A STRANGE STORY.
Buffalo Bill and Red Cloud lived together, by the side of the stream,
for several days. The border king constructed a hut of wattled
branches, in which he put the Indian. There he tended him until his
injuries were healed.
It was some time, however, before he was able to totter out into the
sunlight again.
At nighttime the king of the scouts kept guard over his friend until
long after dawn, for he knew that in his weak state the Navaho would
easily fall a prey to any prowling animal or marauding enemy.
The scout took his rest during the day, lying by the side of his
patient, who could wake him at the least sign of danger.
He was sleeping thus one afternoon, when he was awakened by his
shoulder being violently shaken. He opened his eyes and reached for his
gun in a moment.
Red Cloud, who was evidently in a state of great excitement, although
he repressed outward signs of it with Indian stoicism, pointed to an
arrow that was still quivering in the wall of their little shelter
above his head.
“The Cave Dwellers! The Cave Dwellers!” he cried, and he pointed toward
a clump of trees about fifty yards from their hut.
Glancing thither, Buffalo Bill saw two squat, deformed, misshapen
creatures who looked more like big apes than men. They were almost
black in color, and their arms and legs were bowed like those of a
gorilla. As he watched them they danced to and fro and gave vent to
several hideous yells, making the most hideous grimaces at the same
time.
Buffalo Bill had heard of these strange creatures before, but he had
never imagined they could look so demoniac and inhuman. After a few
seconds one of the savages leaped forward, fitted an arrow to the bow
which he carried in his left hand, and was about to pull the string.
Before he could do so Buffalo Bill drew a quick bead on him and shot
him dead.
The other Indian gave a wail of dismay, looked at his slain companion
for a moment in a dazed way, and then promptly took to his heels and
fled through the trees. The border king did not attempt to pursue him,
for he thought it possible that some other of his comrades might be
lurking about, and it would therefore be dangerous to leave his patient.
“It was a lucky shot, brother,” said Red Cloud. “The arrows of the Cave
Dwellers are almost always poisoned, and the slightest scratch with
one of them is likely to kill a man. If the first arrow they fired had
struck me, I should now be roaming the happy hunting grounds of the
Great Manitou.”
“Who are they, and why did they attack us?” asked Buffalo Bill, after
he had satisfied himself that the savage he had shot was really dead.
“They are the Cave Dwellers,” replied the Indian, “and they attacked
us because they have a mortal feud with my tribe, and especially with
myself. It is a long story, brother, but it were well that you should
know it.”
“Let me get rid of the body first,” remarked Buffalo Bill. “If I leave
it here, the coyotes and buzzards will come around pretty soon and
trouble us. See! they are beginning to circle already.”
He pointed overhead, where several vultures were circling in whirls
that approached constantly nearer to the ground.
With his strong, broad-bladed bowie knife, the scout hollowed out a
grave a few feet deep in the loose, sandy earth, and placed the body of
the dead savage in it. Over the shoveled-in earth he rolled a number of
heavy stones, so that the coyotes would be unable to dig up the body.
Having thus given his slain enemy decent sepulture, the border king
returned to the hut and prepared a meal for himself and his patient. As
they sat smoking their pipes, after they had finished the repast, he
asked Red Cloud for the story of his feud with the Cave Dwellers.
Red Cloud thought a moment, and then began:
“They are the old people, these Cave Dwellers--the oldest people in all
this country. They are older than the Moquis, or the Piutes, or the
Navahos, or the Apaches. They were here from the beginning of time,
but when the other tribes came into the country they were driven to
take refuge in great caves far up on the sides of the mountains, where
hardly a goat can climb.
“There has always been enmity between them and the other tribes, and
though they often dwell for long months up in their caves and do not
trouble us, yet the hatchet is never buried. These Cave Dwellers are
more like beasts than men, and they are fond of eating the flesh of
their enemies, when they can capture them and carry them up the secret
paths that lead to their caves.
“But it is not alone in the caves of the mountains that they live.
