"We were planting our own corn and melons," said Alchise, "and making our own living. The agent at San Carlos never gave us any rations4, but we didn't mind about that. We were taking care of ourselves. One day the agent—" He stopped and scowled5 at a squaw a few yards away, whose papoose was crying lustily. The squaw, having her attention thus called to the uproar6 of her offspring, drew from somewhere in the folds of her dirty wrappings a nursing-bottle, and putting the nipple in its mouth, hushed its cries. The chief went on: "One day the agent sent up and said that we must give up our own country and our corn patches, and go down there to the Agency to live. He sent Indian soldiers to seize our women and children, and drive us down to the hot land."
He was a simple, sullen7 Apache, and his untutored mind could only grasp effects. Causes were beyond it. He did not, therefore, understand that coal had been discovered on his reservation, also silver, and that the agent and the agent's friends were trying to possess[Pg 175] themselves of the land in order to dispose of it to the Eastern capitalist.
He knew that his cattle were driven off by the white cow-boys and could not be gotten back, that he was given but one cup of flour every seven days, that beef was so difficult to obtain that it practically formed no part of his diet; but he did not know of the "boys" in Tucson and officials in Washington who were profiting from the sale of Indian supplies to white squatters.
He knew that the stores which should have gone to him were loaded upon wagon-trains and hurried off the reservation in the dead of night; but he did not know why the Apache who was sent to humbly8 ask the agent about it was put in the guard-house for six months without trial. He knew that his corn patches were trampled9 down, but not that it was to force him to purchase supplies from the agent and his friends, or else get out. He knew that his reservation—none too large, as it was, for three thousand adults more or less—had been cut down without his consent five different times, and that Mormon settlers were elbowing him out of what space remained. But, being only a savage, it were foolish to expect that he should have seen the reason for these things. He has not yet learned to take kindly10 to financial dishonesty. Does he owe you two bits, he will travel two hundred miles to pay it. He has still much to absorb concerning civilization.
Another thing he could not quite fathom11 was why the religious dances he had, in pursuance of his wild[Pg 176] pleasure, seen fit to hold on Cibicu Creek12, had been interfered13 with by the troops. To be sure, the dances had been devised by his medicine men to raise the dead chiefs and braves with the end in view of re-peopling the world with Apaches and driving out the Whites. But as the dead had not consented to the raising, it might have been as well to allow the Indians to become convinced of the futility14 of it in that way. However, the government thought otherwise, and sent its troops.
Because they were sent, a fine officer had fallen victim to Apache treachery of the meanest sort and to the gross stupidity of others, and Arizona was on the verge15 of the worst disorder16 of all its disorderly history. So Crook was sent for, and he came at once, and looked with his small, piercing eyes, and listened with his ears so sharp to catch the ring of untruth, and learned a pretty tale of what had gone on during his absence on the troubled northern plains.
A great many delightful17 facts, illustrative of the rule of the Anglo-Saxon in for gain, came to his knowledge. There were good men and just in Arizona, and some of these composed the Federal Grand Jury, which reported on the condition of affairs at the Agency. When a territorial18 citizen had anything to say in favor of the Redskin, it might be accepted as true. And these jurymen said that the happenings on the San Carlos Agency had been a disgrace to the age and a foul19 blot20 upon the national escutcheon. They waxed very wroth and scathing21 as they dwelt upon how the[Pg 177] agent's vast power made almost any crime possible. There was no check upon his conduct, nor upon the wealth he could steal from a blind government; and to him, and such as him, they attributed the desolation and bloodshed which had dotted the plains with the graves of murdered victims. It was the rather unavailing wail22 of the honest citizen caught between the upper and nether23 millstones of the politician and the hostile.
Crook had been recalled too late, and he knew it. Every Apache on the reservation was ready for the war-path. It was not to be averted24. One man, even a very firm and deft25 one, could not straighten out in a few weeks the muddle26 of ten years of thievery, oppression, and goading27. It takes more than just a promise, even though it is one likely to be kept, to soothe28 the hurt feelings of savages29 who have seen eleven of their friends jailed for fourteen months without the form of accusation30 or trial. They feel bitter toward the government whose minions31 do those things.
The new general was hailed by the territories as deliverer until he found the truth and told it, after which they called him all manner of hard names, for that is the sure reward of the seeker after fact. He prepared for war, seeing how things were, but he tried for peace the while. He sent to the bucks33 who lurked34 in the fastnesses and strongholds, and said that he was going out alone to see them. He left his troops and pack-train, and with two interpreters and two officers repaired to the ca?on of the Black River, where he scrambled35 and slid, leading his scrambling,[Pg 178] sliding mule36 down the precipices37 of basalt and lava38 among the pines and junipers.
