COMING OF THE CASTILIANS
Because a runner from Kat-yi-ti had been killed on the trail by a
mountain lion, and because the village of Povi-whah had forgotten the
strangers from the south in the excitement of Tahn-té's return (for
many there were who thought never to see him again!)--because of these
things it was that the men of iron rode unseen by the river, and the
alarm was called from sentry to sentry on the mesa where the workers
in flint shaped the arrow-points, and were guards as well for the
village below.
There was no mistaking the glint of sunlight on steel and helmet, and
the beasts with strange strappings. The men of the beards were indeed
at the very edge of their planted fields!
And they saw more than that, for they saw a girl who ran from the
shore to meet them. So fleet was her running that her hair swept like
a dusk cloud behind her, and the soldier Gonzalvo stared at her with
open mouth.
"By the true cross, that looks better to me than the thimble full of
gold!" he announced, and Don Ruy laughed and put his horse on the
other side of Don Diego as though to protect him from temptation.
"You, and his reverence the padre, have the records and the prayers to
your share," he suggested,--"but eyes bright as those--and lips as
tempting--"
"The heathen wench does look like the seven deadly sins for
enticement," agreed Don Diego and made the sign of the cross.
"A shameless wench, indeed," agreed Padre Vicente--"with her bosom
bare, and little but her hair as a cloak!--What is it she calls?--Holy
God!--did you hear?"
All had halted now. Pretty women and girls had been hidden in the
villages of their trail. Even if they chanced to glimpse one it was by
chance--and among the wall-housed barbarians no dames bold as this one
had been seen:--neither had one been seen so alluring.
Again her voice reached them and this time the tones were clear and
the words certain.
"Greetings to you--Lords--Castilians!"
A shout went up from the men. At last a land had been reached where an
interpreter was not needed for the woman. It put a different
complexion on the day. Tired men straightened in their saddles and Ruy
Sandoval laughed at the amaze on the face of Gonzalvo--that hardy
soldier of many lands stared as if by a witch enthralled.
"How call you yourself, mistress?" inquired the priest coldly, "and is
it the custom of the men of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-gé to send their wives to
greet men who travel?"
"Yahn Tsyn-deh I am,"--she said--"and not wife."
"Humph!" the grunt of Maestro Diego was not polite. Even the desert
might not be a safe place to bring youth if damsels of this like grew
in the sage clumps. "It is said to be a good luck sign when a man
comes first over the threshold on a New Year's day and on a
Monday,--it starts the year and the week aright--and how read you
this of a female crossing first for us the line of welcome in the new
land of treasure?--read you good fortune here in all that would be ill
fortune at home?"
"Save your croaking since she is beautiful to a marvel!" said Don Ruy
lightly. "If they tell us truly that the world is round, who knows
that we may not be nicely balanced on an opposite to Seville, and all
things of life and portent to be reversed? There's a thought for your
'Relaciones!'--treasure it, señor!--treasure it!
"I am not yet of a mind that the unsanctified globe theory is to be
accepted by true believers!" announced Don Diego with decision--"that
you well know!--and also you know that my scriptural evidence--"
"Is as good as that of any man!" agreed his charge who was more his
master and tormentor. "But if we halt here while you make the maps of
Cosmo in the sand, we will miss the rest of the maids, for all my
looking shows me no others on the run to us."
Yahn was, meanwhile, with great unconcern, making braids of her hair,
and breathing with more ease, and using her eyes well the while. The
piercing look of the padre was the only one she faltered under, and
that of Gonzalvo she met in elusive coquetry.
"I am alone," she said to Don Ruy. "The others feast this day. I know
your words. I come alone; maybe you want that I talk for you."
"It is true that we all want much talk from you--and perhaps some
smiles--eh? But give not another to Juan Gonzalvo--he looks like a
mooing calf from the last one he got,--and I warn you that such
special happiness--"
[Illustration: A LONELY FIGURE DESPITE HER TROPHIES _Page 135_]
"Peace!" said the padre with impatient authority. "The girl has
understanding, and it is best to move warily when the ground is new.
Are you the only one who speaks Castilian?"
"No--two more. Ka-yemo the chief of war--He is of my clan. He learn it
with Capitan Coronado."
The men closed around listening--this was the man they had heard of at
Ah-ko and at Kat-yi-ti.
"He is the shaman who learned with Fray Luis," said the padre. "We
have heard of him, and of his unsanctified devotion to the false gods.
We have come to save such souls for the true faith. And he is now
Capitan--eh?"
"Ka-yemo is Capitan--not shaman. He speaks your words--"
"And the other one?"
"Other one!"--The face of Yahn darkened, her lips grew straight in a
hard line--her bosom heaved. Tahn-té had seen and known her
abasement--also her name had been among those put aside--always she
would hate Tahn-té,--"The other one is the man of the feast. He has
danced where other men fall dead in the dance. He does not fall
dead--not anything makes him dead! He holds snakes like other men hold
rabbits." (She was watching warily the faces of her listeners and saw
them shrink in distaste)--her own face grew keen and bright with
cunning. "It is true--like this he takes the snake"--she held a wand
of willow about her neck, and then held it in both hands above her
head--"like this--and calls it 'brother of the sands.' He calls eagles
down from the clouds to him--other birds, too"--and her eyes took on a
look of fear--"and in dark nights--no--I can not say more words! It
is bad medicine to say words of witches while witches are yet alive."
