La loi de lynch. English

by Gustave Aimard

  CHAPTER XXX.

  THE SORCERER.

  Although Spider was a Comanche warrior in the fullest meaning of theterm, that is to say rash, cunning, brutal and cruel, the laws ofgallantry were not entirely unknown to him, and he had eagerly acceptedSunbeam's proposition. The Indian, who, like most of his countrymen, wasunder great obligations to Valentine, was delighted at the opportunityto do him a kindness.

  If Spider had only travelled with his warriors the journey would havebeen accomplished, to use a Comanche expression, between two sunsets;but having with him two women, one of whom was not only old, but aEuropean, that is to say, quite unused to desert life, he understood,without anyone making the remark--for Madame Guillois would have diedsooner than complain, and she alone could have spoken--that he mustcompletely modify his mode of travelling, and he did so.

  The women, mounted on powerful horses (Madame Guillois being comfortablyseated on a cushion made of seven or eight panthers' skins) were, forfear of any accident, placed in the middle of the band, which did nottake Indian file, owing to its numerical strength.

  They trotted on thus during the whole day, and at sunset Spider gaveorders to camp. He was one of the first to dismount, and cut with hisknife a number of branches, of which he formed, as if by enchantment, ahut to protect the two females from the dew. The fires were lighted,supper prepared, and immediately after the meal, all prepared to sleepexcept the sentries.

  Madame Guillois alone did not sleep, for fever and impatience kept herawake; she therefore spent the whole night crouched in a corner of thehut, reflecting. At sunrise they started again; as they were approachingthe mountains the wind grew cold, and a dense fog covered the prairie.All wrapped themselves up carefully in their furs until the sun gainedsufficient strength to render this precaution unnecessary.

  In some parts of America the climate has this disagreeable peculiarity,that in the morning the frost is strong enough to split stones, atmidday the heat is stifling, and in the evening the thermometer fallsagain below zero.

  The day passed without any incident worth recording. Toward evening, atabout an hour before the halt, Spider, who was galloping as scout aboutone hundred yards ahead of the band, discovered footsteps. They wereclear, fresh, regular, deep, and seemed to be made by a young, powerfulman accustomed to walking.

  Spider rejoined his party without imparting his discovery to anyone; butSunbeam, by whose side he was riding, suddenly tapped him on theshoulder, to attract his attention.

  "Look there, warrior," she said, pointing a little to the left "doesthat look like a man marching?"

  The Indian stopped, put his hand over his eyes as a shade, toconcentrate his attention, and examined for a long time the point thechief's squaw pointed out. At length he set out again, shaking his headrepeatedly.

  "Well, what does my brother think?" Sunbeam asked.

  "It is a man," he answered; "from here it appears an Indian, and yet Ieither saw badly, or am mistaken."

  "How so?"

  "Listen: you are the wife of the first chief of the tribe, and so I cantell you this, there is something strange about the affair. A fewminutes back I discovered footprints; by the direction they follow it isplain they were made by that man--the more so, as they are fresh, as ifmade a little while ago."

  "Well?"

  "These are not the footprints of a redskin, but of a white."

  "That is really strange," the squaw muttered and became serious; "butare you quite sure of what you assert?"

  The Indian smiled contemptuously.

  "Spider is a warrior," he said; "a child of eight years could have seenit as well as I; the feet are turned out, while the Indians turn themin; the great toe is close to the others, while ours grow outconsiderably. With such signs, I ask my sister can a man be deceived?"

  "That is true," she said; "I cannot understand it."

  "And stay," he continued; "now we are nearer the man, just watch hisbehaviour, it is plain he is trying to hide himself; he fancies we havenot yet remarked him, and is acting in accordance. He is stooping downbehind that mastic: now he reappears. See, he stops, he is reflecting;he fears lest we have seen him, and his walking may appear suspicious tous. Now he is sitting down to await us."

  "We must be on our guard," said Sunbeam.

  "I am watching," Spider replied, with an ill-omened smile.

