Puma Son of Mountain Lion

by Dicksion, William Wayne

  “Each of you is the very best in your field,” Bonnie’s father remarked. “If Puma learns from you, he’ll be well prepared for life in the West. But how will he learn to live in the East? He and Carmelita will inherit property there one day. They’ll need to be educated to meet that challenge, also.”

  Pat translated what was being said. Puma thought, This is the rite of manhood in the white man’s world. I will do my best.

  Kile jumped up and said to Cathleen and Carmen, “Come, let’s show Puma the river.”

  They dashed away toward the river and the adults continued talking. The day was drawing to a close when Juanita said, “We have to leave. The sun is only an hour above the mountains. It will be dark before we get home.”

  Sage and Joe walked to the river to get the children.

  “That is a fine boy,” Joe remarked.

  “Yes, he is,” Sage said. “It will take time for him to adjust. It’s terrible what happened to his mother, but I’m glad he came. He’s carrying a deep sorrow. I wish there was some way to let Evening Star know that I think she bore a fine boy. I wish I could tell her how proud I am of him and that I’ll do my best to raise him to be a good man.”

  Returning to the hacienda, Puma and Carmelita took the lead riding at a cantor. Sage and Juanita rode leisurely, enjoying the beauty of the autumn evening, and thrilled to be watching the children.

  Puma watched the sandy road winding through the trees and listened to the first evening calls of the coyotes, blending with the rippling water in the river. It left him with a feeling so serene that he felt at home at last. It was dark when they arrived at the hacienda; and their evening meal was ready.

  It had been a memorable day. Puma had learned a few English words, saw the surroundings of his new home, and made new friends. He would sleep well tonight.

  Before he retired to his bed, his father said, “Tomorrow, you and I will ride into the mountains. It has been too long since I have checked the perimeters of the ranch. I must do it, and I’d like for you to ride with me. We’ll take Pat with us. He can continue teaching you English, and while he’s doing that he can teach you some of what he has learned about being a mountain man. Bring your weapons. I want you to show me the skills you have acquired in their use. You may wear your moccasins. I still like to wear mine when I go into the mountains.”

  The next morning, Puma was awakened by the crowing of roosters and dressed quickly. The house was dark and quiet. While walking to the barn to check on Lightning, he saw his father was already in the corral talking to a Mexican man.

  His father said, “Puma, this is Ramon. He is the foreman of the ranch. His father, Carlos, was the foreman before him.” Ramon extended his hand and said something Puma did not understand. Ramon was smiling; Puma understood that, so he took Ramon’s hand and smiled in return.

  Puma left his father and Ramon talking and went to Lightning. She greeted him by bouncing her head up and down, and then rubbed her nose against his chest. Puma petted her and gave her an apple that he had gotten from the breakfast table. He got some hay and grain from the granary for her, then fed and petted the two Arabian horses his father and mother had ridden, and also tended to the needs of Carmelita’s pony.

  Puma liked horses. Maybe some day I can raise horses, he thought.

  Watching Puma, Sage smiled, “I see you’ve already tended to the horses. Let’s go get some breakfast.” They walked into the dining room. The table was again spread with ham and eggs with tortillas and coffee, and also fresh fruit and milk.

  Puma was hungry. He sat in the chair next to his father’s. His father smiled, gently shaking his head. “No, we must wait for the ladies. They’ll be here soon.”

  Puma rose and stood with his father. They didn’t have to wait long. Carmelita and his new mother entered the room smiling, as though they shared a secret. They were dressed in riding clothes and looked ready for something they had not told him and his father about.

  “We’re going along,” Juanita said excitedly. “It’s been years since I’ve ridden the boundaries with you. Carmelita has never seen all the property she and Puma will some day inherit. She needs to see it. I remember when I rode it with my father—I was just about her age. It will be a wonderful experience for her, also.”

