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diff --git a/old/toazt10.txt b/old/toazt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed64639 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/toazt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3633 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tales of Aztlan +by George Hartmann + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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+A note about this book: A Maid of Yavapai, the final entry in this +book, is dedicated to SMH. This refers to Sharlot M. Hall, a famous +Arizona settler. The copy of the book that was used to make this +etext is dedicated: With my compliments and a Happy Easter, Apr 5th +1942, To Miss Sharlot M. Hall, from The daughter of the Author, +Carrie S. Allison, Presented March 31st, 1942, Prescott, Arizona. + + +1908 Revised edition + +Memorial +That this volume may serve to keep forever fresh the memory of a +hero, Captain William Owen O'Neill, U. S. V., is the fervent wish of +The Author. + + +CHAPTER I. A FRAIL BARK, TOSSED ON LIFE'S TEMPESTUOUS SEAS + +A native of Germany, I came to the United States soon after the Civil +War, a healthy, strong boy of fifteen years. My destination was a +village on the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, where I had relatives. I +was expected to arrive at Junction City, in the State of Kansas, on a +day of June, 1867, and proceed on my journey with a train of freight +wagons over the famous old Santa Fe trail. + +Junction City was then the terminal point of a railway system which +extended its track westward across the great American plains, over +the virgin prairie, the native haunt of the buffalo and fleet-footed +antelope, the iron horse trespassing on the hunting ground of the +Arapahoe and Comanche Indian tribes. As a mercantile supply depot for +New Mexico and Colorado, Junction City was the port from whence a +numerous fleet of prairie schooners sailed, laden with the +necessities and luxuries of an advancing civilization. But not every +sailor reached his destined port, for many were they who were sent by +the pirates of the plains over unknown trails, to the shores of the +great Beyond, their scalpless bodies left on the prairie, a prey to +vultures and coyotes. + +If the plans of my relatives had developed according to program, this +story would probably not have been told. Indians on the warpath +attacked the wagon train which I was presumed to have joined, a short +distance out from Junction City. They killed and scalped several +teamsters and also a young German traveler; stampeded and drove off a +number of mules and burned up several wagons. This was done while +fording the Arkansas River, near Fort Dodge. I was delayed near +Kansas City under circumstances which preclude the supposition of +chance and indicate a subtle and Inexorably fatal power at work for +the preservation of my life--a force which with the giant tread of +the earthquake devastates countries and lays cities in ruins; that +awful power which on wings of the cyclone slays the innocent babe in +its cradle and harms not the villain, or vice versa; that inscrutable +spirit which creates and lovingly shelters the sparrow over night and +then at dawn hands it to the owl to serve him for his breakfast. Safe +I was under the guidance of the same loving, paternal Providence +which in death delivereth the innocent babe from evil and temptation, +shields the little sparrow from all harm forever, and incidentally +provides thereby for the hungry owl. + +I should have changed cars at Kansas City, but being asleep at the +critical time and overlooked by the conductor, I passed on to a +station beyond the Missouri River. There the conductor aroused me and +put me off the train without ceremony. I was forced to return, and +reached the river without any mishap, as it was a beautiful moonlight +night. I crossed the long bridge with anxiety, for it was a +primitive-looking structure, built on piles, and I had to step from +tie to tie, looking continually down at the swirling waters of the +great, muddy river. As I realized the possibility of meeting a train, +I crossed over it, running. At last I reached the opposite shore. It +was nearly dawn now, and I walked to the only house in sight, a long, +low building of logs and, being very tired, I sat down on the veranda +and soon fell asleep. It was not long after sunrise that a sinister, +evil-looking person, smelling vilely of rum, woke me up roughly and +asked me what I did there. When he learned that I was traveling to +New Mexico and had lost my way, he grew very polite and invited me +into the house. + +We entered a spacious hall, which served as a dining-room, where +eight young ladies were busily engaged arranging tables and +furniture. The man intimated that he kept a hotel and begged the +young ladies to see to my comfort and bade me consider myself as +being at home. The girls were surprised and delighted to meet me and +overwhelmed me with questions. They expressed the greatest concern +and interest when they learned that I was about to cross the plains. + +"Poor little Dutchy," said one, "how could your mother send you out +all alone into the cruel, wide world!" "Mercy, and among the Indians, +too," said another. When I replied that my dear mother had sent me +away because she loved me truly, as she knew that I had a better +chance to prosper in the United States than in the Fatherland, they +called me a cute little chap and smothered me with their kisses. + +The tallest and sweetest of these girls (her name was Rose) pulled my +ears teasingly and asked if her big, little man was not afraid of the +Indians. "Not I, madame," I replied; "for my father charged me to be +honest and loyal, brave and true, and fear not and prove myself a +worthy scion of the noble House of Von Siebeneich." "Oh, my! Oh, my!" +cried the young ladies, and "Did you ever!" and "No, I never!" and +"Who would have thought it!" Regarding me wide-eyed with +astonishment, they listened with bated breath as I explained that I +was a lineal descendant of the Knight Hartmann von Siebeneich, who +achieved everlasting fame through impersonating the Emperor Frederick +(Barbarossa) of Germany, in order to prevent his capture by the +enemy. I told how the commander of the Italian army, inspired with +admiration by the desperate valor of the loyal knight, released him +and did honor him greatly. And how this noble knight, my father's +ancestor, followed the Emperor Frederick to the Holy Land and fought +the Saracens. "And," added I, "my father's great book of heraldry +contains the legend of the curse which fell on our house through the +villainy of the Imperial Grand Chancellor of Blazonry, who was +commanded to devise and procure a brand new heraldic escutcheon for +our family. + +"He blazoned our shield with the ominous motto, 'in der fix, Haben +nix,' over gules d'or on a stony field, which was sown to a harvest +of tares and oats, and embossed with a whirlwind rampant. As they +were in knightly honor bound to live up to the motto on their shield, +my ancestor were doomed to remain poor forever. At last they took +service with the free city of Hamburg, where they settled finally and +became honored citizens." + +Happening to remember my mother's admonishment not to annoy people +with too much talk, I apologized to the young ladies. Smilingly, they +begged me to continue, for they seemed to enjoy my boyish prattle. + +"Listen, now, girls," said Rose laughingly to her companions, "now, I +shall make him open his mother's closet and show us her choicest +family skeleton." "Oh, no, Miss Rose," I protested, "my mother has +indeed a great closet, but it is full of good things to eat and +contains no skeletons." "You little goosie-gander; you don't +understand," replied Miss Rose; "I was only joking. Of course your +mother kept the door carefully locked to keep you boys from +foraging?" "No madame," said I, "it was not necessary to lock the +door." "Did she keep a guard, then?" said Rose. "Oh, yes," I replied, +"and it was very hard to pass in without being knocked down." "Was it +a man?" she asked mischievously. "Why, yes; mamma kept a strong, old +Limburger right behind the door," I said. + +When the girls had ceased laughing, Rose said, "What did your mother +tell you when you left for America?" "My mother," I answered, +"implored me with tearful eyes to ever remember how my father's +great-great-grandmother Brunhilde (who was exceedingly beautiful) was +enticed into the depths of a dark forest by a wily, old German King. +Indiscreetly and unsuspectingly she followed him. There clandestinely +did he favor her graciously by adding a bar sinister to our knightly +escutcheon and a strain of the blood royal to our family. This +happened long, long ago in the dark ages or some other dark place--it +may have been the Schwarzwald--and it was the curse of the stony +field that did it. + +" 'Oh, my son,' mother urged me, 'we count on you to restore the +unaccountably long-lost prestige of our ancient family. In America, +behind the counters of your uncle's counting-rooms, you shall acquire +great wealth, and his Majesty the Kaiser will be pleased to re-invest +you with the coronet of a count. Then, as a noble count will you be +of some account in the exclusive circle of the four hundred of the +great city of New York. Beautiful heiresses will crave the favor of +your acquaintance, and if wise, you will lead the most desirable one +on the market, the lovely Miss Billiona Roque-a-Fellaire to the +altar. His Majesty the Kaiser will then graciously change the +"no-account" words on our family's escutcheon to the joyful motto, +"Mit Geld," and lift the blighting curse from our noble house.' " + +Next I related how surprised I was when I saw the great city of New +York. However, I expected to see a large city of many houses, ever so +high and some higher yet, and therefore I was not so very much +surprised, after all. But in Illinois I first saw the wonderful +forest. Oh, the virgin forest! Never had I seen such grand, beautiful +trees, oak and hickory, ash and sycamore, maple, elm, and many more +giant trees, unknown to me, and peopled by a multitude of wild birds +of the brightest plumage. There were birds and squirrels everywhere! +I actually saw a sky-blue bird with a topknot, and another of a +bright scarlet color, and gorgeous woodpeckers who were too busy +hammering to look at me even. Oh, but they did not sing like the +birds in Germany! All were very grave and sad. They seemed to know, +as everybody else did, that I was a stranger in their land, for they +gave me all sorts of useful Information and advice, with many nods of +their little heads. + +"Peep, peep!" counseled the bluebird. "Thank you," I replied, "seeing +is believing." "Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will," cried a large, +spotted bird. "That," thought I, "is a prize fighter." "Cheat, +cheat!" urged a pious-looking cardinal, who evidently mistook me for +a gambler. "Don't," roared a bullfrog, who was seated on a log and +winked his eye at me. "There is an honest man," I thought. "Shake, +good sir." In consternation and surprise, I instantly released his +hand. "HOW is it possible to be both honest and slippery at the same +time! This must be a Yankee-man," thought I. I saw real moss, green +and velvety as the richest carpet, and I drank of singing, bubbling +waters. Many kinds of berries and nuts, hard to crack, grew in the +wild glens of the forest. I gathered flowers, larger and more +beautiful than any I had ever seen, but they lacked the perfume of +German flowers; only the roses were the same. + +Many children did I see, but they had not the rosy cheeks of German +children. And I met the strongest of all beasts on earth and tracked +him to his native lair; and there, in the sacred groves of the +Illini, I worried him sorely, and as David did unto Goliath, so did I +unto him; and sundown come, I slew him. And for three-score days and +ten the smoke of battle scented the balmy air. + +The young ladles laughed heartily and said that never before had they +been so delightfully entertained, and they gave me sweets and nice +things to eat, and said they hoped I might stay with them forever and +a day. We exchanged confidences, and they warned me to beware of the +landlord, who had been known to rob people. They advised me to +secrete my money, if perchance I had any. I thanked them kindly, +replying that I had only one dollar in my purse. This was true, but I +did not tell them that I had sewed a large sum in banknotes and some +German silver into my kite's tail when I set out on my journey to the +West. + +I complimented these charming girls on their good fortune to be in +the service of so generous a gentleman as their landlord seemed to +be; for I saw that they wore very fine dresses and had many jewels. +"Why, you little greenie," said Miss Rose, "he does not pay us high +wages." "Oh, I see, how romantic! how nice!" exclaimed I. "You do as +the ladies in the good old time of chivalry, when knights donned +their colors and sallied forth to battle with lions and tigers. You +crave largesse, and the gentlemen favor you with money and jewels." +Then the youngest girl laughed and said, "Oh, you pore, innicent +bairn, and how do yez ken all this? and how did yez know that Misther +Payterson kapes a tiger at all, at all, begorra!" Another young lady +said, "Dutchy, I reckon yore daddy is a right smart cunning old fox!" +"Madame," replied I, indignantly, "my father is no fox, but a +minister of the Gospel." "Oh, this bye is the son of a praste," +screamed the loveliest girl in all Missouri. "Indade, I misthrusted +the little scamp. Och! oh and where is me brooch? I thought all the +time the little divvil was afther something. Thieves! Murther!" +Confusion in pandemonium now reigned supreme. For one precious moment +the air seemed full of long-legged stockings and delicate hands and +purses. Luckily, the brooch was found and peace restored at once. And +Rose said, "Oh, girls, how could you!" and she begged my pardon and +said they did not mean it. And then I made myself very useful and +agreeable to these lovely maids, lacing their shoes and dusting their +chamber, and right gallantly did I serve them until evening. + +After supper reappeared my evil genius in the person of the landlord, +who took me out to the woodshed. "Dutchy, I have decided to adopt you +as my only son; have you ever bucked a wood saw?" said he, and a +sardonic leer distorted his evil features. After I recovered +sufficiently from the shock, I answered indignantly, "Sir, know ye +not that I have pledged my service to the vestal virgins of yon +temple?" "Ha! Ha!" laughed the villain, "get busy now, son, and if by +morning this wood has not been cut, you will go minus your +breakfast." Thereupon he locked me in. + +Caught as a rat in a trap, I had no alternative but to comply with +this man's outrageous demands. Despairingly I plied that abominable +instrument of torture, the national bucksaw of America. This is the +only American institution I could never accustom myself to. I have +endured bucking bronchos in New Mexico, I have bucked the tiger in +Arizona, but to buck a wood-saw--perish the thought! Sore and weary, +I lay down in a corner of the shed on some hay and fell asleep. I +dreamed that I heard screams of women, mingled with song and +laughter, and through it all the noise of music and dancing. Then the +dream changed into a horrible nightmare in the shape of a big +sawhorse which kicked at me and threatened me with hard labor. + +Toward morning, when the door was opened and a drunken ruffian +entered, I awoke from my troubled slumbers. "Hi, Dutchy, and have yez +any tin?" he threatened. "Kind sir," I replied, "when I departed for +the West I left all my wealth behind me." Verily, now I