"He was taught by the padres to be Christian:--yet turns back to the
false gods, and--is a sorcerer?" demanded Maestro Diego. "You have
your work plainly cut out for you, Eminence!" and he turned to Padre
Vicente--"A leader who has been granted the light, yet seeks darkness,
is but a burning brand for the pit!"
"But"--suggested the lad Chico--who spoke but rarely in the face of
the company, "is there not white magic as well as the magic of the
darkness? Did not the saints of the church deal openly in the white
magic of their god? This pretty woman plainly has only hate--or
fear--of the sorcerer. Does the dame strike any of you as being so
saintly as to be above guile?"
The men laughed at that, and Don Ruy clapped him on the shoulder.
"Well reasoned, Chico--and frankly said! We will see the sorcerer at
his work before we pass judgement. But the lady will love you
little!"
"The less ill luck to me for that!"--retorted the lad. "Her eyes are
all for Juan Gonzalvo--and for your Excellency!"
"I am sworn for my soul's sake to the troth of a silken scarf and a
mad woman somewhere in Mexico," decided Don Ruy whimsically. "If I am
to live a celibate,--as our good padre imposes, it is well to cheat
myself with a lady love across the border,--even though she gave me no
favors beyond a poet's verse and a battered head."
"A lady--beat you?" queried Chico in amazement looking at the strong
figure of Don Ruy--"and though mad, you give to her--faithfulness?"
"A faithfulness enforced, lad!" and his patron chuckled at the
amaze in the eyes of the youth. "Since this crusade allows us no
dames for company it is an ill one among us cannot cheat himself into
the thought that a gracious doña awaits his return! It is the only
protection against such sirens as this one of the loosened braids.
To be sure, my goddess of Mexico--(so says the padre)--was only a
mad woman--and her servants gave me a scratched skull. Yet, as I
am weak and need protection, I carry the scarf of the wench, and call
her a goddess and my 'Doña Bradamante'--in my dreams--that does no
harm to any one, and enables me to leave the ladies of the road to
Gonzalvo--and the others! Oh--a dream woman is a great rest to the
mind, lad,--especially is she so when she affects a wondrous perfume
for her silks!"
He drew the scarf from his pocket and sniffed at it, content to make
the lad laugh at the idle fancy, and while he jested thus, Padre
Vicente and Gonzalvo gathered much information from Yahn Tsyn-deh.
There was a feast, she told them, and all the village was merry, and
the time of the visit was a good time.
From the terraces of Kah-po and Povi-whah many eyes watched the coming
of the men of iron. But the women who watched were few,--all the maids
and even the young wives, had started at once for the sanctuary of the
ancient dwellings of the place of Old Fields. There the Woman of the
Twilight was awaiting them--much corn and dried meat and beans had
been stored there in the hills in waiting for this time. If fighting
was to be done, it should not be a quarrel for wives--as had happened
with Coronado's soldiers in Tiguex.
But the white adventurers gave every evidence of the desire to be
modest in their demands. They did not even enter the village--nor seek
to do so until the place of the camp had been decided upon. Even José
was not allowed to precede the others in search of kindred. He and his
wife Ysobel watched the terraces, and the courage of the latter grew
weak unto tears at the trials possibly behind the silent walls.
The boy Chico reassured her with jestings and occasional whisperings
until the woman smiled, though her eyes were wet.
"I shall risk my own precious soul and body beside you," he
stated,--"since my master Don Diego makes me a proxy while we learn if
it is safe enough inside those walls for his own sacred bones. He will
say the prayers for us until our faces are shown to him again!"
Then he threw himself on the green sward and laughed, and told Ysobel
what a fine thing it was to be carefree of a spouse and able to kick
up one's heels:--"If it had not been for love and a wedding day you
would be happily planting beans in the garden of the nuns instead of
following a foreign husband to his own people!"
Don Ruy sauntered near enough to hear the fillip and see the woman dry
her eyes.
"Why is it, Dame Ysobel, that you allow this lad to make sport of
serious things?" he asked austerely. "He is woefully light minded for
so portentous an expedition."
Ysobel stammered, and glanced at the lad, and dug her toe in the soil,
and was dumb.
"You overwhelm her with your high and mighty notice, Excellency," said
the lad coming to her aid. "I will tell you truly--Ysobel has had
patience with me since I had the height of your knee--and it is now a
custom with her. She lived once in the house of my--relatives. We were
both younger--and she had no dreams of wedding a wild Indian--nor I of
seeking adventure among savages. She is afraid now that her husband
may be blamed--or sacrificed for bringing strangers here--the story of
the padre at the well of Ah-ko is not forgotten by her."