  In the meanwhile all Spider had described had taken place, point bypoint. The stranger, after trying several times to hide himself behindthe bushes or disappear in the mountains, calculated that if he fled thepersons he saw could soon catch him up, as he was dismounted. Then,making up his mind to risk it, he sat down with his back against atamarind tree, and quietly smoked while awaiting the arrival of thehorsemen, who were quickly coming up.

  The nearer the Comanches came to this man, the more like an Indian helooked. When they were only a few paces from him, all doubts were at anend; he was, or seemed to be, one of those countless vagabond sorcererswho go from tribe to tribe in the Far West to cure the sick and practicetheir enchantment. In fact, the sorcerer was no other than Nathan, asthe reader has doubtless guessed.

  After so nobly recompensing the service rendered him by the poorjuggler, whose science had not placed him on his guard against suchabominable treachery, Nathan went off at full speed, resolved oncrossing the enemy's lines, thanks to the disguise he wore with rareperfection.

  When he perceived the horsemen, he attempted to fly; but unfortunatelyfor him he was tired, and in a part so open and denuded of chaparral,that he soon saw, if he attempted to bolt, he should inevitably ruinhimself by arousing the suspicions of these men, who, on the other hand,as they did not know him, would probably pass him with a bow. He alsocalculated on the superstitious character of the Indians and his ownremarkable stock of impudence and boldness to deceive them.

  These reflections Nathan made with that speed and certainty whichdistinguish men of action; he made up his mind in a moment, and sittingdown at the foot of a tree, coolly awaited the arrival of the strangers.Moreover, we may remark, that Nathan was gifted with daring andindomitable spirit; the critical position in which chance suddenlyplaced him, instead of frightening pleased him, and caused him a feelingwhich was not without its charm with a man of his stamp. He boldlyassumed the borrowed character, and when the Indians stopped in frontof him, he was the first to speak.

  "My sons are welcome to my bivouac," he said, with that marked gutturalaccent that belongs to the red race alone, and which the white men havesuch difficulty in imitating; "as the Wacondah has brought them here, Iwill strive to fulfil his intentions by receiving them as well as Ipossibly can."

  "Thanks," Spider replied, giving him a scrutinising glance; "we acceptour brother's offer as freely as it is made. My young men will camp withhim."

  He gave his orders, which were immediately carried out. As on theprevious evening. Spider built a hut for the females, to which theyimmediately withdrew. The sorcerer had given them a glance which madethem shudder all over.

  After supper; Spider lit his pipe and sat down near the sorcerer; hewished to converse with him and clear up, not his suspicions, but thedoubts he entertained about him. The Indian, however, felt for this manan invincible repulsion for which he could not account. Nathan, althoughsmoking with all the gravity the redskins display in this operation, andwrapping himself up in a dense cloud of smoke, which issued from hismouth and nostrils, closely watched all the Indian's movements, whilenot appearing to trouble himself about him.

  "My father is travelling?" Spider asked.

  "Yes," the pretended sorcerer laconically replied.

  "Has he done so long?"

  "For eight moons."

  "Wah!" the Indian said in surprise; "Where does my father come from,then?"

  Nathan took, his pipe from his lips, assumed a mysterious air, andanswered gravely and reservedly--

  "The Wacondah is omnipotent, those to whom the Master of Life speaks,keep his words in their heart."

  "That is jus
t," Spider, who did not understand him, answered, with abow.

  "My son is a warrior of the terrible queen of the prairies?" thesorcerer went on.

  "I am indeed, a Comanche warrior."

  "Is my son on the hunting path?"

  "No, I am at this moment on the war trail."

  "Wah! Does my son hope to deceive a great medicine man, that he utterssuch word before him?"

  "My words are true, my blood runs pure as water in my veins, a lie neversullied my lips, my heart only breathes the truth," Spider answered,with a certain haughtiness, internally wounded by the sorcerer'ssuspicions.

  "Good, I am willing to believe him," the latter went on; "but when didthe Comanches begin to take their squaws with them on the war path?"

  "The Comanches are masters of their actions; no one has a right tocontrol them."

  Nathan felt that he was on a wrong track, and that if the conversationwent on in this way, he should offend a man whom he had such an interestin conciliating. He therefore altered his tactics.

