at the principal table, with an occasional knife and fork at the
sideboard for the _Twenty-ninth of February_.
"I should have told you that cards of invitation had been issued. The
carriers were the _Hours_, twelve little merry whirligig foot-pages, as
you should desire to see, that went all around and found out the persons
invited well enough, with the exception of _Easter Day_, _Shrove
Tuesday_, and a few such movables who had lately shifted their quarters.
"'Well, they all met at last--foul _Days_, fine _Days_, all sorts of
_Days_--and a rare din they made of it.'
"Now, grandma," exclaimed Maud, slamming the book together, "that's
enough to give you the idea. Our cards of invitation were decorated,
some with hour-glasses, others with clocks or watches, and all stating
the day the receiver was to represent. Example: Costume, May Day. Those
who didn't understand asked me what was meant; others again told each
other, and some did not need any information, as the invitation was
called 'A Charles Lamb Party.' From what I have read, you will
understand that no masks were worn.
"Oh, it was so unique and so pretty, and mamma and I had lots of fun
selecting the days for each guest! Of course we couldn't have 365
people--our house isn't big enough--so we only had a few Lenten Days,
and while all the months were represented, we didn't have every day of
the month.
"April-fools' Day was so funny! Oh, grandma, how you would have laughed
had you but seen her! She came prepared with all sorts of jokes; one of
them was some bits of wood covered with chocolate, which she passed off
on her friends as chocolate caramels."
"How was she dressed, Maud?"
"She wore a brown domino, and a blue paper fool's-cap; and such a sight!
Why, it nearly reached the ceiling, it was so tall! I don't see how she
managed to balance it. And on her back, in big letters cut out of red
calico, were the words, 'April Fool.' Oh, she made lots of fun, I tell
you!
"At supper-time she played a most unexpected joke, for she threw aside
cap and domino, and was just the sweetest thing I ever saw, dressed in
pale pink silk embroidered with forget-me-nots. You know she _is_ sweet
anyway, grandma."
"I don't know who you are talking about."
"That's true; why, Alice Douglass!"
"Yes, she is sweet, and pretty too. She has such beautiful hair. What Day
were you, Maud?"
"I was St. Valentine's Day. I wore rose color, because it is love's own
color, and I had several tiny valentines basted on my dress. We had a
game during the evening, and I used them as prizes. They were considered
valuable souvenirs too, I can assure you. There was no one in the room
but who would like to have gotten one.
[Illustration]
"Mitchell Morgan was Christmas Day, and he did it to perfection. You
know he has the same jolly face that Santa Claus has, and he copied him
to the smallest detail, even to the bells, sled, and pack of presents.
Of course these were cheap toys. I cannot help being sorry, though, we
had such good times, and you weren't in them. Maybe some vacation I'll
have one again. Papa thinks it would be just the thing to give in a barn
in summer-time.
"The longest boy I knew I had represent the 21st day of June, and the
shortest one the 22d of December.
"Rainy Days came in with water-proofs and umbrellas, and would even
pretend they were dripping wet and shaking the drops off, while Sunshiny
Days looked merry and jolly, and were dressed in all the colors
imaginable; some of the girls carried summer flowers as wreaths or
garlands, while others had their frocks trimmed with them.
[Illustration]
"But you should have seen the Wedding Day. She was the youngest girl
invited. Her mother made her a white satin gown with a long train,
embroidered with beads and flounced with lace. She wore a white veil
which trained with her dress, and carried a big bouquet fastened with
white satin ribbon with flowing streamers, exactly the same as a bride
would have. I tell you we all clapped when she entered.
"One boy represented Pay Day, who came late, as he always does; another
was May the 1st, and he pretended to be moving all the while, and
besides all the Days who came to my party, there came lots of goodies to
eat--some very old-fashioned refreshments, such as mamma used to have
when she gave a party, she said; and we played games, danced, and sung,
and had the jolliest time. No one wanted to go home. It wasn't one bit
like an ordinary party.
"Was it anything like what you had when you was a girl, grandma?"
THE PAINTED DESERT.[1]
[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 904.
A STORY OF NORTHERN ARIZONA.
