THE SCALP-DANCE.
When the combat was at an end, the Comanches busied themselves in
repairing the ravages caused by the Apache attack. Though their losses
were great, they were not so serious as might be supposed; because, as
the season was already far advanced, they had sent the larger portion of
their property to the winter village. This accidental circumstance saved
the greater part of their wealth.
On the other hand, the Apaches had been in such haste, and the defence
had been so promptly organised and obstinate, that they had found no
time to plunder. Although all the callis were reduced to ashes, that
damage was trifling, and could be repaired in a few days.
The most serious part of the affair was the loss of some twenty
warriors, who had courageously fallen in the defence of their homes.
Several women and children had also fallen; but the Apaches had suffered
a far more considerable loss. Without counting more than eighty warriors
killed during the rout, Black Cat and six other Apache warriors had
fallen alive into the power of their adversaries, and a terrible fate
awaited them.
"What does my brother intend to do with his prisoners?" Unicorn asked
Valentine.
"My brother need not feel anxious about them," the latter answered;
"they are whites, and I intend disposing of them as I think proper."
"It shall be done as my brother desires."
"Thanks, chief; I should feel obliged, however, by your lending me two
or three warriors to guard them."
"It is unnecessary," Sandoval interrupted. "I pledge my word of honour
and that of my comrade not to try and escape for the next twenty-four
hours."
Valentine fixed on him a glance that seemed trying to read his most
secret thoughts.
"It is well," he said presently. "I accept your parole."
"Are you going to leave this poor creature without help?"
"You love him?"
"As my son; had it not been so, you would not have captured me."
"Very good. We will try to save him; but, perhaps, it would be better
for him to die at once."
"Perhaps so," the old Pirate said, shaking his head, and speaking, as it
seemed, to himself.
"In a few moments the scalp dance will begin; will my brothers be
present at it?" Unicorn asked.
"I will," Valentine replied, who, although caring very little for this
ceremony, understood that it would be impolitic not to appear at it.
We have already said that Ellen had reached the village by this time. On
seeing her, Don Pablo felt his heart quiver with emotion, and he
trembled in all his limbs. Ellen, whose glance was idly wandering
around, let her eyes settle accidentally on him; she suddenly blushed,
and let her eyelashes droop to hide her look of pleasure.
Instinctively she felt reassured on finding she had near her this young
man, whom, however, she hardly knew, and who had only addressed her once
or twice. A cry of joy died away on her lips. Don Pablo walked up to
her. He had already learned by what a concourse of singular events she
had fallen into the hands of the partisans.
"You are free, señorita," he said to her; "henceforth you have nothing
more to fear here, for you are under my protection."
"And mine," Harry said, roughly, as he hastily surveyed Don Pablo. "I
alone am sufficient to defend Miss Ellen from any insult."
The two young men exchanged a very significant glance: at the first word,
each recognised in the other a rival.
"I have no desire to withdraw Miss Ellen from your protection,
caballero," the Mexican said coldly. "Still, as you are a stranger in
this village, where I am among devoted friends, I fancy that my support
will not be useless to her, and offer it--that is all."
"I gratefully accept, caballero," she replied with a charming smile. "Be
kind enough to employ your influence in procuring me some shelter, where
I can take a few minutes' repose, which I so greatly need."
"Be good enough to follow me," the young man answered, with a bow; "your
wishes shall be immediately satisfied."
Ellen then turned to Harry.
"Thanks, brother," she said to him, cordially offering her hand. "Now,
think of yourself; we shall meet again soon."
Then she added, addressing Don Pablo:
"I follow you, caballero."
The Canadian hunter stood for a moment abashed by this hurried
leave-taking, but soon raised his head again.
"Hum!" he muttered, "that's the way she leaves me, is it? But why be
angry with her, all women are alike--and, then, I have sworn to defend
her! Can I compel her to love me?"
