Danny Blackgoat

by Tim Tingle

  “What are you talking about?” Jane asked, but Rick was not listening. He was on his way to the horse stables.

  “I’ll tell you later,” he called out over his shoulder. He rounded the corner of the barracks and broke into a sprint. His lungs burned and his muscles ached, but he didn’t stop till he reached the horse corral. He found Danny Blackgoat’s horse just where he had hidden it a few days ago, in a remote corner of the corral where only the untrained and troublesome ponies were kept.

  “It’s time we take a trip,” Rick said, and the horse stomped the ground with his right front hoof, as he always did to welcome him. “Nice to see you too,” Rick said. He saddled the horse and popped the reins.

  “Let’s go,” he said, leaning over and patting Fire Eye on the neck.

  Fire Eye stomped and whinnied and took off in such a hurry he almost threw Rick to the ground. As they neared the gates to the fort, he slowed Fire Eye to a walk. The guards knew Rick well and waved to him as he approached.

  “Where’s your wagon?” a guard asked.

  “No time for a wagon,” Rick shouted as he passed through the gate. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Rick urged Fire Eye into a slow trot, and when he thought he was out of sight of the guards, he broke into a run, popping the reins and slapping his horse on the hindquarters.

  “Let’s go, Fire Eye!” he shouted. “We have lives to save!”

  He rode at a full gallop to the rising hills, high above where Danny had found the rattlesnake cave. Turning Fire Eye from the road to the hillside, Rick leaned forward and began a slow climb. He soon topped the hill and spotted the cave. No Danny.

  Rick took a long, deep breath and looked to the gathering clouds overhead. He patted Fire Eye on the neck and spoke in a quiet voice.

  “Any idea where our friend Danny Blackgoat might be?”

  Hearing the name of his young Navajo friend, Fire Eye stomped the ground with his right foot. Without any urging from Rick, Fire Eye stepped down the hill as Danny had taught him, taking short, quick steps. He moved at an angle, zigzagging from right to left, but always headed downhill.

  Rick was so surprised he almost jerked the reins and pulled Fire Eye to a halt. But something told him to trust this Navajo horse, and he did. When he realized Fire Eye knew how to ride the hills better than he did, he filled the desert air with warm laughter, hugging his horse’s neck.

  Fire Eye knew of the rattlesnake cave. As they approached the dark hole beneath a boulder, he lifted his legs high, in a slow and careful change of pace. Rick soon saw why Fire Eye carried him down the hill. A water cup lay in the front entrance of the cave, sparkling in the sunlight. “That’s the cup the soldiers use,” Rick said. “Why is it here?”

  He stepped from the saddle to pick up the cup, but it didn’t come easily. The cup was stuck in six inches of thick white mud.

  “This is mud from the lake,” Rick said aloud, “the mud that poisons our water. Wonder how it got here?” He yanked the cup from the ground and found his answer. Carved on the side were the letters DB.

  “Danny Blackgoat, you sly young man. What made you think I would ever find your message? You’re hiding out at the lake.”

  Fire Eye stomped his right hoof and whinnied.

  “I guess you’re right,” Rick said. “If I couldn’t find it, you would. All right, if we’re gonna rescue Danny, we better be on our way.” He glanced to the morning sky and guessed he had maybe an hour before the hanging.

  “Let’s go, boy! If I’m not there, they’ll hang him anyway.” Rick flung himself on Fire Eye’s back and patted his hindquarters. “Come on now!” he said. Soon they were on the road to the fort, taking the shortest route to the lake.

  As they topped the hill overlooking the muddy white waters, Rick tugged the reins and pulled Fire Eye to a halt. He rose in the saddle and looked up and down the wide stretch of rocky land surrounding the lake. “He’s got to be here somewhere,” Rick whispered. On the far side of the lake, he saw a young Navajo girl carrying a wooden pail and walking to the water.

  Fire Eye once again began his descent, stepping at an angle from the hillside to the lake. As they neared the girl, he held his hand high in a gesture of friendship, but the girl never even turned to look at him. “He is with his grandfather on the hill behind me,” she said quietly.

