“No,” remonstrated Geronimo. “If you go with me the Agent will say that
Geronimo has gone out again with his warriors, but if only Geronimo and
his own family go the Agent cannot say that Geronimo has gone upon the
war trail.
“If you come with me they will send soldiers after us; and then there
will be war, and already there have been enough of us killed. Therefore
Geronimo goes alone.
“Shoz-Dijiji, my son, will remain here for a while and learn if the
white-eyed men are going to make trouble because Geronimo has left San
Carlos. If they do, he will bring the word to me; and then I shall know
what next to do; but I shall not return to San Carlos to be treated like
a fool and a child—no, not I, Geronimo, War Chief of all the Apaches!”
And so that night Geronimo, with all his family except Shoz-Dijiji, rode
silently northward toward Fort Apache; and at San Carlos the Indians,
the Agent, and the soldiers slept in peaceful ignorance of this event
that was so soon to lead to the writing of one of history’s bloodiest
pages.
After Geronimo had left, Shoz-Dijiji sought out Gian-nah-tah with whom
he had had no opportunity to speak since the moment of their altercation
in the Hog Ranch. In the heart of the Black Bear was only love for this
friend of his childhood; and while he knew that Gian-nah-tah had been
very angry with him at the time, he attributed this mostly to the effect
of the whiskey he had drunk, believing that when this had worn off, and
Gian-nah-tah had had time to reflect, he would harbor no ill will.
Shoz-Dijiji found his friend sitting alone over a tiny fire and came and
squatted down beside him. Neither spoke, but that was nothing unusual.
Near by, before her hogan, a squaw was praying to the moon. “Gun-ju-le,
klego-na-ay,” she chanted.
At a little distance a warrior cast hoddentin into the air and prayed:
“Gun-ju-le, chil-jilt, si-chi-zi, gun-ju-le, inzayu, ijanale,”—“Be
good, O Night; Twilight, be good; do not let me die.” Peace and quiet
lay upon the camp of the Be-don-ko-he.
“Today,” said Shoz-Dijiji, “I recognized the white-eyed man who sells
fire-water to the Apaches. He is the man who tried to steal the
white-eyed girl that day that Gian-nah-tah and Shoz-Dijiji were scouting
near the hogan of her father.
“I thought that I killed him that day; but today I saw him again,
selling fire-water to Gian-nah-tah. He is a very bad man. Some day I
shall kill him; but I shall do it when no one is around to see, for the
white-eyed fools would put me in prison as quickly for killing a bad man
as a good.”
Gian-nah-tah made no reply. Shoz-Dijiji turned and looked into the face
of his friend. “Is Gian-nah-tah still angry?” he asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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