Beadle's New York Dime Library, Vol. II, No. 15 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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<a? Ss eo re oe a 2== | 16 Lhe New York Library. As soon as all] the chiefs had assembled in the interior, a troop of Apache warriors drew up outside, to keep off the curious, and in- sure the secrecy of the deliberations. The Black Bear, in spite of his self-mastery, could not refrain from a movement of joy at the sight of all these men, who were entirely devoted to him, and by whose help he felt certain of accomplishing his projects. “My brothers are welcome,’’ he said, in- viting them by a sign to take their seats on the buffalo-skulls ranged round the fire. ““T was awaiting them impatiently.” The chiefs bowed and sat down. Then the pipe-bearer entered and presented the calumet to each warrior, who drew two or three puffs of tobacco. When this cere- mony was over, and the pipe-bearer had departed, the deliberation begun. ‘“* Before all,” said the Black Bear, “I must give you an account of my mission. The Black Bear has completely fulfilled it; he has entered the hut of the white men: he has thoroughly examined it; he knows the number of pale-faces that defend it; and when the hour arrives for him to lead his warriors there the Black Bear will know how to find the road again.”’ The chiefs bowed with satisfaction. “This great cabin of the whites,’”’ the Black Bear continued, ‘‘is the only serious obstacle we shall find on our road in the new expedition we are undertaking.” “The Yoris are dogs without courage. The Apaches will give them petticoats, and make them prepare their game,’’ the Little Panther said, with a grin. The Black Bear shook his head. “The pale-faces of the great cabin of Guetzalli are not Yoris,” he said. “A chief has seen them—they are men. Nearly all of them have blue eyes, and hair of the color of ripe maize; they seem very brave— my brothers must be prudent.”’ ‘* Does not my father know who these men are?” a chief inquired. “The Black Bear does not know. He was told down there, near the Great Balt Lake, that they inhabited a country very far from here, toward the rising sun.’ ** These men have no trees, nor fruits, nox buffaloes in their own country, that they come to steal ours.”’ ‘“* The pale-faces are insatiable,”’ the Black Bear replied. ‘‘ They forget that the Great ‘Spirit has only given them, like other men, one mouth andtwohands. All they see they covet. They are jealous, and seek to rob and dispossess the red-men; but the Apaches are brave warriors: they can defend their hunting-grounds, and prevent them being trampled by these yagabonds, who have come from the other side of the Great Salt Lake on the floating cabins of the Great Medicine.” The chiefs warmly applauded this harangue, which expressed so well the sentiments that affected them, and the animosity with which they were animated against the white race. “The great nation of the Comanches of the Lakes, that which is called the Queen of the Prairies, has deputed to our nation three renowned warriors, [ know not the object of this embassy, which, however, must be peaceful. Does it please you, chiefs of my nation, to receive them, and admit them to smoke the calumet of peace round our coun- eil-fire ?”’ ‘“« My father is a very wise warrior,”’ the Little Panther replied. ‘‘ The chiefs of his nation will be always happy to regulate their conduct by the counsels he may deign to give them.” The Black Bear threw a glance ronud the assembly, as if to assure himself that the Little Panther had truly expressed the gen- eral will, The members of the council si- lently bowed their heads in acquiescence. The chief smiled proudly on seeing himself so appreciated by his companions, and ad- dressing the Little Panther, said : ‘““Let my brothers, the Comanche chiefs, come in,” The Little Panther went out to execute the order he had received. During his ab- sence, Which was rather long, not a word was exchanged between the chiefs seated on buffalo-skulls, with their elbows on their knees, and their chins on the palms of their hands; they remained motionless and silent, plunged into deep thought, The Little Panther at length returned, preceding the Comanche warriors. On their entry the Apache chiefs rose and 5a- luted them Se etait The Comanches returned the salutation with no less courtesy, and waited till they. were addressed. The Comanche warriors were young and finely built; they had a martial bearing, a free glance, and