Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner

by Tim Tingle

  “Help me, please.”

  Davis knelt beside him and pulled a hunting knife from his belt. He wiped the blade on his sleeve.

  “This will hurt, Danny,” he said, “but I have to do it.”

  Davis took the bottom of Danny’s pants leg with both hands and ripped the cloth.

  “Looks mighty bad,” a prisoner said, and the others took a step back.

  Danny’s leg was red and swollen, twice its normal size. Danny took one look, closed his eyes, and clenched his teeth.

  “Lay back, son,” said Davis. “You don’t need to watch.”

  Davis eased the point of the knife into the snakebite. He twisted it deeper, digging out the torn flesh. Danny moaned and his body shook.

  “Somebody hold him!” Davis shouted. “Don’t just stand there. Give me a hand! You want this boy to die?”

  No one moved.

  “Oh,” said Davis. “I guess some of you do want him dead. Well, that is not happening. Not tonight.”

  “I’ll help,” said an older prisoner. “He never did nothing to me.”

  He knelt down and held Danny by the shoulders. The prisoners looked to Mr. Dime, and in that brief moment, Davis knew who had put the snake in Danny Blackgoat’s bed. He also knew now was not the time to deal with Mr. Dime.

  With the wound clean, Danny’s blood flowed freely, covering the floor in a warm red puddle.

  “Clean this up, best you can,” Davis said.

  The prisoner pulled the sheet from Danny’s bed and dropped it to the floor, soaking up the blood.

  Davis leaned over Danny and put his mouth on the bleeding snakebite. He sucked the blood out until his mouth was full, then turned and spat on the sheet.

  For several minutes Davis sucked the poison from Danny’s leg. When the sour taste of the poison was gone, he wiped his mouth and leaned back.

  “Tear some strips from the sheet,” he said. “Tie the cloth tight around his leg. Just above the snakebite. We have to stop the blood. Don’t want him bleeding to death, do we?” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Mr. Dime.

  Dime met his look with a mean, cold stare.

  “Maybe I’ll carry him to my place,” Davis said. “I can keep a better eye on him.”

  Davis rose to his feet and carefully lifted Danny.

  “Before I went to war, I had a grandson about this boy’s age,” Davis said to anybody listening. “I don’t know where he is or what’s happened to him. But I’m gonna see that nothing happens to this young ’un.”

  On his way to the carpenter shop, Davis stopped by the officers’ barracks. A guard sat in a chair by the door, nodding and snoring.

  “You awake?” Davis asked.

  The soldier jumped to his feet, knocking his rifle to the ground.

  “Yes, sir!” he shouted, looking right and left and trying to remember where he was and what he was doing.

  “Can I speak to the officer in charge of the prisoners?” asked Davis.

  Soon a young officer stepped to the door.

  “This young man, the one you call Fire Eye, was bit by a rattlesnake,” Davis said. “With your permission, sir, I’d like to take him to the carpenter shop. The doctor can see him there. He won’t be a bother to anybody.”

  “How did he get bit by a snake in the middle of the night?” the officer asked.

  “I don’t know about that, sir,” said Davis. “He was asleep in his bed when it happened.”

  “All right,” said the officer. “Yes, take him to your shop. I’ll send the doctor by in the morning. Will he live till then?”

  “Yes, sir. I sucked the poison from the bite. He’ll be all right.”

  “Good,” the officer said. “Then carry on.”

  After Davis left, the prisoners huddled into small groups of close friends. They whispered about what had happened. Everyone knew who put the rattlesnake in Danny Blackgoat’s bed. But their fears were not for Fire Eye.

  “He’ll do the same to us if we make him mad,” said one prisoner.

  “Somebody ought to do something to him,” said another.

  “None of us are safe. No telling how many times he’s killed before.”

  Mr. Dime walked from one group to the next, talking loud and slapping the men on their backs.

  “Well, that Fire Eye got what’s coming to him!” he said to a group standing in a corner.

  The men nodded and tried to laugh, but they were too nervous to celebrate.

  “Too bad we don’t have some whiskey,” Dime said. “I feel like partying.”

