spoke a second courier.

"Still another big band comes from the opposite side," the third man spoke.

"And back on our own trail, I saw them travelling toward us." The last speaker was one of the head chiefs under Quannah. "I left my pony a long way off that he might not make any noise and warn the white men. Then I crawled like a snake until I reached a hill near the white tepees. I heard men's voices but I could not understand what they said. They speak a different tongue from ours. But there were so many men and so many ponies that they were as the leaves on the trees or the blades of gra.s.s.

How shall we fight them and hope to conquer?"

"They will surround us from all sides, as the hunters gather around a herd of antelopes," one of the men said. "If they were not in back of us, we could go to the camp where the women and children wait."

Quannah looked at the trail which led toward his little daughter, as he said in a voice that all could hear plainly, "We will do it. I have a plan. We must protect our women and children!"

Then the Medicine Man, who had remained silent, stood beside the Comanche Chief. With hands uplifted toward the sky the old man called upon the Great Spirit to hear his children and aid them in the fight to save the game and the gra.s.s and the homes of the Comanche people from the white men who wished to destroy them.

After that Star watched the warriors hold up their long bows and quivers filled with slender arrows, that the Medicine Man's blessing might make the arrows strong and sure, give strength to their fingers and clear vision to their eyes in the battle for their homes and those whom they loved.

Chapter VII

Among those who journeyed with Quannah were the youths of the Quahada Comanches who had reached the age of twelve. These boys knew how to use bows and arrows as well as the older men. Children of the tribe were given tiny bows and arrows for toys as soon as they were big enough to hold them, and each day they practised shooting at targets, while their parents watched them proudly.

They were also taught to ride a pony bare-back, lying close against its neck and leaning forward, so that from the opposite side nothing could be seen of the little rider except one brown leg and a hand that clung to the pony's thick mane.

Another lesson they had to learn was to creep silently through the gra.s.s, taking great care not to make it move so that other boys could not see where they were hiding. Because of this training and their small size, some of these boys had been allowed to travel with the warriors under Quannah, that they might be used as spies when the Indians drew near the camps of the white men.

So when the different couriers returned to Quannah and reported that the white men were coming from every side to surround the Comanches, and that part of these men were between Quannah's band and the camp where the Comanche women and children had been left, Quannah called his followers about him while the old Medicine Man stood beside the chief.

Star, who had been resting for a short time after his long trip, lifted his head curiously as he noticed the warriors gathering. Then as he saw Running Deer close to the edge of the group about Quannah, he leaped lightly to his feet and hastened to his mother's side. She rubbed her nose against his to show how pleased she was at the way he had done his part of Quannah's work. Then Quannah began speaking.

"We must go back to take care of the women and children," the chief said very plainly.

Star saw all the warriors nodding to show that they agreed with the chief, but no one spoke a word. It was so quiet that the chirp of a gra.s.shopper close to Star's feet could be heard distinctly, and the song of a mockingbird sounded clearly from a nearby tree. Even the big herd of twelve hundred ponies seemed to be listening for Quannah's words.

There was no moving of restless hoofs, or soft sounds of gra.s.s roots being torn by grazing ponies.

Star felt a thrill of joy at what the chief said, for he knew that he would be near Songbird again. Then if the white men came, he could help her run away, as his mother had helped Quannah escape and hide. He turned to speak about this to his mother, but Running Deer shook her head quickly and he was silent. Quannah was talking.

"The white men are between us and the camp where we left our women and children," he said slowly. "To the front of us are more white men. They are coming from the east and the west, also. We must make a path through them to reach our camp. The white men outnumber us many times. If we face them in open battle they will kill or take us all prisoners, then our women and children will be helpless."

"Our chief speaks the truth," the Medicine Man spoke, and the others grunted and nodded at one another to show that he was right.

"To-day," Quannah went on, "we must ride hard until we are near the white men, then we will halt and hide. It is the dark of the moon now, and when the sun has gone, I shall send the smallest boys on our swiftest ponies to stampede the ponies of the white men. While all is confusion in their camp, we can dash past them in the dark, taking their ponies with us as we go on our way. Without ponies how can they catch us?"

All the warriors showed their satisfaction in the words and looks that Star and Running Deer understood plainly. In a short time the Indians were riding the trail that led directly back toward the camp of the squaws and children and old, weak men who could not fight.

During the day messengers were sent ahead, and Star kept close beside his mother on whom Quannah was riding. When the couriers returned late in the afternoon, Star and Running Deer listened intently to their words.

"The white men are moving toward us," spoke one man who had ridden away that morning. His tired pony stood with low-hanging head while its drawn sides and quick breathing told how hard the pace had been. "When the sun goes to sleep for the night, they will be not more than two hours from here."

"They have big white ponies," another messenger said. "Last night I lay so close to their camp that I could hear voices in the strange white tepees. A few men who do not sleep walk around and keep watch. All of the men have fire-sticks. The ponies are unsaddled and each one is tied to a long rope, so they make a line, side by side!"

