CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
A DINNER WITH TWO DISHES.
El Sol, I have said, was standing over the prostrate Indian. Hiscountenance indicated the blending of two emotions, hate and triumph.
His sister at this moment galloped up, and, leaping from her horse,advanced rapidly forward.
"Behold!" said he, pointing to the Navajo chief; "behold the murderer ofour mother!"
The girl uttered a short, sharp exclamation; and, drawing a knife,rushed upon the captive.
"No, Luna!" cried El Sol, putting her aside; "no; we are not assassins.That is not revenge. He shall not yet die. We will show him alive tothe squaws of the Maricopa. They shall dance the mamanchic over thisgreat chief--this warrior captured without a wound!"
El Sol uttered these words in a contemptuous tone. The effect wasvisible on the Navajo.
"Dog of a Coco!" cried he, making an involuntary struggle to freehimself; "dog of a Coco! leagued with the pale robbers. Dog!"
"Ha! you remember me, Dacoma? It is well--"
"Dog!" again ejaculated the Navajo, interrupting him; and the wordshissed through his teeth, while his eyes glared with an expression ofthe fiercest malignity.
"He! he!" cried Rube, at this moment galloping up; "he! he! that Injun'sas savagerous as a meat axe. Lamm him! Warm his collops wi' the bullrope; he's warmed my old mar. Nick syrup him!"
"Let us look to your wound, Monsieur Haller," said Seguin, alightingfrom his horse, and approaching me, as I thought, with an uneasiness ofmanner. "How is it? through the flesh? You are safe enough; if,indeed, the arrow has not been poisoned. I tear--El Sol! here! quick,my friend! tell me if this point has been dipped."
"Let us first take it out," replied the Maricopa, coming up; "we shalllose no time by that."
The arrow was sticking through my forearm. The barb had pierced throughthe flesh, until about half of the shaft appeared on the opposite side.
El Sol caught the feather end in both his hands, and snapped it at thelapping. He then took hold of the barb and drew it gently out of thewound.
"Let it bleed," said he, "till I have examined the point. It does notlook like a war-shaft; but the Navajoes use a very subtle poison.Fortunately I possess the means of detecting it, as well as itsantidote."
As he said this, he took from his pouch a tuft of raw cotton. With thishe rubbed the blood lightly from the blade. He then drew forth a smallstone phial, and, pouring a few drops of liquid upon the metal, watchedthe result.
I waited with no slight feeling of uneasiness. Seguin, too, appearedanxious; and as I knew that he must have oftentimes witnessed the effectof a poisoned arrow, I did not feel very comfortable, seeing him watchthe assaying process with so much apparent anxiety. I knew there wasdanger where he dreaded it.
"Monsieur Haller," said El Sol, at length, "you are in luck this time.I think I may call it luck, for your antagonist has surely some in hisquiver not quite so harmless as this one.
"Let me see," he added; and, stepping up to the Navajo, he drew anotherarrow from the quiver that still remained slung upon the Indian's back.After subjecting the blade to a similar test, he exclaimed--
"I told you so. Look at this, green as a plantain! He fired two: whereis the other? Comrades, help me to find it. Such a tell-tale as thatmust not be left behind us."
Several of the men leaped from their horses, and searched for the shaftthat had been shot first. I pointed out the direction and probabledistance as near as I could, and in a few moments it was picked up.
El Sol took it, and poured a few drops of his liquid on the blade. Itturned green like the other.
"You may thank your saints, Monsieur Haller," said the Coco, "it was notthis one made that hole in your arm, else it would have taken all theskill of Doctor Reichter and myself to have saved you. But what's this?Another wound! Ha! He touched you as he made his right point. Let melook at it."
"I think it is only a scratch."
"This is a strange climate, Monsieur Haller. I have seen scratchesbecome mortal wounds when not sufficiently valued. Luna! Some cotton,sis! I shall endeavour to dress yours so that you need not fear thatresult. You deserve that much at my hands. But for you, sir, he wouldhave escaped me."
"But for you, sir, he would have killed me."
"Well," replied the Coco, with a smile, "it is possible you would nothave come off so well. Your weapon played you false. It is hardly justto expect a man to parry a lance-point with a clubbed rifle, though itwas beautifully done. I do not wonder that you pulled trigger in thesecond joust. I intended doing so myself, had the lasso failed meagain. But we are in luck both ways. You must sling this arm for a dayor two. Luna! that scarf of yours."
"No!" said I, as the girl proceeded to unfasten a beautiful scarf whichshe wore around her waist; "you shall not: I will find something else."
"Here, mister; if this will do," interposed the young trapper Garey,"you are heartily welcome to it."
As Garey said this, he pulled a coloured handkerchief out of the breastof his hunting-shirt, and held it forth.
