THE WATCHMAN OF THE DEAD
Oliver Drew knew that the Mona Fiesta would be held by the Showut
Poche-dakas when the July moon was full. The Mona Fiesta was the tribal
"Feast of the Dead." It was purely an Indian rite, unmixed with any
ceremonies incident to the feast days of the Catholic saints, as were
most other celebrations. Consequently, while the whites were not
definitely prohibited from being spectators, they were not invited to
attend. They often went out of curiosity, Oliver had been told by
Jessamy, but always they observed from a respectful distance and went
unnoticed by the worshippers.
The underlying principle of the Feast of the Dead was ancestor worship,
in which all of the Pauba Tribes were particularly devout. Jessamy told
Oliver that she had witnessed the ceremony once from a distance, but
that, as it occurred at night, she had seen little of what was taking
place.
Oliver had wondered that he had received no message from old Chupurosa
Hatchinguish after the night of the fire dance. He was now a member of
the tribe, he supposed, but all actual contact with his new-found
brethren seemed to have ceased when he rode away from the fiesta. The
mystery of why he was in this country hung on his connection with the
Showut Poche-dakas. He was impatient to get in closer touch with the
wrinkled old chief and bring matters to a head.
And now another feast day was close at hand. In two more nights a full
moon would shower its radiance over the land of the Poison Oakers. He
had received no word, no intimation that he would be wanted at the
reservation for the Mona Fiesta. Whites were excluded, he knew; but,
then, he was now a brother of the Showut Poche-dakas, and he hoped
against hope that he would be commanded to appear.
But the two intervening days went by, and the evening of the celebration
was at hand, with no one having arrived to bid him come.
He was seated on his little porch that evening, listening to the night
sounds of chaparral and forest, as the moon edged its big round face
over the hill and smiled at him. He was thinking half of Jessamy, half
of an article that he had planned to write. Two fair-sized checks for
previous work had reached him that week, and he was beginning to have
visions of a future.
In a pine tree close at hand an owl asked: "Who? Who? Who--o-o-o?" in
doleful tones. From a distant hilltop came the derisive, outlaw laughter
of coyotes. A big toad hopped on the porch, blinked at the man in the
moonlight, and then started ponderously for his door. Oliver rose and
with his foot turned him twice, but the toad corrected his course
immediately and seemed determined to enter the house willy-nilly.
"But I don't want you in there," Oliver protested boyishly. "I might
step on you in the dark, or accidentally put my hand on your old cold
back."
He closed the door, and the toad hopped on the threshold, as if resolved
to await his chance for a strategic entrance.
"All right," said Oliver. "Sit there! When I'm ready to go in I'll climb
through a window. You are not going into that house!"
He laughed at himself. His was a lonesome life when he was not with
Jessamy; and, always a lover of every living thing that God has created,
he had made friends with the wild life that moved about his cabin, so
that toads and lizards, birds and squirrels looked to him for food and
had no fear of him.
He sat puffing at his pipe and giving the obstinate toad blink for
blink, when there came to his ears strange sounds from up the lonely
canyon.
At first he imagined they were made by roving cattle, then he recognized
the ring of shod hoofs on the stones in the trail. Then voices. And
presently he knew that many horsemen were riding toward the cabin--a
veritable cavalcade.
He rose from his chair and stood listening, not without a feeling of
apprehension. As the concerted thudding of many hoofs drew closer and
closer he ran into the cabin and strapped on his six-shooter. He had
been at a complete loss to interpret Old Man Selden's later attitude
toward him, and was wary of a trap. The sounds he heard could mean
nothing to him except that the Poison Oakers were at last riding upon
him to begin their raid.
Suddenly from the other direction came the clattering hoofbeats of a
single galloping horse. Silvery under the magic light of the moon, a
white horse burst into view, galloping over a little rise to the south.
It carried a rider. Now came a familiar "Who-hoo!" And Jessamy Selden
soon was bending from her saddle at the cabin door.