was proving +myself the worthy scion of valiant men, who had laid aside hauberk, +sword, and lance, taken up the Bible and stole, and thenceforth +fought only with the weapon of Samson, the strong! + +"And so yez are, by special appointment, chamberlain to the gurruls +by day, and ivver sawing wood at nighttime! Bedad! I'll shpile the +thrick for Misther Payterson, the thaving baste, and take this little +greenhorn out of his clutches and sind him about his business." With +these words, he opened the door for me and I escaped. + +Farewell, lovely maids of Kansas and Missouri! If mayhap this writing +comes to you, oh, let us meet again; my heart yearns to greet you and +your granddaughters. For surely, though it seems to me as yesterday, +the blossoms of forty summers have fallen in our path and whitened +our hair. + + + +CHAPTER II. PERILOUS JOURNEY + +After several days I arrived at the end of my railway journey, +Junction City, without delay or accident. The trip was not lacking in +interesting details. The monotony of the never ending prairie was at +times enlivened by herds of buffalo and antelope. On one occasion +they delayed our train for several hours. An enormous herd of +thousands upon thousands of buffalo crossed the railroad track in +front of our train. Bellowing, crowding, and pushing, they were not +unlike the billows of an angry sea as it crashes and foams over the +submerged rocks of a dangerous coast. Their rear guard was made up of +wolves, large and small. They followed the herd stealthily, taking +advantage of every hillock and tuft of buffalo grass to hide +themselves. The gray wolf or lobo, larger and heavier than any dog, +and adorned with a bushy tall was a fierce-looking animal, to be +sure. The smaller ones were called coyotes or prairie wolves, and are +larger than foxes and of a gray-brown color. These are the scavengers +of the plains, and divide their prey with the vultures of the air. + +At times we passed through villages of the prairie dog, consisting of +numberless little mounds, with their owners sitting erect on top. +When alarmed, they would yelp and dive into their lairs in the earth. +These little rodents share their habitations with a funny-looking +little owl and the rattlesnake. I believe, however, that the snake is +not there as a welcome visitor, but comes in the role of a +self-appointed assessor and tax gatherer. I picked up and adopted a +little bulldog which had been either abandoned on the cars or lost by +its owner, not then thinking that this little Cerberus, as I called +it, should later prove, on one occasion, to be my true and only +friend when I was in dire distress and in the extremity of peril. + +The town of Junction City, which numbered less than a score of +buildings and tents, was in a turmoil of excitement, resembling a +nest of disturbed hornets. Several hundred angry-looking men crowded +the only street, every one armed to the teeth. The great majority +were dark- skinned Mexicans, but here and there I noticed the +American frontiersman, the professional buffalo hunter and scout. +These were men of proved courage, and I observed that the Mexicans +avoided looking them squarely In the face; and when meeting on the +public thoroughfare, they invariably gave them precedence of passage. + +I found opportunity to hire out to a pleasant-looking young Mexican +as driver of a little two-mule provision wagon. In this manner I +earned my passage across the plains. Don Jose Lopez, that was his +name, said that I need not do much actual work, as he would have his +peons attend to the care of the mules and have them harness up as +well. He also told me that we would have to delay our departure until +every team present in the town had its cumulation of cargo. They +dared not travel singly, he said, for the Indians were very hostile. +In consequence whereof our departure was delayed for six weeks. I +camped with the Mexicans and accustomed myself very soon to their +mode of living. The fact that I understood their language and spoke +it quite well was a never-ending surprise and mystery to them. I took +dally walks over the prairie to the junction of two creeks, a short +distance from the town, bathed and whiled away the time with target +practice, and soon became very proficient in the use of firearms. + +The banks of these little streams would have made a delightful picnic +ground, covered as they were by a luxuriant growth of grasses and +bushes and some large trees also, mostly of the cottonwood variety. +But there were no families of ladies and children here to enjoy the +lovely spot. A feeling of intense uneasiness seemed to pervade the +very air and a weird presentiment of impending horror covered the +prairie as with a ghostly shroud. The specter of a wronged, +persecuted race ever haunted the white man's conscience. In vain did +the red man breast the rising tide of civilization. In their sacred +tepees, their medicine men invoked the aid of their great Spirit and +they were answered. + +The Spirit sent them for an ally, an army of grasshoppers, which +darkened the sun by its countless numbers. It impeded the progress of +the iron horse, but not for long. Then he sent them continued drouth, +but the pale face heeded not. "Onward, westward ever, the star of +empire took its course." + +We camped out on the prairie within a short distance and in full +sight of the town. I made the acquaintance of a merchant, Mr. Samuel +Dreifuss, who kept a little store of general merchandise. This +gentleman liked to converse with me in the German tongue and was very +kind to me, even offering to employ me at a liberal salary, which I, +of course, thankfully declined. One morning after breakfast I went to +this store to purchase an article of apparel. The door was unlocked +and I entered, but found no one present. I waited a while, and as Mr. +Dreifuss did not appear, I knocked at the bedroom door, which was +connected with the store. Receiving no response to my knocks, I +opened the door and entered. There was poor Mr. Dreifuss lying stone +dead on his couch. I knew that he was dead, for his hands were cold +and clammy to the touch. I was struck with astonishment. The day +before had I spoken to him, when he appeared to be hale and hearty. +There were some ugly, black spots on his face, and I thought that it +was very queer. I did not see any marks of violence on his person and +nothing unusual about the premises. I looked around carefully, as a +boy is apt to do when something puzzles him. Then I thought I would +go up-town and tell about this strange circumstance. + +The store was the first building met with in the town if a person +came from the railway station. As I went toward the next house, which +was a short distance away, I was hailed by a tall, broad-shouldered +man with long hair, who commanded me to halt. I kept right on, +however, meaning to tell him about my gruesome discovery. As I +advanced toward him he retreated, and I called to him to have no +fear, as I did not intend to shoot. The big man shook with laughter +and cried, "Hold, boy, stop there a minute until I tell you +something. They say that 'Wild Bill' never feared man, but I fear +you, a mere boy. Did you come out of that store?" "Yes, sir," I said. +"And did you see the Jew?" "Yes, sir," I answered; "Mr. Dreifuss is +dead." "How do you know that?" he questioned. "His hands feel cold as +ice," I said, "and there is a black spot on his nose." Again the man +laughed and said, "Do you know what killed him?" "I do not know, +sir," I answered, "but I was going uptown to inquire." "Well," said +the scout, "Mr. Dreifuss had the cholera." "That's too bad," said I; +"let us go back and see if we can be of any assistance." "No, you +don't," said the long-haired scout; "I have been stationed here, as +marshal of the town, to warn people away from the place. You take my +advice and go to the creek and plunge in with all your clothes and +play for an hour in the water, then dry yourself, go back to camp, +and keep mum!" This was the year of the cholera. It started somewhere +down south, and many people died from it in the city of St. Louis, +and it followed the railway through Kansas to the end of the track. +Many soldiers died also at Fort Harker, which was farther out West on +the plains. + +At last we started on our perilous journey, an imposing caravan of +one hundred and eighty wagons, each drawn by five yoke of oxen. Our +force numbered upward of two hundred and fifty men, the owners, +teamsters, train masters or mayordomos and the herders of the +different outfits; all were Mexicans except myself. + +Several days were spent in crossing the little stream formed by the +confluence of two creeks. The water was quite deep and had to be +crossed by means of a ferryboat. Here I met with my first adventure, +which nearly cost me my life. My wagon was loaded with supplies and +provisions and with several pieces of oak timber, intended for use in +our train. When I drove down the steep bank on to the ferryboat, the +timbers, which were not well secured, slid forward and pushed me off +my seat, so that I fell right under the mules just as they stepped on +the ferry. The frightened mules trampled and kicked fearfully. I lay +still, thinking that if I moved they would step on me, as their hoofs +missed my head by inches only. I thought of my mother and how sorry +she would be if she could see me now, but I was thinking, ever +thinking and lay very still. Then my guardian angel, in the person of +a Mexican, crawled under the wagon from the rear end and pulled me by +my heels, back to safety under the wagon. When I came out from under +I threw my hat in the air and gave a whoop and cheer, at which the +Mexicans were greatly enthused. They yelled excitedly and our +mayordomo exclaimed: "Caramba, mira que diablito!" (Egad, see the +little devil!) + +We traveled in two parallel lines, about fifty feet apart and kept +the spare cattle and remounts of horses, as also the small provision +teams between the lines. A cavalcade of train owners and mayordomos +was constantly scouting in all directions, but they never ventured +out of sight of the traveling teams. We started daily at sunrise and +traveled till noon or until we made the distance to our next watering +place. Then we camped and turned our live stock out to rest and crop +the prairie grass. After several hours we used to resume our journey +until nightfall or later to our next camping ground. Every man had to +take his turn about at herding cattle and horses during the +nighttime. Only the cooks were exempt from doing herd and guard duty. + +We pitched our nightly camps by forming two closed half circles of +our wagons, one on each side of the road so as to form a corral. By +means of connecting the wagons with chains, this made a strong +barricade, quite efficient to repulse the attacks of hostile Indians, +if defended by determined men. Every freight train when in camp was a +little fort in itself and an interesting sight at nighttime, when the +blazing fires were surrounded by men who were cooking and passing the +time in various ways. Some were cleaning and loading their guns, +others mended their clothes. Here and there you would find some +genius playing dreamy, monotonous Spanish airs on the guitar, in the +midst of a merry group of dancing and singing young Mexicans, many of +whom were not older than I. Card-playing seemed, however, to be their +favorite pastime; all Mexicans are inveterate gamesters, who look +upon the profession of gambling as an honorable and desirable +occupation. + +After the first day out I did not see an inebriated man in the whole +party. The Mexicans are really a much maligned and slandered people. +They are often charged with the sin of postponing every imaginable +thing until manana, but, to do them justice, I must say that they +drank every drop of liquor they carried on the first day out; also +ate all the dainties which other people would have saved and relished +for days to come. Surely, not manana, but ahora, or "do it now" was +their soul-stirring battle cry on this occasion. + +After several days of travel we encountered herds of buffalo and +mustangs or wild horses, and when our scouts reported numerous Indian +signs, we advanced slowly and carefully, momentarily expecting an +ambuscade and attack. Our column halted frequently while our horsemen +explored suspicious-looking hillocks and ravines. + +A dense column of smoke rose suddenly in our front, and I saw several +detachments of Indian warriors on a little hill, who were evidently +reconnoitering, and spying our strength, but did not expose +themselves fully to view. Simultaneously columns of signal smoke +arose in all directions round about. Instantly our lines closed in +the front and rear and we came to an abrupt halt. What I saw then +made my heart sink, for the drivers seemed to be paralyzed with +terror. The very men who had heretofore found a great delight in +trying to frighten me with tales of Indian atrocities were now +themselves scared out of their wits. Young and inexperienced though I +was, I realized that to be now attacked by Indians meant to be +slaughtered and scalped. Some of the men were actually crying from +fright, seeming to be completely demoralized. I noticed how one of +our men in loading his musket rammed home a slug of lead, forgetting +his charge of powder entirely. The sight of this disgusted me so that +I became furious, and in the measure that my anger rose my fear +subsided and vanished. I railed at the poor fellow and abused and +cursed him shamefully, threatening to kill him for being a coward and +a fool. I made him draw the bullet and reload his musket in a proper +manner. + +When I grew older I acquired the faculty to curb the instinctive +feeling of fear which is inborn in all creatures and undoubtedly is a +wise provision of nature, necessary to the continuance of life and +conducive to self-preservation. Knowing that all men who ever lived +and all who now live must surely die, I failed to see anything +particularly fearful in death. I may truthfully say that I have +several times met death face to face squarely and feared not. On +these occasions I tried not to escape what seemed to be my final +doom, but in the dim consciousness of mind that I should be dead long +enough anyway, I tried to delay my departure to a better life as long +as possible, exerting myself exceedingly to accomplish this purpose. +Undoubtedly this must have made me a very undesirable person to +contend with in a fight. Luckily for me, I have never been afflicted +with a quarrelsome or vindictive mind. This is not a boastful or +frivolous assertion, but is uttered in the spirit of thankfulness to +the allwise Creator of Heaven and earth. + +Looking around, I beheld a sight which cheered me mightily. There, a +few yards ahead of my wagon, was a great hole in the ground, made by +badgers; or it may have been the palace of a king of prairie dogs. +Quickly I drove my team forward, right over it. Then, pretending to +be rearranging my cargo, I took out the end gate of my wagon and +covered the hole with it. Next, I wet some gunny sacks and placed +them on the ground under the board. Now, thought I, here is my chance +for an honorable retreat if anything should go wrong. I intended to +close up the hole behind me with the wet sacks, taking the risk of +snake bites in preference to the tender mercies of the Indians. As +these ground lairs take a turn a few feet down and are connected with +various underground passages and have several outlets, I had a fair +prospect to escape should the Indians discover my whereabouts, for +they could neither burn nor smoke me out, and were not likely to take +the time to reduce my fort by starvation. It took me but a very short +time to make my preparations, and I did it unnoticed by my +companions, who seemed fully preoccupied with their own