  “I’d feel a lot better if we knew where that rattlesnake was,” replied a prisoner.

  Mr. Dime looked to the floor and said nothing. The barracks grew quiet. Someone had challenged Mr. Dime.

  “Maybe I’ll find that snake,” Dime said. “That’s when you’ll need to worry.”

  Ten minutes later a soldier stepped through the door of the barracks.

  “All right, everyone back to sleep!” he shouted to the prisoners.

  No one wanted to go to bed. The rattlesnake was still in the barracks, maybe hiding under someone else’s sheets.

  “Move,” said the soldier, “unless you want to start your workday now. We can bring lanterns and you’ll work twenty hours today instead of ten. It’s up to you.”

  The prisoners shuffled to their beds. They flung back the sheets and lifted their pillows. Some knelt down and looked under their beds.

  They found no snake. After biting Danny, the rattlesnake had slithered through a crack in the floor.

  Chapter 12

  Leather Vest for Jim Davis

  The next morning, Davis stood over Danny.

  “Son,” he said, “I’ve got some breakfast for you. Easy now, don’t move your leg. Just sit up. I’ll help you eat.” He propped Danny up with a pillow behind his back.

  “Thank you,” Danny said slowly.

  “You are welcome. You are learning, Danny Blackgoat,” Davis said with a smile. “Here, I brought you a bowl of oatmeal. Have a taste.”

  Soon the doctor arrived and looked at the snakebite.

  “You saved this boy’s life,” he said to Davis. “It must have been a huge rattlesnake. I’ve never seen fang marks this big before.”

  “That’s what I thought,” said Davis.

  “You are a lucky young man,” the doctor said to Danny.

  “He can’t talk English yet, but I’m teaching him,” said Davis.

  “Well, keep him in bed and off that leg,” said the doctor. “I’ll stop by every morning to check on him. Keep the wound clean. If it gets infected, he might lose his leg.”

  Before every meal, Davis washed the snakebite with soapy water. Danny winced in pain. His leg was red and purple and still swollen twice its normal size. Just as he promised, the doctor appeared every morning.

  “It looks fine. Just keep washing the wound, Mr. Davis,” the doctor said.

  “I’ll do that. Thank you,” Davis replied.

  One morning, after a week of terrible pain, Danny sat up in bed. The sun was peeping through the window.

  “Something is different today,” he thought.

  He felt his leg. The swelling was gone and so was the pain. He looked around the room and spotted Davis stirring his bowl of oatmeal.

  “Jim Davis!” Danny said loudly.

  Davis was so surprised he dropped the bowl.

  “Danny Blackgoat!” said Davis.

  He threw his head back laughing.

  “Look what you made me do,” he said, looking at the puddle of oatmeal at his feet.

  Danny laughed too. Davis realized he had never seen his young friend laugh before.

  “You are getting well, Danny.”

  When the doctor arrived, Danny was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “My goodness,” the doctor said. “Looks like the poison is gone.”

  “Yes,” said Davis. “He’s wide awake today.”

  “Don’t rush things,” the doctor warned. “He’s not r
eady to walk on his own, not yet. Maybe let him take a few steps this afternoon, with you holding him up.”

  After a lunch of beans and bread, Davis sat beside Danny.

  “Are you ready to walk?” he asked. He made a walking motion with his fingers. “Walk,” he repeated.

  “Yes,” said Danny. “Walk. Danny walk.”

  Davis smiled. He stood up, put his hands under the boy’s armpits, and lifted him slowly to his feet.

  Danny nodded. With Davis behind him, Danny took his first steps since the rattlesnake had bitten him. They walked to the door. Davis took his hands away and Danny leaned against the door, looking outside. The sky was clear blue.

  “Just like home in the canyon,” he thought.

  “Danny,” Davis said, pointing to the bed.

  Danny turned and slowly walked to the bed.

  “I’ll be right back,” Davis said, and disappeared through the door.

  In five minutes he returned.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you, Danny.”

  Rick and his wife stepped through the door, followed by Jane.