Whereupon Don Ruy told her there should be no harm to José--if he was
treated without welcome by the Te-huas he should go back in safety to
Mexico to follow his own will in freedom.
The woman murmured thanks and was content, and his excellency surveyed
the secretary in silence a bit, until warm color crept into the face
of the boy to his own confusion.
"So!--Your independence was because you had a friend at court?"--he
observed. "It is fool luck that you, with your girl's mouth, and
velvet cheeks, should get nearest the only woman in camp--and have a
secret with her! It is high time you went to confession!"
Upon which he walked away, and left the two together, and Chico lay on
the grass and laughed until called to make records of all that might
occur between visiting Castilian and the Children of the Sun in their
terraced village.
Then, while the men set about the preparations for a resting place,
and supper Padre Vicente, with Don Ruy, Chico, Gonzalvo and the two
Indians walked quietly to the gate in the great wall.
Many eyes were watching them as they were well aware, and ere they
reached the gate, it opened, and the old governor Phen-tza, the war
capitan and several of the older men stood there with courteous
greeting of hand clasps and invitation.
For the first time since his marriage, Ka-yemo came face to face with
Yahn Tsyn-deh, and quick anger flamed in his eyes as he saw her walk
close to the side of Juan Gonzalvo who whispered to her--and her
answer was a smile from provocative, half closed eyes.
"Yahn!"--the voice of Ka-yemo was not loud, but hard and full of angry
meaning. "The other women of your clan have gone to the hills!"
"Let them go," said the girl insolently--"I do not go! For these
strangers I make the talks to the old men, I am the one woman needful
in the valley of P[=o]-s[=o]n-gé!"
It was the hour of her triumph, and Padre Vicente looked at the two
keenly. Here was a clash of two savage minds--potent for good or ill.
"To the council I will talk--I am of the people of your father--I am
the nearest man--I tell you I forbid you!"
His words fell over each other in anger, and his uncle, the governor,
looked at him in reproach--this was not a moment for private quarrel.
"Are you so!--the nearest?" and Yahn showed her teeth. "I do not see
it so. I stand near two other men, and am well content!"
She stood between Gonzalvo and Chico, and smiled on the latter, who
frankly smiled a response--at that moment Yahn was happy in her
defiance. Ka-yemo need not think her forsaken! She had caught fish
without a net! To the governor José was speaking; at once there were
signs of delight among the listeners. One of the old men was of his
clan--other of his people were alive--and all had thought never to
look on him again, it was a good day at Povi-whah!
José showed them his wife, who was greeted with joy, and all proceeded
to the court of the village, where, at the house of the governor, they
were given cooked corn of the feast, then rolls of bread, and stew of
deer meat.
José told of his days as a slave until he was traded into the land of
Padre Vicente, and of the great desire of Padre Vicente to bring him
back in some lucky year to his people, and also to see with his own
eyes the fine land of the Te-huas. He added also that the padre had
been very kind, and that he was near to the white god of the men of
iron, and strong in medicine of the spirit world.
"We already know that the medicine of the men of iron is strong
medicine--and that their gods listen," said the governor.
"Also Tahn-té the Po-Ahtun-ho makes it seen that the mountain god of
this land, and the young god of the Castilian land, were maybe
brothers,"--said Po-tzah watching closely the faces of the strangers.
"Only your god made talking leaves--and our god gave us only the
sunshine to see things for ourselves."
"Where is this man who tells you that books are made and that false
gods are brothers to the true?" inquired Padre Vicente.
"It is the Po-Ahtun-ho," said José before Yahn could speak. "In
Castilian he would be called Cacique. The word in Maya for that ruler
is the same word as in Te-hua. It is a very old word. It is the head
of the highest order of the Spirit Things. It is what you call maybe
Pope. There are many priests, and many medicine men in each village.
There is only one Cacique at one time."
"Which of these men may it be?" inquired Padre Vicente. Yahn it was
who answered.
"The Cacique of Povi-whah is not seen by every stranger who walks by
the river," she said, and smiled scornfully. "He has come out of the
mountain from the dance to the greatest of gods, and after that dance
it is not easy to talk to earth people!"
"But--when people come from the far lands of a strange king--"
"That is the business of the governor and of the war capitan," stated
Yahn. "He who is named Cacique in this land has not to do with
strangers in the valley. His mind is with the Spirit Things. These are
the heads of the village of Povi-whah--here also is the governor of
Kah-po. They will listen, and learn from your words, and answer you."
"I know words," stated Ka-yemo looking at Don Ruy and the priest. "I
can say words--I teach it her,"--and he motioned to Yahn, who had
dwarfed them all with quick wit and glib speech. "Woman not need in
council. I--captain of war can make talk."
"Is not the damsel enlisted as official interpreter for one of us?"
queried Don Ruy. "I hold it best that the bond be understood lest the
beauty be sent beyond reach--and some of our best men squander time on
her trail! Since you, good father, have José,--I will lay claim to
this Cleopatra who calls herself by another name,--a fire brand should
be kept within vision. Your pardon, Eminence--and you to the head of
the council in all else!"
