CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SCALP-DANCE.
When the combat was at an end, the Comanches busied themselves inrepairing the ravages caused by the Apache attack. Though their losseswere great, they were not so serious as might be supposed; because, asthe season was already far advanced, they had sent the larger portion oftheir property to the winter village. This accidental circumstance savedthe greater part of their wealth.
On the other hand, the Apaches had been in such haste, and the defencehad been so promptly organised and obstinate, that they had found notime to plunder. Although all the callis were reduced to ashes, thatdamage was trifling, and could be repaired in a few days.
The most serious part of the affair was the loss of some twentywarriors, who had courageously fallen in the defence of their homes.Several women and children had also fallen; but the Apaches had suffereda far more considerable loss. Without counting more than eighty warriorskilled during the rout, Black Cat and six other Apache warriors hadfallen alive into the power of their adversaries, and a terrible fateawaited them.
"What does my brother intend to do with his prisoners?" Unicorn askedValentine.
"My brother need not feel anxious about them," the latter answered;"they are whites, and I intend disposing of them as I think proper."
"It shall be done as my brother desires."
"Thanks, chief; I should feel obliged, however, by your lending me twoor three warriors to guard them."
"It is unnecessary," Sandoval interrupted. "I pledge my word of honourand that of my comrade not to try and escape for the next twenty-fourhours."
Valentine fixed on him a glance that seemed trying to read his mostsecret thoughts.
"It is well," he said presently. "I accept your parole."
"Are you going to leave this poor creature without help?"
"You love him?"
"As my son; had it not been so, you would not have captured me."
"Very good. We will try to save him; but, perhaps, it would be betterfor him to die at once."
"Perhaps so," the old Pirate said, shaking his head, and speaking, as itseemed, to himself.
"In a few moments the scalp dance will begin; will my brothers bepresent at it?" Unicorn asked.
"I will," Valentine replied, who, although caring very little for thisceremony, understood that it would be impolitic not to appear at it.
We have already said that Ellen had reached the village by this time. Onseeing her, Don Pablo felt his heart quiver with emotion, and hetrembled in all his limbs. Ellen, whose glance was idly wanderingaround, let her eyes settle accidentally on him; she suddenly blushed,and let her eyelashes droop to hide her look of pleasure.
Instinctively she felt reassured on finding she had near her this youngman, whom, however, she hardly knew, and who had only addressed her onceor twice. A cry of joy died away on her lips. Don Pablo walked up toher. He had already learned by what a concourse of singular events shehad fallen into the hands of the partisans.
"You are free, senorita," he said to her; "henceforth you have nothingmore to fear here, for you are under my protection."
"And mine," Harry said, roughly, as he hastily surveyed Don Pablo. "Ialone am sufficient to defend Miss Ellen from any insult."
The two young men exchanged a very significant glance: at the first word,each recognised in the other a rival.
"I have no desire to withdraw Miss Ellen from your protection,caballero," the Mexican said coldly. "Still, as you are a stranger inthis village, where I am among devoted friends, I fancy that my supportwill not be useless to her, and offer it--that is all."
"I gratefully accept, caballero," she replied with a charming smile. "Bekind enough to employ your influence in procuring me some shelter, whereI can take a few minutes' repose, which I so greatly need."
"Be good enough to follow me," the young man answered, with a bow; "yourwishes shall be immediately satisfied."
Ellen then turned to Harry.
"Thanks, brother," she said to him, cordially offering her hand. "Now,think of yourself; we shall meet again soon."
Then she added, addressing Don Pablo:
"I follow you, caballero."
The Canadian hunter stood for a moment abashed by this hurriedleave-taking, but soon raised his head again.
"Hum!" he muttered, "that's the way she leaves me, is it? But why beangry with her, all women are alike--and, then, I have sworn to defendher! Can I compel her to love me?"