They have also subterranean caverns running far into the bowels of
the earth, and they also dwell in tents on the plains at some seasons
of the year, when they come out of their caves to hunt and steal the
cattle and ponies of the other tribes.”
“And how did you manage to incur their special enmity, Red Cloud?”
asked Buffalo Bill.
“Three years ago, my tribe dwelt peacefully in our country, under the
strong and good rule of our great chief, Spotted Snake. The neighboring
tribes feared and respected us, and we had beaten the Cave Dwellers
into submission. We had buried the hatchet with the white man, and we
were left alone in our hunting grounds without interference. It was a
happy time for the tribe.
“But Spotted Snake died, and his son, Scared Coyote, was a weakling. He
ruled over the tribe like a woman, scarcely ever leaving his wigwam,
and never risking his skin in the perils of the chase.
“Gradually the tribes which his father had kept so well in check began
to encroach upon our territory, and the Cave Dwellers especially caused
us great trouble, stealing our ponies and raiding our crops. Scared
Coyote never resented this insult, for his heart was as weak as water
within him.
“Our main camp was pitched at that time by the side of the Giant Spring.
“Does my brother know it? It is a spring that bubbles up from the earth
and makes a big pond, coming from a subterranean river that flows many
miles under the ground of the open prairie.”
“Yes, I have seen it,” answered Buffalo Bill.
“Then my brother will be able to understand my story. In those days I
was just beginning to win my name as a scout and brave among my tribe,
and I was always eager to do some great deed.
“My arm was big with muscle and sinew, and I could shoot an arrow
farther than most of the braves; but I was yet counted as a boy by many
of them.
“I learned one day that the Cave Dwellers had ridden into our country
and established a camp there in great numbers. I crawled to the place
by night and listened secretly as they talked around their fire. I
learned that they were preparing a great surprise for us. Our tents
were to be surrounded by them, and the Navahos would be destroyed
forever, so that they could enter into possession of our hunting
grounds and no longer be obliged to live in their desolate caves.
“I hastened back to camp with this startling intelligence, and asked to
see Scared Coyote, who, as usual, was in his wigwam with his squaws.
“‘Tell the dog of a boy,’ was his message in reply, ‘that the chief
will see him to-morrow, because he is too busy now mixing his paints
with which he adorns himself.’
“I told the messenger that my mission was most important, and that the
fate of the tribe depended on my seeing him.
“I waited over an hour for the reply to the second message, and
then Scared Coyote--who was jealous of the prowess I had gained in
hunting--sent out another messenger to say that he was a man who
did not change his mind. He had said that he would not see me until
to-morrow, and therefore he would not see me, whatever I might have to
say. With the pride of an ignorant, foolish youth, he added that the
word of a great chief was not lightly given and could not be lightly
taken back.
“‘Tell Scared Coyote,’ I said, with my heart hot with anger within me,
‘that his word is the word of an infant in swathing clothes. Even a
chicken just hatched by his mother hen would have the sense to flee
from danger, but he will stay here and die. Then let him die!’
“I turned on my heel and walked to the tents of the other braves,
on whom I knew I could depend, and whom I knew were disgusted, like
myself, with their young chief.
“I told them what I had learned, and we held a war council.
“We decided that we would shift our tents secretly in the night and
leave Scared Coyote alone while he was asleep. Everybody heartily
detested him, and therefore the plan was agreed to by all. We
threatened to throw the squaws into the Giant Spring if they told the
chief of our plans. We resolved to wait our chance of raiding the Cave
Dwellers at a convenient season, for they greatly outnumbered us, many
of our tribe being away on a distant hunting expedition.
“We struck our tents silently at the dead of night. The stamping of the
horses was muffled by tying their feet in the long prairie grass. Any
other Indian would have heard us, none the less; but Scared Coyote did
not sleep with one eye open, like the rest of his people. He slept the
heavy sleep of a prairie dog in his burrow.
