The Border Rifles Part 47

"I am listening," the American answered.

The Chief went on--

"The words my bosom breathes are sincere--the Wacondah inspires me with them; the Palefaces, since they were brought by the genius of evil in their large medicine-canoes to the territories of my fathers, have ever been the virulent enemies of the Red men; invading their richest and most fertile hunting grounds, pursuing them like wild beasts whenever they met with them, burning their callis, and dispersing the bones of their ancestors to the four winds of Heaven. Has not such constantly been the conduct of the Palefaces? I await my brother's answer."

"Well," the American said, with a certain amount of embarra.s.sment, "I cannot deny, Chief, that there is some truth in what you say; but still, all the men of my colour have not been unkind to the Redskins, and several have tried to do them good."

"Wah! two or three have done so, but that only goes to prove what I a.s.sert. Let us come to the question we wish to discuss at present."

"Yes, I believe that will be the best," the American replied, delighted in his heart at not having to sustain a discussion which he knew would not result in victory to him.

"My nation hates the Palefaces," the Chief continued; "the condor does not make its nest with the maukawis, or the grizzly bear pair with the antelope. I, myself, have an instinctive hatred for the Palefaces. This morning, then, I should have peremptorily declined the Jaguar's proposals, for how do the wars the Palefaces wage together concern us?

When the coyotes devour each other, the deer rejoice: we are happy to see our cruel oppressors tearing one another; but now, though my hatred is equally vivid, I am bound to bury it in my heart. My brother has saved my life; he helped when I was stretched out on the ground, and the Genius of Death was hovering over my head; ingrat.i.tude is a white vice, grat.i.tude a red virtue. From this day the hatchet is buried between the Jaguar and Blue-fox for five succeeding moons; for five moons the enemies of the Jaguar will be those of Blue-fox; the two Chiefs will fight side by side, like loving brothers: in three suns from this one, the Sachem will join the Paleface Chief at the head of five hundred renowned warriors, whose heels are adorned with numerous coyote tails, and who form the pick of the nation. What will the Jaguar do for Blue-fox and his warriors?"

"The Jaguar is a generous Chief; if he is terrible for his enemies, his hand is always open for his friends; each Apache warrior will receive a rifle, one hundred charges of powder, and a scalping knife, The Sachem will also receive in addition to these presents two vicuna skins filled with fire-water."

"Wah!" the Chief exclaimed, with evident satisfaction, "My brother has said truly that the Jaguar is a generous Chief. Here is my totem as signal of alliance, as well as my feather of command."

While thus speaking the Chief drew from his game bag or medicine bag, which he wore slung, a square piece of parchment, on which was clumsily drawn the totem or animal emblematic of the tribe, handed it to the American, who placed it in his bosom; then removing the eagle feather fixed in his war-lock, he also gave him that.

"I thank my brother the Sachem," John Davis then said, "for having acceded to my proposal; he will have no cause to repent it."

"A Chief has given his word; but see, the sun is lengthening the shadows of the trees, the maukawis will soon strike up the evening song; the hour has come to pay the last duties to the Chiefs who are dead, and then separate to rejoin our common friends."

"On foot as we are, that appears to me rather difficult," John remarked.

The Indian smiled.

"The warriors of Blue-fox are watching over him," he said.

In fact, the Chief had hardly twice given a private signal, ere fifty Apache warriors burst into the clearing, and a.s.sembled silently around him.

The fugitives who escaped from the Scalper's terrible arm, soon collected again; they returned to their camp and announced the news of their defeat to their comrades, and then a detachment was sent off under the orders of a subaltern Chief, to look for their Sachem, But these hors.e.m.e.n, seeing Blue-fox in conference with a Paleface, remained under covert, patiently waiting till it pleased him to summon them.

The Sachem gave orders to bury the dead. The funeral ceremony then began, which circ.u.mstances compelled them to abbreviate.

The bodies were carefully washed, wrapped in new buffalo robes, and then placed in a sitting posture in trenches dug for each of them, with their weapons, bit, and provisions by their side, in order that they might want for nothing on their journey to the happy hunting grounds, and be able to mount and hunt so soon as they joined the Wacondah.