BY KIRK MUNROE,
AUTHOR OF "RICK DALE," "THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH," "SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES,"
"THE MATE SERIES," ETC.
CHAPTER IX.
HOW THE VALLEY OF PEACE WAS DISCOVERED.
On the evening of the day that had introduced Todd Chalmers to the modern
cliff-dwellers of the Valley of Peace, he and they gathered about a
cheerful fire burning on the open hearth of the castle, and the
Professor gave him a history of their coming to that place as follows:
"It is now twelve years since I filled the chair of Biblical Literature
and American Ethnology in Calvert College. About that time I was
confronted by certain problems that could only be solved by a visit to
the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, in which, as thee doubtless
knows, the manner of life remains to-day practically unchanged from what
it was at the time of their discovery by the Spaniards. Through the
liberality of thy father were the means for making such a visit
furnished.
"Apprehending no danger, I brought with me my wife and my only son
Reuben, a well-grown lad of eighteen. We travelled from Albuquerque in a
light wagon drawn by two stout mules, and provided with all necessaries
for our comfort. Everything went well with us until after we left Zuñi
for the Moqui towns of northeastern Arizona, 'the seven cities of
Cibola,' as they were named by the Spaniards. Toward them we travelled
in company with two Mexican traders who, though they had never visited
the Moqui towns, thought they knew the way.
"The Mexicans proved unreliable guides, however, and by the time we
crossed the Flax River had managed to lead us from the trail. Still, we
believed ourselves to be moving in the right direction, and pushed on,
though the country became more and more desolate with every mile.
"Toward evening of the day on which we crossed the river our wagon was
halted by the breaking of a piece of harness, and the Mexicans, keeping
on, were quickly lost to view behind a rise of ground. I soon had the
harness mended, and Reuben, who was mounted on a saddle-horse, rode
ahead to catch sight of our companions before they should gain too great
a distance.
[Illustration: "INDIANS ON THE WAR-PATH!" HE SHOUTED.]
"I followed with all speed, but had not passed the rise when the lad
came dashing madly back, shouting: 'Indians! Indians on the war-path!'
In another minute he had told his story. A band of Apaches who had
broken from their reservation had killed the Mexicans, and were busily
engaged in examining their bales of goods. They were so surprised by
Reuben's approach that they could only let fly a few arrows as he turned
and fled. Being on foot, they pursued him but a short distance; but one
of their arrows had struck him and passed through his body, inflicting a
most dangerous wound.
"I got him into the wagon, and then, not knowing what better to do,
turned it at right angles to the course we had been pursuing, with the
idea of making a circuit around the Indians. After that I hoped to
regain our original direction, for I knew that in reaching the Moqui
towns lay our only hope of safety.
"For three days we wandered over the burning sands and amid the magic
paintings of the desert, while our poor lad suffered agonies from his
wound. By nightfall of the third day, our horse having already given out
and been abandoned, the mules were too weak to travel another step, and
I turned them loose to die. One staggered but a few yards before he
fell, while the other wandered feebly out of sight.
"That night, amid the crashings of a thunder-storm, our poor boy was
mercifully relieved of his sufferings by death, and our only comfort was
that we should shortly follow him. But we were to be reserved for
further work, and even as we sat with our dead, the cry of one who was
to save us was borne to our ears. I stepped from the wagon to listen,
and by a flash of lightning saw the figure of a little child standing
beside a dark object that lay on the ground. This proved to be an Indian
woman, alive and conscious, but too feeble to rise.
"Believing her to be starving, I carried her food, which both she and
the child ate ravenously, and by daylight she was able to come to us. By
signs I tried to learn from her if any of her people dwelt so near that
we might hope to reach them; but she gave me to understand that she was
lost, and knew not in what direction they might be found. The child, who
was no other than this dear boy"--here the speaker laid his hand
lovingly on Nanahe's shoulder--"was in so much better plight than his
mother that she had evidently sacrificed her own strength to save his.
