this gossip. When asked about Ahumado, though, Slow Tree grew vague. There were many stories, much speculation, but it had all come from Apaches and Apaches were all liars, Slow Tree reminded him.
'Tell me the stories anyway,' Buffalo Hump said.
'No one has seen Ahumado all summer,' Slow Tree said. 'He left his camp at night, through a hole in the mountain. They think he went back to the place he came from, in the south.
Most people think he died.' 'What else?' Buffalo Hump asked.
'Two white men were found stuck on the sharpened trees,' Slow Tree said. 'No one does that but Ahumado.' 'Anyone can do it if they want to,' Buffalo Hump said. 'All they have to do is sharpen a tree and catch a white man, or any man. An Apache could do it. You could do it, if you wanted to. It doesn't mean that Ahumado is alive.' 'They say a jaguar lives in his camp now,' Slow Tree said. 'The Texans took away Big Horse Scull and the jaguar came. Some people think he ate Ahumado.' 'Ho!' Buffalo Hump said. 'I have never seen a jaguar. Have you?' Slow Tree was reluctant to answer. He had never seen a jaguar, either, but he was reluctant to admit this to Buffalo Hump. He liked people to think that he was the wisest and most experienced chief, a man who had tasted every plant and killed every animal. He did not like to confess that he had never seen a jaguar.
'They are very shy,' Slow Tree pointed out.
'They can make themselves invisible, so you cannot see them. They have much power, jaguars.' 'I know they have much power but I don't think they can make themselves invisible--they are just good at hiding,' Buffalo Hump said. 'I think I will go south and see this jaguar. Would you like to come with me?' Slow Tree was surprised by Buffalo Hump's invitation. Buffalo Hump had never offered to hunt with him before. Now he was offering to ride with him all the way to Mexico, to see a jaguar. Slow Tree decided on the spot that it was a plot to kill him. Probably Buffalo Hump knew that Slow Tree would kill him, if he ever got a chance to drive a lance through his big hump. But Buffalo Hump was wary: he never slept in Slow Tree's presence, and rarely turned his back to him, even for a moment. Slow Tree knew that Buffalo Hump didn't really like him or respect him; even now Buffalo Hump looked at him with hooded eyes, smiling a little. Buffalo Hump was mocking him, only doing it politely, with just enough regard for ceremony and custom that Slow Tree could not challenge the mockery without appearing to be more touchy than a great chief should be.
Slow Tree knew that he did not want to go to Mexico with Buffalo Hump--t would be a fatal mistake. He regretted even telling Buffalo Hump the story about the jaguar--once again his own tongue had got him into difficulties.
Thinking quickly, Slow Tree produced several reasons why it would be imprudent for him to leave on a long trip just then. The buffalo would have to be hunted soon, and they were scarce. Also, one of his wives was dying and he did not want to leave her.
Buffalo Hump himself had just lost Hair On The Lip--he knew how important it was to stay with a valued wife while she was dying.
Buffalo Hump pretended to be surprised when Slow Tree began to pile up reasons for not going to Mexico with him.
'I thought you wanted to see a jaguar,' he said, and quickly changed the subject. Of course he hadn't wanted Slow Tree to go in the first place, but it was nice to embarrass him and make him think up lies.
Later, when Slow Tree left the camp, Buffalo Hump sought out Kicking Wolf--the great horse thief had become discouraged since losing his friend Three Birds. Kicking Wolf hardly left the camp all summer, only going out now and then to hunt. He had not stolen a horse since the theft of the Buffalo Horse; though his vision had improved he still complained, now and then, that he saw two where there was one.
Buffalo Hump had often found Kicking Wolf irritating, but there was no denying that he was a good horse thief. In the fall it might be wise to raid again, to put more fear in the Texans, but Buffalo Hump suddenly felt like travelling. He wanted to go somewhere, and a chance to see a jaguar was not to be missed. Even if the jaguar was no longer there it would be good to go to Mexico--if Ahumado was gone there might be some villages worth raiding near the Sierra Perdida.
He found Kicking Wolf not far from his tent, sitting alone, watching some young horses frolic.
Two of his wives, both large, stout women not noted for their patience, were drying deer meat.
Kicking Wolf was braiding a rawhide rope.
The rawhide came from three cows Kicking Wolf had found on the llano, thin cows he had killed and skinned. He was good at braiding rawhide into ropes and hobbles.
'I have heard of a jaguar--I think we should go try and kill it,' Buffalo Hump said. 'If we killed such a beast it might clear up your sight.' Kicking Wolf had been prepared to be annoyed with Buffalo Hump; the comment took him by surprise. He looked at Buffalo Hump gratefully; they had been good friends when they were boys, but, as they grew older, rivalry made them touchy with one another.
'My sight is still uncertain,' Kicking Wolf acknowledged. 'If we were able to kill a jaguar it might clear up.' 'Then go with me,' Buffalo Hump said. 'I want to leave right now, before the women try to stop us.' Kicking Wolf smiled. 'Where is this jaguar?' he asked.
'In Mexico,' Buffalo Hump said. 'It lives near where you took the Buffalo Horse.' 'Slow Tree told me the same thing,' Kicking Wolf said. 'He is a liar, you know.
He makes up stories and claims he heard them from Apaches, but he never kills these Apaches, which is what he should be doing.' 'I know all that,' Buffalo Hump assured him. 'Let's go anyway. If we don't find the jaguar we can steal some horses on the way back.' Kicking Wolf immediately got up and coiled up his rawhide. He seemed eager to leave off braiding the rope.
'If the jaguar lives in Ahumado's old camp, as Slow Tree claims, where is Ahumado?' he asked.
'They say he is gone,' Buffalo Hump said.
'Do you believe it?' Kicking Wolf asked.
'I don't know,' Buffalo Hump said.
'He may be gone or he may be waiting for us.' 'I will go with you,' Kicking Wolf said. 'I want to see the jaguar and I want to know what happened to Three Birds.' 'How will you know that--he went with you in the winter,' Buffalo Hump pointed out. 'If he is dead there won't be much left of him by now.' 'I intend to look, anyway,' Kicking Wolf said.
