CHAPTER TWO.
THE "COYOTEROS."
The moving miners are not the only travellers making for the CerroPerdido on this same day. Just as they have sighted it, approachingfrom the south, another party is advancing towards it from the north,though not yet within view of it, from being farther off, with a swellof the plain interposed.
Very different in appearance, and, indeed, almost in every respect, isthis second band from that already introduced to the reader; in count ofmen outnumbering the latter by more than treble, though in bulk as amoving mass far inferior to it. For with it are no wagons, nor wheeledvehicles of any kind; no mule train nor cattle drove. Neither are theyencumbered with women and children, least of all a _litera_ and ladies.All men, and every one of them on horseback, each bearer of his ownbaggage, as well he may be, so little and light it is. Their sole_impedimenta_ consist of a few trifling commodities, chiefly provisionwallets, with water gourds (_xuages_) strapped over their shoulders ortied to the wither-locks of their horses. Equally unobstructive istheir garb, few of them having other articles of dress than abreech-clout, leggings, and moccasins, with a rolled-up blanket or_serape_ in reserve. The exceptions are some half-dozen, who appear toexercise authority, one especially holding command over all.
His insignia are peculiar; a coat of arms that would puzzle all theheraldic colleges of Christendom. Nor does he wear it on his shield,though one he carries. It is borne on his naked breast of bronze black,in a tattooing of vivid red; the device, a rattlesnake coiled andcouchant, with tail and head erect, jaws wide agape, and forked tongueprotruding ready to strike. Beneath are other symbols equally eloquentof anger and menace; one in white, set centrally, well known all overthe world--the "death's head and crossbones."
It need hardly be said that he, embellished with this savageinvestiture, is an Indian, and his following the same. Indians theyare, of a tribe noted for bloodthirstiness beyond all others of theirrace; for they are the Wolf-Apaches, or Coyoteros, so called because ofmental and moral attributes which liken them to the _coyote_--jackal ofthe Western world.
Unaccompanied by their women and children, as unencumbered with baggage,proclaims them on a warlike expedition--a _maraud_; their arms andequipments telling of the same. They carry guns, and long-shaftedlances with pennons attached, that no doubt once waved above the headsof Mexican _lanzeros_. Pistols too, some even having revolvers, withrifles of latest pattern and patent; of which by their way of handlingthem they well know the use. If civilisation has taught them nothingelse, it has how to _kill_.
They are marching along, not in ruck, or straggling crowd, but regularformation, aligned in rank and file, "by twos." Long since have theHorse Indians of both prairie and pampa learnt the military tactics oftheir pale-faced foes--those special to cavalry--and practise them. Butnowhere with more ability and success than in the northern states ofMexico--Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, and Sonora--where Comanches, Navajoes,and Apaches have charged in battle line, breaking that of their whiteadversaries, and scattering them as chaff. "Indian file," oft used as asynonym for "single file," is a march formation long since abandoned bythese Transatlantic Centaurs, save where the nature of the ground makesit a necessity.
None such exists on the open _llano_, where this Apache band is now; andthey might move in a column or extended line, if willing it; butnumbering scant two hundred, they prefer the double file. Unlike theminers, in their three days' traverse of a waterless desert, they havebeen making way through a district with which they are familiar;acquainted with all the camping-places--every stream, spring, and pond--so they have not suffered from want of water. Nor are they likely now,since their course lies along the banks of a creek--a tiny rivulet, yetrunning, despite the continued drought. It is a branch of the Rio SanMiguel of the maps--locally known as the Horcasitas--and they aredescending it southward, thirst having no terrors for them.
Just as the sun is about to set they catch sight of the Cerro Perdido.To them it is not known by that name, but _Nauchampa-tepetl_. Somewhatstrange this, pointing to an affinity known to exist between the Indiansof Northern Mexico and the Aztecans of the South. In the language ofthese last the mountain Perote bears the same designation, the "Cofre"usually attached being synonymous with "Nauchampa," both signifyingchest, or box. For the Cerro Perdido, viewed from certain points, bearsa quaint resemblance to this, as does also the summit of Perote.
