Free Sidewinder by J. T. Edson Page A

malignant medicine puha of the Death Bringer backed them.
    Fortunately none of the party thought to ask about the men sent out to kill and so far not returned, or knew of the various failures, or they might have felt less faith in their witch Woman’s powers.

CHAPTER SIX
    A RESPONSIBLE CHORE FOR CAPTAIN FOG
    ‘IT’S a sight to see,’ commented Dusty Fog as, accompanied by his friends, he rode his seventeen hand paint stallion — the one which crippled Ole Devil — on the final stage of the journey to Fort Sorrel.
    ‘I never afore saw so many Comanche together,’ agreed Mark Counter, studying the clusters of tipis which formed a half-circle beyond the log-walled perimeter of the Fort. Those Yankee soldiers’ll be sweating all ways.’
    ‘What’d you expect?’ demanded the Kids ‘Us Nemenuh aren’t real smart like you white folks, but we know a whole heap better than let just the old-man chiefs come in to make a treaty. This way, we stand a better than even chance of getting the chiefs back again.’
    ‘Don’t you-all trust us white folks then?’ grinned Mark, sitting easily afork his huge bloodbay stud horse; a light rider who took less out of his mount than a less skilled man of smaller size.
    Allowing his magnificent white stallion to fall behind his companions, the Kid moved it closer to Mark. Before the white came within range, Mark hurriedly removed his leg from the stirrup and clear of the big stallion’s shapely head. With the air of one who had proved his point, the Kid resumed his position level with the others.
    ‘We trust you white folks as much as you trust this old Nigger hoss of mine,’ he assured Mark.
    One member of the party, apart from the Kid, regarded the sight of the tipis with pleasure. Driving a buggy, with two pack horses fastened to its rear, Professor Hollenheimer studied the groups of Indian dwellings with eager attention. He ignored the view of the fort, having seen many of them during his visits to different Indian tribes. While the materials used for construction differed to suit local conditions, the position of the various buildings altered, the basic layout remained the same. Guard house and cells by the main entrance, officers’ country made neat and homey, the spartan simplicity of the barrack blocks. Stables, picket lines, stores and administration sections, the saddlers’ and farriers’ departments spaced around the parade square, which in turn had a lane of jumps for the horses on two of its sides. None of that particularly interested Hollenheimer. His eyes feasted on the potential source of learning offered by the assembled Comanches.
    ‘Can you tell me what bands are here?’ he asked, looking at the Kid.
    ‘That bunch at the far side are Tanima , Liver Eaters,’ the Kid replied and his finger moved to the next loose circle of tents. ‘You can always tell the Detsanawyeka , they’re real slovenly in setting up camps, Their name means Wanderers-Who-Make-Bad-Camps. The Yamparikuh, Yap-Eaters, are next to the Wanderers. Then there’s the Iteha’c . They always put up more pemmican than they can eat and throw away all that’s not eaten comes spring, so old folks used to find the meat all black and spoiled and started calling them the Burnt Meat band.’
    ‘How about that small group by the stream?’ asked Hollenheimer excitedly.
    ‘ Pahuraix , Water-Horse band.’
    ‘Is that the same as the Par-Kee-Na-Um ?’
    ‘Sure, Professor. It means Water People. They always make camp on the bank of a lake or river. Coming by them, that next group, there’s a sight,’
    ‘What are they?’
    ‘ Kweharehnuh ,’ breathed the Kid. ‘The Antelope band, Happen they come in, the treaty’s safe.’
    ‘Is it?’ said Hollenheimer.
    ‘Sure. The Kweharehnuh are as tough as they come and none too friendly with the whites. If anybody stay out, it’ll be them.
    ‘Who are the big group of tipis separated from the others?’
    ‘My people,’ said the Kid, a note of pride