CHAPTER XXVIII.
INDIAN BEAUTIES.
Shortly after the occurrence on Turkey Creek, I was sitting one afternoon in the verandah before my house and drinking coffee, when I saw a long way down the prairie a cloud of dust coming down the river. Curious as to who it could be, I went into the house and fetched my telescope. I saw three Indians on horseback, a man in front, and two squaws following him. They rode very fast, in spite of the great heat, and soon came up the hill to the Fort. I went out to them, and all three came through the palisade gate, and pulled up in front of my house. The warrior leapt from his horse, while the two girls remained seated on theirs. He told me in English that a tribe of Indians wished to make friendship with me, and the chief had sent to inquire whether he would be allowed to pay me a visit with his people. I asked him to what nation they belonged, which question appeared, as it seemed, to be disagreeable to him, and he passed it over in silence. He then said something to the two girls which I did not understand, and then told me they were Mescaleros, but not of those who made the attack on Mrs. White. The chief of the latter was no good friend of the white men; but the father of these two girls was a very good friend, and hence he wished to come and tell me so himself. I replied, that I should be glad to see him here, and invited the girls to drink coffee with me, which invitation they did not at once accept, but, with their elbows resting on their horses' necks, gazed at me curiously, and then took side glances through the open door of my house at the interior. I offered them cigars, and took a lucifer match out of my box, the lighting of which surprised them immensely. I lighted my cigar at it first, and then handed it to them, and they loudly expressed their satisfaction at the excellence of the tobacco. I then took a drink of coffee, and handed the cup to one of the girls, who first examined it curiously all round, and then raised it to her lips to taste the contents. She had scarce tasted it, however, when she emptied the cup at a draught, and gave it back to me, with an intimation that I should give her sister some. I gave her a full cup, too; she emptied it at a draught and asked for more, so that in a few minutes my whole supply of coffee was expended. I gave them cakes, which they ate with equal appetite, and then went into the house to fetch a bottle of sweet Spanish wine. I poured out a glass, tasted, and handed it to one of the Indian girls, but she declined it, and after saying a few words to the man, their glances lost the calmness and merriment which they had gradually assumed.
I emptied the glass and placed it on the table, without again offering them wine, but handed them a light for their cigars, which had gone out. After a while the man asked me whether it was fire-water the bottle contained, and when I replied in the negative, and assured him it was capital wine, he said that one of the girls wished to taste it. I filled the glass, put it to my lips, and handed it to her on the horse: she raised it to her lips rather timidly, but drank the wine off at a draught so soon as she had once tasted it. Her eyes beamed with joy, and as she sat up on her horse, and passed her hand from her neck over her breast and stomach, she said, with an expression of delight, "Bueno," and handed me the glass back with a sign to give her some more. I filled it again, but gave it to her sister, who was looking on silently but eagerly. She, too, liked the wine, and emptied the glass, which I set on the table. At this moment both girls leapt from their horses, gave the bridles to the Indian with a disdainful gesture, while one of them told him imperiously to take the horses to graze; I at least concluded so from the gestures with which she accompanied her words, and from his at once going off with the horses. The speaker then turned to me with a most gracious smile, and, after throwing a contemptuous glance at the man, said to me "Mexicano," and now it became clear to me that he was a slave, probably stolen by this Indian tribe when a boy.
