CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
THE FLAG OF TRUCE.
They might have spared themselves the pains. That agony was alreadyfelt; but, indeed, a scene followed--that caused us to suffer afresh.
Up to this moment we had not been recognised by those near and dear tous. The distance had been too great for the naked eye, and our brownedfaces and travel-stained habiliments were of themselves a disguise.
But the instincts of love are quick and keen, and the eyes of mybetrothed were upon me. I saw her start forward; I heard the agonisedscream; a pair of snow-white arms were extended, and she sank, fainting,upon the cliff.
At the same instant Madame Seguin had recognised the chief, and hadcalled him by name. Seguin shouted to her in reply, and cautioned herin tones of intreaty to remain patient and silent.
Several of the other females, all young and handsome, had recognisedtheir lovers and brothers, and a scene followed that was painful towitness.
But my eyes were fixed upon her I saw that she recovered from her swoon.I saw the savage in hussar trappings dismount, and, lifting her in hisarms, carry her back upon the prairie.
I followed them with impotent gaze. I saw that he was paying her kindattentions; and I almost thanked him, though I knew it was but theselfish gallantry of the lover.
In a short while she rose to her feet again, and rushed back toward thebarranca. I heard my name uttered across the ravine. Hers was echoedback; but at the moment both mother and daughter were surrounded bytheir guards, and carried back.
Meanwhile, the white flag had been got ready, and Seguin, holding italoft, stood out in front. We remained silent, watching with eagerglances for the answer.
There was a movement among the clustered Indians. We heard their voicesin earnest talk, and saw that something was going on in their midst.
Presently, a tall, fine-looking man came out from the crowd, holding anobject in his left hand of a white colour. It was a bleached fawn-skin.In his right hand he carried a lance.
We saw him place the fawn-skin on the blade of the lance, and standforward holding it aloft. Our signal of peace was answered.
"Silence, men!" cried Seguin, speaking to the hunters; and then, raisinghis voice, he called aloud in the Indian language--
"Navajoes! you know whom we are. We have passed through your country,and visited your head town. Our object was to search for our dearrelatives, who we knew were captives in your land. Some we haverecovered, but there are many others we could not find. That thesemight be restored to us in time, we have taken hostages, as you see. Wemight have brought away many more, but these we considered enough. Wehave not burned your town; we have not harmed your wives, yourdaughters, nor your children. With the exception of these, ourprisoners, you will find all as you left them."
A murmur ran through the ranks of the Indians. It was a murmur ofsatisfaction. They had been under the full belief that their town wasdestroyed and their women massacred; and the words of Seguin, thereforeproduced a singular effect. We could hear joyful exclamations andphrases interchanged among the warriors. Silence was again restored,and Seguin continued--
"We see that you have been in our country. You have made captives aswell as we. You are red men. Red men can feel for their kindred aswell as white men. We know this; and for that reason have I raised thebanner of peace, that each may restore to the other his own. It willplease the Great Spirit, and will give satisfaction to both of us; forthat which you hold is of most value to us, and that which we have isdear only to you. Navajoes! I have spoken. I await your answer."
When Seguin had ended, the warriors gathered around the head chief, andwe could see that an earnest debate was going on amongst them. It wasplain there were dissenting voices; but the debate was soon over, andthe head chief, stepping forward, gave some instructions to the man whoheld the flag. The latter in a loud voice replied to Seguin's speech asfollows--
"White chief! you have spoken well, and your words have been weighed byour warriors. You ask nothing more than what is just and fair. Itwould please the Great Spirit and satisfy us to exchange our captives;but how can we tell that your words are true? You say that you have notburned our town nor harmed our women and children. How can we know thatthis is true? Our town is far off; so are our women, if they be stillalive. We cannot ask them. We have only your word. It is not enough."
Seguin had already anticipated this difficulty, and had ordered one ofour captives, an intelligent lad, to be brought forward.
The boy at this moment appeared by his side.
"Question him!" shouted he, pointing to the captive lad.
"And why may we not question our brother, the chief Dacoma? The lad isyoung. He may not understand us. The chief could assure us better."
"Dacoma was not with us at the town. He knows not what was done there."
"Let Dacoma answer that."
"Brother!" replied Seguin, "you are wrongly suspicious, but you shallhave his answer," and he addressed some words to the Navajo chief, whosat near him upon the ground.
The question was then put directly to Dacoma by the speaker on the otherside. The proud Indian, who seemed exasperated with the humiliatingsituation in which he was placed, with an angry wave of his hand and ashort ejaculation, answered in the negative.
