WONDERS OF THE SACRED MOUNTAIN.
On the appointed day Buffalo Bill and the pards who accompanied him on
the previous trip rode northward to visit the “Daughter of the Moon.”
On the way out the pards wondered if the “Queen of the Stars” would be
there to greet them, or were they going on a fool’s errand?
No one was in sight as they approached the butte which the Indians
called “Sacred Mountain.” They rode entirely around the cone and
scanned the plain in all directions. Not a living thing was to be seen
besides the birds and a solitary antelope a mile away.
“What d’ye say ter thet, Buffler?” asked Nomad.
“I think we had better put our horses down in the crevasse, where they
can’t be seen from the plain, and then hang out here and smoke and
wait.”
The horses were snugly corralled in the rock-bound fissure, where
a savage ten rods distant could not discover them. It was an ideal
hiding place, and half a dozen well-armed men could defend it against a
regiment.
“Suppose I blow ‘general’ on my bugle?” suggested Tootsie, when
arrangements had been completed.
“Go ahead, if you please,” said the scout.
Five minutes after the bugle call, Miss Mona appeared at the top of the
mountain. She waved her hand in greeting and then disappeared.
The pards wondered what the next move would be, when the girl suddenly
came out from among the horses and said:
“If the gentlemen will kindly step this way they will be treated to a
little surprise.”
Buffalo Bill stepped briskly forward and his pards followed. They
passed the horses in the cleft and came to what appeared to be an
abrupt ending to the crevice; but the girl turned a sharp angle at
the very end and entered a break underneath the wall forming quite a
respectable room. At one side of this a hole in the rocks led under the
mountain itself. The girl crouched and entered and the pards kept near
her.
After stooping and crawling for a rod or so, the passageway opened out
until they could stand erect in comfort, in a place lighted by a torch.
The party traversed some distance, and then came into the bright
sunlight again, except that instead of the sunburned clay and rocks
they had left, they saw before them a magical bower of beauty. Here
beautiful flowers nodded welcome and green grass stood knee-high. Birds
were singing happily, and the whole place seemed the realm of a fairy.
“I knew we’d go ter heaven ef we follered ther angel,” said old Nomad
decisively.
“Welcome to the home of the Daughter of the Moon,” said the girl,
bowing low in mock gravity.
“We accept your splendid hospitality in fear and trembling, O Queen of
the Stars,” returned Buffalo Bill, removing his hat and also bowing
extravagantly.
“And now,” said the girl, “I will introduce you to some friends of
mine.”
She whistled sharply, and from a cluster of conifers in which the top
of a tepee showed, a tall, handsome, soldierly-looking young man came
forth, and leaning on his arm was a handsome young woman.
“Buffalo Bill, and your _compadres_, allow me to introduce to you
Lieutenant and Mrs. Avery,” said the girl of mystery.
The lieutenant and his bride advanced rapidly to greet the scout and
his pards, and general congratulations followed.
Mrs. Sherley came forward and was introduced, and soon announced that
a luncheon, which had been prepared in anticipation of the event, was
ready to be served.
And what a joyous occasion it was.
The young officer anxiously asked about everything at the fort, and was
told of all the news, including the attack on the supply train.
Lieutenant Avery declared that he was well enough to go on duty now,
and he would return to the fort as soon as the general would send
horses.
The scout promised to convey the message, and said he would guide an
escort to the Sacred Mountain for the officer and his wife.
“If there were any means of sending word to the fort we should be
pleased to have Buffalo Bill and his pards remain with us until the
Lieutenant and Mrs. Avery return,” said Miss Mona.
Cayuse promptly offered to take the message, but Buffalo Bill demurred,
saying that he presumed it would be best for all to return to the fort,
on account of the horses.
Little Moonbeam instantly overcame that objection by saying:
“In our farming operations Mrs. Sherley and I have had use for an
Indian corn knife and secured one. With that we can easily cut grass
here and carry it to the horses. The cavern at the outer end of the
passage is large enough for all of them, and no roving band of Indians
would find them there. If they did they would not dare touch them.
