_A Gallant Soldier_
Sitting in the shade of some pines on the rim of a lofty mountain,
Geronimo stared down at Mexico's Bavispe River. From the mountain top
the river looked like a silver ribbon that followed the curves of the
valley and gave back the sparkle of the sun.
Geronimo shook his head. When he was a medicine man, he had tried in
vain to see the visions that should appear to all _shamans_. Though he
was no longer a _shaman_, visions came now.
He saw that long past day when he had stolen Delgadito's war horse to
fight a duel of stallions with the son of Ponce. Again he went with
Delgadito on the raid, and saw the two Papagoes who had come to steal
horses. Once more he lived in his mother's wickiup, and knew the love
that had warmed him there. Next followed his happy days with Alope, but
not the massacre at Kas-Kai-Ya.
Then the battle that avenged the massacre, the ambush of the California
Volunteers in Apache Pass, and the battles that had been since.
He thought of all that had passed since his first fight with the two
Papagoes. Geronimo had been twelve years old then. He was fifty-eight
now. He had known forty-six years of war.
[Illustration]
More visions came. Geronimo saw old Mangus Coloradus, leaving the
Mimbreno village to surrender to the white man. He saw Cochise, who
fought fiercely for ten years after the death of Mangus Coloradus but
finally gave in too.
No more visions appeared. Geronimo turned to Naiche, who sat beside him.
"You told me that you long to see your wife, your children, your
relatives," he said.
"I do," said Naiche. "Have you no wish again to visit your blood kin?"
"No one awaits me--"
Geronimo was interrupted by the whistle of a hawk, the sentry's signal
that an enemy came. The sentry signaled again, the enemy was not in
force.
The women and children ran to hurry the horses into hiding. The men hid
themselves where they could ambush their foe. In less than a half
minute, not one of Geronimo's band and no horses could be seen.
Presently two Apaches appeared. One was Kieta, who had deserted Geronimo
while raiding in Arizona. The second was a warrior named Martine.
When the pair was well within the ambush, Geronimo and his hidden
warriors sprang up. Kieta and Martine stood motionless. But both knew
that, if either raised a weapon, both would die.