  "I do not claim any right," he said quietly, "to control the acts ofwarriors for am I not a man of peace?"

  Spider smiled contemptuously.

  "In truth," he said, in a good-humoured tone, "great medicine men suchas my father are like women, they live a long time; the Wacondahprotects them."

  The sorcerer refrained from noticing the bitter sarcasm the speakerdisplayed in his remark.

  "Is my son returning to his village?" he asked him.

  "No," the other answered, "I am going to join the great chief of mytribe, who is on an expedition, with his most celebrated warriors."

  "To what tribe does my son belong, then?"

  "To that of Unicorn."

  Nathan trembled inwardly, though his face remained unmoved.

  "Wah!" he said, "Unicorn is a great chief; his renown is spread over thewhole earth. What warrior could contend with him on the prairie?"

  "Does my father know him?"

  "I have not the honour, though I have often desired it; never to thisday have I been able to meet the celebrated chief."

  "If my father desires it, I will introduce him."

  "It would be happiness for me; but the mission the Wacondah has confidedto me claims my presence far from here. Time presses; and, in spite ofmy desire, I cannot leave my road."

  "Good! Unicorn is hardly three hours march from the spot where we noware; we shall reach his camp at an early hour tomorrow."

  "How is it that my son, who seems to me a prudent warrior, should havehalted here, when so near his chief?"

  All suspicion had been removed from the Indian's mind, so he answeredfrankly this time, without trying to disguise the truth, and laying allreticence aside.

  "My father is right. I would certainly have continued my journey to thechief's camp, and reached it this evening before the shriek of the owl,but the two squaws with me delayed me and compelled me to act as I havedone."

  "My son is young," Nathan answered, with an insinuating smile.

  "My father is mistaken; the squaws are sacred to me; I love and respectthem. The one is Unicorn's own wife, who is returning to her husband;the other is a paleface, her hair is white as the snow that passes overour heads driven by the evening breeze, and her body is bowed beneaththe weight of winters; she is the mother of a great hunter of thepalefaces, the adopted son of our tribe, whose name has doubtlessreached our father's ears."

  "How is he called?"

  "Koutonepi."

  At this name, which he might have expected, however, Nathaninvoluntarily gave such a start that Spider perceived it.

  "Can Koutonepi be an enemy of my father?" he asked, with astonishment.

  "On the contrary," Nathan hastened to reply; "the men protected by theWacondah have no enemies, as my son knows. The joy I felt on hearing hisname uttered caused the emotion my son noticed."

  "My father must have powerful reasons for displaying such surprise."

  "I have, indeed, very powerful," the sorcerer replied with feigneddelight; "Koutonepi saved my mother's life."

  This falsehood was uttered with such magnificent coolness, and such awell-assumed air of truth, that the Indian was convinced and bowedrespectfully to the pretended sorcerer.

  "In that case," he said, "I am certain that my father will not mindleaving his road a little to see the man to whom he is attached by suchstrong ties of gratitude; for it is very probable that we shall meetKoutonepi at Unicorn's camp."

  Nathan made a grimace; as usually happens to rogues, who try to provetoo much, in dissipating suspicions at all hazards, he had caughthimself. Now he understood that, unless he wished to become againsuspected, he must undergo the consequences of his falsehood and go withSpider to his destination. The American did not hesitate; he trusted tohis star to get him out of the scrape. Chance is, before all, the deityof bandits; they count on it, and we are forced to concede that they arerarely deceived.

  "I will accompany my son to Unicorn's camp," he said.

  The conversation went on for some time, and when the night had quite setin, Spider took leave of the sorcerer, and following his custom sincethe beginning of the journey, lay down across the door of the hut inwhich the two females reposed and speedily fell asleep.

  Left alone by the fire, Nathan took a searching glance around; thesentinels, motionless as statues of bronze, were watching as they leanton their long lances. Any flight was impossible. The American gave asigh of regret, wrapped himself in his buffalo robe, and lay down,muttering--

  "Bah! Tomorrow it will be day. Since I have succeeded in deceiving thisman, why should I not do the same with the others?"

  And he fell asleep.