CHAPTER XXIV.
AFTER THE FIGHT.
For more than half an hour the silence of death hovered over theclearing, which offered a most sad and lugubrious aspect through thefight we described in the preceding chapter.
At length John Davis, who in reality had received no serious wound, forhis fall was merely occasioned by the shock of the Scalper's powerfulhorse, opened his eyes and looked around him in amazement; the fall hadbeen sufficiently violent to cause him serious bruises, and throw himinto a deep fainting fit; hence, on regaining consciousness, theAmerican, still stunned, did not remember a single thing that hadhappened, and asked himself very seriously what he had been doing tofind himself in this singular situation.
Still, his ideas grew gradually clearer, his memory returned, and heremembered the strange and disproportioned fight of one man againsttwenty, in which the former remained the victor, after killing anddispersing his assailants.
"Hum!" he muttered to himself, "Whether he be man or demon, thatindividual is a sturdy fellow."
He got up with some difficulty, carefully feeling his paining limbs; andwhen he was quite assured he had nothing broken, he continued withevident satisfaction--
"Thank Heaven! I got off more cheaply than I had a right to suppose,after the way in which I was upset." Then he added, as he gave a glanceof pity to his comrade, who lay dead near him; "That poor Jim was not solucky as I, and his fun is over. What a tremendous machete stroke hereceived! Nonsense!" he then said with the egotistic philosophy of thedesert; "We are all mortal, each has his turn; to-day it's he, to-morrowI, so goes the world."
Leaning on his rifle, for he still experienced some difficulty inwalking, he took a few steps on the clearing in order to convincehimself by a conclusive experiment that his limbs were in a sound state.
After a few moments of an exercise that restored circulation to hisblood and elasticity to his joints, completely reassured about himself,the thought occurred to him of trying whether among the bodies lyingaround him any still breathed.
"They are only Indians," he muttered, "but, after all, they are men;although they are nearly deprived of reason, humanity orders me to helpthem; the more so, as my present situation has nothing very agreeableabout it, and if I succeed in saving any of them, their knowledge of thedesert will be of great service to me."
This last consideration determined him on helping men whom probablywithout it he would have abandoned to their fate, that is to say, to theteeth of the wild beasts which, attracted by the scent of blood, wouldhave certainly made them their prey after dark.
Still it is our duty to render the egotistic citizen of the UnitedStates the justice of saying that, so soon as he had formed thisdetermination, he acquitted himself conscientiously and sagaciously ofhis self-imposed task, which was easy to him after all; for the numerousprofessions he had carried on during the course of his adventurous lifehad given him a medical knowledge and experience which placed him in aposition to give sick persons that care their condition demanded.
Unfortunately, most of the persons he inspected had received suchserious wounds that life had long fled their bodies, and help was quiteunavailing.
"Hang it, hang it!" the American muttered at every corpse he turnedover, "These poor savages were killed by a master-hand. At any rate theydid not suffer long, for with such fearful wounds they must havesurrendered their souls to the Creator almost instantaneously."
He thus reached the spot where lay the body of Blue-fox, with a widegaping wound in his chest.
"Ah, ah! Here is the worthy Chief," he went on. "What a gash! Let us seeif he is dead too."
He bent over the motionless body, and put the blade of his knife to theIndian's lips.
"He does not stir," he continued, with an air of discouragement; "I amafraid I shall have some difficulty in bringing him round."
In a few minutes, however, he looked at the blade of his knife and sawthat it was slightly tarnished.
"Come, he is not dead yet; so long as the soul holds to the body, thereis hope, so I will have a try."
After this aside, John Davis fetched some water in his hat, mixed asmall quantity of spirits with it, and began carefully laving the wound;this duty performed, he sounded it and found it of no great depth, andthe abundant loss of blood had in all probability brought on the stateof unconsciousness. Reassured by this perfectly correct reflection, hepounded some _oregano_ leaves between two stones, made a species ofcataplasm of them, laid it on the wound, and secured it with a strip ofbark; then unclenching the wounded man's teeth with the blade of hisknife, he thrust in the mouth of his flask, and made him drink aquantity of spirits.
Success almost immediately crowned the American's tentatives, for theChief gave vent to a deep sigh, and opened his eyes almostinstantaneously.
"Bravo!" John exclaimed, delighted at the unhoped for result he hadachieved. "Courage, Chief, you are saved. By Jove! You may boast ofhaving come back a precious long distance."
For some minutes the Indian remained stunned, looking around himabsently, without any consciousness of the situation in which he was, orof the objects that surrounded him.
John attentively watched him, ready to give him help again, were itnecessary; but it was not so. By degrees the Redskin appeared to growlivelier; his eyes lost their vacant expression, he sat up and passedhis hand over his dank brow.
"Is the fight over?" he asked.
"Yes," John answered, "in our complete defeat; that was a splendid ideawe had of capturing such a demon."
"Has he escaped, then?"
