“Well, I hope so. And it’s for life or death. You mustn’t spare Intschu-Tschuna; never think of doing that.”
“That’s no answer; there’s nothing to see. If you spare him, you’re lost, and we with you. These redskins can throw a tomahawk a hundred feet away and cut off your fingers. You’ll get it in the back or head before you can get over, no matter how well you swim.”
“I know, my dear Sam, and I know, too, that a thimbleful of wit is worth more than a barrel-full of mere strength.”
“Wit! What good is that against a well-aimed tomahawk?”
“It helps, Sam, it helps; and I have a plan. Remember this: If I drown we are saved.”
I said this hastily, for the three chiefs now came over to us. Intschu-Tschuna said: “We will now free Old Shatterhand, but he need not think he can escape, for more than a hundred will follow him to the water’s edge.”
“It would never occur to me,” I said, “for, if I could get away, it would be disgraceful to desert my comrades.”
I was liberated, and moved my arm to test its powers. Then I said: “It is a great honor for me to contest with the chief of the Apaches, but it is not an honor for him.”
“Because I am no adversary for him. I have bathed, of course, but I would not dare cross such a broad, deep river as that is.”
“I am sorry to hear it; Winnetou and I are the best swimmers of the tribe, and it is no victory for us to conquer a poor swimmer.”
“And you are armed, while I am not; I go, then, to my death, and my comrades must also die. When will you strike me with the tomahawk?”
“When it pleases me,” he said, with the contemptuous smile of a virtuoso to an amateur.
I tried to appear more anxious and cast down than ever.
He gave me a look which said plainly: “Poor worm! there’s no question of that.” But he said: “It is a contest for life or death; you may kill me, but in case such a thing happens you must still reach the cedar.”
“And I shall not be held guilty of your death?”
“No; if I kill you, your comrades must die; but if you kill me and then get to the cedar, you are free. Come.”
He turned away, and I pulled off my coat and vest. Sam cried out to me in anguish: “If you could see your face and hear the mournful tone of your voice! I am in deadly fear for you and for ourselves.”