"Thank goodness, I'm in time!" she said. "I didn't know when they would
start, and I waited too long."
"What in the mischief are you doing in the saddle this time of night?"
he demanded.
"Oh, that's nothing! I get out of bed sometimes and saddle up for a
moonlight ride. I love it."
"But--"
"Here they come! I wanted to get here ahead of them and warn you to
pretend you were expecting them. You're--you're supposed to know."
"I'm supposed to know what?"
"About the Mona Fiesta. It's to be observed here on the Old Ivison
Place. It always is. And--and you're supposed to know it."
"How explicit you aren't! Well, what--"
"Sh! There they are! I can't explain now."
Oliver's thoughts were moving swiftly, and he did not put them aside
even when he saw his gate being opened to a large company of horsemen.
"I've got you," he said. "Your little attempt at subterfuge has failed
again. Those are the Showut Poche-dakas coming?"
She nodded in her slow, emphatic manner.
"Uh-huh! I see. And you might have told me many days ago that they would
come. And if that isn't so, you could have got here much earlier tonight
to warn me in time. But that would have given me an opportunity to
question you, and this you didn't want. So you waited till they were
almost upon me, then made a Sheridan dash to warn me, when there would
be no time to answer embarrassing questions. Pretty clever, sister! But
you see I'm dead on to your little game."
Her laugh was as near to a giggle as he had ever heard from her.
"You're a master analyst," she praised. "I'll 'fess up. It's just as you
say. You know my nature makes it necessary for me to dodge direct
issues, where your mystery is concerned. But they're right on us--go out
and meet 'em."
"You'll wait?"
"Sure."
The foremost riders of the long cavalcade were now abreast the cabin,
and Oliver Drew stepped toward them as they halted their ponies.
The strong light of the full moon was sufficient to reveal the
wrinkled-leather skin of old Chupurosa Hatchinguish, who rode in the
lead, sitting his blanketed horse as straight as a buck of twenty years.
Oliver reached him and held out a hand.
"Welcome to the Hummingbird," he said in Spanish.
"Greetings," returned the old man, solemnly taking the offered hand.
"The July moon is in the full, brother, and I have brought the Showut
Poche-dakas for the yearly Mona Fiesta to the spot where our fathers
worshipped since a time when no man can remember."
"Thou art welcome," said Oliver again, entirely lost as to just what was
expected of him.
Chupurosa left the blanket which he used as a saddle. It was the signal
for all to dismount, and like a troop of cavalry the Showut Poche-dakas
left their horses. They tied them to fenceposts and trees out of respect
for the landowner's rights in the matter of grass.
"Is all in readiness?" asked the ancient chief.
"Er--" Oliver paused.
A hand gripped his arm. "Yes," Jessamy's voice breathed in his ear.
"All is in readiness," said Oliver promptly.
Jessamy then stepped forward and offered her hand to Chupurosa.
"Hello, my Hummingbird!" she caroled mischievously in English.
"The light of the moon takes nothing from the Senorita's loveliness,"
said the old man gallantly.
By this time the Showut Poche-dakas had formed a semicircle before the
cabin.
"Let us proceed to the Mona Fiesta," said Chupurosa. "Let the son of Dan
Smeed lead the way."
Over this strange new designation Oliver was given no time for thought;
for instantly Jessamy laid a firm grip above his elbow and led him to
the pasture gate. The Showut Poche-dakas followed at the heels of
Jessamy's mare.
"Don't worry," the girl whispered into Oliver's ear. "Nothing much will
be required of you. Just try to appear as if you know all about it, and
had attended to the preliminaries yourself."
"Yes, yes," said Oliver dazedly, his mind now in a whirl.
She led him across the pasture in the direction from which she had
ridden so unexpectedly to the cabin. They reached a little _arroyo_, and
down it they turned to the creekbed. They crossed the watercourse and
turned down it. Presently they entered a cluster of pines and spruce
trees, which was close to what Oliver called The Four Pools.
