Sabine River

“ Upon reaching the right bank of the river, Hodges proceeded to seek the path through the thicket. But the difficulties he encountered were such as might well deter the most persevering. The western side of the Sabine, like that of the Natchez, is a gentle slope, ending in a ridge which again sinks gradually and imperceptibly down to the swamp. The black masses of cypress and cedar allowed him to penetrate a few hundred paces through them, and to reach the summit of the rising ground ”

“ Oliver saw that here at the red cliffs the Platte came tumbling out of the mountain country. High upon either hand rose the scarlet walls, about one hundred yards apart, their shelves dotted with a few pines, their tops bearing [92] a fringe of the same dark-green. The river roared loudly, as it boiled down. Many rocks stuck up through the current.
“It’s wuss above,” quoth William New, when they all emerged, and rode away. “’Tain’t any place for human being to travel in. Thar’s one place called Fiery Narrows—wagh!”
“Ah, who fears?” laughed Descoteaux, Frenchman, of the Frémont party. ”

“ And that was so, not only with Chaboneau, but with others of the men; for the Portage Creek end of the trail was below the falls and the White-bear Islands end was above the falls, and the trail itself cut across several miles from the river.
“We’ll go over, while the baggage is being brought up,” said the captain. “York, you come if you want to.” He surveyed Peter—anxious Peter. “Peter, I’ll have to detail you to guard the baggage here. You must be a soldier. I’ll lend you my pistol. You won’t need to use it. But keep the stuff spread out to dry. We’ll be back soon. ”

“ His four sons had left him, several days back; but another son had appeared, and he asserted that they two would [196] guide the white chiefs, by the Pierced Nose trail onward from the No-Salmon River, and so to the stinking lake under the setting sun.
“What white men do we find, at the Pacific Ocean, George?” asked Peter; for both the Snakes and the Flat-heads spoke of “white men” down the Columbia, which was known only as the Big River.
“Traders, Peter. White men from the United States, and from other white nations—England and Russia—who sail there in large boats and trade for furs. ”

“ This was four tracks wide, and usually was a good stone’s throw from the river’s edge. To-day the water was lapping at the rails. North and south were scattered gangs of men with shovels, watching to patch the slightest break. Seemingly the embankment was all that kept the water from rushing into the principal streets.
Ned and Hal stood and gazed in silent wonder at the scene before them. The river was not that friendly river to which they were accustomed. It [6] was a sullen, menacing monster, without a single familiar aspect. ”

“ An’, sorr (his voice was husky) , I hope to meet ye safe an’ sound at the mouth o’ the Maria’s.”
The next morning, which was July 16, the captain took Drouillard, and the two Fields, and six horses, and rode away, for the upper Maria’s River in the country of the Gros-ventres of the Prairie.
“Well, boys,” spoke Pat; “we’re now siven men an’ four hosses, an’ we’d better be busy fixin’ the carts an’ trainin’ the hosses to drag ’em, ferninst the day when Ordway arrives with the canoes. I’ve no fancy for playin’ hoss myself, when we’ve got the rale animals.” ”

“ Authorities: two ancient lives of S. Sabinian, and one of S. Sabina, published by Bollandus.]
SS. Sabinian and Sabina were brother and sister, natives [Pg 440] of Samos. Sabinian's soul having been touched by Christian teaching, he left his native island, and coming to Gaul reached Troyes, where he fell in with Christians, and he was there baptized in the river Seine. It is said that his staff, which he had driven into the bank, as he went down into the water, on his return put forth leaves and flowered. ”

“ On November 2 the canoes were partly carried around, partly slid through, the rapids which formed the foot of other rapids termed by the captains the Great Shute. Presently the river opened two miles wide, and smooth and placid. That night the water rose nine inches on a stake set at the river’s edge in front of the camp.
“We’re in tidewater, lads!” announced Captain Lewis. “The ocean tides ascend this far. That means there are no more rapids; the ocean itself can’t be very distant.” ”

