HOMEWARD BOUND.
There were too many horrors hanging around Dead Man’s Gulch for the whites to spend any more time there than was necessary. Several of the wagons were overturned upon each other, and then fired, and by the aid of this huge bonfire, which sent a glow out upon the prairie for miles, like the rays of the Eddystone light-house over the ocean, they set about their work of mercy.
In one of the wagons were placed all the bodies of those who had fallen, and the other was fitted up in the most comfortable manner for the women and children. To these several of the cavalry attached their horses, and making sure that every thing that could be of any possible use to the Comanches was burned, the rescuing party started out of the ravine, which was ever afterward to cause a shudder whenever memory recalled the awful experiences to which they were there doomed.
The moon had only fairly risen when the procession slowly wended its way out from the gulch, and off across the prairie, in the direction of Fort Adams. They were indeed what they looked to be, a funeral procession, and another vivid comment upon the terrible errors which have governed the associations of the white and red-men from the very first meeting, nearly four hundred years ago.
The dragging of the two heavily-laden wagons across the prairie could but be a tedious and wearisome task, and in all probability would not be completed until the second day after starting. Of course there was a possibility that Swico would return to the attack, if a suitable occasion should offer, but it was not deemed necessary that the entire one hundred men should remain to escort them into the fort.
And so when the eighty rode back from the fruitless pursuit of the main body of Indians, the arrangements were made for dividing the company, it being well known that Colonel Greaves could ill afford to spare so many men, and would be pleased if such a course could be carried out without any ill results flowing therefrom.
But, first of all, the steeds and their riders needed rest after the tremendous charge over the prairie, and less than a mile from Dead Man’s Gulch, where a sparkling stream of cold water wandered through a grove of trees, the camp was made for the night, the sentinels being stationed at every point, and such precautions made, as to cause every one to feel perfectly safe against any disturbance from the malignant red-skins, who had too much discretion to rush in where they knew they would be only too gladly received by the cavalry.
Several fires were kindled in the grove, and food cooked, the camping-ground being one of the most pleasant that could possibly have been chosen, as there was an abundance of rich grass for their animals, and every thing that could be needed by their riders.
At one of these fires, a little apart from the rest, were three persons, engaged in the most pleasant converse. The long, lank figure, stretched lazily upon the ground, supporting himself upon his elbow, was Lightning Jo, at his ease, with his nature all “unbent” and his humorous self at the surface. As he talked, his black eyes sparkled, and his handsome white teeth were constantly exposed as he asked some question, or made some reply to Egbert Rodman and Lizzie Manning, who were seated upon the opposite side of the fire, rather closer together than was absolutely necessary, chatting with each other and with the scout, who kept “chaffing” them so continuously that they had little opportunity for any private conference of their own.
“You may as well wait, younkers,” said Jo. “I don’t object to you squeezing each other’s hands, jest as you tried a minute ago, when you thought I warn’t looking; but you needn’t try to talk to each other when I’m about. So wait, I tell yer, till some other time, for you ain’t going to get rid of me till you bunk up for the night.”
“No one wants to get rid of you,” retorted Lizzie, as a blush suffused her face, and her eyes sparkled in the firelight. “What do we care for you? I have no wish for any private talk with Egbert.”
“Of course not; nor he with you; any fool can see that in both your looks, ’specially in his. But that’s always the way. I had an aunt once that always was interfering when any young dunces got to fooling round. She had a son, that she thought all the world of. He had learned the shoemaker’s trade, and when he was about forty or forty-five, he got tender on a cross-eyed girl, with red hair, that lived near him, and he went for her. My aunt didn’t like it a bit, and done all she could to break it up. She said if her boy would wait till he got to be a man, she wouldn’t object, if he would pick out a young lady for her worth instead of for her beauty, as he had done. She done every thing to torment the poor feller, giving him medicine to make him sick when he had a special appointment with her, sewing big patches all over his coat, so that he was ashamed to wear it, and locking him in his room and giving him a good strapping when he got sassy and gave her any of his lip.
“Cousin Josh didn’t mind that much, as he said the old woman had been a little peculiar ever since he had been ’quainted with her; but there was one thing that he couldn’t get used to, and that was her way of bouncing down upon him and his senorita, just as they were beginning to act like you two folks, and thought nobody wasn’t looking on. Three times, Josh told me, he had got down on his knees and clasped his hands and shut his eyes, and was making his proposal to his lady, and was just in the sweetest part, when he opened his eyes and saw his mother standing afore him with a sweet smile upon her countenance, and more than once, when he reached out his arm to put around the young lady’s waist, it went over the old woman’s neck, who was alistening near, and who cuffed his ears for being such a fool.
“Josh stood it as long as he could, but finally he got even with her.”
“In what way?” inquired Egbert.
“He got a big skyrocket made, and fastened it to the old lady’s dress, and got a little boy to touch off the fuse. The last seen of my aunt she was whizzing and bobbing through the air, until she went out of sight. As she never came down ag’in, Josh wasn’t bothered any more, and he went on with his courtship and at last got married and lived happy, as such a good boy deserved to be.”