FROM BOW TO RIFLE
Leaning over the upper log of the barrier, rifle in hand, and peering
out upon the starlit slope beyond him, stood the form of Jonas, the
miner. Not a sound came to him from the mists and shadows of the valley,
and he was just remarking, aloud,
"It's as quiet as a cornfield," when a voice at his elbow explained,
"Hist! Ha-ha-pah-no--sh-sh!" and Na-tee-kah dropped upon the ground, and
pressed her little round ear against it. So, almost instantly, did
Ha-ha-pah-no, and he heard Sile saying,
"Their ears are better than yours or mine if they can hear anything."
"Didn't know there was one of ye nigh me," said Jonas. "That's the way
for a feller to lose his hair--looking too hard in one direction while
somebody comes up behind him. No, Sile, I haven't heerd a thing."
Na-tee-kah sprang to her feet.
"Horse come. Ugh!" and she held up her hand for silence, while
Ha-ha-pah-no also arose, listening intently.
"Indian ears for it," said Jonas. "'Pears to me I can hear something now
myself."
"I can't, then," said another voice. It was that of a sleepy miner, who
had waked up to follow Sile, just as he had been awakened by even the
noiseless movements of the squaws.
"Hark!" exclaimed Jonas.
It was the sound of galloping, and then a shrill whoop.
"Two Arrows!" screamed Na-tee-kah. "'Pache get him!"
Jonas had already thrown down the logs of wood in the opening, and now
he shouted,
"Rifles, boys! Ready!"
There was a great shout from the bivouac behind them, but it seemed
almost no time before a pony and his rider dashed into dim view before
them, followed by a larger shadow, from which came whoop after whoop.
"Take the hind one. Give it to him," shouted Jonas, as a streak of fire
sprang from his own rifle-muzzle. Two other shots followed, as if there
were any chance of hitting a galloping horseman in such a half darkness
as that. Hit or no hit, one Apache warrior was so utterly astounded that
he drew rein, all but throwing his horse upon his haunches, and the
pony-rider he was pursuing wheeled sharply to the right. Half a minute
later and all would have been over with Two Arrows, in all probability,
but, as matters had now turned, it was his enemy who had made a blunder.
He sat for several precious seconds almost motionless, although not a
shot had touched him, and by so doing he put himself up for a target at
very short arrow range. The next instant he was dashing wildly away into
the darkness, for the horse had an arrow in his flank to spur him, and
the brave himself had a similar token of the skill of Two Arrows
projecting from his right thigh.
"Sile," said Jonas, "he got it. You can tell that by the yell he gave."
"Come on in," shouted Sile. "There may be more of 'em. We're all up and
ready for 'em."
It looked like it, as man after man came hurrying forward, but Two
Arrows quieted them on that head. He had been sent forward by Long Bear
to announce the coming of the Nez Perces, and he had encountered the
Apache less than half a mile from the notch. It had been a close race,
although he had a fresh pony and a good start. Any hurt to his pride on
account of arriving in that precise manner, followed instead of
following, was more than cured by the undoubted fact that he had sent an
arrow into his pursuer.
"There wasn't really any show for bullet-work," said Jonas, "but lead'll
hurt jest as bad in the dark, in case it gits there."
"All come," said Na-tee-kah. "Good. Two Arrows great brave now. Strike
warrior. Fight a heap."
Judge Parks was not sorry to hear of such an addition to his little
garrison, as the Nez Perce warriors could be fully depended upon to
fight well for their ponies and lives. It was not a great while before
the head of their cavalcade came out of the shadows, and deeper and more
sonorous whoops answered that of Two Arrows.
"Big Tongue," said Ha-ha-pah-no. "Heap mouth!"
There surely was one whoop that seemed to have swallowed several others,
and Jonas remarked,
"That feller could do all the loose yelling for a small tribe. Hark to
him, now."
"Big Tongue great brave!" said Ha-ha-pah-no, tartly. "'Pache hear him,
'Pache go dead. Run."
