Bloom of Cactus

by Robert Ames Bennet

  CHAPTER XXI

  TREACHERY

  The inaction of the trader was brief. At his harsh question the woundedNavaho thrust out a slim finger toward one of the rear exits from theliving room. Slade spoke a fierce command to Pete in the Navaho tongueand rushed out through the opening to which the Indian had pointed.

  Carmena uttered a horrified cry and sought to struggle up on her boundfeet. As she fell, Pete and the other Navaho caught hold of her. Theycarried her out into the anteroom, without paying the slightest heed toLennon's threats and pleadings. He writhed and twisted himself towardthe doorway. Before he had reached the opening, the wounded Navahobounded back into the room. He seized Lennon and dragged him out.

  Pete had squatted down to fasten a loop of the hoist rope about Carmena,who lay behind the sacks of corn that barricaded the crane-hoistentrance. She was speaking rapidly to the young Navaho in mingledSpanish and English. At sight of the other Navaho and Lennon she paused.

  Pete took the opportunity to mutter a sullen reply:

  "_Basta._ Slade, him bad med'cine. Me no fight him. You go Cochise, _muypronto_."

  "Wait!" urged the girl. "You want me to be your woman. Remember what Ipromised if you'd help Slade to get up the canon against Cochise. I'llpromise more now. I'll give you all those horses and cattle--and I'llgive you myself. Sabe? I'll be your woman."

  The Indian's eyes gleamed with avid desire. But he did not falter.

  "Woman no good, me dead."

  "Afraid--you girl!" taunted Carmena. "He's only a man. A single shotwill kill him. You have only to----"

  "_Basta._ Him big devil. Me no shoot him. Him say you go Cochise, _muypronto_."

  The stubborn coward turned away toward the windlass. Carmena glaredafter him in agonized desperation.

  "All right--all right, Pete!" she cried. "Lower me to Cochise. Butlisten! You needn't fight Slade or any one. You heard how he fooledCochise--made him feel good by promising him me and Jack?"

  "Me send you down, pronto."

  "Yes--yes. Only first, if you want me to be your woman, listen. Youlower me, I make bargain with Cochise and----"

  The rest of the fiercely urgent proposal was in Spanish. Pete came to apause and cast a stealthy glance at his fellow Navaho. The man haddragged Lennon out past the windlass and turned back to grasp the crankhandle.

  "You damn sure Cochise him no kill me? You no lie?" demanded Pete.

  "Won't you be proving you are his friend?" countered the girl. "You knowSlade only half trusts you. He'll be sure to shoot you, soon as hispunchers come. How about it? Do you promise? It's your only chance toget me, so long as you daren't tackle Slade yourself."

  "Slade, him big devil. Injun no can----"

  "Just wait and see," broke in Carmena. "Remember, there'll be tizwin foryou--all you can drink--heaps of tizwin!"

  "Ugh!" grunted Pete. "Slade no come. _Bueno_--me do him you say."

  He grunted to the other Navaho and swung the crane outward as thetightening rope lifted the girl above the sacks of corn. She disappearedfrom view below the barrier. The Navaho lowered away with adeliberation that set Lennon's teeth on edge. The strain on his nerveswas not lessened by the total silence of the waiting Apaches down below.

  At last the rope slackened. After a brief pause it was rapidly wound inon the barrel of the windlass. Pete had already dragged Lennon to theopening and heaved him up on the barricade. When the rope loop came upto the crane, he jerked it in, made fast to Lennon, and shoved him offinto space.

  Lennon plunged down nearly a dozen feet before the tautened rope stoppedhis fall with a violent jerk. He hung dangling, with nothing between himand the wreckage-strewn ledges of the cliff foot, thirty feet beneath.

  The first jerk had started his body to gyrating. The rapidity with whichhe was lowered increased the movement. By the time he reached the clifffoot he was spinning like a roast before an old-time fireplace.

  At first he had been able to make out Carmena standing in the midst of aclose group of Apaches. But she and the Indians and the cliff wall hadall merged into a blurred whirl before his dizzy eyes by the time hestruck the cliff foot. With the slackening of the rope he rolled over,too giddy even to attempt to steady himself with his bound hands.