troubles. + +A horseman galloped up to our division, a great, swarthy, +fierce-looking man, bearded like the pard. This man did not act like +a scared person. One glance at the frightened faces of his countrymen +sufficed to enlighten and also to enrage him. + +"Senores," he said, "I perceive you are anxious and ready for a +fight. I hope the Indians will accommodate us, as we are greatly in +need of a little sport. It may happen that some of you will lose your +scalps, and I hope that it is not you, Senor Felipe Morales. I should +be very sorry for your poor old mother and your crippled sister, for +who will support them if you should fail them? As for you, Senor +Juan, it does not matter much if you never again breathe the air of +New Mexico. Your young little wife has not yet had an opportunity to +know you fully, anyway, and your cousin, the strapping Don Isidro +Chavez, will surely take the best care of her. They say he calls on +her daily to inquire after her welfare. Senor Cuzco Gonzales, as you +might be unlucky enough to leave your bones on this prairie, I would +advise you to make me heir to your garden of chile peppers. To be +sure, I never saw a more tempting crop! Mayhap you will have no +further use for chile, as the Indians are likely to heat your belly +with hot coals, in lieu of peppers." + +Then he called for the cook. "Senor Doctor," he said, "prepare the +medicine for this man, who is too sick to load a musket properly, and +had to be shown how to do so by a little gringo, as I observed a +while ago. Hold him, Senores." And they held him down while the cook +administered the medicine, forcing it down his unwilling throat. The +medicine was compounded from salt, and the prescribed dose was a +handful of it dissolved in a tin cupful of water. This seemed to +revive the patient's faltering spirit wonderfully. The cook, a +half-witted fellow, was another man who seemed to have no fear. His +eyes shone wickedly and he was stripped for the fight. A red bandanna +kerchief tied around his head, he glided stealthily about, thirsty +for Indian blood as any wolf. They told me that his mother and sister +had died at the hands of the cruel Apaches. + +To me the rider said, "Senor Americanito, I know your gun is loaded +right and is ready to shoot straight. Look you, if you plant a bullet +just below an Indian's navel, you will see him do a double +somersault, which is more wonderful to behold than any circus +performance you ever saw." + +Here was a man good to see, a descendant of the famous Don Fernando +Cortez, conquistador, and molded on the lines of Pizarro, the wily +conqueror of Peru, and he heartened our crew amazingly. He exhorted +the men to be brave and fight like Spaniards, and he prayed to the +saints to preserve us; and piously remembering his enemies, he called +on the devil to preserve the Indians. Such zealous devotion found +merited favor with the blessed saints in Heaven, for they granted his +prayer, and the Indians did not attack us that day. + +On the following day, Don Emillo Cortez came again and asked me to +ride with him as a scout. He had brought a young man to drive the +team in my stead. Gladly I accepted his invitation. He arranged a +pillion for his saddle and mounted me behind him, facing the horse's +tail. Then he passed a broad strap around his waist and my body and +armed me with a Henry repeating rifle, then a new invention and a +very serviceable gun. In this manner I had both hands free and made +him the best sort of a rear guard. We cantered toward a sandy hill on +our left. A coyote came our way, appearing from the crest of the +hill. The animal was looking back over its shoulder and veered off +when it scented us. Don Emilio halted his horse. "That coyote is +driven by Indians," said he; "do you think you can hit it at this +distance?" I thought I could by aiming high and a little forward. At +the crack of my rifle the coyote yelped and bit its side, then +rolling on the grass, expired. "Carajo! a dead shot, for Dios!" +exclaimed Don Emilio. "That will teach the heathen Indians to keep +their distance; they will not be over-anxious to meet these two +Christians at close quarters!" + +We were not molested on this day nor on the next, but on the day +thereafter we were in terrible danger. The Indians fired the dry +grass, and if the wind had been stronger we must have been burned to +death. As it was we were nearly suffocated from traveling in a dense +smoke for several hours. Then, fortunately, we reached the bottom +lands of the Arkansas River and were safe from fire, as the valley +was very wide and covered with tall green grass which could not burn; +and no sooner was the last wagon on safe ground than the fire gained +the rim of the green bottomland. Our oxen were exhausted and in a bad +plight, so we fortified and camped here for several days to +recuperate before we forded the river. This took up several days, as +the water was quite high and the river bottom a dangerous quicksand. +To stop the wheels of a wagon for one moment meant the loss of the +wagon and the lives of the cattle, perhaps. The treacherous sands +would have engulfed them. Forty yoke of oxen were hitched to every +vehicle, and we had no losses. On the other side we found the prairie +burned over, and we traveled all day until evening in order to reach +a suitable camping place with sufficient grass for our animals. As +there was no water and the cattle were suffering, we were compelled +to drive our herd back to the river and return again that same night. +The rising sun found us under way again, and by noon we came to good +camping ground with an abundance of grass and water. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE MYSTERY OF THE SMOKING RUIN. STALKING A WARRIOR. THE +AMBUSH + +Now we were past the most dangerous part of our journey, leaving the +Comanche country and entering the domain of the Ute Indians and other +tribes, who were not as brave as the Arapahoes and Comanches. Here +our caravan-formation was broken up and each outfit traveled +separately at its own risk. + +The next day we witnessed a most horrible and distressing sight. +Willingly would I surrender several years of my allotted lifetime on +earth if I could thereby efface forever the awful impression of this +pitiful tragedy from my memory. Alas I that I was fated to behold the +shocking sight! For days thereafter we plodded on, a sad-looking, +sober, downhearted lot of men, grieved to distraction, and there I +left the innocence of boyhood--wiser surely, but not better! We +neared the still smoking ruins of what had once been a happy home. As +I approached to gratify my curiosity, I met several of my companions, +who were returning and who implored me not to go nearer. An old +Mexican, ignorant, rough, and callous as he was, begged me, with +tears streaming down his face, to retrace my steps. Alas, when would +impulsive youth ever listen to wise counsel and take heed! I entered +the ruins and saw a dark telltale pool oozing forth from under the +door of a cellar. Oh, had I but then overcome my morbid curiosity and +fled! But no! I must needs open the door and look in. I saw--I saw a +beautiful whiskey barrel, its belly bursted and its head stove in! + +The trip across the plains was a very healthful and pleasant +experience to me. During the greatest heat and while the moon favored +us, we often traveled at night and rested in daytime. By foregoing my +rest, I found opportunity to hunt antelope and smaller game. I was +very fond of this sport and indulged in it frequently. One day I +sighted a band of antelope--these most beautiful and graceful +animals. I tried to head them off, in order to get within rifle-shot +distance, and drifted farther and farther away from camp until I must +have strayed at least five miles. Like a rebounding rubber ball, +their four feet striking the ground simultaneously, they fled until +at last they faded from sight on the horizon, engulfed in a +shimmering wave of heat, the reflection from a sun-scorched ground. +Reluctantly I gave up the chase, as I could by no means approach the +game, although they could not have winded me. + +In order to determine the direction of our camp, I ascended a little +hill, when I suddenly espied an Indian. He was in a sitting posture, +less than a quarter of a mile away. Apparently he was stark naked and +his face was turned away from me, for I saw his broad back where not +covered by his long hair glisten in the hot rays of the sun. His gun +was lying within reach of his right hand, but I could not see what he +was doing. On the impulse of the moment I dropped behind a flowering +cactus for concealment. Then I took counsel with myself and decided +that it would be too risky to return to camp as I had intended to do. +In that direction for a long distance the ground was gently rising +and most likely the Indian would have seen me. I thought it probable +that he had staked his horse out in some nearby gulch, and if seen I +would have been at his mercy, as perhaps he was also in touch with +other Indians of his tribe. I reasoned that I could not afford to +make the mistake of incurring the risk to stake my life on the chance +of escaping his observation. I had started out to hunt antelopes, but +now I coolly prepared myself to stalk an Indian warrior instead. I +went about it as if I were hunting a coyote. First of all, I +ascertained the direction of the wind, which was very light. It blew +from the quarter the Indian was in toward me. Next, lying on my +stomach, I dug the large flowering plant up, and holding it by its +roots in front of myself, I crawled toward my quarry, as a snake in +the grass. Cautiously, stealthily, avoiding the slightest noise, and +always on the lookout for snakes and thorns, I crept slowly on, +making frequent halts to rest myself. Twice the Indian turned his +head and looked in my direction, but apparently he did not perceive +me. In this manner I came within easy gunshot distance. Now I took my +last rest, and with my knife dug a hole in the ground and replanted +my cactus shield firmly. Then I placed my rifle in position to fire +and drew a fine bead on the nape of his neck. + +"Adios, Indian brave, prepare thy soul to meet the great Spirit in +the ever grassy meadows of the happy hunting grounds of eternity, for +the spider of thy fate is weaving the last thread in the web of thy +doom!" My finger was coaxing the trigger, when a feeling of intense +shame rose fiercely in my breast. Was I, then, like unto this Indian, +to take an enemy's life from ambush? Up I jumped with a challenging +shout, my gun leveled, ready for the fight. "Por Dios, amigo, amigo!" +cried the frightened Indian, holding up his hands. "No tengo dinero!" +(I have no money. Don't shoot!) he begged, speaking to me in Spanish. +Then I went to him and learned that he belonged to a wagon train, +traveling just ahead of us. He was a full-blood Navajo, who had been +made captive in a Mexican raid into the Navajo country. The Mexicans +used to capture many Navajo pappooses and bring them up as bond +servants or peons. This Indian told me that he had been following the +same band of antelopes as myself, and on passing a beautiful hill of +red ants, he yielded to temptation and thought he would have his +clothes examined and laundered by the ants. These little insects are +really very accommodating and work without remuneration. At the same +time he likewise took a sun bath on the same liberal terms. This +episode made me famous with every Spanish freighter over the Santa Fe +trail, from Kansas into New Mexico. + +Just before we reached the Cimarron country, which is very hilly and +is drained by the Red River, and where we were out of all danger from +Indians, I had a narrow escape from death. I was in the lead of our +train and had crossed a muddy place in the road. I drove on without +noticing that I was leaving the other teams far behind. A wagon stuck +fast in the mire, which caused my companions a great deal of labor +and much delay. At last I halted to await the coming of the other +teams. Suddenly there fell a shot from the dense growth of a wild +sunflower copse. It missed my head by a very close margin and just +grazed the ear of one of the mules. I believe that if I had attempted +to rejoin the train then I would have been killed from ambush. +Instead, I quickly secured the brake of my wagon, then I unhooked the +trace chains of the mules and quieted them and lay down under the +wagon, ready to defend myself. I was, however, not further molested +and my companions came along after a while. They had heard the shot +and thought it was I who had fired it. + + + +CHAPTER IV. A STRANGE LAND AND STRANGER PEOPLE + +We were now within the boundaries of the Territory of Colorado and +approaching the northern line of New Mexico. When we passed through +Trinidad, which was then a small adobe town, we met Don Emilio Cortez +again. He was at home in this vicinity and came for the express +purpose of persuading me to come with him. "My good wife charged me +to bring her that little gringo," he said; "she longs for an American +son." "Our daughter, Mariquita, is now ten years of age, and has been +asked in marriage by Don Robusto Pesado, a very rich man. But the +child is afraid of him, as he is a mountain of flesh, weighing close +on twelve arrobas. Now we thought that two years hence thou wilt be +seventeen years old and a man very sufficient for our little +Mariquita, who will then, with God's favor, be a woman of twelve +years. She will have a large dowry of cattle and sheep, and as the +saints have blessed us with an abundance of land and chattels, thou +art not required to provide." + +I thanked Don Emilio very kindly, but was, of course, too young then +to entertain any thought of marrying. I was really sorry to +disappoint him, as he seemed to have formed a genuine attachment for +me and was seriously grieved by my refusal. + +Rumor spreads its vagaries faster among illiterate people than among +the enlightened and educated. Therefore, it was said in New Mexico +long before our arrival there that Don Jose Lopez's outfit brought a +young American, the like of whom had never been known before. He was +not ignorant, as other Americans, for he not only spoke the Spanish, +but he could also read and write the Castillan language. It was well +known that most Americans were so stupid that they could not talk as +well as a Mexican baby of two years, and that often after years of +residence among Spanish people they were still ignorant of the +language. And would you believe it, but it was the sacred truth, this +little American, albeit a mere boy, had the strength of a man. He +made that big heathen Navajo brute Pancho, the mayordomo of Don +Preciliano Chavez, of Las Vegas, stand stark before him in his +nakedness, with his hands raised to Heaven and compelled him, under +pain of instant death, to say his Pater Noster and three Ave Marias. +Others said that Don Jose Lopez was a man of foresight and discretion +and saw that the Indians were on the warpath and very dangerous. +Therefore, he prayed to his patron saint for spiritual guidance and +succor. San Miguel, in his wisdom, sent this young American heretic, +as undoubtedly it was best to fight evil with evil. And when the +devil, in the guise of a coyote, led the Indians to the attack, then +he was sorely wounded by the unerring aim of the gringito's rifle. + +Others said that Don Jose Lopez had set up a shrine for the image of +his renowned patron saint, San Miguel, in his provision wagon, which +was being driven by the American boy, and the boy took the bullet +which wounded the coyote so sorely out of the saint's mouth, who had +bitten the sign of the cross thereon. And the evil one, in the +likeness of the coyote, rolled in his agony on the grass when he was +hit by the cross-marked bullet. Of course, the grass took fire