CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Unexpectedly Amigo is anxiously in a hurry to get inside. He doesn’t feel like wasting any more time messing around with them and their games. Slowly he creeps up to the edge of the east side wall of the cliff dwelling looking at whether the coast seems to be clear as far as noticing anybody other than the three. So far he doesn’t see anyone else around, except he still feels there’s a glimpse of an image up there at the opening from where the shots came from. However it appears that maybe it’s his imagination.
But then again he sort is thinking that they might be on the move through some back exit somewhere. Nevertheless Amigo rushes everyone wanting to make a run for the inside blurting, “Let’s rush in there before they leave. I think she left her post upstairs because I don’t see any bodily outlines appearing through the window anymore!”
The Pawnee Indian stays back right behind him a few yards with his horse quilting, “I bet they’re on their way out somehow! Let’s just run in there really quick and catch up to them!”
The Sioux Indian agrees without any further hesitation murmuring, “I’m in till the end!”
The Cherokee Indian looks at his hand and then hops onto his horse at the same time the Sioux Indian does rallying, “It isn’t over until it’s over with, huh?”
Quickly the Pawnee Indian becomes even more in a hurry hoping on his horse with Amigo as they pull their bridles to the right rearing the corner muttering, “Here we come!”
Like a faster haul than a cattle drive, Amigo and the Pawnee complete the turn as the Sioux Indian and the Cherokee Indian follow suit kicking and whipping their horse’s with their horse’s bridles making a faster run forward. Closer and closer they race ahead to their destination of the cliff dwelling.
Immediately Indian Skies and Indian Lace hear them approach from a good distance away. Indian Lace reckons, “Here they come get ready!”
Indian Skies announces, “Good because everything’s in place!”
Forthwith Indian Lace and Indian Skies settle themselves on their horses as the Medicine men accompany the Indian Medicine women with their wait. Moments later they pull forward away from the east entrance towards the west end ready to make a fast get away. With much readiness, the Indian Medicine women wait for the appropriate moment to do their abiding. Moments later they pull forward away from the east entrance towards the west end ready to make a fast get away. With much readiness, the Indian Medicine women wait for the appropriate moment to do their thing.
Meanwhile the three Medicine men stand right in the hallway of the cliff dwelling facing the entrance. Moments later two of the Medicine men fall back against the south wall of the hallway of the cliff dwelling in one of the doorways to another room. The other Medicine man makes his way over towards the north wall leaning against it waiting. Indian Skies stops with her horse as Indian Lace continues many yards over meters further in to the top of the cliff dwelling ready to head for the top. She stares down the hallway gleaming in the sun lighted rays waiting for them to enter.
First off is Amigo who enters the cliff dwelling with a fast penetrating speed. Quickly Amigo enters as two of the Indian women pull up a rope tripping up his horse. Yet when he hits his horse only stumbles over it trampling past. The Pawnee Indian is the next to enter following Amigo as fast as he can without tripping up as well. Luckily the Pawnee Indian’s horse trots over as the Indian Medicine women pull the rope up again.
Three of the Indian Medicine women rush over to try and tackle Amigo with no avail as one of the Indian Medicine men tries to hit him with the back end of the rifle. Nevertheless he is slowed down by one hard hit to side of his ribs. Indian Skies watches as she knows they have failed. The Sioux Indian and the Cherokee Indian enter next at the same time side by side as another attempt at the rope snags the Sioux Indian’s neck throwing him down from his horse.
Immediately the Indian Medicine women tackle him while some others start to beat the Cherokee Indian with wooden sticks as thick as clubs or night sticks. The Cherokee Indian tries to out run it, although his hand gives away making him loose his grip of his horse’s bridle. Moments later he is pulled off of his horse and trampled on by more Indian maidens. Many of them are younger in age trying to reach their adult hood through this initiation of protecting their cultural traits.