  While his eyes were yet too dazed for clear vision, he heard Carmena'svoice, low-pitched and vibrant with passionate pleading:

  "... And him too, Cochise. I'm not asking you to give up your fun withhim. Only wait till you've made sure of Slade. There's not a second tolose. You have us. We can't get away. But if you don't do what I ask,you won't get Slade. He'll be up there--safe--with your woman! And hisNavahos will trap you here in the Hole."

  "You lie!" grunted the young Apache. "Slade send you down to git hisnoose on me. I haul up pony lift--hit out Hell Canon--take you and whitefool. Heap fun with you and him!"

  "What then?" queried Carmena. "You know you'll have Slade on yourtrail--Slade and a posse and the soldiers. Slade will have to wipe youout to cover up what we've been doing here. He'll lay it all on you andyour bunch--all the stealing. Can't you see? If he can't wipe you outhimself, he'll set the soldiers on your trail."

  Lennon looked up and saw before his clearing eyes the dark evillyhandsome face of the Apache leader. It was as stolid as the faces of hisincomprehending followers. But his black eyes were fierce with hate.

  "You lie!" he repeated. "You say, kill Slade. You say you no care whatbecome of you."

  "Because I know you, Cochise," cajoled the girl, her voice soft andconfiding. "Weren't we friends before Slade came? Weren't we good toyou? Remember how we kept you hid in the Hole and never told the IndianAgent? You'll not forget that. You'll treat me and Jack, my new pard,all right when I've helped you kill Slade."

  "Dam' friend--you," jeered the Indian. "You kept my woman."

  "What if I did? How about now? Do you want Slade to have her? You knowhe has been scheming all along to take her from you. Are you going tolet him do it? Think about her--and about the tizwin--that tizwin hiddenfrom you by Slade--barrels of tizwin! All yours if only you have thenerve to go up after Slade!"

  Cochise looked up the cliff, with a sudden ferocious scowl. Lennon wasgasping for breath against the frightfulness of what he had heard. Tosave herself, Carmena was betraying her foster-sister to the fiendishsavage. Elsie's fate in the hands of Slade was fearful enough withoutthe added horror of what she would suffer in the hands of Cochise.

  "Carmena!" he cried. "Carmena, are you mad? Think of Blossom! What doesit matter if we are tortured? Surely you can't intend----"

  "Why not?" cried back the girl, her face aflame with vengeful anger."That big beast first ruined my father; now he has murdered him.Cochise, you'll have to choose quickly. Run off with us and have yourfun, and have Slade trail you down; or kill him and get your woman andthe tizwin--barrels of tizwin!"

  The young Apache plucked out his knife and sprang at the girl. A strokeslashed through the thongs that bound her wrists. Her ankles had alreadybeen freed. Cochise made a sharp upward gesture. Carmena shook her headand pointed to Lennon.

  "Let him lead the way up--unarmed," she suggested.

  The advantage of the plan was instantly grasped by the crafty Apache. Athis command, two of his men cut loose Lennon's bonds and jerked him tohis feet.

  "Wait, Carmena! Wait!" begged Lennon. "Think of Elsie!"

  But the girl had already signalled to those above. The rope ladder cameslipping down the cliff face. Lennon fell silent. Protests were nowuseless. The lowering of the ladder laid the cliff stronghold open tothe merciless Apaches.

  He turned away from the girl, full of loathing. Slade might possiblyhave refrained at the last moment from wronging Elsie. But Cochise----

  There was no need of the Apache's prodding knife point to start him upthe ladder. Though he did not relish having to act as a living shieldfor the attackers, he was more than willing to go first. Unluckily thetightness of his bonds had so bruised the ligaments of his wrists andankles and left his limbs so n
umb that he had to climb with painfulslowness.

  Cochise, following at his heels, cursed and jabbed his knife intoLennon's leg. The cruel goading stung the benumbed muscles to quickeraction. Lennon sprinted up the ladder, clear of his torturer. A glancedown the rungs showed him three Apaches below Cochise, and Carmena atthe foot, waiting with the remainder of the band. The ladder would notsafely bear more than five climbers at a time.

