CHAPTER 16 DANGER
Brad did not know whether or not the old Indian actually saw them in thedarkness. But he decided to take no chance of being mistaken for anenemy.
"Hello," he said, and his voice echoed weirdly in the cavern, "cookingyour dinner?"
With a show of friendliness, he stepped out into the glare of the fire.Dan and Red followed his example, though not without misgiving. Would theold cave dweller accept them as friends? Or would he be hostile? In thedarkness they could not see whether or not he wore a knife at his belt.
For a full minute, the old Indian stood tense on the rock floor, staringat the three Cubs. In the glare of the fire they saw that he was gauntand lean, with a bony, unwrinkled face. Prominent cheek bones pulled theskin tightly.
"Good morning," Brad said, gaining confidence as the Indian made nohostile move. "Cooking a rabbit, I see."
The stranger replied with a deep-throated grunt which the Cubs took forassent. He did not seem unfriendly, however, only guarded and a trifledazed.
Oddly enough, the old Indian did not question the boys as to theirunexpected presence in the cave. Apparently accepting them as friends, hemotioned for them to share the warmth of his fire.
The Cubs squatted around it, watching the old fellow rotate the cookingrabbit on a crudely fashioned spit.
Without saying anything, Dan nudged Red to direct his attention towardthe wall behind them. Not far from the pile of balsam boughs lay theNavajo blanket which had disappeared from the Cub camp a few daysearlier!
Brad cleared his throat and after telling his name, tried to draw the oldIndian into conversation. Aside from learning that the other's name wasMiquel and that he was a Navajo of the Beebitchni clan, he made littleheadway.
Paying scant heed to the Cubs, old Miquel carried on a sing-singmonologue in a tongue the boys could not understand.
At intervals he broke into English, but the words made no sense to thethree listeners.
"Turquoise Mountain, king of mountains, everlastingly beautiful," the oldIndian muttered.
"So what?" Red mumbled into Dan's ear. "What sort of jargon is this?"
Old Miquel did not appear to hear Red's remark.
"It does me no harm, no harm," he rambled on, "for I am Holy with theFire."
"He's out of his head," Red whispered to Dan. "He's completely lost hisbuttons!"
The old Indian had arisen from the fire, turning dramatically toward theeast. He made a picture as he stood there in the flickering firelight,his calico shirt open at the throat. In one ear he wore a singleturquoise ornament.
"The male porcupine eats gum," he entoned. "I do it in a Holy way."
"He's reciting parts of a chant, I think," Brad volunteered his opinion."Miquel hardly knows we're here. Do you Miquel?"
The Indian went on with his chant, not even glancing at Brad or givingany indication that he had heard.
"He's in a mental fog, all right," Red insisted. "I'll bet though, thathe's that old medicine man White Nose and Eagle Feather are after!"
Hearing the two names spoken, Miquel paused in his weird, meaninglesschanting to stare at Red. But a responsive thought chain almostimmediately was broken. He seemed to forget the two familiar names asquickly as he heard them and went on with his prattle:
"I am thinking of crossing the river.... I am thinking of going home."
"If White Nose and Eagle Feather jump him for stealing, he won't goanywhere!" Red remarked uneasily. "Brad, tell him why we came."
"I'll try. I don't know whether or not I can get it across to him."
The Den Chief began very patiently, attempting to make Miquel understandthat if he remained in the cave he might be in grave danger.
"White Nose and Eagle Feather are looking for you," he tried to explain."They're hunting for the entrance to this cave right now. We came here towarn you."
"That's right," chimed in Dan, trying to drive home the point. "We don'tknow what you've done, but White Nose and Eagle Feather are out forrevenge. Unless you want to get into trouble with them, you'd better moveon to another hiding place."
Old Miquel had listened attentively to the two Cubs. They were hopefulthat he had understood at least part of what they had said. But when hespoke, they knew they had completely failed.
"Rabbit almost done now," he said cheerfully. "We eat."
Removing the meat from the spit, he divided it into four equal parts.Brad and Red refused a share. Old Miquel's hurt was so apparent that Danaccepted his share. However, he only made a pretense of eating, as hewatched the old Indian ravenously devour the remainder of the food.