and +very nearly burned up the whole caravan. + +Other people said they were not surprised to hear of miracles +emanating from the shrine of the patron saint of Don Jose. His +grandfather had whittled this famous image out of a cottonwood tree, +whereon a saintly Penitente had been crucified after the custom of +the order of Flagellants. This Penitente resembled the penitent thief +who died on the cross and entered Paradise with the Saviour in this, +that he was known to be a good horse thief, and as he had died on the +cross on a night of Good Friday, he surely went to Glory Everlasting. +Don Jose's grandfather made a pilgrimage with this image he had made +to the City of Mexico, to have the Archbishop bless it in the +cathedral before Santa Guadalupe. During the ceremony, it was said, +there grew a fine head of flaxen hair on the image and it received +beautiful blue eyes. And it had the miraculous propensity to ever +after wink its eye in the presence of a priest and at the approach of +a Christ-hating Jew, it would spit. This virtue saved much wealth for +the family of Don Jose, as they were ever put on their guard against +Jewish peddlers. + +The rumor that Don Jose Lopez had carried the household saint with +him in his wagon was at once contradicted and disproved by his wife, +Dona Mercedes. The lady declared that San Miguel had never left his +shrine in the patio of their residence except for the avowed purpose +of making rain. In seasons of protracted drouth, when crops and live +stock suffer for want of water, crowds of Mexican people, mostly +farmers' wives and their children, form processions and carry the +images of saints round about the parched fields, chanting hymns and +praying for rain. + +On this occasion Dona Mercedes availed herself of the chance to extol +the prowess and power of her family's idolized saint, San Miguel. She +said as a rainmaker he had no equal. He disliked and objected to have +himself carried about the fields when there was not a certain sign of +coming rain in the heavens. Her little saint, she said, was too +honorable and too proud to risk the disgrace of failure and bring +shame on her family. Therefore, he would not consent to be carried +out in the fields until kind Nature, through unfailing signs, +proclaimed a speedy downpour. When thunder shook the expectant earth +and the first drops of rain began to fall, then he started on his +little business trip and never had he failed to make it rain +copiously. Friends of Don Jose Lopez, hearing all this talk, were not +slow to take advantage of it. The time for the election of county +officials was near and they promptly placed Don Jose in nomination +for the office of the sheriff of San Miguel County. + +When people applied to the parish priest for advice in this matter, +he laughingly told them that he did not know if all these current +rumors were true, quien sabe, but surely nothing was impossible +before the Lord and the blessed saints, and Don Jose being a friend, +he advised them to give him their support, as he was a very good and +capable man who would make an ideal sheriff. To be sure, the Don paid +his debts and was never remiss in his duties to Holy Church. + +We crossed over the Raton Mountains and were then in the northern +part of the Territory of New Mexico. What a curious country it was! +The houses were built of adobe or sun-dried brick of earth, in a very +primitive fashion. We seemed to be transported as by magic to the +Holy Land as it was in the lifetime of our Saviour. The architecture +of the buildings, the habits and raiment of the people, the stony +soil of the hills, covered by a thorny and sparse vegetation, the +irrigated fertile land of the valleys, the small fields surrounded by +adobe walls--all this could not fail to remind one vividly of +descriptions and pictures of Old Egypt and Palestine. Here you saw +the same dusty, primitive roads and quaint bullock carts, that were +hewn out of soft wood and joined together with thongs of rawhide and +built without the vestige of iron or other metal. There were the same +antediluvian plows, made of two sticks, as used in ancient Egypt at +the time of the Exodus, when Moses led the Jews out of captivity to +their Promised Land. The very atmosphere, so dry and exhilarating, +seemed strange. In this transparent air, objects which were twenty +miles distant seemed to be no farther than two or three miles at +most. In such a country it would not have surprised anyone to meet +the Saviour face to face, riding an ass or burro over the stony road, +followed by His disciples and a multitude of people, who, with the +most implicit faith in the Lord's power to perform miracles, expected +Him to provide them with an abundance of loaves and fishes. Here we +were in a country, a territory of the United States, which was about +eighteen hundred years behind the civilization of other Christian +countries. + +As we passed through the many little hamlets and towns, the male +population, who were sitting on the shady side of their houses, +regarded us with lazy curiosity. They were leaning against the cool, +adobe walls, dreaming and smoking cigarettes. The ladies seemed to +possess a livelier disposition and emerged from their houses to +gossip and gather news. They viewed me with the greatest interest and +curiosity and, shifting the mantillas, or rebozos, behind which they +hid their faces after the Moorish fashion, they gazed at me with +shining eyes. And I believe that I found favor with many, for they +would exclaim, "M'ira que Americanito tan lindo, tan blanco!" (What a +handsome young American. See what beautiful blue eyes he has and what +a white complexion.) And mothers warned the maidens not to look at +me, as I might have the evil eye. I heard one lady tell her daughter, +"You may look at him just once, Dolores; oh, see how handsome he is!" +(Valga me, Dios, que lindo es, pobrecito!)And the way the young lady +gazed was a revelation to me. The fire of her limpid black eyes +struck me as a ray of glorious light. An indescribable thrill, never +before known, rose in my breast and she held me enthralled under a +spell which I had not the least desire to break. And they said that +it was I who had the evil eye! To say that these people were lacking +in the virtues and accomplishments of modern civilization entirely +would be a mistake very easily made indeed by strangers who, on +passing through their land, did not understand their language and +were unfamiliar with their social customs and mode of living. They +extended unlimited hospitality to every one alike, to friend or +stranger, to poor or rich. They were most charmingly polite in their +conversation, personal demeanor, and social intercourse and very +charitable and affectionate to their families and neighbors. These +people are happy as compared with other nations in that they do not +worry and fret over the unattainable and doubtful, but lightheartedly +they enjoy the blessings of the present, such as they are. Therefore, +if rightly understood, they may be the best of companions at times, +being sincere and unselfish; so I have found many of them to be later +on, during the intercourse of a more intimate acquaintance. In the +large towns, as Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas, where there +lived a considerable number of Americans, these would naturally +associate together, as, for instance, the American colony in Paris or +Berlin or other foreign places, so as not to be obliged to mingle +with the natives socially any more than they chose. But in the +village where my relatives lived, we had not the alternative of +choosing our own countrymen for social companionship. + +Therefore, I realized when I reached my destination that I had to +change my accustomed mode of living and adapt myself to such a life +as people had led eighteen hundred years ago. I thought that if I +took the example of the Saviour's life for my guiding star, I would +certainly get along very well. Undoubtedly this would have sufficed +in a spiritual sense, but I found that it would be impractical as +applied to my temporal welfare and the requirements of the present +time. For I could not perform miracles nor could I live as the +Saviour had done, roaming over the country and teaching the natives. +And then, seeing that there were so many Jews in New Mexico, I feared +they might attempt to crucify me and I did not relish the thought. +Therefore I accepted King Solomon's life as the next best one to +emulate. While I was greatly handicapped by not possessing the riches +of the great old king, I fancied that I had a plenty of his wisdom, +and although I could not cut as wide a swath as he had done, I did +well enough under the circumstances. I was, of course, limited to a +vastly smaller scale in the pursuit and enjoyment of the many good +things to be had in New Mexico. Ever joyous, free from care, I +drifted in my voyage of life with the stream of hope over the shining +waters of a happy and delightful youth. + + + +CHAPTER V. ON THE RIO GRANDE. AN ABSTRACT OF THE AUTHOR'S GENEALOGY +OF MATERNAL LINEAGE + +In the month of September I came to the end of my journey, as I +arrived on the Rio Abajo. Now I began the second chapter of my life's +voyage. No longer a precocious child, I was growing to young manhood +and was not lacking in those qualities which are essential in the +successful performance of life's continual struggle. I was heartily +welcomed by my uncle, my mother's brother. My aunt, poor lady, had, +of course, given me up as lost and greeted me with joyful admiration. +But she did not venture close to me, for in me she saw a strong, +lusty young man, bright eyed, alert-looking and carrying a deadly +army revolver and wicked hunting knife at his belt. To be sure, I was +suntanned and graybacked beyond comparison with the dust of a +thousand miles of wagon road. + +As I had expected, I found my uncle in very prosperous circumstances, +in a commercial sense. And no wonder, for he was a tall, fine-looking +man, under forty and overflowing with energy and personal magnetism. +And my mother's little family tree did the rest--aye, surely, it was +not to be sneezed at, as will be presently seen. + +Of course, mother traced her ancestral lineage, as all other people +do, to Adam and Eve in general, but in particular she claimed descent +from those ancient heroes of the Northland, the Vikings. These daring +rovers of the seas were really a right jolly set of men. In their +small galleys they roamed the trackless seas, undaunted alike by the +terrors of the hurricane as by the perils of unknown shores. On +whatever coast they chanced--finding it inhabited, they landed, +fought off the men and captured their women. They sacked villages and +plundered towns, and loading their ships with booty, they set sail +joyfully, homeward bound for the shores of the misty North Sea, the +shallow German Ocean. Here they had a number of retreats and +strongholds. There was Helgoland, the mysterious island; Cuxhaven, at +the mouth of the river Elbe; Buxtehude, notoriously known from a very +peculiar ferocious breed of dogs; Norse Loch on the coast of +Holstein, and numerous other locker, or inlets, hard to find, harder +to enter when found and hardest to pronounce. In the course of time +these rovers were visited by saintly Christian missionaries and, like +all other Saxon tribes, they accepted the light of the Christian +Gospel. They saw the error of their way and eschewed their vocation +of piracy and devoted their energies to commerce and the spreading of +the Gospel of Christ. + +Piously they decorated the sails of their crafts and blazoned their +war shields with the sign of the cross. They kidnapped holy priests +(for otherwise they came not), and taking them aboard their ships, +they sailed to their several ports. Then they forced the unwilling +Fathers to unite them in holy wedlock to the maidens of their choice. +To many havens they sailed, and in every one they had an only wife. +They made their priests inscribe texts from the holy Gospel on pieces +of parchment made from the skin of hogs, and instead of robbing +people, as of yore, they paid with the word of Holy Scripture for the +booty they levied. This, they said, was infinitely more precious than +any worldly dross. All hail to the memory of my gallant maternal +ancestor, who, when surfeited with the caresses of his Fifine of +Normandy, flew to the arms of Mercedes of Andalusia. Next, perhaps, +he appeared in Greenland, blubbering with an Esquimau heiress. Anon, +you might have found him in Columbia in the tolls of a princely +Pocahontas. In Mexico he ate the ardent chile from the tender hand of +his Guadalupita, and later on he was on time at a five o'clock family +tea party in Japan, or he might have kotowed pidgin-love to a +trusting maid in a China town of fair Cathay. In Africa--oh, +horror!--here I draw the veil, for in my mind's eye I behold a burly +negro (yes, sah!) staring at me out of fishy, blue eyes. It is said +of these gallant rovers of the seas that they were subject to a +peculiar malady when on shore. It caused them to stagger and swagger, +use violent language, and deport themselves not unlike people who are +seized with mal de mer, or sickness of the sea. When attacked by this +failing, their wives would cast them bodily into the holds of their +ships and start them out to sea, where they soon recovered their +usual health and equilibrium and continued on their rounds. They were +the first of all commercial travelers and the hardiest, jolliest and +most prosperous--but they did not hoard their earnings. + +My uncle conducted a store, selling merchandise of every description. +Dutch uncle though he was to me, I must give him thanks for the +careful business training he bestowed on me. I say with pride that I +proved to be his most apt and willing pupil. He taught me how the +natives, by nature simple-minded and unsophisticated, had lost all +confidence in their fellow-men in general and merchants in particular +through the, to say the least, very dubious and suspicious dealings +of the tribes of Israel. My uncle said he was an old timer in New +Mexico, but the Jew was there already when he came and, added he, +thoughtfully, "I believe the Jews came to America with Columbus." +With a pack of merchandise strapped to his back, this king of +commerce crossed the plains in the face of murderous Indians and with +the unexplainable, crafty cunning of his race, he sold tobacco and +trinkets to the warriors who had set out to kill him, and to the +squaws he sold Parisian lingerie at a bargain. He swore that he was +losing money and selling the goods below cost, not counting the +freight. + +As the Indians had no money and nothing else of commercial value to +him, he bartered for the trophies of victory which the proud chiefs +carried suspended from their belts. Deprecatingly he called their +attention to the undeniable fact that these articles had been worn +before and had to be rated as second-hand goods. But he hoped that +his brother-in-law, Isaac Dreibein, who conducted a second-hand +hairdressing establishment in New York City, would take these goods +off his hands. This trade flourished for a time, until, as usual, +Israel fell off from the Lord, by opening shop on the Sabbath. An +unlucky Moses got into a fatal altercation with a Comanche chief, +whom he cheated out of a scalplock, as he was as baldheaded as a +hen's egg. Thereat the Indians became suspicious and refused to trade +with the Jews ever after. + +With proverbial German thoroughness, uncle instructed me in all the +tricks and secrets of his profession. He had found that the Mexicans +were good buyers, if handled scientifically, for they would never +leave the store until they had spent all their money. Therefore, in +order to encourage our customers, we kept a barrel of firewater under +the counter as a trade starter. One or more drams of old Magnolia +would start the ball to roll finely. Our merchandise cost mark was +made up from the words, "God help us!" Every letter of this pious +sentiment designated one of the numbers from one to nine and a cross +stood for naught. When I said to uncle, "No wonder that our business +prospers under this mark--God help us!