Sidewinder Read Online Free PDF Page B

wildcat. It stung, and when he touched it, he felt a sudden sharp pain. The pain made him suddenly sick to his stomach, and he fought to keep down the bile that rose in his throat.
    He felt his now-swollen hand and shoots of pain coursed up his arm. He felt woozy and lay there for several moments until he saw a sliver of cream light break to the east, sending in shafts of shadows. Now he could hear the scurrying of chipmunks outside the lodge, and the sky began to take on a crimson hue. He looked around, hoping to discover where he was. His memory was locked somewhere in the dregs of dream and in the pain that gripped his hand and arm, in the boiling gases of his stomach.
    Gradually, as the light crept into the shelter, he began to remember. He pulled himself up, pushing down the buffalo robe that covered him. As memory began to return, seeping into his consciousness, he expected to see the two forms of the Indians he had met the night before. He squinted and could make out only one sleeper, and the Indian was stirring, slipping off his buffalo robe, and stretching both arms to the smoke hole and the paling sky.
    It was Gray Owl, the Hopi, and before Brad could say anything, the red man was on his feet and standing over Brad, his face in darkness.
    “You wake,” Gray Owl said.
    “Just barely,” Brad said.
    “Huh?”
    Brad didn’t know whether the sound was a question or a grunt of assent.
    “Bear?” Gray Owl said.
    “ Un poco ,” Brad said in Spanish.
    “Ahhh,” Gray Owl said. “Do you have hunger?”
    Brad sat up, rubbed his stomach.
    “Sick,” he said. “ Enfermo. Mi estómago .”
    “Ah, it is the bite of the snake,” Gray Owl said in Spanish.
    Brad saw his pistol lying next to where he had slept. It was in its holster. He touched the top of his head, very gingerly, looked around again to see if he had missed anything that might be his.
    “What you look for?” Gray Owl asked in English.
    “My hat. I was wearing a hat.”
    “Ah, no hat. You no need hat. Let the sun cure your head, Sidewinder.”
    Sidewinder . That was the name the Indians had given him.
    “Where is Wading Crow?” he asked.
    Gray Owl walked outside, stared at the fiery sky of morning.
    “Wading Crow get horse.”
    “My horse?”
    “Yes. He track horse, bring horse back. Give you horse.”
    Brad jumped when he heard a rattle from one of the baskets. At that moment, Gray Owl turned and saw him.
    The Hopi grinned.
    “Rattlesnakes,” Brad said, and it wasn’t a question. There was no mistaking that sound. Other snakes began to rattle, and Brad scanned the floor to see if any had gotten loose.
    “I have gift for Sidewinder,” Gray Owl said as he walked back into the shelter.
    “I hope it’s not a rattler,” he said.
    Gray Owl walked to his robe and reached underneath it. He pulled out something, wadded it up in his hand, and walked back to Brad, who was still nervous over the snakes. Gray Owl opened his hand.
    Brad stared down at a set of rattles. Attached to them was a thin strand of sinew.
    “Take,” Gray Owl said. “Wear here.” He raised his hand and pointed to his neck.
    “What for?” Brad asked, taking the rattle necklace.
    “Bring good luck to Sidewinder. I cut from snake you killed. Snake that bite you.”
    “I killed the snake that had these rattles?”
    Gray Owl nodded. He signed that Brad should wear the necklace.
    Brad put it on.
    “You get in trouble, you shake rattle. Good luck.”
    He felt funny wearing the rattles, but Gray Owl had saved his life, most probably. Brad would wear the necklace as long as he was there.
    “Why do you have all these snakes in baskets, Gray Owl?”
    “Sit,” Gray Owl said. “I tell Sidewinder a story.”
    They sat opposite each other, the fire ring between them. Gray Owl put some kindling on the coals and stirred them with another stick. He blew into the coals. They flared and ignited the kindling. As he talked, he added more sticks to the fire.
    “Snakes for Snake