  Rick nodded, said thank you, and urged Fire Eye up the hill. Behind a thick grove of mesquite trees, he found Danny, resting his head on his grandfather’s lap.

  “He knew you would find him,” Grandfather said.

  Danny opened his eyes and leapt to his feet. “Ohhhh,” he moaned, limping in a small circle and feeling the pain of his leg wound.

  “Careful, Danny,” Rick said. “Looks like the gunshot didn’t kill you, but you still have some healing to do.”

  “I wanted you to know that I am alive,” Danny said. “Can you let Jim Davis know too? They must be angry with him for hiding me.”

  Rick paused for a brief moment, then realized the time had come. Danny had to know. “They are more than angry, Danny,” he said. “In an hour Jim Davis will hang—for stealing the horse and helping you escape.”

  Chapter 19

  Please Believe Me!

  The previous night, as Danny Blackgoat lay on the mountainside, bleeding from a shotgun wound to the leg, the dreams of Miss Sarah Grady took a turn for the worse. From her tiny bed in the pine trees of the Grady ranch, Sarah screamed so loud she woke up every living thing for at least a mile.

  “He’s shot, they shot him!” she shouted, sitting up in bed.

  She screamed again and again, finally stuffing her face in a pillow to stop the screaming. Mrs. Grady ran to her daughter’s bedside, stubbing her toe on a tree root.

  “Sarah, are you all right?” she asked, squatting and rubbing her foot.

  Sarah shook her head violently from side to side as she sobbed.

  “What is it? Did you have a bad dream?”

  Sarah nodded. “You have to believe me, Mother. You must,” Sarah said, grabbing her mother’s wrists. “Daddy will not. He thinks I am a silly little girl. But I am a young woman, and you must believe me.”

  “I will try,” Mrs. Grady said, swallowing hard and fearing the worst.

  “Danny Blackgoat will die if you do not believe me,” Sarah said.

  “Danny Blackgoat? Your nightmare was about Danny Blackgoat?”

  “Yes, Mother, and it was more than a dream,” Sarah said, biting her lip in anger as tears fell down her face. “The soldiers at Fort Sumner shot him. He will bleed to death unless we find him.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He is hiding out in the mountains around the fort,” said Sarah. “I saw it all. He was in a carpentry shop, just like before. Jim Davis was hiding him. But the soldiers came and he jumped out the window. That’s when they shot him. He ran away bleeding.”

  “Sarah, I know you care for Danny,” said her mother. “We all do. He saved our lives. But you cannot know your dream is real.”

  “Mother,” said Sarah, “do you remember when we first met Danny? He saved our lives. It is time for us to save his.”

  Mrs. Grady stood and took a deep breath. “I believe you,” she said. “I do not know if your father will, but together we can convince him. It’s time we took a trip to the fort. All of us.”

  “I love you, Mother,” Sarah shouted, rolling over and hugging her mother’s knees so hard her mother almost fell to the ground.

  “Now let’s see what your father has to say.”

  To their surprise, Mr. Grady was already dressed and saddling his horse. Mrs. Grady was about to ask him what he was doing, when he held up his hand.

  “No time to talk,” he said. “You cannot talk me out of this. I heard Sarah scream. I know she had a nightmare. I don’t even care what the nightmare was about. I am going to Fort Sumner, and you can come along or stay behind, I don’t care. Danny Blackgoat is in trouble, and I’m not going to let that strong young
man die. He saved our lives.”

  “Can I go too?” Mrs. Grady asked.

  “Me too, Dad, please,” said Sarah.

  Less than half an hour after Sarah awakened from her nightmare, the Grady family was on the road to Fort Sumner. They rode as fast as they dared, stopping only to rest their horses. Sarah held tight to the reins of her horse and replayed the nightmare in her mind as they rode. The sun rose far overhead, nearing the noon hour, as they saw the fort in the distance.

  “Will they let you in the fort?” asked Mrs. Grady.

  “I’m hoping so,” Mr. Grady said. Sarah and her mother looked at each other, and Sarah took off at a gallop.

