“Uff! uff!” he grunted, evidently shocked. “Was I near one of these packages?”
“So near that if you had not sprung down you would be this moment in the Happy Hunting Grounds. And what would you have had with you? No medicine, no scalp-lock, nothing, nothing at all, but little bits of flesh and bones. How could you rule as a great chief in the Happy Hunting Grounds in such a state? You would have been crushed under foot by the spirit-horses. An Indian who comes to the Happy Hunting Grounds without medicine or scalp-locks will be received by the dead heroes with contempt, and have to hide from their eyes, while they drink deep of all Indian joys; this is the belief of the red man. What a misfortune, then, to arrive shattered into little bits!”
One could see under the dark skin that the shock had driven the blood from the chief’s face, and he cried: “Ugh! how good that you warned me in time!”
“Because we are friends and brothers,” said Sam.
“I will go and warn my braves, lest they go near that dangerous wagon and suffer death,” said Tangua.
“Do so, I pray you; for not only they, but you and I and all here would be blown up with them. If one who does not understand how to use this discovery were to touch it he would blow up his friends as well as his enemies, while in our hands it is sure to blow up those whom we choose to dispose of. Let us warn your braves, and at the same time remind them that they have not yet greeted their white brothers.”
With this happy hint of the possible consequences of offending us, and reminder of his omission, coupled with a sly wink at me, Sam accompanied the chief to his braves.
The Kiowas and our three scouts held a conference to discuss the best means for carrying out the capture of the Apaches, while we surveyors continued working until darkness forced us to discontinue.
We seated ourselves all together around the fire after supper, and the camp presented to me, unused to such a scene, a picture of the greatest interest. Sam Hawkins and his two inseparable companions sat near me; around the blazing fire were the redskins, their greased faces shining in its light, while just beyond the horses were grazing, and dimly seen in the distance were the sentinels which the chief had stationed there. As I looked from one copper-colored face to another I saw none which I would have trusted to show compassion to an enemy.
I asked Sam the result of the conference. “You may be satisfied,” he said. “Nothing will happen to your two darlings.”