The Broncho Rider Boys Along the Border
CHAPTER XXII.
ANOTHER WARNING.
That night saw many strange things going on in the Zuni village, to allof which our three young friends gave close attention; for they weredeeply interested in the quaint ceremonies of these people who tracedtheir ancestors far back beyond the time of the red man on the continentof North America.
They did not forget to keep close together after the shades of nightfell; for both Donald and Adrian were agreed on that subject, to theeffect that a man with such a lack of conscience as Braddon, who wouldscheme to rob these poor Indians, and lure them away from their home ona false trail, just to endeavor to learn the old medicine man's secret,and profit by the same, would not stop at anything.
Donald had been of the same mind as the other chum, with regard tokeeping their secret for a short time, until the Zuni ceremony of therattlesnake dance had been gone through with. And accordingly none ofthem had made the first move looking to interviewing the old chief, whowas so much taken up with his duties that he had no time for talkingnow.
When they finally came back to the tent, cautious Adrian made it hisbusiness to carefully examine it all over. Billie watched this operationwith interest. He finally demanded to know what the other expected tofind, and if it could be anything in the nature of a bomb.
"I know that away Down East, around New York City, the Italian BlackHand do that sort of thing regularly; but I never dreamed it couldhappen out here," he went on to say, uneasily; as though it was not verypleasant to suspect that in the middle of a sentence a fellow might besuddenly hoisted heavenward by some infernal machine exploding under hisblanket.
"Oh! I hardly expected to find that," Adrian assured him; "but this is aqueer country, and all sorts of strange things happen. Remember, now,about that poisoned spring. With so many crawling critters around here,it struck me that a fellow would be only showing ordinary wisdom to lookunder his blanket before he lay down."
"That's right," added Donald; "and I'm going to put that horse-hairlariat of mine in a double loop around the tent; because cowboys saythat a snake will never crawl across one of that sort. The hair tickles'em, and scares 'em off, I understand."
"Besides, we're going to keep watch, you know, Donald," Adrian remarked.
Billie was on the point of stoutly announcing that he must have hisassignment in this part of the camp duty, when he suddenly rememberedthe mess he had made of it the last time they let him try. So he wasforced to gulp down his bitter disappointment, and let it pass him by.If Billie's ability to accomplish things were only as good as hisambition to try, there would never have been any trouble; but the factwas, he could not keep awake after a certain hour any more than he couldrefrain from eating when hungry, and the opportunity came along.
But after all, there was no sudden alarm during the night, although thesentry sat there with a gun across his knees every minute of the time hewas on duty, and ready to give any creeper the surprise of his life.
Perhaps those whom they fancied might want to disturb them guessed thatthe boys would be on the watch; and knowing that they possessed rifles,they did not care to take the risk of being shot.
At any rate, morning found them just as the sinking sun had left them,making preparations for a meal; and in the eyes of Billie this was theessence of delight, as we have learned long since.
The morning was to be given up to a number of minor events that would beof considerable importance, though it was in the afternoon that theculmination of the whole ceremony would come about in the thrillingrattlesnake dance, the reputation of which had gone all over the land.
The Broncho Rider Boys were deeply interested in everything, and Billieused his little kodak freely, in snapping off pictures that appealed tohim as worth preserving.
Like all other tribes of Indians, the Zunis have a test through whichtheir boys have to go before they can be called real braves, and belooked upon as full fledged warriors, capable of taking arms, and doingthe fighting for the tribe; though it has been a long time, doubtless,since the Zunis have gone upon the warpath, because their old-timeenemies, the Apaches, have been on a reservation for many years.
Still, that must not interfere in any degree from the making ofwarriors; and as might be expected, the ability to stoically endureterrible bodily pain is the main feature of these tests.
There were half a dozen applicants, being young boys who aspired toassume the privileges of the warrior class, perhaps select a futurewife, and settle down to having homes of their own, up among those tiersof rock houses.
They showed what they could do in all manner of contests, and afterwinning the admiration of all observers, these young lads submittedthemselves to the committee, headed by the old medicine man, and whichhad a programme laid out that caused some of the paleface observers toshudder, and turn away.
Those dusky sons of the desert allowed their judges to pass splinters oftough wood through certain muscles of their arms and shoulders, and notone of them by so much as a single groan manifested any interest in thematter. A stolid look on their faces told that they had steeledthemselves to endure anything, rather than be disgraced by a cry ofanguish.