  Chapter 20

  Danny’s Offering

  Hearing the news that Jim Davis was scheduled to hang at noon, Danny stood up slowly, ignoring the pain of his wounded leg. “I will not let that happen,” he said.

  “I’m not sure you can do anything about it, Danny,” said Rick.

  “I have to try. Fire Eye can carry us both. Grandfather,” he said, “please tell my mother and father I will see them this evening. We will be together.”

  His grandfather stood and held Danny close to his chest. “Stay strong and be blessed,” he whispered in his ear.

  “What do you plan to do?” Rick asked Danny before they rode away.

  “I will ride through the gates and give myself up. If they want to shoot me again, they will. But I will ask them to listen to me first. I will confess to stealing the horse. I will tell them Jim Davis did not steal the horse. I am the one that should hang if anyone does.”

  “I have another plan,” Rick said.

  “Please, let me do this,” said Danny. “No more running. I want to face up to everything I have done since the soldiers burned our homes and killed our sheep.”

  “I will not stop you, Danny,” Rick said. “But please, I beg of you, do nothing that will give them a reason to kill you both. Say what is the truth and maybe someone will listen.”

  He climbed to the saddle and helped Danny to the rear of his horse. “You ready to ride?” he asked.

  “I am,” said Danny, and Rick patted Fire Eye on the hindquarters. The faithful horse climbed the hillside with the speed of one who understood. As they came to the road leading to the fort, Fire Eye hesitated.

  “It’s okay, boy,” said Rick, leaning over and patting his neck. “We’re going through the front door today.”

  The soldiers spotted Rick and Danny Blackgoat long before they came to the gate. “Halt!” a guard shouted. “Halt or we will fire!”

  “It’s me, Rick,” he said, lifting his arms high and guiding Fire Eye to the gates of the fort.

  “We see you,” shouted the guard, lifting his rifle barrel over the wall of the guard post. “But who is with you?”

  “The escaped Navajo boy, Danny Blackgoat,” Rick said. “He has come to turn himself in. Please, let us pass.”

  The guard lowered his rifle, and two horsemen rode to meet Rick. “We will escort you to the officers’ headquarters,” one said, staring hard at Danny. “Where did you find him?” he asked.

  “Wandering around the mountains,” Rick said. “I had heard he was shot and thought I might be able to find him.”

  “Looks like we might have two hangings today,” the guard said. “That rebel traitor, the one who helped him escape, is hanging today at noon.”

  Rick said nothing in reply as the men rode past Jim Davis’s carpentry shop, past the stables, and neared the officers’ headquarters. “We can handle him from here,” said the guard, stepping from his horse and pulling Danny from Fire Eye.

  Danny winced in pain as the guard threw him roughly to the ground. He tried to stand but stumbled and fell. The shotgun wound ripped open, and blood flowed in red streaks down his leg.

  “Stand up!” shouted the soldier, unmoved by the puddle of blood.

  “I can help,” Rick said. “I speak some of the boy’s language.”

  “Tell him he better walk on both legs,” said the guard. “We ain’t got time to carry a savage, wounded or not.”

  Danny glanced at Rick, letting him know he understood. He was not to respond to anything the soldiers said. He would pretend to speak only Navajo. That would keep Rick close by.

  “Danny,” Rick said in Navajo, leaning close to the young man. “Say nothing. I have a plan, and do not let them know you understand a word of English.”

  Danny nodded and did his best to stand tall, as if that was what Rick told him.

  “Good,” said the soldier. “Now, bring him inside. He can wait with the rebel till we decide his fate.” The soldiers entered the room.

  “We found the Indian boy,” said the guard. “He’s wounded but still alive, well enough to stand trial.”

  Danny spotted Jim Davis sitting in a corner, his head lowered in sadness. A soldier sat nearby with a gun in his lap. He rose quickly and saluted the guard.

  “At ease,” said the guard. “Can you locate Major Henson? Let him know we captured the Indian boy. He is ready for trial.”

  The soldier hesitated. “I was ordered by the major to stand guard over Jim Davis,” he said.

  The guard walked quietly to the soldier—a private who now stood at attention, as still as a desert cactus. He leaned so close, his hot breath blew on the private as he spoke. He waited a long moment, adding to the tension in the room.