In succession, four deep depressions in the bedrock of the creekbed were
ranged, and each held clear, cool water, fed by an undiscovered spring,
though the creek proper was now entirely dry. In the bedrock about these
pools Oliver had previously noted several round holes the size of a
half-bushel measure. These were _morteros_, he knew--the mortars in
which the California Indians pound acorns in the making of the dish
_bellota_. He had often speculated on the probable antiquity of these
_morteros_, and had dreamed of early-day scenes enacted there and about
them.
There was a circular open space in the midst of the tall, whispering
trees. Just above this spot, up the steep hillside, he had lain in the
prospect hole and watched Digger Foss spying on the cabin down below,
while Tommy My-Ma hid under the brush and spied on him. Into the open
space in the trees the fearless girl led the way, and there in the
centre of it the moonlight streaming through the branches revealed a
huge pile of brush and wood, arranged as if for a great fire.
She pressed his arm, and they came to a halt. Behind them the Showut
Poche-dakas halted. To Oliver's side stepped Chupurosa, and spoke in the
tongue of the Paubas to a man at his right hand.
This man stepped to the pile of brush and wood and fired it.
As the flames leaped up and licked at the sun-dried fuel the Indians
closed in, and now the light of the fire showed Oliver that there were
women among their number. At the edge of the trees they formed a circle
about the fire, then all of them save Chupurosa squatted on the ground.
And now the firelight brought something else to view. It was nothing
more mysterious than a wooden drygoods box at the foot of one of the
pines, and beside it stood a large red earthen _olla_. What these held
Oliver could not see. He was puzzling over the fact that these simple
arrangements had been made on his land while he sat on his porch two
hundred yards away and smoked, for he had passed this spot early that
evening and it had been as usual then.
The dark-skinned men and women squatted there silently about the fire,
their serious black eyes blinking into it. There was something pathetic
about it all. They were always so serious, so intent, so devout; and
their poor, ragged clothes and bare feet were so evident.
"Join the circle," whispered Jessamy.
Oliver obeyed.
Then Jessamy stepped to Chupurosa, who had been gazing at her silently.
"Good-night, my Hummingbird," she said, and smiled at him.
An answering smile lighted the withered features, and once more the old
man took the girl's slim hand in his.
He dropped it. She turned and vaulted into her saddle. The mare leaped
away over the moonlit pasture. For a time the thudety-thud of her
galloping hoofs floated back, and then came silence.
Amid a continuation of this stillness Chupurosa stepped close to the
fire, now leaping high, and stretched forth his brown, wrinkled hands.
He threw back his head and began speaking softly, directing his voice
aloft. Not a word of what he said was known to Oliver. Gradually his
voice rose, and his tones were guttural, growling. His body swayed from
right to left, but he kept his withered hands outstretched. Presently
tears began trickling down his cheeks, but he continued his prayer, or
address, or invocation, his tears unheeded.
Now one by one his silent listeners began to weep. They wept silently,
and, but for their tears, Oliver would not have realized their deep
emotion. Sometimes they rocked from side to side, but always they
maintained silence and kept their tear-dimmed eyes focused on the
speaker.
Abruptly Chupurosa came to a full stop, backed from the fire, and
squatted on the ground inside the circle. No applause, not a word, no
sign of any nature followed the cessation of his harangue.
Now two young Indians led forth an old, old man. Each of them held one
of his arms. He was stooped and trembly, and his feet dragged pitiably;
and as he neared the fire Oliver saw that he was totally blind.
Never before in his life had the white man seen age so plainly stamped
on human countenance. Oliver had thought Chupurosa old, but he appeared
as a man in the prime of life in comparison with this blind patriarch.
His long hair was white as snow, and this in itself was a mark of
antiquity seldom seen in the race. It was not until long afterward that
Oliver found out that this man was a notable among the Pauba Tribes,
Maquaquish by name--the oldest man among them, a seer, counsellor, and
medicine man whose prophesies and prognostications were forceful in the
regulation of a great portion of the Paubas' lives. He was bareheaded,
barefooted, and wore only blue overalls, a cloth girdle, and a coarse
yellow shirt.
