The Treasure of Nugget Mountain | Page 4

up to some trick, but I had no chance to say more, for he walked away to tell the Indians how deep to make the hole. When everything was ready, Sam took off his old leather hunting jacket, rolled it up, and set it over the hole like a cylinder, where the stiff old coat stood up as if made of wood.
"Now," said Sam to his audience, "the men, women, and children of the Apaches shall see what I do, and wonder at it. When I have spoken my magic words the earth shall open her bosom to me, and I will see what is to happen to us during our journey." With this he went back a few paces, approached the hole with slow and solemn steps, to my horror repeating the multiplication table from the ones up to the nines, but he did so too rapidly for the Indians to catch what he said. When he got to the end of the table of nines, he broke into a gallop, sprang up to the coat with a loud howl, waving his arms like a windmill. I looked around to see what the Indians thought of this performance, and to my great relief saw that they all looked perfectly serious; even the two chiefs betrayed no doubt in their faces, though I was sure that Intschu-Tschuna knew right well what Sam was up to.
Sam kept his head down in the coat a good five minutes, moving his arms the while as if he saw marvelous things. At last he raised his head, showing a face solemn to the last degree, shook out his coat, and drew it on again, saying: "My red brothers may fill in the hole again. While it is open I can say nothing." This was done, and Sam drew a deep breath, as if he felt deeply impressed, and said: "Our red brother has seen wrong, for exactly the contrary of what he said is to happen. I have seen all that is to come to pass in the coming week, but it is forbidden me to repeat it all. I have heard shots, and seen a struggle. The last shot came from Old Shatterhand's bear-killer, and he who fires the last shot cannot have died, but must be the victor. My red brothers can be safe only by keeping close to Old Shatterhand. If they obey their medicine-man they are lost. I have spoken. How!"
The consequences of this prophecy were exactly what Sam had anticipated, at least for the time. The Indians evidently believed him, and as the medicine-man did not come forth to oppose Sam's statement he was considered vanquished, and Sam the true prophet. Winnetou's eyes rested on Sam, who had come chuckling over to me, with a silent, but very expressive look, while his father said: "My white brother is a wise man; he has taken the force from the words of our medicine-man, and he has a coat full of wise sayings. This precious coat will be honored from one big water to the other. But Sam Hawkins should not have gone so far. It was enough to say that Old Shatterhand would bring us no evil; why did he prophesy anything bad?"
"Because I saw it in the hole."
Intschu-Tschuna made a gesture dismissing this statement, and said: "Intschu-Tschuna knows the truth; Sam Hawkins can be sure of that. It was not necessary to make our people anxious by speaking of bad things to come. Let us go."
The horses were brought, and we mounted, and rode slowly away from the pueblo village, Intschu-Tschuna, Winnetou, his sister and I ahead, Sam Hawkins, Parker and Stone following, and behind them the thirty braves leading the pack horses. Nscho-Tschi sat astride her horse like a man. She was a remarkably daring and accomplished rider, as I knew already, and as she proved anew on this journey, and she could handle weapons equally well. Any one meeting us would have taken her for the younger brother of Winnetou, the likeness between them being heightened by her masculine garments; but they only brought out more clearly her remarkable beauty. She was so radiant, so happy, so girlish, in spite of the knife and pistol in her belt, and the gun across her shoulders that all eyes turned on her admiringly -- poor, beautiful Fair Day!
After five days we reached the spot where we had been working when taken prisoners by the Apaches, and the rest of the party was cut down in the struggle. Here I resumed my work, guarded by the Apache braves, and helped by Winnetou and Nscho-Tschi, who scarcely left my side. It was very different from the circumstances under which I had labored before, with a band of drinking, unprincipled adventurers for