160 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 20, 1004. 
ORT3MAN TOURIST 
A Boy of the Farm. 
At 5:30 A. M. the boy is perched on the barnyard 
fence, impatiently waiting for the "hired man" and "hired 
girl" to finish milking the cows. The boy dangles his 
bare feet to drive away the mosquitoes, while he uses 
both hands to relieve the itching and burning caused by 
the invisible "no-see-ems." He looks at the mud nests 
under the eaves, and wonders why the swallows desert 
the cliffs when barns appear in the wilderness. "It shows 
sense, anyway," he mutters to himself. 
Before the milkers are out of the yard, the boy jumps 
off the fence; the straight spruce bars rattle to the 
ground, and the cows pass out, one by one, with a click- 
ing of toes on the lowermost bar. The boy puts up the 
bars, then waits for something to happen. "Old Short 
Legs," the leader of the herd, braces herself, throws up 
her head, and sends out a blast that causes the air to 
vibrate and the boy to wonder, for the hundredth time, 
what it is all about. 
Down the hill through the narrow lane the boy follows 
the cows, listening to the rattling of hoofs, while he 
wonders why cows have split hoofs and the horses round. 
The end of the lane is soon reached. The boy drops the 
bars, and as they rattle to the ground he hears another 
boy letting down bars in the edge of the woods across 
a burnt land clover field. But the boy does not care for 
echoes this June morning, it is bird life that claims his 
undivided attention. 
Down by the brook in the alder grounds, blackbirds are 
sending up a wild chorus. On all sides the boy hears the 
songs of native birds. The loud carol of the robin, the 
clear notes of the song sparrow, the tender strain of the 
Peabody bird, the rich, rollicking roundelay of the bobo- 
link; the sweet, canary-like trill of the thistle bird, and 
over in the burnt land clover field the sprightly song of 
the house wren arises from many a blackened stump. 
Why the little bird was called house wren was beyond the 
boy's knowledge. He had never found a nest near a 
house, while nearly every hollow stump in pasture and 
field had its tenants. (Years later the wrens disappeared 
with the hollow stumps, but in that locality — northern 
Maine- — did not build in or around farm buildings.) The 
boy visited several robin nests in the pasture. The nests 
were all in the roots of upturned trees. The boy won- 
dered what the robins would, do when there were no up- 
turned trees. 
The boy climbed over the rail fence into the clover 
field. He was no stranger to the birds ; he had provided 
bread crumbs and nesting material, so the birds did not 
resent his curiosity. Two mornings before he had saved 
the eggs of a pair of house wrens by killing a large 
striped snake that had made its way to the top of the 
nesting stump. It was this nest toward which he strug- 
gled through the tangled clover. 
If the birds did not resent his visit the bumble bees 
did. The bumble bees, little and big, thronged the clover 
field, and a scent of honey was in the dew-laden air, but 
the boy could not tell whether it came from the bees 
or from the sweet clover blossoms. He found nine eggs 
in the wren nest. They were rosy white, densely covered 
with brown dots and patches. The boy thought they 
looked like costly gems, such as his fairy books claimed 
for the prince and princess. 
While inspecting the wren's nest, the boy thought of 
breakfast, and thereupon he climbed back to the lane, 
homeward bound. He did not follow the lane to the 
barn, but turned off to visit the spring at the foot of the 
hill. When he stooped down to quench his thirst there 
looked up to him a ten-year-old boy with round face, 
blue eyes, and a mass of curly brown hair. 
To-day, fifty-six years later, the same boy knelt to 
drink from a Massachusetts spring. The face that looked 
up to him was the face of an old man, long and wrinkled. 
The blue eyes were there, but the mass of brown hair 
had disappeared, and thin white locks had taken its place. 
Ah, me! How the years are drifting! Hermit. 
For the photo of San Miguel Church we are indebted 
to our correspondent, Cabia Blanco, to whom it was sent 
by Mr. McCandless, in response to Cabia Blanco's inter- 
esting notes on Santa FeV The portrait of Senator Y$$\ 
\% by coiiftoiy of |he Yqt^ Tribune, 
Trails of the Pathfinders —XV. 
(Continued from page 133 ) 
Zebolon M. Pike —III. 
On November 22, as Pike and Dr. Robinson, and 
Vasquez, the interpreter, were riding ahead of the 
command, they met a party of sixty Pawnees returning 
from an unsuccessful war party. Half of them were 
armed with guns, and about half with bows, arrows and 
lances. They met the white men in a very friendly 
manner, but crowded about them; and at the same time 
treated them in so boisterous and disrespectful, and yet 
good-natured a manner, as to cause them some uneasiness. 
Pike prepared to smoke with them, and offered them 
some small presents, with which they were quite dis- 
satisfied; so that for some time the pipes "lay unmoved, 
as if they were undetermined whether to treat us as 
friends or enemies; but after some time we were pre- 
sented with a kettle of water, drank, smoked and ate 
together." The Pawnees treated the presents given 
them with more or less contempt, and some even threw 
them away. 
"We began to load our horses, when they encircled 
us and commenced stealing everything they could. 
Finding it was difficult to preserve my pistols, I mounted 
my horse, when I found myself frequently surrounded, 
during which some were endeavoring to steal the 
pistols. The doctor was equally engaged in another 
quarter, and all the soldiers in their positions, in taking 
things from them. One having stolen my tomahawk, 
I informed the chief; but he paid no respect, except 
to reply that 'they were pitiful. 1 Finding this, I de- 
termined to protect ourselves, as far as was in my 
power, and the affair began to take a serious aspect. I 
ordered my men to take their arms and separate them- 
selves from the savages; at the same time declaring 
to them that I would kill the first man who touched 
our baggage. On which they commenced filing off 
immediately; we marched about the same time, and 
found they had made out to steal one sword, toma- 
hawk, broad-ax, five canteens, and sundry other small 
articles. After leaving them, when I reflected on the 
subject, I felt myself sincerely mortified, that the small- 
ness of my number obliged me thus to submit to the 
insults of lawless banditti, it being the first time a 
savage ever took anything from me with the least ap- 
pearance of force." 
It was near the end of November. Provisions were 
scarce; but on the 26th, Pike killed a "new species of 
deer"— a blacktail, or mule deer. The real troubles of 
the expedition were beginning, for the weather was 
growing cold, snow fell, and the water was freezing. 
The men who had started from St. Louis in July, pre- 
pared for a summer excursion, had worn out their 
shoes and clothing, and were half naked, in winter, 
among the high mountains of the Rokies. Some of 
them froze their feet. Shoes and stockings, as well as 
other clothing, were worn out. They made such foot 
gear as they could from the hide of the buffalo, but 
many had used up their blankets, by cutting them to 
pieces for socks, and had nothing with which to cover 
themselves at night, no matter how cold the weather, 
or how deep the snow. Pike worked backward and 
forward among the canons, on streams at the head of 
the Arkansas, and passed over the divide between that 
river and the head waters of the South Platte, and then 
back on to the Arkansas, near what is now called the 
Royal Gorge. Here he came on the site of an im- 
mense Indian camp, occupied not long before, which 
had a large cross in the middle; and which, though he 
then did not know it, was a big camp of Kiowas and 
Comanches, with whom had been a white man, James 
Pursley. The party was constantly suffering for food, 
and often went for days without eating, and were al- 
most without protection from the weather. Pike never 
ceased his efforts to cross the mountains to the sup- 
posed head of the Red River (the Canadian), which he 
had been ordered to find. Deep though the snow might 
be, and bitter the cold, with his men and himself equally 
hungry and equally frozen, passing through a country 
almost impracticable for horses, where the animals 
themselves had to be dragged along, and often un- 
loaded and hauled up steep mountain sides, he kept on. 
On some occasions the little party of sixteen were 
divided into eight different expeditions, struggling not 
along the trail, but to get over the mountains, on the 
one hand; and on the other, to kill something which 
might give food to the party. Their guns now had 
begun to fail them; a number burst; ethers were bent 
and broken by the rough usage. Even Pike, who 
scarcely ever permits a word of complaint to escape 
him, says, on January 5, after breaking his gun:' "This 
was my birthday, and most fervently did I hope never 
to pass another so miserably." 
Matters had reached such a point that it was useless 
to attempt to drag the horses any further. Pike de- 
termined to build a small block-house, and leave there 
a part of his baggage, the horses, and two men; and 
then, with the remainder of their possessions on their 
backs, to cross the mountains on foot > find the Red 
River, and aend back w party bring m the havses 
W m? mfa They aurA on 
January 14, each carrying an average of seventy pounds, 
and marched nearly south, following up the stream now 
known as Grape Creek. They had not gone far be- 
fore the men began to freeze their feet, and were un- 
able to travel. They had little or no food, but, at last, 
Dr. Robinson, after two days' hunting, during which 
they met with constant misfortunes, managed to kill 
a buffalo, loads of which were brought back to camp. 