They were then hung up from the supports erected for this especialpurpose, the ropes being actually secured to the wooden splinters thathad been passed through their flesh.
It made even Donald shudder when one of the judges, at an order from theawful-looking medicine man, actually started to turn the victims around;for the agony must have been terrible indeed.
One of the wretched candidates actually fainted dead away, and hungthere in that condition; but there was not a groan, not even a sigh, ora look of pain on any of their faces.
It was the greatest exhibition of courage, and ability to suffer inabsolute silence, that any of the spectators had ever witnessed. Billiehad to put his quivering hand before his eyes, and finally turn away,being utterly unable to stand it any longer.
Still, this had been the custom of these people for all the centuries.They believed that no man could assume the name of a warrior who was notable to laugh at his mortal foes as they invented all manner of fiendishcruelties in the way of torture, should he by chance fall into theirhands during war times.
Other things not so fearful were carried out, some of them ceremonialdances that had to do with the "sacred meal," and such things. Billiehad taken pictures of everything that came along; even the six danglingcandidates for honors as budding warriors had not been neglected, thoughhis hands did tremble so much at this spectacle that he could hardlypress the button of his camera.
And now it was all over but the one grand final scene that the afternoonwas to witness, and which was the culminating event of the wholeoccasion.
The boys wandered back to their camp, bent on cooking something for ameal, and then lounging around until from the bustle and confusion theyknew that it was high time they sought their places on the elevatedrocks above the little plaza, where these interesting things were takingplace.
Everything seemed to be just as they had left it, as Adrian, a littlesuspicious perhaps, made up his mind, after he had cast a quick lookaround.
Billie started in at once to gather some wood, so as to make a fire.When there was anything in the line of cooking going on, he could showan astonishing amount of spryness for a fellow so stout.
"You never saw anything like this before, I reckon, Donald?" Adrianasked, as the two of them busied themselves getting things ready, sothat when Billie had his blaze started they could put the coffee andfrying-pan on, and thus begin dinner.
"No, and I've always wanted to have a chance to watch how they did thesequeer stunts," replied the other; "but between us, Ad, I've prettynearly got my fill of Zuni practices."
"Same here, Donald," replied his chum, with a shrug of his shouldersthat spoke even more plainly than his words, "I felt a cold chill runall over me when I saw those boys hung up there, with their whole weightsupported by those skewers run through their shoulder muscles. Ugh! mademe thin
k of a beef that was put in the ice-house to hang, till it gottender. But they never whimpered once. Talk to me about your grit, didyou ever see any equal to that?"
"I think any one of those brave chaps would sooner have died outrightthan let his folks and friends hear a groan from his lips. And how longdo you suppose they'll let those boys hang there, Adrian; why, perhapsuntil sheer tomorrow morning, unless by good luck one of them chances totwist and squirm around, until he actually breaks loose, when he cancrawl to his father's hole in the rock, and lie down on a blanket. Butunder no circumstances must one of them be taken down until a certainnumber of hours have passed."
"Well, I'm glad I ain't a Zuni!" Billie was heard to say about thattime; "but what's that fastened to the flap of the tent just behind you,Donald? I declare if it don't look like a dirty piece of paper."
Donald turned quickly, and in another instant had the object whichBillie's sharp eyes had detected, in his hand.
"It is a piece of paper, and here's some writing on the same!" heexclaimed.
"Wow! another letter of warning, mebbe, just like that was at thepoisoned spring!" cried Billie, crowding close to the shoulder ofDonald, as the other read out what he found written there, in a roughway, but evidently meant in sincerity:
"Yu want to watch out fur that showman Hes aplannin to git yu all into abad hole sos yull be kicked outen thee plac Hes ben an fixed the samwith a pair of his crones to steal the ole fraud medcin mans belt thathe valles moren his lif an hid same in yur tent Keep yur eyes peeld anketch the pizen snake at his game No mor at presnt but look out yu dontgit nabbed A Frend"
No sooner had Donald finished reading this scrawl than Billie broke outwith:
"Looky, will you, boys, just the same kind of crooked writing and badspelling there was in that other warning letter. Yes, sir, it's fromthat same unknown friend that keeps watch over us, and never showshimself. Don't it beat all who he can be?"