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15 - Story of Geronimo by Jim Kjelgaard · Story of Geronimo

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of the Story of Geronimo. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Reading done by Jules Harluk. The Story of Geronimo by
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  Speaker 1: Jim Cajilgard, Chapter fifteen. The discontented a mile and a
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  Speaker 1: half from his farm on Turkey Creek in Arizona's White Mountains.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo skulped in a thicket and looked sourly at a
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  Speaker 1: flock of white turkeys. There were so many that they
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  Speaker 1: seemed a living carpet over a five acre clearing in
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  Speaker 1: which they were catching grasshoppers. But they held no charm
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  Speaker 1: for Geronimo, who, besides white men, would eat a bird
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  Speaker 1: that ate snakes. White men also ate the trout that
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  Speaker 1: had swarmed in white mountain streams, and trout were akin
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  Speaker 1: to snakes. Geronimo grimaced. He had had enough, and more
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  Speaker 1: than enough of white men and their ways. A lark
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  Speaker 1: called three times, the turkey skulked away. They knew that
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  Speaker 1: it was not a lark calling, but a man imitating
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  Speaker 1: a lark. A moment later, Naichi slipped into the thicket
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  Speaker 1: where Geronimo hid, Naichi said, no one saw me. It
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  Speaker 1: is well, said Geronimo. Chayto suspects that we are again
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  Speaker 1: on the point of fleeing to Mexico. He will be
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  Speaker 1: happy to inform the soldiers if he can discover our plans.
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  Speaker 1: Naichi said, Chaydo suspects everything since he turned from his
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  Speaker 1: own people to the white men. In his own opinion,
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  Speaker 1: Chato is a very gray man. He told me himself
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  Speaker 1: that Chief Gray Wolf never would have come to the
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  Speaker 1: Sierra Madres if he Chado had not gone raiding into Arizona.
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  Speaker 1: He said that settlers of Arizona had decided that the
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  Speaker 1: Apaches would never dare leave Mexico. His raid taught them otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: and so Chief Gray Wolf came for once Cheo spoke
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  Speaker 1: the truth, Geronimo said, without announcing himself, Old Nana came
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  Speaker 1: so silently that neither Geronimo nor Nichi knew he was
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  Speaker 1: coming until he was almost upon them. Mangus and chi
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  Speaker 1: Huawa arrived, and the leaders who had planned this second
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  Speaker 1: outbreak were gathered. Geronimo spoke, when I met Chief Gray
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  Speaker 1: Wolf in Mexico, I told him that I would return
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  Speaker 1: to Arizona if I might live as an Apache should.
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  Speaker 1: But before I could come, I needed time. Not wishing
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  Speaker 1: to return to Arizona a poor man, I had to
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  Speaker 1: steal enough cattle to make me rich. My warriors and
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  Speaker 1: I took three hundred and fifty cattle from the Mexicans.
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  Speaker 1: They were honorably stolen. We brought them to Arizona when
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  Speaker 1: we came. But when we arrived at Fort Apache, our
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  Speaker 1: cattle were taken from us. The chiefs growled like angry wolves.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo continued, that was not what Chief gray Wolf promised.
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  Speaker 1: But where is he? Where are Captain Crawford and Lieutenant Gatewood?
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  Speaker 1: Where are any white men we may trust? They brought
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  Speaker 1: us here and over us set strangers like Lieutenant Davis,
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  Speaker 1: who knows nothing about Apaches and cares less. I told
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  Speaker 1: Mickey Free to tell the white fat chief Lieutenant Davis,
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  Speaker 1: that I had killed men before he was born. Old
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  Speaker 1: Nana snarled, he cannot tell me what to do, chi
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  Speaker 1: o Aw said angrily. He and others do tell us
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  Speaker 1: we must not do this, we must not do that.
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  Speaker 1: But we must scratch the ground with those foolish plows
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  Speaker 1: they gave us and try to grow corn where it
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  Speaker 1: is much easier to steal it. I promised to keep
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  Speaker 1: peace with white men. I never promised not to fight
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  Speaker 1: with and raid Papa Goes and Navajos. None of us
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  Speaker 1: promised anything except that we would live on the reservation
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  Speaker 1: and bother no white men. Geronimo said, it is true
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  Speaker 1: that we live in the white mountains rather than on
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  Speaker 1: the flats of the Jela, But how do we live.
