Karl May

“ Winnetou’s upper lip had curled till one could see his teeth—he was disgusted that he had taken my part; and his sister kept her eyes down and would no longer look at me.
“I am ready; what are you waiting for now? In with you.”
“Must it really be?” I stammered. “Is there no other way?”
A shout of laughter arose, above which I heard Tangua’s voice crying: “Let the frog go; give him his life. No warrior can lay his hand on such a coward.”
And with a low growl like an angry tiger, Intschu-Tschuna said: “In with you, or I’ll split your head with my tomahawk!” ”

“ The boys spoke to one another; they acted like little sportsmen in letting Rattler swim farther and farther, and the chief did not interfere, seeing they knew their business.
Suddenly their shrill, boyish voices rang out in a sharp cry, and they shot. Rattler was hit in the head, and instantly disappeared under the water. No cry of triumph arose such as Indians always utter at the death of an enemy. Such a coward was not worth breath, and their contempt was so great that not an Indian looked after his body. ”

“ They do cruel things only for their own pleasure, kill little birds for their feathers, and are not always gentle; Kleki-Petrah has told me of them. Our ways are not your ways, but a woman’s heart is everywhere the same, whatever the color of her skin. The white men have not taught the Indian kindness, truth, or justice. I can look on the punishment of a man who, in murdering Kleki-Petrah, has given us pain greater than his. But I ask you not to come to see Rattler tortured, for Intschu-Tschuna and Winnetou will not be pleased if they see you coming with me. ”

“ Man, tenderfoot, most respected youngster, do you think Sam Hawkins’s brains are made of cotton-wool or tissue-paper? Our dear friends the Kiowas will be safely hidden, so there won’t be the smallest trace of them; see? Then when the Apache scouts have gone back to the braves, I’ll crawl after them and see when the whole body moves. They’ll come by night, and we’ll burn our camp-fire so we can be plainly seen. As long as it lasts the Apaches will certainly stay hidden. We will let it burn out, and as soon as it is dark steal over to the Kiowas. Then the Apaches will come—and find no one! ”

“ Fair Day smiled on me, and said simply: “I believe my white brother.”
I went back to explain to my three friends the mystery of the lock of hair, and tell them that it was I who had freed the chiefs, while Winnetou went to seek his father. Presently we saw them returning, and went to meet them. Intschu-Tschuna looked at me with the same searching gaze his son had given me, then he said: “Winnetou has told me all; you are free, and will forgive us. You are a mighty and cunning warrior, and will conquer many foes. He who is wise will be your friend. Will you smoke the calumet of peace with us?” ”

“ Intschu-Tschuna spoke again: “We will unbind Old Shatterhand, and he shall go into the river to swim across it, but he shall take no weapon. I will follow him with a tomahawk. If Old Shatterhand can get across, and reach that cedar standing there in the plain, he is saved, and his comrades are free; they can go where they will. But if I kill him before he reaches the cedar they, too, must die, but not by torture; they shall be shot. Let all the braves signify that they hear my words and agree with them.” ”

“ How can we testify if we are to be whipped for speaking one word more than you want to hear? Intschu-Tschuna is an unjust judge; he puts the questions so that our answers must prove us guilty, allowing us to give no other, and when we would speak the truth which would deliver us, prevents us with abuse. We don’t care for such justice. We’d rather you began the torture. You won’t hear a sigh from us.”
“Uff! uff!” I heard a woman’s voice cry, and knew it was Winnetou’s sister.
“Uff! uff!” cried many Apaches round her, for courage is what Indians most respect, and they praise it even in an enemy. ”

“ Yes, Rattler, they’ve got a banquet ready for you that I wouldn’t care to sit down to. You’re to be spitted, impaled, poisoned, smothered, shot, broken on a wheel, and hanged, each done a little more beautifully than the other, and only a taste of each that you may be kept alive a long time and have the full benefit of all the torture and anguish of death. ”

“ Kleki-Petrah, who sits here before me, has taught me your Holy Book. There it says that the first man had two sons, and one killed the other, and his blood cried to Heaven. How is it with the two brothers, the red and the white? Are you not Cain, and are we not Abel, whose blood cries to Heaven? And when you try to destroy us you wish us to make no defence. But we will defend ourselves, we will defend ourselves. We have been driven from place to place, ever farther away; now we abide here, where we believed ourselves at rest, but you come to build your railroad. ”