Bright, black eyes peered down from crevasses39 and branches. An Apache lurked behind every boulder40 and trunk. But only the squaws and the children and twenty-six bucks in war toilet, naked from shoulder to waist, painted with blood and mescal, rings in their noses, and heads caked thick with mud, came down to the conference.
It was not of much avail in the end, the conference. There was more than one tribe to be pacified41. The restlessness of the wild things, of the goaded42, and of the spring was in their blood.
The last straw was laid on when an Indian policeman arrested a young buck32 for some small offence. The buck tried to run away, and would not halt when he was told to. The chief of police fired and killed a squaw by mistake; and though he was properly sorry for it, and expressed his regret, the relatives and friends of the deceased squaw caught him a few days later, and cutting off his head, kicked it round, as they had seen the White-eye soldier do with his rubber foot-ball. Then they, aroused and afraid too of punishment, fled from the reservation and began to kill.
It was a halcyon43 time for the press. It approved and it disapproved44, while the troops went serenely45 on their way. It gave the government two courses,—removal of the Apaches, one and all, to the Indian territory (as feasible as driving the oxen of Geryon), or extermination—the catchword of the non-combatant.
[Pg 179]
The government took neither course.
There was but one other resort. The exasperated46, impotent press turned to it. "If the emergency should arise, and it now looks as though it may come soon," flowed the editorial ink, "enough resolute47 and courageous48 men can be mustered49 in Tombstone, Globe, Tucson, and other towns and settlements to settle the question, once and forever: to settle it as such questions have often been settled before."
In pursuance of which the resolute and courageous men arose at the cry of their bleeding land. They have gone down to history (to such history as deigns50 to concern itself with the reclaiming51 of the plains of the wilderness52, in area an empire of itself) as the Tombstone Toughs.
The exceedingly small respectable element of Tombstone hailed their departure with unmixed joy. They had but one wish,—that the Toughs might meet the Apaches, and that each might rid the face of the desert of the other. But the only Apaches left to meet were the old and feeble, and the squaws and papooses left at San Carlos. The able-bodied bucks were all in the field, as scouts53 or hostiles.
The resolute and courageous men, led by a resolute and courageous saloon-keeper, found one old Indian living at peace upon his rancheria. They fired at him and ran away. The women and children of the settlers were left to bear the brunt of the anger of the Apaches. It was too much for even the Tucson journalist. He turned from denunciation of the [Pg 180]military, for one moment, and applied54 his vigorous adjectives to the Tombstone Toughs.
Arizona had its full share of murder and sudden death. But New Mexico had more than that. Spring passed on there, with warmth for the snow-wrapped mountains, and blistering55 heat for the dead plains, and her way was marked with lifeless and mutilated forms.
Landor's troop was stationed at Stanton, high up among the hills. It had come there from another post down in the southern part of the territory, where anything above the hundreds is average temperature, and had struck a blizzard56 on its march.
Once when Felipa got out of the ambulance to tramp beside it, in the stinging snow whirls, and to start the thin blood in her veins57, she had looked up into his blanket-swathed face, and laughed. "I wonder if you looked like that when you took me through this part of the world twenty years ago," she said.
He did not answer, and she knew that he was annoyed. She had come to see that he was always annoyed by such references, and she made them more frequent for that very reason, half in perversity58, half in a fixed59 determination not to be ashamed of her origin, for she felt, without quite realizing it, that to come to have shame and contempt for herself would be to lose every hold upon life.
She was happier than she had been in Washington. Landor saw that, but he refused to see that she was[Pg 181] also better. However much a man may admire, in the abstract, woman as a fine natural animal, unspoiled by social pettiness, he does not fancy the thing in his wife. From the artistic60 standpoint, a regal barbarian61, unconfined, with her virtue62 and her vices63 on a big scale, is very well; from the domestic, it is different. She is more suitable in the garb64 of fashion, with homemade character of parlor-ornament proportions.
Felipa had discarded, long since, the short skirt and moccasins of her girlhood, and had displayed no inconsiderable aptitude65 in the matter of fashions; but she was given to looseness of draperies and a carelessness of attire66 in her own home that the picturesqueness67 of her beauty alone only saved from slatternliness. There was one manifestation68 of ill taste which she did not give, however, one common enough with the wives of most of the officers. She was never to be found running about the post, or sitting upon the porches, with her husband's cape69 around her shoulders and his forage-cap over her eyes. Her instinct for the becoming was unfailing. This was a satisfaction to Landor. But it was a secret grievance70 that she was most contented71 when in her riding habit, tearing foolhardily over the country.