And after these philosophical reflections, which restored him all histranquillity of mind, he threw his rifle over his shoulder, and quietlymixed among Bloodson's partisans.
Don Pablo, in the meanwhile, had conducted the maiden to a cabinmiraculously preserved from the flames. At the moment they entered, theywere joined by Valentine.
"Ah, a woman," he said, gaily, "all the better."
And laying White Gazelle on the buffalo hides, he added with a smile:
"Permit me, madam, to entrust to your care this young person, whom myfriend Curumilla has half killed. We must do all our best to restorelife."
Pedro Sandoval, so soon as he had pledged his word, had been freed fromhis ligatures, though his weapons were taken from him.
"Companero," he said, "let the senorita do what is necessary; she willmanage better than we can."
"Poor child!" Ellen murmured, sympathisingly. "Be assured, gentlemen,that I will take care of her."
"Thanks, madam, thanks," the old Pirate said, as he several times kissedthe maiden's hands. "I would give my last drop of blood to see her smileon me again."
"Is she your daughter?" Ellen asked with interest.
The Pirate shook his head sadly.
"We have no children or family, we the accursed ones of civilisation,"he said, in a hollow voice; "but, as I have watched over this poor girlalmost since her birth, I love her as we are capable of loving. I havealways acted as her father, and my greatest grief today is to see hersuffering and be unable to relieve her."
"Leave that care to me; I hope you will soon hear her voice and see hersmile on you."
"Oh, do that, madam," he exclaimed, "and I, who never yet blessedanything, will worship you as an angel."
The maiden, affected by such devoted love in a nature so rough as thatof the Pirate, renewed her assurance of giving the prisoner all the careher position demanded, and the two women remained alone in the tent.
In the meanwhile, a new village had risen, as if by enchantment, on theruins of the old one. Within a few hours, buffalo skin tents wereerected in every direction, and only a few traces remained of thesanguinary contest of which the spot had been the scene on that sameday.
A fire was kindled in the public square, and the Apache prisoners,fastened to stakes put up expressly for them, were stoically awaitingthe decision on their fate.
All were getting ready for the scalp dance, and a great number of men,tall, handsome, and well dressed, soon invaded every corner of thesquare. Their faces were blackened, as were those of Unicorn andPethonista, who led them; after these the old women and children came upin procession, and ranged themselves behind the men. Last of all, theother females came up in close column, two by two, and occupied thecentre of the square.
Seven warriors belonging to the Old Dogs formed the band; they, too, hadblackened their faces, and three of them carried drums; the other four,chichikouis. The warriors, wrapped in their buffalo robes, had theirheads uncovered, and generally adorned with feathers, which fell downbehind. The women's faces were also painted, some black, others red;they wore buffalo robes, or blankets dyed of different colours. Two orthree, the wives of the principal chiefs, had on white buffalo robes,and wore on their heads an eagle plume, placed perpendicularly.
As Sunbeam, Unicorn's squaw, was absent, the first wife of Pethonistatook her place, and, alone, wore the grand sacred cap of feathers. Allthe other women held in their hands war clubs or muskets, decorated withred cloth and small feathers, the butt of which they struck on theground while da
ncing.
We will remark here, that in the scalp dance the women carry arms, andput on the war costume, to the exclusion of the men.
The chieftainess stood at the right extremity of the band. She had inher hand a long wand, from whose upper end were suspended four scalps,still dripping with blood, surmounted by a stuffed jay, withoutstretched wings; a little lower, on the same staff, were five morescalps. Opposite her stood another woman, carrying eight scalps in thesame way, while the majority of the rest had either one or two.
The women formed a semicircle; the musicians, placed on the right, begantheir deafening noise, beating the drums with all their strength,singing their exploits, and shaking the chichikouis. The squaws thenbegan dancing. They took little steps, balancing to the right and left;the two ends of the semicircle advanced and fell back in turn; thedancers shrieked at the top of their lungs, and produced a fearfulconcert, which can only be compared to the furious miauwling of amultitude of cats.