“ Now the lieutenant was determined to canoe down the Platte, through the canyons, to see what the river looked like where it was hidden from the trail. Kit Carson shook his head over the plan.
“You’d better not,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. Thar air nothing but red canyons, one after another, cl’ar till the Platte gets out the mountains, at our fust camp above Laramie. Canyons air full o’ falls an’ rapids, an’ some o’ those rocks sticking up will punch a hole in that rubber contraption, sure. Fitzpatrick tried the trip, by boat, once, an’ lost all his pelts an’ ’most lost his life.” ”

“ Who's afraid of Injuns. If we don't act up they'll treat us well. The Miamis and Potawatomis ain't as bad as the Shawnees."
"Wonder where they'll take us," puffed the fifth boy.
They were being hustled at a trot. The river was crossed on the slushy ice. All that day they traveled northward; and all the next day, and the next, and the next, and on and on. No pursuit was sighted. Probably Colonel Pope and the other families had thought that they were spending Sunday at the ponds, and had not looked for them until Monday morning.
The Indians were Miamis. ”

“ Root-Diggers of the Desert, living upon roots and rabbits and dressing in scant rabbit-skins—a wretched people, yet wishing to be let alone.
The first week of January, 1844, had been used entirely, and still there were no signs of Mary’s Lake, nor of the Buenaventura River. Since leaving the Dalles of the Columbia fifteen horses and mules had fallen by the trail or had been stolen; the feet of the others were cut and bruised; water and grass constantly disappointed; the trail was blind ”

“ Sabines, an ancient Italian people of the Aryan stock, near neighbours of ancient Borne, a colony of whom is said to have settled on the Quirinal, and contributed to form the moral part of the Roman people. Numa, the second king of the city, was a Sabine. See Romulus.
Sable Island, a low, sandy, barren island in the Atlantic, 110 m. off the E. coast of Nova Scotia; is extremely dangerous to navigation, and is marked by three lighthouses; is gradually being washed away. ”

“ However, the original eighteen defenders had been increased by a dozen or more, before Ernest’s return with Jim and the other recruits; the ferry had been hidden in the slough, and every dug-out had been tied up on the east bank of the river; and this afternoon and all night more settlers flocked in—from Mina (which is now Bastrop) on the Colorado above Moore’s, and from Rutersville, beyond Hill’s place, and from Beason’s, below Burnam’s, and from San Felipe; so that in the morning of the 29th a hundred had gathered. More were coming. ”

“ It was a long, long forced march. Wide and white lay the desolate desert beyond the Canadian, and through the foot of snow ploughed the eager column. Not a moving figure broke the white expanse; not a moving figure save the figures of California Joe and Romeo and Little Beaver and Hard Rope and the other scouts, as far in advance and on either side they rode seeking the Elliot trail. As the major, following the Indians, had been heading southeast, a course south ought to strike his tracks, soon or late. ”

“ With the Buenaventura located, as a water-way from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, then the Frémont party might head eastward more, for the Rockies themselves, and the Arkansas River, and Bent’s Fort below.
Now everybody was enthusiastic. No one objected to starting out at once, in the beginning of winter, after hard travel already of 2000 miles, for the unknown. The talk was of hidden lakes and rivers and boiling springs, and of marvels of man, beast and plant such as the Great Salty Lake had failed to produce. ”

“ Denver and Auraria were separated by only the almost dry channels of Cherry Creek, and both extended along it nearly to the Platte River below, into which Cherry Creek emptied. As soon as the Hee-Haw party had pitched their camp on the outskirts of Denver, they hastened about their business. Davy and Mr. Baxter paired off to wander about. Billy and Hi and Jim undertook some errands. Left-over was wild to grab shovel and pick and pan and start right in digging and washing.
Many persons, in plain sight all up and down the creek bed, were working hard panning for gold. ”

“ He was elected to the see of his native city, and distinguished himself by his zeal in building and adorning churches, as also by his learning. He was one of the prelates present at the consecration of the Church of S. Michael, on the scene of the apparition of the archangel, on Monte Gargano, journeying thither in company with the blessed Roger of Canosi. And as the sun was hot in the heavens, and they fainted with the burning of its rays, Sabine raised his eyes to heaven, {242} and prayed that a cool breeze might spring up and fan their fevered brows. ”

