THE PROFESSOR'S STORY
What a change had come over the landscape when, at sunrise next morning,
I jumped out of bed and went to the door to look out. Though the sky was
as clear and as blue as ever, though Mescalero, swept bare by the wind,
looked much as usual, all the lower parts of the range, except the
crowns of the ridges, were buried under the snow. The woods were full of
it; every hollow was leveled off so that one could hardly tell where it
used to be; while the narrow valley itself was ridged and furrowed by
great drifts piled up by freaks of the wind. It was cold, too, for with
the falling of the wind and the clearing of the sky the temperature had
dropped to zero. As so often happens in these parts, winter had arrived
with a bang.
Closing the door, I hopped back to the jolly, roaring fire of logs which
Romero had started an hour before, and there finished my dressing. While
I was thus engaged, the professor came out of the back room, where it
was his custom to sleep--a queer choice--with a couple of thousand dead
insects for company.
"Well, Frank," said he, cheerily. "Here's King Winter in all his glory.
Rather a rough-and-tumble monarch, isn't he? When his majesty makes his
royal progress, we, his humble subjects, do well to get out of his way
and leave the course clear for him."
"That's true, sir," said I, laughing; and falling into the professor's
humor, I added: "I never met a king before, and if King Winter is an
example of the race I think we Americans were wise to get rid of them
when we did."
"Oh," replied the professor, "you must not judge a whole order by one
specimen: there are kings and kings, and some of them are very fine
fellows. King Winter, though, is rather too boisterous and
inconsiderate; and to tell you the truth, Frank, you had rather a narrow
escape from him yesterday. I did not like to make too much of it before
Dick; I did not want him to think I blamed him for what was, after all,
merely an oversight; but as a matter of fact you ran a pretty big risk,
as you may easily understand when you see the amount of snow that fell
in about twelve hours; for the storm ceased and the sky cleared again
about three o'clock this morning."
"It was nip and tuck for us, sure enough," said I; "but if our getting
caught in the storm was any fault of Dick's, there is one thing certain,
sir: he got us out of it in great style. I wouldn't ask for a better
guide. I was pretty badly scared myself, I don't mind owning"--the
professor nodded, as much as to say, "I don't wonder,"--"but Dick," I
continued, "did not seem to be flustered for a moment; he knew just what
to do and pitched right in and did it. It seems to me, sir--though of
course I don't set up to be a judge--that the most experienced
mountaineer couldn't have done any better."
"Dick is a good boy," said the professor, evidently pleased at my
standing up for his young friend; "and he seems to have a faculty for
keeping his wits about him in an emergency. It has always been so, ever
since he was a little boy. I suppose he has never told you, has he, how
he once saved his donkey from a mountain-lion?"
"No, sir," I replied. "How was it?"
"He was about nine years old at the time, and as his little legs were
too short to enable him to keep up with me, I had given him a young
burro to ride. We were camped one night on the Trinchera, not far from
Fort Garland, when we were awakened by a great squealing on the part of
the donkey, which was tethered a few feet away, and sitting up in our
beds, which were on the ground under the open sky, we were just in time
to see some big, cat-like animal spring upon the poor little beast and
knock it over. Instead of crying and crawling under the blankets, as he
might well have been excused for doing, little Dick sprang out of his
bed--as did I also. But the youngster was twice as quick as I was, and
without an instant's hesitation he seized a burning stick from the fire,
ran right up to the mountain-lion--for that was what it was--and as the
snarling creature raised its head, the plucky little chap thrust the hot
end of his stick into its mouth, when, with a yell of pain and
astonishment, the beast let go its hold and fled like a yellow streak
into the woods again."
"Bully for Dick!" I cried. "That was pretty good, wasn't it? And was the
donkey killed?"
"No; rather badly scratched; but Dick's promptness and courage saved it
from anything more serious."
"Well, that was certainly pretty good for such a youngster," said I.
"By the way, sir," I continued, "there is one thing I should like to ask
you, if you don't mind, about your life in the mountains, especially
back in the 'sixties' and earlier, and that is, how you managed to
escape being killed and scalped by the Indians."
My host laughed, and I could see by his face that he was thinking
backward, as he slowly stirred his coffee round and round; for we were
seated at our breakfast, Romero serving us.
"That _was_ a serious question at first," he replied presently, "but I
solved it very early in my wanderings; and now I--and Dick, too--may go
among any of the tribes with impunity."
"Will you tell me about it, sir?" I asked, full of curiosity to know how
he had worked such a seeming miracle.
