That's the second eagle, he says. I caught one earlier and turned it loose.' Chee shook his head. 'And yet, I'm beginning to have some doubts. It's crazy.'
Leaphorn let that all pass without comment.
'That other eagle story is so phony that I'm surprised Janet's not too embarrassed to give it to the jury.'
Leaphorn made a wry face, shrugged.
'Jano claims he pulled out a couple of the first eagle's tail feathers,' Chee said. 'I saw one circling up there over Yells Back with a gap in its tail plume.'
'So what are you going to do?' Leaphorn asked. 'Jano told me how to locate the blind where he caught the first eagle. I'm going to get myself a rabbit as eagle bait and go up there tomorrow and catch the bird. Or shoot it if I can't catch it. If there's no old blood in the grooves in its talons, or in its ankle feathers, then I don't have any more doubts.'
Leaphorn considered this. 'Well,' he said. 'Eagles are territorial hunters. It would probably be the same bird. But the blood could be from a rodent it caught.'
'If there's dried blood anywhere, I'll take it in and let the lab decide. You want to come along?'
'No thanks,' Leaphorn said. 'I'm going to go find the lady with the goats and learn about that snowman she saw.'
Chapter Twenty-three
ACTING LIEUTENANT JIM CHEE reached Yells Back Butte early and well prepared. He climbed the saddle while the light of dawn was just brightening the sky over Black Mesa, carrying his binoculars, an eagle cage, his lunch, a canteen of water, a quart thermos of coffee, a rabbit and his rifle. He found the tilted slab of rimrock just where Jano said it would be, straightened out the disordered brush that formed the blind's roof. He took out his medicine bag and removed from the doeskin pouch the polished stone replica of a badger, which Frank Sam Nakai had given him as his hunting fetish, and an aspirin bottle, which held pollen. He put the fetish in his right hand and sprinkled a pinch of pollen over it. Then he faced the east and waited. Just as the rim of the sun appeared, he sang his morning song and sprinkled an offering of pollen from the bottle. That done, he shifted into the hunting chant, telling the eagle of his respect for it, asking it to come and join in this sacrifice that would send it into its next life with his blessing and, perhaps, save the life of the Hopi whose arm it had slashed.
Then he climbed down into the blind. By 10:00 A.M. he had watched two eagles patrolling the rim of the butte to the west of his position, neither the one he wanted. He'd found the feather he'd left behind on his original visit to the blind, retrieved it, wrapped it in his handkerchief and laid it aside. He'd consumed about fifty percent of his coffee and the apple from his lunch sack, and read two more chapters of
It came from the east, drifting over Black Mesa in lazy circles that brought it nearer and nearer. Through gaps in the blind's brush roofing, Chee followed it through the binoculars, confirming the irregularity in its fan of tail feathers. He lifted the struggling rabbit out of the eagle cage, made sure the nylon cord on its leg was secure and waited until the bird's hunting circle was taking it away. Then he put the rabbit on the roof, squirmed into his best watching position and waited.
On its next circle it swept southward, lost altitude and patrolled over the rolling sagebrush desert away from the butte, disappearing from Chee's view. He put the rifle in a handier place and waited, tense. A moment later, the eagle reappeared, rising on an updraft just a few yards above the rim of the butte and not fifty yards from the blind, then soared above him to the left.
The rabbit had long since given up its struggles and sat motionless on the roof. Chee stirred the brush supporting it with the rifle barrel. Startled, it scrambled to the end of the cord, jerked at it, sat again. The eagle turned, tightened its circle directly overhead. Chee jerked the cord, provoking a fresh flurry of struggles.
And then the eagle produced a raucous whistle and swept down.
Chee pulled the rabbit back toward the center of the blind. As he did, the eagle struck it with a crash, blanking out the sky with extended wings. Chee tugged at the cord, pulling against the thrust of beating wings, reaching for the eagle's legs.
He was lucky. When it struck, the eagle had locked both sets of talons, one through the rabbit's back, the other on its head. Chee grabbed both legs and brought bird, rabbit and much of the brush roof falling down on him. He dragged his jacket over the eagle, folded it over head and wings and inspected the bird's legs. He saw fresh blood on its talons. At the base of the ruff feathers on its left leg, he found something black and brittle. Dried blood. Old rabbit blood, perhaps. Or Jano's. The lab would decide. Either way, Chee could rest now.
He pushed bird, rabbit and jacket into the eagle cage and secured the door. Then he leaned back against the stone, poured himself the last of the coffee, and inspected the damage to himself. It was minimal—just a single cut across the side of his left hand, where the eagle's beak had caught him.
The eagle extricated itself from his jacket, unlocked its talons from the rabbit, and battled frantically against the stiff metal wires that formed the cage.
'First Eagle,' Chee said. 'Be calm. Be peaceful. I will treat you with respect.' The eagle stopped its struggles and fixed Chee with an unblinking stare. 'You will go where all eagles go,' Chee said, but he was sad when he said it.
Back at the Tuba City police station, Chee parked in the shade. He brought the eagle cage in and put it beside Claire Dineyahze's desk.
'Wow,' Claire said. 'He looks mean enough. What's he charged with?'
'Resisting arrest and biting a cop,' Chee said, displaying the cut on his hand.
'Ugh. You ought to put some disinfectant on that.'
'I will,' Chee said. 'But first I've got to report this capture to the Federal Bureau of Ineptitude in Phoenix. Could you get 'em for me?'
'Sure.' She started dialing. 'On line three.' He picked up the telephone on the adjoining desk. The receptionist at the FBI office said that Agent Reynald was busy and would he leave a message.
'Tell him it concerns the Benjamin Kinsman case,' Chee said. 'Tell him it's important.' He waited. 'Yes,' the next voice said. 'This is Reynald.'
