ANOTHER WARNING.
That night saw many strange things going on in the Zuni village, to all
of which our three young friends gave close attention; for they were
deeply interested in the quaint ceremonies of these people who traced
their ancestors far back beyond the time of the red man on the continent
of North America.
They did not forget to keep close together after the shades of night
fell; for both Donald and Adrian were agreed on that subject, to the
effect that a man with such a lack of conscience as Braddon, who would
scheme to rob these poor Indians, and lure them away from their home on
a false trail, just to endeavor to learn the old medicine man's secret,
and profit by the same, would not stop at anything.
Donald had been of the same mind as the other chum, with regard to
keeping their secret for a short time, until the Zuni ceremony of the
rattlesnake dance had been gone through with. And accordingly none of
them had made the first move looking to interviewing the old chief, who
was so much taken up with his duties that he had no time for talking
now.
When they finally came back to the tent, cautious Adrian made it his
business to carefully examine it all over. Billie watched this operation
with interest. He finally demanded to know what the other expected to
find, and if it could be anything in the nature of a bomb.
"I know that away Down East, around New York City, the Italian Black
Hand do that sort of thing regularly; but I never dreamed it could
happen out here," he went on to say, uneasily; as though it was not very
pleasant to suspect that in the middle of a sentence a fellow might be
suddenly hoisted heavenward by some infernal machine exploding under his
blanket.
"Oh! I hardly expected to find that," Adrian assured him; "but this is a
queer country, and all sorts of strange things happen. Remember, now,
about that poisoned spring. With so many crawling critters around here,
it struck me that a fellow would be only showing ordinary wisdom to look
under his blanket before he lay down."
"That's right," added Donald; "and I'm going to put that horse-hair
lariat of mine in a double loop around the tent; because cowboys say
that a snake will never crawl across one of that sort. The hair tickles
'em, and scares 'em off, I understand."
"Besides, we're going to keep watch, you know, Donald," Adrian remarked.
Billie was on the point of stoutly announcing that he must have his
assignment in this part of the camp duty, when he suddenly remembered
the mess he had made of it the last time they let him try. So he was
forced to gulp down his bitter disappointment, and let it pass him by.
If Billie's ability to accomplish things were only as good as his
ambition to try, there would never have been any trouble; but the fact
was, he could not keep awake after a certain hour any more than he could
refrain from eating when hungry, and the opportunity came along.
But after all, there was no sudden alarm during the night, although the
sentry sat there with a gun across his knees every minute of the time he
was on duty, and ready to give any creeper the surprise of his life.
Perhaps those whom they fancied might want to disturb them guessed that
the boys would be on the watch; and knowing that they possessed rifles,
they did not care to take the risk of being shot.
At any rate, morning found them just as the sinking sun had left them,
making preparations for a meal; and in the eyes of Billie this was the
essence of delight, as we have learned long since.
The morning was to be given up to a number of minor events that would be
of considerable importance, though it was in the afternoon that the
culmination of the whole ceremony would come about in the thrilling
rattlesnake dance, the reputation of which had gone all over the land.
The Broncho Rider Boys were deeply interested in everything, and Billie
used his little kodak freely, in snapping off pictures that appealed to
him as worth preserving.
Like all other tribes of Indians, the Zunis have a test through which
their boys have to go before they can be called real braves, and be
looked upon as full fledged warriors, capable of taking arms, and doing
the fighting for the tribe; though it has been a long time, doubtless,
since the Zunis have gone upon the warpath, because their old-time
enemies, the Apaches, have been on a reservation for many years.
Still, that must not interfere in any degree from the making of
warriors; and as might be expected, the ability to stoically endure
terrible bodily pain is the main feature of these tests.
There were half a dozen applicants, being young boys who aspired to
assume the privileges of the warrior class, perhaps select a future
wife, and settle down to having homes of their own, up among those tiers
of rock houses.
They showed what they could do in all manner of contests, and after
winning the admiration of all observers, these young lads submitted
themselves to the committee, headed by the old medicine man, and which
had a programme laid out that caused some of the paleface observers to
shudder, and turn away.
Those dusky sons of the desert allowed their judges to pass splinters of
tough wood through certain muscles of their arms and shoulders, and not
one of them by so much as a single groan manifested any interest in the
matter. A stolid look on their faces told that they had steeled
themselves to endure anything, rather than be disgraced by a cry of
anguish.
