A STRANGE LETTER FROM MEXICO.
Ping and Tah-nu-nu had not been staked out that first night after their
capture. Precisely how to keep them safely, yet humanely, had at first
been a puzzle.
"If they once got away into the brush," said Sam Herrick, "you might as
well hunt for a pair of sage-hens, and they'd about die before they'd be
caught again. The boy's a game little critter, and the gal's got an eye
like a hawk."
It was decided that they must be tied up, but it was so done as to
inflict very little hardship. A thong of hide, knotted hard, so that
nothing but a knife could undo the knot, connected an arm of each
captive with a stout arm of a mesquit bush, close to the sharp-eyed
sentinel at the head of the widest path.
There was no danger of any escape, and both Ping and his sister were
wiser and tamer than Sam gave them credit for. They understood the
kindness of Colonel Evans better and better every time they looked at
the little mirrors or the stunning handkerchiefs. They were also aware
that the Apache band had left the chaparral, for the message brought
from Kah-go-mish by the Mexicans had been translated to them carefully.
Their night was, therefore, not at all uncomfortable.
When the cavalry and cowboys set out to hunt for Cal in the morning, the
old Chiricahua volunteered to act as guard while they were gone. It was
almost as if he had taken a fancy to Ping and Tah-nu-nu, or it may have
been that Sam was correct in saying, "The old wolf'd rather loaf under a
bush and spin yarns than hunt through the chaparral under this kind of
sunshine."
Loaf he did, in seemingly contented patience; and he had yarns to spin,
as if he had been Wah-wah-o-be. Not a few of them related to old-time
fights which had been fought around that very spring, in and out of the
chaparral. Some of his stories were of a dreadfully blood-curdling kind,
but they hardly seemed sensational to Ping and Tah-nu-nu. Perhaps the
story which interested Ping most was a long one of a strong party of an
unknown, nameless tribe from beyond the Eastern Sierras. They were tall
braves, almost black, and they came all this distance to strike the
Apaches.
The strangers camped one night at Cold Spring, and in the morning they
found themselves penned in by overwhelming numbers of Apaches, who
poured forth from the chaparral by every path except one. That was a
path which the Apache chiefs did not know or had overlooked. They and
their warriors swarmed in upon the strangers, expecting to destroy them
all, and there was a terrible battle for a little time. Then, to the
astonishment of all the Apaches, the Eastern war-party grew smaller and
smaller, retreating across the rock. It left the spring behind, and
dwindled away, fighting hard all the while. It was dripping out, so to
speak, through the path in the chaparral that nobody knew anything
about. The Apache warriors fought wonderfully to prevent that escape,
and hundreds hurried around through the chaparral to attack the
strangers in the rear and to cut off their retreat. It was of no use at
all, said the old Chiricahua.
As soon as the last of the strangers fired his last arrow from the mouth
of that old buffalo-path it seemed to close up, and the Apaches could
not find it. They never could, nor did they ever succeed in finding
where it led to, for the strange warriors escaped entirely, just as if
they had crawled into the spring. It was "very great medicine," he said,
and nothing at all like it had been heard of since then. He himself knew
all the paths now to be found around Cold Spring, and all of them led
out into the desert.
Thanks to the Chiricahua, Ping and Tah-nu-nu had a fairly comfortable
morning of it. They even grew curious, instead of frightened, concerning
what was next to come to them.
The old Chiricahua did not spend all his time stretched out upon the
sand. He arose and walked around as if the hot sunshine agreed with him,
and exchanged remarks with the white camp-guard in their sultry covert.
Ping and Tah-nu-nu stared around the open with a deepening interest in a
spot which had so wonderful a history. Across it, on the opposite side,
was one dense mass of chaparral, many yards in length, through which no
opening appeared. In the middle of it arose a giant cactus, with a trunk
like that of a tree, and with two enormously thick, long arms reaching
out near the top. One leaf pointed south and the other north, as if the
cactus were a directing-post. Right there, they agreed, after some
discussion, must have been the mysterious path that opened to let out
the strange warriors, and then shut again.
Noon came, and the Chiricahua brought them some army bread, some fried
bacon, and some coffee. They had tasted such things before, when their
band was at the Reservation, and they had some for breakfast, but it was
very wonderful to taste them again.
"Pale-face chief make Ping a blue-coat," said Tah-nu-nu. "Eat a heap."
"Tah-nu-nu squaw for blue-coat chief," said Ping. "Have big lodge. Cook
his meat. Hoe his corn. Feed pony. Beat her with big stick. Ugh!"
They could rally one another about the prospect before them, but Ping
stoutly declared that he would run away at the first opportunity. He
would be a chief of his own people and not of any other. Tah-nu-nu as
positively asserted her horror of ever becoming the wife of the greatest
pale-face living. Not if he gave ever so many ponies for her, like a
warrior of the Apaches.
Two hours later the cavalry squads and the cowboys began to straggle
back to the spring. Their horses needed water and food and rest, and so
did they. Hot, weary, disappointed, was the appearance of every man who
came in, but none of them wore such a face as did Colonel Evans. He
drank some water, but he did not eat nor did he speak to anybody.
"Ugh!" said Ping. "No find boy. Heap pony lose too. Bad medicine."
It was only a little later when something remarkable happened to a
picket in a path of the southern chaparral. He stood by his horse ready
to mount, as was his duty, but he was very sure that no Indians were
around, and he only now and then gave a listless glance along the path.
Suddenly, within twenty yards of him, an Indian stepped out of the
bushes.
"Halt!" sprang to the lips of the startled soldier, but the Indian held
up both hands, empty, above his head, to show that he carried no
weapons.
The challenge was heard by the men around the spring, and they sprang to
their feet, while others came out of the bushes. A dozen rifles were
ready behind the picket as the solitary Indian came forward. He wore
nothing but a waist-cloth, and from the belt of this he drew something
which he held out and offered.
"Take it, Brady," said the voice of Captain Moore. "Bring him in. He's a
messenger of some kind."
The cavalryman took it, but it was nothing more than a leathery cactus
leaf, as wide as a stretched-out hand.
"How," said the Indian. "Kah-go-mish."
"That's it," exclaimed Sam Herrick. "I reckoned we'd hear from him.
Colorado!"
The leaf was passed to Captain Moore, and the Apache brave followed him,
but only as far as the end of that pathway. There he stood, and seemed
almost like a wooden Indian. He saw both Ping and Tah-nu-nu, and they
saw him, but if they knew him they did not say so.
"They thought nobody saw 'em, but they were making signs," said Sam; and
the old Chiricahua muttered, "Ugh! Good!" as if he had understood
something.
Just at that moment Captain Moore met Colonel Evans.
"Read that," he said, as he held out the cactus leaf.
There were letters deeply scratched into the smooth, fleshy surface.
Father I'm a Prisoner to Kah-Go-Mish Staked out last night
Safe now Don't know where he means to go next He says you
will hear some day
CAL
Send mother my love.
It was a wonderful cactus leaf, for it made the strong hand of Colonel
Abe Evans shake so that he could hardly hold it. Every pair of eyes
around Cold Spring stared at it and at him, and when they once more
turned to look at the Apache brave who had brought it he was not to be
seen. He had vanished as if he had been a dream.