Chapter 4

The next week was spent walking around wherever the whim took them, looking for Comanches that they could kill. Just as their prey did, the two lived off hunting and a few gathered greens that they might come across. They did take the time to jerk the meat that they didn't eat immediately, so they were not forced to hunt every day. Mostly, they were opportunistic hunters, both for food and for Comanches.

They came across a fairly large camp at the end of that week of wandering. They cautiously approached the camp in hopes of finding some safe way to attack it. Situated around the camp on poles were some odd totems that neither one had ever seen before. Tied to each pole was the body of a horribly mutilated white child, probably a slave sacrificed to some unknown purpose. Both Keith and Sam vowed to take revenge for the tortured children, but they needed to figure out how to do it without getting themselves killed.

This looked like a semi-permanent camp, so they didn't have to worry about the Indians deciding suddenly to move on. Therefore, they had time to watch the camp for a day or so to look for vulnerabilities. The torture looked like a community activity, so they were not going to be particular in selecting victims: man, woman, or child were equal prospects for their vengeance. The actual work would have been done by one or more shamans, so they were specifically searching for them. The shamans could usually be spotted by their headdress, a representation of an animal or a bird.

There looked to be at least 60 or 70 Comanches in the camp, so this could turn into a long-term project. They found a secure place for their minimal camp among some tall trees, a place a mounted

Comanche was very unlikely to go, and no woman or child had any reason to visit. They stashed their sleds high in a tree where they were very unlikely to be seen, even if the camp were found. Furthermore, in a pinch, they could escape by climbing a tree, if they were cornered in their camp.

The rest of that day and that night was spent in spying on the camp, with one spying while the other was sleeping. The next morning, they compared notes and found that they had a pretty good picture of the camp's routine. As expected, there was very little activity at night and only a few guards were posted, so they would have little trouble sneaking into camp. Were the new totems supposed to keep the enemy at bay?

They had identified the tepees of the chiefs and the shamans, so they knew where they wanted to strike first. Once those officials had been eliminated, they would kill as many of the other Comanches as they could manage. The next night would have a new moon, so they would be protected by as much darkness as they would ever have. The guards were somewhat careless, so they would have little trouble sneaking into the camp. If possible, they would not kill any guards until they were on their way out of the camp so as not to give advance warning to the Indians.

They waited until it was hard dark before slipping into camp. They headed for the nearest shaman's tepee and cut a slit in the wall opposite the doorway. They were careful to make the slit as unobtrusive as possible so that a casual observer would not notice it. Keith slipped in, holding his crossbow cocked and ready in case there was somebody in the tent who woke up unexpectedly. There were two people in the tent sleeping on opposite sides of the door. There was the shaman to their left and an elderly woman to their right. Keith pointed out the two sleeping figures and signaled that knife work would be appropriate. They each put down their crossbows and drew their knives. Keith went to the shaman and Sam took the woman.

Sam killed the woman quickly with a sharp stab under the chin up into her brain. Sam twisted the knife as she withdrew the blade, and the Indian woman made not a sound as she died. They wanted the shaman's death to be more painful, since he had to have taken part in the torture of at least one child. They had discussed what to do before they had left camp, so Sam was prepared for the next part of her job.

The shaman was sleeping on his side, but without a blanket over him because of the warmth of the night. Keith grabbed the shaman's shoulder and violently rolled him over onto his back. As soon as she had her target exposed, Sam fired a crossbow bolt into his belly button, aimed for his spine. The bolt did its job and cut the shaman's spinal cord, paralyzing him, and pinning him to the ground. When he opened his mouth to scream, Keith jammed a 2-inch diameter stick, end on, into his mouth and down his throat enough to shut off his breath and keep him from making a sound. The shaman jerked his hands around to try to pull the stake from his mouth, but Keith didn't care. While the shaman was otherwise occupied, Keith made two long cuts in the man's chest releasing a flap of skin. Keith put his knee on the shaman's chest and pulled on the flap of skin, peeling it away from his body, causing excruciating pain. At this point, the shaman fainted from the shock and pain, so Keith cut his throat and they left for their next victims. They left the crossbow bolt as their calling card.

They were able to visit 4 more tents that night and kill a total of 3 shamans and 2 chiefs, all in a similar manner. On their way out of the camp, they used pilfered lances to kill 2 guards. They made a clean getaway and had plenty of time to conceal their trail. They only went far enough away from the camp to ensure their escape, then turned back to spy on the camp to see the result of their efforts. Fifteen Comanches were dead as a result of their raid, and they were very proud of themselves. They each got about 2 hours of sleep before the camp began to stir.

The first sign of trouble within the camp was the discovery of the two dead guards and the weapons used to kill them. People went running to the chiefs' tepees to report the murders and were shocked to find dead people inside the tents. Some then went to the shamans' tents to report, and the screams from there showed what they had found. Unfortunately, neither Keith nor Sam could understand Comanche, so they didn't know exactly what was said, but someone coming from a chief's tepee brandishing a crossbow bolt made it pretty clear what those comments were about. There was a tremendous level of fear shown in the Comanche camp, so the two onlookers were not surprised when the totems were torn from their places and cast into a large fire, along with the bodies of the sacrificed children.

A meeting of the entire camp was held, and the last remaining chief stood up to harangue the crowd. Keith couldn't let this opportunity go by, so they crept as close as they dared to the camp and Keith fired a bolt at the still-orating chief. The shaft caught him in the belly, but didn't kill him immediately, though there was no doubt that he would eventually die of the wound. This caused chaos among the crowd as they all tried to dash for safety. Keith didn't want to press their luck, so they crept back to their former hiding place to see what would happen next.

In less than 30 minutes, there was a mad hustle and bustle as the camp was struck. They were obviously moving, but where? It took about 4 hours to pack up everything, but by that time the whole camp was marching south. Keith didn't know how far they would go, but he and Sam decided to encourage the Comanches to keep moving. Even if they couldn't kill all the Comanches, maybe they could get the Indians to leave the country; if they could, that would have to do.

They didn't interfere as the Comanches got their caravan organized and on the road. Most of the warriors were riding together in the front of the column, with the women and children walking along behind. In many ways, the women were just as guilty of atrocities as the men, but Keith and Sam didn't feel right killing the women in cold blood, and they completely ignored the youngest children.

The column was traveling at the speed set by the slow walk of the children and elderly women, so it was easy to get ahead of the caravan to look into the prospects for an ambush. Men started splitting away from the main column, mostly out of boredom, so Keith and Sam decided to go after them. The most obvious targets were those men who left the column to relieve pressure in their bladders or bowels. These men usually rode to a convenient stand of trees and disappeared among them for a few minutes. This was the opportunity they needed to pick off one person at a time without drawing down the whole band on their heads.