Part 16 (1/2)
”Here are our allies,” Black Cat then said; ”my sons will prepare to receive them.”
The council was broken up. The warriors hurriedly a.s.sembled, formed in two large bands, flanked on the wings by hors.e.m.e.n, and ranged themselves for battle in the two directions indicated by the scouts.
The war detachment of the Buffaloes appeared descending a hill, and advancing in good order. It was composed of about five hundred warriors, perfectly armed and painted for war, and looking most martial.
A detachment of the Sikseka of about equal strength appeared immediately after, marching in good order.
So soon as the four Indian bands saw each other, they uttered their war cry, discharged their muskets and brandished their lances, while the hors.e.m.e.n, starting at full speed, executed the most singular evolutions, rus.h.i.+ng on each other as if charging, turning and curvetting round the detachments which marched on at quick step, singing, shouting, firing their guns, rattling their chichikouis, blowing their sh.e.l.ls, and incessantly sounding their war whistles.
There was something really imposing in the aspect of these savage warriors, with their stern faces, clothed in fantastic costumes, and covered with feathers and hair, which the wind blew in every direction.
When the four parties arrived at a short distance from each other, they stopped and the noise ceased. Then the princ.i.p.al chiefs, holding in their hand the totem of their tribe, left the ranks, followed by the pipe-bearer, carrying a great sacred calumet; they walked a few paces toward each other, and planted the totem on their right.
The pipe-bearers filled the calumets, lighted them, bowed to the four cardinal points, and handed them in turn to the chief, while holding the bowls in their hands, and being careful that no one was pa.s.sed over.
This preliminary ceremony accomplished, the princ.i.p.al sorcerer of the Buffaloes placed himself between the totems, and turned to the sun.
”Home of light!” he said, ”thou who vivifiest everything in nature, servant and visible representative of the Great Invisible Spirit who governs the world which he has created, thy children long separated are a.s.sembling today to defend their villages and hunting grounds, unjustly and incessantly attacked by men without faith or country, whom Niang, the Spirit of Evil, has let loose upon them. Smile on their efforts, O Sun, and grant them the scalps of their enemies! Grant that they be victorious, and accept this offering made thee by thy most fervent adorer, to render thee favourable to thy sons, and make thy Apache children invincible!”
While uttering these words, he seized a light stone axe hanging at his girdle, and placing his left arm on a rock, laid open his wrist with one blow.
The blood poured profusely from this horrible wound; but the sorcerer, impa.s.sive and apparently insensible to pain, drew himself up with an eye flas.h.i.+ng with enthusiasm and religious fanaticism, and shaking his arm in every direction, sprinkled the chiefs with his blood, while shouting in a loud voice:
”Sun, Sun, grant us our enemies, as I have given thee my hand!”
All the Indians repeated the same prayer.
The yells recommenced, and in an instant the redskins, seized with a spirit of frenzy, rushed upon each other, brandis.h.i.+ng their weapons to the sound of the chichikouis and war whistles, and imitating all the evolutions of a real battle.
The sorcerer, still stoical, wrapped up his mutilated arm in gra.s.s, and retired with a slow and measured step, saluted on his pa.s.sage by the Indians whom his action had electrified. When the tumult was slightly calmed, the chiefs a.s.sembled for the second time round the council fire, whose circle had been enlarged to make room for the allies.
The newly arrived warriors were mingled with those of Black Cat, and the greatest cordiality prevailed among those ferocious men, whose number amounted at this moment to nearly two thousand, and who only dreamed of blood, murder, and pillage.
”Confederate sachems of the powerful nation of the Apaches,” Stanapat said, ”you know the cause which once again draws us up arms in hand against the perfidious white men. It is, therefore, useless to enter into details you know; still, I believe, that since the hatchet has been dug up, we ought to use it till it is completely blunted. The palefaces daily invade our territory more and more; they respect none of our laws; they kill us like wild beasts. Let us forget our personal habits for an instant, to combine against the common foe, that Bloodson, whom the genius of evil has created for our ruin. If we can manage to remain united, we shall exterminate him, for we shall be the stronger! When we have conquered, we will share the spoils of our enemy. I have spoken.”
Stanapat sat down again, and Black Cat rose in his turn. ”We are unanimous enough to commence the war with advantage; within a few days other auxiliaries will have found us. Why wait longer? Ten white hunters of the prairies, our allies, offer to surrender to us the den of the long knives of the East, in which they tell me they have friends. What do we wait for? Let us utter our war cry and start at once; any delay may be deadly for us, by giving our enemies time to prepare a desperate resistance, against which all our efforts will be broken. Let my brothers reflect. I have spoken.”
”My brother has spoken well,” Stanapat answered; ”we must fall like lightning on our enemy, who will be terrified by an unexpected attack; but we should not be imprudent. Where are the white hunters?”
”Here,” Black Cat replied.
”I ask,” the sachem continued, ”that they be heard by the council.”
The other chiefs bowed their heads in a.s.sent, and Black Cat rose and went to the Pirates, who were impatiently awaiting the result of the deliberation of the sachems.
CHAPTER XII.
BLACK CAT.