“As we rode away over the prairie, and looked back to see the chief’s
tent standing alone, we laughed at the thought of how surprised he
would be when the sun arose and showed him that his tribe had left him.
“But there was a greater surprise even than this one in store for
Scared Coyote. By a wonderful happening, the Cave Dwellers decided to
make their attack on us the very same night that we rode away, although
when I heard them talking around their fire they were going to postpone
it till the following night, in the hope that some of their tribe would
join them.
“They had moved down upon our camp in the night at the same time we
were moving off in another direction; and when Scared Coyote awoke he
found himself surrounded by the dreaded savages.
“One of the Cave Dwellers, whom we took prisoner afterward by a daring
feat, of which I shall tell you, informed us that Scared Coyote swooned
away like a woman when he saw them.
“How we laughed when we heard of the traitor’s death--for was he not a
traitor to skulk in his wigwam with the women instead of looking after
the welfare of his tribe?”
Red Cloud looked at Buffalo Bill inquiringly.
“Yes, he was certainly a skulker and a traitor,” the border king
agreed. “I do not know that you did right to leave him, but I can
understand how enraged you and your fellow braves must have been.”
“The Cave Dwellers, in overwhelming numbers, moved after us, and we
were obliged to move farther away,” continued Red Cloud. “At last
the braves who had been out hunting joined us, and then our enemies
retreated and camped near the Giant Spring.”
“But you have not told me what happened to Scared Coyote,” remarked
Buffalo Bill, interrupting the story.
“Oh, they threw him into the Giant Spring, with his paints tied around
his neck, for he behaved in so womanly a manner that they got a greater
contempt for him than we had, and they would not give him a warrior’s
death.
“Though we had abandoned the place which had for so long been our
headquarters, we had no idea of giving up the struggle,” Red Cloud
continued. “We knew that the Cave Dwellers still greatly outnumbered
us, but we nevertheless meant to attack them. At a grand council of
war I was chosen chief, in place of Scared Coyote; for, although I was
such a young man, I had distinguished myself by saving the tribe from
certain annihilation.
“I thought long and hard what I should do, and presently I hit upon a
good plan, although it was one fraught with great danger.
“Five hundred yards above the Giant Spring, on the north, there is a
great hole covered over with brushwood and prairie grass. A narrow
furrow in the ground, also covered by grass and brush, leads to this
hole, the furrow extending along the prairie for nearly a mile.
“I thought that we would creep along this furrow and hide in the hole,
and then surprise the hostile tribe when they struck their camp and
marched northward, as I would contrive they should do by sending some
of my men to make a feint of attacking them from that direction.
“I expected that by this ambush I would have them at my mercy, for they
would be surprised beyond measure to see us spring up from the ground
to attack them practically within the limits of their camp.
“But on reconnoitering the place, after we had crept along the furrow,
I met with a great surprise. The hole at the bottom was filled only
by a thin crust of earth, which broke when I pushed the end of my bow
into it. I found that the hole actually went down into the subterranean
river which led to the Giant Spring.
“Instantly a new and better plan occurred to me. Why not drop into the
water and be swept along to the spring, and thence emerge into the
center of the enemy’s camp, and attack the Cave Dwellers as they slept
in their tents? The sentries would not be able to see us, for they were
posted on the outskirts of the camp, and we should emerge from the
center.
“As we looked down through the hole we could see that the water was
surging by with tremendous force, and several of the braves who were
with me said that my plan was sheer folly. They thought that any man
who dropped through that hole would meet instant death. None of them
would agree to the plan, and we returned to our camp.
“The next night I crept back to the place, with one of my best men,
and got him to lower me down into the hole by some buffalo thongs tied
tightly together and looped under my armpits.
“I was overjoyed to find that the river ran swiftly through a wide,
high-vaulted passage. It was almost a cavern, and there was no danger
of a man having his head knocked off or being battered to pieces as he
was swept along, as the braves had predicted.