And after these philosophical reflections, which restored him all his
tranquillity of mind, he threw his rifle over his shoulder, and quietly
mixed among Bloodson's partisans.
Don Pablo, in the meanwhile, had conducted the maiden to a cabin
miraculously preserved from the flames. At the moment they entered, they
were joined by Valentine.
"Ah, a woman," he said, gaily, "all the better."
And laying White Gazelle on the buffalo hides, he added with a smile:
"Permit me, madam, to entrust to your care this young person, whom my
friend Curumilla has half killed. We must do all our best to restore
life."
Pedro Sandoval, so soon as he had pledged his word, had been freed from
his ligatures, though his weapons were taken from him.
"Compañero," he said, "let the señorita do what is necessary; she will
manage better than we can."
"Poor child!" Ellen murmured, sympathisingly. "Be assured, gentlemen,
that I will take care of her."
"Thanks, madam, thanks," the old Pirate said, as he several times kissed
the maiden's hands. "I would give my last drop of blood to see her smile
on me again."
"Is she your daughter?" Ellen asked with interest.
The Pirate shook his head sadly.
"We have no children or family, we the accursed ones of civilisation,"
he said, in a hollow voice; "but, as I have watched over this poor girl
almost since her birth, I love her as we are capable of loving. I have
always acted as her father, and my greatest grief today is to see her
suffering and be unable to relieve her."
"Leave that care to me; I hope you will soon hear her voice and see her
smile on you."
"Oh, do that, madam," he exclaimed, "and I, who never yet blessed
anything, will worship you as an angel."
The maiden, affected by such devoted love in a nature so rough as that
of the Pirate, renewed her assurance of giving the prisoner all the care
her position demanded, and the two women remained alone in the tent.
In the meanwhile, a new village had risen, as if by enchantment, on the
ruins of the old one. Within a few hours, buffalo skin tents were
erected in every direction, and only a few traces remained of the
sanguinary contest of which the spot had been the scene on that same
day.
A fire was kindled in the public square, and the Apache prisoners,
fastened to stakes put up expressly for them, were stoically awaiting
the decision on their fate.
All were getting ready for the scalp dance, and a great number of men,
tall, handsome, and well dressed, soon invaded every corner of the
square. Their faces were blackened, as were those of Unicorn and
Pethonista, who led them; after these the old women and children came up
in procession, and ranged themselves behind the men. Last of all, the
other females came up in close column, two by two, and occupied the
centre of the square.
Seven warriors belonging to the Old Dogs formed the band; they, too, had
blackened their faces, and three of them carried drums; the other four,
chichikouis. The warriors, wrapped in their buffalo robes, had their
heads uncovered, and generally adorned with feathers, which fell down
behind. The women's faces were also painted, some black, others red;
they wore buffalo robes, or blankets dyed of different colours. Two or
three, the wives of the principal chiefs, had on white buffalo robes,
and wore on their heads an eagle plume, placed perpendicularly.
As Sunbeam, Unicorn's squaw, was absent, the first wife of Pethonista
took her place, and, alone, wore the grand sacred cap of feathers. All
the other women held in their hands war clubs or muskets, decorated with
red cloth and small feathers, the butt of which they struck on the
ground while dancing.
We will remark here, that in the scalp dance the women carry arms, and
put on the war costume, to the exclusion of the men.
The chieftainess stood at the right extremity of the band. She had in
her hand a long wand, from whose upper end were suspended four scalps,
still dripping with blood, surmounted by a stuffed jay, with
outstretched wings; a little lower, on the same staff, were five more
scalps. Opposite her stood another woman, carrying eight scalps in the
same way, while the majority of the rest had either one or two.
The women formed a semicircle; the musicians, placed on the right, began
their deafening noise, beating the drums with all their strength,
singing their exploits, and shaking the chichikouis. The squaws then
began dancing. They took little steps, balancing to the right and left;
the two ends of the semicircle advanced and fell back in turn; the
dancers shrieked at the top of their lungs, and produced a fearful
concert, which can only be compared to the furious miauwling of a
multitude of cats.