"Now, brother," proceeded Seguin, "you see I have spoken truly. Ask thelad what you first proposed."
The boy was then interrogated as to whether we had burnt the town orharmed the women and children. To these two questions he also returneda negative answer.
"Well, brother," said Seguin, "are you satisfied?"
For a long time there was no reply. The warriors were again gathered incouncil, and gesticulating with earnestness and energy. We could seethat there was a party opposed to pacific measures, who were evidentlycounselling, the others to try the fortunes of a battle. These were theyounger braves; and I observed that he in the hussar costume, who, asRube informed us, was the son of the head chief, appeared to be theleader of this party.
Had not the head chief been so deeply interested in the result, thecounsels of these might have carried; for the warriors well knew thescorn that would await them among neighbouring tribes should they returnwithout captives. Besides, there were numbers who felt another sort ofinterest in detaining them. They had looked upon the daughters of theDel Norte, and "saw that they were fair."
But the counsels of the older men at length prevailed, and the spokesmanreplied--
"The Navajo warriors have considered what they have heard. They believethat the white chief has spoken the truth, and they agree to exchangetheir prisoners. That this may be done in a proper and becoming manner,they propose that twenty warriors be chosen on each side; that thesewarriors shall lay down their arms on the prairie in presence of all;that they shall then conduct their captives to the crossing of thebarranca by the mine, and there settle the terms of their exchange; thatall the others on both sides shall remain where they now are, until theunarmed warriors have got back with the exchanged prisoners; that thewhite banners shall then be struck, and both sides be freed from thetreaty. These are the words of the Navajo warriors."
It was some time before Seguin could reply to this proposal. It seemedfair enough; but yet there was a manner about it that led us to suspectsome design, and we paused a moment to consider it. The concludingterms intimated an intention on the part of the enemy of making anattempt to retake their captives; but we cared little for this, providedwe could once get them on our side of the barranca.
It was very proper that the prisoners should be conducted to the placeof exchange by unarmed men, and twenty was a proper number; but Seguinwell knew how the Navajoes would interpret the word "unarmed"; andseveral of the hunters were cautioned in an undertone to "stray" intothe bushes, and conceal their knives and pistols under the flaps oftheir hunting-shirts. We thought that we observed a similar manoeuvregoing on upon the opposite bank with the tomahawks of our adversari
es.
We could make but little objection to the terms proposed; and as Seguinknew that time saved was an important object, he hastened to acceptthem.
As soon as this was announced to the Navajoes, twenty men--alreadychosen, no doubt--stepped out into the open prairie, and striking theirlances into the ground, rested against them their bows, quivers, andshields. We saw no tomahawks, and we knew that every Navajo carriesthis weapon. They all had the means of concealing them about theirpersons; for most of them were dressed in the garb of civilised life, inthe plundered habiliments of the rancho and hacienda. We cared little,as we, too, were sufficiently armed. We saw that the party selectedwere men of powerful strength; in fact, they were the picked warriors ofthe tribe.
Ours were similarly chosen. Among them were El Sol and Garey, Rube, andthe bull-fighter Sanchez. Seguin and I were of the number. Most of thetrappers, with a few Delaware Indians, completed the complement.
The twenty were soon selected; and, stepping out on the open ground, asthe Navajoes had done, we piled our rifles in the presence of the enemy.
Our captives were then mounted and made ready for starting. The queenand the Mexican girls were brought forward among the rest.
This last was a piece of strategy on the part of Seguin. He knew thatwe had captives enough to exchange one for one, without these; but hesaw, as we all did, that to leave the queen behind would interrupt thenegotiation, and perhaps put an end to it altogether. He had resolved,therefore, on taking her along, trusting that he could better negotiatefor her on the ground. Failing this, there would be but one appeal--toarms; and he knew that our party was well prepared for that alternative.
Both sides were at length ready, and, at a signal, commenced riding downthe barranca, in the direction of the mine. The rest of the two bandsremained eyeing each other across the gulf, with glances of mistrust andhatred. Neither party could move without the other seeing it; for theplains in which they were, though on opposite sides of the barranca,were but segments of the same horizontal plateau. A horseman proceedingfrom either party could have been seen by the others to a distance ofmany miles.
The flags of truce were still waving, their spears stuck into theground; but each of the hostile bands held their horses saddled andbridled, ready to mount at the first movement of the other.