In a few minutes more the Nez Perce ponies were squeezing their packs
through the narrow entrance of the notch, and a succession of approving
grunts from Long Bear testified the satisfaction he felt at getting into
so secure a fort. He perfectly understood the value and uses of that
barrier. When daylight came he again said "Ugh!" several times while he
was examining the stone wall and the other evidences of the skill and
zeal of his pale-face friends.
There was no more sleeping done in the notch, but there was an immense
amount of very early cooking and eating, not to speak of the smoking and
consultation, and the very general expression of a bad opinion of the
entire Apache nation. They and their works, past, present, and to come,
were condemned unsparingly. At the same time their fighting qualities
were freely admitted, and with them the certainty that no Apache
war-party would turn away from a bit of war so well begun as was this.
The sun arose, but almost to the astonishment of Sile, as well as the
Nez Perces, the hardy miners behaved very much as if they had no war
whatever on their hands.
"Them 'Paches'll come and go," said Jonas, "but we've got to have this
'ere wall finished."
At it they went, well assured that the barrier and all the land near it
would be well watched, and that it was an easy thing to do to pick up a
rifle if an alarm should come.
Sile felt less interest in the mine, somehow. The story of his exploit
had been told, of course, to his Indian friends, and he could but see
that it had made him an object of respectful admiration. There was not a
warrior among them who would not have been proud of such a feather as
that victory, but the effect upon Two Arrows was peculiar. He had
regarded himself as Sile's superior in all things which did not belong
especially to a young pale-face. It had not occurred to him that Sile
was or ever could become a "great brave." Some of the "blue-coats" were,
he knew, but Sile was not a blue-coat. He had heard stories of the
prowess of other pale-faces, but Sile was a mere boy, and dreadfully
green to the ways of the plains and mountains. He could not think of one
boy of his band who really knew less of the things most important to be
known, except rifle-shooting. His pride was touched in a tender spot,
for although he was sure he had sent an arrow into an Apache, he had
nothing to show for it. Na-tee-kah was enormously proud of that arrow,
and Ha-ha-pah-no was compelled to remind her that her hero brother had
brought in neither scalp nor horse, and had saved his own by the timely
rifle practice of Sile and the men at the gap. For all that, Na-tee-kah
had a vivid persuasion that, if the pale-faces had not interfered and
driven away the Apache, there would have been more glory earned by the
young chief of the Nez Perces. She could not be dissatisfied with Sile,
however. After a brief consultation with his father, the Red-head went
to the wagon and brought out the rifle he had won and with it a box of
cartridges. It was a capital weapon, in good condition, and Sile showed
it to Two Arrows with a great glow on his face and with a sense of
standing up uncommonly straight. Several braves gathered to look at it
and to declare it "heap good gun."
Two Arrows held it for a moment, with a look which did not need any
interpreter. It was intensely wistful, and had a quick flash of keen
jealousy in it. What was there that he could not do with such a splendid
tool of destruction as that, instead of his lance and bow? He was
nothing but a poor red youngster, after all, compelled to wait, he could
not guess how long, before he could hope to be armed as a complete
brave. He held out the rifle to Sile dejectedly, but then something like
a shiver went all over him, for Sile only pushed it back, saying,
"No; Two Arrows keep it. Take present. Good friend." And then he held
out the little waterproof box of copper cartridges of the size called
for by that rifle.
Two Arrows required a breath or so before he could believe that the
thing was a reality, and then he broke out into a yell of delight.
One-eye, standing behind him, began to bark vociferously, although
nobody had given him anything except unlimited bones.
Every Nez Perce brave present deemed it his duty to shake hands with
Sile, and Long Bear was summoned at once to do the same. Two Arrows
found himself terribly short of words to tell how he felt about it, but
he flatly refused to make a trial of that gun then and there. He felt
such a dancing in his head and in his fingers that he was hardly sure he
could hit the side of the mountain, and he did not care to disgrace his
marksmanship before so many crack shots. It even occurred to him that he
was not likely to come out of a duel on horseback as well as Sile until
he should have had some practice. He did not know how steadily Sile had
insisted on trying several shots every day since the mining expedition
started. At all events he had mounted one round more in the ladder of
his ambition, and had a better prospect for the next.