"Months afterward we learned that she had been the Moqui wife of a
Navajo brave, who had died shortly before our meeting with her. She had
hardly been left a widow when a party of Navajos decided to make a raid
on the flocks of their Moqui neighbors, and demanded that she should
guide them to the best locality for their purpose. This, in spite of all
threats, she refused to do, whereupon they drove her with her child into
the desert, which they regarded as the place of lost spirits, forbidding
her ever to return, under penalty of torture to her child and death for
herself. So she, like ourselves, had wandered hopelessly until she had
discovered the dying mule that I had turned loose, and followed his
trail to our vicinity. From the first I called her Hagar.
"All the previous day we had been slowly approaching a great white mesa
toward which, without special reason, I had directed our course. Now we
were close beside it, and I conceived the idea that at its base we might
find some shaded crevice in which to lay our dead boy. At any rate, I
could better bear to leave him there than out on the pitiless desert. So
with mother's aid and that of Hagar, I finally succeeded in bearing him
to the place I desired. We found a deep cool recess in the rocky wall,
and there laying him down, rested for a while before undertaking to
complete our sad task.
"We were in so pitiable a plight from weakness and our recent exertions
that the woman Hagar seemed to have lapsed into unconsciousness, and
allowed her child to wander unnoticed from her side. All at once there
came from him a shrill cry, accompanied by a muffled crash from the
inner end of the recess, to which he had penetrated. Hagar sprang to her
feet and sped toward the sound, while I followed close after. We found
the little one lying unharmed at the foot of a rocky slope, while just
beyond, as though it had leaped over him, lay a bowlder apparently newly
fallen from above.
"Glancing up in the direction from which it must have come, I was amazed
to perceive a ray of light shining from beyond the barrier. Cautiously
making my way up the slope, I discovered the light to shine through a
small opening caused by the displacement of the bowlder already
mentioned. Looking through this as through a window, I beheld a sight so
marvellous that for a time I could not believe in its reality. I need
not attempt to describe it to thee, Todd Chalmers, for thee is already
familiar with the aspect of the Valley of Peace, and can judge of my
feelings at coming thus unexpectedly upon it.
"Soon after we discovered a ruined hut of stone that told of former
human occupancy of the valley, and, as it stood near a stream, we
lighted our fire close beside it. Taking Hagar with me, and again
visiting the wagon, we brought back a number of things most needful for
immediate use. Among them was a fowling-piece, which was the only
firearm that I possessed. With this I fired at and killed a rabbit that
regarded us from a short distance without the least trace of fear. The
effect of that shot was prodigious. It roared and echoed among the
cliffs like a thousand thunders, and caused the appearance of such an
amount of animal life as satisfied me that we were in no danger of
starving so long as we should remain in the valley.
"After a supper of stewed rabbit, thin cakes of cornmeal that Hagar
deftly baked on the heated surface of a flat stone, and tea, the Indian
woman and I made one more trip to the wagon, from which we brought in
all our bedding. Then, after collecting a sufficient supply of firewood
to last until morning, we sought our rude couches, and prepared to pass
our first night in the wonderful place to which we had been so strangely
led.
"The next day we brought in all our effects from the wagon, cleaned out
the old hut, rebuilt its walls, chimney, and fireplace, and stretching
our wagon cover above it, found ourselves comfortably housed. In all
this work Hagar proved herself invaluable, knowing much better than I
how to handle clay and building stones, while even little Nanahe,
working under his mother's direction, willingly performed such light
tasks as came within the limit of his strength."
CHAPTER X.
MODERN LIFE IN AN ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLING.
"No sooner was our work on the hut completed," continued the Professor,
"than I determined to make an exploration of the valley, for I had yet
to learn of its size, what it produced, whether it contained any
inhabitants besides ourselves, and if there was any entrance to it other
than the one by which we had come. So, after an early breakfast, I set
off down the stream that flowed past our camp, carrying the
fowling-piece over my shoulder.