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  Speaker 1: It is still better to be free and at war
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  Speaker 1: in Mexico than to be at peace and live like
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  Speaker 1: the stupid sheep which Navojo herders chase. Right, Nana agreed,
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  Speaker 1: it is better to die in battle than to live
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  Speaker 1: as a slave. Before we go, I think I will
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  Speaker 1: pick a fight with the fat white chief. Have men,
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  Speaker 1: not boys beside you? If you do, Geronimo advised, Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: Davis is a warrior. How many are we, Naichi said,
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  Speaker 1: In all we are thirty five men, eight boys who
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  Speaker 1: know how to shoot, and one hundred and one women
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  Speaker 1: and children. We might have had as many more as
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  Speaker 1: we cared to take with us, if we had been
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  Speaker 1: able to provide arms for them. As it is, three
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  Speaker 1: of the boys who can shoot must carry bows and arrows.
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  Speaker 1: Since we are unable to get enough rifles. It is
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  Speaker 1: as well. Geronimo said, the smaller the party, the faster
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  Speaker 1: we may try. We know that the Apache scouts and
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  Speaker 1: the White soldiers will stop us if they can. And
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  Speaker 1: I feel that Lieutenant Davis is suspicious. Naichi said, I
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  Speaker 1: can go to him and pick a fight. He would
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  Speaker 1: kill me, or I would kill him. If I kill him,
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  Speaker 1: he could not stop us. Since we are not sure
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  Speaker 1: he knows anything, This is not the time to fight him.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo said, he had not tried to stop us. When
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  Speaker 1: we are gone, he cannot stop us. He can send
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  Speaker 1: a message by the wire that talks the telegraph, said Nana.
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  Speaker 1: He can tell the soldiers at Fort Thomas to stop us,
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  Speaker 1: and we shall have to fight them when we meet.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo said, if we start a fight here, we must
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  Speaker 1: fight all the soldiers and all the APACHE scouts. If
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  Speaker 1: we run, we cannot be sure that we will meet anyone.
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  Speaker 1: It is wiser to run. The Apache started in late afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo was the last to leave, and he scouted thoroughly.
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  Speaker 1: Seeing nothing, he turned his pony southward. Only another Apache
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  Speaker 1: could have hidden from Geronimo's final scouting. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: the runaways had gone, Mickey Free rose from the patch
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  Speaker 1: of bush in which he had hidden and watched every move.
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  Speaker 1: He ran full speed to the army headquarters and found
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Davis. Geronimo, Chihuahua, Mangus, and Nana lead many people
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  Speaker 1: toward Mexico. Micky Free said. Lieutenant Davis hurried to the
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  Speaker 1: telegraph operator, send this message at once to Captain Pierce
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  Speaker 1: in Fort Thomas. An unknown number of Apaches under Geronimo
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  Speaker 1: and other chiefs are fleeing towards Mexico. Head them off
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  Speaker 1: right away, the operator said. While the operator worked his key,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Davis tapped his foot nervously up and down. He
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  Speaker 1: did not, as yet know how many Apaches had fled
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  Speaker 1: from the reservation, but he did know that even if
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  Speaker 1: they were only a few, there were far more dangerous
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  Speaker 1: than the most savage pack of wolves that had ever roamed.
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  Speaker 1: If they escaped again into the Sarah Madres, it meant
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  Speaker 1: more terror for the citizens of Arizona. From their stronghold
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  Speaker 1: in the Mexican Mountains, the Apaches would certainly raid Arizona
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  Speaker 1: towns and ranches. It meant equal terror for Mexico. And
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  Speaker 1: it meant a long and costly military campaign before the
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  Speaker 1: runaways were again under control. The telegraph operator continued to
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  Speaker 1: work his key, but Geronimo had already stopped long enough
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  Speaker 1: in his flight to climb one of the trees to
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  Speaker 1: which the telegraph wire was fastened. He had cut the
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  Speaker 1: wire with his axe and tied the two ends together
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  Speaker 1: with a piece of buckskin. This he did so that
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  Speaker 1: the wires would not dangle, making it easy for soldiers
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  Speaker 1: to find and repair the brake. After five minutes, the
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  Speaker 1: operator turned much puzzled to Lieutenant Davis. I cannot get through,
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  Speaker 1: he said. Stay at your key and keep trying. Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: Davis said, if you get through, say that I'm on
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  Speaker 1: the trail with soldiers and scouts. I hope we may
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  Speaker 1: catch them, but trailing will be slow at night, and
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  Speaker 1: I think it means another campaign in Mexico. Lieutenant Davis
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  Speaker 1: was right. Geronimo and all his followers again reached Mexico
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  Speaker 1: and found a haven in the Sierra Madres. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen.