CHAPTER ONE.
THE BURNT PRAIRIE.
On the great plain of Texas, about a hundred miles southward from the
old Spanish town of San Antonio de Bejar, the noonday sun is shedding
his beams from a sky of cerulean brightness. Under the golden light
appears a group of objects, but little in unison with the landscape
around them: since they betoken the presence of human beings, in a spot
where there is no sign of human habitation.
The objects in question are easily identified--even at a great distance.
They are waggons; each covered with its ribbed and rounded tilt of
snow-white "Osnaburgh."
There are ten of them--scarce enough to constitute a "caravan" of
traders, nor yet a "government train." They are more likely the
individual property of an emigrant; who has landed upon the coast, and
is wending his way to one of the late-formed settlements on the Leona.
Slowly crawling across the savannah, it could scarce be told that they
are in motion; but for their relative-position, in long serried line,
indicating the order of march.
The dark bodies between each two declare that the teams are attached;
and that they are making progress is proved, by the retreating antelope,
scared from its noonday _siesta_, and the long-shanked curlew, rising
with a screech from the sward--both bird and beast wondering at the
string of strange _behemoths_, thus invading their wilderness domain.
Elsewhere upon the prairie, no movement may be detected--either of bird
or quadruped. It is the time of day when all tropical life becomes
torpid, or seeks repose in the shade; man alone, stimulated by the love
of gain, or the promptings of ambition, disregarding the laws of nature,
and defying the fervour of the sun.
So seems it with the owner of the tilted train; who, despite the
relaxing influence of the fierce mid-day heat, keeps moving on.
That he is an emigrant--and not one of the ordinary class--is evidenced
in a variety of ways. The ten large waggons of Pittsburgh build, each
hauled by eight able-bodied mules; their miscellaneous contents:
plenteous provisions, articles of costly furniture, even of _luxe_, live
stock in the shape of coloured women and children; the groups of black
and yellow bondsmen, walking alongside, or straggling foot-sore in the
rear; the light travelling carriage in the lead, drawn by a span of
sleek-coated Kentucky mules, and driven by a black Jehu, sweltering in a
suit of livery; all bespeak, not a poor Northern-States settler in
search of a new home, but a rich Southerner who has already purchased
one, and is on his way to take possession of it.