"You are very kind; thank you!" I replied, although I knew on whoseaccount the kerchief was given; "you will be pleased to accept this inreturn." And I offered him one of my small revolvers--a weapon that, atthat time and in that place, was worth its weight in pearls.
The mountain man knew this, and very gratefully accepted the profferedgift; but much as he might have prized it, I saw that he was still moregratified with a simple smile that he received from another quarter, andI felt certain that the scarf would soon change owners, at any rate.
I watched the countenance of El Sol to see if he had noticed or approvedof this little by-play. I could perceive no unusual emotion upon it.He was busy with my wounds, which he dressed in a manner that would havedone credit to a member of the R.C.S.
"Now," said he, when he had finished, "you will be ready for as muchmore fighting in a couple of days at the furthest. You have a badbridle-arm, Monsieur Haller, but the best horse I ever saw. I do notwonder at your refusing to sell him."
Most of the conversation had been carried on in English; and it wasspoken by the Coco chief with an accent and emphasis, to my ear, as goodas I had ever heard. He spoke French, too, like a Parisian; and it wasin this language that he usually conversed with Seguin. I wondered atall this.
The men had remounted, with the intention of returning to the camp.Extreme hunger was now prompting us, and we commenced riding back topartake of the repast so unceremoniously interrupted.
At a short distance from the camp we dismounted, and, picketing ourhorses upon the grass, walked forward to search for the stray steaks andribs we had lately seen in plenty. A new chagrin awaited us; not amorsel of flesh remained! The coyotes had taken advantage of ourabsence, and we could see nothing around us but naked bones. The thighsand ribs of the buffaloes had been polished as if scraped with a knife.Even the hideous carcass of the Digger had become a shining skeleton!
"Wagh!" exclaimed one of the hunters; "wolf now or nothing: hyar goes!"and the man levelled his rifle.
"Hold!" exclaimed Seguin, seeing the act. "Are you mad, sir?"
"I reckon not, capt'n," replied the hunter, doggedly bringing down hispiece. "We must eat, I s'pose. I see nothin' but them about; an' howare we goin' to get them 'ithout shootin'?"
Seguin made no reply, except by pointing to the bow which El Sol wasmaking ready.
"Eh-ho!" added the hunter; "yer right, capt'n. I asks pardon. I hadforgot that piece o' bone."
The Coco took an arrow from the quiver, and tried the head with theassaying liquid. It proved to be a hunting-shaft; and, adjusting it tothe string, he sent it through the body of a white wolf, killing itinstantly. He took up the shaft again, and wiping the feather, shotanother, and another, until the bodies of five or six of these animalslay stretched upon the ground.
"Kill a coyote when ye're about it," shouted one of the hunters;"gentlemen like we oughter hav
e leastwise two courses to our dinner."
The men laughed at this rough sally; and El Sol, smiling, again pickedup the arrow, and sent it whizzing through the body of one of thecoyotes.
"I think that will be enough for one meal, at all events," said El Sol,recovering the arrow, and putting it back into the quiver.
"Ay!" replied the wit; "if we wants more we kin go back to the larderagin. It's a kind o' meat that eats better fresh, anyhow."
"Well, it diz, hoss. Wagh! I'm in for a griskin o' the white. Hyargoes!"
The hunters, laughing at the humour of their comrades, drew theirshining knives, and set about skinning the wolves. The adroitness withwhich this operation was performed showed that it was by no means new tothem.
In a short time the animals were stripped of their hides and quarters;and each man, taking his quarter, commenced roasting it over the fire.
"Fellers! what d'ye call this anyhow? Beef or mutton?" asked one, asthey began to eat.
"Wolf-mutton, I reckin," was the reply.
"It's dog-gone good eatin', I say; peels off as tender as squ'll."
"It's some'ut like goat, ain't it?"
"Mine tastes more like dog to me."
"It ain't bad at all; better than poor bull any day."
"I'd like it a heap better if I war sure the thing hadn't been up to yonvarmint on the rocks." And the man who said this pointed to theskeleton of the Digger.
The idea was horrible, and under other circumstances would have acted asa sufficient emetic.
"Wagh!" exclaimed a hunter; "ye've most taken away my stammuck. I wasa-goin' to try the coyoat afore ye spoke. I won't now, for I seed themsmellin' about him afore we rid off."
"I say, old case, you don't mind it, do ye?"
This was addressed to Rube, who was busy on his rib and made no reply.
"He? not he," said another, answering for him. "Rube's ate a heap o'queery tit-bits in his time. Hain't ye, Rube?"
"Ay, an' afore yur be as long in the mountains as this child, 'ee'll beglad to get yur teeth over wuss chawin's than wolf-meat; see if 'eedon't, young fellur."
"Man-meat, I reckin?"
"Ay, that's what Rube means."