Another grievance was the Ellton baby. Felipa adored it, and for no reason that he could formulate72, he did not wish her to. He wanted a child of his own. Altogether he was not so easy to get on with as he had been. She did not see why. Being altogether sweet-humored and cheerful herself, she looked[Pg 182] for sweet humor and cheerfulness in him, and was more and more often disappointed. Not that he was ever once guilty of even a quick burst of ill temper. It would have been a relief.
Sometimes when she was quite certain of being undisturbed, she took Cairness's one letter from the desk, and read and reread it, and went over every word and look she had had from him. She had forgotten nothing, but though her olive skin would burn and then grow more colorless than ever when she allowed herself to recall, not even a sigh would come from between the lips that had grown a very little set.
Yet she not only loved Cairness as much as ever, but more. Her church had the strong hold of superstition73 upon her, but she might have thrown it off, grown reckless of enforced conventions, and have gone to him, had not faithfulness and gratitude74 held her yet more powerfully.
Landor had been good to her. She would have gone through anything rather than have hurt him. And yet it was always a relief now when he went away. She was glad when he was ordered into the field at the beginning of the spring. Of old she had been sufficiently75 sorry to have him go. But of old she had not felt the bit galling76.
Life went on very much the same at the post when there was only the infantry77 left in possession. As there was nothing to do at any time, there was nothing the less for that. On the principle that loneliness is greatest in a crowd, Stanton was more isolated78 now[Pg 183] than Grant had been in the days when there had been no railroad west of Kansas. The railroad was through the southwest now, but it was a hundred miles away. It was unsafe to ride outside the reservation, there was no one for hops79, the only excitement was the daily addition to the list of slaughtered80 settlers. Felipa spent most of her time with the Ellton baby. Miss McLane had been married to Landor's second lieutenant81 for a year and a half, and they were very happy. But Felipa in the knowledge of the strength of her own love, which gained new might each time that she wrestled82 with it and threw it back upon the solid ground of duty, found their affection decidedly insipid83. Like the majority of marital84 attachments85, it had no especial dignity. It was neither the steadfast86 friendship she felt for her husband, nor the absolute devotion she would have given Cairness.
But the baby was satisfactory. She amused it by the hour. For the rest, being far from gregarious87, and in no way given to spending all the morning on some one else's front porch, and all the afternoon with some one else upon her own, she drew on the post library and read, or else sat and watched the mountains with their sharp, changing shadows by day, and their Indian signal flashes by night,—which did not tend to enhance the small degree of popularity she enjoyed among the post women.
Some thirty miles to the southeast was the Mescalero Indian Agency. Landor had consented with the worst possible grace to take her there sometime when the[Pg 184] road should be passable and safe. She had openly resented his disinclination, though she usually appeared not to notice it. "It is very natural I should want to see the place where I was born," she had said, "and I think we should both be more comfortable if you would not persist in being so ashamed of it."
The story of her origin was an open secret now. Landor had never been able to discover who had spread it. The probabilities were, however, that it had been Brewster. He had been suspended for a year after Landor's trial, and driven forth88 with contempt, but he was back again, with a bold front, and insinuating89 and toadying90 himself into public favor, destined91 by that Providence92 which sometimes arouses itself to reward and punish before the sight of all men, to be short-lived.
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1
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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19
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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21
scathing
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| adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词) | |
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22
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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nether
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| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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25
deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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27
goading
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| v.刺激( goad的现在分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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28
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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29
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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minions
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| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
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32
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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34
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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35
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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39
crevasses
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| n.破口，崩溃处，裂缝( crevasse的名词复数 ) | |
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40
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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41
pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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42
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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43
halcyon
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| n.平静的，愉快的 | |
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44
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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46
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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47
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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48
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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49
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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50
deigns
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
reclaiming
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| v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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52
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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53
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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54
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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55
blistering
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| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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56
blizzard
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| n.暴风雪 | |
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57
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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58
perversity
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| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
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59
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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61
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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62
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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63
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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64
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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65
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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67
picturesqueness
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68
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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69
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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70
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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71
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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72
formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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73
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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75
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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76
galling
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| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
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77
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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78
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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79
hops
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| 跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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80
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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82
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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84
marital
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| adj.婚姻的，夫妻的 | |
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85
attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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86
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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87
gregarious
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| adj.群居的，喜好群居的 | |
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88
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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89
insinuating
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| adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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90
toadying
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| v.拍马，谄媚( toady的现在分词 ) | |
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91
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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92
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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