“It was Kleki-Petrah’s last word and last wish that Old Shatterhand should be his successor with the Apache warriors, and Old Shatterhand has promised to fulfil this wish. Therefore he shall be received into the Apache tribe and become a chief. It shall be as though he were red of skin, and born among us. To accomplish this he must have smoked the calumet with every grown warrior of the Apaches; but this shall not be necessary, for he will drink Winnetou’s blood, and Winnetou will drink his, and then he will be blood of our blood, and flesh of our flesh. Do the Apache braves agree to this?”
“How! how! how!” arose, thrice repeated, the unanimous response of all present.
“Then let Winnetou and Old Shatterhand come here to the coffin, and let their blood drop into the water of the bond of brotherhood.”
I had often read of the blood bond of brotherhood. It is a custom among many savage and half-civilized people, and usually consists of the mingling of the blood of the two making the compact, which is drunk by both, and in consequence they become more closely united, more truly brothers, than if they had been born of the same parents.
Winnetou and I were to drink each other’s blood. We placed ourselves on each side of the coffin, and Intschu-Tschuna pricked first his son’s wrist, holding it over the cup which Nscho-Tschi had brought. A tiny drop of blood fell into it, and the chief set it aside. Then he repeated the proceeding with me, and a tiny drop of my blood fell into the other cup. Winnetou took the cup containing my blood in his hand, and I received the one with his. Then Intschu-Tschuna said: “Life dwells in the blood. The souls of these two young men shall mingle till there is but one soul in them. Old Shatterhand’s thoughts shall be Winnetou’s thoughts, and what Winnetou wills that shall also be the will of Old Shatterhand. Drink!” I raised my cup as Winnetou raised his. It was Rio Pecos water, to which the single drop of blood in it imparted no taste. As we set down the empty cups the chief took my hand and said: “Thou art now the son of my flesh equally with Winnetou, and a warrior of our people. The renown of thy deeds shall be quickly known everywhere, and no other warrior shall surpass thee. Thou art a chief of the Apaches, and all branches of our people shall honor thee as such.”