“When, and where? How, and by whom?”
“Hola! hombre—four questions at once! Muy bien! I can answer them, if you give me time. To the first, I should say about six months ago. To the second, near the Big Timbers, on the Arkansas. My reply to the third will require more words; and before giving it, I shall answer the fourth by saying that the girl was taken from the Rapahoes by Don José.”
“Don José—who is Don José?”
“Oh! perhaps you would know him by his American name—Oaquer?”
“Walker, the celebrated trapper? Joe Walker?”
“The same, amigo. Oaquara, the Utahs pronounce it. As you perceive, their young chief is named so, and after him. The trapper and he were sworn friends—brothers—or more like father and son: since Don José was much the older.”
“Were friends. Are they not so still?”
“Valga me dios! No. That is no longer possible. Don José has gone under—was rubbed out more than three months ago, and by these very Rapahoes! That is why your fair conpaisana is now with the Utahs. The old trapper left her to his namesake Oaquara—under whose protection she has been ever since.”
“He has been true to his trust? He has protected her?” Under the influence of singular emotions did these questions escape me.
“Seguramente, amigo!” replied the Mexican, with an ingenuousness calculated to allay my unpleasant fancies, “the Utah chief is a noble fellow—un hombre de bien—besides, he would have done anything for his old friend—whose death greatly grieved him. That is just why you see him here in such haste. It was not to avenge your wrongs that they danced their war-measure—but the death of Don José. All the same to you, however: since your compañeros are likely to have the advantage of it. As for the Americana,” continued he, before I had time to make rejoinder, “Virgen santissima! such a maiden was never seen in these parts. Such a shot! Not a marksman in the mountains could match with her, except Don José himself, who taught her; and as for hunting—la linda cazadora! she can steal upon the game like a couguar. Ah! she can protect herself. She has done so. But for her spirit and rifle, the Red-Hand would have ruined her.”