THE SPOTTED STALLION
We were free, but new problems arose to confront us. Our only
weapons were the knives and tomahawks in our belts. We were stranded
all but defenseless in a desolate, unknown country. Without the
protection afforded by our muskets 'twas exceedingly doubtful whether
we could travel far in face of strong hostile opposition. The
Awataba, any tribe of archers, easily could overwhelm us. Moreover,
Winter was coming on. Autumn was actually at hand. There were the
twin questions of food and shelter to be answered. And finally, we
had a fourth comrade to feed, protect and clothe.
But on this final score we had no occasion for worry, as events soon
showed. Kachina might acclaim the superior accessibility which
Tawannears enjoyed with the high gods, but her native self-reliance,
courage and intelligence refused to acknowledge the handicap of her
sex. At the very beginning of her association with us she claimed
and fulfilled the rôle of an equal--proving in this, as in countless
other ways, that she was of Spanish blood, no ordinary Indian maiden
to accept meekly the drab duties of a squaw. Tawannears, somewhat to
my amusement, accepted her at her own valuation.
The Seneca possessed a streak of innate chivalry entirely different
from the normal attitude of courteous toleration which the People of
the Long House entertain for their women. No nation anywhere that I
have read of in history give their wives and mothers greater honor
than these barbarians of the forest. 'Tis the women who select the
candidates for the high rank of Royaneh, the noble group of leaders
who form the Hoyarnagowar, the ruling body of the Great League. They
arrange marriages, and largely control clan politics. A warrior of
the Hodenosaunee says that he is the son of his mother, not of his
father, when you ask his name. Beyond all other Indians, ay, and
beyond all white men they yield power and place to women.
But as a race they treat women as a sex apart. The lives the men
live are denied to the women. Of love, in the sense that we
entertain it, an affection transcending the arbitrary bounds of
physical affinity, they are ignorant. Tawannears, alone, joined to
the sex courtesy of the Hodenosaunee the white man's capacity for a
flaming spiritual devotion. He loved with all his being, he
worshiped, he felt a joyous sense of service based on an equality of
partnership. So much, at least, of what they sought to achieve the
missionaries had wrought into his character. Let it be said for them
that they supplied him with the mainspring of his life.
So it was that, having asserted the protection of his gods, the
superiority of his orenda over all powers which might be brought
against it, he proceeded, with the naïveté that was a cardinal point
of his character, to admit the validity of the aid she was able to
give us, aid without which, I believe, we must have perished. Nor
did he then or ever treat her as a squaw, a woman to be honored in
the lodge and debarred from warriors' councils. And this, I must say
clearly, has seemed most odd to me. For the real Gahano or any other
Indian maid must naturally have adopted the habits, the ways of
thought, bred into her. Yet never did Tawannears doubt the truth of
the miraculous exploit he credited to himself.
So sure was he that he never mentioned it thereafterward. It had
been a gift from Hawenneyu, a recognition of human endurance and
loyalty. Very well, then, he took what Hawenneyu gave, offered
thanks and went his way. Why talk of the obvious? Anyone, so
Tawannears reasoned in his blend of Christian philosophy and pagan
faith, who strove hard enough could do what he had done. It had been
done before, he believed. He did not even question the failure of
Jouskeha--or Wiki--to seal his Lost Soul in the pumpkin-shell in
which she had first appeared, and deliver her to him so. The gods,
no more than men, must do a thing in the same way each time they
undertook it. They had acted toward him as they saw fit. He refused
to quibble over details. He was satisfied.
I have said that without Kachina we should have perished. Mayhap I
exaggerate, but nevertheless 'tis true that she was the means of
guiding us from the cliff-top above the grave of Homolobi down to the
valley-floor, which we had need to pass to gain the Eastern vents.
'Twas she who skirted the ragged mound the rock-slide had formed, and
solved the first of our difficulties by retrieving two bows and a
quiver of arrows which certain of the Awataba had cast aside in
flight. As weapons these were not much, crudely made, lightly
strung, with flint-tipped arrows none too straight or dependable in
flight; but they were better than nothing.
