The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness

The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness
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Reid Mayne. The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness

Chapter One. The Great American Desert

Chapter Two. The White Peak

Chapter Three. The Valley Oasis

Chapter Four. The Strange Settlement

Chapter Five. Rolfe’s Early History

Chapter Six. The Virginia Plantation

Chapter Seven. The Caravan and its Fate

Chapter Eight. The Miner’s Story

Chapter Nine. Lost in the Desert

Chapter Ten. Adventure with an Armadillo

Chapter Eleven. A Very Lean Buffalo

Chapter Twelve. The Bighorns

Chapter Thirteen. The great Elk

Chapter Fourteen. Adventure with the Carcajou

Chapter Fifteen. A fruitless Search for a Trail

Chapter Sixteen. The Mysterious Flood

Chapter Seventeen. The Beavers and Wolverene

Chapter Eighteen. How to build a Log-Cabin

Chapter Nineteen. The Sagacious Squirrel

Chapter Twenty. A House built without a Nail

Chapter Twenty One. A Battue of “Black-Tails.”

Chapter Twenty Two. Catching a Tartar

Chapter Twenty Three. The Salt Spring

Chapter Twenty Four. The Battle of the Snakes

Chapter Twenty Five. The Sugar-Tree

Chapter Twenty Six. The Stump-Tree and the Bread-Pine

Chapter Twenty Seven. The Snow-Line

Chapter Twenty Eight. The Menagerie, Aviary, and Botanic Garden

Chapter Twenty Nine. Trapping the Beasts and Birds

Chapter Thirty. The Biters Bit

Chapter Thirty One. Battle of the Marten and Porcupine

Chapter Thirty Two. The cunning old “’Coon.”

Chapter Thirty Three. Little Mary and the Bee

Chapter Thirty Four. A Grand Bee-Hunt

Chapter Thirty Five. A Rival Honey-Robber

Chapter Thirty Six. The Battle of the Bucks

Chapter Thirty Seven. The Pit-Trap

Chapter Thirty Eight. The old “’Possum” and her Kittens

Chapter Thirty Nine. The Moccason Snake and the Orioles

Chapter Forty. The Battle of the Cougar and Peccaries

Chapter Forty One. Besieged in a Tree

Chapter Forty Two. An Adventure with Dusky Wolves

Chapter Forty Three. Taming the Great Elk

Chapter Forty Four. Catching the Wild Horses

Отрывок из книги

Some years ago, I was one of a party of “prairie merchants,” who crossed with a caravan from Saint Louis on the Mississippi, to Santa Fé in New Mexico. We followed the usual “Santa Fé trail.” Not disposing of all our goods in New Mexico, we kept on to the great town of Chihuahua, which lies farther to the south. There we settled our business, and were about to return to the United States the way we had come, when it was proposed (as we had now nothing to encumber us but our bags of money), that we should explore a new “trail” across the prairies. We all wished to find a better route than the Santa Fé road; and we expected that such an one lay between the town of El Paso – on the Del Norte River – and some point on the frontiers of Arkansas.

On arriving at El Paso, we sold our wagons, and purchased Mexican pack-mules – engaging, at the same time, a number of “arrieros,” or muleteers to manage them. We also purchased saddle-horses – the small tight horses of New Mexico, which are excellent for journeying in the Desert. We provided ourselves, moreover, with such articles of clothing and provisions as we might require upon our unknown route. Having got everything ready for the journey, we bade adieu to El Paso, and turned our faces eastward. There were in all twelve of us – traders, and a number of hunters, who had agreed to accompany us across the plains. There was a miner, too, who belonged to a copper mine near El Paso. There were also four Mexicans – the “arrieros” who had charge of our little train of pack-mules. Of coarse, we were all well armed, and mounted upon the best horses we could procure for money.

.....

During the meal our host with his family were present. We had seen them all on our arrival, for they had run forward to greet and welcome us; but we became puzzled as we listened to the conversation of the children. We heard with surprise that we were the first white men they had seen for a period of nearly ten years! They were all beautiful children – robust, and full of life and animation. There were two boys – Frank and Harry, – so their mother called them – and two girls. Of the girls one was of a very dark complexion – in fact, quite a brunette, and with a Spanish expression of face. The other was as fair as her sister was dark. The fair one was a beautiful little creature with flowing yellow hair and deep blue eyes, with long, dark lashes. Her name was Mary. That of the sister was Luisa. They were both very pretty, but very unlike each other; and, what was odd to me, they appeared to be about the same age and size. The boys were also of like size, though both much older than their sisters. They appeared to be seventeen or more, but I could not have guessed which was the elder. Harry, with his fair curling hair, and red manly face, bore a strong resemblance to his father; while the other was darker, and altogether more like the mother. She herself did not appear to be much over thirty-five years of age, and was still a beautiful and evidently a light-hearted woman.

Our host was a man of about forty – a tall, well formed man, with light ruddy complexion, and hair that had been fair and curling, but was now somewhat grey. He had neither beard nor whiskers; but, on the contrary, his chin bore evidence that he had freshly shaved himself that very day; and his whole appearance was that of a man who regularly attended to the duties of the toilet. There was also about him a gentlemanlike bearing; and his address and conversation soon convinced all of us that we were in the company of an educated man.

.....

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