Edwin L. Sabin

“ He says to Geronimo: ‘Those bucks of yours are riding south to steal horses and cattle from the Mexicans.’ And Geronimo, he just smiles and says: ‘Oh, they wouldn’t rob anybody. They’re looking for some of our own horses and cattle that we’ve left.’ And the general says: ‘I won’t allow you to take any stolen stock across the border. I’d be court-martialed for it.’ And Geronimo says: ‘Don’t bother with that. All those Mexicans are good for, is to grow horses and cattle for the Apaches. We will ride on slowly. But if there is any trouble with the Mexicans, you have promised to protect us. ”

“ There are bad men among all peoples. There are bad Americans, and bad Mexicans, and bad Apaches. The thing to do now is to forget this, and to make a peace that will last forever. It must be a peace not only between the red men and the white men, but also between the red men themselves. There must be no more fighting and stealing.
“The red men in Arizona shall live by the white man’s laws; they shall be treated exactly as the white men are treated, and shall not be punished unjustly. ”

“ Why does the White Father at Washington let us be cheated, like children, by dishonest agents? Why does he listen to bad tongues, that say we must not stay where we were promised we might stay? But good-by, chi-kis-n. Now there is war between us. The Chiricahua are never coming back to be cheated again. You have been chi-kis-n; but you are American and I am Apache, so when we meet in war, look out for yourself. It will be man to man. We are no longer boys.”
Nah-che wheeled his pony. With a whoop, away they four tore, flourishing their guns.
Jimmie gazed after only for a moment. ”

“ He escaped from the Chiricahua, and now he is an interpreter at Camp Bowie. Yes, Cheemie; Cochise and Geronimo and all that band have gone to live with their brothers the Warm Springs and the Mimbreños at the Cañada Alamosa on the Rio Grande River in New Mexico. But,” added Micky, wisely, “they will not stay.”
“Don’t they want peace?” queried Jimmie. “Did they listen to the words of the white peace man?”
“That white peace man in the black clothes?” demanded Micky scornfully. “No. The Apaches laugh at that white peace man. It is easy to lie to him. ”

“ More Apaches were jumping about among the rocks there, as if much astonished.
“Geronimo!” exclaimed Micky, running.
The camp sprang to arms.
“What is the matter?” were yelling the Chiricahuas above, to the Chiricahuas below.
“The white war-captain has us. We fight no more,” called the Chiricahuas who had surrendered. “It is no use. Our own people fight against us.”
Two old squaws clambered half-way down.
“Ask the white war-captain if we will be hurt?” they screamed.
The general sent out Micky and Scout To-klani (Plenty Water) and one of the Chihuahua Chiricahuas. ”

“ Now, there is no way to make those bad Apaches good, except to kill them. The bad Indians do not know what I know; they have not been to the cities of the Great White Father and seen how powerful he is. I will give Cluke one hundred and fifty of my warriors, smart fighters all. Let Cluke send them into the Gila Canyon. The Gray Fox is brave, and his white soldiers are brave, but the Chuntz people will go where his soldiers cannot follow; this is summer, and they know every spot in the canyon, and will hide. ”

“ There they were, almost the whole flock, being forced hotly onward by Apaches afoot and ahorse, with other Apaches guarding the flanks. It looked like a war party returning with plunder from Mexico. The bands about the foreheads, the round rawhide helmets that some wore, the thigh moccasins, the guns, bows, lances and clubs, proved that they were a war party; and they had a lot of loose horses and mules besides the Pete Kitchen sheep. ”

“ Although Joe and others, soldiers and civilians both, at Camp Grant, insisted that there could be no good excuse for attacking Indians who had surrendered themselves, the Tucson papers and people declared that these very Pinals and Arivaipas had recently been murdering Americans and Mexicans, and stealing stock, and deserved Indian punishment instead of white protection. It would teach the Apaches a lesson.
Of course, when one’s father and mother and brothers and sisters have been tortured and killed only because they were white, it is hard to feel at all kindly toward the race that did it. ”

“ I have thousands of soldiers, and many Apache scouts, and they are enough to give the bad Apaches no rest. But I want you to punish your own bad people. You must send out your own warriors, and keep sending them out until Chuntz and Long-ear and Cochinay are killed or captured, and their people surrender. It is not right that a few bad men should work so much harm to everybody. ”

“ The Apache boy, who appeared to be fourteen or fifteen years old, was not more than five yards from him—standing there beside a giant cactus, naked except for a red cloth band about his forehead, and a whitish cotton girdle about his middle, with the broad ends hanging down before and behind, and regular Apache moccasins reaching like leggins half way up his thighs for protection against the brush: standing there, grinning, in his left hand a bow, in his right the wether’s bell! ”

“ Cochise is for peace, because he is living where he chose to live. Maybe, though, his young men will grow tired of one spot; then who will stop them, says Alchisé?”
“The general will,” assured Jimmie.
“Cluke will try hard,” wisely assented Micky. “He will follow them—his trail has only one end. But you cannot turn Apaches into white men all at once. I look to see more fighting.”
In April Delt-che the Red Ant made one last vengeful raid. But the troops and scouts were hot after him. Major George M. Randall of Camp Apache did the final work, this time. ”

