Good Indian

by B. M. Bower

  CHAPTER IX. PEPPAJEE JIM "HEAP SABES"

  Peppajee Jim had meditated long in the shade of his wikiup, and now,when the sun changed from a glaring ball of intense, yellow heat to asullen red disk hanging low over the bluffs of Snake River, he rose,carefully knocked the ashes from his little stone pipe, with onemechanical movement of his arms, gathered his blanket around him, pusheda too-familiar dog from him with a shove of moccasined foot, and stalkedaway through the sagebrush.

  On the brow of the hill, just where the faint footpath dipped into anarrow gully at the very edge, almost, of the bluff, he stopped, andlifted his head for an unconsciously haughty stare at his surroundings.

  Beneath him and half a mile or so up the river valley, the mellow greenof Peaceful's orchard was already taking to itself the vagueness ofevening shadows. Nearer, the meadow of alfalfa and clover lay like asoft, green carpet of velvet, lined here and there with the irrigationditches which kept it so. And in the center of the meadow, a smallinclosure marked grimly the spot where lay the bones of old John Imsen.All around the man-made oasis of orchards and meadows, the sage and thesand, pushed from the river by the jumble of placer pits, emphasized bysharp contrast what man may do with the most unpromising parts of theearth's surface, once he sets himself heart and muscle to the task.

  With the deliberation of his race, Peppajee stood long minutesmotionless, gazing into the valley before he turned with a true Indianshrug and went down into the gully, up the steep slope beyond, andthen, after picking his way through a jumble of great bowlders, cameout eventually into the dust-ridden trail of the white man. Down that hewalked, erect, swift, purposeful, his moccasins falling always with theprecision of a wild animal upon the best footing among the looserocks, stubs of sage-roots, or patches of deep dust and sand beside thewagon-road, his sharp, high-featured face set in the stony calm whichmay hide a tumult of elemental passions beneath and give no sign.

  Where the trail curved out sharply to round the Point o' Rocks, he leftit, and kept straight on through the sage, entered a rough pass throughthe huge rock tongue, and came out presently to the trail again, a scanttwo hundred yards from the Hart haystacks. When he reached the stable,he stopped and looked warily about him, but there was no sight or soundof any there save animals, and he went on silently to the house, hisshadow stretching long upon the ground before him until it merged intothe shade of the grove beyond the gate, and so was lost for that day.

  "Hello, Peppajee," called Wally over his cigarette. "Just in time forsupper."

  Peppajee grunted, stopped in the path two paces from the porch, foldedhis arms inside his blanket, and stood so while his eyes traveled slowlyand keenly around the group lounging at ease above him. Upon the bulkyfigure of Baumberger they dwelt longest, and while he looked his facehardened until nothing seemed alive but his eyes.

  "Peppajee, this my friend, Mr. Baumberger. You heap sabeBaumberger--come all time from Shoshone, mebbyso catchum heap manyfish." Peaceful's mild, blue eyes twinkled over his old meerschaum.He knew the ways of Indians, and more particularly he knew the ways ofPeppajee; Baumberger, he guessed shrewdly, had failed to find favor inhis eyes.

  "Huh!" grunted Peppajee non-commitally, and made no motion toshake hands, thereby confirming Peaceful's suspicion. "Me heap sabeMan-that-catchum-fish." After which he stood as before, his arms foldedtightly in his blanket, his chin lifted haughtily, his mouth a straight,stern line of bronze.

  "Sit down, Peppajee. Bimeby eat supper," Peaceful invited pacifically,while Baumberger chuckled at the Indian's attitude, which he attributedto racial stupidity.

  Peppajee did not even indicate that he heard or, hearing, understood.

  "Bothered much with Injuns?" Baumberger asked carelessly, putting awayhis pipe. "I see there's quite a camp of 'em up on the hill. Hope you'vegot good watchdogs--they're a thieving lot. If they're a nuisance, Hart,I'll see what can be done about slapping 'em back on their reservation,where they belong. I happen to have some influence with the agent."

  "I guess you needn't go to any trouble about it," Peaceful returneddryly. "I've had worse neighbors."

  "Oh--if you're stuck on their company!" laughed Baumberger wheezily."'Every fellow to his taste, as the old woman said when she kissed hercow.' There may be good ones among the lot," he conceded politely whenhe saw that his time-worn joke had met with disfavor, even by the boys,who could--and usually did--laugh at almost anything. "They all lookalike to me, I must admit; I never had any truck with 'em."

  "No, I guess not," Peaceful agreed in his slow way, holding his pipethree inches from his face while he eyed Peppajee quizzically. "Don'tpay to have any truck with 'em while you feel that way about it."He smoothed down his snow-white beard with his free hand, pushed thepipe-stem between his teeth, and went on smoking.

  "I never liked the breed, any way you look at 'em," Baumberger statedcalmly.

  "Say, you'll queer yourself good and plenty, if you keep on," Wallyinterrupted bluntly. "Peppajee's ears aren't plugged with cotton--arethey, Jim?"