“We went back to the camp and told the braves what we had found, and
they immediately agreed to follow my lead. I selected thirty of the
best among them, and just before dawn we had assembled at the hole
again.
“Our plan was to let ourselves drop well into the river, descending
to some depth; for we did not know how low the rocks might be at the
other end of the passage, where we would have to emerge. It would not
do, therefore, to float down on the surface of the river; and this fact
made our enterprise ten times more difficult and dangerous than it
would otherwise have been.
“We agreed to wait for one another on the sides of the Giant Spring,
hidden among the water lilies and other plants that grew there; and
then, when all had arrived through the tunnel, we would rise up with a
yell and attack our sleeping enemies.
“This yell was to be the signal for the rest of our braves, lurking
around the camp, to rush in and help us to utterly annihilate the Cave
Dwellers. Finding enemies in their very midst, and thinking themselves
surrounded on all sides, I felt sure they would be too demoralized to
be able to make any real resistance.
“As I was the chief it naturally fell to me to lead the way. I slipped
down the buffalo thongs until I was within eight feet of the water.
Then I let go, dropping my hands to my sides, and went down into the
river feet first.
“The water was as cold as the snow of the mountains, and it seemed to
me that I would never cease going downward into icy depths. The moment
after I struck the surface of the stream I felt as if I had been seized
by some giant wrestler, in whose hands I was a mere baby.
“My arms were pulled from my sides by the surging, swiftly flowing
waters, and it seemed to me as if somebody was pulling my limbs apart
with terrible force. I held my breath until I thought I would be
obliged to take in some of the water, and at one moment my lungs felt
as if they were being torn asunder. There was a loud roaring in my
ears, and I thought my head would split open.
“Fortunately, just at the moment when my senses were leaving me, I
came up to the surface, and my hands instinctively grasped some reeds.
I took a long breath, and looked up, and there were the stars looking
down at me from the sky. I had come safely through the tunnel and
reached the side of the Giant Spring. As I looked to one side I saw a
number of tents, from some of which smoke was ascending.
“I was in the midst of the enemy’s camp, and my position was one of
great danger. I kept my head well down among the reeds, and waited
impatiently for my comrades. It seemed as if they would never come. I
waited for what seemed like an hour, but probably it was only a minute
or two, at the most, and then, one after another, I saw heads bobbing
up around me, first on one side and then on the other.
“One of the braves, as he came up, gave a loud gasp for breath, and
then went down, never to appear again. I regretted his loss, but only
one man lost out of thirty in such an enterprise was better than I had
ever expected.
“We got together silently on the bank, and then, drawing our tomahawks,
rushed upon the silent tents with a mighty war cry. We were instantly
answered by loud whoops from our friends on the outskirts of the camp,
and in a few moments we had the Cave Dwellers at our mercy.
“We captured several of their chiefs and head men as they were sleeping
in their tents, and many others we slew. It was the most complete
victory that my tribe has ever achieved, and it reduced the Cave
Dwellers to complete submission. A few of them managed to escape and
get back to their inaccessible caves, but never again did they make a
concerted raid upon our territory.
“Nevertheless, they cherish a bitter animosity against the Navahos, and
especially against me. One of the chiefs whom we took prisoner managed
to escape, after learning that I was the man who had dealt such a heavy
blow to his people. Evidently he told them about it, for two or three
times since then a few of the Cave Dwellers have tried their best to
take my scalp.
“This attack that you saw, my brother, was not by any means the first
one they have made upon me. I guard myself against them as well as I
can, but I expect that some day I shall fall a victim to their poisoned
arrows or be carried away a prisoner to one of their caves, and there
be devoured by them in one of their hideous feasts.”
Red Cloud said these last words calmly, with all the stoical philosophy
of an Indian, and then folded his buffalo robe about him and sank into
profound thought, gazing into the dying embers of the camp fire.
The young warrior was not a man to worry over even the worst that might
happen. The matter was in the hands of the Great Manitou, and when his
time came he would die as bravely as he had lived.