The padre directed his conversation to Ka-yemo, while the secretary
set down the claiming of Yahn as the first official act in council of
His Excellency Don Ruy de Sandoval.
At the scratching of the quill, his excellency looked over the
shoulder of the lad, and read the words, and smiled with his eyes,
while his lips muttered dire threats--even to discharging him from
office if the records were kept in a manner detrimental.
"Detrimental to whom, my lord?" asked the lad, who saw well the
restrained smile. "Your 'Doña Bradamante' of the scarf is not to set
eyes on these serious pages,--and the Don Diego will certainly exact
that I keep record of how near our company falls in the wake of the
Capitan Coronado's--their troubles began about a wife--thus it is well
to keep count of fair favorites--and this one who tells you plainly
she is no wife, looks promising. Helena of Trois might have had no
more charms to her discredit!"
Don Ruy said no more, for he saw that Yahn was straining her ears to
catch at their meaning, and they were all losing the words of council.
It appeared plain that all the chief men were quite willing that the
Po-Ahtun-ho should meet the men of iron as was the padre's wish--but
that no one could command it.
"Through what power is one man more supreme than others?--Yet you say
you have no king!"
"No--no king. The Governor is made so each year by the men in
council--only one year--then another man--the Governor gets no corn in
trade for his time,--and no other thing, but honor, if he is good!
Tahn-té has talked to us in council of kings,--thus we know what a
king does. We have no king."
"But while a man is the governor does he not rule all the people?"
"No--it is not so. He works for the people. He has a right hand man,
and a left hand man to talk with of all things. But when it is a big
thing of trouble or of need, at that time the council is called, and
each man speaks, and in the end each man put a black bean or a white
bean in a jar to say for him 'yes' or to say for him 'no.' That is how
the law is made in all the villages of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-gé valley.
There is no king!"
"We are of a surety in a new world if rulers work only for honor--and
get not any of that unless they are good!" decided Don Ruy. "Make
record of that novelty, Chico--our worthy Maestro Diego will find no
equal of that rule in all Europe!"
"It is well for civilization that it is so!" decided Juan Gonzalvo.
"Who is to advance the arts and knightly orders except there be Courts
of Pontiff and of Royalty?"
"And the royalty would be a weak stomached lot if they gained not even
extra corn for all their sceptre waving, and royal nods;--eh? But what
of this Po-Ahtun-ho--this man who is not king--yet who is supreme?"
This query was interpreted by José, and after talk and deliberation
one of the oldest men made answer.
"The Po-Ahtun is an order very ancient. When the earth was yet soft,
and the rocks wet, and the first people were taught words by the
mocking bird,--in that time of our Ancient Fathers, gods spoke to
men--and in that time the order of Po-Ahtun was made. It was made that
men could work together on earth for spirit good. When the Mountain
God, Po-se-yemo, lived as a man on the earth,--he was the chief priest
of the Po-Ahtun order. Po-Ahtun means 'The Ruler of Things from the
Beginning.' Many men belong to the Po-Ahtun, and learn the prayers,
and the songs of the prayers. When the Po-Ahtun-ho walks no more on
the earth--and his spirit goes on the twilight trail to Those Above,
at that time the brothers of the order name the man who is to be
Ruler--and he rules also until he dies.
"Then it seems your Cacique is really a king. You but call him by a
different name."
"No--it is not so. Tahn-té has told the men of Povi-whah what a king
is. We have no king. A king fights with knife, and with spear, and he,
in his own village, punishes the one who does evil, and orders what
men work on the water canal for the fields:--and what men make new a
broken wall, or what men clean the court which is the property of all.
The king and his men say how all these things then must be done. With
the people of Povi-whah the governor does these works and orders them
done, and has the man whipped if the work he does is bad work. The
chief of war does work as do other men, until the Navahu and the
Yutahs have to be driven away;--then it is his work to fight them--he
is a warrior, but he does king work in war. These are the men who do
king work. But we have no king."
"By our Lady!--'tis a nice distinction," said Don Ruy as the old man
ceased, and the men of Te-hua nodded their appreciation of the old
man's statement. "Save your quill scratching, Chico--until you are in
camp. Their eyes show little favor for the work."
The secretary obediently thrust in his pouch ink horn and quill, and
clearly Don Ruy was right, for the bronze faces brightened, and their
eyes regarded the young man with approval--the magic of that black
water might prove potent and forbidding--never before had it been seen
in council.
Padre Vicente had given a cigarro to each man, and while the ancient
speaker rested, and José interpreted, all smoked the wonderful smoke
from the south, and Chico took occasion to say low to Don Ruy:
"Of all this there is little to make record that is new. Tribes of
Mexico have such rules of life. The legends of our people say they
came ages ago out of the far North. These are maybe but the children
of their brothers who the records say stopped on the way to plant
corn, or to hunt, or to rest from travel."
"Records?--Where are such records?" asked Don Ruy derisively,--"in the
royal archives of some mud hut?"
The eyes of Chico flashed fire for one instant; the amazed Spaniard
was scarce certain of the anger in the secretary's face when it
changed, and the boy shrugged his shoulders and lit a cigarro.
