It was rare that the Black Vaquero exclaimed. It usually meant that he was impressed. Goyeto was pleased with himself, for having had such a timely idea. That very afternoon Ahumado dispatched a caballero that he trusted, Carlos Diaz, to Texas to tell the Texans that they could have Scull if they brought a thousand cattle to a grassy place below the river, where Ahumado's vaqueros would take them.
Ahumado then wasted no time hauling Scull up the cliff. The dark men swarmed over him before he could run, although he did stab one of them fatally with the small file he had concealed--he shoved the file straight into the dark man's jugular vein, causing him to lose so much blood that he died. Scull was taken down the cliff and pinioned securely to the skinning post--Goyeto finally got to use his knives. He took away Big Horse Scull's eyelids with even more delicacy than he had managed with the federale, Major Alonso. Scull fought his bonds and cried out curses but there was so little pain involved in the operation that he didn't moan or groan. Ahumado seemed pleased by the skill with which Goyeto worked.
But then, before the sun could begin to bring its searing heat into Big Horse Scull's brain, clouds, heavy and dark, begin to roll in from the west. Thunder shook the cliffso and hard rain fell.
Before the little stream of blood from the cuts died on Scull's cheeks the rain washed the blood away. The thunder was so loud that some of the people started to run away. They were more than ever convinced that Scull might bring the mountain down on them because of what had been done to his eyes. Goyeto thought so too, for a time. He began to regret that he had even had such a crazy idea. Why had he ignored all the signs that Scull was a witch?
If the mountain fell on them he would be dead, and even if it didn't, Ahumado might kill him for exercising such bad judgment in regard to Big Horse Scull.
The mountain didn't fall, though the sun was not seen for three days, during which time nothing bad at all happened to Captain Scull's brain.
Ahumado, though, exhibited no doubt--he had another cage made for Scull and put it right in the center of the village, not far from where he sat on his blanket. He wanted all the people to see the man without eyelids. Scull did not curse anymore. The women were instructed to feed him, and he ate. He was silent, watching Ahumado out of eyes he could not close.
On the fourth day the sun came back and Scull was immediately tied to the skinning post, so he could not shield his eyes. Even so, Goyeto worried. It was only May. The sun was not strong, as it had been in August, when he had removed Major Alonso's eyelids.
'I don't know,' Goyeto said. 'This is not a very strong sun.' Ahumado was getting tired of the old skinner and his endless anxieties. He wished Goyeto had a wife to distract him, but unfortunately Goyeto's wife had grown a tumour almost as large as the one that had killed his own father. Not many women were willing even to couple with Goyeto, because he smelled always of blood. Probably some of the women were afraid he might skin them, if he got angry.
'This is the only sun there is,' Ahumado pointed out. 'Do you think you can find another?' 'I can't find another,' Goyeto said meekly. 'There is only this sun. What if it doesn't make him crazy before the Texans come with all those cattle?' 'Then I may let you skin the rest of him.' Ahumado said.
Then he gave Goyeto a hard look, the kind of look he gave people when he wanted them to go away and do so promptly.
Goyeto knew what that look meant. He had talked too much. Immediately he got up and went away.
When Slow Tree saw Famous Shoes bounced into camp on the back of Fat Knee's sorrel horse, he looked severely displeased, but Blue Duck, not Famous Shoes, was the object of his displeasure. Instead of yanking the Kickapoo off the horse and marching him straight to the torture post, as Blue Duck had supposed he would do, Slow Tree took a knife and cut Famous Shoes' bonds himself.
Then the old chief did worse. To Blue Duck's intense annoyance, Slow Tree apologized to Famous Shoes.
'I am sorry you were disturbed,' Slow Tree said. 'I hope you were not taken too far from where you wanted to be.' At this point, Blue Duck, a rude and impatient boy, interrupted.
'He was only looking in snake holes,' he said. 'I caught him and brought him here so you could torture him. He is a Kickapoo and should be tortured to death.' Slow Tree paid no attention to the rude young man.
'Were you catching snakes?' he asked Famous Shoes, in mild tones.
'Oh no,' Famous Shoes said. 'I was looking for the hole the People came out of. I thought some snakes might have found the hole and started living in it.' 'Oh, that hole is far to the north,' Slow Tree said, in a pompous tone, as if he knew perfectly well which of the many holes in the earth the People had come out of.
'I thought it might be around the caprock somewhere,' Famous Shoes replied, in a mild tone. He wanted to be as polite with Slow Tree as Slow Tree was being with him. As he was not of the Comanche tribe, certain courtesies had to be respected, but, once these courtesies had been observed, Slow Tree might turn back into a cruel old killer and torture him after all. The chief didn't appear to be in a torturing mood, but he was a crafty old man and his mood could always change.
Blue Duck, though, continued to behave with poor manners. He looked scornfully at Slow Tree, who was, after all, one of the most respected of the chiefs of the Comanche people. He spoke scornfully, also. So far he had not even bothered to dismount, a serious discourtesy in itself.
All the other Comanche boys had immediately dismounted.
But Blue Duck still sat on his prancing horse.
'When you saw this Kickapoo in my father's camp you wanted to torture him,' Blue Duck said. 'You wanted to put scorpions in his nose.
We caught him and brought him to you, though it was out of our way. We were going after antelope when we saw this man. I would not have brought him to you if I had known you would only turn him loose. I would have killed him myself.' Blue Duck's tone was so rude that even his own companions looked unhappy. Fat Knee walked away-- he did not want to be associated with such rude behaviour.
Slow Tree looked up at Blue Duck casually, with no expression on his face. It was as if he had just noticed the loud-spoken boy who had not had the manners to dismount. He looked Blue Duck up and down and his eyes became the color of sleet. He still had a knife in his hand, the one he had used to set Famous Shoes free.
'You are not a Comanche, you are a mexicano,' Slow Tree said. 'Get out of my camp.' Blue Duck was
