HOW THEY ALL REACHED SANTA LUCIA.
A band of Indians who are in a great hurry travel rapidly, even if now
and then they leave a worn-out pony behind them. They are also pretty
sure to take short cuts and to save distances, and that was more than
Cal Evans was able to do.
The Chiricahua scouts with Captain Moore knew every inch of the country,
and did not permit the cavalry and cowboys to do any needless
travelling.
Late in the forenoon of the third day after Ping's first and last ride
upon the "heap pony," all was serenely quiet at Santa Lucia. It was too
quiet, altogether, because its inmates were in such blue anxiety that
they did not feel like doing anything. Reading was impossible, and any
effort at conversation did but repeat the regret that there was no news
from Cal or his father. The failure of everything else accounted for the
fact that at this hour Vic and her mother were upon the roof, sweeping
the horizon with the field-glass.
Suddenly Mrs. Evans held out the glass, exclaiming: "Look! Vic!
Cavalry!"
"Oh!" shouted Vic, and in a moment more they were hurrying down and out
of the hacienda.
A roll of the prairie had hidden the approach of a column of mounted men
until they were pretty near, and now all who wore uniform and a number
of others halted at a hundred yards from the stockade gate at which Mrs.
Evans and Vic were standing. One man dismounted and walked forward,
leading by the hand a strangely dressed but comely-looking Indian girl.
His face was flushed and troubled, and the eyes of the girl glanced
timidly in all directions, as if seeking a means of escape from meeting
those two pale-face squaws.
"Husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Evans, turning very pale, "where is Cal?"
"Cal!" echoed Vic, with painful eagerness.
"He is a prisoner," faltered the colonel.
"Father!" almost screamed Vic. "The Apaches have got him?"
"The same band that took the horses, and that this girl belongs to. Vic,
this is Tah-nu-nu. We shall hear from Cal."
It was dreadful news, and it was not possible to hear it calmly, but
Captain Moore now rode up and so did Sam Herrick. They had wished that
first meeting over, and the report of Cal's captivity made without their
being too near. Mrs. Evans managed to maintain her dignity fairly well
to receive them, but they found Vic in an uncontrollable fit of crying.
"Vic," said her father, "don't cry. Cal will surely come back soon, safe
and sound. Take Tah-nu-nu into the house."
At that moment they were all startled by a burst of cheering from the
mounted men. Cheer followed cheer, and as the group at the gate turned
to look, they saw a rider who dashed past the cavalry at full gallop.
He was swinging his hat tremendously, but seemed unable to hurrah.
"Colorado!" shouted Sam Herrick. "Cal and the red mustang!"
After that nobody could have told what was said by anybody during a full
three minutes. Then there came a sort of breathing-spell that was almost
silence. They had begun to walk towards the house, and Vic was leading
Tah-nu-nu a little in advance of the rest.
"How did you say you managed to get away from Kah-go-mish?" asked
Captain Moore.
"It's a pretty long story," said Cal, "but there isn't any Kah-go-mish.
He was killed in a fight with the Mexicans."
"Did Ping get in before you left them?" asked Colonel Evans.
"Yes, he did, father. I felt real bad about that. Such a young fellow.
Not any older than I am."
"Killed, was he? Colorado! I'm sorry," exclaimed Sam Herrick.
The leading features of Cal's capture and escape had already been told,
but they were now gone over more minutely, and it was determined not at
once to tell Tah-nu-nu.
"I must think the matter over," said Mrs. Evans.
"Poor little thing!"
That was what Vic said, but she took Tah-nu-nu to her own room, and the
shy, frightened look of the lonely Indian girl began to turn into one of
relief, but also of intense curiosity. She saw nothing but friendliness
in the face of Vic, and at last she remarked: "Tah-nu-nu glad Heap Pony
get away."
Vic could laugh heartily at that, and she was joined by Tah-nu-nu when
the chief's daughter discovered what was next expected of her. She
rebelled stoutly at first, but Vic was determined to have her own way,
and when they came out again Tah-nu-nu was too proud and shy to utter a
word. She wanted to run away and hide, and yet she wished to be seen in
her new outfit, for Vic had put upon her a dress which she herself had
refused to wear because it was too brightly gay for her sense of
dignity. Tah-nu-nu had very pretty moccasins of her own, and now, with
white metal ornaments at her throat and upon her wrists, and with a
bright ribbon in her coal-black hair, she was the best-dressed girl of
the Mescalero Apaches.
It seemed too bad to tell her any saddening news then, and during all
the rest of that day Tah-nu-nu was treated as an Indian gentleman's
daughter on a visit to Santa Lucia.
It was a great day for Tah-nu-nu, and Norah McLory and the Mexican
servants were explaining to her the wonders of the kitchen during the
long time spent by Cal in telling the minute particulars of his
adventures in the Cold Spring chaparral and in Mexico. His mother and
Vic seemed disposed to keep their hands upon him, from the beginning to
the end of his story, as if for fear that he might again be lost or
captured.
