Reminiscences of Indian Scouting [pp. 151-169]

Reminiscenzces of Indian Scouting.
One late afternoon something delayed
me behind alone, and when I came up
again with my command I found it encamped in a dry gulch the looks of which
I did not at all like, for such places are
dangerous to camp in. It was too late
to move camp hdwever, and one night
might do no harm. Unfortunately the
elements availed themselves of that very
night to join in the league of birds and
beasts against me, and a cloud-burst
came down that changed the dry gulch
into a raging torrent, and came within
an ace of sweeping us all away into a
Styx, out of which we could never have
scrambled in a hurry as we did out of
our mill-race. As it was, I lost a large
part of my camping equipage, which was
never recovered, and I considered myself extremely fortunate in coming out
of it as well as I did, for the torrent carried down bowlders as large as horses.
When I blamed Tiz-win for selecting
such a place to camp in, he turned the
blame back on me by replying that the
place would have been good enough for
one night had I not thrown contemptuously away the lightning-riven twig of a
kan he had been at such pains to procure for me, -an assertion in which all
the other Indians joined. He was always making medicine now-a-days, and
somehow it was always bad, and the farther I went southward the worse it became.
If suicide is a product of civilization,
as has been asserted, the Apache has a
right to be classed as a civilizing agent,
as far as scorpions are concerned, for his
greatest fun, (next to catching cactus
rats,) is to compel the alacran to commit
it. They are very numerous in some
localities in that section, being generally
found under flat stones, where they can
keep cool, but they have roaming propensities like centipedes. In Arizona
and New Mexico, if a bath-tub has not
been used for some time, and the sponge
has remained in it, it is a good rule always to examine the sponge carefully
before using it, for, for some reason,
they are very fond of hiding in the
pores and cavities. I had been stung
several times in squeezing one in a
hurry, and once had a narrow escape
from a big fellow of the most dangerous
species, who might have seriously endangered my life, but that he was already more than half-drowned before he
stung me. The Apaches make a circle
of live coals, in the center of which they
throw the scorpions. As these feel the
heat and cannot jump over the burning
barrier, they circle around frantically
until they realize that their efforts to
escape are unavailing, when, becoming
furious, they turn over on their backs,
and curving their tails in order to reach
some soft under parts, avoid further lingering tortures by stinging themselves,
and dying at once.
One morning Tiz-win brought me two
large, dangerous looking fellows, in order to make divination medicine. "See,
Nouton, big fellow here, Cla-la-hum,big fellow there, Ju, -now watch." And
he threw them both within the burning
circle.
Cla-la-hum and Ju began at once to
run a race in opposite directions, with
their tails curved upward, their eyes
glaring, and their claws extended threateningly before them, as if they meant
business, but there was no way of getting out. Cla-la-hum gave up the game
first. He turned over and civilized himself at once. Ju made for the center of
the circle, and began to scratch away
for dear life until he had made a hole in
the ground deep enough to hide in, into
which he crawled well under cover.
When the fiery red hot coals became
black and cold, he scrambled out of it
as well as ever, although a little flurried,
and made tracks as fast as he could to
get out of the way.
"Eh! N~outon, you see," said Tiz-win,
looking at me with a pleased grin shining all over his face, and rubbing his
hands together in what seemed to me a
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[Auguust,