The occurrence did not improve the temper of either party, particularly
that of the hunters. The Indians were triumphant, but not a whit the
less inclined to obstinacy and exaction. They now returned to their
former offer. For those of our captives that were woman-grown they
would exchange one for one, and for their chief Dacoma they offered to
give two; for the rest they insisted on receiving two for one.
By this arrangement, we could ransom only about twelve of the Mexican
women; but finding them determined, Seguin at length assented to these
terms, provided they would allow us the privilege of choosing the twelve
to be exchanged.
To our surprise and indignation this was refused!
We no longer doubted what was to be the winding up of the negotiation.
The air was filled with the electricity of anger. Hate kindled hate,
and vengeance was burning in every eye.
The Indians scowled on us, glancing malignantly out of their oblique
eyes. There was triumph, too, in their looks, for, they believed
themselves far stronger than we.
On the other side sat the hunters quivering under a double indignation.
I say double. I can hardly explain what I mean. They had never before
been so braved by Indians. They had, all their lives, been accustomed,
partly out of bravado and partly from actual experience, to consider the
red men their inferiors in subtilty and courage; and to be thus bearded
by them, filled the hunters, as I have said, with a double indignation.
It was like the bitter anger which the superior feels towards his
resisting inferior, the lord to his rebellious serf, the master to his
lashed slave who has turned and struck him. It was thus the hunters
felt.
I glanced along their line. I never saw faces with such expressions as
I saw there and then. Their lips were white, and drawn tightly over
their teeth; their cheeks were set and colourless; and their eyes,
protruding forward, seemed glued in their sockets. There was no motion
to be detected in the features of any, save the twitching of angry
muscles. Their right hands were buried in the bosoms of their half-open
shirts, each, I knew, grasping a weapon; and they appeared not to sit,
but to crouch forward, like panthers quivering upon the spring.
There was a long interval of silence on both sides.
It was broken by a cry from without--the scream of the war-eagle!
We should not have noticed this, knowing that these birds were common in
the Mimbres, and one might have flown over the ravine; but we thought,
or fancied, that it had made an impression upon our adversaries. They
were men not apt to show any sudden emotion; but it appeared to us that,
all at once, their glances grew bolder, and more triumphant. Could it
have been a signal?
We listened for a minute. The scream was repeated; and although it was
exactly after the manner of a bird well known to us--the white-headed
eagle--we sat with unsatisfied and tearful apprehensions.
The young chief, he in the hussar dress, was upon his feet. He had been
the most turbulent and exacting of our opponents. He was a man of most
villainous and licentious character, so Rube had told us, but
nevertheless holding great power among the braves. It was he who had
spoken in refusal of Seguin's offer, and he was now about to assign his
reasons. We knew them without that.
"Why," said he, looking at Seguin as he spoke, "why is it that the white
chief is so desirous of choosing among our captives? Is it that he
wishes to get back the yellow-haired maiden?"
He paused a moment, as if for a reply; but Seguin made none.
"If the white chief believes our queen to be his daughter, would not he
wish that her sister should be her companion, and return with her to our
land?"
Again he paused; but, as before, Seguin remained silent.
The speaker proceeded.
"Why not let the yellow-haired maiden return with us, and become my
wife? Who am I that ask this? A chief of the Navajoes, the descendants
of the great Montezuma; the son of their king!"
The savage looked around him with a vaunting air as he uttered these
words.
"Who is she," he continued, "that I am thus begging for a bride? The
daughter of one who is not even respected among his own people: the
daughter of a culatta!"
I looked at Seguin. I saw his form dilating. I saw the big veins
swelling along his throat. I saw gathering in his eyes that wild
expression I had once before noticed. I knew that the crisis was near.
Again the eagle screamed!
"But," proceeded the savage, seeming to draw new boldness from the
signal, "I shall beg no more. I love the white maiden. She must be
mine; and this very night shall she sleep--"
He never finished the sentence. Seguin's bullet had sped, piercing the
centre of his forehead. I caught a glimpse of the red round hole, with
its circle of blue powder, as the victim tell forward on his face!
All together we sprang to our feet. As one man rose hunters and
Indians. As if from one throat, pealed the double shout of defiance;
and, as if by one hand, knives, pistols, and tomahawks were drawn
together. The next moment we closed and battled!
Oh! it was a fearful strife, as the pistols cracked, the long knives
glittered, and the tomahawks swept the air; a fearful, fearful strife!
You would suppose that the first shock would have prostrated both ranks.
It was not so. The early blows of a struggle like this are wild, and
well parried, and human life is hard to take. What were the lives of
men like these?
A few fell. Some recoiled from the collision, wounded and bleeding, but
still to battle again. Some fought hand to hand; while several pairs
had clutched, and were striving to fling each other in the desperate
wrestle of death!