Kachina, too, collected corn and vegetables from the standing fields
and gardens on the far side of the river, which had been undamaged by
the catastrophe, and with these she cooked us tasty stews that helped
us to fight down the pangs of hunger we experienced as meat-eaters.
And 'twas she who knocked over a turkey of one of the village flocks
and afforded us thus a more substantial meal the next evening. And
she knew the best passes and ravines leading from the valley, and
saved us weeks of wandering, and very likely, death from starvation
or at the hand of some hostile tribe, when we resumed our journey to
the East.
She was a maid as quick in wit and devotion as in temper, scornful of
Peter's bulk whilst she respected his strength, affecting for me an
amused toleration as of one incomparably aged, an incumbrance to be
admitted for sake of Tawannears. I think at first she was attracted
by the Seneca because of the novelty of his case, the strange part it
gave her to play, the whimsical sensation of being one reborn again,
an accepted intimate and favorite of the gods. But there can be no
question she grew to love him with devotion akin to his own. He was
a man amongst millions, ay, in the very words she used, a _Man_!
Both Peter and I, whom she plagued and teased like the child she was,
came to love her as a sister and a true comrade, and because of her
mingling of Indian unconsciousness and stoicism and white woman's coy
mannerisms. 'Twas Peter, for instance, insisted upon taking from her
the ridiculous costume of turkey feathers, which was all she had to
wear. For herself, she gave it not a second's thought. I daresay it
was fairly warm if unsubstantial, and she had as little false modesty
as might be expected in one who was convinced of her semi-divinity.
Peter fashioned for her instead a neat costume of moccasins, breeches
and coat, which he contrived from his own raiment, going afterward
almost as naked as the Awataba until good fortune threw in our way
the chance to replenish ourselves. But I am again galloping in
advance of my story, an ill trick, and to be attributed to the
garrulity of old memories stirred afresh.
With weapons and food for the time being, our next concern was as to
shelter for the Winter, and on this point we were all agreed: we
desired to get as far as possible from this valley of death before
the cold weather and the terrible snows prevented traveling, and
inasmuch as Tawannears' search was ended there was no question but
that we should go east. Had we been by ourselves we three would have
elected to follow the stream which flowed through the plantations of
what had been Homolobi--and we should have been led hundreds of miles
to the southward. It was by Kachina's advice that we chose a ravine
which carried us due east into a more favorable country, where game
was abundant.
We had feared the attentions of the remnants of the Awataba, but if
any were left they gave us a wide berth, nor did we see signs of
other savages, until we came to a considerable river some four days'
journey from the edge of the rock desert, where we were attacked by a
small band of stalwart warriors, whom Kachina called Navahu. They
came at us boldly, seeing how few we were, and we pretended to flee
behind a thicket; but as they approached us there we charged upon
them with heavy clubs of wood that Peter had cut, and at the sight of
our white, bearded faces they lost all their ardor and tried to
escape, crying that we were Naakai, by which, it seems, they meant
Spaniards. We overtook and plundered several of them, besides
raiding their camp on the river-bank, and so became possessed of some
handsomely woven robes or blankets, which Kachina assured us were
highly prized by all the tribes in these regions.
Hitherto Peter and I had been obliged to content ourselves with clubs
to supplement our knives and tomahawks, it being manifestly the
wisest policy to award our two bows to Tawannears and Kachina, who
were more expert archers than we. Now we acquired two more bows and
nearly two quivers full of arrows, and plucking up our courage,
deemed ourselves equipped to encounter any resistance short of
musketry. We swam the river without difficulty, and continued east,
being halted presently by a barrier of foothills beyond a smaller
stream. Long since we had passed the confines of Kachina's narrow
geographical knowledge, and after discussing the situation we decided
to follow this stream north.