They were then hung up from the supports erected for this especial
purpose, the ropes being actually secured to the wooden splinters that
had been passed through their flesh.
It made even Donald shudder when one of the judges, at an order from the
awful-looking medicine man, actually started to turn the victims around;
for the agony must have been terrible indeed.
One of the wretched candidates actually fainted dead away, and hung
there in that condition; but there was not a groan, not even a sigh, or
a look of pain on any of their faces.
It was the greatest exhibition of courage, and ability to suffer in
absolute silence, that any of the spectators had ever witnessed. Billie
had to put his quivering hand before his eyes, and finally turn away,
being utterly unable to stand it any longer.
Still, this had been the custom of these people for all the centuries.
They believed that no man could assume the name of a warrior who was not
able to laugh at his mortal foes as they invented all manner of fiendish
cruelties in the way of torture, should he by chance fall into their
hands during war times.
Other things not so fearful were carried out, some of them ceremonial
dances that had to do with the "sacred meal," and such things. Billie
had taken pictures of everything that came along; even the six dangling
candidates for honors as budding warriors had not been neglected, though
his hands did tremble so much at this spectacle that he could hardly
press the button of his camera.
And now it was all over but the one grand final scene that the afternoon
was to witness, and which was the culminating event of the whole
occasion.
The boys wandered back to their camp, bent on cooking something for a
meal, and then lounging around until from the bustle and confusion they
knew that it was high time they sought their places on the elevated
rocks above the little plaza, where these interesting things were taking
place.
Everything seemed to be just as they had left it, as Adrian, a little
suspicious perhaps, made up his mind, after he had cast a quick look
around.
Billie started in at once to gather some wood, so as to make a fire.
When there was anything in the line of cooking going on, he could show
an astonishing amount of spryness for a fellow so stout.
"You never saw anything like this before, I reckon, Donald?" Adrian
asked, as the two of them busied themselves getting things ready, so
that when Billie had his blaze started they could put the coffee and
frying-pan on, and thus begin dinner.
"No, and I've always wanted to have a chance to watch how they did these
queer stunts," replied the other; "but between us, Ad, I've pretty
nearly got my fill of Zuni practices."
"Same here, Donald," replied his chum, with a shrug of his shoulders
that spoke even more plainly than his words, "I felt a cold chill run
all over me when I saw those boys hung up there, with their whole weight
supported by those skewers run through their shoulder muscles. Ugh! made
me think of a beef that was put in the ice-house to hang, till it got
tender. But they never whimpered once. Talk to me about your grit, did
you ever see any equal to that?"
"I think any one of those brave chaps would sooner have died outright
than let his folks and friends hear a groan from his lips. And how long
do you suppose they'll let those boys hang there, Adrian; why, perhaps
until sheer tomorrow morning, unless by good luck one of them chances to
twist and squirm around, until he actually breaks loose, when he can
crawl to his father's hole in the rock, and lie down on a blanket. But
under no circumstances must one of them be taken down until a certain
number of hours have passed."
"Well, I'm glad I ain't a Zuni!" Billie was heard to say about that
time; "but what's that fastened to the flap of the tent just behind you,
Donald? I declare if it don't look like a dirty piece of paper."
Donald turned quickly, and in another instant had the object which
Billie's sharp eyes had detected, in his hand.
"It is a piece of paper, and here's some writing on the same!" he
exclaimed.
"Wow! another letter of warning, mebbe, just like that was at the
poisoned spring!" cried Billie, crowding close to the shoulder of
Donald, as the other read out what he found written there, in a rough
way, but evidently meant in sincerity:
"Yu want to watch out fur that showman Hes aplannin to git yu all into a
bad hole sos yull be kicked outen thee plac Hes ben an fixed the sam
with a pair of his crones to steal the ole fraud medcin mans belt that
he valles moren his lif an hid same in yur tent Keep yur eyes peeld an
ketch the pizen snake at his game No mor at presnt but look out yu dont
git nabbed A Frend"
No sooner had Donald finished reading this scrawl than Billie broke out
with:
"Looky, will you, boys, just the same kind of crooked writing and bad
spelling there was in that other warning letter. Yes, sir, it's from
that same unknown friend that keeps watch over us, and never shows
himself. Don't it beat all who he can be?"