"It is true, Excellency, that if any Tescucan manuscripts are yet
entire, it can be only because some pagan Indian his risked death and
torture to hide them in mud hut or cave in the hills. The first holy
archbishop of Mexico made bonfires of Indian books because the beauty
of them showed plainly they were the work of Satan. Without doubt the
act earned the bishop an extra jewel for his heavenly crown!"
"Chico! If you pursue such fancies with determination you may end by
being a logician and going to hell!" remarked Don Ruy. "I fear you
lack a true Christian spirit, my son. But the records?"
"Only stone carved ones are still visible in the land of Anhuac,"
returned the boy. "The good padres say that they deal with the studies
of the stars and planets, and other such speculation invented by
Satanic power. When I wanted to know about them I was told that my
soul was in danger of the pit."
"And that frightened you?"
"Very much, Excellency:--hence my running away."
Don Ruy was put to it to know whether or not the boy spoke truth. But
his odd freaks of thought had many times the effect of an April
sunlight on a day of storm. There was no way of calculating what the
next moment would bring--but the unexpected was at least a diversion.
The smoking of the men was half over before Padre Vicente again asked
José to state that the way of life of the Te-hua people was a thing of
interest to the great king whom the Castilians served, and it would
please him much to hear more of the Te-hua ruler who was Cacique.
But the old man was silent. He had talked much, he said.
"He thinks--" said Yahn with quick divination,--"that he would like to
know of the strangers who are made welcome here:--and why they come
far into a country not their own."
"We come because we have heard fair things of these people," was the
reply. "Our god tells us all men are brothers on the earth--we come to
find new brothers."
"And if the Navahu come in the night--or the Yutah come many and
strong for the corn--whose brother would your god tell you to be at
that time?" asked the governor of Kah-po, a tall shrewd faced old man
who had not spoken heretofore. Chico showed his teeth in a quickly
suppressed smile.
"Our god would tell us," said Padre Vicente with slowness and duly
impressive speech--"that our brothers must be the men who are friends
with us."
"That is good," agreed the man from Kah-po, and the others said also
it was good. Brothers who wore iron coats would be good brothers to
have in the time of a war.
"It is as Tahn-té told us of the priests of the white god--they are
wise in their thoughts," said the old man who had insisted there was
no king in Povi-whah, or any Te-hua village--"all Tahn-té has told us
were true words."
"He told us also," said the man from Kah-po--"that the men of iron
were not friends to trust."
"They were other men of iron, not these. These men Tahn-té has not yet
seen."
The Padre gave no hint that he knew enough of Te-hua words to catch
the meaning of their discourse. So long as might be, he would keep
that secret,--much might depend upon it.
The name Tahn-té met him at every turn--this was the mysterious
Ruler--the hidden Cacique or Po-Ahtun-ho--the one chief who gave them
no greeting.
"Ask for me what the name means--the name Tahn-té," he said.
José pointed to a ray of sunlight streaming through the shelter of the
vine trellis.
"It means that."
"And for what cause is a man called Light of the Sun?"
José did not know, but when asked, the ancient man spoke.
"For many reasons, Those Above put the thought of the Sun in the heart
of the mother of Tahn-té. Sunlight he was to Povi-whah--you shall
see!"
A little boy was carrying on his head a flat basket or tray of reeds,
and on it were rolls of bread, and small melons for the feast; at a
few words he set down the tray, and darted around a corner--it was a
day big in history for him. He was doing the work of his sister who
had been sent to the hills--but for this day the work of a girl was
great work--it took him so close to the men of iron that his hand
could have touched one of them--if his courage had not failed!
He came back with a jar of shining black pottery, and placed it beside
the old man, who thrust his hand within and drew out a handful of
peaches, dried in the summer sun of a year before.
"This fruit is gathered with prayer each year from the first tree
planted by the Summer People in this land," he said. "To Tahn-té was
given by the gods, the trees, and the seeds of the trees. Since the
time when Po-se-yemo walked on earth, and brought seeds, no new seeds
have been born from blossoms here in the land of Te-hua people. When
the gods send a man, they also send a Sign. The sign of Tahn-té was
the Flute of the Gods, the trees of this fruit, and another
fruit;--also a grain of which food is made. It is a good grain. For
all of this we make prayers each year when the fruit is gathered, and
when the grain is planted, and for all of this we see why the name of
the Sun has been given to Tahn-té. The old men of the Hopi desert say
he was born of the falling rain and the light of the moon. We do not
know, but his mother knew, and she is wise--and she named him as a
child of the Sky would be named."
The Castilians listened with little enough belief in the god-given
Cacique. The peaches and the grain had, without doubt, been brought by
Coronado. Juan Gonzalvo said as much, and Yahn told it eagerly to the
council, but the old men shook their heads.
The trees were a year old from the seed when Tahn-té carried them on
his back from the heart of the desert, and Capitan Coronado had not
yet seen the villages of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-gé, called by him the Rio
Grande.
