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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten 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 Harroloc. The Story of Geronimo by
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  Speaker 1: Jim Cajilgard. Chapter ten, A chief dies sitting on a
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  Speaker 1: hillock beside Victorio. Geronimo's restless eyes sought the valley beneath,
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  Speaker 1: the next hill, and the hills beyond. Often he turned
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  Speaker 1: his head to look behind him. The years had taught
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo that an enemy might come from anywhere at any time.
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  Speaker 1: He who failed to see the enemy first was apt
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  Speaker 1: to die swiftly. Victorio's eyes searched the hills too, despite
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  Speaker 1: a frown that told of a troubled mind. Is it possible,
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  Speaker 1: he said, as he continued his conversation with Geronimo, that
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  Speaker 1: the Mangus coloradus, who was leaked out through the white
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  Speaker 1: soldier's bullet hole, we did not bring the same chief
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  Speaker 1: from Janos that we took to the medicine man. I
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  Speaker 1: have often wondered if the Mexican doctor did not put
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  Speaker 1: a spell upon him. Geronimo remarked, many times I have
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  Speaker 1: thought of going back to Janos and killing him, But
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  Speaker 1: I have thought each time that even Mangus Coloradus could
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  Speaker 1: not suffer such a wound without being ill. It is
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  Speaker 1: a natural thing, a natural thing. Victorio agreed, and for
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  Speaker 1: many days he was ill. Remember the snail pace we
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  Speaker 1: were forced to keep when we finally left Janice. It
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  Speaker 1: is a good thing we were many for even Mexicans
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  Speaker 1: might have overtaken us. But Mangus Coloradus is ill no longer.
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  Speaker 1: Still he counsels that Apaches must make peace with the
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  Speaker 1: white man, or there will be no more Apaches. Geronimo said,
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  Speaker 1: he lives much in the spirit world. I entered his
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  Speaker 1: wikie up to speak to him, and he said, I'm
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  Speaker 1: happy to see you once more. Delgadito. Now you must
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  Speaker 1: tell our people that we cannot conquer these Americans as
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  Speaker 1: we did the Mexicans. Huh. Delgadito died many years ago
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  Speaker 1: in a battle with Mexicans. Yet Mangus Coloradus talked with
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  Speaker 1: him when he should have been talking with me. It
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  Speaker 1: chilled me, for I cannot talk with spirits, nor can
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  Speaker 1: I said Victorio. I can talk only with people, and
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  Speaker 1: be guided only by them and by my own common sense.
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  Speaker 1: Good sense tells me that if we do not fight
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  Speaker 1: the Americans, they will overrun us and there will be
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  Speaker 1: no more Apaches anyway, in spite of the fact that
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  Speaker 1: they still war among themselves, they have soldiers to spare
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  Speaker 1: for Apache land. White men who come among us are
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  Speaker 1: more instead of fewer, But only the Chiricowawas still fight them.
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  Speaker 1: Mangus Coloradus points that out. Geronimo said, the warriors of
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  Speaker 1: Cochies kill and are killed by soldiers, cattle drivers, and
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  Speaker 1: rock scratchers who are forever looking for gold. But it
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  Speaker 1: is as though every dead white man is a seed
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  Speaker 1: from which two more might spring up. Do you think that,
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  Speaker 1: Victorio questioned, there is a reason for so thinking. Geronimo said,
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  Speaker 1: but I also think we must fight until every white
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  Speaker 1: man is driven from our land, or until all Apaches
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  Speaker 1: are killed. If the white men become our masters, we
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  Speaker 1: shall know sorry times. Indeed, do you know they call
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  Speaker 1: us thieves, liars, murderers, and every other vile name Their
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  Speaker 1: tongues can form. Ha Any Apache can take lessons in thievery,
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  Speaker 1: lying and murder from any white man. What do you
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  Speaker 1: mean asked, Victorio Geronimo said, when the white men warred
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  Speaker 1: against Mexico, Apache sold them horses and mules and brought
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  Speaker 1: them food. We told them to take the places called
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  Speaker 1: Sonora and chi Ouahua, and we would help. They accepted
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  Speaker 1: our help when it was needed. The war ended, and
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  Speaker 1: for a time no more was heard. Then came a
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  Speaker 1: surveyor named Bartlett, and he sent word that he was
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  Speaker 1: a good friend to all Apaches. We believed and trusted him.
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  Speaker 1: But when we brought our Mexican slaves to his camp,
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  Speaker 1: Bartlett took them away. It seems that when the war ended,
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  Speaker 1: Americans and Mexicans became brothers. Bartlett said it was wrong
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  Speaker 1: to make slaves of his brothers. He said also that
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  Speaker 1: the Americans God frowns upon those who keep slaves. Ha.
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  Speaker 1: I have since learned that the Americans keep millions of
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  Speaker 1: slaves themselves. It was a great lie, Victorio said, a
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  Speaker 1: very great lie. Geronimo agreed, but far from the greatest.
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  Speaker 1: Bartlet's real purpose in coming here was to mark where
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  Speaker 1: this land ends and Mexico begins. The Americans were at
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  Speaker 1: war with Mexico, they might have taken the whole country
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  Speaker 1: by force of arms. But when they wanted land, they
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  Speaker 1: bought and paid for it. That was very silly, And
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  Speaker 1: it was just as silly for the Americans to think
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  Speaker 1: that they bought land from Mexico that Mexico never owned.
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  Speaker 1: They paid Mexico for our land, the land of the Apaches.