“ The Tontos and Pinals, who were outlaws, and the Chiricahuas (Chee-ree-cah-wahs) , who were hard, thorough fighters, seemed to give the most trouble. The Chiricahuas lived in the mountains of southern Arizona and of northern Mexico.
The pines and cedars of the higher country were reached before dusk. Not a tenth of the sheep had come this far. The most of them had been left to die from heat and exhaustion. Now having passed through another of their favorite narrow canyons, the Apaches halted, at dark, to camp beside a trickle of water in a rocky little basin surrounded by crags and timber. ”

“ If you decide to stay away, you will not be safe anywhere in Mexico. You cannot hide from me. This you already know.”
“We will march to Fort Bowie, and there you may send us away, as you say,” spoke Geronimo desperately. “But we must march freely, by ourselves. I cannot make my men give up their guns, until they are in the fort where you will protect them. There are bad people along the way who would kill us. Your young soldier-captains might not be able to control their scouts, and the scouts would kill us. ”

“ Lying low, Lieutenant Ross and Lieutenant Bourke and Nan-ta-je were consulting together. Presently orders were passed from man to man, on this side; and by ones and twos and threes the soldiers and scouts spread out, in the gray dawn, selecting other positions here, or bending, went scurrying across, against the shelter of the cave rampart, to reinforce the other flank, while the carbines of their fellows kept the Yavapais from shooting at them.
Listen, again! Amidst the cries of the enraged Yavapais there rose the clink of carbine butt and shuffle of moccasins from marching men, again. ”

“ What a storm of hoots and shrieks had drowned his voice!
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“We are not afraid!” were retorting the cave warriors. “Yah yah! We are not afraid,” they jeered, in Apache and Spanish. “It is you who will die, you white men and you traitor moccasin-stealers who rob women.” To accuse an Apache of stealing moccasins from squaws was the bitterest of insults. “You will not live to see the sun rise. Our people are coming up from below, and you will be fed to the buzzards. Yah!”
Nan-ta-je tried, in Apache and Mohave jargon both. ”

“ His father had been Irish and his mother Mexican, and Spanish had been the only language used in his home. Since the Apaches had captured him eight or nine years ago he had learned Apache, too.
“Are you going to stay Apache, Red-head?” asked Jimmie.
“Yes,” answered Red-head, in Apache. “I’ll stay with the White Mountains, but I don’t like the Chiricahua. It is no use for them to fight the Americans. Besides, they killed my father and mother. Are you going to be a Chiricahua, Boy-who-sleeps?”
Jimmie shook his head.
“No. I am American. I don’t want to be anything but American. I’m a white boy.” ”

“ Muttering, Joe (who really was kind-hearted) trudged away.
“Ah, I told you it would be a great fight, Boy-who-sleeps,” grinned Micky Free, as he squatted. “Black Beard is angry, because you are the only one of us wounded; but you will be a warrior, now.”
“Were you in the cave, Red-head?” asked Jimmie, also in Apache.
“Yes. It is very red. All the Yavapai warriors are dead. The medicine chief is dead, under a rock. One old man was partly alive, and he died soon. Some squaws and children hid behind large flat rocks, and under dead people. They will be captives. ”

“ I like the Americans. Some day I’ll be a scout with the American soldiers. The White Mountain Apaches are good Apaches. Chief Pedro is wise. He knows that it is no use to fight the Americans. It is better to live at peace with them, and raise corn, and hunt, and be given food and clothes. That is easier than fighting and starving and losing warriors. The Americans are too many, and are well armed. ”

“ Chief Chalipun, his black snaky hair cut square across the forehead and confined by a band of red flannel, stood straight and spoke with fierce energy.
“My people are done fighting the white people,” he said in good Spanish. “We have come in because we want to be at peace. The Gray Fox has too many cartridges of copper, and we have very few. We can fight the Americans alone, but now our brothers are fighting against us, too, and we do not know what to do. We cannot sleep at night, for fear of being surrounded. ”

“ Some of the bands are so frightened and timid that they won’t confer even with me, their friend. I’ve tried in vain to meet Chief Cochise, of the Chiricahuas. You can see, my brothers,” he continued, addressing the group of soldiers and scouts and tame Apaches, “what an injustice has been done these simple savages. Our duty is not to punish them for defending their homes, but to gain their good-will by patience and kindness, until they are won to the benefits of civilization. ”

“ Geronimo says he has been told to come to Camp Thomas, for a talk—and if he goes there, he will be put in prison again; maybe killed, like Mangas Coloradas was killed. We would rather die on the warpath than die in prison or in a strange land. So we all, the Chiricahua and the Warm Springs, except Taza’s squaw-people, will live in the Mexican mountains. There we can lead our own life. The Mexicans dare not fight us, we have plenty guns and plenty food, the American soldiers cannot cross the line, to follow us. ”

“ It was a fight to the death. Cleverly shielded in a niche at his end of the rampart the medicine-man, barely seen through the smoke and dust, was shooting as before, helped by the squaws who handed up guns to him; he certainly wore a charmed shirt. Now and again a warrior bobbed up, fired blindly, and bobbed down.
Micky had long ago used the last of his cartridges. Like Jimmie, he might only lie and watch.
“I told you there would be a good fight!” he shouted, in Jimmie’s ear. “This is the end of these Delt-che people. They fight like wolves in a pen, but it is no use.” ”

“ The general was saying the same thing, and other things, to Geronimo.
“You should have had more sense than to leave because of a few troubles,” he scolded severely. “There is always some trouble in a big camp of Indians. I want to know what those troubles were, so that I may correct them. I shall not talk long with you; you must make up your mind for peace or war. You can see for yourself that I am not afraid of you. ”