The ensanguined skull was the first object that caught my eye. The dead
man was easily identified. The body--short, plump, and rotund--could be
no other than that of the unfortunate Irishman. His jacket had been
stripped off; but some tattered remnants of sky-blue, still clinging to
his legs, aided me in identifying him. Poor fellow! The lure of
Californian metal had proved an ill star for him. His golden dream was
at an end. He was lying along the sward, upon his side, half doubled
up. I could not see his face. His hands were over it, with palms
spread out--as if shading his eyes from the sun! It was a position of
ordinary repose; and one might have fancied him asleep. But the gory
crown, and red mottling upon the shirt--seemingly still wet--forbade the
supposition. He slept; but it was the sleep of death!
My eyes wandered in search of the others. There were fires burning.
They were out upon the plain, some three hundred yards from the base of
the butte. They had been lately kindled: for their smoke was rising in
thick columns, part of it falling again to the earth. Around the fires,
and through the smoke, flitted the forms of the Indians. They appeared
to be cooking and feasting. Some of them staggering over the ground,
kept up an incessant babble--at intervals varying their talk with savage
whoops. Others danced around accompanying their leaps with the
monotonous "hi-hi-hi-ya." All appeared to have partaken freely of the
fire-water of Taos. A few more seriously disposed were grouped around
four or five prostrate forms--evidently the bodies of their slain. The
two we had shot from their horses must have been amongst these: since
they were no longer to be seen where they had fallen. Those around the
bodies stood hand in hand chanting the dismal death-song.
Not far from the fires, a group fixed my attention. It consisted of
three figures--all in attitudes as different as it was possible to place
them in. He who lay along the ground, upon his back, was the young
hunter Wingrove. He still wore his fringed buckskin shirt and leggings;
and by these I recognised him. He was at too great a distance for his
features to be distinguished. He appeared to be bound hand and foot--
with his ankles lashed together, and his wrists tied behind his back.
He was thus lying upon his arms, in an irksome position; but the
attitude showed that he was alive. I knew it already.
Some half-dozen paces from him was a second form, difficult to be
recognised as that of a human being--though it was one. It was the body
of Jephthah Bigelow. Its very oddness of shape enabled me to identify
it--odder from the attitude in which I now beheld it. It was lying flat
along the grass, face downward, the long ape-like legs and arms
stretched out to their full extent--both as to length and width--and
radiating from the thin trunk, like spokes from the nave of a wheel!
Viewing it from my elevated position, this attitude appeared all the
more ludicrous; though it was easy to perceive that it was not
voluntary. The numerous pegs standing up from the sward, and the cords
attached to them, and leading to the arms and limbs, showed that the
_spread-eagle_ position was a constrained one. That it was Sure-shot, I
had no doubt. The spare locks of clay-coloured hair were playing about
in the breeze; and some remnants of bottle-green still clung around his
limbs. But without these, the spider-like frame was too characteristic
to be mistaken. I was glad to see those yellowish tufts. They told
that the wearer still lived--as was also made manifest by the fact of
his being bound. A dead body would not have merited such particular
treatment.
It was the third figure of this group that most strongly claimed my
attention. I saw that it was not that of a warrior; though quite as
tall as many upon the plain. But the contour of the form was
different--as also the fashion of the garments that draped it. It was
the figure of a woman! Had I not been guided in my conjectures--by a
certain foreknowledge--by the allusions that had occurred in the
speeches of Red-Hand--I should never have dreamt of identifying that
form. Forewarned by these, the apparition was not unexpected. The
woman was Su-wa-nee! She was standing erect by the prostrate form of
the young hunter--her head slightly bent, and her face turned towards
him. An occasional motion of her arm showed that she was speaking to
him. The gesture seemed to indicate a threat! Was it possible that in
that dread hour she was reviling him? I was at too great a distance,
either to hear her words, or note the expression upon her face. Only by
the dumb show of her gesticulations, could I tell that a scene was
passing between them.
A glance around the plain enabled me to note some other changes that had
recently taken place. The horses of the Indians were now picketed upon
the grass, and browsing peacefully--as if the clangour of strife had
never sounded in their ears. I could see my own Arab a little apart,
with Wingrove's horse and the mules--all in the charge of a horse-guard,
who stood sentry near them. The waggon was still by the base of the
mound. The cedars along its sides were yet unburnt! I thought that the
flames had consumed them, but no. The object of their fires had been to
blind us with their smoke--thus to drive us from our position, and
facilitate our capture.
I was not permitted to make these observations without interruption.
The savage--who had stood by me had a duty to perform; and during all
this time he was busied in its performance. A singular and inexplicable
operation it at first appeared to me. His initiatory act was to blacken
my body from the waist upward, including my face, throat, and arms. The
substance used appeared to be a paste of charcoal, which he rubbed
rudely over my skin. A circle upon my breast--that traced out by the
blade of the chief--was left clear; but as soon as the black ground had
been laid on, a new substance was exhibited, of snow-white colour,
resembling chalk or gypsum. With this--after the blood had been
carefully dried off--the circular space was thickly coated over, until a
white disc, about as large as a dining-plate shewed conspicuously on my
breast! A red spot in the centre of this was necessary to complete the
_escutcheon_; but the painter appeared at a loss for the colour, and
paused to reflect. Only a moment did he remain at fault. He was an
ingenious artist; and his ingenuity soon furnished him with an idea.
Drawing his knife, and sticking the point of it some half inch deep into
the fleshy part of my thigh, he obtained the required "carmine"; and,
after dipping his finger in the blood, and giving it a dab in the centre
of the white circle, he stood for a short time contemplating his work.
A grim smile announced that he was satisfied with it; and, uttering a
final grunt, the swarthy Apelles leaped down from the platform, and
disappeared from my sight. A horrid suspicion had already taken
possession of my soul; but I was not left long to speculate upon the
purpose for which I had been thus bedaubed: the suspicion gave place to
certainty.
Upon the plain directly in front of me, and at less than a hundred
yards' distance from the butte, the warriors were collecting in groups.
The Red-Hand with his under-chiefs had already arrived there; and the
other Indians were forsaking the fires, and hurrying up to the spot.
They had left their lances apart, standing upright on the plain, with
their shields, bows, and quivers leaning against them, or suspended from
their shafts. The only weapons taken along with them to the common
rendezvous were the muskets. With these they were now occupying
themselves--apparently preparing them for use. I saw them mark out a
line upon the grass, by stretching a lazo between two upright pegs. I
saw them wiping, loading, and priming their pieces--in short, going
through all the preliminary manoeuvres, observed by marksmen preparing
for a trial of skill. Then burst on me in all its broad reality the
dread horror for which I was reserved--then did I comprehend the design
of that white circle with its centre of red: the savages were about to
hold a shooting-match--_my own bosom was to be their target_!