"Boyees!" said Rube, not heeding the remark, and apparently in goodhumour, now that he was satisfying his appetite, "what's the nassiestthing, leavin' out man-meat, any o' 'ees iver chawed?"
"Woman-meat, I reckin."
"'Ee chuckle-headed fool! yur needn't be so peert now, showin' yursmartness when 'tain't called for nohow."
"Wal, leaving out man-meat, as you say," remarked one of the hunters, inanswer to Rube's question, "a muss-rat's the meanest thing I ever setteeth on."
"I've chawed sage-hare--raw at that," said a second, "an' I don't wantto eat anything that's bitterer."
"Owl's no great eatin'," added a third.
"I've ate skunk," continued a fourth; "an' I've ate sweeter meat in mytime."
"Carrajo!" exclaimed a Mexican, "what do you think of monkey? I havedined upon that down south many's the time."
"Wal, I guess monkey's but tough chawin's; but I've sharpened my teethon dry buffler hide, and it wa'n't as tender as it mout 'a been."
"This child," said Rube, after the rest had given in their experience,"leavin' monkey to the beside, have ate all them critturs as has beennamed yet. Monkey he hain't, bein' as thur's none o' 'em in theseparts. It may be tough, or it mayn't; it may be bitter, an' it mayn't,for what I knows to the contrairywise; but, oncest on a time, thisniggur chawed a varmint that wa'n't much sweeter, if it wur as sweet."
"What was it, Rube?"
"What was it?" asked several in a breath, curious to know what the oldtrapper could have eaten more unpalatable than the viands already named.
"'Twur turkey-buzzart, then; that's what it wur."
"Turkey-buzzard!" echoed everyone.
"'Twa'n't any thin' else."
"Wagh? that was a stinkin' pill, an' no mistake."
"That beats me all hollow."
"And when did ye eat the buzzard, old boy?" asked one, suspecting thatthere might be a story connected with this feat of the earless trapper.
"Ay! tell us that, Rube; tell us!" cried several.
"Wal," commenced Rube, after a moment's silence, "'twur about six yeernago, I wur set afoot on the Arkansaw, by the Rapahoes, leastwise twohunder mile below the Big Timmer. The cussed skunks tuk hoss, beaver,an' all. He! he!" continued the speaker with a chuckle; "he! he! theymout 'a did as well an' let ole Rube alone."
"I reckon that, too," remarked a hunter. "'Tain't like they made muchout o' that speckelashun. Well--about the buzzard?"
"'Ee see, I wur cleaned out, an' left with jest a pair o' leggins,better than two hunder miles from anywhur. Bent's wur the nearest; an'I tuk up the river in that direkshun.
"I never seed varmint o' all kinds as shy. They wudn't 'a been if I'd'a had my traps; but there wa'n't a critter, from the minners in thewaters to the bufflers on the paraira, that didn't look like they knowedhow this niggur were fixed. I kud git nuthin' for two days but lizard,an' scarce at that."
"Lizard's but poor eatin'," remarked one.
"'Ee may say that. This hyur thigh jeint's fat cow to it--it are."
And Rube, as he said this, made a fresh attack upon the wolf-mutton.
"I chawed up the ole leggins, till I wur as naked as Chimley Rock."
"Gollies! was it winter?"
"No. 'Twur calf-time, an' warm enuf for that matter. I didn't mind thewant o' the buckskin that a way, but I kud 'a eat more o' it.
"The third day I struck a town o' sand-rats. This niggur's har wurlonger then than it ur now. I made snares o' it, an' trapped a lot o'the rats; but they grew shy too, cuss 'em! an' I had to quit thatspeck'lashun. This wur the third day from the time I'd been set down,an' I wur getting nasty weak on it. I 'gin to think that the time wurcome for this child to go under.
"'Twur a leetle arter sun-up, an' I wur sittin' on the bank, when I seedsomethin' queery floatin' a-down the river. When I kim closer, I seedit wur the karkidge o' a buffler--calf at that--an' a couple o' buzzartsfloppin' about on the thing, pickin' its peepers out. 'Twur far out,an' the water deep; but I'd made up my mind to fetch it ashore. Iwa'n't long in strippin', I reckin."
Here the hunters interrupted Rube's story with a laugh.
"I tuk the water, an' swam out. I kud smell the thing afore I wurhalf-way, an' when I got near it, the birds mizzled. I wur soon clostup, an' seed at a glimp that the calf wur as rotten as punk."
"What a pity!" exclaimed one of the hunters.
"I wa'n't a-gwine to have my swim for nuthin'; so I tuk the tail in myteeth, an' swam back for the shore. I hadn't made three strokes tillthe tail pulled out!
"I then swum round ahint the karkidge, an' pushed it afore me till I gotit landed high an' dry upon a sandbar. 'Twur like to fall to pieces,when I pulled it out o' the water. 'Twa'n't eatable nohow!"