  “She doesn’t need to see me in bed!” he thought. “I’m not helpless.”

  He flung his legs to the floor and sat up.

  “We brought you a gift,” Susan said, speaking in Navajo so Danny would understand. She handed Danny a small leather bag, tied with a thin cord. “It’s filled with corn pollen,” she said.

  “Ahéhé, thank you,” Danny said.

  “Your grandfather made it for you,” Susan said.

  “Do you know my grandfather?” Danny asked. His eyes grew big.

  “I know your family,” Susan said. “I have been riding to Fort Sumner with Rick. I sought out your family. I wanted to tell them you were safe.”

  “Ahéhé, thank you,” Danny said. “How are they?”

  “They are well. But Fort Sumner is hard. You know how the soldiers are. You know what they did to you.”

  “My mother told you?” Danny asked.

  “Yes,” Susan said. “She told me how every morning she saw you tied to the horse like a saddle. But Danny, she is very happy, now that she knows you are alive.”

  “When will you see them again?” Danny asked.

  “We are going again next week.”

  “Tell them I will see them again,” Danny said. “Tell them I will find a way to come to them.”

  “I will let them know,” she said. “Your grandfather made a gift for Jim Davis too.”

  She turned to Rick.

  “He made this for you,” Rick said, handing Davis a leather vest. “I hope it’s big enough. I told him you were a big man.”

  Jim Davis beamed! His face sported a smile as big as the moon.

  “He made this for me?” he asked. “Why?”

  “Because you saved the life of his grandson, Jim,” Rick said.

  Davis put on the vest and turned around for everyone to see.

  “It’s a perfect fit!” he said. “Look at the carvings.”

  He pointed to an eagle on one side of the vest and a sunrise on the other. Danny nodded.

  “Someday I will know the words,” he thought. “Someday I will tell Jim Davis what the carvings mean.”

  “Did you tell his family that Danny saved my life too?” Davis asked.

  “Yes, I did,” Rick said. “Danny, your family is very proud of you.”

  Though he did not understand all of the words, Danny understood that this was a powerful moment. His family, his Navajo family, had met his new friends.

  As if she knew what he was thinking, Jane spoke for the first time. She had been standing beside her mother, listening to all that was said. Sometimes she glanced at Danny, but never long enough for him to see.

  “Your mother gave me this,” she said, holding up a silver squash blossom necklace.

  Danny ran his fingers over the silver flower. He knew this necklace. He also knew his mother wanted him to see this necklace, worn by Jane. The squash blossom necklace belonged to Danny’s great-grandmother. It was one of the oldest pieces of jewelry in the family.

  “She is telling me something,” Danny thought. “She is giving her approval of Jane.”

  “I am glad you met my family, Jane,” Danny said.

  Jane blushed and turned away. Danny Blackgoat had never said her name before.

  Chapter 13

  Return to Danger

  The next morning, the doctor appeared earlier than usual. He was not alone. A soldier followed him through the door.

  “I understand Fire Eye can walk now,” the soldier said to Davis. “It’s time he got back to work.”

  “He only started walking yesterday,” Davis said. “A snakebite is serious. He needs a few more days to recover.”

  “That is not for you to decide,” said the soldier. “Have him ready to report to work tomorrow morning.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Davis. “He’ll be ready. But can I ask a favor?”

  “What is it?”

  “I think he should stay here instead of the barracks, at least for a while,” Davis said. “You and I both know it’s not safe for him there.”

  “That’s fine. But he’s a prisoner, Jim Davis, same as you. Don’t forget it. And don’t think you can run things, you understand me?”

  “Yes, sir, I do,” said Davis. “Thank you.”

  When the soldier left, Davis tossed Danny’s work clothes on his bed.

  “Get dressed, Danny,” he said. “We’re going for a walk.”

  As they stepped through the door, Davis paused.

  “I almost forgot,” he said.

  As Danny watched, Davis put on his new leather vest, his gift from Danny’s grandfather. “I’m wearing this vest everywhere I go.”

  For the rest of the morning, Jim and Danny circled the cotton fields. Danny understood that soon he would return to work.