The professor leaned back in his chair, stretched out his feet and
folded his hands on the edge of the table.
"I will, with pleasure," he replied; "for it is rather a curious
incident, I have always thought.
"Before I took up the profession of 'bug-hunting,' as the pursuit of
entomology is irreverently termed by the people here, I had graduated as
a physician--very fortunately for me, as it turned out, for my
knowledge of medicine was the basis of my reputation among the Indians.
I was down in Arizona at one time, when, on coming to a little Mexican
village, I found the poor people suffering from an epidemic of smallpox.
Several had died, and the survivors, scared out of their wits, had given
themselves up for lost. After my arrival, however, there were no more
deaths, I am glad to say, and by the end of about a month I had
succeeded in putting all my patients on the highroad to recovery.
"There was a little adobe ranch-house about a quarter of a mile
up-stream from the village, the owner of which had died before my
arrival, and this building I had utilized as a pest-house. I was on my
way out to it one morning, with my little case of medicines in my hand,
when I heard behind me a great crying out among the villagers, and
looking back I saw them all scuttling for shelter, at the same time
shouting and screaming, according to their age and sex, 'Apache!
Apache!'
"The next moment, right through the middle of the village, riding like a
whirlwind, came ten horsemen, who, paying no attention to the frightened
Mexicans, made straight for me. Doubtless they had been hiding in the
creek-bed among the willows since daylight, awaiting their opportunity
to dash out and capture me--for, as I found later, it was I whom they
were after.
"To run was useless, to fight impossible, as I was unarmed, so, there
being nothing else to do, I just stood still and waited for them. In a
moment I was surrounded, when one of the Indians sprang from his horse
and advanced upon me. He had, as I very well remember, his nose painted
a bright green--a fearsome object. This apparition came striding toward
me, and I supposed I was to be killed and scalped forthwith; but
instead, my friend of the green nose, in halting Spanish, and with a
deference which was as welcome as it was unexpected, explained to me
that the fame of the great white medicine-man had extended far and wide;
that the smallpox was ravaging their village; and that they had come to
beg me to return with them and drive out the enemy.
"Greatly relieved to find that their mission was peaceful, I replied at
once that I would come with pleasure, provided I were treated with the
respect due to my quality, but that I must first visit the pest-house
and leave directions for the care of my two remaining patients. To
this--rather to my surprise--they readily consented, relying implicitly
upon my promise to accompany them; an instance of trustfulness from
which I could only infer, I regret to say, that they had had but little
intercourse with white men.
"The Indians had brought a horse for me, and after a long two-days' ride
into the mountains, we reached the camp, consisting of about twenty
lodges, where I found matters in pretty bad condition. I went to work
vigorously, however, and again had the good fortune to rout the enemy
without the loss of a patient; thereby, as you may suppose, gaining the
lasting good will of every member of the tribe--with one exception.
"This exception--rather an important one--was the local medicine-man,
who, having vainly endeavored to drive out the plague by the application
of bad smells and worse noises, was not unnaturally consumed with
jealousy of my superior success, and with the desire to discover what
charms and spells I used to that end.
"On our way up from the Mexican settlement I had several times stopped
to note the direction with a little pocket-compass I always carried
about with me, on each of which occasions I had observed that the
medicine-man, who was one of the party, had eyed the little instrument
with a sort of fearful curiosity. Later, when my patients were all
getting well, I had several times gone out to a distance from the camp
and with the compass taken the bearings of the many mountain peaks
visible in all directions, making a little map of the country. Every
time I did this, the medicine-man was sure to come stalking by, watching
my motions out of the corner of his eye. On one such occasion I called
him to me, anxious to be on friendly terms, and showing him the
instrument, tried to explain its use. But the Indian, seeing through the
glass the unaccountable motion of the needle, was afraid to touch it,
and my explanation, I fear, had rather the effect of misleading him, for
his knowledge of Spanish was very small, while my knowledge of Apache
was smaller, and eventually he went off with the idea that the compass,
which I had tried to make him understand was my 'guide,' 'director' and
so forth, was in fact nothing more nor less than the familiar spirit
through whose aid I had ousted the evil spirit of the smallpox.
"With this conviction in his mind, and supposing that the possession of
the compass would confer upon him similar powers, he screwed up his
courage to steal it--and a very courageous act it was, too, I consider,
remembering how greatly he stood in fear of it.
"It was on the eve of my departure that I discovered my loss, and going
straight to my friend with the green nose I informed him of the fact, at
the same time stating my conviction that the medicine-man was the thief.