When it turned abruptly west three days afterward we were
crestfallen, but we agreed to keep to its banks for one day more; and
our perseverance was rewarded, for we discovered that it flowed into
a larger river, apparently the one we had first crossed, which seemed
to come down from the northeast. 'Twas in this direction we felt
vaguely that we should aim, and we made the best progress the broken
ground afforded. Several days' rough traveling brought us to a third
stream, which joined our river from the east. Ahead loomed range
after range of rocky peaks; southeast the prospect* was also
forbidding. We made the only decision possible, and headed east up
the course of this new river. Of course, it might have carried us
anywhere, as in this land the streams seemed to be coming from and
flowing toward all directions; but it was our good fortune that its
head waters were high on the western slopes of the Sky Mountains, and
we were able to Winter in a glorious valley such as had been our home
the year previous.
* Ormerod's course grows increasingly difficult to trace, but I
hazard a guess he came out of some point in the Wasatch Mountains of
Utah, crossed the Grand and followed that river to the
Gunnison.--A.D.H S.
We built a comfortable cabin of two rooms, and had all the food we
needed. Indeed, we grew fat and sleek, and Peter, with his clever
hands, made us new garments of deerskin. The blankets we had
captured from the Navahu kept us warm. And we whiled away the hours
when we were not hunting or working on pelts by cutting and
straightening arrow shafts, chipping and fastening stone-heads and
adjusting the feathering. We were better armed than ever, and Peter
and I improved in our shooting, although we could never hope to rival
archers like Tawannears and Kachina, who had drawn bows since
childhood--just as they were incomparably less expert than the
marvelous bowmen of the Plains tribes, who spend their whole lives in
attaining proficiency in this weapon, thanks to their being entirely
dependent upon it and unable to secure firearms.
Spring set us afoot again. We delayed our departure from the cabin
until we were certain the last snow storm had blanketed the
mountains, but once we started we moved rapidly, as Tawannears had
shaped snow-shoes for all of us, and the soggy crust packed firm.
Two weeks' journey fetched us across a divide of land, a
mountain-ridge running due north and south; and we descended by a
series of valleys which carried us out of the mountains through a
gateway betwixt two gigantic peaks that reared skyward many miles
apart.*
* This tends to confirm the theory that Ormerod followed the Gunnison
east, crossed the Continental Divide near Gannon City, and came down
into the valley of the Arkansas, with Pike's Peak on his left and
Spanish Peak visible in the distance.--A.D.H.S.
We encountered a river flowing east, which already was gathering size
and force from the melting snows of countless minor streams. For
want of more accurate guidance we followed its Southern bank,
abandoning it twice, when it seemed to deviate to the north, and
striking eastward in a bee line, although in each of these instances
we picked up the river again.
On this comparatively low tableland the snow had disappeared, and the
long grass and foliage were greening out. There was no lack of
antelope and deer, and we saw frequent herds of buffalo, the
advance-guards of the vast migrations which were shifting from the
Southern feeding-grounds. We were now in the country of the horse
Indians, those wide-ranging tribes whose bands ride hundreds of miles
for a handful of booty or a scalp, lovers of fighting by preference,
and we were at pains to avoid all contact with them. Twice we hid in
the grass to let gorgeously feathered parties ride past. Once we lay
in a patch of timber by the river-bank, unable to move, and watched a
band make camp.
But we could not hope to be successful always, especially as the
country became flatter and less adaptable for concealment as we
traveled east. There arrived a day when the river looped north, and
we abandoned it for the third time, squaring our backs to the
westering sun and entrusting ourselves to the open plains. The grass
here was still short of its midsummer luxuriance. Cover was
negligible, and the land rolled evenly in gigantic swells. We were
climbing one of these, weary and anxious to reach a water-supply, as
a war-party rode over the crest, fifty painted warriors in
breech-clouts and moccasins, long hair stuck with feathers, white
shields and lance-points glistening, quivers bristling with arrows.