"Most perfectly so, and without a single wound, after killing at least adozen of your warriors, and cleaving my poor Jim's skull down to theshoulders."
"Oh!" the Indian muttered hoarsely, "He is not a man, but the spirit ofevil."
"Let him be what he likes," John exclaimed, energetically; "I intend tofight it out some day, for I hope to come across this demon again."
"May the Wacondah preserve my brother from such a meeting, for thisdemon would kill him."
"Perhaps so; as it is, if he did not do so to-day, it was no fault ofhis, but let him take care; we may some day stand face to face withequal weapons, and then--"
"What does he care for weapons? Did you not see that they have no powerover him, and that his body is invulnerable?"
"Hum! That is possible; but for the present let us leave the subject andattend to matters that affect us much more closely. How do you findyourself?"
"Better, much better; the remedy you have applied to my wound does megreat good; I am beginning to feel quite comfortable."
"All the better; now try to rest for two or three hours, while I watchover your sleep; after that, we will consult as to the best way ofgetting out of this scrape."
The Redskin smiled on hearing this remark.
"Blue-fox is no cowardly old woman whom a tooth-ache or ear-ache rendersincapable of moving."
"I know that you are a brave warrior, Chief; but nature has limits,which cannot be passed, and, however great your courage and will may be,the abundant haemorrhage which your wound has caused you must havereduced you to a state of extreme weakness."
"I thank you, my brother; those words come from a friend; but Blue-foxis a Sachem in his nation, death alone can render him unable to move. Mybrother will judge of the Chief's weakness."
While uttering these words, the Indian made a supreme effort; fightingagainst pain, with the energy and contempt of suffering thatcharacterize the Red race, he succeeded in rising, and not only stoodfirmly on his feet, but even walked several yards without assistance, orthe slightest trace of emotion appearing on his face.
The American regarded him with profound admiration; he could notimagine, though he himself justly enjoyed a reputation for braver, thatit was possible to carry so far the triumph of moral over physicalforce.
The Indian smiled proudly on reading in the American's eyes theastonishment his performance caused him.
"Does my brother still believe th
at Blue-fox is so weak?" he asked him.
"On my word, Chief, I know not what to think; what you have just doneconfounds me; I am prepared to suppose you capable of accomplishingimpossibilities."
"The Chiefs of my nation are renowned warriors, who laugh at pain, andfor them suffering does not exist," the Redskin said, proudly.
"I should be inclined to believe it, after your way of acting."
"My brother is a man; he has understood me. We will inspect together thewarriors lying on the ground, and then think of ourselves."
"As for your poor comrades, Chief, I am compelled to tell you that wehave no occasion to trouble ourselves about them, for they are alldead."
"Good! they fell nobly while fighting; the Wacondah will receive theminto his bosom, and permit them to hunt with him on the happy prairies."
"So be it!"
"Now, before all else, let us settle the affair we began this morning,and which was so unexpectedly broken off."
John Davis, in spite, of his acquaintance with desert life, wasconfounded by the coolness of this man, who, having escaped death by amiracle, still suffering from a terrible wound, and who had regainedpossession of his intellectual faculties only a few moments before,seemed no longer to think of what had occurred, considered the events towhich he had all but fallen a victim as the very natural accidents ofthe life he led, and began again, with the greatest freedom of mind, aconversation interrupted by a terrible fight, at the very point where heleft it. The fact was, that, despite the lengthened intercourse theAmerican had hitherto had with the Redskins, he had never taken thetrouble to study their character seriously, for he was persuaded, likemost of the whites indeed, that these men are beings almost devoid ofintelligence, and that the life they lead places them almost on a levelwith the brute, while, on the contrary, this life of liberty andincessant perils renders danger so familiar to them that they have grownto despise it, and only attach a secondary importance to it.
"Be it so," he said presently; "since you wish it, Chief, I will deliverthe message intrusted to me for you."
"My brother will take a place by my side."
The American sat down on the ground by the Chief, not without a certainfeeling of apprehension through his isolation on this battle-fieldstrewn with corpses; but the Indian appeared so calm and tranquil thatJohn Davis felt ashamed to let his anxiety be seen, and affectingcarelessness he was very far from feeling, he began to speak.
"I am sent to my brother by a great warrior of the Palefaces."
"I know him; he is called the Jaguar. His arm is strong, and his eyeflashes like that of the animal whose name, he bears."
"Good! The Jaguar wishes to bury the hatchet between his warriors andthose of my brother, in order that peace may unite them, and that,instead of fighting with each other, they may pursue the buffalo on thesame hunting grounds, and avenge themselves on their common enemies.What answer shall I give the Jaguar?"
The Indian remained silent for a long time; at length he raised hishead.
"My brother will open his ears," he said, "a Sachem is about to speak."
"I am listening," the American answered.
