Gadsden (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Gold mines and mining -- Fiction; Western stories
Ignacio was the Indian's real name, for the Yaquis are all good
Catholics and named uniformly after the saints; but Bud had started to
call him Amigo, or friend, and Ignacio had conferred the same name on
him.
Poor Ignacio! his four-dollar-a-day job had gone glimmering in half
a day, but when the Mexican laborers departed he lingered around the
camp, doing odd jobs, until he won a place for himself.
At night he slept up in the rocks, where no treachery could take him
unaware, but at the first peep of dawn it was always Amigo who arose
and lit the fire.
Then, if no one got up, he cooked a breakfast after his own ideas,
boiling the coffee until it was as strong as lye, broiling meat on
sticks, and went to turn out the horses.
With the memory of many envious glances cast at Copper Bottom, Hooker
had built a stout corral, where he kept the horses up at night,
allowing them to graze close-hobbled in the daytime.
A Mexican _insurrecto_ on foot is a contradiction of terms, if there
are any horses or mules in the country, and several bands of ex-miners
from Fortuna had gone through their camp in that condition, with new
rifles in their hands. But if they had any designs on the Eagle Tail
live stock they speedily gave them up; for, while he would feed them
and even listen to their false tales of patriotism, Bud had no respect
for numbers when it came to admiring his horse.
Even with the Yaqui, much as he trusted him, he had reservations about
Copper Bottom; and once, when he found him petting him and stroking
his nose, he shook his head forbiddingly. And from that day on, though
he watered Copper Bottom and cared for his wants, Amigo was careful
never to caress him.
But in all other matters, even to lending him his gun, Bud trusted the
Yaqui absolutely. It was about a week after he came to camp that Amigo
sighted a deer, and when Bud lent him his rifle he killed it with a
single shot.
Soon afterward he came loping back from a scouting trip and made signs
for the gun again, and this time he brought in a young peccary, which
he roasted in a pit, Indian style. After that, when the meat was low,
Bud sent him out to hunt, and each time he brought back a wild hog or a
deer for every cartridge.
The one cross under which the Yaqui suffered was the apparent failure
of the mine and, after slipping up into the cut a few times, he finally
came back radiant.
"_Mira!_" he said, holding out a piece of rock; and when Hooker gazed
at the chunk of quartz he pointed to the specks of gold and grunted
"_Oro!_"
"_Seguro!_" answered Bud, and going down into his pocket, he produced
another like it. At this the Yaqui cocked his head to one side and
regarded him strangely.
"Why you no dig gold?" he asked at last, and then Bud told him his
story.
"We have an enemy," he said, "who might steal it from us. So now we
wait for papers. When we get them, we dig!"
"Ah!" breathed Amigo, his face suddenly clearing up. "And can I work
for you then?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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