"He's half starved," Brad observed in deep concern. "We've got to get himout of here."
"How?" Dan asked. "He hasn't seemed to understand anything we've said tohim."
Brad waited until Miquel had nearly finished eating. Then he touched himon the shoulder, saying in a friendly way:
"Come with us, Miquel, to our camp. We're friends."
"Friends," the old fellow echoed in a child-like way.
But when Brad and Dan attempted to lead him away from the fire, he pulledaway from them.
"He won't leave here," Red muttered. "What's the use trying to help him?"
"We have to," Brad said firmly. "You can see he's half starved. If thosetwo Indians should come upon him here, there's no telling what mighthappen."
"Brad's right," Dan agreed. "We ought to get him out of here. But how todo it?"
The Cubs took turns trying to make the old Indian understand. It was somuch breath wasted.
"He acts like a sleep walker," Brad remarked in perplexity. "Never raninto anything like it before in all my life."
"Do you suppose he suffered an injury?" Dan speculated. "He doesn't seemto have much of any memory of the past. He just keeps mumbling thosechants."
The Cubs did not know what to do. From Old Miquel's appearance andactions, they were satisfied that he was the medicine man for whom WhiteNose and Eagle Feather searched so ruthlessly. They suspected too that hewas the one who had carved the remarkable face on the wall of the ravine.Likewise, he was the one who had taken their Navajo blanket and possiblyfood from the camp.
Had he also completed so expertly the sand painting after perhapsdestroying Dan's picture?
In the cave there was considerable evidence that Miquel was indeed a manof many talents. On one of the walls, he had marked a strange design withcharcoal. In another place, he had drawn characters not unlike thosewhich appeared on the completed sand painting.
"We're wasting our time trying to make him understand," Brad finallysaid. "We can't persuade him to leave, that's certain. Now what'll wedo?"
"Leave him here," Red suggested. "He'll get along all right until we canget back to camp and tell Mr. Hatfield."
"He'll be safe providing White Nose and Eagle Feather don't come along.But if they should find the entrance to this cave--wow!"
"Why borrow trouble?" shrugged Red, always inclined to take theoptimistic view. "They were a long distance down stream when we saw 'emlast."
"But they may return."
"And if they do, they'll notice smoke coming out of the cave entrance,"Dan predicted. "I guess we'll have to take that chance though."
Brad nodded and warned: "We can't stay here much longer, unless we wantto miss the Pack pow-wow. We've done our best to tip him off."
"It's getting late," Dan said uneasily. "You know it took quite awhile toget to the cave."
"And no one knows we're here," Brad agreed. "We'll have to go. Rightnow."
The Cubs were reluctant to leave Old Miquel alone, for he appeared in ahalf-dazed condition. They were certain that he needed not only food andbetter living quarters, but medical attention.
Nevertheless, it seemed hopeless to try to persuade him to leave withthem. Their best bet, they thought, would be to go for assistance andreturn as quickly as they could.
The three Cubs tried to tell Miquel of
their intention. It was obvious,however, that he did not comprehend.
They were ready to leave when Dan's keen ears detected an unusual soundin the cavern.
"Listen!" he whispered.
Brad and Red already were aware of the sound at the entranceway to thecavern. They distinctly could hear splashing as if more than one personwere wading along the passageway.
"Someone's coming!" Dan warned.
"Those Indians probably," Brad whispered back. "They've found theentranceway! Now we're in for it."
Old Miquel also had heard the sound, for he listened attentively, thoughwithout undue interest. After a moment, he went on eating his meal withcomplete unconcern.
"The goof doesn't even know he may be in danger," Red muttered. "What arewe going to do? Those guys may prove nasty."
Brad was worried. Plainly the men were moving closer, for the splashingnoises now could be heard distinctly. They knew one of the men hadstumbled over a rock, for they heard him grunt as he picked himself upfrom the water.
The boys looked about for a hiding place.
Their only chance of avoiding detection was to step far back against thecave wall, away from the glare of the firelight.
"Quick!" Brad warned.
To try to take Old Miquel with them was out of the question. Retreating,the three Cubs sought the innermost recess of the cave. Flatteningthemselves against the moist wall, they breathlessly waited.