The elevated table-land known as Llano Estacado is in length over three hundred miles, with an average width of sixty or seventy. It extends longitudinally between the former Spanish provinces of New Mexico and Texas; their respective capitals, Santa Fé and San Antonia de Bejar, being on the opposite side of it. In the days of vice-royal rule, a military road ran across it, connecting the two provincial1 centres, and mule2 trains of traders passed to and fro between. As this road was only a trail, often obliterated3 by the drifting sands of the desert, tall stakes were set up at intervals4 to indicate the route. Hence the name “Llano Estacado”—literally, Staked Plain.
In those days Spain was a strong, enterprising nation, and her Mexican colonists5 could travel over most parts of their vast territory without fear of being assaulted by the savages6. At a later period, when Spanish power began to decline, all this became changed. Cities fell to ruin, settlements were deserted7, mission establishments abandoned, and in the provinces of Northern Mexico white travellers had to be cautious in keeping to the most frequented roads, in some districts not daring even to venture beyond the walls of their haciendas or towns. Many of these were fortified8 against Indian attack, and are so to this day.
Under these circumstances the old Spanish trail across the Staked Plain fell into disuse; its landmarks9 became lost, and of late years only expeditions of the United States army have traversed it for purposes of exploration.
In physical aspect it bears resemblance to the table lands of Abyssinia and Southern Arabia, and at its northern end many outlying spurs and detached mesas remind the traveller of the Abyssinian hills—known as ambas. A portion of this singular territory belongs to the great gypsum formation of the south-western prairies, perhaps the largest in the world; while a highly-coloured sandstone of various vivid hues10, often ferruginous, forms a conspicuous11 feature in its cliffs. Along its eastern edge these present to the lower champaign of Texas a precipitous escarpment several hundred feet sheer, in long stretches, tending with an unbroken façade, in other places showing ragged12, where cleft13 by canons, through which rush torrents14, the heads of numerous Texan streams. Its surface is, for the most part, a dead horizontal level, sterile15 as the Sahara itself, in places smooth and hard as a macadamised road. Towards its southern end there is a group of medanos (sandhills), covering a tract16 of several hundred square miles, the sand ever drifting about, as with dunes17 on the seashore. High up among their summits is a lakelet of pure drinking water, though not a drop can be found upon the plateau itself for scores of miles around. Sedge and lilies grow by this tarn18 so singularly situated19.
Here and there the plain is indented20 by deep fissures21 (barrancas), apparently22 the work of water. Often the traveller comes upon them without sign or warning of their proximity23, till, standing24 on the edge of a precipitous escarpment, he sees yawning below a chasm25 sunk several hundred feet into the earth. In its bed may be loose boulders26 piled in chaotic27 confusion, as if cast there by the hands of Titans; also trunks of trees in a fossilised state such as those observed by Darwin on the eastern declivity28 of the Chilian Andres.
Nearly all the streams that head in the Staked Plain cut deep channels in their way to the outer world. These are often impassable, either transversely or along their course. Sometimes, however, their beds are worn out into little valleys, or “coves,” in which a luxuriant vegetation finds shelter and congenial soil. There flourish the pecan, the hackberry, the black walnut29, the wild china, with evergreen30 oaks, plums, and clustering grapevines; while in the sterile plain above are only seen those forms of the botanical world that truly indicate the desert—various species of cactaceae, agaves, and yuccas—the palmilla and lechuguilla, dwarf-cedars, and mezquites, artemisia, and the strong-smelling larrea, or “creosote plant.”
Animals are rare upon the Llano Estacado, although the prong-horn antelope—true denizen31 of the desert—is there found, as also its enemy, the Mexican jackal, or coyote. To the rattlesnake and horned lizard32 (agama) it is a congenial home; and the singular snake-bird (paisano) may frequently be seen running over the arid33 waste, or skulking34 through the tortuous35 stems of the nopals. In the canons of the stream the grizzly36 bear makes his haunt, and in times not long gone by it was ascended37 and traversed by the unwieldy buffalo38. The wild horse (musteno) still occasionally courses across it.
Of all the living things it is least frequented by man. Even the Indian rarely strays into its solitudes39; and the white man, when necessitated40 to enter them, does so with fear and trembling, for he knows there is danger.
This is chiefly due to the absence of water; but there is also the chance of going astray—getting lost in the absence of landmarks. To be astray in a wilderness41 of any kind is a perilous42 predicament for the traveller—in one without water it is death.
After their affair with the Tenawas, the Texan Rangers43 directed their course towards the Llano Estacado. On starting, it was their intention to strike north, and get upon the main stream of the Canadian, then follow it up to the place where the prairie traders met their murderous doom44. From the country of the Tenawa Comanches this would be the correct route, and was the same taken by these freebooters returning with the spoils of the caravan45. But from the mouth of the Pecan Creek46 is one more direct, leading across a spur of the plateau itself, instead of turning its north-eastern extremity47.
It was not known to the Rangers, though Cully remembered having heard something about it. But the Mexican renegade declared himself familiar with, and counselled taking it. There had been hesitation48 before acceding49 to his counsel. Of course, they could have no confidence in such a man, but rather suspicion of all he said or did. In guiding them across the Staked Plain he might have some sinister50 purpose—perhaps lead them into a trap.
