Read Online Apache Moon by Len Levinson - Free Book Online Page A

at Phyllis and caught her looking at Delgado. She noticed Duane's sudden interest, and a guilty expression came to her features, then she smiled. Duane felt jealous as he turned toward Delgado. If an ordinary warrior like Gootch could knife me in a second, what could a leader like Delgado do? Absentmindedly, Duane touched the handkerchief covering the scab on his throat. It hurt every time he moved his head.
    He continued to examine Delgado, who calmly gnawed horse meat. There was something vaguely Oriental about him. What a strange hybrid he must be. “Why'd you go to an American school, Delgado?” he inquired.
    â€œMany years ago, when the White Eyes first came to this land, they made treaties with us, and we didn't understand. It was decided that we must learn their language, so some of us went to their schools.”
    â€œThere's something that I want to talk with you about. I'd like to trade Gootch five horses for the guns and rifles that he took from me. Could you be the go-between?”
    â€œTwo horses should be enough.”

    The meal continued, and Phyllis became aware that Delgado kept glancing at her. Attention from men was no novelty, but she'd discovered that it could backfire. She knew that Apaches married young and wondered who Delgado's wife was.
    A woman with a small boy approached the fire, and it looked like the child whom they'd found beneath the bush. A red bandanna covered the wound on his head as he toddled toward the chief, his grandfather, who clasped him tightly.
    Phyllis heard Duane's voice. “Is that the same one?”
    â€œLooks like him.”
    Delgado raised his eyes. “It is the same boy.”
    â€œI'm surprised he's up and around so soon.”
    â€œThat is because he has not been seen yet by White Eyes doctors.”
    The boy seemed steady on his feet but wasn't as sprightly as others his age. The boy whispered something into his grandfather's ear, and the old chief turned him loose. Phyllis watched with mounting curiosity as the boy walked in a direct line toward her. He stopped a few feet away and said something in a child's soft voice.
    Delgado provided the translation. “He says he remembers when you were holding him in his arms, like his mother.”
    Phyllis reached into her pocket, took out the necklace, and draped it around his neck. He touched the bluestones with his tiny fingers and tears came to his eyes. Then he turned and ran to his grandfather.
    A cruel expression came over Delgado's face. “My sister was killed by evil renegades from this tribe. We will find them soon, and that will be the end of them.”
    Duane sank his teeth into the slab of meat in his hands, and was hungry enough to eat a horse's hooves. It was tender as beef but tasted the way horses smelled. He sipped sour fermented liquor from a cup, but he'd drunk worse in saloons. “What's this stuff called?” he asked Delgado.
    â€œ Tizwin. It is made from corn.”
    One of the Apaches jumped to his feet, pointed at Duane, and began an angry tirade. Duane couldn't comprehend the language, but it was clear that the Apache didn't like his dinner companions. The angry Apache turned away abruptly, stormed into the night, and Duane took the cue. “It might be better,” he said to Delgado, “if my woman and I ate by ourselves.”
    â€œYou are the guests of our chief. You cannot leave.”
    â€œWe didn't kill those people today,” Phyllis explained. “Why was that man so angry?”
    â€œThe White Eyes are our enemies,” Delgado replied.
    â€œBut we must try to live together in peace.”
    â€œThe People can never live in peace with the White Eyes, unless the People live on reservations and become slaves to the White Eyes.”

    â€œWhy don't you become farmers and ranchers? There's plenty of land for all of us.”
    â€œYou have your lifeway, and we have ours. Why do birds fly, and the rivers flow? The White Eyes goes to