--but say, who helps our +customers?" he was nonplussed for a moment, and then he laughed +heartily and said that this had never worried him yet. + +There was not much money in circulation in New Mexico at that time, +as the country was without railroads and too isolated to market farm +produce, wool and hides profitably. Mining for gold was carried on at +Pinos Altos, near the southern boundary, but the Apaches did not +encourage prospecting to any extent. During the period of the +discovery of gold in California, in the days of "forty-nine," the +people of New Mexico had become quite wealthy through supplying the +California placer miners with mutton sheep at the price of an ounce +of gold dust per head, when muttons cost half a dollar on the Rio +Grande. At that rate of profit they could afford the time and expense +of driving their herds of sheep to market at Los Angeles, even though +the Apaches of Arizona took their toll and fattened on stolen mutton. + + + +CHAPTER VI. INDIAN LORE. THE WILY NAVAJO + +The principal source of the money supply was the United States +Government, which maintained many forts and army posts in the +Territories as a safeguard against the Apache and Navajo Indians. +During the Civil War, the Navajo Indians broke out and raided the +Mexican settlements along the Rio Grande and committed many outrages +and thefts. The Government gave these Indians the surprise of their +lives. An army detachment of United States California volunteers +swooped suddenly down on the Navajos and surprised and conquered them +in the strongholds of their own country. The whole tribe was forced +to surrender, was disarmed, and transported to Fort Stanton by the +Government. + +This military reservation lies on the eastern boundary of New Mexico, +on the edge of the staked plains of Texas. Here the Navajos were kept +in mortal terror of their hereditary enemies, the Comanche Indians, +for several years, and they were so thoroughly cowed and subdued by +this stratagem that they were good and peacable ever after. The +Government allowed them to reoccupy their native haunts and granted +them a reservation of seventy-five miles square. These Indians are +blood relatives to the savage Apaches. They speak the same language, +as they are also of Mongolian origin. They came originally from Asia +in an unexplained manner and over an unknown route. They have always +been the enemies of the Pueblo Indians, who are descendants of the +Toltec and Aztec races. Unlike the Pueblo Indians, who live in +villages and maintain themselves with agricultural pursuits, the +Navajos are nomads and born herdsmen. + +The Navajo tribe is quite wealthy now, as they possess many thousands +of sheep and goats, and they are famed for their quaint and beautiful +blankets and homespun, which they weave on their hand looms from the +wool of their sheep. They owned large herds of horses, beautiful +ponies, a crossed breed of mustangs and Mormon stock, which latter +they had stolen in their raids on the Mormon settlements in Utah. As +saddle horses, these ponies are unexcelled for endurance under rough +service. + +Mentally the Navajo is very wide awake and capable of shrewd +practices, as shown by the following incident, which happened to my +personal knowledge. + +A tall, gaudily appareled Indian, mounting a beautiful pony, came to +town and offered for sale at our store several gold nuggets the size +of hazelnuts. He took care to do this publicly, so as to attract the +attention of some Mexicans, who became immensely excited at the sight +of the gold and began to question him at once in order to ascertain +how and whence he had obtained the golden nuggets. They almost fought +for the privilege of taking him as an honored guest to their +respective homes. The Indian was very non-committal as regarded his +gold mine, but very willing to accept the sumptuous hospitality so +freely rendered him. He was soon passed on from one disappointed +Mexican to another, who in turn fared no better and invariably sped +the parting guest to the door of his nearest neighbor. When the +Indian had made the circuit of the town in this manner he looked very +sleek and happy, indeed, but the people were no wiser. The knowledge +of having been shamefully buncoed by an Indian and disappointed in +their lust for gold made the Mexicans desperate. They held an +indignation meeting and resolved to capture the wily Navajo and +compel him, under torture, if necessary, to divulge the secret of his +gold mine. Consequently, they overcame the Indian, and when they +threatened him with torture and death, he yielded and said that he +had found the gold in the Rio de San Francisco, a mountain stream of +Arizona. He promised to guide them to the spot where he obtained the +nuggets, saying that the bottom of the stream was literally covered +with golden sand, which might be seen from a distance, as it shone +resplendently in the sun. Then every able-bodied Mexican in town who +possessed a horse prepared to join a prospecting expedition to the +wild regions of mysterious Arizona. They organized a company and +elected a captain, a man of courage and experience. The captain's +first official act was to place a guard of four armed men over the +Navajo to prevent his escape, otherwise they treated their prisoner +well. + +The women of the town cooked and baked for the party, and undoubtedly +each lady reveled in the hope to see her own man return with a +sackful of gold; and as a result of these fanciful expectations they +were in the best of spirits, laughing and singing the livelong day. + +At last the party was off, and what happened to them I shall relate, +as told me by the captain, Don Jose Marie Baca y Artiaga, and in his +own words as nearly as I can remember them. "Valga me, Dios, Senor! +What an experience was that trip to Arizona! It began and ended with +disappointment and disaster. All the men of our party seemed to have +lost their wits from the greed of gold. They began by hurrying. Those +who had the best mounts rushed on ahead, carrying the Indian along +with them, and strove to leave their companions who were not so well +mounted behind. The first night's camp had of necessity to be made at +a point on the Rio Puerco, distant about thirty-five miles. As the +last men rode into camp, the first comers were already making ready +to leave again. In vain I remonstrated and commanded. There was a +fight, and not until several men were seriously wounded came they to +their senses and obeyed my orders. I threatened to leave them and +return home, for I knew very well that unless our party kept together +we were sure to be ambushed and attacked. I cautioned my companions +as they valued their lives to watch the Navajo and shoot him on the +spot at the first sign of treachery. This devil of an Indian led us +over terrible trails, across the roughest and highest peaks and the +deepest canyons of a wild, broken country. He seemed to be on the +lookout ever for an opportunity to escape, but I did not give him the +chance. Our horses suffered and were well-nigh exhausted when we +finally sighted the coveted stream from a spur of the Mogollon range +which we were then descending. The stream glistened and shone like +gold in the distance, under the hot rays of a noonday sun and my +companions would have made a dash for the coveted goal if their +horses had not been utterly exhausted and footsore. As it was, I had +the greatest trouble to calm them. Arriving at the last and steepest +declivity of the trail, I succeeded in halting the party long enough +to listen to my words. 'Companions,' I said, 'hear me before you rush +on! I shall stay here with this Indian, whom you will first tie to +this mesquite tree. Now you may go, and may the saints deliver you +from your evil passion and folly. Mind you, senores, I claim an equal +share with you in whatever gold you may find. If any one objects, let +him come forth and say so now, man to man. I shall hold the trail for +those among you who would haply choose to return. Forsooth, +companions, I like not the actions of this Indian. Beware the Apache, +senores; remember we are in the Tonto's own country!' + +"From my position I witnessed the exciting race to the banks of the +stream, and saw plainly how eagerly my companions worked with pick +and pan. Hard they worked, but not long, for soon they assembled in +the shade of a tree, and after a conference I saw them make the usual +preparations for camping. Several men looked after the wants of the +horses, others built fires, and four of the party returned toward me. +'What luck, Companeros!' I hailed them when they came within hearing +distance. 'Senor Capitan, we have come for the Indian,' said the +spokesman of the squad. 'And what use have you for the Indian?' I +asked. 'We shall hang him to yonder tree,' they said, 'as a warning +to liars and impostors.' Bueno, Caballeros, he deserves it. I deliver +him into your hands under this condition, that you grant him a fair +trial, as becomes men who being good Catholics and sure of the +salvation of their souls may not, without just cause, consign a +heathen to the everlasting fires of perdition.' + +"Silently, stoically, the Indian suffered himself to be led to the +place of his execution. After the enraged Mexicans had placed him +under a tree with the noose of a riata around his neck, they informed +him that he might now plead in the defense of his life if he had +anything to say. 'Mexicans,' said the Navajo, 'I fear not death! If I +must die, let it be by a bullet. I call the great Spirit, who knows +the hearts of his people, to witness that I beg not for my life. I +have not a split tongue nor am I an impostor. I have guided you to +the place of gold. I have kept my promise. You Mexicans came with +evil hearts. You fought your own brothers. You abandoned your sick +companions on the trail to the coyote. You have broken the law of +hospitality toward me, your guest, as no Spaniard has ever done +before. Therefore, has your God punished you. He has changed the good +gold of these waters to shimmering mica and shining dross. Fool gold +He gives to fools! As you serve me now, so shall the Apaches do to +you. Never more shall you taste of the waters of the Rio Grande, so +says the Spirit in my heart!' + +"The Indian's dignified bearing and his inspired words on the +threshold of eternity moved my conscience and caused a feeling of +respect and pity for him in my breast as well as in others of our +party. When Juan de Dios Carasco, who was known and despised by all +for being a good-for-nothing thieving coward, drew his gun to shoot +the Navajo in the back, I could not control my anger. 'Stop,' I +shouted, 'you miserable hen thief, or you die at my hands, and now. +This Indian should die, but not in such a manner. Senores, you have +made me your capitan. Now I shall enforce my orders at the risk of my +life's blood. Give that Indian a knife and fair play in a combat +against the prowess of the valiant Don Juan de Dios Carasco.' + +"Although greatly disconcerted, Juan de Dios had to toe the mark. +There was no alternative for him now, as I was desperate and my +orders were obeyed to the letter, for death was the penalty for +disobedience. The fight between the Mexican and the Indian ended by +the Navajo, who was sorely wounded, throwing his knife into the heart +of his enemy. It was a fair fight, although we accorded Juan de Dios, +he being a Christian, this advantage against the Indian (who was +better skilled in the use of weapons) that we allowed him to wrap his +coat about his left arm as a shield, while the Indian was stripped to +his patarague, or breechclout. We buried the body and allowed the +Indian to shift for himself. I observed him crawling near the water's +edge in quest of herbs, which he masticated and applied to his wounds +with an outer coating of mud from the banks of the stream. During the +following night he disappeared. I suspect that the golden nuggets +which caused all our troubles were taken from the body of a +prospector who had been murdered in the lonesome mountains of Arizona. + +"We allowed our horses several days' rest to recuperate before +starting on our return trip. You saw, senor, how we arrived. Starved, +sore, and discouraged, we straggled home, jeered at and ridiculed by +wiseacres who are always ready to say, 'I told you so!' and by +enemies who had no liking for us. But the women, may Santa Barbara +keep them virtuous! they who loved their husbands truly rejoiced to +welcome us home, although we failed to bring them chispas de oro. + +"As concerns the wife of Juan de Dios, and who was now his widow, +pobrecita, she was not to be found at her home. She had taken +advantage of her man's absence to decamp to the mountain of Manzana +with a strapping goat-herder, a very worthy young man, whom she loved +and is now happily free to marry." + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE FIGHT IN THE SAND HILLS. THE PHANTOM DOG + +A number of years had I lived with my relatives when uncle found it +expedient to sell out his business. He had prospered wonderfully in +his commercial ventures. Long since had his coffers absorbed most of +the money circulating within his sphere of trade. Thereafter he +accepted commercial paper in payment for merchandise, and trade grew +immensely. Our customers soon learned how easy it was to affix their +signatures to promissory notes and to mortgages on their lands or +cattle, their horses, sheep, crops, and chattels. Of course there was +a little interest to be paid on the indebtedness, but as it was +merely a trifling one and a half per centum per month or eighteen per +cent yearly, it was of no consequence. And it was so easy to pay your +debts. Just think of it, people bought everything they needed and +longed for at the store and paid for it by simply signing their names +to several papers. When the day of payment came, they could liquidate +their debts by renewing their obligations. They simply signed a new +set of similar papers with the interest compounded and added to the +original debt. Surely Don Guillermo was conceded to stand highest in +popular estimation of any set of men who had ever come to the Rio +Grande. Had he not shown the people how to do business in a +convenient and easy manner? Under such a system nobody worried or +labored very much and life was like a pleasant dream. But alas! there +has always been a beginning and an ending to everything under the +sun, good or evil. The awakening from an easy life's dream was +occasioned by a crushing blow. It fell on the day of final reckoning, +when Don Guillermo, my good uncle, thought the time was propitious to +realize something tangible on sundry duly signed, sealed, and +witnessed instruments. There was a rumpus; neither earthquake nor +cyclone would have caused a greater commotion in the community. What, +then, did this lying gringo mean by resorting to the trickery of the +United States law courts and the power and services of the county +sheriff? Why did he wrest their property from them? Had this gringo +not always accepted their signatures as a legal tender for the +payment of their debts? Had he not told them time and again that +their handwriting was better than gold? If uncle had fallen into the +clutches of these furious people, he would undoubtedly have been +lynched. But he had wisely disposed of all his property in the +country and had left with his family for the States. I remained in +the service of the buyer of and successor to his business. + +Soon