  Sage agreed. “I’m pleased you’re coming along. I didn’t think you would want to ride with us. It’s going to be a hard ride, and we’ll be in the mountains for at least three days.” “We can take a pack mule,” Juanita replied. “We’ll have plenty of blankets and food. The ladies who fixed our breakfast have already prepared the supplies.”

  “Wonderful!” Sage said. “Let’s eat and be on our way. Pat will meet us on the trail.”

  Carmen was so thrilled she could hardly eat her breakfast. She was going into the mountains with her father and her new brother! Won’t Cathy be envious when she hears about it!

  “Carmen,” Puma said, “I’ll saddle your pony for you.”

  “I’ll saddle my own horse, thank you,” Carmen replied as she gave Puma a big smile.

  Juanita smiled. “Now they sound like children.”

  Chapter 14

  The Land

  As they rode through the first canyon, the sun was just peaking over the crest of the mountains. At first they followed dirt roads, and then the roads dwindled away to trails made by animals. The terrain was rugged, and it became more and more wild and primitive as they rode deeper into the mountains. The land was arid; the grass was sparse with low shrubs and trees growing here and there. Herds of antelope grazed in the meadows, and they saw tracks of bear and mountain lion. Puma was familiar with this kind of place. Although it was different from the land near his village, he felt at home. Sage watched and understood what his son was sensing. He laid his hand on Puma’s shoulder, nodded, and smiled.

  “Where’s Pat?” Juanita asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sage answered, “but he knows where we are. He’ll just pop out of a stand of trees or the mouth of a canyon somewhere along the trail.”

  They rode all morning before reaching the boundary to their property. The land belonging to the ranch was enormous. The boundaries were marked by rivers, canyons, and mountain peaks. Sage pointed them out to Puma and Carmen as they rode. Juanita remembered her father doing the same for her many years ago. She hadn’t thought of her parents for a while. The memory brought tears to her eyes. Puma noticed and looked questioningly at his father. His father quietly explained that Juanita’s mother and father had been killed by Apaches when she was about Carmen’s age. Puma learned that Juanita also had known sorrow. He felt closer to her now. He was lucky to have her for his new mother.

  The trail topped the crest of a hill, and Puma saw Pat almost hidden under some trees at the mouth of a little canyon, just like his father had predicted. Puma was pleased to see his good friend. Now he would be able to talk more easily and learn more quickly. Pat would explain the words Puma couldn’t understand.

  Pat joined the group and said, “We’ll camp in the canyon just beyond that low mountain. A stream running through the canyon will provide water.”

  Pat was also leading a pack mule. They found a meadow near the stream and set up camp while they still had light.

  After caring for their horses, Sage said, “Come on, son; let’s get some meat for dinner.”

  Pat said to Juanita and Carmen, “I would give a lot to be able to watch this; it would be something to see. In many ways they are very much alike.”

  Puma followed his father as he moved quietly and quickly through the brush and trees. He noticed that his father stepped only on vegetation in a way that left no tracks and made no sound. His father used the brush and trees to remain concealed, and he did it so successfully that it was difficult to keep him in sight. Puma was concerned. Since Father leaves no tracks, how could I find him if I lose sight of him? I must learn how he moves so silently and leaves nothing to show that he has passed.

  Sage stopped near the stream and
hid among the shrubs, signaling for Puma to crouch beside him. They crouched so low and remained so still that Puma was afraid his legs would go to sleep.

  A buck came to the stream. Sage threw his knife so quickly that Puma could hardly see that he had thrown it. The buck dropped in his tracks. The long knife had penetrated the buck’s heart. After watching this, Puma knew that he had much to learn and understood why the people of his tribe told stories of his father around the campfires. When Puma was growing up, he had thought the stories were exaggerations. Now, he knew they were not.

  His father said, “Follow me and watch what I do.”

  Sage quickly skinned and dressed the deer, rolled the meat in the hide, and discarded the waste so the scavengers would consume it without leaving a trace. Nothing would be wasted. Puma had just been given a lesson in how to become a man in his father’s world. He hoped he would be able to measure up. They returned to camp as silently as they had left, carrying the best cuts of meat wrapped in the skin of the animal. The meat was ready to be put on a spit for roasting.

