FRIENDS IN NEED
Thus refreshed, they all--even Benoni--dropped upon the grass which
bordered the stream and again fell asleep; and it was the horse which
first awoke. The neighing of one of his own race aroused him and he
made an effort to rise; but, with a pathetic appeal in his great eyes,
sank back upon his side. Another moment and the neighing, accompanied
by human voices, was close at hand. A mustang’s head was pushed through
a break in the scrub and a shout followed the head:
“Here we are! Yo-ah-ho! Water! Water!” Then the shout was checked by
the exclamation: “What in the name of--redskins! Indians--Wh-e-aw!”
By then, Carlos had sprung up and, in the daze of first awakening, was
staring at the intruder. He did not know that it was his own peculiar
attire that had suggested “Indians,” and he had never as yet seen a
hostile red man. But the tone frightened him. He seized Carlota and
forced her to her feet, while beside them lay poor Benoni, unable to
arise. Thus, for a time, the twins stood, motionless, clasping each
other, with their terrified expression slowly changing to delight as
they gazed at the several men in uniform who now approached them. All
were horsemen and some were leading instead of riding their thirsty
beasts.
“Soldiers!” whispered Carlos to his sister, and she smiled.
Often she had heard her father talk of the “brave soldier boys” who
kept those wide plains safe from the unknown tribes of savages; and her
smile revealed to the foremost cavalryman that he had not now to deal
with the child of a detested race.
“Hello, there! Where in the world did you come from, papooses?”
The question was asked with a smile so kind that Carlos laughed as he
answered:
“We aren’t papooses. We’re regular white Americans.”
“Well, you don’t look it, with that brown face! Where do you come
from?”
“We came from home, Señor,” answered Carlota, because her brother was
now absorbed in watching the other cavalrymen and heedless of the
question.
“So ho! Well, where is ‘home’?”
“Refugio.”
“Hello! Hel-lo! That so? I’ve heard of that rancho. It’s a long way
from here. Where are the others of your party?” still queried the
officer.
“There isn’t any others.”
“What’s that? No others? Only you two kids?”
“Beg pardon, Señor Soldier, but we’re not kids. We’re children,
just regular American children. We only wear kid-skin clothes,
_charros_;[10] that’s all. Because our father says it is the very
comfortablest and best dress there is for children who live as we do.
We’re almost always out of doors, you see, and in these things we are
ready for any fun that’s going.”
“I should think so, indeed, or for any business, either. Your father is
a sensible man, that’s as plain as a pipe-stem. I’ve heard about him.
Where is he?”
“Oh! have you, Señor Soldier! But that’s what we don’t know, what we’re
trying to find out.”
The gray haired officer sat down and drew the little girl to his knee.
The action was so gentle and fatherly that it banished her slight
self-control and flinging her arms about his neck she sobbed:
“Oh! you dear sir! Won’t you help us find him? We thought it would be
easy, but he is so far, so very far away!”
“There, there, little lass! I’ll do my best, surely. I’m a soldier, you
know. It’s my business to help little maids when they need help.”
Carlota instantly stopped crying and kissed the grizzled Captain upon
his stiff moustache, saying:
“I knew it! The very minute I looked into your eyes I knew that you
liked little children. We’re not so very little, you know, but I guess
we’re little enough to be liked.”
“I reckon so! But what was there in my eyes that told you that about
me!”
“A twinkle. Folks who don’t love little children never twinkle their
eyes.”
“Well, well, you observant small woman. Yet you guessed right. I’ve a
little miss of my own, away back in the east, getting educated to come
out and help her old daddy, by and by. I shouldn’t like to have that
young daughter right here now, in this particular spot, if she didn’t
have any ‘others’ with her. Begin at the beginning, tell me your whole
story, and make it short.”
The Captain motioned for Carlos, also, to join them, but the lad
remained standing and watchful. He was not as sure as his sister that
these strangers were friends, for what Miguel had said about the
Disbrows had altered his faith in life. He feared that it might be a
soldier’s duty to arrest runaway people and he preferred to be on his
guard.
In the simplest, clearest manner possible the girl told their brief
history, and when she had finished, the cavalrymen grouped about the
little spring had gained a very vivid picture of the far-famed Refugio
rancho. Then said the Captain:
“Thank you, my dear. That was excellently told; but, if I had a chance,
I’d send you straight back to your deserted home--or the nearest guard
house! I’m afraid you’ve done a mighty foolish thing.”
She looked so puzzled that he continued:
“Those gentlemen were not your ‘enemies,’ but your friends. They came
to offer you a kindness, and there’s one thing I’m going to teach you
in this other outdoor schoolroom, a lesson of military discipline, and
that is: The first duty in life is obedience. I put it with a capital
O. Say it after me, so you’ll never forget it: ‘The first duty of a
soldier is Obedience.’ That lesson fits little girls even better than
it does my lads, here.”
She repeated the time honored maxim, but added:
“I’ll remember; yet I don’t see how I’ve disobedienced any.”
“Wasn’t it you who proposed this runaway escapade?”
“It was I who decisioned about going to our father. We are going, too,”
proudly.
“Of course, you little Eve! Still dabbling in that same old apple
business, hey?”
Everybody except Carlota laughed, and a brother soldier asked:
“Say, Captain, isn’t that rather deep for a New Mexican baby?”
“Probably, Lieutenant, though the principle’s the same. If _she_ hadn’t
proposed this wild-goose-search, her brother wouldn’t have thought of
it. But she did; here they are; country full of Apaches; now--what can
we do with them?”
Carlos hotly interposed:
“You needn’t do anything. We’re not afraid. We know lots and lots of
Indians. None of them would hurt us. If Benoni is rested we will go on,
right away.”
“Good enough, lad! There’s the making of a soldier in you, and I hope
you’ll go to the old Point some day. As I remarked, if I hadn’t far
more serious business on hand I’d send you back to Refugio, under a
military escort. As it is--Little girl, are you hungry?”
Two or three of the men had begun to eat their rations at a short
distance from their superior officer, and he saw the child watching
them. This reminded him that he would, himself, be the better for food.
“Oh! I’m all right, thank you. We had something to eat--once.”
“Is that so? I did, too, but I’m ready to eat again.”
He gave a wordless command and the soldiers prepared a little woodland
feast which the young Manuels never forgot. It was army fare, rather
stale and hard, but it was as “manna in the wilderness” to the famished
children. Watching them, the cavalrymen prolonged their own meal and,
in another sense, also shortened it; for the twins ate as if the supply
were inexhaustible and, as the Sergeant observed:
“No tellin’ where you’ll be when you’re hungry next time!”
“Time’s up!” called the Captain, and sprang to his feet.