Prev | Current Page 245 | Next

Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848

"Monsieur Violet"

The poor devil ran away from his beloved city and
returned no more. The house stands as it was left. I even saw near the
well the spades and pickaxes with which they had been working at the
time of the attack. Thus modern Athens was cut off in the bud, which was
a great pity, as a few Athenian sages and legislators are sadly
wanted in Texas.
Early one morning we were awakened by loud roars in the prairie. Castro
started on his feet, and soon gave the welcome news, "The Buffaloes." On
the plain were hundreds of dark moving spots, which increased in size as
we came nearer; and before long we could clearly see the shaggy brutes
galloping across the prairie, and extending their dark, compact
phalanxes even to the line of the horizon. Then followed a scene of
excitement The buffaloes, scared by the continual reports of our rifles,
broke their ranks and scattered themselves in every direction.
The two foreigners were both British, the youngest being a young
Irishman of a good family, and of the name of Fitzgerald. We had been
quite captivated by his constant good humour and vivacity of spirits; he
was the life of our little evening encampments, and, as he had travelled
on the other side of the Pacific, we would remain till late at night
listening to his interesting and beautiful narratives of his adventures
in Asiatic countries.


Pages:
233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257