  “Are you refusing a direct order from a superior?” he asked. “Do you want to join the rebel traitor?”

  “No, sir,” said the private. “I will do as you command.”

  “That’s better,” said the guard. “You will report to me at sunrise tomorrow morning, and we will settle this affair. Now go!”

  The private dashed through the door without another word. “Now bring in the boy,” the guard said, turning to Rick.

  “Remember,” Rick said, glancing at Jim Davis, “he can’t talk English, so it’s no good ordering him to do anything. I’ll be glad to translate.” Jim Davis looked up in surprise. He looked first to Rick, to let him know he understood the game they were playing.

  As Jim Davis looked to his friend, Danny Blackgoat, his eyes grew wide. He wrapped his arms around his bulky chest, letting Danny know the hug was meant for him. Danny pounded his chest in response.

  The minds of these two men traveled to the same place—the front porch of the carpentry shop at Fort Davis, Texas. In the dark of night, while soldiers and the other prisoners had slept, Jim Davis had taught Danny the new language. He taught him to speak—and read—in the English language.

  The voice of Major Henson ended their trip to the past.

  “We have two prisoners today, two horse thieves,” he said as he entered the officers’ headquarters. Turning to Rick, he asked, “Does this boy know enough English to answer my questions?”

  “He speaks mostly Navajo,” said Rick, “but I can translate.”

  “Fine,” said Major Henson. He gripped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in front of the two prisoners. “You were a prisoner at Fort Davis, is that correct?” he asked Danny.

  Danny looked to Rick, who spoke to him in the Navajo language. “Just nod and look at me, not Major Henson,” Rick said. Danny kept his eyes on Rick and nodded.

  “Good,” said the major. “How did you escape?”

  Once again Danny looked to Rick. “Talk to me in Navajo,” Rick said. “Say anything you want, Danny. I know what to tell him.”

  “I want Jim Davis to live,” said Danny. “Whatever you say, Jim Davis is innocent. Tell him.”

  Rick turned to the major. “He says he was afraid for his life,” he said. “A prisoner tried to kill him, over and over. He even put a rattlesnake in his bed, and it bit him.”

  “Tell the boy he must answer the question!” Major Henson shouted. “How did you escape?” He grabbed the arms of Danny’s chair and slid it hard against the wall. “I am losing my patience!”

  “Just hang them both and be done with it,” said C
orporal Doyle.

  “I will explain to him, Major Henson,” said Rick. “I know you want the truth.”

  “That I do,” said the major.

  Rick turned once more to Danny. “Should I tell him of the graveyard?” he asked in Navajo.

  “No,” said Danny. “Jim Davis builds the coffins. That makes him more guilty.”

  “He says a good man gave him a horse and saved his life,” Rick said to the major.

  “Is this the good man who saved your life?” the major asked, pointing to Jim Davis but with his eyes still glued to Danny. “Does he know this good man stole the horse that saved his life? Does he know that we hang horse thieves?”

  Danny looked back and forth, from Rick to Jim Davis to the major. He took a deep breath, stood up, and spoke in clear English.

  “Major Henson,” he said, “I want to confess. I stole the horse. I rode the horse from Fort Davis, as fast as I could. I came here to Fort Sumner because my family is here. This man is innocent,” he said, looking at Davis. “He did not steal the horse. I did.”

  Chapter 21

  Confession and the Hanging Rope

  “Make sure he understands everything I am about to tell him,” Major Henson said, looking to Rick.

  “I understand everything you say,” Danny said.

  “Do you understand that you are confessing to a serious crime, stealing a horse?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know the penalty for horse theft?” Danny looked to the floor and said nothing.

  “The penalty is death by hanging,” said the major.

  “I stole the horse,” Danny said. “Jim Davis is innocent. You cannot hang him.”

  Davis had been sitting quietly, trusting Rick to save his life any way he could. But when Danny confessed to the crime, Jim Davis could no longer stay silent.

  “No!” he shouted, jumping to his feet. Corporal Doyle struck him in the ribs with the butt of his rifle, but Davis knocked the rifle away, ignoring the pain.