  Neither Peppajee nor Baumberger made reply of any sort, and Peacefulturned his mild eyes reproachfully toward his untactful son. But thesupper summons clanged insistently from the iron triangle on the backporch and saved the situation from becoming too awkward. Even Baumbergerlet his tilted chair down upon its four legs with a haste for which hisappetite was not alone responsible, and followed the boys into the houseas if he were glad to escape from the steady, uncompromising stare ofthe Indian.

  "Better come and eat, Peppajee," Peaceful lingered upon the porch tourge hospitably. "You no get mad. You come eat supper."

  "No!" Peppajee jerked the word out with unmistakable finality. "No eat.Bimeby mebbyso makum big talk yo'."

  Peaceful studied his face, found it stern and unyielding, and noddedassent. "All right. I eat, then I talk with you." He turned somewhatreluctantly and followed the others inside, leaving Peppajee to pass thetime away as pleased him best.

  Peppajee stood still for a moment listening to the clatter of dishesfrom the kitchen, and then with dignity end deliberation seated himselfupon the lowest step of the porch, and, pulling his blanket tight aroundhim, resettled his disreputable old sombrero upon his head and staredfixedly at the crimson glow which filled all the west and made even therugged bluff a wonderful thing of soft, rose tints and shadows of royalpurple. Peaceful, coming out half an hour after with Baumberger at hisheels, found him so and made a movement to sit down beside him. ButPeppajee rose and stalked majestically to the gate, then turned andconfronted the two.

  "I talk yo'. Mebbyso no talk Man-with-big-belly." He waited impassively.

  "All right, Jim." Peaceful turned apologetically toward his guest."Something he wants to tell me, Baumberger; kinda private, I guess. I'llbe back in a minute, anyway."

  "Now don't mind me at all," Baumberger protested generously. "Go aheadjust as if I wasn't here--that's what'll please me best. I hope I ain'tso much of a stranger you've got to stand on ceremony. Go on, and findout what the old buck wants; he's got something on his mind, that'ssure. Been stealing fruit, maybe, and wants to square himself before youcatch him at it." He laughed his laziest, and began leisurely to fillhis pipe.

  Peppajee led the way to the stable, where he stopped short and facedPeaceful, his arms folded, one foot thrust forward in the pose heaffected when about to speak of matters important.

  "Long time ago, when yo' hair black," he began deliberately, with asonorous lingering upon his vowels, "yo' all time my frien'. I yo'frien' all same. Yo' no likum otha white man. Yo' all time bueno. Yo'house all same my wikiup. Me come eat at yo' house, talk yo' all samebrotha. Yo' boys all same my boys--all time my frien'. Me speakum alltime no lie, mebbyso."

  "No," Peaceful assented unhesitatingly, "you no tell lies, Peppajee. Wegood friends, many years."

  "Huh! Man-that-catchum-fish, him no yo' frien'. Shont-isham. All timehim speakum lies--tellum frien' yo', no frien'. Yo' no more tellum stopyo' wikiup. Kay bueno. Yo' thinkum frien'. All time him
have bad heartfor yo'. Yo' got ranch. Got plenty hay, plenty apple, plenty all thingfor eat. All time him think bad for yo'. All time him likum steal yo'ranch."

  Peaceful laughed indulgently. "You no sabe," he explained. "Him likemy ranch. Him say, long time ago, pay much money for my ranch. Me nosell--me like for keep all time. Baumberger good man. Him no steal myranch. Me got one paper from government--you sabe?--one paper say ranchall time b'longum me all same. Big white chief say ranch b'longum me alltime. I die, ranch b'longum my boys. You sabe?"

  Peppajee considered. "Me sabe," he said at length. "Me sabe paper, saberanch all time b'longum yo'. All same, him like for ketchum yo' ranch.Me hear much talk, him talk Man-that-coughs, tellum him ketchum ranch.Much white man come, so--" He lifted one hand with thumb and fingersoutspread, made a downward gesture, and then raised three fingers."Catchum ranch."

  Peaceful shook his head while he smiled. "No can do that. Mebbyso muchmen come, heap fight, mebbyso killum me, ranch all same b'longum myboys. Men that fights go to jail, mebbyso hangum." He indicated by signshis exact meaning.

  Peppajee scowled, and shook his head stubbornly. "Me heap sabe. Allsame, ketchum yo' ranch. Man-that-catchum-fish kay bueno. Yo' thinkumfrien', yo' damfool. Him all same rattlesnake. Plenty foolum yo'. Yo'see. Yo' thinkum Peppajee Jim heap big fool. Peaceful Hart, him all timeone heap big damfool. Him ketchum yo' ranch. Yo' see." He stopped andstared hard at the dim bulk of the grove, whence came the faint odor ofsmoke from Baumberger's pipe.

  "Yo' be smart man," he added grimly, "yo' all same kickum dat mansoff yo' ranch." For emphasis he thrust out a foot vigorously in thedirection of the house and the man he maligned, and turned his facetoward camp. Peaceful watched until the blanketed form merged into thedusk creeping over the valley, and when it disappeared finally into theshort cut through the sage, he shook his gray head in puzzlement overthe absurd warning, and went back to talk politics with Baumberger.