Pirates of the Prairies

Gustave Aimard

Description

Born under harsh circumstances, author Gustave Aimard began his lifelong travels at the tender age of nine, when he first set sail on a fishing rig. Eventually, Aimard found himself in Mexico, where his experiences with indigenous peoples sparked his imagination. The classic western The Pirates of the Prairies is one of over seventy novels and stories that Aimard would pen over the course of his literary career.

Sujets

• Westerns
• Western (genre)
• Western

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775562474
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE PIRATES OF THE PRAIRIES
ADVENTURES IN THE AMERICAN DESERT
* * *
GUSTAVE AIMARD
Translated by
LASCELLES WRAXALL
 
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The Pirates of the Prairies Adventures in the American Desert First published in 1862 ISBN 978-1-77556-247-4 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Preface Chapter I - The Cache Chapter II - The Ambuscade Chapter III - An Old Acquaintance of the Reader Chapter IV - Red Cedar at Bay Chapter V - The Grotto Chapter VI - The Proposition Chapter VII - Ellen and Doña Clara Chapter VIII - The Flight Chapter IX - The Teocali Chapter X - The White Gazelle Chapter XI - The Apaches Chapter XII - Black Cat Chapter XIII - The Great Medicine Chapter XIV - The Succour Chapter XV - On the Island Chapter XVI - Sunbeam Chapter XVII - Indian Hospitality Chapter XVIII - Love! Chapter XIX - The Dance of the Old Dogs Chapter XX - A Hand-To-Hand Fight Chapter XXI - The Avenger Chapter XXII - Explanatory Chapter XXIII - Apaches and Comanches Chapter XXIV - The Scalp-Dance Chapter XXV - The Torture Chapter XXVI - Two Women's Hearts Chapter XXVII - Shaw Chapter XXVIII - The Departure Chapter XXIX - The Ambuscade Chapter XXX - The Pirate's Confession Chapter XXXI - The Rivals Chapter XXXII - Fray Ambrosio Chapter XXXIII - The Trail Chapter XXXIV - The Hunt Chapter XXXV - The Combat Chapter XXXVI - The Earthquake Endnotes
Preface
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The present is the second of the series of Indian tales, commencing withthe "Trail-Hunter," and which will be completed in one more volume,entitled the "Trapper's Daughter." It must be understood, however, thateach of these volumes is complete in itself, although the charactersalready introduced to the reader are brought on the stage again, andcontinue their surprising adventures through succeeding works. For this,Gustave Aimard can quote the example of his predecessor, FenimoreCooper, whose "Deer Slayer," appears in a long succession of volumes,not necessarily connected, but which all repay perusal. I believe thatfew who have commenced with one volume of Cooper's Indian tales, buthave been anxious to follow the hero through the remainder of hisadventures; and I sincerely trust that a perusal of the "Pirates of thePrairies" may lead to a demand for the other volumes by the same author,which have already appeared, and for those which have still to follow.
Lascelles Wraxall.
Chapter I - The Cache
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Two months have elapsed since we left the Trail-Hunter commencing hisadventurous journey, and we are in the heart of the desert. Before usimmensity is unfolded. What pen, however eloquent, would venture todescribe those illimitable oceans of verdure to which the NorthAmericans have in their imagery, given the poetic and mysterious name ofthe Far West? That is to say, the truly unknown region, with its scenesat once grand and striking, soft and terrible; unbounded prairies inwhich may be found that rich and luxuriant Flora, against whose magicgrowth only the Indian can successfully struggle.
These plains, at the first glance, offer the dazzled eye of the rashtraveller who ventures on them a vast carpet of verdure embossed withflowers, furrowed by large streams; and they appear of a desperateregularity, mingling in the horizon with the azure of the sky.
It is only by degrees, when the sight grows accustomed to the picture,that, gradually mastering the details, the visitor notices here andthere rather lofty hills, the escarped sides of the water courses, and athousand unexpected accidents which agreeably break that monotony bywhich the eye is at first saddened, and which the lofty grass and thegiant productions of the Flora completely conceal.
How can we enumerate the products of this primitive nature, which forman inextricable confusion and interlacement, describing majestic curves,producing grand arcades, and offering, in a word, the most splendid andsublime spectacle it was ever given to man to admire through its eternalcontrasts and striking harmony?
Above the gigantic ferns, the mezquite , the cactuses, nopales,larches, and fruit-laden arbutuses, rise the mahogany tree with itsoblong leaves, the moriche , or pine tree, the abanijo , whose wideleaves are shaped like a fan, the pirijao , from which hang enormousclusters of golden fruit, the royal palm whose stem is denuded offoliage, and balances its majestic and tufted head at the slightestbreath; the Indian cane, the lemon tree, the guava, the plantain, the chinciroya , or intoxicating fruit, the oak, the pine tree, and the waxpalm, distilling its resinous gum.