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  Speaker 1: Then they told us we bought you when we bought
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  Speaker 1: your land, obey our laws, or we shall punish you.
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  Speaker 1: Was there ever a greater swindle? Never? Victorio growled. So
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  Speaker 1: we fight white men whom we would never hurt at
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  Speaker 1: all if they just stayed home, and they call us evil.
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  Speaker 1: Suppose we went to the people of the north, the Canadians,
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  Speaker 1: and paid money for the lands of the Americans. Then
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  Speaker 1: suppose we told the Americans that they must live by
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  Speaker 1: Apache law or be punished. Would they not resist fiercely?
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  Speaker 1: Victoria growled, I agree with you that we must fight.
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  Speaker 1: But the Membriano warriors follow Mangus Colorado us and will
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  Speaker 1: for as long as he is chief. Let us go
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  Speaker 1: see if we might again persuade him to be a
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  Speaker 1: war chief and lead us against the white men. The
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  Speaker 1: two made their way to the Mimbrino village and knew
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  Speaker 1: as soon as they looked upon it that something unusual
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  Speaker 1: was taking place. People scurried here and there, dogs barked,
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  Speaker 1: and horses on a nearby hill were nervous. Victorio and
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo began to run. They saw Mangus Coloradus in the
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  Speaker 1: center of the village, surrounded by a group of his people.
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  Speaker 1: Beside him was a bearded white man whom Geronimo recognized
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  Speaker 1: as Jack Swilling, a skilled frontiersman who had lived for
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  Speaker 1: a long time in the Southwest, towering over everyone in
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  Speaker 1: the group, Old Mangus Coloradus was as erected at seventy
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  Speaker 1: two as he had been at seventeen. His hair was
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  Speaker 1: snow white now, but it was still abundant, and it
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  Speaker 1: had been carefully dressed. He wore his finest moccasins and buckskins,
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  Speaker 1: and he was talking calmly. Long have I led the
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  Speaker 1: Mimbrino apaches, And always my first thoughts have been for
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  Speaker 1: my people. Of late I have been greatly troubled. Constant
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  Speaker 1: war is a poor companion, and starvation is a thankless
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  Speaker 1: bed fellow. Now comes this messenger from Captain Sherlin of
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  Speaker 1: the United States Army. He asks us to go into
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  Speaker 1: Captain Shirlin's camp, bearing a white flag, and he brings
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  Speaker 1: Captain Shirling's own pledged sword. That neither I nor any
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  Speaker 1: who choose to go with me shall suffer harm. He
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  Speaker 1: has promised that the Membrino Apaches will have their own
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  Speaker 1: reservation and plenty of food. I believe, and I would
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  Speaker 1: lead all who choose to go with me to peace
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  Speaker 1: and plenty. Geronimo flung himself forward and knelt before his chief. Think,
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  Speaker 1: he pleaded, Think carefully before you do this thing. The
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  Speaker 1: white men will have much cause for boasting if they
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  Speaker 1: may say that Mangus Coloradus is their prisoner. It is
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  Speaker 1: a trick, Victorio warned. Mangus Coloradus spoke with the dignity
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  Speaker 1: of a chief, and from the wisdom of years, you Geronimo,
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  Speaker 1: and you, Victorio, have ever been two of the most
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  Speaker 1: hot headed warriors. Nothing I can say will make you
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  Speaker 1: believe that you cannot continue to battle the white man.
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  Speaker 1: Experience alone must teach you. Rise and let me pass.
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  Speaker 1: Geronimo rose to his feet, and soon mang Coloradus and
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  Speaker 1: the little group who had chosen to go with him
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  Speaker 1: left the village. The evening fires had been lighted six
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  Speaker 1: times and were lighted again. When Diablo, a young warrior
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  Speaker 1: who had gone with Mangus Coloradus, shuffled back into the village,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes were downcast, his tread weary. He walked slowly
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  Speaker 1: to a fire and stared at it for a long while.
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  Speaker 1: He did not speak. You saw, Geronimo questioned, I saw,
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  Speaker 1: Diablo said, dully, what saw you? Diablo said. We walked
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  Speaker 1: into the soldiers camp, Mangus Coloradus carrying the white flag
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  Speaker 1: that should have been our protection. But soldiers rose up
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  Speaker 1: and seized him. They tied our chief as we might
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  Speaker 1: tie a Mexican or a dog. The rest of us
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  Speaker 1: they herded into an unused stable. I know the rest
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  Speaker 1: of them, the story from Acona and an Apache scout
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  Speaker 1: who is serving the soldiers. Diablo quieted and stared intently
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  Speaker 1: into the fire, as though he could not go on.
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  Speaker 1: At last, he continued into the camp. Came a Colonel West,
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  Speaker 1: an army chief who at ranks Captain Sherlind. He talked
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  Speaker 1: with some of the soldiers. The soldiers loosed Mangus Coloradus's
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  Speaker 1: bonds and left only two soldiers remained on guard, our chief,
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  Speaker 1: old and ill, and who must have been weary, laid
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  Speaker 1: down by the fire, he slept One of the guards
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  Speaker 1: thrust a long knife the bayonet that white soldiers carry
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  Speaker 1: on the end of their guns, into the fire. When
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  Speaker 1: the baynet glowed red with heat, the soldier touched it
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  Speaker 1: against our chief, Mangus Coloradus sprang up, as who would not.
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  Speaker 1: He started to run, as who would not if awakened
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  Speaker 1: in such a fashion. There were two shots, and Diablo
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  Speaker 1: fell silent and stared moodily into the fire. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten