The Passing of 
By GILBERT 
I N 1851 I was twenty-two years of age. a 
New Yorker, in search of health. The 
cold air of the New York winters was 
sapping my life. Consumption was claiming 
me for one of its victims. I had heard of the 
balmy breezes of the far South and was at¬ 
tracted by reports of the mild climate of South¬ 
west Texas. So I determined to test the 
capacity of the climate for restoration in my 
own case. It might interest the reader to de¬ 
tail the journey by way of Cincinnati and the 
rivers to New Orleans, and thence on the Gulf 
of Mexico, to our landing on the Southwest 
Texas coast; but that would be foreign to my 
subject. So I will only say that after thirty 
days of old-time travel we completed a journey 
that now can be made in three days. 
Our steamer anchored in Matagorda Bay— 
about three miles from shore—and we were to 
land at Indian Point, which was about three 
miles from where Indianola was afterward 
built. There was no wharf at which our steamer 
could land, so we went ashore on a lighter. 
The tide was against us, and it took us three 
hours to make the three miles, even with the 
assistance of passengers in rowing and poling. 
We landed finally at Indian Point, so called be¬ 
cause it had been occupied by the Caranchua 
Indians as a camping ground. 
Here were a few rude structures occupied by 
a few hundred people, who afterward moved 
down three miles to Powder. Bayou and built 
Indianola, which came to such a tragic fate in 
a'fter years. I hired a saddle pony to go out 
to the Green Lake settlement of six families_ 
to the house of a gentleman to whom I had been 
given a letter of introduction. 
It was an open prairie all of the way. There 
was not even one tree or a single mark of oc¬ 
cupation on the entire route of twenty miles, 
except the trail that was to lead me to the 
settlement. There was a heavy growth of grass 
on every part of the route. As soon as I had 
got out of the settlement at Indian Point, I 
began to see small bands of deer. When I got 
out about two miles a herd of about thirty deer 
crossed the trail just ahead of me. In a few 
minutes more another bunch of deer came 
scampering by. Pretty soon, as I began closely 
to scan the prairie on every side, I could see 
many groups of deer quietly grazing here and 
there. Some of them were very near me, and 
seemed utterly careless about my presence. 
Some bands of deer contained only four or five, 
and some of them contained as many as thirty 
the Caranchuas 
ONDERDONK 
or thirty-five. At one point there was a lake 
containing perhaps a couple of acres. All 
around it was accumulated a great number of 
deer—many of them were lying down—and all 
seemed to be quietly enjoying this watering 
place. I did not count them, but I believe there 
were six hundred deer at that watering place. 
I do not think that I saw less than three thou¬ 
sand deer during my ride across that twenty 
miles of prairie. 
Several times I saw herds of wild horses, at 
various distances, quietly feeding upon the 
grass that grew in such luxurious abundance. 
Whenever I came near one of these herds of 
wild horses, they threw up their heads with a 
loud snort, and away they ran. Generally a 
surprised herd would run about a quarter of a 
mile and stop. Every member of the gang 
would hold up his head to the utmost. Then 
they seemed to decide for themselves whether 
there was anything to run from. If they con¬ 
cluded that I was not after them, they would 
remain quiet for a few minutes, still watching 
me, and then resume their grazing. But in 
most cases, after looking at me for about a 
minute, they would snort again, and in their 
wild freedom, resume their retreat till they 
were out of sight. 1 hese horses were without 
owners, coming, going, grazing, lying down, 
getting up when they pleased. 
Then such immense flocks of wild geese. 
Sometimes they covered the ground for a mile. 
Some of them would rise in the air at my ap¬ 
proach, go a little to my rear, and alight again; 
others would only walk aside for me to pass, 
and then sit quietly down as if they were 
monarchs of all they surveyed. Once in a 
while I could see a flock of pelicans flying 
lazily through the air. And what a world of 
prairie hens! They were so tame that I could 
ride to within a few steps of them without their 
showing any signs of alarm. 
After about fifteen miles of the kind of 
scenes that I have been describing, I could be¬ 
gin to define in the distance before me the nar¬ 
row belt of timber that lined the shore of Green 
Lake, along the bank of which would be found 
the residence of the man to whom I had a 
letter of introduction from a mutual friend 
“hack in the United States.” That was so soon 
after annexation that the Texans had not yet 
dropped the habit of speaking of the United 
States as a foreign country. 
I found the house that I was seeking with¬ 
out difficulty and received a hearty welcome. 
Every newcomer “from the States” was sure 
of that. I he six dwellings that constituted the 
settlement stood upon the high bank overlook¬ 
ing the lake, a beautiful body of water about 
fifteen miles in circumference. 
I engaged board for an indefinite period, 
until developments should indicate my proper 
course. It was not long till the sun went down 
beyond the beautiful lake and darkness 
covered our surroundings. The dogs were 
given their quota of venison from a deer hang¬ 
ing in waiting, and we surrounded the family 
table. I wondered why each house kept such 
a pack of dogs, but I soon learned why. They 
were needed as sentinels and guards against 
wild animals and wild men. Every family must 
have several good dogs. They were large, 
strong-looking animals, and then each pack 
needed at least one little terrier. Those dogs 
were inoffensive-looking little things, but they 
were kept for their wonderful alertness. Any 
sound that might not awake the large dogs of 
the pack would, nevertheless, be sure to arouse 
the little sentinel, and his alarm would soon 
start the entire pack. 
We were eating our supper, when the little 
sentinel dog began to raise a racket. In much 
less time than is required for me to write it, the 
entire pack rushed toward the entrance gate. 
1 he master of the house called the servant boy 
to go out and see what the alarm meant. He 
soon returned and told his master that Mas'ter 
William had come. He told the boy to go out 
and take Master William’s horse and tell him 
to come in. Lie then explained to me that it 
was his son who had been over the river; that 
he had been a little uneasy about him, as he 
was several hours behind time. 
By this time Master William was entering 
the room. Northern readers are reminded that 
in those days of human slavery every slave 
spoke of, or addressed all white persons as 
“Master,” “Mistress,” or “Miss.” Our host 
then said to his son, “Well, Willie, you have 
got back from over the river. Is there any 
news?” Such an inquiry meant whether there 
were any Indians about, or whether any white 
persons had fought each other. 
Willie replied, “Not much in the way of 
news. The Indians came in yesterday. They 
did not kill anybody. They ran McGrew in 
from the prairie, and got thirty of his horses.” 
Then one of the young ladies spoke up and 
said, Well, I wish that I could have seen old 
man McGrew while the Indians were after him 
and have seen how he would do.” 
Then the other girl spoke up and said, “Well, 
wouldn’t I! I’ll bet he scampered!” 
The reader may imagine how I received the 
information that I had blundered into an Indian 
frontier. I, a greenhorn, just from the States, 
had not thought of such a thing. I had heard 
