If Billie's ability to accomplish things were only as good as his ambition to try, there would never have been any trouble; but the fact was, he could not keep awake after a certain hour any more than he could refrain from eating when hungry, and the opportunity came along.

But after all, there was no sudden alarm during the night, although the sentry sat there with a gun across his knees every minute of the time he was on duty, and ready to give any creeper the surprise of his life.

Perhaps those whom they fancied might want to disturb them guessed that the boys would be on the watch; and knowing that they possessed rifles, they did not care to take the risk of being shot.

At any rate, morning found them just as the sinking sun had left them, making preparations for a meal; and in the eyes of Billie this was the essence of delight, as we have learned long since.

The morning was to be given up to a number of minor events that would be of considerable importance, though it was in the afternoon that the culmination of the whole ceremony would come about in the thrilling rattlesnake dance, the reputation of which had gone all over the land.

The Broncho Rider Boys were deeply interested in everything, and Billie used his little kodak freely, in snapping off pictures that appealed to him as worth preserving.

Like all other tribes of Indians, the Zunis have a test through which their boys have to go before they can be called real braves, and be looked upon as full fledged warriors, capable of taking arms, and doing the fighting for the tribe; though it has been a long time, doubtless, since the Zunis have gone upon the warpath, because their old-time enemies, the Apaches, have been on a reservation for many years.

Still, that must not interfere in any degree from the making of warriors; and as might be expected, the ability to stoically endure terrible bodily pain is the main feature of these tests.

There were half a dozen applicants, being young boys who aspired to a.s.sume the privileges of the warrior cla.s.s, perhaps select a future wife, and settle down to having homes of their own, up among those tiers of rock houses.

They showed what they could do in all manner of contests, and after winning the admiration of all observers, these young lads submitted themselves to the committee, headed by the old medicine man, and which had a programme laid out that caused some of the paleface observers to shudder, and turn away.

Those dusky sons of the desert allowed their judges to pa.s.s splinters of tough wood through certain muscles of their arms and shoulders, and not one of them by so much as a single groan manifested any interest in the matter. A stolid look on their faces told that they had steeled themselves to endure anything, rather than be disgraced by a cry of anguish.

They were then hung up from the supports erected for this especial purpose, the ropes being actually secured to the wooden splinters that had been pa.s.sed through their flesh.

It made even Donald shudder when one of the judges, at an order from the awful-looking medicine man, actually started to turn the victims around; for the agony must have been terrible indeed.

One of the wretched candidates actually fainted dead away, and hung there in that condition; but there was not a groan, not even a sigh, or a look of pain on any of their faces.

It was the greatest exhibition of courage, and ability to suffer in absolute silence, that any of the spectators had ever witnessed. Billie had to put his quivering hand before his eyes, and finally turn away, being utterly unable to stand it any longer.

Still, this had been the custom of these people for all the centuries.

They believed that no man could a.s.sume the name of a warrior who was not able to laugh at his mortal foes as they invented all manner of fiendish cruelties in the way of torture, should he by chance fall into their hands during war times.

Other things not so fearful were carried out, some of them ceremonial dances that had to do with the "sacred meal," and such things. Billie had taken pictures of everything that came along; even the six dangling candidates for honors as budding warriors had not been neglected, though his hands did tremble so much at this spectacle that he could hardly press the b.u.t.ton of his camera.

And now it was all over but the one grand final scene that the afternoon was to witness, and which was the culminating event of the whole occasion.

The boys wandered back to their camp, bent on cooking something for a meal, and then lounging around until from the bustle and confusion they knew that it was high time they sought their places on the elevated rocks above the little plaza, where these interesting things were taking place.

Everything seemed to be just as they had left it, as Adrian, a little suspicious perhaps, made up his mind, after he had cast a quick look around.

Billie started in at once to gather some wood, so as to make a fire.

When there was anything in the line of cooking going on, he could show an astonishing amount of spryness for a fellow so stout.

"You never saw anything like this before, I reckon, Donald?" Adrian asked, as the two of them busied themselves getting things ready, so that when Billie had his blaze started they could put the coffee and frying-pan on, and thus begin dinner.

"No, and I've always wanted to have a chance to watch how they did these queer stunts," replied the other; "but between us, Ad, I've pretty nearly got my fill of Zuni practices."

"Same here, Donald," replied his chum, with a shrug of his shoulders that spoke even more plainly than his words, "I felt a cold chill run all over me when I saw those boys hung up there, with their whole weight supported by those skewers run through their shoulder muscles. Ugh! made me think of a beef that was put in the ice-house to hang, till it got tender. But they never whimpered once. Talk to me about your grit, did you ever see any equal to that?"

