Dead Man's Walk

“That’s the way, just keep a strong rein and ease on through,” Bigfoot said. Soon he was in the thick of the herd—Bes-Das was almost to the other side.

“Go on, you’re next,” Call said to Gus.

“I ain’t next, you go,” Gus said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Nope,” Call said. “I’m the corporal and I’m telling you to go. If I leave you behind you might claim your ankle’s hurt and get shot for desertion.”

“Why, hell … you don’t trust your own partner,” Gus said, so irritated that he immediately kicked his horse and slipped into the buffalo. In fact he had thought of finding an excuse to wait; he didn’t want to ride into the herd, and even more, he didn’t want to ride up to Buffalo Hump’s war party. But he was not going to let Woodrow Call slight his courage, either. He had always supposed he had as much guts as the next man; but his nerves had been somewhat affected by the bloody events of the first march, and were still not under perfect control. He felt sure, though, that he could match Woodrow Call ability for ability, and beat him at most contests. He could see farther, for one thing, though being in the middle of a buffalo herd didn’t give him much opportunity to test his vision. All he could see was the brown animals all around him. None of them seemed too interested in him or his horse, and he soon found that he could use the Bes-Das technique as well as Bigfoot or the Pawnee scout. Once he let his horse step too close to the horns of a young bull, but the horse turned just in time. In ten minutes he was almost across the herd—Bes-Das and Bigfoot were there waiting. He didn’t know where Woodrow Call was—slipping through the buffalo required all his attention. He was only twenty yards from being free of the herd when suddenly buffalo all around him began to swerve and jump. Gus’s horse jumped too, almost unseating him. All the buffalo on the far side of the herd were lowering their heads and acting as if they wanted to butt. Gus was thrown over the saddle horn, onto the horse’s neck, but just managed to hang on and regain his seat. He saw Bes-Das and Bigfoot laughing and felt rather annoyed—what was so funny about his nearly getting thrown and trampled?

He spurred through the last few animals and turned to see what had caused the commotion—all he could see was a large badger, snapping at a buffalo cow. The badger was so angry he had foam on his mouth—the buffalo were giving ground, too. Woodrow Call’s horse was pitching with him, agitated by the snorting buffalo cow that was faced off with the badger. Woodrow hung on and made it through.

“Why would anything as big as a buffalo shy at a badger?” Gus asked, when he rode up to Bigfoot. “A buffalo could kick a badger halfway to China.”

“That badger bluffed ‘em,” Bigfoot said. “He’s so mad he’s got ‘em convinced he’s as big as they are, and twice as mean.”

“I wonder if they’re mad?” Call said, looking at the Comanches, who sat without moving on the hill above them.

“If they are we’d be easy pickings,” Bigfoot said. “We’d never get back through them buffalo quick enough to get away, and the troop couldn’t get through quick enough to save us, either.”

Call looked up at the Indians and back across the valley, at the body of the expedition. He wished Bigfoot had not made the last comment. The buffalo herd they had just slipped through was like a moving wall, separating them from the safety of the troop. All the Cornanches would have to do would be to trot down the hill and kill them with lances or arrows. The thought made him feel wavy, and without strength.

Neither Bigfoot nor Bes-Das seemed concerned, though. They walked their horses slowly toward the hill, Bes-Das holding up the rifle with the white sheet on it. Call and Gus fell in behind.

“What if they don’t pay no attention to the sheet?” Call asked. He wanted to know what the procedure would be, if they had to fight.“If they come for us put as many bullets into the big one as you can,” Bigfoot said. “Always kill the biggest bull first—then kill the littlest.”

“Why the littlest?” Gus asked.

“Because the littlest is apt to be the meanest, like the badger,” Bigfoot said. “That one standing off to the right is Kicking Wolf— he’s the littlest and the meanest. You don’t want to let your horse graze off nowhere, with Kicking Wolf around. He’s so slick he can steal a horse with a man sitting on it.”

“He’s stumpy, ain’t he?” Gus said.

“Kicking Wolf always rides to the outside,” Bigfoot said. “Buffalo Hump is the hammer, but Kicking Wolf is the nail. He don’t like to be in a crowd. He’s the best shot with a rifle in the whole Comanche nation. If they go out and they’ve only got one rifle between them, they give it to him. Buffalo Hump’s old-fashioned. He still prefers the bow.”

With the Pawnee scout, Bes-Das, slightly in the lead, the party moved slowly up the hill toward the waiting Indians. Call glanced at the short, stumpy Indian on the right edge of the group and saw that he was the only Indian armed with a rifle. All the rest carried bows or lances. When they were halfway up the hill Buffalo Hump touched his mount with his heels and came down to meet them. When he was still some fifty yards away Call looked at Gus, to see if he was firm. To his surprise Gus looked nonchalant, as if he were merely riding out for a little sport with his pals.

“Here he comes, I hope he’s friendly,” Gus said. “I never expected to have to go and palaver with him, not after he stuck me with that lance.”

“Shut up—Bes-Das will do the palavering,” Bigfoot instructed. “You young boys keep your damn traps shut. It don’t take much to rub a Comanche the wrong way.”

As Buffalo Hump approached, holding his spotted pony to a slow walk, Call felt the air change. The Comanche’s body shone with grease; a necklace made of claws hung on his bare chest. Call looked at Gus, to see if he felt the change, and Gus nodded. They had entered the air of the wild men—even the smell of the Indian horses was different.

Bes-Das stopped, waiting. Buffalo Hump came on until the nose of his spotted pony was only a few feet from the nose of the Paw-nee’s black mare. Then Buffalo Hump lifted his lance and pointed first at Gus, and then at Call. Though he sat erect on his horse, the great hump was visible, rising from between his shoulders behind his neck. When he spoke his voice was so wild and angry that it was all Call could do to keep from grabbing his gun. Call met the man’s eyes for a moment—the Comanche’s eyes were like stone. Buffalo Hump lowered his lance, glanced at Bigfoot dismissively for a second, and then waited for Bes-Das to speak. Bigfoot seemed not to interest him. Bigfoot returned the favor by looking pointedly up the hill, at Kicking Wolf.

Bes-Das spoke briefly, in Comanche. Buffalo Hump raised his arm and the other Comanches trotted down the hill, to join him. He turned and spoke to his warriors for several minutes. Kicking Wolf grunted something and rode away, back to his position at the side.

“I hope he ain’t getting ready to shoot,” Gus said.

“I told you to keep your goddamn mouth shut,” Bigfoot said. “We’ll get out of this with our hair if you’ll just keep quiet.”

Bes-Das listened to Buffalo Hump, who made a long speech in his thick, angry voice. Call decided then that he would do what he could to learn the Comanche language. It seemed foolish to parley with wild red men if you did not know what was being said in the discussion. He could be talking of ways to kill them, for all he knew.

When Buffalo Hump finished, Bes-Das said a few words and immediately turned his horse and began to walk him back toward the buffalo herd. Bigfoot waited a moment, as if absent-mindedly, and then turned his horse, too. Call and Gus fell in behind. Call felt so much danger in the air that it took all his self-control not to look back. A lance like the one that had pierced Gus’s hip could be singing toward them. He glanced at Gus and saw that his friend seemed perfectly firm—something had happened to toughen his attitude since they left the camp and slipped through the buffalo herd.