The Pawnee Indian scurries right directly behind Amigo pushes his past the other two Medicine Men who take a few gun butt swings at him hitting him all over the place. Still without hesitation the Pawnee Indian musters his horse forward trying to push Amigo up ahead. For the time being the Indian Medicine women beat down the Sioux Indian and the Cherokee Indian who are nearly motionless barley moving and able to compensate. The head Medicine man tries to turn his rifle around to take a shot even though Indian Lace ordered them only to hurt and maim them so they can’t recover.
Indian Skies begins her next plan by taking off so that she can turn the corner for her next ball of tricks which are still up her sleeve. Her next gig will be such a surprise that even she herself isn’t sure how it will all play out. In fact, she had the women especially prepare her next obstacle that she must move quickly by going in the opposite direction than Indian Lace. Nonetheless Indian Lace waits with a little surprise of her own as Amigo and the Pawnee Indian turn another corner with them both in plain view at a distance.
As Amigo notices the both of them facing opposite directions, Indian Skies signals her horse to move. Quickly Indian Skies leaps ahead which puts her out of view as Amigo passes up where she was heading for Indian Lace who is right behind the Prophet Ramon. The Prophet Ramon moves ahead as Indian Lace pushes him forward. The Prophet Ramon rides in between some blankets which are hanging all over.
Amigo tries to catch up; although he is slowed down once he approaches her hurdles of leaps. Amigo passes past and through a few blankets with his horse even though he has lost sight of both Indian Lace and the Prophet Ramon. Still the Prophet Ramon continues to push ahead until they reach another hallway where there are drops in the floor where some of the adobe plastering has cracked leaving holes which are in some places a few feet deep.
However at that moment the Pawnee Indian is mustering closer and closer to Indian Skies who stops suddenly. Instantaneously Indian Skies takes hold of a rope that is hanging down from the wall stretching up to an upper floor. She then turns noticing that the Pawnee Indian is only a few yards from where she wants him to be at before she pulls her arm downward. A few moments go by and the Pawnee Indian leaves a hallway entering in to another room that seems to have only streaks of light shining in and through it all over the place.
The moment the Pawnee Indian enters the room Indian Skies pulls the rope downward. Without any further warning a long wooden like 2 x 6 size of lumber comes crashing its way down. Along with it are other ropes tied to other long 2 x 8 size long beams trailing along bringing many pots and vessels down as well.
Indian Skies watches as many of the beams land just ahead of him, although many pots and vessels break open all over. A few of them along with a 2 x 6 size board of lumber hit the Pawnee Indian right on the back as a large incised vessel crashes down on him and his horse knocking them both down. And fractions of a moment later more broken pot fragments and larger pottery pieces fall all over and around them like a pick up load of dirt was dropped covering them partially.
Indian Skies remains there watching as the Pawnee Indian’s horse fights staying partially on his hind legs while the Pawnee Indian is knocked out cold. There is much dust all over as the Pawnee Indian’s horse manages to push his way out without any prevail. As the dust settles, Indian Skies watches as the Pawnee Indian’s horse scurries back in the opposite direction back towards the back hallway.
Finally, more of the dust blows away with a breeze which has swooped through the hallways of the cliff dwellings. For now, it appears that the Pawnee Indian has been knocked out cold. At this time, Indian Skies feels that she should contend to Indian Lace and the Prophet Ramon whom are at this time on the other side of the dropped cracked floor as Amigo is approaching through.
Straight forth Indian Lace motions the Prophet Ramon to hurry and move forward considering that Amigo is coming closer at a good size pace. Quickly the Prophet Ramon moves his bridle signaling his horse to trot ahead. The Prophet Ramon continues moving forward as Indian Lace watches closely. Moments later Amigo comes to the area of the hallway where there the holes in the floor at located at.
Nevertheless Indian Lace remains still with her horse who is very well trained compared to that of the Prophet Ramon’s horse or let alone the Indian renegades. Patiently she waits as Amigo tries to speed ahead even faster towards the shadowed floor wanting to catch up to her. Then suddenly his horse steps in to one of the pot like holes. Immediately Amigo and his horse go down without even a staggering of a chance.