Here Rube took a fresh mouthful of the wolf-mutton, and remained silentuntil he had masticated it. The men had become interested in the story,and waited with impatience. At length he proceeded--
"I seed the buzzarts still flyin' about, an' fresh ones a-comin'. I tuka idee that I mout git my claws upon some o' 'em. So I lay down clostup agin the calf, an' played 'possum.
"I wa'n't long that a way when the birds begun to light on the sandbar,an' a big cock kim floppin' up to the karkidge. Afore he kud flop upagin, I grupped him by the legs."
"Hooraw! well done, by gollies!"
"The cussed thing wur nearly as stinkin' as t'other, but it wur diedog--buzzart or calf--so I skinned the buzzart."
"And ate it?" inquired an impatient listener. "No-o," slowly drawledRube, apparently "miffed" at being thus interrupted. "It ate me."
The laugh that followed this retort restored the old trapper to goodhumour again.
"Did you go it raw, Rube?" asked one of the hunters. "How could he dootherwise? He hadn't a spark o' fire, an' nothi
ng to make one out of."
"Yur'n etarnal fool!" exclaimed Rube, turning savagely on the lastspeaker. "I kud make a fire if thur wa'n't a spark anywhar!"
A yell of laughter followed this speech, and it was some minutes beforethe trapper recovered his temper sufficiently to resume his narration.
"The rest o' the birds," continued he at length, "seein' the ole cockrubbed out, grew shy, and kep away on t'other side o' the river.'Twa'n't no use tryin' that dodge over agin. Jest then I spied a coyoatcomin' lopin' down the bank, an' another follerin' upon his heels, an'two or three more on the same trail. I know'd it wud be no jokegruppin' one o' them by the leg, but I made up my mind to try it; an' Ilay down jest as afore, close up to the calf. 'Twur no go. The cunnin'things seed the float stick, an' kep clur o' the karkidge. I wura-gwine to cacher under some bush that wur by, an' I begun to carry itup, when all of a suddint I tuk a fresh idee in my head. I seed thurwur drift-wood a plenty on the bank, so I fotched it up, an' built apen-trap roun' about the calf. In the twinklin' o' a goat's eye I hadsix varmints in the trap."
"Hooraw! Ye war safe then, old hoss."
"I tuk a lot o' stones, an' then clomb up on the pen, an' killed the hulkit on 'em. Lord, boyees! 'ee never seed sich a snappin', and snarlin',and jumpin', an' yowltin', as when I peppered them donicks down on 'em.He! he! he! Ho! ho! hoo!"
And the smoky old sinner chuckled with delight at the remembrance of hisadventure.
"You reached Bent's then safe enough, I reckin?"
"'Ee--es. I skinned the critters wi' a sharp stone, an' made me a sorto' shirt an' leggins. This niggur had no mind, comin' in naked, to gi'them thur joke at the Fort. I packed enough of the wolf-meat to last meup, an' I got there in less'n a week. Bill wur thur himself, an' 'eeall know Bill Bent. He know'd me. I wa'n't in the Fort a half an hourtill I were spick-span in new buckskins, wi' a new rifle; an' that riflewur Tar-guts, now afore ye."
"Ha! you got Tear-guts thar then?"
"I got Tar-guts thur then, an' a gun she ur. He! he! he! 'Twa'n't longarter I got her till I tried her. He! he! he! Ho! ho! hoo!"
And the old trapper went off into another fit of chuckling.
"What are ye laughin' at now, Rube?" asked one of his comrades.
"He! he! he! What am I larfin' at? He! he! he! Ho! ho! That ur thecrisp o' the joke. He! he! he! What am I larfin' at?"
"Yes; tell us, man!"
"It are this then I'm larfin' at," replied Rube, sobering down a little,"I wa'n't at Bent's three days when who do 'ee think shed kum to theFort?"
"Who? Maybe the Rapahoes!"
"Them same Injuns; an' the very niggurs as set me afoot. They kum tothe Fort to trade wi' Bill, an' thur I sees both my old mar an' rifle!"
"You got them back then?"
"That wur likely. Thur wur a sight o' mountainy men thur, at the time,that wa'n't the fellurs to see this child put down on the parairar fornuthin'. Yander's the critter!" and Rube pointed to the old mare. "Therifle I gin to Bill, an' kep Tar-guts instead, seeing she wur a bettergun."
"So you got square with the Rapahoes?"
"That, young fellur, justs rests on what 'ee 'ud call squar. Do 'ee seethese hyur nicks: them standin' sep'rate?"
And the trapper pointed to a row of small notches cut in the stock ofhis rifle.
"Ay, ay!" cried several men in reply. "Thur's five o' 'em, ain't thur?"
"One, two, three; yes, five."
"Them's Rapahoes!"
Rube's story was ended.