After all, how could he? The tribe of savages with which he had been consorting51 was now so terribly chastised52, so effectually crushed, it was not probable—scarce possible—they would be encountered again. Certainly not for a season. For weeks there would be weeping and wailing53 in the tents of the Tenawas. If the renegade had any hope of being rescued from his present captivity54, it could not be by them. He might have some thought of escape, taking the Rangers by the route he proposed to them. On this score they had no apprehension—not the slightest. Suspicious, they would keep close watch upon him; shoot him down like a dog at the first sign of his attempting to deceive them. And, as Cully remembered having heard of this trail over the Staked Plain, it was most probable the Mexican had no other object than to bring them to the end of their journey in the shortest time and straightest course. All knew it would be a near cut, and this decided55 them in its favour.
After parting from Pecan Creek, with their faces set westward56, they had a journey before them anything but easy or pleasant. On the contrary, one of the most difficult and irksome. For it lay across a sterile tract—the great gypsum bed of North-western Texas, on which abut57 the bluffs58 of the Llano Estacado. Mile after mile, league after league; no “land in sight,” to use a prairie-man’s phrase—nothing but level plain, smooth as a sleeping sea; but, unlike the last, without water—not a sheet to cheer their eyes, not a drop to quench59 the thirst, almost choking them. Only its resemblance, seen in the white mist always moving over these arid plains—the deluding60, tantalising mirage61. Lakes lay before them, their shores garlanded by green trees, their bosoms62 enamelled with islets smiling in all the verdure of spring—always before them, ever receding63; the trees, as the water, never to be reached!
Water they do arrive at more than once—streams rushing in full flow across the barren waste. At sight they ride towards them rapidly. Their horses need not to be spurred. The animals suffer as themselves, and rush on with outstretched necks, eager to assuage64 their thirst. They dip their muzzles65, plunge66 in their heads till half-buried, only to draw out again and toss them aloft with snorts of disappointment shaking the water like spray from their nostrils67. It is salt!
For days they have been thus journeying. They are wearied, worn down by fatigue68, hungry; but more than all, tortured by the terrible thirst—their horses as themselves. The animals have become reduced in flesh and strength; they look like skeletons staggering on, scarce able to carry their riders.
Where is the Mexican conducting them? He has brought them into a desert. Is the journey to end in their death? It looks like enough.
Some counsel killing69 him, and returning on their tracks. Not all; only a minority. The majority cry “Onward!” with a thought beyond present suffering. They must find the bones of Walt Wilder and bury them! Brave men, true men, these Texan Rangers! Rough in outward appearance, often rude in behaviour, they have hearts gentle as children. Of all friends the most faithful, whether it be affection or pure camaraderie70. In this case a comrade has been killed—cruelly murdered, and in a strange manner. Its very strangeness has maddened them the more, while sharpening their desire to have a last look at his remains71, and give them Christian72 burial. Only the fainthearted talk of retreating; the others do not think of it, and these are more than the majority.
On, therefore, they ride across treeless, grassless tracks; along the banks of streams, of whose bitter, saline waters they cannot drink, but tantalising themselves and their animals. On, on!
Their perseverance73 is at length rewarded. Before their eyes looms74 up a line of elevated land, apparently the profile of a mountain.
But no; it cannot be that.
Trending horizontally, without curvature, against the sky, they know it is not a mountain, but a mesa—a table-land.
It is the Llano Estacado.
Drawing nearer, they get under the shadow of its beetling75 bluffs.
They see that these are rugged76, with promontories77 projecting far out over the plain, forming what Spanish Americans, in their expressive78 phraseology, call ceja.
Into an embayment between two of the out-stretching spurs Barbato conducts them.
Joyously79 they ride into it, like ships long storm-tossed entering a haven80 of safety; for at the inner end of the concavity there is a cleft in the precipitous wall, reaching from base to summit, out of which issues a stream whose waters are sweet!
It is a branch of the Brazos River, along whose banks they have been some time travelling, lower down finding its waters bitter as gall81. That was in its course through the selenite. Now they have reached the sandstone it is clear as crystal, and to them sweeter than champagne82.
“Up it lies our way,” says the renegade guide, pointing to the portals of the canon through which the stream debouched from the table to the lower plain.
But for that night the Rangers care hot to travel further. There is no call for haste. They are en route to bury the bones of a dead man, not to rescue one still living.
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1
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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3
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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8
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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9
landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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11
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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12
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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13
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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14
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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15
sterile
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| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
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16
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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17
dunes
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| 沙丘( dune的名词复数 ) | |
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18
tarn
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| n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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19
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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20
indented
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| adj.锯齿状的，高低不平的；缩进排版 | |
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21
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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22
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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23
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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24
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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25
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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26
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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27
chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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28
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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29
walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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30
evergreen
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| n.常青树；adj.四季常青的 | |
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31
denizen
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| n.居民，外籍居民 | |
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32
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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33
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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34
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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35
tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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36
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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37
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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39
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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40
necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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42
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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43
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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44
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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45
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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46
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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47
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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48
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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49
acceding
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| v.（正式）加入( accede的现在分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
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50
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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51
consorting
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| v.结伴( consort的现在分词 )；交往；相称；调和 | |
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52
chastised
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| v.严惩（某人）（尤指责打）( chastise的过去式 ) | |
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53
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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54
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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55
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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56
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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57
abut
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| v.接界，毗邻 | |
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58
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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59
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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60
deluding
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的现在分词 ) | |
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61
mirage
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| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
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62
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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63
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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64
assuage
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| v.缓和，减轻，镇定 | |
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65
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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66
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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67
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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68
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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69
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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70
camaraderie
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| n.同志之爱，友情 | |
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71
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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72
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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73
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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74
looms
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| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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75
beetling
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| adj.突出的，悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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76
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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77
promontories
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| n.岬，隆起，海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
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78
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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79
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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80
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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81
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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82
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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