The two young savages now ran up to the verandah in front of my house, and I saw for the first time properly what remarkably pretty visitors I had; for both girls had been so crouching on their horses that but little of their figure could be seen. The one who seemed to me the younger, was very tall, slim, and most beautifully formed; her shape was elegant, but round and full, and her bones so delicate, that the comparison between horse and deer involuntarily occurred to me; her hands and feet, like those of all Indians, were very small, and so gracefully shaped that the white colour was not missed. On proportionately broad shoulders and a plump, round neck, she carried her head freely, and her demeanour proved that she was perfectly well satisfied with herself. Her glossy black silky hair hung, fastened together on the left side of her head with a strip of vermilion leather, for a length of four feet over her shoulders, and on the top of the red fillet floated by the side of her head a round bush of countless feathers of the most brilliant colours, which heaved up and down at every movement. Her fine lofty forehead was adorned by sharply-cut, glistening eyebrows, beneath which black eyes flashed; but their wild expression was toned down by the shadow of long eyelashes, and only in moments of excitement did the passionate look return to them. The small, pretty nose turned up slightly at the end, and gave a saucy look to the face, while the laughing, fresh, half-parted mouth, with its full cherry lips, cut in the shape of a Cupid's bow, heightened the expression. When the laughing lips parted they displayed the most beautiful and regular teeth, and in the peach-coloured cheeks were two deep dimples. At the same time her mien was elegant, her movements were rapid but graceful, and her whole appearance was full of young life, unchecked and wild, but attractive and pleasant. Her dark colour passed easily from light brown to olive, and announced that under it dwelt those warm feelings which are only born under a hot sun.
Though the interpreter was absent, our conversation now went on better than before, as the eyes of the Indian girl and her gestures rendered a dictionary quite unnecessary. She quickly disposed of another glass of wine, and would certainly have drunk a good deal more, had I not filled the glass again and handed it to her sister, and then locked the bottle up in a cupboard. The sister displayed less of the passionate Indian blood; she was quieter in her movements, and though she, too, frequently opened her mouth to smile, she did not burst into a loud laugh, and while the former looked all around, the eyes of the quieter girl were fixed the more firmly on the object she was surveying. She was shorter than her younger sister, but much plumper, more of a Titian's beauty, had also splendid hair, arranged in the same fashion, coal-black, but smaller flashing eyes, a graceful aquiline nose, and a smaller mouth. Her colour was rather darker than that of her sister, and it was doubtful whether a dazzling white or this transparent brown was the more beautiful colour for the skin.
The name of the elder sister, who was about nineteen years of age, was Cachakia (sparkling star), while the younger was called Pahnawhay (fire), and had not seen more than sixteen summers. The costume of these two savage beauties was much alike. Over their shoulders hung a handsomely painted, costly dressed deer-hide, in the centre of which was a long slit, through which they thrust head and neck. This mantilla was ornamented all round with a fine long leathern fringe, to whose ends glistening stones and shells were attached; it hung lower down before and behind, and left the pretty round arms at liberty. Round their hips was a petticoat, also of leather, adorned with long fringe, and handsomely painted in colours, while the leathern trousers were also decorated at the sides with similar fringe. Their little feet were thrust into deer-hide shoes, also ornamented with, stones, shells, and fringe.
Pahnawhay was the first to run up into the gallery; at each step she rose on her feet as if walking on whalebone, while Cachakia came on with a quieter but scarce audible step. Both sate down at the table, and the younger sister took the wine-glass and drained it, while making me signs to give her more wine. I made her understand that she had better not drink any more, as it might send her to sleep; but I would give them some more before they rode away. Pahnawhay had looked for a long time curiously at my room; at last she jumped up and ran to the door, and leaning against the lintel, thrust her head in as far as she could. With a loud cry of amazement she sprang back several steps, clapped her hands, and, with a beaming face, said something to her sister, and then ran back to the door. I went into the room, and made her a sign to follow me; but she only took one step across the threshold, looked around her in amazement, and then cried to her sister to come, who, however, did not obey her. I now went to Cachakia, took her by the hand, and led her into the room, where I made her sit down in my large rocking-chair. The admiration and surprise of the two girls were extraordinary; they remained for a long time motionless and silent, looking from one object to the other, until Pahnawhay first found her speech again. Running to my bed, she drew a red blanket from under the jaguar skin, that served as counterpane, and hung it proudly over her shoulders. As she had not yet noticed my large looking-glass, I led her in front of it, and a loud cry of surprise burst from her pretty mouth. She turned round before it, and at last ran up and from it with the most graceful movements, while Cachakia looked at her in silence, but showed by her flashing eyes that she would like to be in her place. I now led her in front of the mirror, took a bright silk handkerchief from a chair, bound it round her thick hair under the tuft of feathers, and made her understand that it was hers. I then took another blue and yellow one out of the chest of drawers, and fastened it round Pahnawhay's hair, for I knew if I did not it would be all over with her good temper.