"As I advanced, the fertility of the soil was a constant source of
delight, for it not only produced a heavy growth of grasses, besides the
useful amole, or soap-root, and many other plants, but a great variety
of trees, among which I recognized cottonwood, cedar, the piñon or
nut-bearing pine, and peach-trees that had run wild from some long-ago
planting. These last showed the valley to have been visited by human
beings since the coming of Spaniards to this country, for by them were
peaches introduced. I also found an abundance of cotton-plants with full
bolls, which, though small in size from lack of cultivation, would yield
a serviceable fibre. No trace of human beings was to be seen save the
ancient ruins of a few huts, together with mounds of broken pottery and
stone implements of every description.
"When late in the day I regained camp, almost my first greeting from
mother was, 'Whatever thee has discovered, Rufus, I am persuaded that we
who remained behind have found something of still greater value.'
"Then she told me how, with the keen instinct of her race for such
things, Hagar, while gathering pine-nuts, had run across a trail leading
up the face of the cliffs, and had followed it to this very place.
Mother had also climbed to the platform, taken a hasty glance at its
marvels, and then, leaving Hagar and the child up there, had returned to
meet me, and conduct me to the wonderful place they had found.
"Smiling at her excitement, for I could not then realize the value of
the discovery, I followed her up the steep acclivity, wondering at her
endurance, especially when we came to the last fifteen feet of
perpendicular steps. When we finally gained the place where Hagar
smilingly awaited us, I was amazed at the width of the platform and the
extent of the view to be obtained from it. I longed for the spy-glass
which had formed part of the equipment of our wagon, and which had been
left in the hut. I even proposed to return and get it, thinking that the
platform and view from it embraced the whole of Hagar's discovery. At
that mother interfered, and saying that she had something of much
greater importance than a view to show me, directed my attention to the
further end of the platform. Then for the first time I became aware of a
small house occupying the entire space beneath a jutting of the cliff.
"It was built of stone, so deftly laid and so colored by time that even
a short distance away it could not be distinguished from the adjacent
rock. From the shape of its doorway, which was thus"--here the Professor
traced a rude diagram in the ashes of the hearth--"but which we
afterward altered to suit our own notions, I knew that the structure was
a cliff-dwelling of the most ancient pattern.
"In an instant I was as excited as mother, though with a different
reason, for this was the very type of dwelling I had been most anxious
to study, and if it should prove to have remained unvisited since its
abandonment, my fondest hopes of discovery would be fulfilled. Nor was I
disappointed, for an examination of the interior revealed a profusion of
unbroken pottery, implements of stone, horn, and bone, pictographs or
rude drawings on the walls, agate and jasper fragments of fossil trees,
such as I had noticed in abundance at the lower end of the valley, and
many other things, all in such a fine state of preservation as gave
instant proof that here was a treasure not yet duplicated in America.
"Over all these things and on the floor the dust of ages lay thick, and
rose in suffocating clouds with our every movement. Heedless of it, I
penetrated each of the three rooms contained in the house, wild with
delight over what I saw. I was somewhat taken aback when I found that
mother, who had seemed to share my enthusiasm, was all this time
regarding the place with the eye of a housewife, and as one in which we
might establish a home for such time as we should remain in the valley.
Finally, however, she won me to her way of thinking, and though we
returned to the camp for that night, we set to work early the next day
to put 'Cliff Castle,' as mother called it, in a habitable condition.
"On my second visit to it I discovered the steps leading to the top of
the mesa and the ruined watch-tower that crowns it. There I also found a
rock cistern, and a broken conduit, that could be opened at pleasure, by
which its waters had formerly been conveyed to the house. This, with
Hagar's skilled assistance, I soon repaired, and by nightfall of that
day we had the ancient cliff dwelling cleansed and ready for occupancy.
Another day was necessary for the removal of such goods as we needed
from below, but with that accomplished, we were comfortably settled in
what has been from that day to this our home.
"Of course much has been done to it since then in the way of
enlargement, the making of a more generous provision for light and
ventilation, and in the adding of many comforts, but in its general
aspect Cliff Castle stands to-day unchanged from the time it was built,
many centuries before the continent of America was discovered by
Columbus.