"That is good!" Quannah's eyes brightened.

Turning to the Medicine Man he spoke in a low voice, so that neither Star nor Running Deer was able to hear what he said. The other Comanches began making preparations for food, so Running Deer, with Star at her side, moved slowly away, cropping the thick, tender gra.s.s as they talked together.

"Mother, do you think we will be sent to-night?" Star asked suddenly.

"Maybe," she answered. "I am the swiftest pony of the herd, and you have proved your speed and strength to-day. It would be a great honour if both of us were sent. But now stop talking. Eat, that you may rest, for no one can tell when we may be needed, nor how long and hard the trail before we can graze and rest again."

Star obeyed. After he had eaten his fill of juicy gra.s.s he wandered with his mother to a stream where they thrust their noses into the clear, cool water and drank all they wished. Then the two of them found a spot which they pawed to make more soft, and doubling their front knees they sank slowly to the ground and soon lay sleeping side by side.

Several hours had pa.s.sed when Star wakened suddenly at a whisper from his mother, whose lips touched one of his ears. It was quite dark, but the stars gleamed overhead. When the little spots of light flickered in the sky Star knew that it was from the hoofs of ponies in the Happy Hunting Grounds just as the Comanche ponies made sparks of fire when rocks were tossed together violently by the ponies' flying hoofs.

"Listen!" whispered Running Deer. "The men are picking the ponies for to-night's work!"

The colt's body quivered with excitement, his lips twitched and his ears c.o.c.ked sharply, while his eyes peered into the darkness where he could hear the soft tread of moccasined feet that were coming nearer and nearer to him and his mother. He wanted to leap up and call out to the warriors that he was awake and ready, but a nudge from his mother made him lie down quietly and wait.

In a few seconds an indistinct figure stood beside him. A hand touched his forelock. Star rose quickly to his feet as a rawhide noose slipped about his neck. He felt his mother's nose against his own, but the nip she gave him this time was not an angry one. It told him as plainly as she could speak how proud she was that her son had been picked out for the work.

"Do your best," he heard her say. "Remember, you are my colt. Your honour is my honour. If you fail it is my disgrace as well as yours!"

Then he was led away, leaving his mother watching him as he disappeared in the darkness of night. She knew that the quick little bite he had given her was a promise that he would not forget all she had taught him.

The man whom Star followed stopped where Quannah and all the warriors stood with two little Comanche boys, who were looking up at the chief and listening carefully to every word he was speaking to them. Star was close enough to hear what was said.

"Ride swiftly," Quannah commanded. "Make no noise. When you are near the white men's camp lie closely and hold your hands tightly across your ponies' noses to keep them from calling out to the white men's ponies and warning them of danger."

"We will do as you say," the boys promised st.u.r.dily.

"Good!" the chief answered. "Leave your ponies while you crawl cautiously to the rope that holds the white men's ponies. Cut the rope and leap on the nearest pony, then shout loudly and beat the ponies with the pieces of buffalo hide you carry. That will frighten them so they will run away. Your own ponies will follow. You must drive the white men's ponies toward the place where we will be waiting to help you. Thus we will capture the white men's ponies, so the men cannot follow us to our women and children."

"We understand," replied the boys in one voice, while the Indians watched them and whispered to one another, "These children will be great warriors when they are full-grown men!"

Once again Quannah spoke to the boys. "The honour of the Quahada Comanches is in your hands. Guard it with your lives. If you are captured, let no man know why you were sent, nor where we are waiting.

Do not whisper it even between your two selves, for the wind might steal your words and carry them to the white men's ears."

Then the old Medicine Man stepped before the two children, and his thin arms and trembling hands were extended over their heads. The boys knelt down. Around them like shadows in the faint starlight stood all the Quahada Comanche warriors, and their chief watched the two slender lads, his eyes full of pride.

"Great Spirit, hear the cry of your children. Help us save the game and the gra.s.s that we may live in peace and happiness in the land you gave to our fathers long ago. Send their spirits from the Happy Hunting Grounds this night that they may travel beside these children and give them courage and cunning to save the Comanche people. We are weak, we are few, and the white men are many and strong. We must go out to fight and we ask the Great Spirit to help us, for with the Great Spirit and the spirits of our forefathers we shall win over all our foes!"

In the silence that followed the Medicine Man's blessing, the boys rose to their feet. Then Star shivered with excitement as one of the boys grasped the mane that fell thickly on the pony's neck. With a quick, light bound the lad vaulted to Star's bare back. Beside them the other boy was astride a pony named Hawk.

Silently the circle of warriors parted so that there was a s.p.a.ce. The young riders leaned down on the necks of the ponies and darted, side by side, through the pathway of Comanches, then on through darkness that wrapped the prairie like a heavy black cloak.

Chapter VIII