“Mrs. Sherley and I have lived here years, and the Indians have never
as yet even discovered the cavern, although leaving offerings in the
crevasse as often as once a month. Inside the cavern, covered with a
flat rock, is a pool of pure water--and thus we have the dumb animals
provided for.”
“We accept your hospitality, and if you will produce the corn knife we
will proceed to feed the animals at once, so that Cayuse may be on his
way early in the afternoon.”
The horses were led into the cavern and given water and grass. Then
Nomad thought he had better stay with the animals, as he said:
“Fer fear that cantankerous ole sarpint ov er Hide-rack’ll git p’inted
in ther wrong direction an’ cut loose ’th them weepins o’ hisn.”
Skibo “reckoned” he had best remain with Nomad, and so only the scout
and Tootsie were left with the Averys and their hostesses.
After Cayuse had been gone some time Miss Mona invited the scout to
accompany her to the top of the wall. Tootsie was asleep in the grass
and the lieutenant and his bride had retired to their bower.
Far to the south could be seen Little Cayuse, jogging along toward the
fort. The girl became greatly interested in the scout’s field glass,
never having seen one before. She was delighted with the way it jumped
Cayuse back a mile or so in his journey, and she laughingly exclaimed:
“What a trim little Indian he is! I can see his feather with the glass.”
Several miles to the westward a small herd of buffalo were feeding.
“A peaceful scene,” said the scout.
“Yes, and how great and desolate it is! Except for this little garden
of Eden below, it is two miles to grass and water--yet I love it and
hate to leave it, but----”
She paused and looked curiously at the scout.
“But what?” he asked.
“I want your advice,” she told him.
“I’ll give you the best I have in stock,” he said.
“I have had a glimpse of my own people and a dream of the great world
beyond where I can see. They have told me of the wonders of the cities
and the great schools of girls, where they learn so much that I yearn
to know.
“I love this place and Mrs. Sherley is contented, but I feel as if
there were something more in the world for us. I long for companionship
of my own age--sweet girls who would put their soft arms around me and
love me.
“Oh! Mr. Cody, when I think of these things it seems I cannot wait. And
yet, where should I go and what should I do? Neither Mrs. Sherley nor
I have a relative in the world of whom we know or can ever expect to
find. What shall I do?”
The girl had worked her feelings up to the point of tears, when the
scout interposed to give her opportunity to control herself.
“If you had means to go direct to some Eastern school, with Mrs.
Sherley to accompany you and remain with you, it would be well
enough for you to start out for an education; but the pitfalls of
civilization, before a young lady of your beauty, are far more
numerous and dangerous than those of the Bad Lands, because of the
attractiveness of one and the repulsiveness of the other.”
The girl looked at him, not half understanding his meaning.
“There are thousands of men with much money and little honor who are
on the watch for such innocents as you are. If you had friends with
whom you could remain and attend school, Mrs. Sherley could readily
find employment that would pay the way for both of you. Perhaps we can
bring it about through the families of some of the military men. Keep
up your courage and I will see what can be done; but I cannot allow
this opportunity to pass and neglect to warn you, if you go out in the
world, to be suspicious of everything, and place yourself under the
guidance of an experienced and reliable female friend.”
He would have gone on, but the girl, whose eyes had fixed upon him in
wrapt attention, turned away for a moment, and then she sprang up and
extended her hands in mute greeting toward a pitiful little figure
making its way across the plain toward them.
The scout instantly recognized the little daughter of Black Coyote.
“Poor little thing!” said the girl, with tears in her eyes and her
heart full of pity. “Black Coyote is dead. He wished to die there where
his tribe deserted him. He would not come here and the child would not
leave him. I told her to come to me when the Great Spirit came for her
father. She is coming.”
She watched the child for a moment, and turning to the scout, said:
“There are three of us now, but the case is not hopeless. I have much
more to talk to you about to-morrow--or by this evening’s moonlight.
Let us go down and meet Laughing Water.”