"Then:--" said Padre Vicente--"it is because he found new seeds that
he is above the cares of the daily life? I can bring many strange
seeds from the gardens of Europe or Africa. For that would I be a son
of the moon and the stars?"
"May be so,--" said the old man,--"and maybe so the gods would not
need a son on that day." He inhaled the fragrant smoke and went on to
make clear to these people of outlands some little gleam of the
mysteries circling holy things,--"You must be born in a good year--and
a good time in that year--the trail of the visitors of the sky must be
climbing up--up!"
"The trail of the visitors in the sky?" The Padre looked with
quickness into the bronze faces.
"He means the planets--the wandering stars," said Chico. "The Mexican
tribes also watch them when a child is born. A god lives in each
one--so they think!"
"Necromantic fancies devised by the Evil one!" stated the priest and
crossed himself to ostracise such powers of the demon from the circle.
The rest devoutedly imitated him, and the Te-hua men watched with
interest the men of iron making their "medicine" against the celestial
bodies on the descending trail.--That slight automatic gesture in
unison proved even a sort of bond between them and the dusky old
orator;--he could plainly see that the signs in the heavens were
earnestly regarded by the white strangers. That showed they were wise
to read the true things; for that he could tell them more.
"The maid who was mother to Tahn-té is named The Woman of the
Twilight. When little, the spirit of her broke in two--and she went
into the Land of Twilight. Her parents could not believe that she
would no more walk on the earth. They went to the Po-Ahtun--they
sealed her to that order--so it was, and the medicine prayer of the
Po-Ahtun brought back the breath to her. But when a spirit goes to the
Land of the Twilight, it does not come back at once--not all at once!
The gods are strong and can do things. When they want to take her
again and teach her hidden things--they take her! One Star visitor in
the sky took her when she became woman, and hid her behind all the
hills until her child moved,--then, in the far desert where the Sun
Father is the great god, there in that place she was laid on the sands
beside a well that the child be earth child like other men. That is
how it was, and she knows why the earth child was called the child of
the Great Star, and of the Sky."
Yahn listened eagerly--and with sulky frown--Neither she or Ka-yemo
had ever before heard this account of the Woman of the Twilight and
her son. The magic of it made her feel sullenly helpless. This then
was the reason why no face smiled in scorn when Tahn-té would come
sometimes from mesa, or cañon, bearing his mother in his arms as one
would bear a little child:--all the elders knew she had been seeking
the trail to the Land of Twilight where long ago she had found a god,
and lost herself.
"And this woman tells to wise men a fable like this--and is given
their faith?" asked Padre Vicente, while Juan Gonzalvo muttered that
the savages had stolen the truth of the Mother of God, and should be
made pay dear in good time, for the sacrilege!
"The mouth of the woman was sealed," stated the narrator. "But the
wise men of the desert sent men to tell the Te-hua people of the magic
of the woman. And the years and the work of her son made good the
stories of the Hopi men."
"We have here no mere juggling pretender," remarked Padre Vicente--"a
Cacique whose mother establishes family connection with the stars in
the sky, could in truth have papal power among these heathen! With all
their wise looks, and careful speech, these old men are not the
influence we have to win for progress in this land:--this man who
would place the false gods above the true God is the man to be won."
"Or to be conquered!" said Juan Gonzalvo whose wonder was that the
priest had patience with their maudlin tales of village officers, or
brats born of magic and the moon,--"If I might speak--Eminence?"
"Speak--my son."
"These people have sent their women away, and have told your reverence
only of their own things of pride. Of their real king they give us no
sight. In the New Spain of the South these under-men would be given
few presents of value, and not so much of your gracious time."
He spoke rapidly with a wary eye on the interpreters,--only José could
follow the swifter speech.
"Capitan Gonzalvo gives the word of a soldier, Padre," remarked Don
Ruy, "and it may be a true word. Why not give the gifts, and let us
see somewhat of the feast from which we have won these dignitaries?"
Padre Vicente was agreed, and spoke a few words to José who departed
with his wife for the camp. The priest gave tobacco, and while the old
men smoked the new medicine, he talked to Ka-yemo of the one religion,
and the one God, and that the great new god gave the command to his
priests to go into the far lands and carry the light of the faith to
his children who live in darkness.
Ka-yemo interpreted, and the old men nodded their heads as if to say
that was all good--but it was not told for the first time, and Don Ruy
could have sworn he saw the governor of Kah-po smile at another
man--as one who would question whether they should be considered as
children. Don Ruy did not know that one man of Kah-po had been among
the two hundred human torches making the night bright at Tiguex by
order of advocates of that same new and holy god.
The summers and winters since that time had not made it all forgotten
in the land of the great river. To the Indian mind in general, it was
plain to be seen that the strong god of the men of iron required that
many victims be made sacrifice at one time. The gods of the Te-hua
people asked but one sacrifice at one time, and the knife of flint was
very sharp, and found quickly the heart, and the spirit self was sent
quickly and with prayers over the trail of the dusk to the Light
beyond the light.