Amigo’s horse falls down with both legs curving and crumbling underneath as Amigo rolls over his horse head first. Next Amigo’s horse fall sideways as Amigo thumps the floor and roll over two times before stopping. Still Indian Lace remains calm as she makes sure he is fairly done in. Then moments later two of the Medicine men come approaching from behind with their rifles fully drawn ending the scene.
Before the Medicine men make their way within close proximity, Indian Lace spits on him and moves on. Seconds later Amigo is held at gunpoint from a short distance before he ever has a fair chance at getting back on his feet again.
The Prophet Ramon slows down from up ahead as Indian Lace catches up. While thinking about the intensities of the moment, Indian Lace decides to make a comment to the Prophet Ramon saying, “Well, that takes care of that!”
The Prophet Ramon looks back as he hears so moving around in the background asking, “What happened back there?”
Indian Lace is pretty sure that everything is taken care of insinuating, “Don’t worry about them all; they’re a little tripped up!”
The Prophet Ramon turns back the other way wondering which way they should go querying to Indian Lace, “Which way should I go?”
Right away Indian Lace points directly ahead towards another hallway which leads over to another stating, “Just ride directly ahead!”
Moments later Indian Skies approaches from another entrance to the hallway. When she approaches she stops and gaffs, “Looks like the guys thought they would be stopping for a cup of coffee, but they’ll have to settle for a bunch of pots of dirt!”
There are some chuckles from Indian Lace as the Prophet Ramon looks towards the dimming rays of light coming in to the openings of the cliff dwelling. With a reproach of how things are more serious to him, the Prophet Ramon yacking reckons, “Well hell, they deserved it anyways I guess!”
Indian Skies thinks for a moment with nothing more to say as she racks up, “Let’s get out of here and blow this scene!”
Indian Lace thinks about how they should still treat the cliff dwellings as a part of their heritage despite what has happened rallying, “We can still have to come back later after everything is cleaned up to worship our culture and heritage!”
The Prophet Ramon figures it’s time to leave and get far away from them all as possible scurrying, “Let’s just go as far away as possible until this is all in the past and we can forget about it!”
Instantaneously Indian Lace takes the lead by riding around the Prophet Ramon and his horse jousting, “Follow me; I know a secret way to the top of the mountain where we can exit in safety!”
Minutes later they all reach the top of the mountain where Indian Lace is curious as to what his thoughts are on what he has learned from this experience questioning, “So what did you learn from all of this Prophet Ramon?”
The Prophet Ramon thinks to himself as he looks in to the different scenic landscapes contending, “Well, I learned not to trust anyone that approaches you; especially when it involves treasures of any kind. I also learned that was no treasure to be had. That it was all just a game of who’s smarter and who has the knowledge to go out there and get it. I also realized that everyone and there horse is out there ready to fight you for it as well. So far this whole entire endeavor has been a waste of time and it wasn’t really worth it.”
Nevertheless the Prophet Ramon continues on with his thoughts as Indian Lace reaches in to her satchel bags to get something. A moment later she pulls out a gris-gris bag filled with gold nuggets that they found at one of their favorite arroyos that no one else knows about. She looks to the Prophet Ramon while trying to get his attention in order to hand it to him divulging, “We have something for you!”
The Prophet Ramon looks seeing the gris-gris bag which is puffed up with something. He takes it from her while riding besides them both. He takes it with one hand and then he holds it against his bridle while opening it. Right off the bat he notices that it’s filled with lots of thumb size gold nuggets which are many. There is even some smaller one in there that are twenty two bullet sizes. He looks back to them both averring, “Wow, is this a bunch of gold?”
Indian Lace and Indian Skies both get smiles on their faces like they have it so good in life. Then Indian Lace looks at him and says, “Yes, that’s pure gold. That’s an entire gris-gris bag full and it’s been blessed!”
Next Indian Skies jumps in to the conversation summarizing, “And there’s more from where that came from and that’s where we are heading!”
Now Indian Lace invites him reconvening, “And we were hoping that you would accompany us while we have an adventure of our own which just involves mining along with enjoying what the land has to offer!”