thoughtful brow. Dressec in their national costume, with heads prond- ly upraised, they had something noble and loyal about them. »One of them especially, the youngest of the poiere ue was hardly five-and-twenty—must be @ superior man, to judge by apycaranges the ster Live of ron e : an his countenance, the brilllancy of his glance the elegance and majesty of his bearing, cansed him to be recognized at the first glance as a chosen man. His name was the Jester; and, as might be guessed from the tuft of condor-feathers passed through his war-lock, he was one of the ae chiefs of the nation. After an instant’s delay the Black Bear took a step toward the Comanche chiefs bowed to them, and holding out his right hand, palm upward, said: ““T am happy to receive beneath my cabin, in the midst of my people, my brothers, the Comanches of the Nakes. They will take their place at the council-fire, and smoke with their brothers the calumet of peace.” ‘“* Be it so,” the Jester replied, in a stern voice. ‘ Are we not all children of the Wa- condah ?”? And, without adding another word, he took his seat with the other chiefs at the council-fire, side by side with the Apaches. The conversation was again broken off, for every one was smoking. At length, when the calumet bowls contained only ashes, the Black Bear turned with a courteous smile to the Jester. “My brothers, the Comanches of the Lakes, are doubtless hunting the buffalo not far from here, and then the thought oc- curred to them to visit with their Apache brothers. I thank them for it.” The Jester bowed. *“The Comanches of the Lakes are far away chasing the a dag is on the De! Nato. The Jester, and a few devoted warriors of his tribe who accompany him, are alone en- camped on the hunting-grounds.”’ “The Jester is a renowned chief on the prairie,” the Apache graciously remarked. “ The Black Bear is happy to huve seen him. So great awarrior as my brother does not act thus without some motive.” ‘* The Black Bear has guessed it. The Jes- ter has come to renew with his Apache bro- thers the narrow bonds of a loyal friendship. Why, instead of disputing a territory to which we have equal claims, should we not divide it between us? Should the red-men destroy each other? Would it not be bet- ter to bury the war-hatchet by the council- fire at such a depth that, when an Apache met a Comanche, he would only see in him a brother? The pale-faces, who each moon invade our possessions more and more, car- ry on a furious war with us; then why should we help them by our own dissen- sions ?”’ The Black Bear rose, and, stretching his arm out with authority, said : ‘““My brother, the Jester, is right. Let us lay aside our enmities. The pale-faces are peter ignorant of ourplans. During the ew days I passed at Guaymus I was able to convince myself of that: thus our sudden invasion will be to them a thunderbolt.” There was a solemn silence. The Jester then turned a calm and proud glance round the meeting, aud exclaimed - “The Mexican moon will begin in twenty- four hours. Red-skin warriors! shall we al- low it to pass away without attempting one of those daring strokes which we usually erform «at this period of the year? There 8 one Village above all, over which we should rush like a whirlwind; that fortress founded by pale-faces, is for us a permanent menace, I will not deal craftily with you. Apache chiefs! I come to orfer you frankly, if you will attack Guctzalli, the support of four hundred Comanche warriors, at whose head I will place eee At this proposition a quiver of pleasure ran through the oa , “I joyfully accept my brother’s proposal,” the Black Bear said. “I have nearly the same number of warriors; our two bands will be strong enough, I hope, to utterly destroy the village of the pale-faces. To- morrow, at the rising of the moon, we will set out.” The chiefs retired, and the Black Bear and the Jester were left alone. These two chiefs enjoyed an equal reputation, and both were adored by their countrymen. Up to that moment they had always been enemies, and never had the chance of meeting save with weapons in their hands. ‘“‘T thank my brother for his cordial offer,” the Blagk Bear was the first to say, ‘Once the victory is decided, the spoil will be equally shared between the two nations.” The Jester bowed. “ What plan has my brother formed?’ he asked. ‘“A very simple one. The Comanches fre terrible horsemen: with my brother at their head, they must be inyincible. So soon as the moon shines in the heavens the Jester wiil set out with his warriors, and proceed toward Guetzalli, being careful to fire the prairie in front of him, in order to raise a curtain of smoke to conceal his movements and prevent his warriors being co-inted. In expedition, av in all those that have i wf ae rs . —? preceded it, every thing belonging to the ale-faces—lodges, jacals, houses—will he urnt; the beasts carried off and sent to the rear, On arriving in front of Guetzalli my brother will hide himself as well as he can, and await the signal! will give him to attack the pale-faces.” “Good! My brother isa prudent chief. He willsucceed, I will do exactly as he has told me; andhe, what will he do while I am executing this portion of the general plan?” A strange smile played on the Black Bear's ps. ‘* He will see,” he said, laying his hand on the Comanche’s shoulders. ‘* Let him act as a chief, and } promise him a glorious yic- tory.” ‘*Good!”” the Comanche made answer. “My brother is the first of his nation ; he knows how he should behave; the Apaches are not women. I go to rejoin my war- riors.”” **Tis well; my brother has understood, To-morrow at the rising of the moon,” The Jester bowed, and the two chiefs sep: arated, apparsny the best friends in the world. few minutes later the greatest an- imation prevailed in the Apache camp; the women struck the tents and loaded the mules, the children lassoed and saddled the horses, and all preparations were made for a hurried departure. CHAPTER XIL A WOMAN’S STRATAGEM. Tu next day at the rising of the moon, as had been agreed, the Jester ordered his detachment to set out. Presently a party of horsemen who had burried onward threw lighted torches amid the shrubs, and in a few minutes an immense curtain of flames rose to the sky, and completely vailed the horizon. The Comanches carried out the orders of the Apache chief with rapidity and intelligence. The Black Bear, concealed in the island witb his war-party, had not made a move. The traces left by the Comanches were, alas! very visible, for the country, only that morning so lovely, rich, and luxuriant, was at present gloomy and desolate. he Indians’ plan would have met with perfect success through the atti ere of the campaigners, and the Guetzalli colo- nists would have been surprised, had other men than Belhumeur and his friends been on the trail of the Indian army. The Canadian was watching. At the first smoke that arose in the distance he under- stood the intention of the red-skins, and without losing a moment he sent off Eagle. iaead to the colony to inform the count of what was taking place. Still, behind the fire, the Comanehes were arriving at full speed. Night had completely set in when the Jester arrived in sight of the colony. Sup- posing that, through the rapidity of his march, the white men would not have had time to place themselves on the defensive he ambushed a portion of his men, place himself at the head of the rest, and crawled with all the precautions employed in such cases toward the isthmus battery. No one appeared: the fort and intrench- ments seemed abandoned. The Jester ut- tered his war-cry, rose suddenly, and bound- ing forward, like a jaguar, crossed the in- trenchment, follow y his warriors. But, at the moment when the Comanches pre- pared to leap into the interior, a fearful dis- charge at point-blank range leveled more than one-half of the Indian detachment, while the survivors took to flight. The Comanches had one great disadvan- tage—they possessed no fire-arms. The musketry decimated them, and they could only reply by firing their arrows, or by hurling their bp Noticing, therefore, though too late for himself, that the French were ox their guard, the Jester, desperate ‘at the check he had experienced, and his serious losses, was unwilling to further weaken the confidence of his warriors by useless tentatives. He concealed his de- tachment under cover of the forest, and re- solved to wait for the Black Bear’s signal ere he made a move. Don Louis had followed Eagle-head The Indian, after several turnings, led him almost ge the isthmus battery to the entrance of a dense thicket. ‘“* My brother can dismount,” he said to the Frenchman; “ we have arriyed.” ‘** Arrived where?” Louis asked, looking aroand him in vain. Without replying the chief took the horse, and led it away, Fouts during the interval looked all around him; but his researches had no result. Eagle-head soon returned. . at Pe pale-faces have the eyes of molea,’”” pe oe he sai cOIMiIcboo