Eagle People (29 page)

AT CAMP, MONGOOSE LOOKED
at Cane and asked, “What in the hell happened to him? He looks like crap warmed up.”

“He took an arrow to the gonads. I removed them and cauterized his injury.”

“Well, it matters little. Place him by the fire as I determine his fate. We're to leave at first light, and I don't want to take him with us to see justice served at some point in the future. I do, yes, I do have an idea. Keep him here for right now and get me two horses and some rope.”

As she left, Rufus remembered the grief in her eyes when told of Albert's death. She'd maintained control, but it'd hurt her. He suspected what she had in mind for Cane would be rough. The woman had been turned over to the shaman and was being treated.

A few minutes later she returned. She now sat by the fire sipping sassafras tea, while Cane whimpered in the semi-darkness of a false dawn, just outside of firelight.

Mongoose said, “At full light, wake everyone and have them come here. We have a hanging to do.”

“How in the hell do you plan to hang him when he's taller than the trees around here?”

“Watch and learn, Rufus.” she said and then took another drink of tea. A few minutes later, she stood and made her way to a wagon. She took two ropes and tied them to the wagon tongue and raised it as high as it would go, using her horse. She then dismounted and secured the rope from the tongue to the rear left wheel. Now the tip of the wagon tongue was plenty high enough to hang a man, so she rode back to the fire and dismounted.  

“We'll just tie a slipknot in the other rope, hang his nasty ass, and be on our way in twenty minutes.”

“Why two horses?”

“One for Cane and the other will be used to fetch the horse after it runs out from under him.  I'll slap the animal on the ass, but she'll not go far.”

At sunrise, Mongoose called the people together near the wagon with the raised tongue. Few had any idea what was going on, and voices were heard questioning the assembly.

Climbing up on the wagon seat, Mongoose said, “Yesterday we lost a proud and proven warrior by the name of Albert. He didn't die in vain, because he was fighting man eaters. One captive was killed and placed on a spit to cook as our Dog Soldiers watched. Another captive, who was to be their next meal, was rescued by our brave Dog Soldiers, and one man eater was taken prisoner. Albert died in that battle. Our men killed or took prisoner four of them and now we will hold a council to determine the fate of the captive.”

“Amon, bring the man forward.”

Cane was carried to the wagon and placed on a wool blanket. His eyes were huge in fear, because he felt it was his day to die. The crowd grew angry and threats, as well as catcalls, were heard.  He grew so frightened his eyes darted from person to person in the crowd and he peed his pants.

Holding her hands up to silence the crowd, Mongoose said, “I must have quiet. Quiet, please.”

When the group grew silent, she said, “Cane, tell us how you turned man eater.”

The captive remained silent.

“Cane, speak now, or I will have you put to death by fire.”

“Please, no fire.” he replied.

“Why did you become a man eater, when plenty of game is available?”

“I grew up, uh, eating people. My parents and our small village all ate humans. It ain't no big deal.”

Amon, shocked by the man's words yelled, “It
is
a big deal, you sonofabitch! You're
sick
, do you know this? Sane people do not kill people and then eat them.”

“I have always been with others who did the same thing. I see nothing wrong with it.”

Mongoose asked, “If released, would you do it again? Will you kill and eat a human?”

Cane, knowing his fate depended on his answer said, “I don't think I would, but if I couldn't find any other meat, yes, I'd do it. I don't want to starve to death no more than you do.”

“Do you not see killing humans for food is a sin against God?”  Mongoose asked.

“Who is God?” Cane asked.

“He is the Great Creator of All Things. He is powerful and sent us commandments to live by, or rules, and they must be followed.” Amon said.

Cane shrugged and said, “I know no God. Humans are like deer or cows, for eating when a man is hungry.”

Mongoose, not wanting to waste any more time with this man, said, “Cane, as the Chief of the Eagle Clan People I sentence you to death by hanging for murder and being a man eater. You killed a young man and then placed his flesh over a fire, in preparation of a meal. You have admitted you are a man eater as well. You also killed one of our best warriors, but you'll not be sentenced for his death, because it was an act of war. I, as well as all warriors here, would have fought if attacked. Amon and Rufus, place Cane on the horse nearest the wagon. I will carry out the actual execution.”

Cane began to cry and plead, but he was ignored as he was placed in the saddle.

Mongoose picked up the rope, tied a quick slipknot, and then said, “Amon, lead his horse to me. Rufus, you mount the other horse and when this one runs out from under him, bring it back.”

When the horse stopped in front of her, she placed the rope over Cane's head and then tightened it enough to take up the slack.

She then took a shorter rope and tied the man's hands behind his back.

Cane was crying louder now, knowing he was going to die, and said, “I won't eat nobody no more! I promise—
please
—I won't do it no more!”

“Cane, I usually give the condemned a minute to pray, but you don't know God, so I'll not waste the time.” She slapped the horse hard on the ass and the animal shot forward, leaving Cane in the air. When he dropped, his neck didn't break and the man was suffocating to death.

His face turned red and then quickly turned purple as he danced and struggled to breathe.  Saliva ran freely from his mouth and his eyes grew huge, as his legs kicked in all directions. Over a short time, his movements slowed and his legs slowly grew still. Finally, Cane was swinging from side to side on the rope—dead.

Mongoose yelled, “Harness your teams, get your gear in the wagons,  and let's get ready to move.” She then turned to Bill, the owner of the wagon Cane was swinging on and added, “Give him ten minutes then lower the rope. Pull his nasty-ass away and harness your animals. Leave him where you pull him, because critters have to eat, too. Right now, start loading your wagon.”

“We'll be ready.” Bill replied as he moved toward his campfire.

