Chapter 14

“How many did we lose?” asked John. Sam and Bob rode up to where John was setting in the shade of a big cotton wood tree the next morning. They were on the north side of the river. The cowboys were gathering up the cattle which were scattered all over.

“Not more than five hundred,” said Sam.

“That’s not too bad . . . five hundred out of five thousand,” said John “how about the horses?”

“It’ll take a day, or more to round them all up,” said Carlos as he rode up to join the trio.

“How many horses we got?” asked John.

“About two horses to a man . . . that’s all we got right now,” said Carlos.

“Alright . . . we camp here for two days . . . round up what we can . . . then we push on to Abilene,” commanded John. “Anybody, seen the chuck wagon?”

“Not since the crossing last night,” said Sam.

“You get the livestock rounded up and I’ll look for the chuck wagon,” said John. They spurred their mounts to ride away in different directions. John began the long ride back to the river crossing some few miles back. He repeated his plan to any cowboy he came across. About noon time he found the chuck wagon stuck in the mud on the north side of the river. It was buried in tight. He rode up to it and asked “How’s Frankie doing?”

“He’s sleeping right now,” said Cookie. “Poor kid had a real bad time last night.”

“Now we got to get you out of there,” he threw his rope around the tongue of the wagon and then wrapped the other end around his saddle horn. With his horse and the team pulling together on the wagon, it still would not budge. “You wait and I’ll go get some of the men to help get you out of there.”

“I’ll be right here,” said Cookie.

John rode south across the river and up onto a hill. He could see for miles from this vantage point. North of the river he could see several cowboys herding some cattle into a larger group, others were driving some northward. He watched for anyone near the river for a few minutes. When some time past, he turned his gaze to the south once more and shook his head at the burned out sight before him. He pulled at the reins to once again ride north, when something caught his eye. He turned the horse again toward the south and to a halt. He watched very carefully for a few seconds.

“I thought I saw something,” he said out loud to himself. A few more seconds past “I guess not.” He wheeled his mount around and rode back across the river.

The suns rays reached down into the gully and warmed the sleeping young man. He soon began to stir as the rays became hotter. Chris stretched his limbs and stood to his feet. He reached down and retrieved his boots; they were still damp from being in the pool of water, but he pulled them on anyway. He stood looking at the water he had taken a mud bath in during the fire, although there was an aching in his throat for a drink, he just shook his head and moved toward a trail leading up to level ground. When he climbed out of the ditch he could hardly believe his eyes. Every thing was black as far as he was able to see, there was nothing that was not burnt black. A few head of dead cattle lay scattered about on the ground, they too were burned black.

Chris started to walk northward. He kept his eyes on the horizon hoping to see one of the cowboys. Maybe they would ride back to see if he was still alive. He pushed on though the day and into the night time. His thirst was beginning to make him wish he had filled up in that mud hole. Now there was no sign of anything green to indicate where water could be found. There was a lot less heat in the night air, and he felt cold. To build a fire, he would need some thing to burn, however the fire had burned all of it. He kept moving all through the night. The thirst became unbearable as the morning sun peaked over the eastern skyline. He fell down on the ground among some large rocks. He dragged himself into a setting position so he could see toward the north once more.

Chris heard a buzzing noise off to his left. He turned his head in the direction of the noise to see a coiled rattle snake about six feet from him. He searched the area over carefully, taking note of the rocks. His hand was like lightning and the revolver spit fire and lead. The rattler’s head went flying to one side. Chris quickly grabbed the snake’s body. He stripped off the hide and then began to devour the flesh of the reptile. The juices of the snake wetted his thirst and the flesh satisfied his hunger. When the snake was devoid of any flesh, he fell back into the scant shade of the rocks to sleep for a while.

John Morgan spent a restless night in camp on the north side of the river. All of the cowboys had been accounted for except for Chris and Bruce. No one had seen either of them since they stampeded the cattle. Early that morning John rode back across the river and upon a hill he waited for several minutes. Then he saw something in the distance.

“I was right,” he said to himself “I did see something yesterday.” He spurred his horse into action to ride hard to the south across the charred remains of the prairie. As he got closer he could make out the sure signs of it being a man on foot. He soon rode up as Chris staggered along. When John rode up to him, Chris fell to the ground. John quickly gave him a drink from his canteen. “Easy does it.”

“You ate what?” asked one of the cowboys.

“A rattle snake,” said Chris. He was recounting his experience in the camp that night to those present.

“Raw?” said the cowboy with a disgusted expression on his face.

“The fire burned everything . . . and I needed the juices to keep me from dying of thirst.”

“I heard you Cajuns would eat anything . . . but this sure beats all I ever heard of before,” said another cowboy.

“There’s no way I’m gonna eat a rattle snake . . . cooked, or raw,” gagged another.

“You’d be surprised at what you’d eat just to stay alive,” said John. “A human will do most anything to keep on living.”

“Did you ever eat a shake?” asked one of the cowboys.

“Can’t say that I have . . . but I believe . . . given the same set of circumstances, I sure could . . . and probably ask for seconds.” They all laughed.