Everything in the room was now examined, and if possible handled, and I had to explain its use. Cachakia too became gradually more animated and took a greater share in the conversation, always trying to make me understand that her sister knew too little and her chatter was not worthy of attention. Everything pleased her, and when she saw anything she wished particularly to have, she made me understand that we would swap, but never said what she intended to give me in exchange. Still I could not help giving both a number of trifles, such as knives, thimbles, needles, cotton, and sewing-silk, and I was very glad when the negroes came and announced that the dinner I had ordered for my guests was on the table, through which their desires took a different direction. I conducted them to the dining-room, and was obliged to dine with them again in order to show them the use of knife and fork, which they, however, soon laid aside and employed their little fingers instead. They liked everything, but the pudding most, and when coffee and cakes were again served, it seemed as if they intended making a separate meal of them. After dinner I gave them cigars and intended to keep them in this room till they rode off, but they soon got up, and after pointing round the room and saying with a dissatisfied expression, "no bueno," they walked off straight to my house. Whether I would or no, I was obliged to admit them, and Cachakia was now the first to nestle up to me and point with her little hand to the wine-glass, while she looked up at me with her sparkling black eyes and laughingly displayed two rows of pearly teeth. I could not possibly refuse her, and when I had filled the glass to the brim she raised the golden liquid to her lips and drank it to the last drop. Pahnawhay also drank a glass, but then I locked the bottle up again, and in spite of Cachakia's languishing looks and her sister's more stormy requests I did not take it out again.
Pahnawhay had again taken the red blanket from my bed and walked round me praising it loudly, while I was sitting by Cachakia, but she seemed not to have the courage to ask me for it. I noticed her embarrassment, and as I had long wished to have a dress like these girls were wearing, I pointed when she again stood before me to the various articles of her costume, then to the woollen blanket, and made the sign of exchange. As if the greatest piece of good fortune had happened to her, she fell back a step and repeated my signs inquiringly as if not believing her luck, and when I again affirmed it, she threw off in a few moments all her clothing, folded herself in the blanket, and stretching out her arm under it, carefully laid her leathern dress on my bed. I was so surprised at this instantaneous metamorphosis that at the first moment I did not think how Cachakia would be humiliated by it; but Pahnawhay pointed to her, and said I must give her a blanket as well. In truth the thermometer had already fallen in the eyes of my pretty neighbour, so I got up quickly and opened a chest in which I had several blankets, but not a red one; however, there were five blue ones among them, which pleased Cachakia remarkably, and in an equally short period her dress was also lying on my bed, and she was seated, highly delighted, in the Turkey blue blanket in my rocking chair smoking her cigar.
The sun had already set, and darkness was spreading over the landscape, when my princesses trotted out proudly into the prairie, wrapped in their blankets, with an assurance that they would return early the next morning with the whole tribe. At an early hour I had a very large kettle of coffee made and extra bread baked before the cattle were driven out to pasture, a fat ox was driven into the enclosure, the dogs were chained up, and I ordered my men to keep the Fort closed, as the Indians whom I wished to enter it would be led through my house, which stood at the south-eastern angle, and had an entrance through the palisade.