Then, there are immense fields of dahlias, flowers whiter than the snowsof the Caffre de Perote or the Chimborazo, or redder than blood, immenselianas twining and circling round the stems of trees and vinesoverflowing with sap; and in the midst of this inextricable chaos fly,run, and crawl, in every direction, animals of all sorts and sizes,birds, quadrupeds, reptiles, amphibious, singing, crying, howling androaring with every note of the human gamut, some mocking and menacing,others soft and melancholy.
The stags and deer bounding timidly along, with ear erect and eye on thewatch, the bighorn leaping from rock to rock, and then restingmotionless on the verge of a precipice, the heavy and stupid buffaloeswith their sad eyes; the wild horses, whose numerous manadas make theearth re-echo in their purposeless chase; the alligator, with its bodyin the mud, and sleeping in the sun; the hideous iguana carelesslyclimbing up a tree; the puma, that maneless lion; the panther and jaguarcunningly watch their prey as it passes; the brown bear, that gluttonoushoney-hunter; the grizzly, the most formidable denizen of thesecountries; the cotejo , with its venomous bite; the chameleon, whoseskin reflects every hue; the green lizard, and the basilisk crawlingsilent and sinister beneath the leaves; the monstrous boa, the coralsnake, so small and yet so terrible; the cascabel , the macaurel , andthe great striped serpent.
The feathered flock sing and twitter on the branches, hidden beneath thedense foliage; the tanagers, the curassos, the chattering lloros , the haras , the flycatcher, the toucans, with their enormous beaks, thepigeons, the trogons , the elegant rose flamingos, the swans balancingand sporting in the streams, and the light and graceful gray squirrelsleaping with unimaginable speed from creeper to creeper, from shrub toshrub.
In the highest regions of air, hovering in long circles over theprairie, the eagle of the Sierra Madre, with wide-spread wings, and thebald-headed vulture, select the prey on which they dart with therapidity of lightning.
Then, suddenly, crushing under his horse's hoofs the sand andgold-studded pebbles sparkling in the sun, appears, as if byenchantment, an Indian, with his red skin glistening like new copper,robust limbs, gestures stamped with majesty and grace, and a commandingeye; a Navajo, Pawnee, Comanche, Apache or Sioux, who, whirling hislasso or lakki round his head, drives before him a herd of startledbuffaloes or wild horses, or else a panther, ounce, or jaguar, that flyhis presence with hoarse roars of rage and terror.
This child of the desert, so grand, so noble, and so disdainful ofperil, who crosses the prairies with incredible speed, and knows itsthousand turnings, is truly the king of this strange country, which healone can traverse night and day, and whose countless dangers he doesnot fear. He struggles inch by inch with that European civilisationwhich is slowly advancing, driving him into his last intrenchments andinvading his lands on all sides.
Hence, woe to the trapper or hunter who ventures to traverse theseprairies alone! His bones will bleach on the plain, and his scalp adornthe shield of an Indian chief, or the mane of his horse.
Such is the sublime, striking, and terrible spectacle the Far Westoffers even at the present day.
The day on which we resume our story, at the moment when the sunattained its zenith, the mournful silence brooding over the desert wassuddenly troubled by a slight sound, which was heard in the tuftedclumps that border the Rio Gila, in one of the most unknown districts ofthis solitude.
The branches were cautiously parted, and amid the leaves and creepers aman displayed his face dripping with perspiration, and marked with anexpression of terror and despair.
This man, after looking around him anxiously, and assuring himself thatno one was on the watch, slowly disengaged his body from the grass andshrubs that conceal it, walked a few steps in the direction of theriver, and fell to the ground, uttering a profound sigh.
Almost simultaneously an enormous mastiff, with a cross of the wolf andNewfoundland, bounded from the shrubs and lay down at his feet.
The man who appeared so unexpectedly on the banks of the Rio Gila wasRed Cedar. [1]
His position appeared most critical, for he was alone in the desert,without weapons or provisions. We say without weapons, for the longknife passed through his deerskin girdle was almost useless to him.In the Far West, that infinite ocean of verdure, an unarmed man is adead man!
The struggle becomes impossible for him with the numberless enemies whowatch his passing, and only await a favourable moment to catch him. RedCedar was deprived of those inestimable riches of the hunter, a rifleand a horse. Moreover he was alone!
Man, so long as he can see his fellow, even though that fellow be anenemy, does not bel