"What do you want in the camp of Geronimo ?" he asked, addressing the government scout as though he had been a total stranger.
"I bring a message from Maus," replied the other. "Nan-tan- des-la-par-en has come. He is ready to hold a parley with you. What answer shall I take back?"
"Tell Nan-tan-des-la-par-en that Geronimo will meet him tomorrow in the Canyon of Los Embudos."
When the morning came Geronimo set out with a party of chiefs and warriors for the meeting place. Mangas was with him and Na-chi-ta, and there were Shoz-Dijiji, Gian-nah- tah, Chihuahua, Nanay, and Kut-le in the party. General Crook was awaiting them in the Canyon of Los Embudos. The two parties exchanged. salutations and then seated themselves in a rough circle under the shade of large sycamore and cottonwood trees.
General Crook addressed Geronimo almost immediately. "Why did you leave the reservation?" he demanded.
"You told me that I might live in the reservation the same as white people live," replied Geronimo, "but that was not true. You sent soldiers to take my horses and cattle from me. I had a crop of oats almost ready to harvest, but I could not live in the reservation after the way you had treated me. I went away with my wife and children to live in peace as my own people have always lived. I did not go upon the war trail, but you told your soldiers to find me and put me in prison and if I resisted to kill me."
"I never gave any such orders," snapped Crook.
Geronimo did not reply.
"But," continued Crook, "if you left the reservation for that reason, why did you kill innocent people, sneaking all over the country to do it? What did those innocent people do to you that you should kill them, steal their horses, and slip around in the rocks like coyotes?
"You promised me in the Sierra Madre that that peace should last, but you have lied about it. When a man has lied to me once I want some better proof than his own word before I can believe him again."
"So does Geronimo," interrupted the war chief.
"You must make up your mind," continued Crook, "whether you will stay out on the war path or surrender unconditionally. If you stay out I'll keep after you and kill the last one if it takes fifty years."
"I do not want to fight the white man," replied Geronimo; "but I do not want to return to the reservation and be hanged, as many of the white people have said that I should be. People tell bad stories about me. I do not want that any more. When a man tries to do right, people should not tell bad stories about him. I have tried to do right. Does the white man try to do right? I am the same man. I have the same feet, legs, and hands; and the sun looks down upon me, a complete man.
"The Sun and the Darkness and the Winds are all listening to what we say now. They know that Geronimo is telling the truth. To prove to you that I am telling the truth, remember that I sent you word that I would come from a place far away to speak to you here; and you see me now. If I were thinking bad, or if I had done bad, I would never have come here."
He paused, waiting for Crook to reply.
"I have said all that I have to say," said the General; "you had better think it over tonight and let me know in the morning."
For two more days the parley progressed; and at last it was agreed that Geronimo and his band should accompany Lieutenant Maus and his battalion of scouts to Fort Bowie, Arizona. The northward march commenced on the morning of March 2Sth and by the night of the 29th the party had reached the border between Mexico and Arizona.
Nine - RED FOOLS AND WHITE SCOUNDRELS
IN THE camp of the Apaches, which lay at a little distance from that of the troops, there was an atmosphere of nervousness and suspicion.
"I do not like the way in which Nan-tan-des-la-par-en spoke to me," said Geronimo. "I know that he did not speak the truth when he said that he had not ordered the soldiers to catch me and to kill me if I resisted. Perhaps he is not telling me the truth now."
"They have lied to us always before," said Na-chi-ta. "Now, if we go back with them to Fort Bowie, how do we know that they will not put us in prison. We are chiefs. If they wish to frighten our people they may kill us. The white-eyed men are crying for the blood of Geronimo."
"If they kill Geronimo they will kill Na-chi-ta also," said Shoz-Dijiji.
"I have thought of that," replied Na-chi-ta. "They will not kill us," said Chihuahua. "They will be content to know that we are no longer on the war trail. We have taught them a lesson this time. Now, maybe, they will let us alone."
"Chihuahua thinks only of the little farm the white-eyes let him work--like a woman," scoffed Shoz-Dijiji. "I hate them. I shall not go back to live upon a reservation. I shall not go back to be laughed at by white-eyed men, to hear them call me a damn Siwash, to listen while they make fun of my gods and insult my mother and my sisters."
"Shoz-Dijiji will go upon the war-trail alone and do battle with all the soldiers of two great nations?" sneered Chihuahua.
"Then Shoz-Dijiji will at least die like a man and a warrior," replied the Black Bear .
"Have we not troubles enough without quarreling among ourselves?" demanded Geronimo.
"And now Gian-nah-tah is bringing more trouble into our camp," said Chihuahua. "Look!" and he pointed toward the young warrior, who was walking toward them.
In each hand Gian-nah-tah carried a bottle of whiskey, and his slightly unsteady gait was fair evidence that he had been drinking. He approached the group of men, women, and children and extended one of the bottles toward Geronimo. The old chief took a long drink and passed the bottle to Na-chi-ta.
Shoz-Dijiji stood eyeing them silently. By no changed expression did he show either disapproval or its opposite, but when Na-chi-ta passed the whiskey on to him, after having drunk deeply, he shook his head and grinned.
"Why do you smile?" demanded Na-chi-ta.
"Because now I shall not turn back into Mexico alone," replied the Black Bear.
"Why do you say that?" asked Geronimo.
The bottle went the rounds, though all did not drink. Chihuahua was one who did not.
"Where did you get this, Gian-nah-tah?" asked Geronimo.
"A white-eyed man is selling it just across the border in Mexico. He is selling it to the soldiers too. He says that they are boasting about what they are going to do to Geronimo and his band. They make much bad talk against you."
"What do they say they are going to do to us?" demanded Geronimo, taking another drink.
"They are going to shoot us all as soon as we are across the border."
Chihuahua laughed. "The foolish talk of drunken men," he said.
"Many of the white-eyed soldiers are drunk," continued Gian-nah-tah. "When they are drunk they may kill us. Let us turn back. If we must be killed let us be killed in battle and not shot down from behind by drunken white-eyes."
"Now would be a good time to attack them," said Na-chi-ta, "while they are drunk."
"If we do not kill them they will kill us," urged Gian-nah- tah. "Come!"
"Shut up, Gian-nah-tah!" commanded Shoz-Dijiji. "The strong water of the white-eyed men does not make you a war chief to lead the braves of the Shis-Inday into battle- it only makes you a fool."
"Shoz-Dijiji calls Gian-nah-tah a fool?" demanded the young warrior angrily. "Shoz-Dijiji does not want to fight the pindah-lickoyee because Shoz-Dijiji is a coward and himself a pindah-lickoyee."
Shoz-Dijiji's eyes narrowed as he took a step toward Gian- nah-tah. The latter drew his great butcher knife, but he retreated. Then it was that Geronimo stepped between them. "If you want to kill," he said, "there is always the enemy."
"I do not want to kill Gian-nah-tah, my best friend," said Shoz-Dijiji. "Perhaps it was the strong water of the pindah-lickoyee that spoke through the mouth of Gian-nah- tah. Tomorrow, when he is sober, Shoz-Dijiji will ask him; but no man may call Shoz-Dijiji a white-eyes and live. Juh learned that when Shoz-Dijiji killed him."