Latest / Story of Geronimo / 13 - Story of Geronimo by Jim Kjelgaard

Transcript

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

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of the Story of Geronimo. This is a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit librevox dot org.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Reading done by Jules Harrolk. The Story of Geronimo by
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Jim Cagilgard, Chapter thirteen, Fortress Paradise. Urged by three of
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Geronimo's warriors, fifty three cattle climbed laboriously up a slope
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and shuffled into pine forest. Stolen from a Mexican ranchiera.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: They had been driven most of the night at the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: fastest pace they could keep up. Now the cattle straggled
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: with weariness, but they would rest soon. Geronimo and a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: warrior named Francesco, who had helped steal the cattle, where
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: with the raiding party, watching only until the cattle had
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: reached the mountain top. They turned to look back down.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: The slope beneath the Serra Madres leveled into low foot
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: hills in the distance. The hills seemed to fold into
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: each other, so that instead of many mountains, there was
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: just one. Finally, the one was lost in a shimmering
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: blue haze. The two apaches tied their horses to nearby
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: trees and continued to scan the hills below them. It
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: was Geronimo who spoke, They come far beneath, made small
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: by distance, A line of Mexican soldiers moved slowly but
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: steadily on the cattle's trail. The two Apaches looked at
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: them as one might regard some interesting insects. Geronimo had
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: never been a chief, while Apaches still lived by their
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: ancient customs, but he was one now because he had
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: been chosen by the people who had escaped from San
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Carlos to be their leader. Neither he nor Francisco the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Warrior were the least bit excited by the sight of
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the Mexican soldiers. Their rifles leaned against two trees. The
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: sarah Madras, with their low foothills that rose to ten
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: thousand foot peaks, were known only to Apaches. Two hundred
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: miles long by one hundred miles wide. The only human
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: dwellings in the entire vast range were wikiops. It was
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: here that the Apaches held their pony races, played their
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: endless games, and hunted. While they felt in need of
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: amusement or plunder. They left their camps in the Sarah
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Madres to raid Mexican towns or ranches. Returning to the mountains,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: they were always safe. No force of rurllies had ever
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: penetrated this wild retreat. After a bit, Geronio sat down
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: and cast only an occasional glance toward the ucoming soldiers.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: He yawned. We needn't have been so hasty, he said, Mexican,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: no two gates, Slow and slower. Yes, Francisco was amusing
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: himself by tracing designs in the earth with a stick. Still,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: there are more than there were, and they come deeper
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: into the Sierra Madres than they ever did. Geronimo said,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I am glad Loco has come with his people, and
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Benito and Nana and Mangus and Ceto and Naichi. Geronimo
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was speaking of other Apache chiefs and braves who had
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: come to Mexico after seeing for themselves that the American
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: soldiers were unable to bring war and Geronimo back. They
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: too had defied the army and fled the reservation. Now
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: they too were living a free life in the Sierra
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Madre mountains. We really do not need them to fight Mexicans.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: The sulky Francisco remarked, I am not so certain. Geronimo said, seriously,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: have you so soon forgotten the battle we fought in
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the stream beds south of Arispi. It was no more
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: than three weeks after we finally returned to the Sierra Madres.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Do you remember the Mexican general who shouted my name
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: in such foul terms? He said, that dog of a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Geronimo is finally cornered. He screamed to his soldiers that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: they must kill every Apache, and that he would post
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: his wounded to shoot cowards and deserters. There are many
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: more than we, and we might have been overwhelmed had
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I not shot the general. But you did shoot the general,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Francisco pointed out, I did. Geronimo agreed, and I am
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: very glad. I have no love in my heart for Mexicans,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: especially Mexican generals. That is why I am happy to
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: see so many Apaches in the Sierra Madres. Together, we
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: may fight all the Mexicans. Francisco reminded, we are not together.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: That is as it should be said, Geronimo. Apaches need room,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and they cannot crowd together as Mexicans and Americans do.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: But we may get together when we choose. If I
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: had known that Chado was going raiding into Arizona, I
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: would have chosen to ride with him, Francisco said. Geronimo
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: said wistfully, I too, for I have longed to see
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Arizona once more and have a good fight with American soldiers.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Let us wish Chado all success, Francisco said. Geronimo said
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: he will have it. Benito rides with him and twenty
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: six picked warriors. Were I there, there would be twenty
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: seven picked warriors, Francisco bragged. Geronimo grunted sourly and laid
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: down to sleep. A half hour later, he was awakened
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: by Francisco's hand on his shoulder. They come, said Francisco.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Geronimo sat up and looked down the slope to see
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: some thirty soldiers climbing it. All led their horses, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: they stopped often to rest. Geronimo turned to Francisco. These
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: are not the rur rallies we once fought, he said.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Alleys never came so deeply into the Sierra Madres. If
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: they did, they were never so foolish as to be
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: caught in daylight on a slope such as this. Francisco
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: asked disinterestedly. Who are they? Geronimo said, It has come
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to my ears that they have been sent from a
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: far off place known as Mexico City. The Nantan, the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: chief of Mexico City, has at last discovered and is
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: greedy for the gold and silver to be found here.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: He has sent his soldiers to protect it. Ha ha. Indeed,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Francisco grunted. Are you ready ready? Said Geronimo. Each lifted
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a football size boulder from its bed, tilted it on end,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and let it go. The rolling boulders gathered stones, gravel,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: more boulders, a fairsized landslide. Indeed, an avalanche thundered down.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: A great cloud of dust arose. When the dust cleared,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Geronimo and Francisco again saw the soldiers. They had escaped
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the avalanche by running frantically to one side or the other,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: taking their horses with them, But all were mounted now
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and galloping frantically back in the direction from which they
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: had come. Geronimo said, the soldier chief at San Carlo's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: asked me how we fought Mexicans. I told him bullets
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: are too hard to get to waste on them, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: that we fought them with rocks. He thought I lied.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Without another word, he started up the slope, following the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: trail of the other three raiders and the cattle. A
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: week later, Ceto, Benito, and twenty five of the twenty
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: six warriors who had gone raiding in Arizona rode into
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Geronimo's camp. Cheto dismounted, loosed his horse, and went to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: sleep beneath the pine. Benito regarded him admiringly. That one
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sleeps only in the saddle while he is on a raid.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: He said, when the rest of us slept, he stood guard.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Was it a good raid? Geronimo inquired, A very good raid?
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Benito said, For the six days we spent in Arizona,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: we were seldom out of the saddle. We struck where
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: we would and stole fresh horses where we needed them.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: In six days we rode four hundred and fifty miles.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Geronimo said, I do not seat so among those who returned.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: You will not seat, so, said Benito, though Cheto warned
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: him that it was foolish thing to do. He left
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: us and went to visit his friends who remained at
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: se and Carlos. He is now prisoner of the White soldiers.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Geronimo staggered, as though from a sudden blow on the head.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: He gasped. Though a young warrior, so had been among
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the loudest and the fiercest in declaring that never again
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: would he submit to the white man's rule. But he
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: had surrendered to this same loneliness and yearning for his
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: loved ones that was afflicting all the renegades. Who would
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: be next? Is Geronimo ill? Benito asked, I am not ill,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Geronimo said, but he saw a dark cloud hovering over
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: all apaches. End of Chapter thirteen.