At the appointed hour we saw the party of Indians coming down the river, and soon halt in front of my fence. I went out, received the chief with the usual ceremony, and saluted his two daughters who on this day only wore snow-white bran-new petticoats, painted in the brightest colours with very considerable taste. They wore necklaces of very handsome beads, earrings of the same material hung down on their shoulders, and their round arms were ornamented with flashing brass rings, while a new long tuft of feathers of the most brilliant hues was planted on the left side of the head. They left the blankets, which had hung loosely on their shoulders while riding, on their horses, and the latter were led off by the Mexican slave. After this both girls, but Cachakia not so quickly as her sister, hurried to me, and we exchanged the usual signs of good-will in the customary fashion; they pressed my hands, wound their pretty arms around me, and would assuredly have kissed me were not this mark of affection quite unknown to the Indians, and would have seemed to them highly ridiculous. After the first greetings they pointed to their father and then to my house, saying "Vino," and making the sign of drinking. The chief was a man of about fifty years of age, about six feet high, with broad shoulders, and arched chest, regular handsome features, straight nose, sharp black eyes, lofty forehead, and—a rarity among the Indians—a heavy moustache twisted into points. He had a haughty, imposing mien, and something very determined in his appearance, which was however kindly and hearty, so that we fraternized in a few moments. I proposed to lead him and his daughters to my house, but he turned to his tribe and said something I did not understand, upon which two men stepped out of the mob and joined us. We reached the gallery in front of my house to which I had had all my chairs carried, in order, if possible, to keep the interior clear for the curious guests. I made them sit down at table, and handed the chief the pipe I had myself lighted; he passed it to his neighbours, and so it went the round; while the two girls swung themselves in the rocking chair or the hammock hung up in the gallery, and smoked cigars. After the calumet of peace had passed round, the chief informed me of the purpose of his visit, to make peace with me, and introduced the other two Indians to me as the Chief of Peace and the Sage in Council, in which the Mexican acted as interpreter. Dinner was now served, the chief employing knife and fork as I did, while the two others used their fingers. Pahnawhay had fetched a buffalo robe out of the house and laid it on the ground, and sat upon it with her sister to have her dinner. I handed them the plates of food, but they returned me the knives and forks, saying it was easier work with their fingers. They amused themselves famously on their buffalo hide, and teazed each other with the heartiest merriment, for which their father gave them several warnings, to which they responded with a laugh. The chief now explained to me that many tribes of his nation entertained hostile feelings against the white men, but he hoped they would soon see it was to their advantage to enter into friendly relations with them, and that his tribe from henceforth would never commit any act of hostility against us.
We had finished dinner, and I told the chief that I now wished to give his men their dinner, on which he rose and said that he had better be present or else no order would be kept. We went out in front of the palisade after I had locked my house door, unseen by the two girls, and had the caldron of coffee, sweetened with honey and mixed with milk, brought out, as well as the bread, which last the chief distributed among the various families, telling them to use in coffee-drinking their own utensils, which consisted of shells, horns, and cocoa-nuts. There were above two hundred souls in camp, though among them all were only forty warriors.
I now showed the chief the fat ox, which I had shut up in the cow's milking enclosure, remarking at the same time that I intended to give it to his people, and asked whether it should be shot now, to which he assented. Königstein brought me a rifle and I shot the ox through the skull, after which some of the Indians skinned and carried the joints to camp. Ere long some thirty fires were lighted, round which the Indians lay and roasted the meat, while constantly running to the coffee-caldron to fill their vessels.
I was standing and admiring the appetites of these people, when Cachakia thrust her arm through mine and affectionately tried to induce me to go to my house with her to open the door, which, as she made me signs, she could not manage. I told her I would wait for her father, so that he might drink coffee with us. I walked through the groups of Indians to him, with my young lady friend hanging tightly on my arm. These Mescalero Indians were certainly the least civilized I had as yet seen: their dress consisted of leathern breech-clouts fastened round their hips, and large, strangely-painted dressed buffalo-hides. In the whole camp, however, I found nothing emanating from white men. On all their faces something shy, mistrustful, and savage could be noticed, which is not generally the case with other tribes. The people were, on the average, not very tall, but sturdy and broad-shouldered, and well fed; the women, however, were nearly all good looking, and I do not remember having seen so many pretty Indian girls together as in this camp. As we walked from fire to fire, which appeared to please the savages, Pahnawhay dashed every now and then like a young filly through the grass to my side. It had taken too long to open the house, and she now hung on my other arm, and pulled my beard as a punishment for having kept her waiting so long. I told her I was waiting for her father, she could go and bring him to my house while I went on in front with Cachakia. On arriving, my companion could not at all understand in what way the door was closed so tightly, and was quite surprised when I opened it with the key. She wished to try the experiment herself, and said she would keep the key so as to let herself in when she pleased, and it was not till I made her understand that in that case I could not open the house without her, that she returned it to me.
