The Pirates of the Prairies Part 28

"Thanks, chief," the hunter answered; "I am glad you have spoken in that way, for the hour has come to prove your friendship to us."

"What does my brother mean?"

"The Apaches have dug up the hatchet against us: their war parties are marching to surround our friend, Bloodson. I have come to ask my brothers if they will help us to repulse and beat back our enemies."

There was a moment's silence, and the Indians seemed to be seriously reflecting on the hunter's words. At length, Pethonista said, after giving the members of the council a glance--

"The enemies of Bloodson and of my brother are our enemies," he said, in a loud and firm voice. "My young men will go to the help of the palefaces. The Comanches will not suffer their allies to be insulted. My brother may rejoice at the success of his mission. Unicorn, I feel convinced, would not have answered differently from me, had he been present at the council. Tomorrow, at sunrise, all the warriors of my tribe will set out to the a.s.sistance of Bloodson. I have spoken. Have I said well, powerful chiefs?"

"Our father has spoken well," the chiefs replied, with a bow. "What he desires shall be done."

"Wah!" Pethonista went on; "my sons will prepare to celebrate worthily the arrival of our white friends in their village, and prove that we are warriors without fear. The Old Dogs will dance in the medicine lodge."

Shouts of joy greeted these words. The Indians, who are supposed to be so little civilised, have a number of a.s.sociations, bearing a strong likeness to Freemasonry. These a.s.sociations are distinguished by their songs, dances, and certain signs. Before becoming a member, the novice has certain trials to undergo, and several degrees to pa.s.s through. The Comanches have eleven a.s.sociations for men and three for women, the scalp dance not included.

We will allude here solely to the Band of the Old Dogs, an a.s.sociation which only the most renowned warriors of the nation can join, and whose dance is only performed when an expedition is about to take place, in order to implore the protection of Natosh.

The strangers mounted on the roof of the medicine lodge with a mult.i.tude of Indians, and when all had taken their places, the ceremony commenced.

Before the dancers appeared, the sound of their war whistles,--made of human thigh bones, could be heard; and at length ninety "Old Dogs" came up, attired in their handsomest dresses.

A portion were clothed in gowns or shirts of bighorn leather; others had blouses of red cloth, and blue and scarlet uniforms the Americans had given them, on their visits to the frontier forts. Some had the upper part of the body naked, and their exploits painted in reddish brown on their skin; others, and those the most renowned, wore a colossal cap of raven plumes, to the ends of which small tufts of down were fastened.

This cap fell down to the loins, and in the centre of this shapeless ma.s.s of feathers were the tail of a wild turkey and that of a royal eagle.

Round their necks the princ.i.p.al Old Dogs wore a long strip of red cloth, descending behind to their legs, and forming a knot in the middle of the back. They had on the right side of the head a thick tuft of screech owl feathers, the distinctive sign of the band. All had round their necks the long _ihkochekas_, and on the left arm their fusil, bow, or club, while in their right hand they held the chichikoui.

This is a stick adorned with blue and white gla.s.s beads, completely covered with animals' hoofs, having at the upper end an eagle's feather, and at the lower a piece of leather embroidered with beads and decorated with scalps.

The warriors formed a wide circle, in the centre of which was the drum, beaten by five badly dressed men. In addition to these, there were also two others, who played a species of tambourine. When the dance began, the Old Dogs let their robes fall behind them, some dancing in a circle, with the body bent forward, and leaping in the air with both feet at once.

The other Dogs danced without any order, their faces turned to the circle, the majority collected in a dense ma.s.s, and bending their heads and the upper part of the body simultaneously. During this period, the war whistles, the drums, and chichikouis made a fearful row. This scene offered a most original and interesting sight--these brown men, their varied costumes, their yells, and the sounds of every description produced by the delighted spectators, who clapped their hands with grimaces and contortions impossible to describe, in the midst of the Indian village, near a gloomy and mysterious virgin forest, a few paces from the Rio Gila; in this desert where the hand of G.o.d is marked in indelible characters--all this affected the mind, and plunged it into a melancholy reverie.