Captain Moore and his cavalry camped near Santa Lucia that night, and
marched away early in the morning.
Tah-nu-nu awoke in a pale-face bed, in a great lodge, such as she had
seen before but never entered, and she hardly felt like a prisoner.
"Kah-go-mish is a great chief," she said, for her first thought was of
his coming for her release.
An hour or two later she and Vic and Cal took a long horseback ride, and
once more Tah-nu-nu admired the "heap pony." She was beginning to feel
very much at ease, especially with Cal, for he had been acquainted with
her family.
They had been back at the ranch but a short time when Sam Herrick came
in and beckoned to Colonel Evans.
"What is it, Sam?"
"Colorado!" exclaimed Sam. "There's an Indian and a squaw come. The red
mustang was out there, and the Indian whooped when he sot eyes onto him.
They want to see Pull Stick."
"That's my name!" shouted Cal, and he sprang up and hurried out.
He was followed by everybody but Tah-nu-nu, and in a moment he was
shaking hands with Crooked Nose and Wah-wah-o-be.
Their errand was briefly given. The whole band, what was left of it, had
decided to return to the Reservation. They knew that in order to do so
safely they must give up the Santa Lucia horses, and they had sent
Wah-wah-o-be to say that they were ready to do it. What they did not add
was that they were rich enough with the other quadrupeds won by
Kah-go-mish in his successful war with Mexico. They wished to have word
sent to the blue-coats. Nobody need follow them, and the horses
belonging to Colonel Evans would be delivered next day, with two good
Mexican mules to pay for his cattle. It was a capital bargain for him,
and reduced his loss to a low figure. He agreed to it at once, and then
Wah-wah-o-be asked for Tah-nu-nu.
"We are going to keep her," said Mrs. Evans. "We will keep you, too, if
you will come. You need not go to the Reservation."
Wah-wah-o-be's blanket came up over her head, and her loud, wailing cry
was heard in the adobe. In a moment more Tah-nu-nu's arms were around
her mother, and she knew that she should never again see Kah-go-mish or
The-boy-whose-ear-pushed-away-a-piece-of-lead.
Down upon the ground they sat, the great chief's wife and daughter, and
it was hours before they could be persuaded to speak or to come into the
house. When they at last did so, the mind of Wah-wah-o-be was made up.
Kah-go-mish had declared that he would never return to the Reservation.
Whatever others might do, therefore, she would not. Her proud position
in her band was also gone, with her wise, brave husband and her
promising son. She was ready to consent that Tah-nu-nu should remain at
Santa Lucia. She would herself come back and bring her property with
her.
Tah-nu-nu would hardly have consented if it had not been for the
positive commands of her mother, and if these had not been helped by her
wonderful new dress and by the urgency of Vic. She roundly declared,
however, that she would never hoe corn.
Crooked Nose had very little to say after his first errand was
completed, but just before he rode away he led Cal a little to one side.
They were out in front of the adobe, and Dick was standing near them,
unsaddled, unbridled, very much as if he were a house-dog, with a right
to step around anywhere.
"Ugh!" said Crooked Nose. "Pull Stick get away again. How?"
"Heap Pony," said Cal, pointing to the red mustang.
"Ugh!" said Crooked Nose. "Who kill Tan-tan-e-o-tan."
"Heap Pony," replied Cal again.
"Ugh! Heap bad medicine. No like him. Pull Stick got manitou."
Something like that, in a higher and better form, was what Cal's mother
had been telling him. She also declared that she meant to do all in her
power for the squaw who brought Cal his gourd of water when he was all
but dying of thirst, and for her bright-eyed daughter. Something very
good was, therefore, in store for Tah-nu-nu. Perhaps it was something
which Ping could not or would not have taken.
Wah-wah-o-be kept her word, and when she returned she brought quite a
drove of horses, mules, and ponies with her, as the property of
Kah-go-mish, and Colonel Romero was not there to identify any of them.
Cal did not know one from another, whether they were Apache bred or
Mexican, and he said so.
There was really but one horse in the world that he cared much about. In
fact, not only he and his family, but the cowboys and Wah-wah-o-be and
Tah-nu-nu were disposed to attach an almost human idea to the uncommon
qualities of head and heart which had been displayed by the red mustang.
THE END.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the |
| original document have been preserved. |
| |
| Typographical errors corrected in the text: |
| |
| Page 60 fale changed to face |
| Page 61 Chiracahua changed to Chiricahua |
| Page 64 Sante changed to Santa |
| Page 69 Gringoes changed to Gringos |
| Page 72 woop changed to whoop |
| Page 81 Chiracahua changed to Chiricahua |
| Page 85 Tar-nu-nu changed to Tah-nu-nu |
| Page 103 discontentetly changed to discontentedly |
| Page 154 led changed to lead |
| Page 217 spirt changed to spirit |
| Page 223 ranche changed to ranch |
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