The Apache prisoners were fastened to stakes in the centre of the
circle. Each time the women approached them in their evolutions, they
overwhelmed them with insults, spat in their faces, and called them
cowards, hares, rabbits, and dogs without hearts.
The Apaches smiled at these insults, to which they replied by
enumerating the losses they had entailed on the Comanches, and the
warriors they had killed. When the dance had lasted more than an hour,
the women, exhausted with fatigue, were compelled to rest, and the men
advanced in their turn, and stood before the prisoners.
Among them was one Valentine would have liked to save--it was Black Cat.
The hunter therefore resolved to interfere, and employ all his influence
with Unicorn to obtain the life of the Apache chief.
Valentine did not conceal from himself the difficulty of such an
undertaking with men to whom vengeance is the first duty, and whose good
will he was, above all, afraid of alienating. But powerful reasons
compelled him to act thus, and he resolved to attempt it. He therefore
advanced without hesitation to Unicorn, who was preparing the punishment
of the prisoners, and touched him lightly on the arm.
"My brother is the first sachem of the Comanches," he said to him.
The chief bowed silently.
"His calli," Valentine continued, in an insinuating voice, "disappears
under the scalps of his enemies, so numerous are they, for my brother is
more terrible than lightning in combat."
The Indian regarded the hunter with a proud smile.
"What does my brother want?" he asked.
"Unicorn," Valentine continued, "is no less wise at the council fire
than he is intrepid in battle. He is the most experienced and revered of
the warriors of his nation."
"My brother, the great pale hunter, must explain himself clearly, in
order that I may understand him," the sachem answered, with a shade of
impatience.
"My brother will listen to me for a moment," Valentine continued, quite
unmoved. "Several Apache warriors have fallen alive into his hands."
"They will die!" the chief said, hoarsely.
"Why kill them? Would it not be better to set a ransom on them and send
them back to their tribe, thus proving to the Apaches that the Comanches
are great warriors, who do not fear them?"
"The palefaces understand nothing about war: a dead man is no longer to
be feared. If you pardon an enemy, you run the risk of him taking your
scalp on the morrow. The Apaches must die. They have burnt my village,
killed the squaws and children of my young men. Blood demands blood.
They have an hour to live!"
"Very good," the hunter replied, who understood that if he attempted to
save all the prisoners he should not succeed, and was therefore
compelled, much against the grain, to compromise; "the warriors must
die; that is the law of war, and I do not seek to oppose it; but among
them there is one for whom my heart swells with pity."
"The Apache prisoners are mine," Unicorn objected.
"I do not deny it, and my brother has the right to dispose of them as he
pleases, and I cannot object; hence I ask a favour of my brother."
The chief frowned slightly, but Valentine went on without seeming to
notice the tacit dissatisfaction of the Comanche:
"I have a great interest in saving this man."
"My brother is white. The palefaces have a gilded tongue; they know how
to find words which say all they wish. My brother is aware that I can
refuse him nothing. Who is the warrior he desires to save?"
"Does my brother promise me that the man shall not perish, whoever it
may be, whose life I may demand?"
The Comanche Chief was silent for a moment, looking fixedly at the
hunter, who watched him with equal attention.
"Unicorn is my friend," Valentine continued. "I have a perfectly new
rifle: if it pleases my brother, I will give it to him."
At this insinuation a slight smile enlivened the chief's face.
"Good: I accept the rifle," he answered. "It is a proper weapon for a
sachem. My brother has my word. Who is the warrior he wishes to save?"
"Black Cat."
"Wah! I suspected it: however, no matter, my brother, can be at his
ease. Black Cat shall be saved."
"I thank my brother," Valentine said warmly. "I see that his heart is
noble! He is a great warrior!"
Then, alter affectionately pressing the chief's hand, Valentine returned
to his station, suppressing a sigh of satisfaction.