“ If an Indian trail was discovered, he was to pursue at once, and to send back a courier with the news. With soldiers and scouts, both red and white, west along the snowy banks of the Canadian, from whose red soil the wind had blown the snow, rode Major Elliot.
California Joe had found a ford, and aiming for the Washita, through the floating ice of the swift [187] current crossed the horses and the wagons. Helping, the men must wade waist-deep. This was cold, mean work, but it was done in three hours.
The high round Antelope Hills loomed ahead. ”

“ In the middle of September another supply base had been planted—Green River, 150 miles from Benton, and 845 miles from Omaha.
Three hundred miles of track, counting sidings, laid in five months of mainly “bad weather an’ worse wather,” as Paddy said. Average, sixty miles a month. The news was flashed to New York.
When the pay-car pulled in once more, Terry and George celebrated again in the Home Cooking restaurant. Pat himself was well pleased. So were General Dodge and General Casement. That had been a hard stint, in the desert, but the desert was conquered. ”

“ The zealous Major Elliot had gone further than anybody had expected. Not until nine o’clock at night, and after another hard ride through snow and timber and darkness, finally was he found, waiting as ordered, by a stream with high banks.
“An hour for rest, again,” ordered the general, briefly. “Then the moon will be up and we can take the trail. There are to be no bugle calls or other noise. Sound carries far, in this country. The men may make fire for coffee, small ones down under the edges of the banks so that the flames will not show. ”

“ In course of time also, canals, were it only a few yards in length, might be formed for the purpose of connecting the stream by a more direct channel, instead of compelling ascending vessels to navigate the continued sinuosities of the river throughout its entire course.
Swan Hill, a green oasis rising amidst what is, apparently, a desert of reeds, is a valuable station, containing some excellent pasture. Indeed, from these very reeds, which are annually burnt, springs up a “second growth,” affording admirable food for cattle ”

“ Mount Sabine itself is passed, and soon after, to the east of that mountain, they lie for a day or two at Coulman Island. Strangely enough, though floating icebergs are heaving about all around, this rocky and storm-tossed isle is bare, and they can land.
The captain, with Frank and Conal, go off on a lichen hunt inland. They take their rifles with them, but no wild creature is here that can hurt them. ”

“ The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders.
“Not very promising, eh?” the doctor queried anxiously.
“It does not promise success. Our course up this river should be abandoned. We are constantly making farther and farther northward, separated from the Red River by the mountains; game is getting less, the trail is unreliable, and we shall depend upon it no longer.”
He gazed southward. The hills rose to mountains here also. He used his spy-glass intently. He handed it to the doctor. ”

“ The probability of Sabine raids and a Sabine settlement, possibly on the Quirinal Hill, in very early times may be admitted. The incursions of the highland Apennine tribes into the lowlands fill a large place in early Italian history. The Latins were said to have originally descended from the mountain glens near Reate. [16] The invasions of Campania and of Magna Graecia by Sabine (more correctly Safine) tribes are matter of history (see Samnites) , and the Sabines themselves are represented as a restless highland people, ever seeking, new homes in richer lands. ”

“ The tracks of the doctor and John Brown had vanished; being free of foot, they might clamber as they thought best. But the sledges made a different proposition. Sometimes, in the more difficult spots amidst ice, rocks and water, two men and a boy scarcely could budge one.
Higher and higher towered the cliffs, reddish where bare, and streaked with motionless waterfalls. The sky was only a seam. Far aloft, there was sunshine, and the snow even dripped ”

“ The region west from the Sho-sho-ne village proved impassable. Old Toby had led northward, by hard trail up and down. The two captains rode in the advance; the hunters scouted for game but found little; York’s big feet had failed him and he needs must ride until well; Sa-ca-ja-we-a, of course, rode, carrying on her back baby Toussaint; everybody else trudged afoot, each man leading two pack-horses.
The horses soon were worn out by scrambling amidst rain and snow, and falling on the sharp rocks. ”