Chapter XII
Life in the Quahada village went very happily for Star and Songbirdafter the return of Quannah and his warriors. The white men hadevidently withdrawn from their chase of the Comanches, and Quannah didnot intend to cause further trouble unless the buffalo hunters or otherwhite people encroached upon the land which the Quahadas consideredtheir own.
The Old White Horse and the Big Gray Horse seemed to be very wellsatisfied among the Indian ponies, but Star was a special favourite.More than once his mother chided him for liking the white men's horsesbetter than older friends among the Comanche ponies. Sometimes she evendrove him away from the cavalry horses and forced him to stay with theothers. At such times Star did his best to escape her watchful eyes andreturn to his friends, but it was not an easy thing to accomplish. Whenhis efforts failed, he would call loudly to the two horses, and theiranswers told him that they understood he had not deserted them.
"Why do you want to stay beside them all the time?" Hawk asked him oneday when Running Deer had shouldered and nipped Star until he was in thevery midst of the herd.
"Because they teach me so many things our ponies do not know," heanswered quickly.
"What can a white man's horse tell a Comanche pony?" Hawk saidscornfully.
"A great many things," was Star's reply. "I listen to them talking toeach other about big camps of white men, of strange houses that move asswiftly as lightning, and of the wonderful flag that floats every dayfrom a tall white lodge-pole in the place where they live with manyhorses and soldiers."
"We have lodge-poles, too," Hawk spoke impatiently. "Can their flagbring rain like the Thunder Bird that lives in the forks of the pole ofthe Sacred Sun Lodge?"
"No," Star shook his head, "I asked the Big Gray Horse about that, andtold him how the Sun caught the Thunder Bird and kept it prisoner in theforks of the tall pole of the Sacred Sun Lodge, and that no rain couldfall until our Medicine Men and warriors vanquished the Sun and set theThunder Bird free; and how the Thunder Bird spread its great black wingsand rain fell from its pinions upon the thirsty earth, so that the grassand flowers awoke from their sleep."
"Can their flag do that?" demanded Hawk.
"No; but he said that the flag on the lodge-pole meant that all thosewho came to it for help are treated kindly, and all who live under itare protected. I asked him if he thought that it could make the buffalohunters and other men with fire-sticks leave the Quahadas in peace. Heand the Old White Horse both said they were sure of it, if Quannah wouldlead us all there to talk."
"That was what the messengers from the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Kiowacamps said to Quannah," retorted Hawk. "The white men wanted them tomake a treaty of peace in a big Medicine Lodge, and then the Indianswould go and live where the white men put them. Quannah did not do it.He was wise. He would not trust the white people, nor let them rule theQuahadas, as though we were all captives. Who can tell what they woulddo afterward? Why do you trust the two strange horses and theirstories?"
"They are my friends!" Star's eyes were angry, his ears flattenedbackward, his lips twitched so that his teeth showed. As he thrust hishead forward, Hawk jumped aside to avoid Star's strong teeth, andRunning Deer stood in front of her colt.
"Why do you fight Hawk?" she snorted as Star moved out of her reach."You and he have played together all your lives. His mother and I grewup together, and our mothers slept side by side before I was born. Thesestrangers are not of our people. They will leave us when they have achance to return to their own people, but we shall remain together untilwe die. That is right. The white men and their horses have their ownranges; the Indians and their ponies have other places. Whenever theymeet there is trouble and sorrow. When they dwell apart there is peace.So why should you quarrel with Hawk about these strange horses of thewhite men?"
"I am sorry," spoke Hawk, edging more closely toward Star.
The other pony moved quickly and rubbed his nose against Hawk'sshoulder, saying, "I'm sorry, too. I was to blame, but I do like tolisten to them talking."
"Let me go with you now and hear them," suggested Hawk.
"Yes, go!" said Running Deer, and she watched the two ponies trottingtogether toward the Old White Horse and the Big Gray Horse, who showedtheir pleasure at having the youngsters join them.
A couple of hours later as the ponies rested beside the big horses underthe shade of a tree, Star scrambled hastily to his feet, saying,"Songbird is calling me. Good-bye!"
It did not take long for him to reach her side. She was standing beforethe opening of the big tepee and a short tether was in her hand. Starbent his head so that she could slip the crude bridle back of his earsand around his nose, but there was no bit to be thrust into his mouth.
Then without saddle or blanket she prepared to mount. Grasping hisshaggy mane in her strong little hands, she sprawled against his sideand balanced her body across his back, after which she wriggled untilshe sat erect, with the single strand of rawhide in her left hand.
Star knew that the pressure of her knee meant for him to turn one way orthe other. When she leaned forward and her bare brown legs clampedclosely against his body, the pony understood, without whip or spur,that he must go faster. The lightest pull on the rawhide loop around hisnose caused him to stop at once. Besides all this, the tones ofSongbird's voice guided him, and he always did his best to obey andplease her, because he loved her.