after I began to feel lonesome, restless and dissatisfied, and +that life among the natives was not as pleasant and satisfactory as +formerly may be easily imagined. In fact, the gringos were now +cordially hated and envied by a certain class, the element of +greatest influence among the people. This produced a feeling of +unpleasantness not to be overcome, and I resolved to emigrate to +California, overland, by way of Arizona. I longed for the +companionship of people of my own race and wanted to see more of the +world. There was an opportunity to go to a mining town of northern +Arizona, with several ox-teams which were freighting provisions. The +freighter, Don Juan Mestal, assured me that he was very glad to have +the pleasure and comfort of my company and would not listen to an +offer of remuneration on my part. He said there was the choice of two +routes; one road passed through the country of the Navajo Indians and +the other road led past Zuhl, the isolated Pueblo village. Don Juan +said that he would not go by way of Zuni, if he could avoid it, as he +was prejudiced against this tribe. Not that they were hostile or +dangerous, but he had acquired a positive aversion, amounting to +abhorrence, for those peaceful people when he, as a boy, accompanied +his father on a trading expedition there. At that time he witnessed +the revolting execution of a score of Navajos who had been +apprehended as spies by the Zunis. These unfortunates came to their +village as visiting guests, it being in the time of the harvest of +maize, when these Indians celebrate their great Thanksgiving feast. A +young Navajo chief, who led the visiting party, aroused the ire of +the old medicine chief of the tribe, who had lately added a new +attraction to his household, beshrewing himself with another lovely +young squaw. It was said that the enamored damsel had made +preparations to elope with the gallant Navajo chief, but was betrayed +by the telltale barking of the dogs, great numbers of which infest +all Indian villages. The old doctor accused the Navajos of espionage +and had them taken by surprise and imprisoned in an underground foul +den. Then met the chiefs of the tribe in their estufa, or secret +meeting place, to pass judgment on the culprits. The old medicine +chief smoked himself into a trance in order to receive special +instructions from the great Spirit regarding the degree of punishment +to be inflicted on the unlucky Navajos. After sleeping several hours, +he awoke and announced that he had dreamed the Navajos were to be +clubbed to death. After sunrise the next morning these poor Indians +met their doom in the public square of the village unflinchingly in +the presence of the whole population. + +They were placed in a row, facing the sun, about ten feet apart. A +Zuni executioner, armed with a war club, was stationed in front of +each victim, and another one, armed likewise, stood behind him. A war +chief raised his arms and yelled, and forty clubs were raised in air. +Then the great war drum, or tombe, boomed out the knell of death. +There was a sickening, crashing thud, and twenty Navajos fell to +earth with crushed skulls, each cabeza having been whacked +simultaneously, right and left, fore and aft, by two stone clubs in +the hands of a pair of devils. + +It had always been an enigma to me that the Pueblo Indians, who were +not to be matched as fighters against the Apache and Navajo had been +able to defend their villages against the onslaught of these fierce +tribes, their hereditary enemies. Don Juan Mestal enlightened me on +that topic. He said the explanation therefor was to be found in a +certain religious superstition of the Navajos and Apaches, which +circumstance the Pueblo Indians took advantage of and exploited to +the saving of their lives. When they had reason to expect an attack +on their villages, the Pueblo laid numerous mines and torpedoes on +all the approaches and streets of their towns. While these mines did +not possess the destructive power of dynamite or gunpowder, they were +equally effective and powerful, and never failed to repulse the +enemy, especially if reinforced by hand grenades of like ammunition, +thrown by squaws and pappooses from the flat roofs of their houses. +By some means or other it had become known to the descendants of +Montezuma that when an Apache stepped on something out of the +ordinary "he scented mischief" and believed himself unclean and +befouled with dishonor, and fancied himself disgraced before God and +man; and forthwith he would hie himself away to do penance at the +shrine of the nearest water sprite. This superstition they brought +from Asia, their native land. + +When the day of our departure drew near, I visited my numerous +friends to bid them farewell and receive many like wishes in return. +I must own that I felt a pang of sadness when I saw tears well up in +the innocent eyes of sweet maidens and saw the fires dimmed in the +black orbs of lovely matrons whom I had held often in my arms to the +measure and tuneful melody of the fantastic wild fandango; musical +Andalusian strains which words cannot describe--soul-stirring, +enchanting, promising and denying, plaintive or jubilant, songs from +Heaven or wails from the depths of Hades. Here I lived the happiest +hours of my life, but being young, I did not realize it then. + +When I came to the house of Don Reyes Alvarado, who was my chum and +bosom friend, and also of like age, he gave me a pleasant surprise. +He informed me that there would be a dance at the Hancho Indian's +settlement that same night, one of those ceremonial events which I +had long desired to attend in order to study the customs and habits +of these descendants of the Aztecs. Their social dances are inspired +by ancient customs and are the outbursts of the dormant, barbaric +rites of a religion which these people were forced to abandon by +their conquering masters, the Spaniards. Outwardly and visibly +Christians, taught to observe the customs of the Roman Catholic +Church and to conform to its ritual, these people, who were the scum +and overflow from villages of Pueblo Indians, were yet Aztec heathens +in the consciousness of their souls and inclination of their hearts. + +Shortly after sunset we were on our way to the sand dunes of the Rio +Grande, where these poor outcasts had squatted and built their humble +homes of terron, or sod, which they cut from the alkali-laden soil of +the vega. They held their dance orgies in the estufa, the meeting +house of the tribe. This was a long, low structure built of adobe, +probably a hundred feet long and nine feet wide, inside measure. The +building was so low that I could easily lay the palm of my uplifted +hand against the ceiling of the roof, which was made of beams of +cottonwood, covered with sticks off which the bark had been carefully +peeled, the whole had then been covered with clay a foot in depth. +The floor of this long, low tunnel-like room was made of mud which +had been skilfully tampered with an admixture of short cut straw and +had been beaten into the proper degree of hardness. Dampened at +intervals, this floor was quite serviceable to dance on. There were +no windows or ventilators in this hall and only one door at the end. +This was made out of a slab of hewn wood and was just high and wide +enough to admit a good sized dog. The hall was brilliantly lighted by +a dozen mutton tallow dips, which were distributed about the room in +candelabra of tin, hanging on the mud-plastered and whitewashed +walls. The orchestra consisted of one piece only, an ancient war +drum, or tombe, and was located at the farther end of the room. It +was beaten by an Indian, who was, if possible, more ancient than the +drum. As we approached we heard the muffled sound of the drum within. +"Caramba, amigo!" said my friend; "they are at it already, and +judging from the sound, they are very gay to-night. Madre santissima! +I remember that this is a great night for these Indians, as it is the +anniversary of the Noche Triste, which they celebrate in +commemoration of the Aztec's victory over the Spaniards when the +Indians almost wiped their enemies off the face of the earth. Senor, +to tell the truth, rather would I turn my horse's head homeward. +Pray, let us return!" "And why, amigo," I asked. "Because this has +always been a day of ill luck for our family," said Don Reyes. "It +began with the misfortune of the famed Knight Don Pedro Alvarado, the +bravest of men and the right hand of Don Fernando Cortez. In the +bloody retreat of the Spaniards from Mexico, in their fight with the +Aztecs, during the Noche Triste, Don Pedro Alvarado, from whom we +were descended, lost his mare through a deadly arrow. "Muy bien, +amigo Don Reyes," said I; "if you fear these people, I advise you to +return home to Dona Josefita, but I shall go on alone." "I fear not +man or beast!" flared up Don Reyes, "as you well know, friend, but +these are heathen fiends, not human, who worship a huge rattlesnake, +which they keep in an underground den and feed with the innocent +blood of Christian babes. Lead on, senor, I shall follow. I see it is +as Dona Josefita, my little wife, says: "If these young gringos crave +a thing, there is no use in denying them, for they seem to compel! To +the very door of that uncanny place I follow you, amigo, but enter +therein I shall not, unless I be first absolved from my sins and +shriven by the padre." + +We had now arrived at the door of the estufa (oven), where the +entertainment was going on, full blast. I alighted and my friend took +charge of my horse and stationed himself at the door while I got down +on all fours and crawled inside. I seated myself on a little bench at +one side of the entrance. When my eyes got accustomed to the dense +atmosphere of the place, I observed that the room was full of people, +dancing in couples with a peculiar slow-waltz step. The ladies stayed +in their places while the men made the rounds of the hall. After a +few turns with a lady, they shuffled along to the next one, +continually exchanging their partners. As the dancers passed me by, +one after another, they noticed me, and many among them scowled and +looked angry and displeased. Suddenly the drum stopped for a few +minutes. Then it began in a faster tempo. Now the men remained +stationary, while the ladies made the circuit of the room and each +one in her turn passed in front of me. They looked lovely in their +costumes of finely embroidered snow-white single garments, trimmed +with many silver ornaments and trinkets and in their short calico +skirts and beautiful moccasins. Their limbs were tastefully swathed +in white buckskin leggins, which completed the costume. + +Faster and faster beat the drum, and the sobbing, rhythmic sound +thrilled my senses and filled my heart with an indescribable weird, +fierce longing. I saw a maiden approach taller and finer than the +rest. One glance of her soft, wild eyes and I flew to her arms. +"Back, Indians!" I shouted, "honor your queen!" and entered the lists +of the frolicsome dance. Wilder beat the drum and faster. As the old +Indian warmed to his work, he broke out in a doleful, monotonous +song, the words of which I did not understand. It sounded to me like +this: + +Anna-Hannah-- +Anna-Hannah-- +May-Ah!- +Anna-Hannah-Sarah-Wah! +Moolow-Hoolow, Ji-Hi-Tlack! +Anna-Hannah-- +May-Ah-Ha! + +So it went on indefinitely. + +To lay this troubled spirit I tossed him a handful of coins, with the +unfortunate result that his guttural song became, if anything, more +loud and boisterous. I had no thought of exchanging my partner, as +the Aztec maiden clung to me. With closed eyes and parted lips she +moved as in a blissful dream. I have known Christian people become +frantic under the impetus of great religious excitement and I have +seen them act very strangely, also have I seen Indians similarly +affected during their medicine-ghost dances. Now I, who had not +thought it possible of myself, had become more savage and +uncontrollable than any one. I suppose it was the irritating, +monotonous sound of the war drum that did it, jarring my nerves, and +the peculiar Indian odor in the stifling hot air of the close room, +enhanced by the exhilarating sensation of threatening danger, and +that in the presence of the adored sex. Assuredly all this was more +than enough to set me off, as I am naturally impulsive and of a +high-strung nervous temperament. + +I must say that considering the modest costumes of these Indian +ladies and their bashful and shrinking disposition, it does seem +strange that they should fascinate one like myself of the Saxon race. +To be sure the sight of the bared shoulders and necks of society +belles when undressed in the decollete fashion of their ball gowns +ravishes and gluts our sensuality, but a momentary glimpse of the +Indian maid's brown knee flashing by during the excitement of the +fandango is just as suggestive, and the inch of hand-made embroidery +on the edge of their short skirts is as effective as priceless lace +on gowns of worth. And the Indian fashion has this to recommend it, +that it is the less expensive of the two costumes. Ever watchful, +ever on the alert, I saw the sheen of a knife flash from its scabbard +in the hazy air, and my beautiful partner shivered and moaned in my +arms. "Dog of an Indian, dare and die," shouted I, angrily. Four +times I made the circuit of the room, and when again opposite the +entrance of this man-kennel, I heard the voice of my faithful friend, +Don Reyes Alvarado, calling me anxiously. I gave my lovely partner in +charge of her tender-hearted sisters, for the poor wild thing had +fainted and lay limply in my arms. The strong arm of my companion +grasped me and drew me out into the fresh air, where I almost +collapsed, overcome. + +"Surely, amigo," said Reyes, "you will not blame me now for not +entering, but you have endurance, for Dios! I should not have +survived so long. Thank God you came out alive! When I saw them pass +in knives, I had my doubts and momentarily expected to hear the +report of your revolver. But when I saw you pass by infatuated with +Jtz-Li-Cama, the cacique's daughter and wife of the murderous +scoundrel, El Macho, then I gave you up. Oh, see what is happening +now. Amigo, you have broken up the dance. So it seemed. The drum was +silent now and we heard the voices of men arguing in the Aztec idiom. +Of a sudden the lights were extinguished and the crowd came out with +a rush, and silently they stole away in the darkness. + +"Now, amigo," said Reyes, "let me tell you something, which may haply +serve you well. Knowing that an American accomplishes things which a +Mexican like myself must let alone, I advise you to try for the +hidden treasure of La Gran Quivira. Seeing that you are in the good +graces of Jtz-Li-Cama, you might prevail with the cacique to guide +you. He is said to be the only living man who knows the secret of the +trove in the ruins of the sacred temple of the ancient city. The +Indians believe that this treasure, which the Aztecs hid from the +Spaniards, is guarded by a terrible phantom dog, the specter of one +of the great dogs of Fernando Cortez which ravened among their Aztec +ancestors. They fear the specter of this fabled Perro de la Malinche +more than anything else on earth, as it is said to harrow their souls +in Hades as it ravened their bodies when in the flesh." + +After smoking a few cigarritos, my friend proposed to ride home, as +there was really nothing else to be done. We rode slowly along, +enjoying the beautiful night of this faultless climate, and I shall +ever remember this night to my last day. There was a pleasant, +refreshing odor in the air, the scent of the wild thyme which grows +in these sand dunes. The moon rose over the Manzana range and flooded +the broad valley with its soft, silvery rays. Suddenly, at a sharp +turn of the