“El Capitan Sutter comes, se?ors,” announced the vaquero, pointing.
A man had galloped3 from the post and its fringe of out-buildings, and was rapidly approaching the squad4. A short, stout5, German-featured man he was, when he arrived: with rosy6 complexion7, blue eyes, crisp moustache, high forehead, bald pate8, and a soldiery way about him.
“I am Lieutenant10 John C. Frémont, of the United States Army, on a government survey of Oregon and the Great Basin,” explained the lieutenant, shaking hands. “We’ve been forced across the mountains. I’ve left most of the company behind, while with a[249] squad I rode in advance, for supplies. Can we get them?”
It was late to start back, to-day, with rescue for the Fitzpatrick party; but much refreshed by the abundant food and the night’s lodging13 at the hospitable14 post of New Helvetia they took the back trail, early in the morning, with horses and provisions. On the second day out, just before reaching the Forks of the American, they sighted the Fitzpatrick party straggling along—and a sorry party that was. All the men were afoot, tottering15 as they led tottering horse or mule16. Oliver thought that he never had seen such skeletons living; and then it occurred to him that no doubt his own party were just about as bad, and that he was accustomed to them.
The Fitzpatrick party were too weak to cheer; they almost were too weak to eat; but the gaunt wan11 faces essayed a smile, and one or two hands were languidly waved. Camp was at once made, and the good rich beef and bread and salmon17 from Sutter’s Fort were distributed—cautiously, that the greedy Fitzpatrick men should not over-eat.
Thomas Fitzpatrick, his ruddy face drawn18 and gray with exhaustion19, his white hair ragged20, related that because of the melting snows and the rains a number of the pack animals had fallen from slippery precipices21 and had been killed, their packs lost. All[250] told, out of the 104 horses and mules22 with which the expedition had left the Dalles of the Columbia only thirty-three arrived in the Valley of the Sacramento; thus reckoned up Lieutenant Frémont, when, on the next day, camp of the whole company was established where the American emptied into the Sacramento, two miles below New Helvetia.
This New Switzerland, or New Helvetia, as Captain Sutter had named his settlement, and which was known also as Sutter’s Fort, was a most interesting place. The post walls were eighteen feet high, enclosing a rectangle 150 by 500 feet; they mounted twelve cannon23 and were garrisoned24 by forty Indians whom Captain Sutter (who had been a soldier in France) had uniformed and drilled. Lieutenant Frémont did not think much of the condition of the cannon, nor very highly of the smartness of the Indian soldiery; but all in all, the fort was rather imposing25, here in the depth of California.
The jovial26 captain lived like a Highland27 chief. Kit28 Carson called him a king. Nobody interfered29 with him; he had been pronounced a Mexican citizen, by the governor of Alta California—but, anyway, citizen or not, he was too strong to be driven out. Besides the forty California Indians he employed thirty white men—mechanics, trappers, farmers, etc.; and all the American trappers and settlers in this part of California were free to make his settlement headquarters. His land extended over thirty-three square miles; it[251] was being grazed and farmed; he possessed30 4200 cattle, 2000 horses, 1900 sheep, and sent out many beaver-skins and much wheat. His house, inside the fort, was furnished with regular chairs and beds and tables, of heavy, clumsy manufacture, having been hand-made, from laurel, at the former Russian trading post of Ross, on the sea-shore westward31. He sent vessels32 down the Sacramento and up to Vancouver. He operated a flour-mill and was teaching the Indians to weave hats and blankets and to farm. Yes, powerful and rich and independent was Captain Johann Augustus Sutter, of New Helvetia, above the mouth of the Rio de los Americanos, Upper California. ’Twas at his saw-mill, fifty miles above his fort, that was discovered, in the winter of 1848–49, gold; and speedily his New Helvetia became Sacramento City.
The two weeks’ camp of the Frémont and Carson company, at the mouth of the American, was by no means an idle camp, devoted33 to sight-seeing or sitting in the Captain Sutter laurel chairs. Horses and mules and cattle were to be inspected and bought; new pack-saddles to be put together; bridles35 repaired, saddles repaired, ropes repaired or purchased, clothing repaired or purchased; Samuel Neal the blacksmith worked constantly at the post forge, shaping horse-shoes, bridle34-bits, nails, etc.; and the Sutter flour-mill, grinding by horse-power, was in motion night and day producing flour.
