When one of the boys tries to bury his mother and sister (they were a very close family) Todd stops him. The Apaches are certain to come back and if they see the graves they'll know someone survived.
True, but they'll probably figure that out anyway when they observe that Todd has been rescued from his hanging over the cliff chained to a wagon wheel predicament.
I think he meant any Indians in the territory that happen by, not just the specific one(s) who killed those people. By the thinking of the movie, any indian who saw it later on could have been incited to yet another murderous rampage, this was long before all-you-can-eat buffets and the loosest slots in town.
shareI have to disagree, based on what is presented in the movie. Which is somewhat more concrete a body of evidence than “the thinking of the movie.” Whatever that is.
One: There was a specific reason why the Apaches attacked the wagon train. They had recently been victimized by an unprovoked attack from white men and they were now retaliating. The fact that the people in the wagon train had nothing to do with the original attack was irrelevant. The white men had done it and now the white men were going to pay. The wagon train settlers just happened to have the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and so they became the first target.
Two: The Apaches did not allow other Indians to traipse through their territory. Todd was a white man who had been raised by the Comanche’s and who therefore considered himself to be Comanche. The Comanche’s and the Apaches were mortal enemies. When the two Apache warriors found the wagon train survivors, Todd knew that this could only result in a fight to the death, and he immediately threw down the challenge. “It always did take two Apaches to kill one Comanche.”
The danger to the survivors was from the Apaches. Not from “any Indians in the territory that happen by.” The Apaches would be aware of what was going on in their territory and the young people from the wagon train didn’t stand a ghost of a chance of getting out alive on their own. Their survival depended on Todd, who did have the knowledge and skill to take every necessary precaution to keep them hidden from the Apaches as they worked their way out to safety. And even then it was by no means a sure thing that they would make it.
That’s the story that is presented in the movie.
The Apaches obviously did not know that Todd had escaped death. What is flimsy is that they would see the signs of a wagon being driven off from the scene of the massacre, so they would know there were survivors.
shareI see this is an old thread, so Cairo-5 may already have been killed himself by the Apache. However, I just saw the movie so to clarify for future viewers:
Cairo-5 is correct in that it is only the Apache in the area. However, The Apache are gathering from all over to avenge their tribe's murders, so there are stragglers arriving new to the area. As well as the main force who committed the attack, would continually be sending out scouting parties, some of which would no doubt retravel the same area. It is these two possibilities that Comanche Todd is warning against discovering freshly dug graves, which would sound the alarm that palefaces are in the area.
Regarding the other points raised-
The wagon Todd had been chained to was pushed over a cliff, it crashed at the bottom and he was left for dead. Only the war party that had attacked the wagon train would know there should be a corpse at the bottom of the cliff, so future migrating Apaches wouldn't know to look for it. ONLY the Original marauders would know, and they would have to climb down a perilous cliff and dig through the wagon wreckage to look for it. And as Todd points out, without the freshly dug graves raising an alarm, there would be no reason to do so.
As for your point, tesab-1, I'm sure you're smart enough to imagine that the survivors would wipe out the wagon tracks as they walked beside the wagon. At least leaving the original massacre area anyway. I think we all accept there is some explanation in movies that we can figure out for ourselves. Let's just assume Todd dragged some brush behind the wagon for a mile or so, and now we can watch the movie and see if they make it or not.