as we rode into the rancheria. I no longer felt hunger. Some of the more provident of the rangers h...

On entering the courtyard, a somewhat novel scene presented itself--a Spanish picture, with some transatlantic touches. The _patio_ of a Mexican house is its proper front. Here...

Just then the shrill voice of a crier pealed through the camp, and I observed a general movement. I could not make out what the man said, but the peculiar intonation told that h...

As I have said, the adjacent plain, for nearly a thousand yards' radius, was a smooth grass-covered prairie. Even the grass was short: it would scarcely have sheltered the small...

Hunger was the father of my first thought. I had eaten nothing since an early hour of the preceding day, and then only the light _desayuna_ of sweet-cake and chocolate. To one n...

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow--a demi-lune of love, whose every hour was consecrated to its god. At earliest dawn, by the rosy rays of Aurora; at golden noon, shadowed...

The new object of dread was a large gun, which had been brought upon the ground by one of those lately arrived. In all probability, it belonged to El Zorro, as it was in his han...

This declaration scarcely astonished me; I was half prepared for it. During our wild gallop, I had noticed one or two circumstances which led me to suspect that the spy I pursue...

There was no hope of crossing in the darkness. The barranca was here deeper than at any point above; so deep that I could but indistinctly see the rocky boulders at its bottom....

Another chorus of _vivas_ announced that the guerrilla captain had finished his oration, and that the attack was about to be made. We saw the chief himself, with one or two othe...

Surely was it so. Into that seething rapid the steed had launched himself--where the spume was whitest, and the rocks gave out their hoarsest echoes. The four hoof-prints, close...

He was standing apart from the rest--leaning, I should rather say, for his body was not erect, but diagonal. In this attitude it was propped by his rifle, the butt of which was...

I spent but little time in preparations; these had been made already. It remained only to tighten my saddle-girths, look to the caps of my revolvers, and place both pistols and...

The open space in front of the hovel was occupied by a group of women-- most of them young girls. There were six or seven; I did not count them. There were two or three men, Mex...

The savage did not yield himself up without resistance. Resistance with an Indian is instinctive, as with a wild animal. He flung himself from his horse, and drawing his knife,...

While thus inactive, my mind yielded itself up to the contemplation of painful probabilities. Horrid spectacles passed before my imagination. I saw the white horse galloping ove...

The rangers, after a moment of speculation as to the designs of the trappers, resumed their attitude of repose. Fatigued as they were, even the cold could not keep them awake.

For the first time, since encountering the guerrilla, I breathed freely, and felt confident we should get free. My comrade shared my belief; and it is needless to say that we re...

The decision appeared to give satisfaction to all. A grim smile, upon his face testified that the renegade himself was pleased. How could he be otherwise? He had certainly the b...

The others made answer, though I already guessed what they had to tell. Rube and Garey had followed the tracks of the steed, leaving the rangers to come after me.

This discovery brought us to a pause. A consultation ensued, in which all took part; but as usual, the others listened to the opinions of the prairie-men, and especially to that...

It was past the hour of midnight. The lightning, that for some time had appeared only at long intervals, now ceased altogether. Its fitful glare gave place to a softer, steadier...

The situation in which I was placed by chance, could not have been better had I deliberately chosen it. I had under my eyes the council fire and council, the groups around--in s...

We had advanced about a mile farther, when our scouts--who, as usual, had gone forward to reconnoitre--having ascended a swell of the prairie, were observed crouching behind som...

The men followed as before. We needed no trackers to point out the way; the path was plain as a drover's road--a thousand hoofs had made their mark upon the ground.

My gallant horse soon gave proof of his superior qualities. One after another of my companions was passed; and as we cleared the avenue and entered a second prairie, I found mys...

More cautiously than ever, we now crept along the trail--advancing only after the ground had been thoroughly "quartered" by the scouts. Time was of the least consequence. The fr...

The skill of the trackers was no longer called in need; the war-trail was as easily followed as a toll-road: a blind man could have guided himself along such a well-trodden high...

The trackers had made out their footprints in the mud of the arroyo. Both kinds had been there--the large brown wolf of Texas, and the small barking _coyote_ of the plains. A fu...

It was not the emphatic tone in which this announcement was made that produced within me conviction of its truth; I should have been convinced without that. I was better than ha...

The incidents of the day preyed upon my spirits, and I was far from feeling easy about the future. I knew that my betrothed would be true till death; and I felt ashamed that I h...

For myself, I had no such fears; I perceived that the chapparal could not burn. Here and there, patches of dry mezquite-trees would have caught like tinder; but in most places,...

For some minutes I stood motionless as a statue; I stirred neither hand nor foot, lest the movement should catch the eye either of the horse-guards or those moving around the fi...

"Red warriors of the Hietan! brothers! what I have to say before the council will not require many words. I claim yonder Mexican girl as my captive, and therefore as my own. Who...

I need not tell how deeply I was affected by the unexpected communication. All at once were decided a variety of doubts; all at once was I made aware of the exact situation.

The earth offers no aspect more drear and desolate than that of a burnt prairie. The ocean when its waves are grey--a blighted heath--a flat fenny country under a rapid thaw--al...

The horses cowered under the cold rain, all of them jaded and hungry. The hot dusty march of the morning, and the long rough gallop of the night, had exhausted their strength; a...

It was not at the first glance that I saw Isolina. On looking through the leaves, the _coup d'oeil_ was a scene that quite astonished me, and for a while occupied my attention....

"Don't be afeerd, capt'n," said he, in a tone of encouragement; "don't be afeerd! Rube an me'll find 'em afore thar's any harm done. I don't b'lieve the white hoss 'll gallip fu...

We had reached our ground just at the moment I desired. It was twilight--dark enough to render ourselves inconspicuous under the additional shadow of the trees--yet sufficiently...

I had a reason for not mingling in it. If I joined them in their counsels, they might not express their convictions so freely, and I was desirous of knowing what they truly thou...

Land of the nopal and maguey--home of Moctezuma and Malinche!--I cannot wring thy memories from my heart! Years may roll on, hand wax weak, and heart grow old, but never till bo...

I was chagrined, frantic, and despairing, but not surprised. This time there was no mystery about the disappearance of the steed; the chapparal explained it. Though I no longer...