The Chief went on--
"The words my bosom breathes are sincere--the Wacondah inspires me withthem; the Palefaces, since they were brought by the genius of evil intheir large medicine-canoes to the territories of my fathers, have everbeen the virulent enemies of the Red men; invading their richest andmost fertile hunting grounds, pursuing them like wild beasts wheneverthey met with them, burning their callis, and dispersing the bones oftheir ancestors to the four winds of Heaven. Has not such constantlybeen the conduct of the Palefaces? I await my brother's answer."
"Well," the American said, with a certain amount of embarrassment, "Icannot deny, Chief, that there is some truth in what you say; but still,all the men of my colour have not been unkind to the Redskins, andseveral have tried to do them good."
"Wah! two or three have done so, but that only goes to prove what Iassert. Let us come to the question we wish to discuss at present."
"Yes, I believe that will be the best," the American replied, delightedin his heart at not having to sustain a discussion which he knew wouldnot result in victory to him.
"My nation hates the Palefaces," the Chief continued; "the condor doesnot make its nest with the maukawis, or the grizzly bear pair with theantelope. I, myself, have an instinctive hatred for the Palefaces. Thismorning, then, I should have peremptorily declined the Jaguar'sproposals, for how do the wars the Palefaces wage together concern us?When the coyotes devour each other, the deer rejoice: we are happy tosee our cruel oppressors tearing one another; but now, though my hatredis equally vivid, I am bound to bury it in my heart. My brother hassaved my life; he helped when I was stretched out on the ground, and theGenius of Death was hovering over my head; ingratitude is a white vice,gratitude a red virtue. From this day the hatchet is buried between theJaguar and Blue-fox for five succeeding moons; for five moons theenemies of the Jaguar will be those of Blue-fox; the two Chiefs willfight side by side, like loving brothers: in three suns from this one,the Sachem will join the Paleface Chief at the head of five hundredrenowned warriors, whose heels are adorned with numerous coyote tails,and who form the pick of the nation. What will the Jaguar do forBlue-fox and his warriors?"
"The Jaguar is a generous Chief; if he is terrible for his enemies, hishand is always open for his friends; each Apache warrior will receive arifle, one hundred charges of powder, and a scalping knife, The Sachemwill also receive in addition to these presents two vicuna skins filledwith fire-water."
"Wah!" the Chief exclaimed, with evident satisfaction, "My brother hassaid truly that the Jaguar is a generous Chief. Here is my totem assignal of alliance, as well as my feather of command."
While thus speaking the Chief drew from his game bag or medicine bag,which he wore slung, a square piece of parchment, on which was clumsilydrawn the totem or animal emblematic of the tribe, handed it to theAmerican, who placed it in his bosom; then removing the eagle featherfixed in his war-lock, he also gave him that.
"I thank my brother the Sachem," John Davis then said, "for havingacceded to my proposal; he will have no cause to repent it."
"A Chief has given his word; but see, the sun is lengthening the shadowsof the trees, the maukawis will soon strike up the evening song; thehour has come to pay the last duties to the Chiefs who are dead, andthen separate to rejoin our common friends."
"On foot as we are, that appears to me rather difficult," John remarked.
The Indian smiled.
"The warriors of Blue-fox are watching over him," he said.
In fact, the Chief had hardly twice given a private signal, ere fiftyApache warriors burst into the clearing, and assembled silently aroundhim.
The fugitives who escaped from the Scalper's terrible arm, sooncollected again; they returned to their camp and announced the news oftheir defeat to their comrades, and then a detachment was sent off underthe orders of a subaltern Chief, to look for their Sachem, But thesehorsemen, seeing Blue-fox in conference with a Paleface, remained undercovert, patiently waiting till it pleased him to summon them.
The Sachem gave orders to bury the dead. The funeral ceremony thenbegan, which circumstances compelled them to abbreviate.
The bodies were carefully washed, wrapped in new buffalo robes, and thenplaced in a sitting posture in trenches dug for each of them, with theirweapons, bit, and provisions by their side, in order that they mightwant for nothing on their journey to the happy hunting grounds, and beable to mount and hunt so soon as they joined the Wacondah.
When these several rites had been performed, the hunters were filled up,and covered with heavy stones, lest the wild beasts should grub up anddevour the bodies.
The sun was just disappearing on the horizon, when the Apaches finishedthe last duties to their brothers. Blue-fox then walked up to thehunter, who had hitherto been a silent, if not indifferent, spectator ofthe ceremony.
"My
brother wishes to return to the warriors of his nation?" he said tohim.
"Yes," the American laconically answered.
"The Paleface has lost his horse, so he will mount the mustang Blue-foxoffers him; within two hours he can have returned to his friends."
John Davis gratefully accepted the present so generously made him,mounted at once, and, after taking leave of the Apaches, set off at fullspeed.
On their side, the Indians, at a signal from their Chief, buriedthemselves in the forest and clearing where such terrible events hadoccurred, and fell back into silence and solitude.