"Although so long as my meagre supply of ammunition lasted I had no
difficulty in procuring all the meat needed for our table, a supply that
Nanahe has kept up since by means of his throw-stick, I began the making
of a field as soon as our dwelling was put in order. My greatest labor
lay in fencing this against goats and rabbits. When it was ready I
planted it with corn, oats, beans, and squashes, the seed for which were
yielded by a bag of feed for our poor mules that I had procured in Zuñi.
I also set out peach-trees and grape-vines, improving greatly the
quality of their fruit by cultivation, and a little later I captured two
young goats, from which our present domestic flock has been reared.
"In all our labors, both mine in the field and mother's in the house,
Hagar was our invaluable assistant and instructor. She it was who taught
me to use the ancient stone hoes and planting sticks of my remote
predecessors, to construct wattled fences, to cure meat so that it might
be kept, and to work in clay until I could produce rude but serviceable
articles of pottery. She taught mother how to spin cotton thread on the
stone spindles that we found in this and other cliff dwellings, and
afterwards to weave them into a coarse cloth on a rude loom that she
herself constructed.
"She gave lessons in making matting of yucca fibre, in plaiting baskets,
dressing hides, and in sewing rabbit-skins with bone needles. Before we
began to harvest our planted crops, she gathered up large quantities of
certain grass-seeds, ground them into flour on old stone metates, and
made of this a palatable bread. She taught us where to look for wasp
honey, as well as how to extract sugar from grapes and peaches.
"I discovered the deposit of salt that seasons our food, and the
selenite that, cleaved into thin sheets, serves instead of glass to
close our windows against the cold of winter; but nearly every other
comfort with which thee finds us surrounded we owe to the knowledge,
skill, and cheerful industry of that splendid woman. She remained with
us nearly two years. Then, with her life work nobly accomplished, she
left us, and we buried her beside our dear boy.
"Since then Nanahe has been as our own well-loved son, bravely filling
his mother's place. With his increasing strength he has gradually
assumed the duties that my failing powers have caused me to relinquish,
until now he is our mainstay and dependence, as well as the delight of
our declining years. He has been quick to learn all that I could teach
him, and is fitted for a wider sphere of activity than that in which he
now moves. But I know not how we could exist without him, nor how he
might gain the outer world, even though we knew in what direction lay
its most accessible point.
"In all these years I have not been able to determine our locality nor
our distance from any known place, nor have we been visited by any human
being beside thyself since coming to the valley. On account of the
marvellous coloring of the desolate region surrounding us I have called
it the Painted Desert, though I am not certain that the name originated
with me, for I have a dim memory of hearing it before. I cannot satisfy
myself, however, as to whether the Moqui towns lie to the east or the
west of us. I am of the former opinion, but Nanahe, for some reason,
inclines to the latter. At the same time, neither of us can form any
idea of how far away they may be."
"I do not know," said Todd, "for I am very much ashamed to say that I
was so filled with visions of hunting as to neglect my opportunities for
gaining profitable information while with my brother's expedition. I
too, however, am of the opinion, that the Moqui towns lie to the
eastward of this place. Nor do I think they can be at any great
distance, certainly no further than two active young chaps such as
Nanahe and I might cover without danger during a time of rains. Don't
you think, sir, that we might make the attempt?" concluded the boy,
eagerly.
"What does thee think would become of mother and me if thee should take
Nanahe from us?" asked the old man.
"We would only be gone a short time, and would return with such
assistance as would enable you also to rejoin the world from which you
have been cut off so long," replied Todd.
"My son, when first we came here I too was impatient of imprisonment,
and fretted against it; but since then I have come to a knowledge that,
with our present freedom from the cares and anxieties of the world, our
life is happier here than it could possibly be elsewhere. More than
that, this place is our home, which we have learned so to love that
mother and I hope never to leave it, save for the better land of our
Father. I would not seek to detain thee here one moment against thy
will, nor would I hinder the departure of Nanahe if I knew of a way for
his going and an object to be gained. At present neither of these seems
to be offered; but in the Lord's own time, if it be His will, they are
certain to come, and until then we must be content to await His
pleasure. Therefore, my dear lad, satisfy thyself as well as may be in
this place, gain from it whatever of health, strength, and knowledge
thee can, and have faith to believe that in due time a way of escape
will be opened to thee."