Only for a short while had Wilder's trick held the pursuers in check.
Habituated to such wiles, the Indians, at first suspecting it to be one,
soon became certain. For, as they scattered to each side of the cleft,
the steel tube no longer kept turning towards them, while the coonskin
cap remained equally without motion.
At length, becoming convinced, and urged on by the Red Cross chief and
the bearded savage by his side, they dashed boldly up, and, dismounting,
entered the chine over the body of the butchered horse.
Only staying to take possession of the relinquished rifle, they
continued on up the ravine fast as their feet could carry them. A
moment's pause where the red kerchief lay on the rock, suspecting this
also a ruse to mislead them as to the track taken by the fugitives. To
make certain, they separated into two parties--one going up the gulch,
that led left, the other proceeding by that which conducted to the place
where the two men had concealed themselves.
Arriving upon the little platform, the pursuers at once discovered the
cavity, at the same time conjecturing that the pursued had gone into it.
Becoming sure of this, they who took the left-hand path rejoined them,
these bringing the report that they had ascended to the summit of the
cliff, and seen nothing of the two men who were chased.
Then the stones were cast in; after them the burning stalks of the
_ideodondo_; when, finally, to make destruction sure, the rock was
rolled over, closing up the shaft as securely as if the cliff itself had
fallen face downward upon the spot.
The savages stayed no longer there. All were too eager to return to the
waggons to make sure of their share in the captured spoils.
One alone remained--he with the bushed beard. After the others were
gone he stepped up to the boulder, and, stooping down, placed his ear
close to it. He appeared as if trying to catch some sound that might
come from the cavity underneath.
None came--no noise, even the slightest. Within the shut shaft all was
still as death. For death itself must be down there, if there ever was
life.
For some time he crouched beside the rock, listening. Then rising to
his feet, with a smile of satisfaction upon his grim, sinister features,
he said, in soliloquy,--
"They're down there, no doubt of it; and dead long before this. One of
the two must have been he. Who the other matters not _Carrai_! I'd
like to have had a look at him too, and let him see who has given him
his quietus. Bah! what does it signify? It's all over now, and I've
had my revenge. _Vamos_! I must get back to the waggons, or my friend
the Horned Lizard may be taking his pick of the plunder. Luckily these
redskins don't know the different values of the goods; so I shall bestow
the cotton prints with a liberal hand, keeping the better sorts to
myself. And now to assist in the partition of spoils."
So saying, he strode away from the rock, and, gliding back down the
gulch, climbed over the carcass of the dead horse. Then, finding his
own outside, he mounted and rode off to rejoin his red-skinned comrades
engaged in sacking the caravan.
On reaching it a spectacle was presented to his eyes--frightful, though
not to him. For he was a man who had seen similar sights before--one
with soul steeped in kindred crime.
The waggons had been drawn partially apart, disclosing the space
between. The smoke had all ascended or drifted off, and clear sunlight
once more shone upon the sand--over the ground lately barricaded by the
bodies of those who had so bravely defended it. There were thirteen of
them--the party of traders and hunters being in all but fifteen. Of
those slain upon the spot there was not one now wearing his hair. Their
heads were bare and bloody, the crown of each showing a circular disc of
dark crimson colour. The scalping-knife had already completed its work,
and the ghastly trophies were seen impaled upon the points of spears--
some of them stuck upright in the sand, others borne triumphantly about
by the exulting victors. Their triumph had cost them dear. On the
plain outside at least thirty of their own lay extended, stone dead;
while here and there a group bending over some recumbent form told of a
warrior wounded.
By the orders of their chief, some had set about collecting the corpses
of their slain comrades, with the intent of interring them. Others,
acting without orders, still continued to wreak their savage spite upon
the bodies of their white victims, submitting them to further
mutilation. They chopped off their heads; then, poising these on the
points of spears, tossed them to and fro, all the while shouting in
savage glee, laughing with a cacchination that resembled the mirth of a
madhouse.
Withal, there was stern vengeance in its tones. A resistance, they
little expected, causing them such serious loss, had roused their
passions to a pitch of the utmost exasperation; and they tried to allay
their spiteful anger by expending it on the dead bodies of those who,
while living, had so effectually chastised them. These were slashed and
hacked with tomahawks, pierced with spears, and arrows, beaten with war
clubs, then cut into pieces, to be tied to the tails of their horses,
and dragged in gallop to and fro over the ground. For some time this
tragical spectacle held play. Then ensued a scene savouring of the
ludicrous and grotesque.
The waggons were emptied of their contents, while the rich freight,
transported to a distance, was spread out upon the plain, and its
partition entered upon--all crowding around to receive their share.
The distribution was superintended by the Horned Lizard, though he with
the beard appeared to act with equal, or even greater, authority.
Backed by the second personage, who wore hair on his cheeks, he dictated
the apportionment.
And as he had said in soliloquy, the cotton prints of gaudy patterns
satisfied the cupidity of his red-skinned companions, leaving to himself
and his confidential friend the costlier fabrics of silken sheen. Among
the traders' stock were knives of common sort--the cheapest cutlery of
Sheffield; guns and pistols of the Brummagem brand, with beads, looking
glasses, and such-like notions from the New England Boston. All these,
delectable in the eyes of the Horned Lizard and his Tenawas, were left
to them; while the bearded man, himself selecting, appropriated the
silks and satins, the laces and real jewellery that had been designed to
deck the rich _doncellas_ of Santa Fe, El Paso, Chihuahua, and Durango.
The distribution over, the scene assumed a new aspect. It was now that
the ludicrous came prominently into play. Though not much water had
been found in the waggons, there was enough fluid of stronger spirit. A
barrel of Monongahela whisky was part of the caravan stores left
undestroyed. Knowing the white man's firewater but too well, the
Indians tapped the cask, and quaffed of its contents.
In a short time two-thirds of the band became intoxicated. Some rolled
over dead drunk, and lay a-stretch along the sand. Others tottered
about, uttering maudlin speeches. Still others of stronger stomach and
steader brain kept their feet, as also their senses; only that these
became excited, increasing their cupidity. They wanted more than they
had got, and would gamble to get it. One had a piece of cotton print,
and so had another. Each wished to have both or none. How was it to be
decided? By cards? By dice? No. There was a way more congenial to
their tastes--more _a propos_ to their habits. It should be done by
their horses. They knew the sort of game, for it is not the first time
they have played it. The piece of print is unrolled, and at each end
tied to a horse's tail. The owners spring to the backs of the animals,
then urge them in the opposite directions till the strain comes; at the
pluck the web gives way, and he who holds the longer part becomes
possessor of the whole.
Others, not gamblers, out of sheer devilry and diversion, similarly
attach their stuffs, and gallop over the ground with the prints trailing
fifty yards behind them. In the frenzied frolic that had seized hold of
them they forgot their slain comrades, still unburied. They whoop,
shout, and laugh till the cliffs, in wild, unwonted echo, send back the
sound of their demoniac mirth. A riot rare as original--a true saturnal
of savages.