The dance had lasted some time, and would have been probably prolonged, when the fierce and terrible war cry of the Apaches re-echoed through the air. Shots were heard, and Indian hors.e.m.e.n rushed like lightning on the Comanches, brandishing their weapons, and uttering terrible yells.

Black Cat, at the head of more than five hundred warriors, had attacked the Comanches.

There was a frightful disorder and confusion. The women and children ran frantically in every direction, pursued by their ferocious enemies, who pitilessly scalped and ma.s.sacred them, while the warriors collected, mostly badly armed, in order to attempt a desperate, but almost impossible, resistance.

The hunters, stationed, as we have said, on the top of the hut whence they had witnessed the dance, found themselves in a most critical position. Fortunately for them, thanks to their old habit as wood rangers, they had not forgotten their weapons.

Valentine understood the position at the first glance. He saw that, unless a miracle occurred, they were all lost. Placing himself with his comrades before the terrified maiden, to make her a rampart of his body, he resolutely c.o.c.ked his rifle, and said to his friends, in a firm voice:--

"Lads, the question is not about conquering, but we must all prepare to die here!"

"We will," Don Pablo said haughtily.

And with his clubbed rifle he killed an Apache who was trying to escalade the hut.

[1] And not Montezuma, as ordinarily written. All Mexican names had, and still have, a meaning. Montecuhzoma means the "severe Lord." It is also sometimes written in old Mexican MSS. of the time of the conquest Moctecuhzoma, but never Montezuma, which has no meaning.

CHAPTER XX.

A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT.

In order to explain thoroughly to our readers the sudden attack on the Comanche village, we are compelled to return to Red Cedar.

Black Cat had left the council to proceed to the pirates, who were ready to follow him; but as Red Cedar had noticed that the agitation prevailing in the camp on his arrival had increased instead of diminishing, he could not refrain from asking the chief what it all meant, and what had happened.

Black Cat had hastened to satisfy him by narrating the miraculous flight of Dona Clara, who had disappeared with her companions, and no one could imagine what had become of them. Since the morning, the most experienced warriors of the tribe had been on the search, but had discovered nothing. Red Cedar was far from suspecting that the maiden he had left in his camp was the one so eagerly sought by the Apaches. He reflected for some moments.

"How many white men were there?" he asked.

"Three."

"Was there no one else with them?"

"Yes," the chief said, frowning, and his eyes flashing with fury. "There were also two redskin warriors, one of them a cowardly Coras, a renegade of his nation."

"Very good," Red Cedar answered. "The chief will lead me to the council, and I will tell them where the prisoners are."

"My brother knows it, then?" Black Cat asked, quickly.

Red Cedar threw his rifle on his back, whistled softly, but gave no answer.

They reached the council lodge. Red Cedar, taking the responsibility on himself, undertook to answer the questions addressed to him by the Indians. Since Black Cat's departure, not a word had been uttered in the council. The Indians were patiently awaiting the result of the promises made by the chief. The latter resumed his place at the council fire; and, addressing the other sachem, said--

"Here are the white hunters."

"Very good," an old warrior answered, "let them speak, we hear."

Red Cedar advanced, and, leaning on his rifle, he took the word, at a sign from Black Cat.

"My red brothers," he said, in a clear and marked voice, "are all as wearied as ourselves by the continual attacks of that coyote who belongs to no nation, or no colour, and who is called the Son of Blood. If they will allow themselves to be guided by the experience of a man who has, for many years, been thoroughly acquainted with tricks and villany of which that man is capable, before long, in spite of the imposing force he has at his command, they will have driven him disgracefully from the prairies, and compelled him to recross the frontier, abandoning forever the rich hunting grounds over which he pretends to reign as a master."

"We await till our brother has explained himself more clearly, with frankness, and without equivocation," Black Cat interrupted him.

"That is what I am about to do," the squatter went on. "The prisoners you made were precious to you, because there was a white woman among them. You allowed them to escape, and must capture them again. They will be important hostages for you."

"My brother does not tell us where these prisoners have sought shelter."

Red Cedar shrugged his shoulders.

"That is, however, very easy to know. The prisoners had only one spot where they could obtain a refuge, before reaching the frontier."

"And that is?" Black Cat asked.