I now took my guitar from its case, and sitting down on my bed, let my fingers stray over the strings. Cachakia stood with widely-opened eyes and mouth before me, and became quite beside herself when I began playing. With one leap she sat cross-legged on the bed behind me, and peeping over my right shoulder, watched my performance. She was really delighted at the music, attempted to play the guitar herself, and became very angry and impatient when she could not manage it. At last Pahnawhay arrived with her father and the two ministers: we again took our seats in the verandah, and I ordered the coffee and cake, which my guests tremendously enjoyed, then I gave them all cigars to smoke, after which the chief told me that his people were well satisfied, were very good friends of mine, and would remain so. I took him to the arms-case in my house to let him see my weapons, about fifty first-rate implements. They did not fail to arouse my guest's admiration, and when we returned to the gallery I took a revolver, and at about one hundred yards put a bullet into a young tree, not nearly so wide as a man, and then fired the other five rounds in rapid succession. After this I placed in a few seconds a fresh cylinder in the lieu of the discharged one and fired the six rounds with equal rapidity, remarking the while that I could go on firing thus uninterruptedly. This weapon excited my guest's attention in the highest degree, and he looked at it for a long time with the greatest astonishment, and declared with the utmost seriousness that it was the grandest medicine he had ever seen. I made him a present of a very pretty hunting-knife, whose handle was composed of a roe-foot mounted with a silver shoe: his joy at it was childish, and in his excitement he assured me that he would lift the hair of the first enemy he conquered with it: this knife was also a great medicine.
The girls now left me no peace. I must fetch wine, which the three men at first looked at very suspiciously, but on my assurance that it was not fire-water, they tasted it, and drank with great satisfaction. When I carried the bottle back to the cupboard I filled a glass and put it on the table, making Cachakia a sign that it was for her, but at the same time I laid my finger on my lip so that she might not let the others know it, as I did not wish to open a fresh bottle, and this one was nearly empty. She understood me perfectly well, and as a proof nodded to me when I came out of the house, while a quiet smile played round her little mouth. I returned to my seat, and she carelessly rose, walked into my room, took the glass from the table, and gave me a nod unseen by the others, as she slowly drank the contents. Then she walked back into the gallery carelessly and sat down with us, like a person who is proud at having been preferred; but she cast her eyes down, as their sparkle might betray her.
Evening arrived; we supped, and when the moon had fully risen, went out to the Indian camp, as the chief wished to spend the night with his men, because the latter might be alarmed about him if he slept in the Fort with me. We had hardly reached the first fire, when we heard a fearful row at the other end of the camp, and the chief ran with his two colleagues in the direction of it. I was anxious about what was going on there, and hastened after them, accompanied by the two Indian girls. Two young men had quarrelled, and were engaged in a violent dispute when we came up, while the voices of the chief and his colleagues were raised to a loud key. Suddenly, however, the two men rushed to different fires, seized their bows and arrows, flew about a hundred yards apart into the prairie, and in a few minutes disappeared from sight. The chief shouted after them, but no one pursued them. The Mexican was standing not far from us at the next fire, and I called him up to give me an explanation of the disturbance. Pahnawhay, however, explained to me with a few very intelligible signs, that the two young men loved the same girl, and she had given her affection to both, upon which they quarrelled, and had run off to kill one another. The Mexican confirmed this statement, on which I asked why no one tried to prevent it, but I received the laughing reply, as if the thing were self-evident, that this was impossible.