[252]
A short council at which Captain Sutter was present determined36 upon the route home.
“It would be folly37 to recross the Sierras, here,” stated the lieutenant. “I suppose the snow lies on them away into the summer.”
“Yes, sir,” assured the captain.
“I was thinking, then,” continued the lieutenant, “of travelling south, down the Valley of the Sacramento and up the Valley of the San Joachin, that Kit has talked so much about, for the Joe Walker Pass at the lower end of the ranges. And then to strike the Spanish Trail that runs from the Pueblo38 of Los Angeles to Santa Fé.”
“Very good,” approved the captain. “It’s a fine, well-watered country, with plenty of game, all the way to the southern passes.”
“We’re not liable to be interfered with, by the authorities, are we?” queried39 the lieutenant. “This is Mexican territory, and we came in without leave.”
“Not so far back from the coast,” answered Captain Sutter. “But you’ll have to watch sharp, or the Indians, particularly the mansitos, or tamed Indians, as we call the Indians educated by the missions, who have returned to wild life, will steal your animals. They are very bold and clever. They even come down and try to steal our horses at New Helvetia.”
“We’ll watch,” promised the lieutenant.
“No white settlements, captain?” asked Kit.
“None inland, any more than when you travelled[253] through fifteen years ago, sir,” said Captain Sutter. “The whole country back from the line of missions, and the few settlements, along the coast, is a paradise unused except as the haunt of the Indians. It is a fair land going to waste. Some Anglo-Saxon race should have it, and cultivate it. That race will be either England or America; mark my words.”
“Let us hope, America,” responded the lieutenant.
So fair was this sunny California that Samuel Neal the blacksmith and four others in the company asked to be discharged, that they might remain. The lieutenant let them go; and Samuel entered the employ of the post, at two dollars and a half a day, with promise of advance.
“Anybody seen Derosier?” demanded Mr. Preuss, through the camp, on the day before departure. Already had the camp been moved, in preliminary start, up stream a short distance, to the ranch40 of Mr. Sinclair, former mountain-man, now a farmer.
Nobody had.
“He’s been gone for three days. Does anybody know anything about him?”
Nobody did.
And Baptiste Derosier, who had been acting41 oddly ever since that day, back on the trail, when he had been lost, never was seen again, nor even heard of. It was thought that he must have been drowned, or else had been waylaid42 by Indians, among the hills. All the[254] company were sorry, for Baptiste was a willing worker and a “bon camarade.”
“Leve! Leve!” at dawn of March 24 resounded43 through the camp the regulation trapper call to arise. To-day was the start to be made in earnest.
With more horses and mules than ever, to the number of 130; with twenty-five beef cattle and five milk cows; with plenty of flour and coffee and sugar; well-stocked the expedition might proceed upon their way. With them went an Indian boy, assigned by Captain Sutter to be herder of the cavvy, for the horses and cattle were almost as wild as buffalo44. It would take an experienced Californian to drive them.
Captain Sutter himself, and several other whites from the fort escorted the company a few miles, to say good-by and “good luck.”
Eleven hundred and forty-two miles from the Dalles of the Columbia or 3000 miles from Fort St. Vrain had stretched the Frémont and Carson trail to New Helvetia. Now from New Helvetia to Bent’s Fort would be 3000 miles more. However, nobody shrank from the trail as planned. All were strong again in body as they had been strong in heart, and their ample pack-train gave them comfort. Nevertheless, for the first 2500 miles of their journey they could expect to find no settlement of any kind save Indian village.
The lieutenant rode a splendid iron-gray Californian horse, named Sacramento, a gift from Captain[255] Sutter. The march was down the east side of the Valley of the Sacramento, back somewhat from the river; thence on into the Valley of the San Joachin, which was companion valley reaching up from the south, to meet the Valley of the Sacramento extending down from the north. The country was all that it had been pictured by Kit Carson, and promised by the lieutenant: a country of brilliant flowers, blue and yellow and white and purple, in great masses; of abundant verdure and water; of great herds45 of elk46, deer, wild horses and cattle. And as Captain Sutter had declared, it was a country unused.
As they rode, the lieutenant and Kit waxed more and more enthusiastic, and Oliver heard them say that here was where they hoped some day to live.