They howled their amazement, and swept down upon us, two of their
number racing up the swell behind us to make sure we were not the
bait of a larger band, lying in ambush. We bunched together, and
made the peace sign, arms upthrust, palms out. But the newcomers
rode wearily around us in a contracting circle, their lances slung,
arrows notched, ready to overwhelm us with a rain of shafts. They
carried hornbound bows that could shoot twice as far as ours. When
the scouts scurried back with yells of reassurance, they reduced the
circle they had strung until we were fairly within bow-shot from all
sides. Then a chief, resplendent in eagle's feathers, hailed us in a
sonorous dialect marked by rolling r's. Tawannears started at the
words.
"They are the Nemene, or Comanche," he exclaimed. "We are in grave
danger, brothers. These men are the mightiest raiders on the plains."
"Shall we fight them?" I asked.
"Yes," approved Kachina, notching an arrow. "Let us fight them."
"What does der chief say?" asked Peter. "Can you understand?"
"A part. I have heard the Comanches talk when they came North to
trade with the Dakota. I will try them in Dakota."
Tawannears shouted his answer, and the Comanche chief summoned a
warrior to interpret.
"He asks who we are," Tawannears explained swiftly after a brief
interchange of words. "I have told him. He says that we must come
with him to his camp."
There was another interchange of remarks.
"I have told him we are hurrying to our own land, that we mean no
harm to his people, but he will not agree to let us go. He says we
are on his people's land, and we should have asked permission to come
here. I will say that we were looking for him, but----"
Tawannears shrugged his shoulders.
Once more the shouted questions and answers, accompanied by signs and
gestures, and the ring of warriors commenced to weave around us
again. The chief rode leisurely to one side, and regarded us
indifferently. His interpreter shouted two words.
"It is no use, brothers," said Tawannears. "We are to throw down our
weapons or they shoot."
"Is it a question of dying now or later?" I asked resentfully.
"It looks so."
"Let us die here in the open," proposed Kachina fearlessly.
"Nein," spoke up Peter. "If we fight here, we die, Dot's sure. If
we go with dem, we die--maype. Berhaps not. Not sure, eh? We
petter go, andt wait andt see. _Ja!_"
The Dutchman was right. We dropped our weapons, and the ring of
Comanches swirled in upon itself. We were suddenly in the midst of a
sweating mob of men and horses, scowling faces bent over us, rough
hands snatching at our possessions; rawhide thongs were lashed about
our waists, and the cavalcade dashed away between the swells, each of
us running fast to keep up with the horseman who had us in tow,
plenty of careless hoofs ready to beat our brains out if we stumbled.
But after the first mile they lessened the pace, and toward evening
we rode into a circle of teepees pitched on the bank of a tiny river.
On one side was a grove of trees, reaching to the high-water mark.
Opposite, the pony herd grazed in a natural meadow. We were bound
hand and foot and suffered to lie on the grass betwixt the
easternmost of the teepees and the horse herd, the adolescents of the
herd-guard being summoned to watch us. The chief and his warriors,
after exhibiting us to a group of several hundred people, including
women and children, shooed them all away and left us, evidently to
decide how to treat us--which, apparently, meant how to end us.
The shadows lengthened steadily, but nobody brought us food. Now and
then a man lounged over to test our bindings or look at us. Women
and children who sought to stare at us further were importantly
warned off by the adolescents of the herd-guard. The light was
failing, too--so much so that I was surprised at feeling a cold
muzzle thrust against my cheek. A delighted whinny greeted me.
I twisted my head around, and looked up into the quivering nostrils
of a mottled stallion. He nuzzled me again, whinnying with every
appearance of recognition, his white mane ruffling in pleasure. I
spoke to him softly, and he buried his muzzle in my neck, pawing with
his forehoof as though inviting me to rise and mount him. Yes, there
was no doubt of it. He was Sunkawakan-kedeshka, the spotted horse,
that I had tamed at Nadoweiswe's Teton village in the North before we
first crossed the Sky Mountains.