CHAPTER XXVI.
THE RATTLESNAKE DANCE.
"Yes sir-ee, that was about the closest shave I ever knew; and youcouldn't have dropped in on us at a more fortunate minute, Donald,that's what!"
Billie was saying this, as he had done half a dozen times before, whilehe himself and two chums were seated on the pile of rocks thatoverlooked the little plaza where the Zunis were preparing to go throughthe last ceremony of their yearly feast and tribal observances, therattlesnake dance, weirdest of all scenes ever witnessed by the eyes ofwhite men and women.
"Well," remarked Donald, with one of his rare and engaging smiles, "Igive you my solemn word, boys, I didn't time our coming so as to make itseem dramatic, like a Frenchman might have done. Fact is, I urged thechief to hurry all I could, after I'd told him everything I knew, andgiven him the old belt that I had hidden, and which he was afraid toeven touch at first."
"But you were gone nearly a whole hour, Donald," said Billie,reproachfully.
"That's right, I was," replied the other, "but I couldn't help it,because you see, I was unable to find the chief, who had disappeared,and no one could tell me where he was. After all, it turned out that hehad gone into some secret chamber back in the mountain to carry out someof the observances of the day. In the end I ran across him, and, well,it all came out right after all, you know."
"So far as we're concerned, it sure did," agreed Billie; "but just thinkhow Braddon and his two chums had to get out of here in a big hurry.Why, the Zunis just acted like they'd be glad to tear them to pieces,when they learned that one of them had snuck into the sacred lodge oftheir medicine man, and actually hooked that silly old belt."
"A good riddance of bad rubbish, we all say," declared Adrian.
"And," added Donald, "if they know what's good for them they'll bemighty slow to stay anywhere within striking distance of this place;because the chief told them plainly that as soon as the ceremonies wereall over, he would shut his eyes if several of his young and hot-bloodedbraves chose to go forth looking for game."
"Ha! ha! guess Braddon knew only too well what that sort of game wouldbe if he and his pards could be found!" exclaimed Billie, laughing atthe thought. "Say, just to think of it, while we're squatted here onthis rock pile, waiting to see the blessed old rattlesnake dance theytalk so much about, them fellows must be aheading away just as fast astheir ponies'll carry 'em; and chances are they'll keep hitting up thehot pace half the night, for fear of being overtaken, and shot all toflinders. Things turned out all right for us; and it was sure thedarkest just before dawn, as Adrian said."
"Well, pay attention, now, to what's doing in front," interruptedDonald, "for unless the signs go wrong the bucks are getting in theirtogs to start this dance."
There were little knots of observers scattered all around, and it mightbe noticed that where the lookers-on were whites they had been verycareful to select their seats on some pile of rocks; though the Zuniwomen and children were massed here and there on the lower tiers, or thelevel ground itself.
There was a good reason for this. Rattlesnakes may be all very well incages, with a strong sheet of glass separating them from you; but noordinary person cares to run across them in the open, where they cansuddenly throw themselves into a coil, and be ready to thrust out theirvenomous jaws at a nearby leg.
And it was generally understood that in the wonderful and thrillingceremony about to take place as the wind-up to the yearly festival, theZuni braves would introduce scores of the crawlers, so that there wasalways danger that one might break away, and wriggle in among thebystanders.
So the white visitors were not taking any chances that they could avoid,though eager enough to see all that would take place in the arena below.
The music of the native tom-toms and reed instruments was exceedinglydoleful. Yet it must have possessed a peculiar significance for thepeople who gathered around, their dusky faces filled with the keenestappreciation. To them this dance meant the greatest religious frenzy,and was of deepest significance; while to the whites it stood only for aqueer proceeding in which danger lurked in every dusky hand that grippeda serpent back of the neck.
Presently the ring began to form.
Those who have observed the dances of savage people in many far distantparts of the earth have noticed a strange similarity in the methods andcustoms of different nations. Men and women seem to dance pretty muchthe same, whether it be among the Zulus of South Africa, the BontocIgorottes of the Philippine Islands, the Hottentots of Darkest Africa,or the Indians of our own West. There is the same crouching attitude,the bending of the knees, a springy step like unto that of the tiger orpanther, and very much the same monotonous chant that rises and falls ina thrilling cadence.
Donald was not so deeply interested as his two companions, for he hadseen something very similar to this dance before. Billie squatted there,and his eyes grew as round as circles, while he stared, and noted manyremarkable things in connection with the dusky dancers, carrying ontheir grotesque ceremony.
"Oh! look at that lanky fellow holding his rattler between his teeth!"he called out, as he pointed at the object of his discovery. "All themoney on this same old earth couldn't coax me to try that dodge, nosir-ee bob!"
"But he knows just what he is doing," said Donald; "and hasn't theslightest idea that he'll be struck. If he is, they have some sort ofremedy, and in most cases they get over it. But you see how careful theyare never to try and touch a rattler when he's _in coil_; because theyknow how he can strike out like lightning, so that the quickest handcouldn't draw back in time. They keep the reptile extended at as nearfull length as they can, for then he's practically helpless to jab you,and the snake knows it too, so he seldom tries."
"Yes, I know that all right," affirmed Billie, "but no matter, I haven'tgot any use for the species, let me tell you again. They make me have afunny shiver run up and down my spine, because, don't you know, I get tothinking of how near I came to dropping down into that nest when we wereon the road here. Ugh! for one I won't be sorry when this same dance isover with."
But Adrian did not echo these sentiments. He was finding a world of deepinterest in everything that went on. The antics of the dancers, thewrapt attention paid them by the squatty women clustered here and there,and who never once took their eyes off the circle of braves passinground and round in endless procession; even the way the children werefascinated by the sight--all these things Adrian was taking note of, forhe wished to tell of his experiences later on.
"Don't forget that you've got a kodak along, Billie!" warned Donald,after the affair had been in progress so long that some of the dancershad fallen out of the circle utterly exhausted by the continuousmovements, though others immediately took their places, just as thesubstitutes on a football team are injected into the game when injuriescause some of the players to drop out of the hot scrimmage.
At that Billie awoke from his trance with a jump.
"Oh! thank you for telling me about it, Donald!" he exclaimed; "whatevercould I have been thinking about to forget that? And as I never expectto see another snake-dance in all my life, why, how could I haveremedied the blunder? But thank goodness it ain't too late yet."
Accordingly he set diligently to work to repair his error, and for sometime the clicking of the rapid shutter told that Billie was gettingsnapshots of the whole scene, and individual parts of the same, as fastas he could work it.
As the afternoon was now waning, the last act in the list of ceremoniesbade fair to soon close in a blaze of glory.
The wild dancers, spurred on by the continued incantations of theweird-looking old medicine man, and their own desire to show off beforetheir people, seemed to be vying with one another in the endeavor toexcel in grotesque acts. They wrapped the writhing snakes around theirnecks, and held them between their teeth in seemingly reckless fashion,much to the horror of some of the white spectators, but adding greatlyto the delight of the dusky horde that gathered there, and gaped, andadmired, and applauded in
their own fashion.
After all human nature is pretty much alike, when you come to take offthe outward veneer that is given by different associations and methodsof living. Adrian had seen just such sights as these, minus therattlesnakes, and the weird dress of the participants, in many agathering in the East, where thousands went fairly wild over a fiercelycontested football game.
As the twilight began to fall the furious dance came to an end at thecommand of the medicine man, whose word was law with the Zunis. He knewit had now reached its proper conclusion, and that the warriors werealmost at the point of utter exhaustion.
"All over but the shoutin', and perhaps it's safe for us to get down offthis rock pile now," remarked Billie, as the last of the dancers wentstaggering away, leaving the arena that had been the theater of theirweird ceremony to the thronging squaws and boys and girls.
So they sought their tent, to prepare the evening meal. Of course theirtalk was mostly about the remarkable scene they had just witnessed, andwhich would never entirely fade from their minds.
"And if my pictures only come out good, as I reckon they ought," Billiewent on to remark, "I'll be able to stagger some of the fellows at home,when I get there. But there's one thing I'm ahoping, and that is thatnone of them wrigglers got away. I'd sure hate to wake up tonight from ajolly good snooze, to find a big old rattler perched on my chest, andready to jab me with his business end if I so much as moved my littlefinger. Wow! it makes me creep just to think of it."
And indeed, the subject was on Billie's mind so much that he later onmade sure to thoroughly examine every inch of space inside the canvas,shaking their blankets carefully, and finally getting Donald to againencircle the tent with that horse-hair lariat of his, over which he hadsaid no snake would ever dare crawl.
And so ended the great day at the Zuni village, which the Indians lookedforward to each year with the liveliest anticipations; and the threechums had reason to feel thankful that the bold plot of Braddon theshowman had not resulted in their being expelled from the place withouta chance to see the "circus," as Billie called it.