  Spurred even more by the plan that he had in mind than by the threat ofthe knife, Lennon sought to increase his lead over Cochise. But theIndian's wrists were not strained, and his flexible moccasins gave abetter hold on the ladder rungs than Lennon's stiff boot soles. With theknife between his teeth, the young Apache swung up in swift pursuit.

  Instead of gaining, Lennon lost his lead. Another downward glance, as hegrasped the last rung below the sill of the cliff house doorway, showedhim that Cochise was again at his heels. He must change the tactics ofhis plan. He uttered a startled cry and pretended to slip down a rung.

  Cochise let go the ladder with one hand to jab his knife at Lennon'sleg. Lennon jerked up the leg and kicked down with all his strength. Theheel of his boot struck squarely in the upturned face of the Apache. Thedownward and outward force of the blow jerked loose Cochise's one-handedgrip on the ladder. But even as he toppled backward, he crooked a legwith catlike quickness over one of the rungs.

  Lennon saw only that his enemy was falling. His hand had already gropedover the edge of the sill. Without another downward glance, he flunghimself up and into the doorway. The wild scramble and plunge all butdrove him headlong over the sack of corn and against the menacing muzzleof Pete's rifle.

  That double traitor stood crouched at the inner side of the thick-walledentrance, torn between fear of Cochise and terror of Slade. Lennon hadcounted upon this dread and uncertainty of the young Navaho. He flungout his hands to him in urgent gestures.

  "Quick--quick!" he cried. "Cut loose the ladder! Cochise will kill you!He's coming! Cut the ladder!"

  The Indian shrank back to peer at the inner openings of the cliffhouse.

  "Carmena--him no lie," he muttered. "Cochise kill 'um Slade."

  "But you first!" urged Lennon. "He will----"

  The band of an Apache headress shot up above the edge of the door sill.Lennon sprang at Pete to clutch his knife. The Navaho flung up hisrifle. A chance blow of the barrel sent Lennon staggering half acrossthe anteroom.

  The Apache writhed up into the doorway and bounded over the sack ofcorn, his knife poised to strike. Pete whirled and fired from the hip.An instant later he was locked in the clutch of the yelling, slashingApache. As they crashed down together in a furious death grapple, asecond Apache came scrambling in over the cliff edge. Side by side withhim appeared Cochise, the print of Lennon's boot-heel already blackeningon his ferociously scowling forehead.

  Pete's rifle had fallen outward into the doorway, alongside the sack ofcorn. Lennon was unarmed. There was no time for him to wrest the knifefrom the wounded Apache and slash the ladder ropes. Cochise clutchedPete's rifle and started to swing it around. His companion thrust out arevolver.

  The shot missed Lennon by inches as he leaped to the side opposite theliving room. He dashed out the first opening and started to run throughthe front row of rooms, shouting at the top of his voice.

  "Slade! Slade!" he yelled. "Cochise--Apaches! Defend yourself!"

  From the inner rooms on his right came back an angry bellow. "What thedevil?"

  Lennon twisted aside through a black doorway. Farther in he saw aglimmer of light. Sharp turns through two more doorways brought him intoa kiva, or sacred chamber of the cliff dwellers, that was lighted by apair of candles. Slade stood beside the broken-edged entrance hole withdrawn revolver. The wounded Navaho was peering down from a hole in theceiling.

  "Elsie!" panted Lennon. "Hide her! Pete betrayed you! All theApaches--coming up the ladder!"

  Slade sprang sideways along the figure-decorated wall of the kiva. Heleaped to grasp the edge of the ceiling hole. The Navaho helped him drawup into the dark room above. As his feet swung clear Lennon leaped inturn to grasp the edge of the hole.

  "Give me a hand up," he called. "I'll help you defend Elsie."

  "Sure. You'll serve for wolf bait," jeered Slade.

  His big hand thrust down and tapped the butt of the heavy revolver onthe top of Lennon's head.