  Pat smiled and said to Juanita and Carmen, “You see what I mean? When Puma has learned those skills, he’ll be as good as his father.”

  After eating, they sat around the campfire talking. They watched as the day changed into night. It was almost as though the mountains, canyons, and valleys were communicating with them. A coyote howled and another howled a reply. The wind made sighing sounds as it moved through the trees. The sky filled with thousands of stars that kept getting brighter as the night got darker. They gathered around the camp fire, like people had been doing since the dawn of humanity. The scene was as primitive as time itself, and there was a beauty about it which defied description.

  To help with Puma’s training, Pat told how he had lived as a mountain man, and how he had learned to survive and deal with the difficult situations he encountered while living alone. He learned to speak five Indian languages while living among the different Indian tribes. He married an Arapaho woman and she bore him two sons. While he was away on a trip selling his furs, the Blackfoot Indians raided his village. He returned to find that his wife and sons had been killed, and he set out on a killing spree to avenge their deaths.

  He said, “I wanted to kill every Blackfoot Indian I could find. The Blackfoot warriors searched for me to kill me. One day, they had me trapped in a canyon with no hope of escape and a young gunfighter named Joe Martin came to my rescue.

  “Joe was also living alone in the mountains, trying to live down a reputation as a gunfighter. He didn’t want to be known as a killer, but everywhere he went there was someone who wanted a reputation as a gunfighter by beating the man everyone said was the best. The men who were seeking a reputation would challenge Joe, and he would be forced to kill them in a shootout.

  “After Joe and I fought off the Blackfoot Indians, we became partners in the fur-trapping business. We had a good season and sold our furs in St. Louis and then traveled down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to enjoy the fruits of our labor. On our way back to Santa Fe, we were attacked by a band of Comanche. They had us corned on a limestone ledge. We were running low on ammunition, and Joe was wounded. Our chances didn’t look good. Just when we thought all was lost, we were rescued by a young man dressed in the skin of a mountain lion. We saw him beckoning to us from under sagebrush. He saved our lives by taking us into his secret cave, and that is why we called him “Sagebrush.”

  Sage and Pat smiled as they recalled the event. Juanita had heard this story before, but it was all new to Puma and Carmelita. Their eyes were wide with wonder.

  “Pat,” Puma asked, “you’ve been west with the wagon trains. What lies beyond those mountains the sun has gone down behind?”

  “Going to the land beyond those mountains is a long and dangerous journey,” Pat answered. “After you have gotten beyond them, there is a great desert. Many people have died trying to cross that desert. Beyond the desert lies still another range of mountains; some of those mountains are even taller than these. There are streams running down the far side of them, with beautiful, fertile valleys. The streams that drain the melting snow from those mountains run into the ocean. In some of the valleys, families have lived for three hundred years. Most of them speak Spanish. They live a beautiful life in a beautiful land.”

  “I think I would like to see that place someday,” Puma mused. “Now, Father, will you tell us about your life?”

  Sage told of growing up in Virginia where his father had a shipbuilding business. He explained that his family had come west to honor a dying man’s request to help save his granddaughter’s land from being taken by evil men. Sage related the story of how he was stranded alone on the Great Plains after the wagon train he and his parents were traveling in was attacked by Comanche and everyone except him was killed. He was determined to avenge his parents’ brutal, senseless, slaughter. That determination helped him to endure the extreme hardship of living alone for six years. By watching animals, he learned how to get food, find shelter, and avoid being killed by predators. He used the time to train himself with the only weapons he had, so he would be able to bring justice to the men who killed his mother and father.

  Juanita then told her story. “Mother and Father were killed by Apaches while they were on a trip to Mexico City, and my uncle tried to destroy me so that he might obtain ownership of the land we are now riding. Your father, Pat, and Joe came to my aid and saved the land from being taken.”

