CHAPTER XXIV.
A DESPERATE SITUATION.
For once Billie was perfectly willing that his chum should undertake todo all the talking. He felt himself that he might not be equal to such atremendous undertaking as handling this job. And he had perfectconfidence in Adrian, who always managed to keep his wits about himunder the most exciting conditions.
Indeed, it looked as though they were close upon the edge of serioustrouble. That aroused old wizard of the Zunis was bearing down upon thelittle camp among the rocks like a pirate craft under a full spread ofcanvas. While his "get-up" was of such a character that he alwaysimpressed Billie as a "holy terror," according to the boy's way ofexpressing it, still right then and there he had such a black andforbidding look on his face that he seemed doubly ferocious.
No wonder the old wizard was furious, when his most highly prizedpossession, the Sacred Belt, said to have come down direct to him fromthe Great Manitou of the Zunis, and looked upon with the highestveneration and awe by every member of the tribe, had mysteriouslydisappeared.
He knew full well that no Zuni, young or old, could be induced to takeone step inside the magic confines of the stone house which he used ashis quarters; for they believed that instant death would follow such adaring move.
Hence, it was quite patent that only a reckless paleface, who had nosuch dread of the necromancer's power, must have entered, to carry awaythe precious possession.
And if, as seemed probable, he had learned that one of the white boyshad been seen prowling around in the vicinity of his den, and acting ina suspicious manner, what more likely than that he would turn out to bethe guilty party?
The group, native and white combined, bore down rapidly on the littlecamp. Adrian braced himself to handle the situation properly. He did notwish to do the slightest thing to incur the enmity of the Zuni people,for the boys were really their guests. At the same time he did not meanto be driven to the wall, and not put out a hand to defend himself andchum.
It was naturally toward the make-believe showman and his ally that theanger of the Broncho Rider Boy was turned. Only for this desire on thepart of Braddon to have them chased out of the Zuni country, so that hecould work his evil scheme, and profit thereby, at the expense of thepoor natives, there would have been no trouble whatever.
And so Adrian set his teeth together, inwardly resolving that ifcircumstances did compel him to make use of the weapon he was grippingin his steady hands, it would be turned upon the showman the firstthing.
Perhaps Mark Braddon realized something to this effect. That wouldaccount for his gradually falling back as he ran, allowing the others tooutstrip him in the race. Adrian believed him to be as cunning as he wasbold, and that was saying a good deal.
But now the medicine man and the three Zuni braves who accompanied himwere close to the tent, and still coming under "full steam," as Billiemuttered to himself, while crouching there, nervously handling hisMarlin, as he waited the rush of events.
Adrian threw up his gun. At the same time he made an imperious gesturewith his hand that could not be misunderstood.
He knew that the old medicine man could speak English almost as well asthe chief of the tribe. Intercourse with the whites for all these years,with visitors frequently stopping over for days at a time to study theinteresting ways of the Zuni people, had brought this about.
Besides, unless Adrian had been misinformed, the Witch Doctor had beenaway from his home in the desert on several occasions; and while hispeople believed he was at these times holding an extended audience withthe Manitou, deep in the heart of the Sacred Mountain, Donald andAdrian, on talking it over, had come to the conclusion that thekeen-witted old fraud may have been visiting civilization, to see forhimself some of the wonderful things of which these white pilgrims hadtold the Zunis.
"Stop!" said Adrian; and singularly enough they all came to astandstill, just forty feet or so on the other side of the lone tent;because there was something commanding in both the voice and gesture ofthe white boy.
Besides, those two rifles looked more or less ready for business; and itis well known that firearms may be as dangerous in the hands of boys, aswhen grown men possess them.
"Now, tell me what all this means, Pick-ne-quan-to?" called out Adrian,purposely making use of the Indian name by which the medicine man wasknown, and which doubtless had more or less to do with his strangecalling as a magician.
Thereupon the medicine man drew himself up, and restraining his anger asmuch as possible, he answered with great deliberation:
"From the lodge of Pick-ne-quan-to has the wonderful Sacred Belt beentaken. No Zuni would brave the wrath of Manitou by touching the gift ofthe Great Spirit. It has been said that one of the paleface boys wasseen near by. I have come to demand that the Sacred Belt be restoredagain to my keeping. And if this is done the white boys shall be allowedto depart in peace; but before another night; for if they stay afterdarkness comes again even the power of Pick-ne-quan-to could not savethem from the vengeance of the warriors, who would seek the blood of thefoolish ones. I have spoken."
