The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 38
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
feet wide. Afterwards we constructed an adobe house covered
with shingles. A large pecan-tree supplied us with 10,000 of
these. In this house was a fire place 12 feet broad, and built of
rock. On the roof, Strauss put an artistic weather-vane. Here
we celebrated the Christmas of 1847, and again had a glorious
time.
As I have said, the Indians kept their agreement to the letter.
In Nov., 1847, they visited us as they had promised. At the time
I was herding cows several miles from our camp, when two In-
dians rode up. From their signs I supposed they wanted some-
thing to eat; and I handed them some bread out of the pouch I
carried. Evidently not trusting me, they made signs that I should
eat first. The fact was that a great number of Waco Indians had
been treacherously poisoned some time before by a band of cow-
boys. It was a dastardly deed; and the Wacos thereafter became
the most hostile of the tribes, as before they had been the most
amicable. Well, the end of my interview was that they took every-
thing I had and galloped off. They were hardly out of sight when
I saw a big crowd of savages riding up, and as they drew nearer,
I recognized the chief, Santana. Upon my asking him if he were
not the chief, he seemed greatly surprised that I should know
him. He was very much puzzled, too, because I had no beard; for
all our party wore them. I told him with my fingers that I was
only seventeen. Doubtless he had at first taken me for an Ameri-
can, as none of them wore beards at this time. After that, the
Indians drove my cattle, which now had scattered in all directions,
into camp. Here Santana learned that I had been robbed, and
sent out two men after the thieves, but after two days absence they
reported that they were unable to find the robbers.
The Indians camped only a short distance from us. During the
night a number of our utensils were stolen by the squaws; but the
next day the men returned them. For everything we gave them
we were paid back three-fold. As they staid some time, we be-
came well acquainted. Whenever we came into their camp, they
would spread out their deer skins, bring out morrals3 full of the
biggest pecans I ever saw, and tell us to help ourselves. They even
tried to learn German from us in spite of the great difficulty they
found in pronouncing some of the words. The word Pferd they
8Food or game bags.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900, periodical, 1900; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101015/m1/46/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.