“ No brave ever admits a mistake, and a chief can do so least of all. Intschu-Tschuna knows that he did wrong, but he cannot ask your forgiveness. Therefore he bade me speak of it to you. Winnetou acts for his father.”
“That was not at all necessary, and in any case we are quits, for I insulted you.”
“Never.”
“Yes. Isn’t a blow of the fist an insult?”
“That was in combat, where it cannot count as an insult. My brother is noble and generous; we will not forget it in him.”
“Let us speak of other things, dear Winnetou. I am to become an Apache; how will it be with my comrades?” ”

“ The tenderfoot sticks his bowie-knife into his belt in such a manner that it runs into his thigh when he bends; and when he builds a fire on the prairie he makes it so big that it flames as high as a tree, yet feels surprised that the Indians notice it. But many a tenderfoot is a daring, strong-bodied and strong-hearted fellow; and though there was no doubt that I was a tenderfoot fast enough, I hoped to convince Sam Hawkins that I had some qualities requisite for success on the plains. ”

“ Sam replied.
“Indian customs at the burial of a Catholic! What do you say to that, my dear Sam?”
“You don’t like it?” asked Sam.
“Certainly not.”
“Then don’t show it. You would offend the Apaches mortally.”
“But this absurd mumming annoys me more than I can say.”
“They mean well; they can’t do better than they know. It isn’t heathenish. These good folks believe in one Great Spirit, to whom their dead friend and teacher has gone. They bid him farewell, and mourn his death in their own way, and everything that medicine-man does has a symbolic meaning. Let them do as they will. ”

“ I said. “Rather should I thank Him for the love and kindness I find so far from home, and among a strange people.”
“They are your people now,” said Nscho-Tschi quickly.
“And we are all happy and blest in one another,” said Winnetou. “All grateful for the happy ending of a story begun in sorrow and wrath. Come, my brother; let us go to the dwelling of our father Intschu-Tschuna. A new life has begun for us all to-day.”
And so we walked together to the great pueblo, silent and peaceful, though saddened by the solemn ceremony and parting from one the three Indians had loved so well. ”

“ I was quiet as usual, but Tangua poured out a stream of abuse upon me, till Winnetou, who stood on one side between us, said: “Let the Kiowa chief be silent and pay attention. I will count three, and then he may shoot; he who shoots before the time shall have my bullet in his head.”
Of course all the Indians were watching us with intense interest. They had divided into two files, to right and left of us, so that a broad path ran between them, at the end of which we stood. The deepest stillness reigned. “The chief of the Kiowas may begin,” said Winnetou. ”

“ It is as Kleki-Petrah said. Your faith may be the true one, but we red men cannot understand it. If Christians did not drive us out and oppress us, we might feel that they were good men, and hold their teaching as good. Then we might have time and place to learn what one needs to know of your Holy Book and your priests’ teaching in order to understand them. But he who is slowly and surely driven to death cannot feel that the religion of those who kill him is the religion of love. ”

“ No one noticed me. When I got level with them I stood up, treading water, and shouted: “Sam Hawkins, Sam Hawkins, we have won, we have won!” The Indians heard me, looked over, and what a howl arose! No one who has ever heard such a sound will forget it to the last day of his life. As soon as Intschu-Tschuna espied me he swam towards me with long, bold strokes, or rather darted towards me. I dared not wait too long, but retreated to the bank, which I climbed, and remained standing there.
“Quick! get to the cedar, quick!” shouted Sam Hawkins. ”

“ I saw Sam Hawkins galloping for dear life across the valley, followed by a steer not much smaller than my bull had been.
When the bison is aroused his speed is as great as that of a horse; he never gives up his object, and shows a courage and perseverance one would not have expected of him. So this steer was pressing the rider hard, and in order to escape him Sam had to make many turns, which so wearied his horse that he could not hold out as long as the buffalo, and it was quite time that help arrived. ”

“ I remarked.
“I think myself we’d better be ready to protect ourselves, for our life may be in danger any moment. Lord help us, the moment’s come!” he cried. “The Apaches have arrived, and there’ll be a lovely row. Get ready for the fight, gentlemen.”
Over beyond, where the prisoners and their guards were, rose that instant the shrill H-i-i-i-i-i-h, the war-cry of the Apaches. Contrary to all expectation, Intschu-Tschuna and Winnetou had already come back with their warriors, and had attacked the camp of the Kiowas. ”

