"True," Nadeze agreed. "I had forgotten."
Opening his pouch of _hoddentin_, or sacred pollen, Geronimo rubbed a
bit on Mangus Coloradus' forehead. Then he made a cross of _hoddentin_
on the chief's breast. He sprinkled a thin line of the sacred pollen all
around the Mimbreno leader and put a touch on the forehead of every
warrior who stood near. Finally, he applied a pinch to his own forehead
and took a bit in his mouth.
[Illustration]
And even as he finished, he knew that _hoddentin_ was not enough.
Geronimo was not so blinded by the ways of the Apaches that he was
unable to see for himself that other people had better ways. Often he
had seen _rurales_ so badly wounded that he thought they could never
fight again. Yet, in a later skirmish, he had fought the same _rurales_,
and apparently they were as whole as before.
With the rest of the nearby Mimbreno braves too stricken to do anything,
and no sub-chief near, Geronimo took charge.