Leaving two of the disabled men behind, with as much 
provision as possible, promising to send relief to them 
as soon as possible, Pike and the others pushed on, 
making their slow way through the -deep snow. They 
were soon again without food; and again the doctor 
and Pike, who appeared to have been by all odds the 
men of the party, succeeded in killing a buffalo, and 
satisfying the hunger of the company. It was on this 
day, January 24, that Pike heard the first complaint. 
One of his men declared "that it was more than human 
nature could bear, to march three days without sus- 
tenance, through snows three feet deep, and carry a 
burden only fit for horses." This was very bitter to 
the leader, and he administered a rebuke, which, though 
severe, was so eminently just and sympathetic as to 
increase the devotion which his men must have felt 
for such a leader. 
For a little time. they had food, and the weather be- 
came more mild. Now turning to the right, they 
crossed through the mountains, and came within sight 
of a large river, flowing nearly north and south. This, 
although the explorer did not know it, was the Rio 
Grande del Norte. Traveling down toward this stream, 
they came to a large west branch; and here Pike de- 
termined to build a fort, for a protection for a portion 
of his party, while the remainder should be sent back 
to bring on the. men who had been left behind at dif- 
ferent points. Deer were plenty, and it seemed to be 
a spot where life could be supported. Pike laid out a 
plan for his block-house, which was on the edge of 
the river, and was surrounded by a moat, and a dirt 
rampart. 
^ From this point, Dr. Robinson set out alone for. 
Santa Fe. The purpose of his trip was to spy out the 
land, and to learn what he could with regard to the 
Spanish government, and the opportunities for trade 
there. In the year of 1804, Mr. Morrison, a merchant 
of Kaskaskia, had sent across the plains a Creole of 
the country, one Baptiste La Lande, with goods which 
he was to trade at Santa Fe. La Lande had never 
returned, and it was believed that he had remained in 
Santa Fe, and had appropriated to himself the property 
of his employer. When Pike was about to start on his 
westward expedition, Mr. Morrison made over to him 
Ins claim on La Lande, in the hope that some of his 
property might be recovered, and this claim assigned to 
Robinson was the pretext for his trip to Santa Fe. 
In other words: Robinson was, as Dr. Coues re- 
marked, a spy. It is true that Spain and the United 
States were not then at war, but there was a more or 
less hostile feeling between the two governments; or, 
if notjDetween the two governments, at least between 
the citizens of the two powers residing on the borders 
of the respective territories. More than that, as al- 
ready stated, the Aaron Burr conspiracy— with which 
Pike was wholly unacquainted— was known to the Span- 
iards, as was also Pike's starting for the west. The 
Spanish authorities unquestionably connected the two 
things, and were disposed to look with great suspicion 
on any Americans who entered their territory. 
Dr. Robinson set out for Santa Fe on the 7th of 
February; and until the 16th, Pike was occupied in 
hunting, building his block-house, reading and study- 
ing. On the 16th, while hunting, he discovered two 
horsemen not far from him. These, when he attempted 
to retreat, pursued threateningly; but if he turned about 
to go toward them, they retired. As he was doubtful 
where he was, and uncertain if the territory was Span- 
ish or American, he was unwilling to act on the ag- 
gressive; but finally he lured the horsemen so close 
to him that they could hardly get away, and after a 
little they explained their presence. It seemed that 
four days before Robinson had reached Santa Fe, and 
that the Governor had sent out these scouts to learn who 
the strangers were. The next day they departed for 
Santa Fe, which they said they would reach on the second 
day. 
Within the next two or three days all the men he had 
left behind save two— Dougherty and Sparks— had come 
in; and on February 19 Sergeant Meek, with Miller, was 
ordered to go back to the point where they had left the 
interpreter, Vasquez, with one man and the horses, to 
bring them on, and on his way to pick up Dougherty and 
Sparks, who, on account of their frozen feet, had been 
unable to walk. Pike pays touching tribute to the heroism 
of his men, saying: "I must here remark the effect of 
habit, discipline, and example, in two soldiers soliciting 
a command of more than 180 miles, over two great ridges 
of mountains covered with snow, inhabited by bands°of 
unknown savages, in the interest of a nation with which 
we were not on the best understanding. To perform this 
journey, each had about ten pounds of venison. Only let 
me ask, What would our soldiers generally think on being 
ordered on sweh $ touy thus equipped ? Yet these meu 
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