Ka-yemo alone seemed enchained by the words of the priest, as he heard
again the words and phrases belonging to that time of which he still
dreamed in the night, and awoke startled and alert.
Yahn watched him with a little frown. She did not know that the
strongest power ever impressed on his boyish mind, had been the power
of the white conquerors. He had through the years grown away from its
influence, but at sight of the robe, and the cord, and the shiny black
beads, it all came back. He felt the honor of the fact that the priest
of that strong god was looking at, and talking only to him:--Ka-yemo!
His pride made his eyes kindle and he was very handsome. Don Ruy
wondered why Yahn, his own official interpreter, looked at him
sideways with disapproval.
José returned with his hands full of the gifts for which he had been
sent. There was one for each of the men in the group, and the people
of the village pressed close around the door to see them given away.
Then Padre Vicente stood up and offered to the governor of Povi-whah a
rosary like his own, but of brown beads.
"They tell me that to you requests are made as prayers are made, and
that from you they are given again to the Cacique for decision. We
present our request and our gift. Tell him the gift is one kings have
been graciously pleased to wear, and that our request is that he meet
us at an early hour, that we may speak in kindness of many things."
"Tahn-té--you call Cacique--is not yet speaking with people out of his
order," said Phen-tza, the governor. "But this can go, and the message
can go, and on another day Tahn-té may ask you to go in his door."
Then there were clasping of hands, and friendly smiles and the
visitors were free to go or wander about the village, and watch the
greetings of José and the comrades of his boyhood. His wife Ysobel was
caressed and admired by the ancient women of the tribe, and a garland
of flowers placed on her head. At sun rise in the morning she was to
present herself at the door of her new relatives for the baptism of
adoption, and then she would be given also a Te-hua name.
Padre Vicente and the Castilians were offered an empty abode outside
the wall. Despite the scowls of the Ka-yemo Yahn delighted to linger
close as might be to Juan Gonzalvo while they all walked to inspect
it. Then the Castilian camp with its wondrous animals was to be
visited by the governor and other Te-hua men, and great good feeling
prevailed. The wise ecclesiastical head of the cavalcade had asked
nothing but gracious thoughts, and the gifts he brought had been good
gifts.
Don Ruy with the secretary, let who might judge of the new camp, while
he wandered in some surprise past the door ways decked with feast day
garlands--and above certain ones were pendent bits of turquoise as if
for ceremonial marking of some order or some clan, and instead of the
blanket or arras there were long reeds strung, and at the end of each
string a beaten twist of copper twinkling like bells when stirred by
any one entering or leaving the dwelling.
The dwelling of the dove cotes had a tiny inside verandah, and one of
the curious robes woven of twisted rabbit skins was laid over a beam.
Great meal jars stood along the wall, and beside them were four
melons, four full grained heads of the bearded wheat, also four
peaches and four pears. They were arranged on a great tray of woven
reeds, and placed without the doorway to the right. The careful
arrangement gave all significance of an offering of the first fruits
on an alter. All the other homes had feasting and laughter and the
sound of gaity and much life; at every other door many smiling faces
of old women and children met them, and the rolls of feast bread were
offered, or bowls of cooked corn. But here all was silence, only the
doves fluttering above gave life to the place. The reeds at the
entrance hung straight and still. This entrance faced the south, but
there was another towards the east and the river. The mysterious
island of stone called the Mesa of the Hearts, loomed dark across the
water and a beaten path led from that east door to the water's edge.
Don Ruy could see from the bank that a canoe was there made from a log
hollowed by careful burnings.
The silent corner where the doves fluttered, held his attention and he
returned to it. Chico it was who stepped close to the rabbit skin
robe, and saw beside the melons, the ears of wheat, and the yet green,
unripe fruit of the pears and the peaches.
The dried peaches in the jar shown them by the old Te-hua man had not
given either of them a second thought, but the two fruits grown from
trees, and the bearded wheat of the Mediterranean arranged in the
basket with the care given a sacred offering, was a different matter.
Don Ruy noted the staring eyes and parted lips of the boy, and
silently stepped nearer at a gesture.
Then they stared in each others eyes as men who look on death
unexpected, or witchcraft--or some of the experiences of this life for
which there are no words, and Don Ruy laid his hand on the shoulder of
the lad, and drew him in silence out of the shadow of the roofed
entrance.
"It is good to be where the bright sun shows things as they are," he
decided. "The shadows and silence of that place tied the tongue. How
feel you now, Lad, as to the story of Don Teo the Greek and the seeds
that were given to the maid as sacred medicine?"
"But--the man died--so says the padre--and the woman--"
Then they fell silent and each was thinking back over the trails of
the desert, and their company of thirty men--and the care needed to
find the way alive with all the help of provisions and of beasts.
"The woman had a greater journey and a more troublous one,"--said Don
Ruy. "These are clearly the fruits of Spanish gardens, but in some
other way have they reached this land. It was made plain that the
place of the palms where he left her was unknown leagues towards the
western sea, and that the maid could only die in the desert."
"He crossed this river in his travels before he saw the Indian maid of
medicine charms," reminded the secretary. "Do you not recall the
journeys with the war people? He may have bestowed upon others the
seeds of other lands."
