Across the Desolate Plain

[KHickam]

It was the Moon of Ripe Plums by the reckoning of the Lakota.  A strong wind was blowing across the prairies.  The hunter worked his way down a big bottom.  As he rode, he kept his eyes on the horizon.  Crossing a small waterway he startled a big red deer - the heavy rack was still in velvet but sported heavy mass and 10 points.  He watched as the buck crossed several big bottoms and draws and silhouetted himself on a big butte.  The hunter let out a shrill whistle and the big buck turned his head to locate the sound - His antlers extended several inches beyond his upright ears.  The hunter  had seen big deer in the past but he had not seen one this big in recent memory.  Both the hunter and the buck moved away together, each making their separate ways.

As he followed a well used game trail his horse was edgy and misbehaving - then he heard it - the unmistakable sound of a rattlesnake .  The loud buzzing was close he scanned the grass quickly, and spotted the darker colored snake in the sun bleached prairie grass.  He quickly drew a large caliber pistol from his belt, cocking it in the same motion.  He fired instinctively, and his aim was true, the sixty caliber ball striking the snake a couple inches, from the junction of the head and neck.  He reloaded the pistol and returned it to his waist belt.  


He continued on, scouting for the brigade, he had heard was heading for the headwaters of the Missouri.  He rode over a small saddle found himself only about one hundred yards from a small herd of buffalo.  He counted two bulls and about twenty cows with calves and a few yearlings.  He checked the prime on his long, light smoothbore, just in case one of the woolly haired beasts decided to charge him.  He was confident should that occur the heavy ball his fowler carried would be sufficient to dissuade any further aggression from the rest of the herd.

Shortly, with the buffalo herd far in the distance, he spotted a buck antelope standing up on a hill watching him.  He turned his horse down a riparian area with a small spring fed creek flowing in the bottom.  He was startled several times by prairie grouse lifting in front of his horse from the heavy fruit laden rose, buffalo brush, and plum thickets.  Shortly, he found himself on the shores of a large pond, surrounded by cottonwood trees.  He dismounted from his fine mountain horse, he reached up and took a couple pieces of buffalo jerky from his parfleche saddle bags.  They were finely made by a Lakota girl he took a shine to  in a village at the mouth of the Cheyenne River.  He tied off his mountain horse and took his canteen off his saddle and sat down in the shade of the cottonwoods and took a long pull of the cool water with just a hint of rum in it.

He looked at the kidney shaped leather covered canteen - the last remainant of his service in the Kings Army in the colonies fighting against the very men that after the war became his countrymen.  He reflected a bit on that - it seemed long ago as he watched Lord Cornwallis surrender to General Washington as a young man - now as a man reaching nearly half a century in age he marveled at the changes that had taken place in the 25 years hence.  He had seen the colonies become a new country where all men were created equal.  Gone were the Lords and Ladies that he had despised while a child in the Highlands.  He carried scars from that War not from balls or grapeshot or cannister, although he had heard the balls whistle by him - it was an eerie sound and of course the smack of the ball hitting the flesh of soldiers standing next to him.

No, the scars he carried were in his mind, birthed from the horrors of the war.  That is why when the man that had penned the Declaration of Independence all those years ago sent a expedition called the Corps of Discovery up the Missouri and back two years ago and he learned of the wondrous things they had seen and done.  He decided to see it for himself.

He heard a hawk scream and looked up to see a large redtailed hawk floating on the air currents of a large bluff in the distance.  He marveled at the freedom he enjoyed here in the Lakota Nation, although he still had to be careful for the most part the Lakota left him alone.  He admired them, and wished he could have found them earlier.  They reminded him of the Highland Clans in many ways and hoped that they would live in peace in the new nation they found themselves a part of now.

The hunter remounted his horse swinging up into the saddle with some effort.  His smoothbore musket was much lighter than the Kings Musket he carried so long ago.  It served him well, capable of killing a buffalo or man at seventy five yards or more.  He had no wish to fight anymore but sometimes the fight was unavoidable, and he was ready for anything that came his way, however regrettable that might be.

He dropped down into the Grand River bottom - the great cottonwoods swayed and creaked in the high wind.  He knew he must keep a sharp lookout, for it would be almost impossible to hear the approach of an enemy in the high wind.  He decided to camp for the night and made a small campfire for cooking the small grouse he had killed earlier.  He planned to follow the Grand to its headwaters, and then overland for a time to the Yellowstone .  He figured that this would take the better part of a week and from there he planned to follow the Yellowstone to the Big Horn and on to Lisas Fort near the Three Forks of the Missouri.  

He had not made the journey before so he was unsure of the route or how long it might take, he just knew if he headed west he was likely to find what he was looking for.  He was looking forward to the grand adventure.

[Bulldog lady]

   You're back   GREAT   Continue with  your wonderful stories, please     thanks again BL

[NAULTRICK1]

  Welcome back Dan'l, missed the stories

[Hawken50]

  Another great one Dan'l.

[Watauga]

So you going to do an E book or put your story's into a book?

[voyageur1688]

  Thatd be cool.
Voy

[Otter]

Very good read. More please?!

[KHickam]

Otter - Continuation of the story in Through the Badlands

[mlisa]

thanks again. i really enjoyed it! another short vacation.....