"I think any one of those brave chaps would sooner have died outright than let his folks and friends hear a groan from his lips. And how long do you suppose they'll let those boys hang there, Adrian; why, perhaps until sheer tomorrow morning, unless by good luck one of them chances to twist and squirm around, until he actually breaks loose, when he can crawl to his father's hole in the rock, and lie down on a blanket. But under no circ.u.mstances must one of them be taken down until a certain number of hours have pa.s.sed."

"Well, I'm glad I ain't a Zuni!" Billie was heard to say about that time; "but what's that fastened to the flap of the tent just behind you, Donald? I declare if it don't look like a dirty piece of paper."

Donald turned quickly, and in another instant had the object which Billie's sharp eyes had detected, in his hand.

"It is a piece of paper, and here's some writing on the same!" he exclaimed.

"Wow! another letter of warning, mebbe, just like that was at the poisoned spring!" cried Billie, crowding close to the shoulder of Donald, as the other read out what he found written there, in a rough way, but evidently meant in sincerity:

"Yu want to watch out fur that showman Hes aplannin to git yu all into a bad hole sos yull be kicked outen thee plac Hes ben an fixed the sam with a pair of his crones to steal the ole fraud medcin mans belt that he valles moren his lif an hid same in yur tent Keep yur eyes peeld an ketch the pizen snake at his game No mor at presnt but look out yu dont git nabbed A Frend"

No sooner had Donald finished reading this scrawl than Billie broke out with:

"Looky, will you, boys, just the same kind of crooked writing and bad spelling there was in that other warning letter. Yes, sir, it's from that same unknown friend that keeps watch over us, and never shows himself. Don't it beat all who he can be?"

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE STEALING OF THE SACRED BELT.

"You hit the right nail on the head, Billie, when you said that," was the way Donald told how he agreed with the remark of the other.

In fact, all of them had been struck with the similarity of the crooked handwriting that they saw upon the soiled piece of paper before them, and that which had been upon the warning at the spring.

To make doubly sure Billie pulled out the latter, he having secured it at the time; and a hasty examination proved to be all that was necessary to convince the three boys that their suspicions held good.

"The same hand wrote both!" declared Adrian.

"All right," spoke up Billie, instantly; "don't that prove the other warning was meant right for us, and not stuck there in a general way, as Donald here seemed to think?"

"I own up that the proof is overwhelming, Billie," admitted the party in question; "but just to think of them laying such a measly plot to get us in bad favor with our new friend, the Zuni chief. I remember seeing that belt right well, and remarked at the time that it was the finest one I had ever set eyes on, and I've seen quite a bunch of the same among the Indians on the reservations; for they try to excel each other making them valuable with precious stones and little nuggets of gold."

"Yes," added Adrian, "and I could hardly take my eyes off it this very morning, when the medicine man took a share in the first part of the programme. Then he left the rest to some sub-chiefs, and went away with the head of the tribe. It's a beauty of a belt, and must be worth considerable, just in money alone."

"Huh!" grunted Billie, "didn't this unknown friend of ours say right there that the Witch Doctor values it more'n his own life. And the meanness of them to think to steal it, and fasten the job on us for keeps! It makes my blood boil, I tell you! Yes, I'm opposed to violence of all kinds, except when it's necessary to teach a rascal like Braddon that the Broncho Rider Boys can take care of themselves, thank you. Why, I'd almost feel like puncturing one of his arms or legs with a bit of hot lead from my trusty rifle, so as to teach him the lesson he needs."

"Hold your fire, Billie; we may need all the ammunition we've got before we're through with this thing," advised Donald.

"Oh! I'm only saying what I'd _like_ to do, not what I expect to,"

remarked Billie, as he carefully placed the two "warnings" away in one of the pockets of his khaki hunting coat. "Wonder how many more times this bully friend is agoing to do us a good turn, without showing his face?"

Adrian and Donald exchanged looks, and then the former went on to say:

"Seems like we'll have to pa.s.s that by, Billie, because n.o.body knows.

Just who he is, and why he keeps so shy, is more'n I can guess. Perhaps some day he'll come out into the open, and let us see who we've got to thank. If you asked me to give my best guess now, I'd say he's one of those same punchers Donald was making friends with yesterday. He's keeping it up just for a lark, to sort of bother us. There's no accounting for some people's sense of what they call humor. He may think it's the best joke he ever had to do with, just keeping us guessing."