Some rushed for the door, intending to fight outside. A few got out;
but the crowd pressed against it, the door closed, dead bodies fell
behind it; we fought in darkness.
We had light enough for our purpose. The pistols flashed at quick
intervals, displaying the horrid picture. The light gleamed upon
fiend-like faces, upon red and waving weapons, upon prostrate forms of
men, upon others struggling in every attitude of deadly conflict!
The yells of the Indians, and the not less savage shouts of their white
foemen, had continued from the first; but the voices grew hoarser, and
the shouts were changed to groans, and oaths, and short, earnest
exclamations. At intervals were heard the quick percussions of blows,
and the dull, sodden sound of falling bodies.
The room became filled with smoke and dust, and choking sulphur; and the
combatants were half-stifled as they fought.
At the first break of the battle I had drawn my revolver, and fired it
in the face of the closing foemen. I had fired shot after shot, some at
random, others directed upon a victim. I had not counted the reports,
until the cock "checking" on the steel nipple told me I had gone the
round of the six chambers.
This had occupied but as many seconds of time. Mechanically I stuck the
empty weapon behind my belt, and, guided by an impulse, made for the
door. Before I could reach it, it was closed, and I saw that to get out
was impossible.
I turned to search for an antagonist; I was not long in finding one. By
the flash of a pistol I saw one of the Indians rushing upon me with
upraised hatchet. Up to this time something had hindered me from
drawing my knife. I was now too late; and, holding out my arms to catch
the blow, I ducked my head towards the savage.
I felt the keen blade cutting the flesh as it glanced along my shoulder.
I was but slightly wounded. He had missed his aim from my stooping so
suddenly; but the impetus brought our bodies together, and the next
moment we grappled.
We stumbled over a heap of rock, and for some moments struggled together
upon the ground, neither able to use his weapon. Again we rose, still
locked in the angry embrace; again we were falling with terrible force.
Something caught us in our descent. It shook; it gave way with a
crashing sound, and we fell headlong into the broad and brilliant light!
I was dazzled and blinded. I heard behind me a strange rumbling like
the noise made by falling timbers; but I heeded not that: I was too busy
to speculate upon causes.
The sudden shock had separated us, and both rose at the same instant,
again to grapple, and again to come together to the earth. We twisted
and wriggled over the ground, among weeds and thorny cacti. I was every
moment growing weaker, while the sinewy savage, used to such combats,
seemed to be gaining fresh nerve and breath. Thrice he had thrown me
under; but each time I had clutched his right arm, and prevented the
descending blow. I had succeeded in drawing my knife as we fell through
the wall; but my arm was also held fast, and I was unable to use it.
As we came to the ground for the fourth time, my antagonist fell under
me. A cry of agony passed from his lips; his head "coggled" over among
the weeds; and he lay in my arms without struggling.
I felt his grasp gradually relaxing. I looked in his face. His eyes
were glassy and upturned. Blood was gurgling through his teeth. I saw
that he was dead.
To my astonishment I saw this, for I knew I had not struck him as yet.
I was drawing my arm from under him to do so, when I noticed that he
ceased to resist. But the knife now caught my eye. It was red, blade
and haft, and so was the hand that clasped it.
As we fell I had accidentally held it point upward. My antagonist had
fallen upon the blade!
I now thought of my betrothed, and, untwining myself from the lithe and
nerveless limbs of the savage, I rose to my feet. The ranche was in
flames!
The roof had fallen in upon the brazero, and the dry shingles had caught
the blaze. Men were crawling out from the burning ruin, but not to run
away. No! Under its lurking flames, amidst the hot smoke, they still
battled fierce, and foaming, and frenzied.
I did not stay to recognise whom they were, these tireless combatants.
I ran forward, looking on all sides for the objects of my solicitude.
The wave of female dresses caught my eye, far up the cliff, on the road
leading to the Navajo captives. It was they! The three were climbing
the steep path, each urged onward by a savage.
My first impulse was to rush after; but at that moment fifty horsemen
made their appearance upon the hill, and came galloping downward.
I saw the madness of attempting to follow them, and turned to retreat
towards the other side, where we had left our captives and horses. As I
ran across the bottom, shots rang in my ear, proceeding from our side of
the barranca. Looking up, I descried the mounted hunters coming down at
a gallop, pursued by a cloud of savage horsemen. It was the band of
Dacoma!
Uncertain what to do, I stood for a moment where I was, and watched the
pursuit.
The hunters, on reaching the ranches, did not halt, but galloped on down
the valley, firing as they went. A body of Indians swept on after them,
while another body pulled up, clustered around the blazing ruin, and
commenced searching among the walls.
I was yet screened in the thicket of cacti; but I saw that my
hiding-place would soon be pierced by the eyes of the subtle savages;
and dropping upon my hands and knees, I crept into the cliff. On
reaching it, I found myself close to the mouth of a cave, a small shaft
of the mine, and into this I at once betook myself.