Often Songbird's pet fawn accompanied them. The fawn thought it greatsport to out-run the pony, but at times Star reached slyly to nip thelittle creature, which took delight in teasing the pony and getting infront of it.
Some days the other Comanche children rode with Songbird, and when theyraced their ponies Star could easily outdistance the rest. Most of thechildren rode the old ponies that were too stiff to be of value intrades. The Comanches traded ponies instead of using money like whitepeople. The children bragged one to the other, about the number ofponies his, or her, father owned, and how fast those ponies could run.Songbird did not talk like the rest. Everyone knew that her father,Quannah, had the most ponies of any warrior in any Indian tribe, andthat his ponies were faster and more beautiful than all others.
She thought proudly of the pony races during festivals. When only theponies of the Quahadas ran, Quannah's ponies were not among them, for hewould not humiliate his own warriors by showing how slowly their poniesran. But when the Cheyennes, Kiowas, or Arapahoes brought their bestponies to race against those of the Quahadas, Running Deer was led intothe line of strange ponies.
As she stood among them, her bright eyes would note each lithe body,each nervous nostril, and the outlines of steeled muscles. Measuring herrivals she would toss her dainty head, and when the signal was given,would shoot away like an arrow from the other ponies and reach the goalahead of them. Then amid wild shouts the Quahadas would gather aboutRunning Deer who had upheld the honour of the tribe.
Later the defeated warriors would go back to their own camps, but thebest ponies would be left behind with the herd of the Quahadas. Songbirdknew that some day Star would race for the honour of the tribe. So whilethe other children raced and bragged, Songbird watched and was silent.
The games that Songbird played with the children were not so verydifferent from many games played by white children in other parts of theworld. Both boys and white girls shot arrows at targets, or, mounted onhigh stilts, chased one another between the tepees. There were woodentops carved from tough limbs of trees, and the boys made whistles ofreeds on which they blew music that the Indians loved.
Tiring of this they would turn to playing "Wolf" or "Chaser," which ismuch like "Tag," or it might be a game of "Hide Things" which was thename for "Hide and Seek." "Cat's Cradle" was played with stringsof tough buckskin, and a great favourite among the boys was abreath-holding contest in which the boy who could hold his breath thelongest was the winner, and the one who was first to fail was ridiculedby boys and girls.
Songbird and the other little girls had dolls which the squaws made fo
rthem. These were of buckskin painted gaily, and hair from the tails ofponies was sewed to the heads. The women used threads of fine sinews,and sharply pointed bits of stout wood pushed the queer thread throughthe material. That was the way the Comanche women sewed, even in makingtheir tents, their clothes, and their moccasins.
Keeping house and having feasts like dinner parties made many merryhours. The boys, who scorned to play with the dolls, were very glad tojoin the games when they saw cactus-fruit, pine nuts, dried wildberries, dried acorns, and maybe deer meat that had been cut into longnarrow strips and hung in the sun until cured so that it could be eatenwithout being cooked. There might even be little cakes made of driedbuffalo meat that had been pounded between two stones and mixed withdried berries.
Instead of candy they chewed dried mesquite beans, which were juicyinside, and though sweet were tart. Possibly a special treat had beenprepared for the little housekeepers, and their mothers had given themcactus-fruit. Eagerly the children watched the gorgeous yellow blossomsform on the prickly-pear bushes, and when the petals fell, leaving thedelicious fruit, they knew enough not to touch it, for it was thicklyencrusted with tiny stickers. These were so fine as to be almostinvisible and were very painful as they worked into the flesh.
A tough stick was used to knock the fruit from the edge of the thick,flat, fleshy leaves that formed great clumps of the prickly-pear cactus.The thorns and skin were then removed with sharp sticks, or by placingfor a few moments in hot ashes. The feast usually wound up with chewinggum obtained from the sweet sap of certain trees. It oozed through thebark, formed into dry lumps, and was all ready for any little Comanchewho happened near.
So the men hunted deer and buffalo and made plans to protect theirfamilies and homes, and the women searched for roots, nuts, and berriesfor food and medicine, made clothes and cooked, while the childrenplayed their games, like other children all over the world, and listenedto stories told in the tepees and by the camp fires, until the Spirit ofDarkness rode his big black horse across the sky.
* * * * *
Then the children of the Quahada Comanches went into their tepee-homes,curled up on their beds of furry robes and slept.
But Songbird knew that Quannah and the wisest and bravest men of thetribe sat in the big tepee talking very gravely, night after night, whenthey thought that she was sound asleep. She heard enough to understandthat they did not think the white men had given up the fight, but wouldcome again some day, and come in greater numbers to conquer theQuahadas.
Star: The Story of an Indian Pony Page 13