  From a hill overlooking the cotton rows, Davis halted. He put his arm around Danny’s shoulders and pointed to the workers below. There stood Mr. Dime.

  “I am afraid for you, Danny,” Davis said.

  He pulled Danny’s pants leg above his knee. He pointed to the scars left by the snakebite and the knife wound. Then he pointed to Mr. Dime.

  “He did this to you, Danny.”

  “Yes,” said Danny, pointing to Dime. “He did this.”

  “You be careful, Danny.”

  Danny nodded. “Yes,” he said.

  The next morning, Danny woke up long before sunrise. Davis had water boiling for coffee and oatmeal. After breakfast they walked to the campfire by the cotton fields.

  “Take care of him,” Davis said to the guards, and turned to go.

  Just like before, Danny did everything he could to avoid Mr. Dime. But he soon noticed that something had changed while he was gone.

  The other prisoners didn’t laugh at Mr. Dime’s jokes. They barely spoke to him. No one sat near him at meals.

  After lunch, Danny took his hoe and worked a few rows away from the other men. He was chopping a stubborn patch of weeds when heard two prisoners shouting.

  “Fire Eye! Fire Eye!”

  Danny looked up and saw Mr. Dime sneaking up behind him. He held a jagged rock in his fist. He tossed the rock from one hand to the next. Danny glanced to the guards, but they were too far away to see what was happening.

  Dime expected him to run. Instead, Danny stood his ground. He dropped his hoe and looked Mr. Dime in the eyes. He knew that if he fled, if his back was turned, Dime would strike him in the head.

  Dime pulled back his arm and flung the rock. It flew past Danny’s head, so close he felt the air whistle as it almost nicked his ear. Mr. Dime laughed.

  “I’ll let you live today, boy. But I won’t miss you tomorrow.”

  He looked to the other prisoners.

  “Lucky boy!” he shouted.

  Everyone turned away.

  “Maybe you better look out, Dime,” a prisoner shouted.

  Now the prisoners laughed. They poin
ted over Dime’s shoulder. When Dime turned to look, Danny Blackgoat stood holding the rock. He was tossing it from one hand to the next. As the prisoners watched, Danny threw the rock across the field, far away from any workers. The prisoners cheered!

  Danny Blackgoat made friends that day, friends who would stand by his side when Mr. Dime tried to hurt him. He didn’t have long to wait.

  An hour after Danny went to bed that night, trouble appeared. Davis and Rick were sitting on the porch of the carpenter shop, talking quietly.

  “Sounds like something prowling around the back of the shop,” said Rick.

  “Something or somebody,” said Davis. “We better have a look.”

  The men rose quietly and circled the shop. They rounded the corner in time to see a man hurry away from the window.

  “Did you see who that was?” asked Davis.

  “I can’t be sure, but it looked like one of the prisoners to me,” said Rick.

  “I think I know which one,” said Davis. “The same man who turned the rattlesnake loose in Danny’s bed.”

  “Mr. Dime?” asked Rick.

  “That’s who it looked like to me.”

  Davis struck a match as they approached the window.

  “Look,” he said, and pointed to several large footprints. “He was crouching at the window. Let’s have a look inside and make sure Danny is safe.”

  Davis lit the lantern as they entered the front door.

  “Danny!” Davis called out. “Are you all right?”

  “Jim Davis?” Danny said.

  “Mr. Dime was outside,” Davis said, pointing to the window.

  Danny rolled out of bed and flung back the covers.

  “Snake?” he asked.

  “No, Danny, no snake. Not tonight,” Davis replied. “But we’re not giving him another chance. Rick, can you stay here tonight and help us keep watch?”

  “I’ll let my wife know. I’ll be back soon,” Rick said, and hurried away.

  Rick and Davis took turns patrolling the grounds around the carpenter shop. Davis took the final watch. An hour before sunrise he traced the footprints to the prisoners’ barracks.

  “Mr. Dime will not give up till they bury Danny Blackgoat,” Davis said to himself. “He’s not safe here, not anymore.”