The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-01-01
THE DEATH BIRD
By M. QUAD.


NO living man naQ ever seen II, DuL
there were plenty who had heard its
notes, and its notes always meant dan
ger. One might travel to and fro on
the Staked plains for year and never
see bird of any sort except about their
edges. The only living things to be
met with are serpents, lizards, scorpi-
ons and skulking wolves. The aridness
and desolation are too much even for
the buzzards.
The death bird, so the legend went,
appeared only at night and then no
man saw him. He came to give warn
ing His notes were peculiar. and no
hunter could initiate him, but one hear
ing them in the silence of the night and
the desert could make no mistake. Be
fore making the trip an old hunter said
to me:
''There is but one danger to look out
for-the Apaches. They may follow
you clear across the desert. They
will not attack you by daylight, but at
night, without your having seen a sign
Of them, they will creep upon you as
softly as serpents and spare none. Lis
ten for the notes of the death bird, and
when you hear them take instant warn
ing"
There were 16 of us in the party.
Fourteen soldiers were supposed to
constitute force able to take care of
itself anywhere. There was more anx-
iety as to our water and rations than
as to the Indians who might dog our
footsteps. 1t was midsummer, and the
heat on that great surface of sand and
alkali soil was simply terrific. After
the first day, when we were clear of
shelter, march of six or eight miles
was all any one was capable of. The
nights brought cool breezes and recu.
peration, but they also brought lone
liness no person can describe. Men
afoat on the wide ocean In a small
boat hear strange sounds at night and
are made afraid. Men on the desert
are almost made towards by the I'M
canny surroundings. If there is the
chirp of a cricket or the howl OF G coy
ote, it is not company. 1t simply adds
to the loneliness. If the night is unbro-
had been thrown over your head to
shut out the living world.
We saw nothing of Indians. No one
believed that a party took our trail. A
faithful watch was kept however, but
after a few nights when / had come to
realize how helpless we really were
found myself depending on that legend
of the death bird If we were menaced,
he would warn us. We had been out
week when there came the blacklist of
black nights. 1t was black because it
was moonless and storm was gather
ing. Our tents were set up in clus-
ter, but they could not be seen at dis
lance Of six feet Three sentinels were
on duty, but they could not see the
sands at their feet. If the Indians had
followed, there would never be a bet
ter night for a surprise. 1t would be
no trick at all to creep within stabbing
distance of the sentinels, and volley
of arrows and bullets sent through the
tents must wound or xii. most of us.
/ was sitting in the door of my tent
an hour after midnight, wondering
how soon the storm would break, when
there came to me from point not far
distant the notes of the death bird.
They sounded bit like the call of a
quail, and yet they were unlike. They
were like words instead Of notes. They
were soft and clear, and from the very
first they said to me:
Look out! Look out! Look out!
Dangerl Danger! DangerI Death
DEATH Deathy'
l repeat that the bird seemed to be
talking instead of crying out in its nat
ural notes. | may have got this idea
from my state of nervous apprehen-
sion, but so it was. turned and woke
up the two sleeping engineers and ask
ed them to listen. They did not make
out words as did, but one OF them
whispered:
That's a danger cry, or | never
by some great PERIL"
Thrice the death bird called its notes.
and then all was silence as before. A
soldier was sent creeping away to call
in the sentinels. A few rods to the
north of us, as we had noticed when
going into camp, the sands had been
toyed with by some strong gale until
the ridges almost formed natural
fort. With the greatest care and in the
deepest silence we left tents and bag
gage, and. taking nothing but our wa
ter bottles and muskets, we crept out
of camp to the north ana by and by
reached the fort. 1t was so dark that
men had to be felt for instead of spo-
ken to, but at the end of half an hour
we lay in line with our muskets resting
on a sand ridge and pointing toward
camp. One could tell by the feeling in
the air that the storm would soon
break and that the first break would be
a vivid flash of lightning. The men
were instructed to fire with the flash in
case it revealed Indians about.
At last, when we were all in a trem-
BILE with anxiety. the fash came. For a
few seconds it was as if great search
light had fallen upon the desert. 1t
was so binding that every eye was
closed for a second When opened,
they beheld a band of 20 Apaches on
hands and knees within 25 feet of the
tents. A volley was fred straight into
their faces and a second as another
fash showed a few in retreat, and
then we lay there in the pouring rain
till daylight came. There had been in
the band, as near as we could figure 1t,
q Indians. We had fired without aim,
and the destruction wrought was due
to luck or accident. but there were 10
redskins lying dead on the sands
around the camp. Among these were a
full chief, subchief and five or six
noted warriors. Our volleys had ac-
compllshed more than a years cam
paigning with 600 soldiers. Indeed
they brought peace for two years. Said
one of the survivors TO me afterward:
1--WE had planned to XIII the entire
lot of you. We heard the notes of the
death bird and knew you would hear
them also, but we didn't believe you
would understand the warning. Had
you not understood and moved away
not man Of you would have escaped"
For many days subsequently aye,
for many months and years ! was
posted along the desert or 1ourneyed
across 1t / looked for the death bird at
morning. noon and night, but | never
got sight of him. His mission was to
fly only at night and to tell of peril.
To salute with the left hand is a
deadly insult to Mohammedans In the
east.