The Prophet Ramon thinks to himself for a brief moment before asking, “And we don’t have to worry about any other cowboys or Indian renegades swooping in on us and having a shootout with us over the gold?”
Right off of the mark, Indian Lace feels that they may have given him some insight along the way exasperating to the Prophet Ramon, “What did they all tell you about?”
The Prophet Ramon has to think about once again going back to many of the details about the history he had learned along the way. A few moments go by before the Prophet Ramon tells them both, “Well, they spoke about a miner’s bottle that had a miner’s claim paper with the initials J.C. Tenney written inside on it.”
Indian Skies is so curious about that now that she asks, “Who found the bottle?”
The Prophet Ramon goes on by telling them both, “Amigo said that he found it when he had come out this way a long time ago. Then he mentioned some things about the town Rock Springs with some cowboy shirt that had images to the story of Davies and the Yavapai Indian who they followed. I guess they saw the Yavapai Indian in a general store in Phoenix using gold to purchase supplies and they followed him back passed Rock Springs and Black Canyon City to some arroyo where the Yavapai Indian disappeared. Then Davies and his friend found gold for the grabbing until other Yavapai Indian had a shootout and Davies escaped. Then on their map were drawings of the cliff dwelling along with other towns such as the Stagecoach Town of Bumble Bee. They also went to some search the location drawn on the miner’s map from the bottle that had nothing either! And to think that he even stuck the miner’s bottle back just in case he were to come back and look for it!”
Then Indian Lace makes a remark saying to the Prophet Ramon, “Sounds like you all had an exciting time out there searching for some treasure?”
Of course, the Prophet Ramon didn’t think it was boring, although it wasn’t really what he was expecting when he came out here. Furthermore he decides to explain himself a little more by particularizing, “I suppose so; though it wasn’t what I was expecting to run in to once I came out here. However I know I would have been lost without them because my research didn’t have any real maps to it to guide me along like they had brought with them. But still it would have been okay as long as I didn’t ever run in to them again, I guess!”
By now Indian Lace knows they have told him everything they know in order to find and get the information they want out of him. And she realizes that she should make him feel more at home if they are to get along with him and gaining his trust. So she feels she should make him feel more at home by being more inviting by declaring, “Well, there won’t be any problems like that. We’re not going to divulge ourselves in to anything that belongs to anyone else. We are merely just going to have some old style mining fun here and there. Don’t worry; we aren’t going to develop gold fever if you’re worried about that, huh?”
The Prophet Ramon has thoughts of what they had to offer as far as the gris-gris bag of gold nuggets is concerned goes by mumbling, “Don’t worry; I’m not going to get gold fever if that’s what you both think. But I think they all had it pretty bad if you know what I mean? Especially when Amigo found that bag of gold at the cattle fence I seemed to think he was either lucky or we were off to a good start. Yet now I figure that he probably planting it or something like that!”
At this moment Indian Skies feels that they should just forget about them all and move on insinuating, “Well, let’s just forget about them and their bullshit treasure hunt!”
The Prophet Ramon wonders what will happen to them babbling, “So what will happen to them all?”
Indian Lace tries to ease his mind by describing a few details to their new partner gawking, “They will all be arrested by the Indian medicine men and taken back to their lands where they will be held responsible for crimes against the secret Indian treasures. If they’re all lucky they will all be released and have to pay fines of some kind!”
The Prophet Ramon becomes curious as to where their first stop and visit is asking, “So where are we headed to first querying, “So where are we headed to first?”
Indian Lace tries to come across with the idea of how their first visit is a secret telling him, “It’s a secret place that we have that is far from everyone because no one knows about it. However I do have a few friends that are already there camping out so nobody else comes there and stays. There are some grazing and farming sites not too far from there that are of my friends and relatives so we have nothing to worry about. Plus I know some other areas where we can visit and have a great time!”
The Prophet Ramon thinks that that sounds like a great idea saying, “That sounds like a plan!”
THE END