The Apache prisoners were fastened to stakes in the centre of thecircle. Each time the women approached them in their evolutions, theyoverwhelmed them with insults, spat in their faces, and called themcowards, hares, rabbits, and dogs without hearts.
The Apaches smiled at these insults, to which they replied byenumerating the losses they had entailed on the Comanches, and thewarriors they had killed. When the dance had lasted more than an hour,the women, exhausted with fatigue, were compelled to rest, and the menadvanced in their turn, and stood before the prisoners.
Among them was one Valentine would have liked to save--it was Black Cat.The hunter therefore resolved to interfere, and employ all his influencewith Unicorn to obtain the life of the Apache chief.
Valentine did not conceal from himself the difficulty of such anundertaking with men to whom vengeance is the first duty, and whose goodwill he was, above all, afraid of alienating. But powerful reasonscompelled him to act thus, and he resolved to attempt it. He thereforeadvanced without hesitation to Unicorn, who was preparing the punishmentof the prisoners, and touched him lightly on the arm.
"My brother is the first sachem of the Comanches," he said to him.
The chief bowed silently.
"His calli," Valentine continued, in an insinuating voice, "disappearsunder the scalps of his enemies, so numerous are they, for my brother ismore terrible than lightning in combat."
The Indian regarded the hunter with a proud smile.
"What does my brother want?" he asked.
"Unicorn," Valentine continued, "is no less wise at the council firethan he is intrepid in battle. He is the most experienced and revered ofthe warriors of his nation."
"My brother, the great pale hunter, must explain himself clearly, inorder that I may understand him," the sachem answered, with a shade ofimpatience.
"My brother will listen to me for a moment," Valentine continued, quiteunmoved. "Several Apache warriors have fallen alive into his hands."
"They will die!" the chief said, hoarsely.
"Why kill them? Would it not be better to set a ransom on them and sendthem back to their tribe, thus proving to the Apaches that the Comanchesare great warriors, who do not fear them?"
"The palefaces understand nothing about war: a dead man is no longer tobe feared. If you pardon an enemy, you run the risk of him taking yourscalp on the morrow. The Apaches must die. They have burnt my village,killed the squaws and children of my young men. Blood demands blood.They have an hour to live!"
"Very good," the hunter replied, who understood that if he attempted tosave all the prisoners he should not succeed, and was thereforecompelled, much against the grain, to compromise; "the warriors mustdie; that is the law of war, and I do not seek to oppose it; but amongthem there is one for whom my heart swells with pity."
"The Apache prisoners are mine," Unicorn objected.
"I do not deny it, and my brother has the right to dispose of them as hepleases, and I cannot object; hence I ask a favour of my brother."
The chief frowned slightly, but Valentine went on without seeming tonotice the tacit dissatisfaction of the Comanche:
"I have a great interest in saving this man."
"My brother is white. The palefaces have a gilded tongue; they know howto find words which say all they wish. My brother is aware that I canrefuse him nothing. Who is the warrior he desires to save?"
"Does my brother promise me that the man shall not perish, whoever itmay be, whose life I may demand?"
The Comanche Chief was silent for a moment, looking fixedly at thehunter, who watched him with equal attention.
"Unicorn is my friend," Valentine continued. "I have a perfectly newrifle: if it pleases my brother, I will give it to him."
At this insinuation a slight smile enlivened the chief's face.
"Good: I accept the rifle," he answered. "It is a proper weapon for asachem. My brother has my word. Who is the warrior he wishes to save?"
"Black Cat."
"Wah! I suspected it: however, no matter, my brother, can be at hisease. Black Cat shall be saved."
"I thank my brother," Valentine said warmly. "I see that his heart isnoble! He is a great warrior!"
Then, alter affectionately pressing the chief's hand, Valentine returnedto his station, suppressing a sigh of satisfaction.