When at a comfortable distance from the fire the trio came to a stop.
The two conductors of the pathetic blind figure knelt promptly on one
knee, one on each side of him. With their bent knees touching behind
him, they gently lowered him until he found the seat which their sinewy
thighs had made for him. There was a few moments' silence, and then he
lifted his trembling hands and began to speak.
Oliver carried no watch, and would not have had the discourtesy to
consult it if he had; but he believed that Maquaquish spoke for two
solid hours without pause. And all this time the two who upheld him on
their knees and steadied him with their hands seemed not to move a
muscle. And not a sound came from the audience beyond an occasional
uncontrollable sob. Maquaquish spoke in hushed tones that blended
strangely with the night sounds of the forest. His physical attitude and
his delivery were those of a story-teller rather than an orator or
preacher; and his listeners hung on every word, their black bead eyes
fixed constantly on his face.
Oliver Drew was dreaming dreams. He would have given all that he had to
be able to interpret what Maquaquish was saying. What strange traditions
was he recalling to their minds? What hidden chapters in the bygone
history of this ancient race? Never was congregation more wrapped up in
a speaker's words. Never were religious zealots more devout. Strange
thoughts filled the white man's mind.
He was roused from his dreaming with a start. Maquaquish had ceased
speaking, and a low chanting sounded about the fire. It grew in volume
as the blind man's escort led him back to his place in the circle. It
grew louder, weirder still, as the two who had aided the seer stepped to
the drygoods box and carried it between them past the fire. As they
walked with it beyond the circle every Indian rose to his feet and
followed slowly. Oliver did likewise, not knowing what else to do.
On the brink of one of the pools the assemblage halted, the firelight
playing over them. From the box its custodians removed bolts of cheap
new calico cloth of many colours. Two of these they unwound, and laid
along the ground, leading away from the edge of the chosen pool.
Then the two slipped out of their clothes and stepped naked into the
water to their waists, where each laid hold of an end of a strip of
calico and stood motionless.
To the edge of the moonlit pool stepped Chupurosa. He extended his hands
over the water and spoke a few sonorous words. As his hands came down
the chanting broke out anew, and now the men in the water began
gathering in the strips of calico, washing the cloth in the water as
they reeled it to them.
At last they finished. The chanting ceased. The two nude men carried the
dripping cloth from the water in bundles. The assemblage filed back to
the dying fire, all but the two who had washed the cloth.
When the Showut Poche-dakas were once more squatting in a circle about
the blaze, one of the two, now dressed, entered the circle with the red
_olla_ filled with water from the pool. This was passed from hand to
hand around the circle, and each one drank from it. When it came to
Oliver he solemnly acted his part, and passed the _olla_ to his
left-hand neighbour.
As the _olla_ finished its round, into the circle danced the two who had
washed the cloth. In their arms they held bolts of dry cloth; and amid
shouts and laughter they threw them into the air, while the feminine
element of the tribe clutched up eagerly at them.
When the last bolt of calico had been thrown and had been captured and
claimed by some delighted squaw, the assemblage, talking and laughing in
an everyday manner, left the Four Pools and started back to their
horses.
The Mona Fiesta was over. Symbolically the clothes of the dead had been
washed. The Showut Poche-dakas had drunk of the water that had cleansed
them. And this was about all that Oliver Drew ever learned of the
significance of the ceremony.
At the cabin Chupurosa waited on his horse until his tribesmen had all
ridden through the gate. Then he leaned over and spoke to Oliver.
"When a year has passed," he said, "and the same moon which we see
tonight again looks down upon us, the Showut Poche-dakas will once more
wash the clothes of the dead and drink of the water. I enjoin thee,
Watchman of the Dead, to have all in readiness once more, as thou hadst
tonight. _Adios_, Watchman of the Dead!"
And he rode off slowly through the moonlight.