He was very wroth that his guest should have been so treated after
having rendered such good service to the community, but feeling some
diffidence about seizing and searching his medicine-man, of whom he was
rather afraid, he suggested that I concoct a spell which should induce
the thief to disgorge his plunder of his own accord; a course which
would doubtless be a simple matter to a high-class magician like myself.
"This was rather embarrassing. I did not at all like to trust to the
tricks of the charlatan, but being unable to devise any other plan by
which to recover my compass, an instrument indispensable to me, and
impossible to replace, in that wild country, I determined to employ a
device I had once read of as having been adopted by an officer in the
East India Company's service to detect a thieving Sepoy soldier. Even
then I should not have resorted to such a measure had I not felt
convinced that the medicine-man was the thief, and that his
superstitious dread of my powers would cause him to fall into my trap.
"I therefore desired Green Nose to summon all the men of the village,
which being done, I addressed them through him as interpreter. I told
them that one of their number was a thief, and that I was about to find
out which one it was--a statement which I could see had an impressive
effect.
"Taking two straws of wild rye, I cut them to exactly equal lengths, and
then, holding them up so that all might see, I announced that the men
were to come forward, one at a time, take one of the straws, step inside
my lodge for a few seconds, and then bring back the straw to me. To
those who were innocent nothing would happen, 'but,' said I, with
menacing fore-finger, 'when the _thief_ brings back the straw it will be
found to have _grown one inch_!'
"I waited a minute to allow this announcement to have its full effect,
and then requested that, in deference to his exalted position, my
honored brother, the medicine-man, should be the first to test the
potency of my magic.
"I could see that he was very reluctant to do any such thing, but to
decline would be to draw suspicion on himself, so, stepping from the
line, he received the straw and retired with it to my lodge.
"There was a minute of breathless suspense, when back he came and handed
over his straw to me. My own straw, together with the hand which held
it, I had covered with a large, spotted silk handkerchief, in such a
manner that it was concealed from view, and slipping the medicine-man's
straw into the same hand, I perceived at once that the thief had
betrayed himself, just as I had hoped and expected he would.
"Casting a glance along the line of silent Indians, and noting that they
were all attention, I withdrew the handkerchief and held up the two
straws. One of them was an inch longer than the other!
"In spite of their habitual stoicism, there was a murmur and a stir
along the line; but the greatest effect was naturally upon the poor
medicine-man. Thrusting his hand into his bosom, he drew out the compass
from under his shirt, handed it to me, and then, pulling his blanket
over his head, he crept away without a word and shut himself up in his
lodge."
"But how did you do it?" I interrupted. "How did his straw come out
longer than the other? Did you break off a piece from your own?"
"No," replied the professor, smiling; "it was the medicine-man who broke
off a piece from his. Knowing himself to be the thief, and fully
believing that the straw would grow in his hand, he no sooner got into
the shelter of my lodge than he bit off an inch from his straw, thus
making sure, as he supposed, that its supernatural growth would bring it
back to its original length. It was just what I had expected him to do.
Nobody but myself, of course, could tell which straw was which, and when
I held them up to view, one longer than the other, the whole assembly
never doubted for an instant that the shorter one was mine and that it
was the thief's straw that had grown--least of all the medicine-man,
himself.
"He, poor fellow, conscious of guilt, and being himself a dealer in
charms and incantations, was more than anybody in a proper frame of mind
to put faith in my magic, and when he saw, as he supposed, that his
straw, in spite of his precautions, had grown the promised inch, he
collapsed at once; and thinking, very likely, that it was the compass
itself that had betrayed him, he handed it back to me very willingly,
glad to be rid of so pernicious a little imp."
"And was that the end of the matter?" I asked.
"Yes, that was the end of it. Being all ready to go, I went, leaving
behind me a reputation which was to be of great service to me on many a
subsequent occasion; a reputation due, I am sorry to say, very much more
to the clap-trap trick played upon the poor medicine-man than upon my
really meritorious service in dealing with the smallpox epidemic. My
fame gradually extended among all the mountain tribes, and since then I
have been free to go anywhere with the assurance not only of safety but
of welcome from any of the Indians, Apache, Ute or Navajo--a condition
of affairs which, as you will readily understand has been of infinite
service to me during my twenty years of wandering.
"Ah!" casting a glance out of the window as he rose from the table.
"Here comes Dick, and somebody with him; a stranger to me--your uncle, I
presume."