Neither philology nor ethnography is in the minds of this band ofredskins; their thoughts are dwelling on a subject altogetherdifferent--robbery and murder. For they _are_ on the maraud; theirobjective point the towns on the Horcasitas.
Just now, however, as they sight the Cerro, another question occupiesthem: whether it be prudent or possible to continue on to it withouthalting for the night. Some say Yes, but most No. It is still goodtwenty miles off, though appearing scarce ten. In the diaphanousatmosphere of the Sonora tableland distances are deceptive, as PedroVicente has said. But the native inhabitants, above all the aborigines,are aware of this, and reckon accordingly. Besides, the Coyoteros, likethe _gambusino_, have been over the ground before, and are familiar withevery foot of it. So distance has nought to do with their discussion,save as it affects the capability of their horses. Since morning theyhave made fifty miles, and are fagged; twenty more would be killing workfor them. And the twenty to Nauchampa-tepetl will be a nice distance totheir next day's noon halt.
The question of continuing on is at length decided in the negative, byhim of the grotesque heraldry dropping down from his horse, andproceeding to picket the animal on the grass. As his example has theforce of a command, all the others follow it, and camp is quicklyformed. A simple affair this; only the tethering out of their steeds,and stripping them of such caparison as they carry. Then follows asearch for dry faggots, and the kindling of a fire; not for warmth, butcooking. There is a bit of butchering to precede; these redskinnedrovers having their commissariat on the hoof--this in the shape of somespare horses driven along _en caballada_. A knife drawn across thethroat of one lets his blood out in a torrent, and he drops down dead,--to be skinned and cut up in a trice, the pieces impaled upon sticks andheld over the blaze of the fire.
But the hippophagists avail themselves of other comestibles of avegetable kind; seeds from the cones of the _pinon_, or edible pine, andbeans of the _algarobia_--trees of both sorts growing near. Enough ofboth are collected and roasted, to form an accompaniment to thehorseflesh.
Fruit they find too on several species of cactus; the best of them onthe _pitahaya_, whose tall rigid stems, with limbs like the branches ofa candelabrum, tower up around their camp. So, in the desert--for it issuch--they are enabled to end their dinner with dessert. To providesomething for breakfast besides, a viand rare and strange, but familiarto them, a branch of their tribe--the "Mezcaleros"--making it theirstaple food, even to deriving their tribal appellation from it. For itis the mezcal plant, one of the wild species of magueys (_AgaveMexicana_). The central core, from which radiate the stiff spinousblades, is the part eaten, and the mode of preparing it is now mademanifest in the Coyotero camp. Several plants are torn out by theroots, their leaves hacked off, and the skin of the core itself cutaway--leaving an egg-shaped mass of white vegetable substance, large asa man's head, or a monster mangold-wurzel. Meanwhile, a hole has been"crowed" in the ground, pit-shaped, its sides fended by flat stones,with a like pavement at the bottom. Into this red coals are flung, nighenough to fill it; an interval allowed for these to smoulder into ashes,and the stones become burning hot. The mezcals, already wrapped up inthe horse's skin late stripped off, red side inward, along with someloose pieces of the flesh, and the bundle is lowered down into theimprovised oven, then all covered over with a coat of turf. Thus buriedit is left to bake all night, and in the morning will afford them a mealLucullus need not have disdained to partake of.
The Coyoteros, well sure of this, go to sleep contentedly and withoutcare; each rolled-up in his own wrap, his couch th
e naked earth,canopied by a star-bespangled sky.
In that uninhabited and pathless wilderness, or with paths only known tothemselves, they have little fear of encountering an enemy; and aslittle dream they that within less than two hours' gallop of theircamping-ground is another camp occupied by the foes of their race, toofew to resist their attack. Knew they but this, there would be a quickuprising among them, a hasty springing to horse, and hurried ridetowards Nauchampa-tepetl.