When these several rites had been performed, the hunters were filled up, and covered with heavy stones, lest the wild beasts should grub up and devour the bodies.

The sun was just disappearing on the horizon, when the Apaches finished the last duties to their brothers. Blue-fox then walked up to the hunter, who had hitherto been a silent, if not indifferent, spectator of the ceremony.

"My brother wishes to return to the warriors of his nation?" he said to him.

"Yes," the American laconically answered.

"The Paleface has lost his horse, so he will mount the mustang Blue-fox offers him; within two hours he can have returned to his friends."

John Davis gratefully accepted the present so generously made him, mounted at once, and, after taking leave of the Apaches, set off at full speed.

On their side, the Indians, at a signal from their Chief, buried themselves in the forest and clearing where such terrible events had occurred, and fell back into silence and solitude.

CHAPTER XXV.

AN EXPLANATION.

Like all men the greater portion of whose life is spent in the desert, the Jaguar was gifted with excessive prudence joined to extreme circ.u.mspection.

Though still very young, his life had been composed of such strange incidents, he had been an actor in such extraordinary scenes, that from an early age he had grown accustomed to shut up his emotions in his heart, and preserve on his countenance, whatever he might see or experience, that marble-like stoicism which characterizes the Indians, and which the latter have converted into such a tremendous weapon against their enemies.

On hearing Tranquil's voice all at once so close to him, the young man gave a start, frowned, and asked himself mentally how it was that the hunter came to find him thus in his camp, and what reason was powerful enough to impel him to do so; the more so, because his intimacy with the Canadian, ever subject to intermittences, was at this moment on terms far from amicable, if not completely hostile.

Still the young man, in whom the feeling of honour spoke loudly, and whom the steps taken by Tranquil flattered more than he cared to let anyone see, concealed the apprehensions that agitated him, and walked quickly, and with a smile on his lips, to meet the hunter.

The latter was not alone; Loyal Heart accompanied him.

The Canadian's manner was reserved, and his face was covered by a cloud of sorrow.

"You are welcome to my camp, hunter," the Jaguar said kindly, as he offered his hand.

"Thank you," the Canadian answered laconically, not touching the proffered hand.

"I am glad to see you," the young man went on, without any display of annoyance; "what accident has brought you in this direction?"

"My comrade and I have been hunting for a long time; fatigue is crus.h.i.+ng us, and the smoke of your camp attracted us."

The Jaguar pretended to accept as gospel this clumsy evasion of a man who justly prided himself as being the healthiest and strongest wood-ranger of the desert.

"Come, then, and take a seat at my camp fire, and be good enough to regard everything here as belonging to you, and act in accordance with it."

The Canadian bowed, but made no answer, and with Loyal Heart followed the hunter who preceded them, and guided them through the mazes of the camp.

On reaching the fire, upon which the young man threw a few handfuls of dry wood, the hunters sat down on buffalo skulls placed there as seats, and then, without breaking the silence, filled their pipes and began smoking.

The Jaguar imitated them.

Those white men who traverse the prairie, and whose life is spent in hunting or trapping on these vast solitudes, have unconsciously a.s.sumed most of the habits and customs of the Redskins, with whom the exigencies of their position bring them constantly into contact.

A thing worthy of remark, is the tendency of civilized men to return to savage life, and the facility with which hunters, born for the most part in the great centres of population, forget their habits of comfort, surrender the customs of towns, and renounce the usages by which they were governed during the earlier part of their life, in order to adopt the manners, and even the habits, of the Redskins.

Many of these hunters carry this so far, that the greatest compliment which can be paid them is to pretend to take them for Indian warriors.

We must confess that, per contra, the Redskins are not at all jealous of our civilization, in which they take but slight interest, and that those whom accident or commercial reasons carry to cities, and by such we mean cities like New York, or New Orleans;--these Indians, we say, far from being astounded at what they see, look around them with glances of pity, not understanding how men can voluntarily consent to shut themselves up in the smoky cages called houses, and expend their life in ungrateful toil, instead of living in the open air among the vast solitudes, hunting the buffalo, bear, and jaguar, under the immediate eye of Heaven.

Are the savages completely wrong in thinking so? Is their reasoning false? We do not believe it.