  Noticing Carmen’s eyes were drooping, Sage said, “It’s getting late; we should get some sleep. We have some hard riding to do tomorrow.”

  Puma laid in his bedroll looking up at the stars thinking, Most everyone has had sorrow in their lives. They have endured, and I, too, shall endure.

  * * *

  Puma awakened just as the dawn was breaking, bathed in the cold stream and dressed for the day. Lightning nickered to him. He petted her neck and rubbed her down with clean, dry grass, then put grain in her nosebag. He did the same for the rest of the horses. When he returned to the campsite, his father was preparing breakfast. Pat had left camp and was scouting for signs of danger. Juanita and Carmen were at the stream getting dressed.

  When they were ready to eat, Pat returned and reported, “I found hoof prints of seven unshod ponies. The tracks lead in the same direction we’ll be riding. I think we’d better keep a sharp lookout. They’re probably just a hunting party, but you never can tell.”

  “Pat, after we finish breakfast,” Sage said, “Puma and I will take the lead, if you’ll ride tail.”

  About an hour after breaking camp, Puma and Sage saw the trail of the seven ponies. Puma said, “They are unshod, probably Indian ponies. Pat taught me that when we were scouting for the wagon train.”

  “Pat is a good teacher. Listen to what he says.” In the meadow ahead, they saw a small herd of cattle. “Those are our cattle,” Sage said.

  “How do you know the cows belong to you?” Puma asked.

  “See the mark on their hips? That mark is an ‘M.’ That is the brand of the McBain ranch. All of our animals are marked that way, except our horses. We do not brand our horses; we mark them by making holes in their ears. It’s a shame to mar the beauty of a good horse with a brand. If you look closely, you will see three tiny holes in the left ear of Lightning. We mark the horses when they are born. You can always identify a McBain horse by checking for those three tiny holes.”

  Puma quickly dismounted and checked Lightning’s left ear and, as his father had explained, found three tiny holes. “Doesn’t it hurt when you make the holes?”

  “Yes, I guess it does, but some people make holes in their ears, and some make holes in their noses.”

  “I have seen Indians with holes like that. I would not want holes in my face,” Puma said.

  “Good. You are not an animal. You don’t belong to anyone, so why do you need to be branded?” Sage observed, “There is blood on the grass. I think the Indians we are following have butchered
a cow.”

  “How do you know it was not white men who butchered the cow?”

  “When white men kill a cow in the wild, they take only the choice pieces of meat and leave the rest behind. White men almost never take the hide. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. Indians take all the meat and they take the hide. They use the hide to make tepees and robes.”

  “I see what you mean.”

  “You can learn a lot about people by watching what they do and how they act. With some men, you can tell if they are lying by watching their eyes. Remember what I am going to tell you. Trust all men until they prove untrustworthy, and then never trust them again. If they do you wrong once, they will do you wrong again if they get the chance.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  The pony tracks split up. One rider went to the right, and one went to the left.

  Sage said, “They know we’re here. Let’s join the rest of our group. They might be laying in ambush. We don’t want them to catch us all scattered out.”

  Pat had also seen the tracks and rode with Juanita and Carmen. The girls were not yet aware of what was going on, but they sensed that they were in danger.

  Sage explained the situation to them and said, “We’ll take cover in that canyon until we know their intentions. They may be harmless. We don’t want to harm anyone unless they mean to harm us.” Turning to Puma, he said. “Puma, would you stay here to protect Juanita and Carmen, while Pat and I check this out?”

  Puma found an overhanging rock ledge large enough for the three of them to get under, and they waited. He wanted to be with the men, but he had an important job of guarding the women. He saw movement in the brush across the dry wash. After looking closely, he saw that it was an Indian looking for them. Puma knew by his dress and weapons that he was an Arapaho. Carmen stepped on a dry twig; it broke, making a snapping sound. The Indian spotted them and readied his lance to throw.