Mindful of the cautions as to the horse-stealing Indians, the march was made strictly47 military. Scouts48 were placed ahead, and on the flanks, to beat the brush; rifle-men formed van, and rear, and between van and rear were the cavvy, pack-animals and cattle. However, no Indians were sighted until, on April 8, 280 miles from New Helvetia, at the banks of the Tulare River natives appeared.
As soon as these ascertained49 that the Frémont and Carson men were not California soldiery, they gathered in friendly fashion, and brought otter-skins, and fish, and bread and acorn-flour. They were dark-skinned, handsome Indians. Several spoke1 Spanish, learned at the missions. They were well-mannered—but the lieutenant[256] and Kit thought best, on the whole, to corral the animals, at night.
It was time that the pass should be near, on the left; the pass through the mountain range, to the desert. A fine broad trail pointed50 off to the southeast; and upon being questioned as to a pass in that direction one of the Indians nodded, with a smile showing white teeth, and with a “Si, se?or; buen camino (Yes, sir; good road).” Following this trail, on for the desert rode the Frémont and Carson company.
The landscape was growing sandy and more bare. Diverging51 to the left, to ascend52 along a creek53, the company entered, not Walker Pass, but that Tehachepi Pass through which to-day penetrates54 from desert California into valley California the Santa Fé Railroad, overland line.
While encamped at the western side of the Tehachepi Pass the camp received another visitor. Down the pleasantly wooded slope he came riding, with many a jingle55 and much graceful56 sway of body—a combination of knight-errant and cowboy; and a romantic sight he made. He wore a large, peaked hat; short braided jacket reaching scarcely to his waist; black velvet57 trousers tight at the hips58, flaring59 at the bottoms, and slashed60 along the seams with white; a sash of crimson61; yellow goat-skin boots armed with the huge Spanish spurs. Bridle and saddle were lavishly62 decorated; chains dangled63 from the one, brass64 tacks65 glistened[257] in the other. But he was no Spaniard or Mexican; he was an Indian.
“Buenas noches, se?ors,” he greeted, cordially, in excellent Spanish. “Good evening. I saw you enter the pass, and I have come down to bid you have no fear.”
“To whom do we speak?” asked the lieutenant.
“To a Christian66 Indian, se?or. I am from the mission San Fernando, near to the Pueblo de Nuestra Se?ora la Reina de los Angeles (the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels),” he explained. “I have been, by permission of the fathers, to visit my relatives in the Sierras, beyond here. Looking back, I saw you.”
“We are much obliged, se?or,” answered the lieutenant, gravely. “Alight and sit. You are acquainted with the country?”
“Perfectly.”
“We are on our way east, to the American States. What lies across this range?”
“I remember it,” quoth Kit Carson, nodding. “I war across it with Ewing Young.”
“Lower down, se?or,” corrected the Indian, politely. “By the Spanish Trail.”
“That war ’fore the Spanish Trail had been broken through; but it mout have been lower down, o’ course.”
[258]
“No, se?or. Even the Indians cannot. It is the Mohave Desert. But if you desire to travel east, after crossing this pass you should follow south along the foot of the mountains, where is water and grass, to the Spanish Trail to Santa Fé. By this route have just returned six Indians of a great river of the desert, who have been here trading with my people. For two days on my way to San Fernando I am travelling the same road, myself, and I will gladly be your guide.”
They thanked him, and accepted his offer.
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1
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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adobe
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| n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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pate
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| n.头顶；光顶 | |
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saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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10
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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15
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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16
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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18
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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20
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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21
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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22
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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23
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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24
garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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25
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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26
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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30
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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32
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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33
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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bridles
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| 约束( bridle的名词复数 )； 限动器； 马笼头； 系带 | |
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36
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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38
pueblo
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| n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄 | |
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39
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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40
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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41
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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42
waylaid
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| v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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44
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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45
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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46
elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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47
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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48
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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49
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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51
diverging
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| 分开( diverge的现在分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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52
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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53
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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54
penetrates
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| v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 )；刺入；了解；渗透 | |
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55
jingle
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| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
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56
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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57
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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58
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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59
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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60
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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61
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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62
lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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63
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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64
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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65
tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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66
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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67
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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68
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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