He moved back to where he could see the base of the buttes through his telescope and found a hollow containing plenty of grass. The grass was all dried but it still kept the horses gainfully occupied.
He was surprised to receive the mirror flash as soon as the sun was up. They had made very good time to the buttes.
He ate breakfast and saddled the stallion before he unhobbled the horses and roped them into a string. He rode across the desert strip openly and unhurriedly.
He knew that the Indians had seen him long before he reached the buttes. They had not attempted to hide their horses’ tracks into the valley and he soon realized why when he had to pass through a narrow entrance where a single gunman could hold off a regiment. He was pleased that he had told the men to hold the heights and not to enter the valley.
The campfires were still burning and he could see their smoke marking the campsite.
He did not look around him but he counted every Indian that he saw and by the time he reached the campsite he had counted twelve and there must have been some up on the heights keeping watch.
He raised his hand in the ‘come-in-peace’ sign Pawnee had showed him.
A tall brave stepped forward and asked him something in Comanche.
Daniel said in Spanish: “Do you speak Spanish?”
The tall one gestured to a middle-aged man with an incipient pot-belly.
“Senor, why do you come here?” The veteran asked.
“I wish to trade these horses for the white women that you have here.” Daniel told him.
“We have no white women here.”
“Is your Peace Chief at the Comanche village a liar then?”
“No he does not lie but he is mistaken.”
“If he is mistaken why are you living out here away from your own women and children?”
“Our war-leader is planning his next attack.” The veteran turned as the tall one fired a series of words at him and then turned back to Daniel.
“How many horses do you offer for the two women?”
“You can see that I have brought ten.”
“That is not enough.”
“Why not?“ Daniel asked and then quoted. ”White women are not useful. They are always unhappy and they do not know how to work. They cannot dress hides. They cannot make clothing. They do not understand your customs. Horses do not give such trouble. Horses know how to be proper horses but white women do not know how to be proper women.”
“What you say is true but why then are you willing to give good horses for them?”
“Our custom is to care for our women. They have children and husbands that want them back.”
There was a short discussion as the veteran explained the Spanish to the tall one.
“If these men want them back they must send twenty horses for each woman.” The veteran announced on instructions from the tall one.
“I have come for the Spanish woman. She is of no use to you since she is old. I offer ten horses for her and it is enough.”
There was more discussion.
“The leader will take the ten horses and also the one that you ride, and your rifle.”
“Ten horses are enough. I have had this horse that I ride for many years and I need him to carry me and the woman back to our village.”
“Ten horses and your rifle.”
“Without my rifle the Pawnees will capture me. I cannot trade my rifle as you cannot trade your lance. Ten horses are enough.”
There was more discussion.
“Running Coyote says ten horses are not enough. You must bring more.”
Daniel stood up and said goodbye as he mounted the stallion.
“You must leave the ten horses and bring another ten.” The veteran declared.
Daniel stared at the tall one coolly.
“I will leave now taking my ten horses with me. These are good horses and ten horses are enough. There is no one else that will come for the Spanish woman. She will be an extra mouth for Running Coyote to feed and she will never learn how to be a good Comanche woman.”
The tall one snapped out a command to the veteran.
“The horses stay here with your rifle and your stallion. You too will stay here. Maybe someone will pay horses for you.” The veteran reached out to grab the reins of the stallion and Daniel shot him in the forehead with his pistol.
The tall one was not expecting Daniel’s lightning reaction. He raised his feathered lance but Daniel’s bullet was quicker and drilled through his eye.
At the sound of the shots, the other Indians came running but rifle fire from the top of the buttes felled several of them and Daniel killed four more to empty his pistol.
He yanked out his rifle from the saddle scabbard just in time to crack an assailant on the jaw with the rifle butt and shoot another as he sprinted forward. More shots sounded from the buttes and Pawnee rushed down to finish off the man that Daniel had knocked down and was now rising groggily to his feet.
Daniel found the two women cowering in a branch tipi, frightened by the sound of firing. He called to the duenna in Spanish: “Senorita Maria Rozas, it is I, Daniel Beauregard. You are rescued. Do not be afraid.”
She threw himself into his arms. “Ah Senor Beauregard! God has heard my prayer! Oh senor, they also took my Teresita! I do not know where she is!”
“Be calm, Maria, Teresita is safe. She is in Comanche.”
“Still with the Comanche? Oh dear my poor child what shall we do?”
“No, not with the Comanche. She is safe in the American town called Comanche.”
The other woman was in her early thirties. She was slim and reasonably attractive. It had been her husband that had been killed in the raid in which she became a captive.
Arthur Corning was immediately attracted to her and he took charge of her and found her an Indian horse to ride.
The group came away with another fifteen Indian horses and set out for Comanche immediately.
Chapter Thirty Three
Riding with two women and with a string of horses the return journey was not as rapid as had been the outward journey but since they did not detour to the Comanche village but went directly home, it took them much the same time.
The town of Comanche was abuzz with excitement as Daniel’s group rode in. Everyone wanted to know what had happened and there was a shriek of delight from the upper storey of the saloon when Teresita heard that they were back.
She ran out into the road and threw herself at her aunt rattling off questions in Spanish and replying to as many as she had asked.
That evening there was a celebration in the saloon with everyone in the town attending including the officers from the nearby fort.
“Well, Dan, you pulled it off and I hear that you came back with more horses than you took, again. How do you do it?”
“Brad, these Comanches are crazy about horses. If you kill or capture any of them you are going to end up with a whole mess of horses.”
“What are you going to do with them all Dan?”
“Well, I am headed for El Paso where I plan to buy myself a spread. I thought that I would raise cattle and breed horses. The way I see it, I have a nice little herd to pick the type of horse I want to breed from.”
“What do you have to pick? You could hardly improve on that stallion of yours.”
“Yes, he is going to make a fine foundation for the type of horse I am going to breed.”
Teresita approached him and said. “Daniel, may I talk to you?”
“Any time at all Teresita. Please excuse me Brad I’ll speak to you later.”
He took her outside in the cool of the evening.
“What may I do for you, my lady?”
“Daniel I have been talking with my Tia Maria. You
are her hero, you know. She thought that she was completely abandoned and that no-one in the world knew or cared that she was in the hands of savages. She says to me that I would be foolish to allow a man such as you to slip out of my hands. I told her that my father had arranged my marriage because it was the best thing for me. She said no, he was her brother and she knew him well. He did not arrange this marriage because it was good for me. He arranged it because it was good for him. She says that I should not ruin my life for such a base reason. She says that my father is capable of taking care of himself and that the time has come for me to learn to take care of myself. She said that I must tell you this and I have now done as she suggested.”
She looked up at Daniel with two eyes as large as pools in the moonlight.
He could no longer hold himself back. He lowered his head and kissed her.
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