They have undertaken to perform with slow-moving oxen, a journey of
two thousand miles. The way lies over trackless wastes, wide and deep
rivers, rugged and lofty mountains, and it is beset with hostile
savages. Yet, whether it were a deep river with no tree upon its
banks, a rugged defile where even a loose horse could not pass, a
hill too steep for him to climb, or a threatened attack of an enemy,
they are always found ready and equal to the occasion, and always
conquerors. May we not call them men of destiny? They are people
changed in no essential particulars from their ancestors, who have
followed closely on the footsteps of the receding savage, from the
Atlantic sea-board to the great valley of the Mississippi.
But while we have been gazing at the picture in the valley, the
hunters have been examining the high plain in the other direction.
Some dark moving objects have been discovered in the distance, and all
are closely watching them to discover what they are, for in the
atmosphere of the plains a flock of crows marching miles away, or a
band of buffaloes or Indians at ten times the distance look alike, and
many ludicrous mistakes occur. But these are buffaloes, for two have
struck their heads together, and are alternately pushing each other
back. The hunters mount and away in pursuit, and I, a poor cow-driver,
must hurry back to my daily toil, and take a scolding from my
fellow-herders for so long playing truant.
The pilot, by measuring the ground and timing the speed of the wagons
and the walk of his horses, has determined the rate of each, so as to
enable him to select the nooning place, as nearly as the requisite
grass and water can be had at the end of five hours' travel of the
wagons. To-day, the ground being favorable, little time has been lost
in preparing the road, so that he and his pioneers are at the nooning
place an hour in advance of the wagons, which time is spent in
preparing convenient watering places for the animals, and digging
little wells near the bank of the Platte.
As the teams are not unyoked, but simply turned loose from their
wagons, a corral is not formed at noon, but the wagons are drawn up in
columns, four abreast, the leading wagon of each platoon on the
left--the platoons being formed with that view. This brings friends
together at noon as well as at night.
To-day, an extra session of the Council is being held, to settle a
dispute that does not admit of delay, between a proprietor and a young
man who has undertaken to do a man's service on the journey for bed
and board. Many such engagements exist, and much interest is taken in
the manner this high court, from which there is no appeal, will define
the rights of each party in such engagements.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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