Don Ruy drew a long breath, and then laughed.
"By our Lady!--You bring joy with that thought!" he said heartily.--"I
made sure the Devil was alive and was working ahead on our trail when
my eyes were startled by the offering of fruit and grain! You looked
as if it might be your own hair was rising to stand alone! We are but
children in the dark, Chico, and there come times when we have fear.
But your thought is the right thought, lad. Of a certainty he crossed
this country; that there is no record is not so strange a thing--he
was only another brown savage among many!"
They spoke together of the strangeness of their findings in the
village--and its exceeding good arrangement with ladders to draw above
in case of attack, and only one house--that of the doves and the
fruit--into which one could walk from the court. All the others were
as in the other villages--terraces, and the first terrace had doors
only in the roof so that a blank adobe wall faced the court and the
curious. Each great house with rooms by the score, and its height from
two to five stories, was the home of many, and a fort in case of
need.
While they commented on these things, two men came running swiftly
through the gate from the Castilian camp. One was José, and it was
Po-tzah who ran beside him. They went straight to the house of the
dove cote, and José waited without while, after a few eager hurried
words, the other slipped behind the twinkling arras of river reeds and
shells.
"What now?" asked Don Ruy coming up, and José showed fear at first and
then spoke.
"It is your own horse to which it has happened, Excellency," he said.
"The padre say it is not the fault of any one, for the bush is high
there, and who could see through them? But it is the snake--the one
you say has the castanets in the tail, and it has put the poison in
the foot of your horse!"
Don Ruy swore an oath that was half a prayer, and the pert secretary
did the first thing that was familiar since he was seen with the
company--he laid his hand on Don Ruy's shoulder and felt that the
horse lost was as a brother lost, and Chico had a fancy of his own to
caress it, and even burnish the silver of his bridle.
"And--why come you here to this house?"
"Here is the one man who knows the ways of the snake--if he is not in
prayer they think he may come--but not any man can know what the
Po-Ahtun-ho may do--and the horse beautiful may die on our first day
in Povi-whah!"
But the reeds with their copper and shell tassels tinkled, and Don Ruy
looked to see the old medicine man of spells and charms come forth.
He saw a man young as himself and more tall. Almost naked he was, with
only the white banda in which was a blue bird's feather--the girdle
and moccasins. One glance he gave Don Ruy and his companion, bent his
head ever so little in acknowledgement of their presence, and then ran
beside his friend Po-tzah with the easy stride of the trained runner.
Whatever his knowledge of the snake might be, he waited for no words,
but moved quickly.
Many men were about the animal and Don Diego had bound tightly a cord
of rawhide about the knee, and water was being poured on the foot. But
Te-hua and Castilian alike stood aside as the swift nude figure came
among them--and without word or question went straight to the hurt
animal.
The other natives had approached the four-footed creatures with a
certain curiosity--if not awe, and there had been more than a little
scattering of prayer meal when the mules were hobbled. The braying of
one of them had caused terror in the hearts of the older men.
But this man took no heed of the groups of men or of animals. He led
the injured steed out of the pool of water, and with a knife of the
black flint cut the bandage--to the extreme distaste of Don Diego, who
had been chief surgeon.
Then, still without words to the people, he did a strange thing, for
he knelt there on the ground and leaned his shoulder against the leg
of the horse, and slipped slowly, slowly down until his cheek touched
the pastern, and his strong slender hands slid downward again and
again over the leg of the animal while his lips moved as though in
whispered speech to the ground itself.
No man spoke for a long time, but some of the elder men cast prayer
meal that it fell on the kneeling savage and on the horse, and the
animal reached down and rubbed its nose on his shoulder as if he had
been its well known and long belovéd master.
Curious were all the Castilians, but Juan Gonzalvo, who had spent time
in speech with Yahn Tsyn-deh, was more than curious. Like a tiger cat
above its prey he stood frowning at the silent "medicine" of the naked
worker in devilish arts.
Then the kneeling man arose and spoke in Castilian.
"It is good," he said. "It is done," but he did not lift his eyes from
the ground. The task of some prayer was yet unfinished--and he turned
again towards his home and walked swiftly and the horse followed him
until Juan Gonzalvo caught it and gave careful heed to the stricken
foot, and could see no sign where the swelling should be.
"It is big medicine," said the Te-hua men. "Now our brothers, the
strangers have seen that our god is strong and our men to work are
strong."
"It is sorcery of the devil," said Juan Gonzalvo. "Some medicine he
had in his hands--some medicine we could not see. No physician in all
Europe has skill to cure by such magic. Is it like that a naked savage
should know more than the learned professors?"
"No:--it is not to be believed," assented Don Ruy--"but thanks to the
Saints it is true for all that!--and that silent youth is after all
Tahn-té the Cacique!"
"No--" said Padre Vicente with decision--"the sooner that office is no
longer his the sooner do we arrive at that which brought us here. That
is Tahn-té the worker in accursed red magic--Tahn-té the sorcerer!"