It was near noon, when a Dog Soldier rode to the moving group and found Mongoose near a wagon with a cracked tongue. Leaving the men to work on it, she turned to the rider and asked, “What do you have?”

“Just a warning. The point man said the terrain ahead is rough as hell and any weight that is not needed should be dropped now. At a point later this afternoon, we'll have to unload the wagons and lower them one-at-a-time over a cliff. We can use horses to carry the books and other gear with us.  Extra weight needs to go and now.”

Mongoose walked up and down the group shouting, “Anything you don't need or is absolutely unnecessary to survive, needs to be unloaded from your wagons now.”

Sergeant Dooley said, “They can get rid of extra food and only keep enough for tonight. If all goes well, we'll be at the mountain tomorrow.”

“You all heard the man, dump any foods we don't need. Lighten your loads, because we have rough country ahead.”

Dooley asked, “How are you going to lower the wagons? It'll be a big job.”

“We have some pulleys the Learned Ones designed years ago, and I intend to use them with horses. We'll have to lower the wagons individually, but this will be the easiest way. Do you have a better idea?”

“No, while we have wagons, we mainly use them around the village to move food and heavy stuff. We don't go on long trips with wagons.”

Mongoose watched as food, tools and even a bookcase was removed and placed beside the wagons. After about an hour, they had the wagon tongue repaired, so they moved forward again as a group.

At the cliff, she saw no way around it, so she had pulleys rigged and first lowered the women, then the horses and finally they started on the wagons. They had a total of six wagons and all carried some books. Much knowledge and information was in them, so they were valuable to The People.

The first three wagons were lowered easily. The lowered horses, in teams, actually backed toward the pulleys and the wagons descended smoothly as long as the horses backed up beside each other. It was on the fourth wagon, as they lowered it, when a rope snapped from weight and use. The wagon fell to the valley below, a good two hundred feet. Those on the ground in the valley, removed the books and remains of the vehicle quickly, but it took time.

Finally, all the wagons were in the valley and the three people on the cliff needed to be lowered. The three were Mongoose, Amon and Rufus. Worried about the condition of the ropes, Mongoose decided to go first because she felt, as the Chief, she should check the integrity of the system. Some of the poorly made ropes were showing signs of use.

Then, Amon was lowered and he joked and laughed the whole way down. Actually, the trip scared the hell out of him, so his laughter was a front to avoid showing his deep fear of heights. He knew as the second in command of the village, he had to be brave.

The last to be lowered was Rufus. He was about half way down when he stopped moving and could not be moved in any direction.
The damned rope is twisted in the pulley,
he thought.

Sergeant Dooley said, “I can get him down, but keep the horses exactly where they are right now. When attacking enemy villages, we often have to repel down cliffs or climb up, and it's part of our training since we live in mountains.”

Rufus yelled, “What am I to do?”

“Dooley is coming for you!” Amon replied.

“How are you going to do this?” Mongoose asked.

“I'll climb up beside him, tie a rope around his chest, under his arms, and then loop the rope to the main line. Then, all he'll have to do is to lower himself slowly. If he lowers too fast, he'll either burn some skin off his hands trying to stop, or fall to his death.”

“Make sure he understands the dangers. We don't climb mountains or cliffs in our area.” Amon said.

“It'll be easy, unless he panics and lowers himself too quickly. Now, let me climb to him, because I suspect he's scared shitless about right now.”

The climb took some minutes. Once in place, Dooley could be seen cutting and tying ropes as he spoke with Rufus. Rufus was terrified and knew he'd fall, but Dooley reassured him by saying, “Lower yourself slowly and you'll be fine. Go too fast and it may kill you. You can can do this, just take your time, because we're not in a hurry.”

“I'll do my best.”

“Remember to keep your descent slow, and you'll walk away to laugh about this one day.”

“I can do this.”

“Ready? I have you tied under your arms and around your chest. The rope is looped on the second rope, so it's completed. When you're ready, I'll cut the first rope, you'll fall a little, and down you go. Use your hands to 'walk' down the rope. That means hand under hand until you feel your feet touch the ground, okay?”

“I'm ready.”

When Dooley cut the rope, Rufus fell about four feet and people on the ground screamed in fear. Rufus grinned, because it happened just as the Sergeant said it would. His confidence stronger now, he began to lower himself slowly. Once he was on the ground, the watchers surged forward, but Mongoose said, “Back up, we still have another man coming down.”

Dooley was down the cliff quickly, smiled and said, “Ole Rufus did the job like he's been doing it for years. Good job, my friend.” He extended his hand and the two men shook.

“Okay, folks, let's get the wagons hitched to the horses and get rolling. Tomorrow, God willing, we'll be with the Cheyenne Mountain People.”

“What about Rufus?” a voice asked from the crowd.

“Tonight, before or after supper, you can all talk with him. We're in danger every second we stay out here, so get a wiggle on and let's move.”

The remainder of that day was rough moving, and the mileage covered was half of what they normally covered. Mongoose was frustrated, because the trail was full of potholes, ruts, rocks and the closer they got the mountains, the worse it became.  

Over coffee after supper, Dooley said, “I've sent two of my men ahead, to bring out some additional soldiers to help us move the remaining distance safely. We'll soon come to canyons and other places that'll be good ambush sites for our enemies.”

“Thank you, I'd forgotten about the canyons and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure we came this way when I visited.”

The Sergeant said, “That's completely possible. There are many ways to the complex, but all are guarded. I'm leading your people on the easiest route and for the sake of the wagons. Now, it's likely on the mountain trails we'll have to cut some trees or brush to continue moving, especially the last mile or two.”

“We'll do what it takes.” Amon said.