Chiquita, an American Novel: The Romance of a Ute Chief's DaughterTileston, Merrill
General
Chiquita, an American Novel: The Romance of a Ute Chief's Daughter
Tileston, Merrill
Indian women -- Fiction; Ute Indians -- Fiction
"Third day: A. M. Homesick. The trapper not ready to go into Middle
Park; must wait four days. All my money left in Denver. Supposed we
would have no use for money, as all our worldly provisions and needs
would be on the wagon or pack animals, but the provisions are coming by
rail and we eat at a restaurant in the mining town where the railway
terminates. As my money is gone and no provisions here, I am at a loss
to satisfy hunger.
"Third day: P. M. Heard some dogs barking away up on the side of the
mountain; asked the butcher if he would buy a wild goat if I killed one.
It was goats that made the dogs bark, goats that once were civilized but
had strayed away and became wild. Shouldered my rifle and climbed that
awful stretch of snow-covered slide rock at the imminent peril of
starting an avalanche and destroying the whole town. Killed a goat, a
black one. Shot him in the shoulder just where "Swiftfoot, the scout,"
would have planted a bullet, but the goat would not or did not die, so I
shot him again through the neck. Then I plunged my steel into him and
saw the life-blood gush all over me and the snow, then I dragged the
goat by his horns down the mountain side. There were places so steep
that the goat went faster than I did, so it was a case of goat dragging
me. Finally landed at the same time the goat did, at the bottom of the
long gulch; tied the goat's legs together and hung him across my back on
my rifle barrel. Walked unconcernedly past the butcher shop to the
restaurant, where I deposited the goat on a box in the back yard. The
perilous adventure netted me my meals for four days, three dollars in
United States money and one Mexican dollar. I was not homesick again."
Another interesting item in his graphic description of the country so
new to him:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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