“ A wooded peninsula ran out into the water, and beside the stream rose a gentle elevation crowned by thick woods.
“This is the place Sam picked out,” said Stone, looking at it with an air of recognition. “There couldn’t be a better place for our purpose. The Kiowas are so hidden you might try hard and not find the least trace of them, yet I know they see us perfectly. The savanna is covered with a growth that makes it easy for the Apache spies to conceal themselves and follow us unseen. ”

“ Rattler uttered a howl as if he were in his last agony. The second knife went through the same spot in the other arm, and his howls redoubled. The third and fourth knives were aimed at the thigh, and entered exactly at the spot the chief indicated.
If Rattler had fancied that the Indians did not really mean to kill him, he saw now that he was mistaken. Heretofore he had uttered only single cries; now he howled unceasingly. The spectators murmured and hissed, showing their contempt in every possible way. An Indian who dies by torture acts far differently. ”

“ And I was a murderer, the worst of murderers, for I slew souls. I was a teacher in an advanced school, it does not matter where. I was born a Catholic, but lost my faith, and my greatest pride lay in being free and having dethroned God, and all my influence and skill went to robbing others of their faith. I had great power over men, and numberless were the hearers whom my lectures led into infidelity. Then came the revolution. He who acknowledges no God recognizes no king or authority as sacred. ”

“ They must be like other men, enemies to their enemies, friends to their friends; and as I mean to treat them well, I don’t see why I should fear them.”
“You’ll find out,” said Sam, “or you’ll be a greenhorn for eternity. You may treat the Indians as you like, and it won’t turn out as you expect, for the results don’t depend on your will. You’ll learn by experience, and I only hope the experience won’t cost you your life.” ”

“ The greater his agony the greater the insults he heaps upon his foes, and he never lets a sigh of pain be heard. When he is dead his enemies acknowledge his glory, and bury him with all Indian honors. It is glorious for them to put such a hero to death, but it is quite different in the case of a coward who shrinks from the slightest pain and begs for mercy. There is no glory, but almost disgrace, in torturing such as he, and scarcely a warrior is willing to have any part in his end; so he is knocked in the head, or put to death in some other ignominious way. Such a coward was Rattler. ”

“ They were the mustangs in wild gallop, coming towards me. What a sight these lordly beasts were, with their manes flying about their necks, and their tails streaming like plumes in the wind! There were at least three hundred head, and the earth seemed to tremble beneath the pounding of their hoofs. A white stallion led them, a noble creature that any man might be glad to capture, only no prairie hunter would ride a white horse, for he would be too conspicuous to his enemies. ”

“ And as it sprouts and spreads so will his spirit grow great beyond the grave. And as the oak grows so will the words which we have heard from him sprout in our hearts, and our spirits shall find shelter under its shade. ”

“ It’s no matter if an old fellow dies, but a young—”
“Now hold your kind tongue, my dear old Sam,” I interrupted. “It’s better a hopeless greenhorn should die than a valuable, experienced scout. But I hope I shan’t die.”
“Well, I’d rather take your place; but if I can’t, promise me to remember it’s for life or death. Don’t come any of your humane nonsense; remember, you’re not dealing with a knight or a square man, but a rascal and a murderer, who will kill you if he can. ”

“ Yet as I heard these last words my eyelids lifted, and I saw him standing before me clad in a light linen garment and unarmed.
“He has opened his eyes again,” cried Sam, and Winnetou bent over me, looking long and steadily into my eyes.
At last he said: “Can you speak?” I shook my head.
“Have you any pain?” I made the same reply.
“Be honest with me! When a man comes back from death he surely must speak the truth. Did you four men really want to free us?” ”

“ Had you been our friend you would have warned us of the Kiowas’ coming. Your excuses any child could see through. Do you think Intschu-Tschuna and Winnetou are more stupid than children?”
“I think nothing of the sort. Old Shatterhand is unconscious again, or he could tell you that I have spoken the truth.”
“Yes, he would lie as you do. The pale-faces are all liars and traitors. I have known but one white man in whom truth dwelt, and that was Kleki-Petrah, whom you murdered. I was almost deceived in Old Shatterhand. ”

“ My blood shall be your blood, and your blood shall be my blood; I will drink yours, and you shall drink mine. Intschu-Tschuna, the greatest chief of the Apaches, my father, will consent to this?”
Intschu-Tschuna gave us each a hand, and said in a tone that evidently came from his heart: “I consent. You shall be not merely brothers, but a single man with two bodies. How!”
Having said this the chief left us, and Winnetou and I went away together, and sat down by the bank of the broad Rio Pecos, now reddening in the setting sun. ”