The Scalp Hunters Part 30

The third day pa.s.sed with a like result; and we began to fear that the warriors had taken some other trail.

Another circ.u.mstance rendered us uneasy. We had eaten nearly the whole of our provisions, and were now chewing the raw nuts of the pinon. We dared not kindle a fire to roast them. Indians can read the smoke at a great distance.

The fourth day arrived and still no sign on the horizon to the north.

Our tasajo was all eaten, and we began to hunger. The nuts did not satisfy us. The game was in plenty at the spring, and mottling the gra.s.sy plain. One proposed to lie among the willows and shoot an antelope or a black-tailed deer, of which there were troops in the neighbourhood.

"We dare not," said Seguin; "their dogs would find the blood. It might betray us."

"I can procure one without letting a drop," rejoined a Mexican hunter.

"How?" inquired several in a breath.

The man pointed to his la.s.so.

"But your tracks; you would make deep footmarks in the struggle?"

"We can blind them, captain," rejoined the man.

"You may try, then," a.s.sented the chief.

The Mexican unfastened the la.s.so from his saddle, and, taking a companion, proceeded to the spring. They crept in among the willows, and lay in wait. We watched them from the ridge.

They had not remained more than a quarter of an hour when a herd of antelopes was seen approaching from the plain. These walked directly for the spring, one following the other in Indian file. They were soon close in to the willows where the hunters had concealed themselves.

Here they suddenly halted, throwing up their heads and snuffing the air.

They had scented danger, but it was too late for the foremost to turn and lope off.

"Yonder goes the la.s.so!" cried one.

We saw the noose flying in the air and settling over his head. The herd suddenly wheeled, but the loop was around the neck of their leader; and after three or four skips, he sprang up, and falling upon his back, lay motionless.

The hunter came out from the willows, and, taking up the animal, now choked dead, carried him towards the entrance of the defile. His companion followed, blinding the tracks of both. In a few minutes they had reached us. The antelope was skinned, and eaten raw, in the blood!

Our horses grow thin with hunger and thirst. We fear to go too often to the water, though we become less cautious as the hours pa.s.s. Two more antelopes are la.s.soed by the expert hunter.

The night of the fourth day is clear moonlight. The Indians often march by moonlight, particularly when on the war-trail. We keep our vidette stationed during the night as in the day. On this night we look out with more hopes than usual. It is such a lovely night! a full moon, clear and calm.

We are not disappointed. Near midnight the vidette awakes us. There are dark forms on the sky away to the north. It may be buffaloes, but we see that they are approaching.

We stand, one and all, straining our eyes through the white air, and away over the silvery sward. There are glancing objects: arms it must be. "Horses! hors.e.m.e.n! They are Indians!"

"Oh, G.o.d! comrades, we are mad! Our horses: they may neigh!"

We bound after our leader down the hill, over the rocks, and through the trees. We run for the thicket where our animals are tied. We may be too late, for horses can hear each other miles off; and the slightest concussion vibrates afar through the elastic atmosphere of these high plateaux. We reach the caballada. What is Seguin doing? He has torn the blanket from under his saddle, and is m.u.f.fling the head of his horse!

We follow his example, without exchanging a word, for we know this is the only plan to pursue.

In a few minutes we feel secure again, and return to our watch-station on the height.

We had shaved our time closely; for, on reaching the hill-top, we could hear the exclamations of Indians, the "thump, thump" of hoofs on the hard plain, and an occasional neigh, as their horses scented the water.

The foremost were advancing to the spring; and we could see the long line of mounted men stretching in their deploying to the far horizon.

Closer they came, and we could distinguish the pennons and glittering points of their spears. We could see their half-naked bodies gleaming in the clear moonlight.

In a short time the foremost of them had ridden up to the bushes, halting as they came, and giving their animals to drink. Then one by one they wheeled out of the water, and trotting a short distance over the prairie, flung themselves to the ground, and commenced unharnessing their horses.

It was evidently their intention to camp for the night.

For nearly an hour they came filing forward, until two thousand warriors, with their horses, dotted the plain below us.

We stood observing their movements. We had no fear of being seen ourselves. We were lying with our bodies behind the rocks, and our faces partially screened by the foliage of the pinon trees. We could see and hear with distinctness all that was pa.s.sing, for the savages were not over three hundred yards from our position.

They proceed to picket their horses in a wide circle, far out on the plain. There the grama gra.s.s is longer and more luxuriant than in the immediate neighbourhood of the spring. They strip the animals, and bring away their horse-furniture, consisting of hair bridles, buffalo robes, and skins of the grizzly bear. Few have saddles. Indians do not generally use them on a war expedition.

Each man strikes his spear into the ground, and rests against it his s.h.i.+eld, bow, and quiver. He places his robe or skin beside it. That is his tent and bed.

The spears are soon aligned upon the prairie, forming a front of several hundred yards; and thus they have pitched their camp with a quickness and regularity far outstripping the Cha.s.seurs of Vincennes.

They are encamped in two parties. There are two bands, the Apache and Navajo. The latter is much the smaller, and rests farther off from our position.

We hear them cutting and chopping with their tomahawks among the thickets at the foot of the mountain. We can see them carrying f.a.ggots out upon the plain, piling them together, and setting them on fire.

Many fires are soon blazing brightly. The savages squat around them, cooking their suppers. We can see the paint glittering on their faces and naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They are of many hues. Some are red, as though they were smeared with blood. Some appear of a jetty blackness. Some black on one side of the face, and red or white on the other. Some are mottled like hounds, and some striped and chequered. Their cheeks and b.r.e.a.s.t.s are tattooed with the forms of animals: wolves, panthers, bears, buffaloes, and other hideous devices, plainly discernible under the blaze of the pine-wood fires. Some have a red hand painted on their bosoms, and not a few exhibit as their device the death's head and cross-bones!

All these are their coats of arms, symbolical of the "medicine" of the wearer; adopted, no doubt, from like silly fancies to those which put the crest upon the carriage, on the lackey's b.u.t.ton, or the bra.s.s seal stamp of the merchant's clerk.

There is vanity in the wilderness. In savage as in civilised life there is a "sn.o.bdom."

What do we see? Bright helmets, brazen and steel, with nodding plumes of the ostrich! These upon savages! Whence came these?

From the cuira.s.siers of Chihuahua. Poor devils! They were roughly handled upon one occasion by these savage lancers.

We see the red meat spluttering over the fires upon spits of willow rods. We see the Indians fling the pinon nuts into the cinders, and then draw them forth again, parched and smoking. We see them light their claystone pipes, and send forth clouds of blue vapour. We see them gesticulate as they relate their red adventures to one another. We hear them shout, and chatter, and laugh like mountebanks. How unlike the forest Indian!

For two hours we watch their movements, and listen to their voices.

Then the horse-guard is detailed, and marches off to the caballada; and the Indians, one after another, spread their skins, roll themselves in their blankets, and sleep.

The fires cease to blaze; but by the moonlight we can distinguish the prostrate bodies of the savages. White objects are moving among them.

They are dogs prowling after the _debris_ of their supper. These run from point to point, snarling at one another, and barking at the coyotes that sneak around the skirts of the camp.

Out upon the prairie the horses are still awake and busy. We can hear them stamping their hoofs and cropping the rich pasture. Erect forms are seen standing at intervals along the line. These are the guards of the caballada.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THREE DAYS IN THE TRAP.