"But we did not take your Sacred Belt; and not one of us has ever beeninside the lodge of Pick-ne-quan-to!" urged Adrian; who was trying togain precious minutes of time, for as yet he could see no sign of Donaldcoming with the old chief to save the day.
The medicine man shrugged his shoulders at this. Doubtless he fullyexpected to hear a flat denial; Braddon may even have hinted that theboys would vehemently declare they had never set eyes on the stolenarticle; but that a search of their belongings might bring it to light.
"The white boy may say that, and yet how do we know he does not speakwith a forked tongue, like the Little Father of the rattles? Will he letus enter his tent and see for ourselves?" the medicine man went on tosay, doubtless following out a suggestion from Braddon, who hoveredclose to his elbow.
"We are willing that Pick-ne-quan-to and one of his braves enter, andsearch our tent, but not the white men," answered Adrian, boldly. "We donot trust them, and if they try to pass in, it will be bad for them, forwe will shoot, and straight."
A hoarse laugh that jarred on the ears answered him.
"Don't worry about us, youngster," called Braddon; "we're ready enoughto let the Indians do the searching. Then they'll believe what theireyes show them."
He then said something in a low tone to the medicine man. Perhaps he wastelling him to be sure and turn over the skins that lay upon the floorof the tent, since it was evident that if they had stolen the SacredBelt the white boys would have been cunning enough to hide the same. Andit was under these that Donald had discovered the strange object, oneend of it being partly uncovered by a lucky chance.
So the two Zunis, the medicine man and a brave whom he selected,advanced eagerly, and vanished inside the tent.
They could be heard moving hastily around there, and evidently tossingthe contents this way and that in their endeavor to locate the missingobject.
Those without listened with vastly different emotions. The two boys werequite satisfied that nothing would result from this raid on theirproperty; because, did they not know for a surety that the Sacred Belthad been carried away, concealed on the person of their chum, Donald;and that ere now it must be in the possession of the old chief himself,to whom was being told the whole story of the amazing duplicity of thepretended showman, who was only a thief in disguise, and planning to robthe Zuni people?
As for Braddon himself, it was hard for him to repress the triumphantgrin that would force itself upon his dark face. He believed positivelythat the belt must be quickly discovered, and that his end would havebeen accomplished when the three Broncho Rider Boys were chased out ofZuni-land in disgrace, with such an angry crowd threatening them thatthey must needs hurry all they could to place many miles betweenthemselves and the excited populace of the village.
As the seconds crept into minutes, and there was no loud shout ofdiscovery made from within the tent Braddon began to manifest signs ofuneasines
s.
What if after all his ally had hidden the belt so securely that it couldnot be found? Adrian, watching closely, even saw the showman turn towardhis companion and hastily say something; it must have been in the natureof a question concerning the place where the stolen belt had beensecreted in the tent, for the younger scoundrel nodded back, and made areply that gave Braddon comfort for another minute.
But this could not last much longer. Evidently those inside the tent hadexhausted their resources, without finding anything worth while; forjust then they came dejectedly out, the medicine man looking blackerthan ever.
"What's all this?" roared Braddon, so surprised that for the moment heforgot his caution; "do you mean to say you haven't found the belt? Didyou look everywhere--under the skins on the ground, and in their bags?Ten to one my friend here would find it, if only you made them let himgo back with you. Nothing escapes his eagle eye. Tell them that,Pick-ne-quan-to; make them let him accompany you! The belt must befound, and there is no more likely hiding-place than in the tent ofthese paleface boys, who have been prowling around your lodge so much!"
This sounded like good logic to the medicine man. When his powers failedwhy should he not take advantage of those belonging to another? If oneof the white men were allowed to accompany him back into the tent, threepair of eyes might be better than two. He would demand that this bedone. If the white boys still refused would it not look as though theywere guilty, and that they feared lest the keen eyes of a paleface seethrough their trick?
And so, filled with this new determination, he turned toward the spotwhere Adrian and Billie stood, with their guns still pointed towards theparty.
"You have heard what my white brother has said, and why should not hiscompanion go with Pick-ne-quan-to into the tent, to look once more? Thepaleface boys do not dare refuse. If they say it must not be, then willthe Zunis make them prisoners; and after that even the hand of themedicine man might not be able to save the despoilers of the Sacred Beltfrom the vengeance of the furious tribe."