A number of Indians had by this time collected round one of the fires, and Cachakia, taking me by the arm, drew me to it, when we saw a weeping and loudly lamenting girl seated with her head between her knees, with dishevelled hair almost concealing the whole of her person. This was the sweetheart of the two jealous knights, one of whom had probably by this time the deadly arrow in his heart. We were standing by the side of the unhappy girl, when a frightful yell echoed far across the moonlit prairie, the war-cry of the combatants, who had now met in open fight, as they had not been able, probably, to discern each other by crawling through the grass. The first note scarce reached us ere the weeping girl sprang up, threw back her hair, and hurling back the people standing round her, ran off with a shrill scream and disappeared. A deadly silence set in, as everybody expected to hear at the next moment that the fire was over; and all looking in the direction where the girl had disappeared, seemed to be anxiously holding their breath. At this moment the girl's piercing scream rang through the night air, and immediately after a fearful yell that pierced the marrow, and was answered by all the occupants of the camp pretty nearly. It seemed as if the latter had only been waiting for this signal, for now a number of men and squaws, some of whom held firebrands, ran off, and we could see these fires collected into a point far away. Cachakia said to me, "He is dead," and pressed her head down with her right hand to the left side, and closed her eyes. We soon saw the light moving towards us, until we could at length distinguish the separate torches, and the procession marched into camp. Four Indians bore the bloody corpse of the murdered man to the first fire, and laid it on the ground. I took a torch to see whether life still remained, but the last spark had disappeared. On his left side, near the heart, gaped three fearful wounds, which almost divided the chest in two parts, and his hair was bound into a mass by the curdled blood, while his head was cleft with a tomahawk. The Indians only take a scalp when it belongs to an enemy of their tribe. He was carried to the middle of the camp and covered with a buffalo robe. I asked Cachakia what would become of the other man and the girl? and she told me that the warrior must fly within four and twenty hours, and keep away till he had made it up with the dead man's relations, or otherwise they would take his life in return. Thus time was allowed him to fetch his traps, and if he came into camp during the period, he would not be molested, but after that he would be nowhere safe from them.
The chief now held a council with the relations of the dead man, which was just ended, when the victor's sweetheart appeared, silently led his horses to his fire, packed all his traps on them, and then went out into the night again without a word, while no one in camp appeared to have noticed her, although she walked openly towards the blazing fires. Indians do not consider it any harm for a girl to be a coquette, but they punish the infidelity of a wife, and frequently with death; but it is more common for the husband to cut off her nose, which indulgence is chiefly occasioned by the squaws being a portion of the husband's fortune, as he is obliged to buy them, employs them as servants and labourers, and can sell them again for ever, or for a time, as he pleases. I missed in this tribe more female noses than in any other I had seen.
In a very short time all became quiet again in camp, as if nothing extraordinary had happened; and after I had sat for a while with the chief, I wished him good-night, and was accompanied home by Cachakia, which attention appears to be one of the forms of politeness on the part of the savages; and even though the home of a parting guest is a long way from their camp, they always accompany him to the last highest point, whence they can look back on their camp.
Day was hardly dawned when I opened my door, and stepped out into the gallery to greet the fresh morning. In the Indian camp all appeared to be still resting except a few forms moving about in it. I saw through my glass that they had with them a horse and a mule, and ere long an Indian mounted the latter, and two others raised something that was wrapped in a large buffalo hide up to him. Then another Indian mounted the horse, and they went off up the river with the mule in front. I conjectured that it was the corpse of the murdered man which the two were carrying to the burial-place of the tribe, and found my supposition confirmed when I entered the camp. I had another caldron of coffee and a great quantity of maize bread carried to the camp, invited the chief, and his two councillors of state, and his daughters to breakfast, after which he told me that our friendship was now eternally concluded, and that he would depart with an easy mind. I made him a number of trifling presents, such as blankets, tobacco, looking-glasses, vermilion, &c.; gave the daughters several keepsakes as well, and my guests quitted me apparently remarkably well satisfied.
During the two days Owl and Tiger had not shown themselves, as the Delawares, though not open enemies, are not on very friendly terms with the Mescaleros, and so they went off hunting. Owl had received his wages long before, but still remained with us, as he seemed to enjoy himself, in which our cooking played a great part; but he now came one morning to me, and said the time had arrived when he promised to join his family, and so he must leave us, as he did not wish to render his friends alarmed about his safety. He rode to Lasar's and took his leave, when he received handsome presents: I, too, gave him numerous trifles for his fidelity and devotedness, and he went off, accompanied by Tiger, promising to pay me a visit very shortly.