trail, we found ourselves surrounded by silent forms +arisen from the misty ground. "Don Reyes Alvarado," spoke the voice +of the Indian, known as the macho, "I have come for revenge and am +now ready to wipe out the insults you heaped on me when you charged +me with the theft of your calves. I challenge thee to fight. Alight +from thy horse, cowardly Spaniard! To-night of all nights shalt thou +feel the Indians' blade between thy ribs." "Fight him, amigo," I +said. "I shall enforce fair play." But my friend Reyes whom I knew to +be a man of both strength and courage, weakened, being cowed with the +superstition of the unlucky Noche Triste. "Tomorrow I shall fight +thee, Indian," he answered "not at nighttime, like a thieving +coyote." "If thou wert not astride thy horse and out of my reach, +thou wouldst not dare say that to me, thou cuckold dupe of the +Americans!" sneered the Indian. This insult to my companion angered +me, and I demanded a retraction and an apology therefor from the +Indian. When the macho flatly refused and repeated the insult in a +more aggravating manner, I replied that I feared not to meet him or +any other goatherding Indian and was ready to fight him on the spot. + +Saying this, I dismounted and threw my horse's bridle to my friend +Reyes to hold. Then the cacique, or Pueblo chief, the father of +Jtz-Li-Cama, appeared and demanded our weapons. "I shall not +interfere in this fight, senores," said he, "if you surrender your +weapons to me, the lawful alguacil (officer) of this district." He +then took the macho's knife, and I gave him my revolver and stripped +for the fray. + +I advanced and scratched a circle of about twelve feet diameter in +the deep sand with my foot, then I stepped to the center of this ring +and awaited my antagonist. I cautioned my friend Reyes to see to it +that no one else overstepped the line. To the lonely sand dunes of +the Rio Grande unwittingly I thus introduced the manly sport of the +prize ring. But the battle was not fought for lucre or fame, nor +according to the London Prize Ring Rules; it was fought in defense of +a friend's honor, and the stake was life or death. The Indian made a +rush for me, but I avoided him and warded off his blows. I did not +touch him till I saw my chance, and then I tapped him under the chin +which sent him sprawling. He arose promptly and came for me in a +rage, when I felled him with a blow on the head. Again he came, and +this time he gave me a stunning blow in the face, which maddened me +so, that I took the offensive and laid him low with a terrific hit. I +was now thoroughly infuriated and threw all caution to the winds. +When he arose once more, I attacked him. He took to his heels and I +followed him up. I noticed then that the whole crowd of Indians were +running after us, but I had now become reckless and did not mind. +Then I stumbled over a root and fell face down in the sand. Before I +could arise fully the macho had turned and thrown himself upon me. I +managed to turn over on my back and gripped him by throat and face, +so that he was really in my power, and I felt that he was subdued so +that I could easily force him under, and, small wonder, for with the +terrible grip of my hand had I once crushed a man's fingers in a +wrestling match. Now I used the macho's body as a shield against the +furious onslaught of his people, who attacked me with rocks, clubs, +and anything they could lay hands to. I thought, and I never ceased +thinking and planning for one moment, that the affair looked very +serious for me, when I saw the cacique approach with my pistol in +hand, exclaiming, "Now, gringo, thou shalt die, on the altar of the +god, at the sacred shrine of Aztlan, I shall lay thy quivering +heart!" In vain I looked for help from my companion, who had sought +safety in flight. Something had to be done and that quickly. Surely I +had one trusty friend, true as steel, who would not forsake me in the +extremity of my peril. I bethought me of my little "American bulldog" +which I had picked up in the cars in Kansas, and which had ever since +followed me faithfully. "Sic-semper-Cerberus-Sic!" My right hand +stole to my hip, a short sharp bark, and the treacherous cacique fell +over with a crimson stain on his forehead. At the same moment a +weird, uncanny yelp pierced the night, and a tremendous shaggy +phantom cloud obscured the slender sickle of the moon. Terrified, the +Indians screamed "El Perro! El Perro de la Malinche!" and shrilly the +voices of frightened squaws took up the refrain, "Perro! Perro! +Gringo Perro!" + +When I staggered to my feet, I was alone, sorely bruised and wounded, +but master of the field. I recovered my revolver, which lay at my +feet and contrived to mount my horse, whose bridle had caught on the +greasewood brush, and I headed for home. + +Not long thereafter I met my friend Reyes, who was followed by a +retinue of peons. "Gracias a Dios. Amigo!" he exclaimed, on seeing +me. "I came after your body, if it were to be found, and here you are +alive. When I heard the report of firearms and knowing that those +devils had your weapon, I feared the worst. How on earth did you +manage to escape them? Seeing you down and beset by the whole tribe, +I gave you up for dead and fled." + +I told my friend that with God's help and the phantom dog's +assistance I had beaten off my assailants, and I thought that the +cacique had been sorely bitten by the dog. Dona Josefita was very +anxious and excited. When she saw me coming, she cried, "The saints +preserve us, oh here he is! Mercy, how he looks, pobrecito! he is cut +all to pieces. Hurry, Reyes, bring him in here and lay him gently +down. Hombre, husband, coward! how couldst thou abandon thy friend +who fought for thy honor, not fearing the death. I wager that pale +hussy, Jtz-Li-Cama, was, as usual, the cause of this strife between +men!" + +The kind lady then attended deftly and skillfully to the dressing of +my wounds, applying soothing herbs and healing ointments, which +tended to allay the fever, and she nursed me with the tenderest care, +so that in a week's time I was as well as ever, though not without a +feeling of regret for my too speedy recovery. + +Of course, there arose the rumor of a fierce battle between Americans +and Indians. To silence this silly talk and to avoid unpleasant +complications, I surrendered myself to the alcalde of the precinct +and accused myself of having disturbed the peace of the realm. +Pleading my case, I stated that as there was nobody but the peace +disturbers involved, and as said parties did not make any further +claim upon the Honorable Court, therefore, under the statute of the +Territory and the Constitution of the United States, the law required +that the court mulct the guilty parties in the payment of a nominal +fine and discharge the culprits. The Honorable Court decreed that I +as an American ought to know the American law best, and discharged me +after I paid my self-imposed fine. The administering of justice in +cases of importance was, of course, relegated to the United States +Circuit Courts, but Uncle Sam did not care to meddle with the many +troublesome alcaldes or justices of the peace, as he did not +understand the Spanish language very well. This was certainly +humiliating and embarrassing, but who can blame him, as no one is +over anxious to be rated an ignorant person. + +My Mexican friends decided to give a farewell party in my honor. +Accordingly they made great preparations. They secured the largest +sala, or hall, in the township and scoured the country for +musicians--fiddlers and guitar players. Every person of any social +notability was invited. They drew the line of social respectability +at peons, or bondmen. This was a happy-go-lucky caste of people who +possessed no property nor anything else, and consequently they had no +cares and were under no responsibility of any kind, as the wealthier +classes, who virtually owned them, had to provide for their +necessities. The system of peonage in New Mexico had been abolished +with the abolition of slavery in the United States, but the peons did +not realize the wretchedness of their deplorable social status, and +in their ignorance they regarded their bondage as a privilege, +believing themselves fortunate to have their wants provided for by +their patrones. They were treated kindly by their masters and looked +upon as poor relations and intimate but humble friends. + +The entertainment was to be of the velorio (wake) type, which begins +as a prayer meeting and ends in a dance. My friends exerted +themselves to the utmost to make this event the social climax of the +season. They sent a committee to the pueblo of Isleta for several +goatskins full of native wine, and incidentally they borrowed San +Augustin, the pueblo's famous image saint, who they intended should +preside over the velorio. As this prayer meeting was to be in my +honor and for the sake of invoking the protection of the saints on my +journey, they thought it best to procure San Augustin, who being the +patron saint of the heathen Isleta Indians, would not mind giving a +heretic Protestant gringo a good send-off, as he was accustomed to +deal with heresy. They also procured a dozen fat mutton sheep, which +were to be barbecued and served with chile pelado to the invited +guests, surely a tempting menu and hot! The ladies baked bollos, +tamales and frijoles. Melons and cantaloupes were brought in by the +cartload. I was waited upon by a committee and received a formal +invitation; for everything was done in grand Spanish style. When I +arrived at the festive hall the ceremonies began. The ladies knelt +before San Augustin, praying and chanting alternately. I took my +customary station at the door, as master of the artillery. At the +singing of a certain stanza and after the words, "Angeles, y Seraphim +es! Santo! Santo! Santo!" I received my cue from one of the deacons +who gave the order: "Fuego, maestro!" and I discharged my double +barreled shotgun and a brace of six shooters in lightning-like +succession. Surely this was pious devotion, properly emphasized, and +it kept San Augustin from falling asleep. I used up a pound of +gunpowder that night, and this was said to have been the grandest, +most successful velorio ever held in that part of the world. At +eleven o'clock I announced that my battery was overheated and too +dangerous to reload, which stopped the praying and the grand baile +began. There were several hundred dancing couples, who enjoyed +themselves to the utmost until sunrise, and nobody thought of leaving +for home until everything eatable and liquid was disposed of. + +Now the date of our departure had arrived, and very sad, indeed, was +I to leave these people who had done their very best to make me feel +at home with them and who seemed to be really fond of me. I consoled +Dona Josefita somewhat with the promise that I would return some day +and find her the treasure of La Gran Quivira. Don Juan Mestal, the +freighter, seemed as reluctant to leave as I was; something was +always turning up to delay our start. But at last we were off. + +After three days of travel, we came to a small town, where I met a +Mexican whom I knew on the Rio Grande, where he had formerly lived. +He invited me cordially to the wedding of his sister, which was to be +on the next day at old Fort Wingate, an abandoned fort, and then a +Mexican settlement. This man said that he had come on purpose to meet +me, as he had heard of my intentions to leave the country. Although I +did not like the man, who was said to be jealous of Americans, I +accepted his urgent invitation more from curiosity to learn what he +meant to do than for other reasons. + +The next morning I started early from camp and rode over to the +little town, distant fifteen miles. When I arrived in front of my +prospective host's house I caught a glimpse of two men, who were +sneaking off toward an old corral. Then I knew what was in the wind, +for those two men were known to me as desperate cutthroat thieves and +highwaymen; their specialty was to waylay and murder American +travelers. My kind friend professed to be overmuch delighted at my +arrival. He took charge of my horse and invited me into his house, +where I met the bridal couple and their friends, who were carousing +and gambling. I joined and made merry with them. At ten o'clock the +whole party made ready to proceed to the chapel, where the marriage +ceremony was to be performed. I simulated the part of a very +inebriated person, a condition which they looked forward to with hope +and satisfaction, and told them that I would stay at the house to +await their return. When everybody had left I thought I might as well +get under way, feeling lonesome. I went out and around to the rear of +the house, where the corral was, to get my horse, but found the gate +fastened with chains and securely locked. The corral walls were built +of adobe, and the two walls of it were a continuation of the side +walls of the house, and its end wall formed an enclosure or backyard. +My horse was there, and I found my saddle in one of the rooms of the +building, hidden under a blanket. I entered the corral through the +back door of the house, caught and saddled my horse, and then led him +out to the street. This was a very laughable manner of leave-taking. +The house was cut up into a labyrinth of small rooms, just large +enough for a horse to turn around in, and the doors were low and +narrow. As I could not find the outer door, I led my horse +successively into every room in the house. + +There is no furniture such as we use in a typical Spanish dwelling, +no bedsteads, tables, or chairs. The inmates squat on divans arranged +on the floor around the walls of the rooms, and at nighttime they +spread their bedding on the floors. Some of the rooms were nicely +carpeted with Mexican rugs. My horse must have thought he had come to +a suite of stables, for he acted accordingly. He nosed around after +grain and hay, whinnied and pawed, and seemed to enjoy himself +generally. At last I found the right door, came out into the street +and rode to the church to tender my best wishes to the happy couple +and bid them adios. When the party emerged from the chapel they +seemed to be very much surprised at seeing me. I told my host that I +regretted to leave them so early in the day, but had an appointment +to keep elsewhere. I would ride slowly out of town so that they could +overtake me easily, should they wish to see me later, but nobody +came, and after several hours I caught up with my companions. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. WITH THE NAVAJO TRIBE + +After a couple of days we came to Fort Wingate, which controls the +Navajo Indian Reservation. We camped here for a day to have some +repair work done to our wagons, and I took a stroll over the hills +after rabbits and returned to camp at nightfall. Don Juan told me +that he had been visited by a number of Indians, who had bartered him +some blankets and buckskins and he was highly pleased thereat. + +The next morning we started early and traveled until noon. Several +Indians had been following us for some time, and as soon as we made +camp they squatted at our fire, while others were continually +arriving, some afoot, but most of them on horseback. Manuelito, a +grand-looking chief, rode into camp on the finest Indian pony I had +ever seen. It was beautifully caparisoned; the saddle, bridle, and +trappings were covered with silver mountings. This was by far the +most gorgeously dressed Navajo I had ever met. He wore tight-fitting +knickerbockers of jet-black buckskin, which resembled velvet, with a +double row of silver buttons, set as close as possible on the outward +seams, from top to bottom. On his legs from knee to ankle he wore +homespun woolen stockings and his feet were covered by beaded +moccasins of yellow, smoke-tanned buckskin. His bright red calico +shirt was literally covered with silver ornaments and his ears were +pierced with heavy silver rings, at least three inches in diameter. +His wrists and arms were heavy with massive silver bracelets and +others, carved from a stone, which resembled jade. About his neck he +wore strings of wampum and glass beads, garnets, and bits of +turquoise. The turquoise and garnet is found here in places known +only to these Indians. His fingers were encircled by many rings, but +the finest ornament he possessed was his body belt of great disks of +silver, the size of tea saucers. All this jewelry was of a fair +workmanship, such as is made by Navajo silversmiths out of coin +silver. In fact, these Indians prefer silver to gold for purposes of +personal adornment. The blanket which this Indian wore around his +waist was worth at least two hundred dollars; never have I seen its +equal in beauty of pattern and texture. + +The chief dismounted and withdrew with Don Juan behind a wagon for a +talk, as I presumed. They reappeared soon, and the chief mounted his +steed and cavorted around our camp as one possessed. Furiously +lashing his horse, he scattered our cooking utensils and acted in a +most provoking manner generally. I noticed then that the noble chief +was intoxicated, and when I questioned Don Juan sharply, he admitted +that he had given the Indian some whiskey, and on the day before as +well. I warned the Don to have no further dealings with these Indians +and advised him to break camp at once in order to avoid trouble. I +informed him also that he had committed a serious crime by selling +liquor to Indians and that he was liable to be arrested at any time +should a patrol from the fort happen our way. As the Mexican was +frightened now, we took to the road in a hurry and traveled until a +late hour that night. In fact, we did not stop until the cattle were +exhausted. + +Hardly had we prepared our camp and were sitting around our fire, +when a horde of Indians appeared, clamoring for whiskey. As they were +armed and threatening, Don Juan became so terrified that he climbed +to the interior of a wagon to comply with the demand of the savages. +When I saw this, I drew my rifle from its place under my bedding and +placed it in readiness. Plainly I saw Don Juan come out of the wagon +with the mischievous stone jug, as this happened in the bright light +of our camp fire. That will never do, thought I, and quickly drawing +my revolver, I persuaded the Don to drop the jug, incidentally +smashing it with a 44 caliber bullet, taking care not to hurt +anybody; and this was easily done, as the jug was a large one, it +held three gallons. Instantaneously I grabbed my Winchester, and with +my back against a wagon stood ready for action. The Indians uttered a +howl of disappointment when they saw the jug collapse and its +precious contents wasted, but were silenced by an exclamation of +their chief. After an excited pow-wow between themselves, they +disappeared among the hills in the shadows of the night. + +"Muchas gracias, senor Americana," said Don Juan, "quien sabe?" What +would have happened if the Indians had gotten the liquor, which I +dared not refuse them; but I think this ends our troubles. We passed +a sleepless night, and long before sunrise Don Juan made preparations +for our departure. + +When the herders rounded up the cattle, they found that several yoke +of oxen were missing, and greatly alarmed, they said that they +believed the Indians had stolen them during the night. Don Juan did +not appear to be very anxious to search for the missing cattle +himself, so he sent out the herders again after breakfast. They +returned with the report of having found the tracks of Indians who +had apparently driven the cattle toward the hills, and stated that +they were afraid to follow, fearing for their lives. + +As it was nearly noon by this time, we cooked our dinner, and while +doing so were visited again by a number of the Indians. Don Juan +intimated to them that several of his oxen had strayed off during the +night, and the Navajos kindly offered to go in search of them for a +remuneration. They demanded a stack of tortillas a foot high and a +sack of flour. Nolens-volens, squatted Don Mestal before the fire and +baked bread for the wily Indians as a ransom for his cattle. Of +course then the missing oxen were soon brought up, and we lost no +time in getting under way. + +Until midnight we traveled, as Don Juan was very anxious to get away +from the reservation of these Indians, which is seventy-five miles +across. This night we experienced a repetition of the tactics of the +night before, as regarded the safety of our herd, but Don Juan had to +pay a higher ransom in the morning. While we were awaiting the +arrival of the Indians with our lost steers, Chief Manuelito honored +us again with his presence. He sat down at our fire, and producing a +greasy deck of Spanish playing cards, he challenged Don Juan to a +game of monte. That was an irresistible temptation for my companion. +By the smiling expression of his wizened features I divined that he +thought he saw his chance for revenge. Manuelito undoubtedly had a +strain of sporting blood in his veins, as he offered to stake his +horses, blankets, squaws, and everything he had against the Mexican's +wagons and cargo. I warned Don Juan to have a care, as I knew the +cunning of the Navajo tribe, having dealt with them before, and +advised him to play the traps he had bought from them with liquor +against a chipper little squaw who was richly dressed and had come +with Chief Manuelito, mounted on a white pony. I believed her to be +the chief's daughter. When she understood the import of the +conversation, she looked haughtily and in a disdainful manner at Don +Juan, but appeared to be pleased with me and eyed me with symptoms of +curiosity. Of course, I expected her to defy Don Juan to take her, +and simply ride off in case he should win the game. At any rate, I +meant to take her under my protection, if necessary, and send her +home to her people. In fact, the liquor which Don Juan had sold these +Indians had belonged to me and had been presented to me by a friend +as an antidote for possible snake bites on the road to Arizona. + +The gambling began, and my Mexican companions became so engrossed in +the enjoyment of their alluring national game of monte that they +forgot everything else. The drivers were as interested as their +employer and bet the poor trinkets they possessed on the result of +the game. There arrived more Indians continually, and I observed a +familiar face amongst these and saw that I myself was recognized. The +game was ended as I had foreseen, with Don Juan as the loser. He was +an easy prey for these Indians, who are as full of tricks as the +ocean is of water. + +Then Chief Manuelito, who was highly elated with his victory over the +Mexican, challenged me to a game in a very overbearing and provoking +manner. I replied that I despised the game of monte, which was +perhaps good enough for Mexicans and Indians, but was decided by +chance; I boasted that I was ready to bet anything I had on my skill +at shooting with the rifle, and challenged him and his whole tribe to +the sport which was worthy of men, a shooting match. I think +Manuelito would have accepted my challenge without hesitation and in +great glee if he had not been restrained by the Indian whom I have +mentioned before as having just arrived and recognized me. This +Indian said something to the chief, which seemed to interest and +excite them all. Chief Manuelito advanced, and extending his hand in +greeting, said that he had often wished to meet me, the wizard who +had beaten the champion marksman of the Navajo tribe. + +Several years before I had in the town of Cubero, at the request of +Mexican friends, shot a target match with the most renowned marksman +of the Navajo tribe, my pistol being pitted against the Navajo's +rifle, and had beaten him with a wonderful shot to the discomfiture +and distress of a trading band of Indians, who bet on their +champion's prowess and lost their goods to the knowing Mexicans. + +The chief then requested me to favor them with an exhibition of my +skill. I readily assented and directed them to put up a target. They +placed a flat rock against the trunk of a pine tree at so great a +distance that it was barely distinguishable to the naked eye. I +guessed the distance and my shot fell just below the mark. Then I +raised the hind sight of my Winchester a notch and the next shot +shattered the stone to pieces. At this the Indians went wild. They +had thought it impossible for any man to perform this feat of +marksmanship, and were most enthusiastic in the profession of their +admiration. Gladly would they have adopted me into their tribe as a +great chief or medicine man had I wished to ally myself to them. +There was the opportunity of a lifetime, but I did not embrace it. + +As the sun was now low in the heavens, I advised Don Juan to remain +in camp for the night and spoke to Chief Manuelito, expressing my +wish to pass through his country unmolested and without delay. The +chief assured me of his protection and bade us have no care. We slept +soundly that night, a band of Indians guarding our camp and herd +under orders of Manuelito, who had become my stanch friend and +admirer. The following day we came to the end of the reservation and +soon crossed the boundary line of New Mexico into Arizona. + + + +CHAPTER IX. IN ARIZONA + +I left New Mexico with the intention of making Los Angeles in the +golden State my future home, and now, thirty years later, I have not +reached there yet. Vainly have I tried to break the thraldom of my +fate, for I did not know that here I was to meet face to face with +the mighty mystery of an ancient cult, the God of a long-forgotten +civilization, a psychic power which has ordered my path in life and +controlled my actions. + +As its servant, at its bidding, I write this, and shall now unfold, +and in the course of this narrative give to the world a surprising +revelation of the power of ancient Aztec idols, which would be +incredible in the light of our twentieth century of Christian +civilization if it were not sustained by the evidence of undeniable +facts. + +Our road led through a hilly country toward the Little Colorado +River. In the distance loomed the San Francisco Mountains, extinct +craters which had belched fire and lava long, long ago at the birth +of Arizona, when the earth was still in the travail of creation. We +forded the Little Colorado at Sunset Crossing, a lonely colony, where +a few Mormons were the only inhabitants of a vast area of wilderness. +We were headed due west toward a mesa rising abruptly from the +plateau which we were then traversing. This mesa was again capped by +a chain of lofty peaks, one of the Mogollon mountain ranges. We +ascended the towering mesa through the difficult Chavez pass, which +is named after its discoverer, the noted Mexican, Colonel Francisco +Chavez, who may be remembered as a representative in Congress of the +United States, for the Territory of New Mexico. A day's heavy toil +brought us to the summit of the mesa, which was a beautiful place, +but unspeakably lonesome. This wonderful highland is a malpais or +lava formation and densely covered with a forest of stately pines and +mountain juniper. Strange to say, vegetation thrives incredibly in +the rocky lava; a knee-high growth of the most nutritious grama +grasses, indigent to this region, rippled in the breeze like waves of +a golden sea and we saw numerous signs of deer, antelope, and turkey. +Our road, a mere trail, wound over this plateau, which was a +veritable impenetrable jungle in places, a part of the great Coconino +forest. Think and wonder! An unbroken forest of ten thousand square +miles, it is said to be the most extensive woodland on the face of +the globe. This trail was the worst road to travel I have seen or +expect ever to pass over. The wagons moved as ships tossed on a +stormy sea, chuck! chuck! from boulder to boulder, without +intermittence. We found delicious spring water about noon and passed +a most remarkable place later in the day. This must have been the pit +of a volcano. A few steps aside from the road you might lean over the +precipice and look straight down into a great, round crater, so deep +that it made a person dizzy. At the bottom there was a ranch house, a +small lake and a cultivated field, the whole being apparently ten +acres in area. I looked straight down on a man who was walking near +the house and appeared no larger than a little doll and his dog +seemed to be the size of a grasshopper, but we heard the dog bark and +heard the cackling of hens quite plainly. On one side of this pit +there was a break in the formation, which made this curious place +accessible by trail. + +We had been advised that we would find a natural tank of rain water +in the vicinity of this place and camped there at nightfall. We +turned our stock out, but our herders did not find the promised +water. Our cook reported that there was not a drop of water in camp, +as the spigot of his water tank had been loosened by the roughness of +the road and all the water was lost. Now this would have been a +matter of small consequence if Don Juan had not been taken ill +suddenly. He threw himself on the ground and cried for water. "Agua, +por Dios!" (Water, for God's sake) he cried, "or I shall die." "Why, +Don Juan," I said, "there is no water here. I advise you to wait till +moonrise when the cattle are rested and then leave for the next +watering place, which is Beaver Head, at the foot of the mesa; we +ought to reach there about ten o'clock to-morrow morning. Surely +until then you can endure a little thirst!" "Amiga, I cannot, I am +dying," moaned Don Juan, in great distress. As I suspected that he +had lost his nerve on the Navajo reservation, I felt greatly annoyed, +and when he became frantic in his cries I promised to go down to +Beaver Creek to get him a drink of water, for I recalled to mind his +little daughter who bid me farewell with these words: "Adios, Senor +Americano, I charge you with the care of my padrecito. If you promise +me, I know that he will return to me safely." + +I set out on my long night-walk, stumbling over rocks and boulders in +the darkness. It was a beautiful night, the crisp atmosphere was +laden with the fragrant exhalation of the nut pines and junipers and +there was not a breath of air stirring. I got down to water at +midnight, the time of moonrise, filled my canteen and started on the +return trip. Slowly I reascended the steep mesa, and when I reached +the summit I sat down on a rock in a thicket of junipers. The moon +had now risen above the trees and cast its dim light over an +enchanting scene. The sense of utter loneliness, a homesickness, a +feeling of premonition, stole over me, and weirdly I sensed the +presence of I knew not what. From the shadows spoke an owl, sadly, +anxiously, "Hoo, hoo! Where are you? You!" and his mate answered him +tenderly, seductively, "Tee, hee! Come to me! Me!" + +In the west, far, far away, clustered a range of mountains, spread +out like an enormous horse-shoe and in its center arose the form of a +solitary hill. In the heavens from the east drifted a white, ragged +cloud. The solitary hill seemed to rise high and higher and all the +mountains bowed before it. The spectral cloud resolved itself into a +terrible vision which enveloped the central hill. Great Heavens! +Again I saw the phantom dog and fancied that I heard shrill screams +of "Perro, perro, gringo perro!" A crackling noise, a coming shadow, +and forward I fell on my face, ever on the alert, ever ready. An +unearthly yell and a great body flew over, fierce claws grazing me. +Two balls of fire shone in the bush, but my rifle cracked and a great +lion fell in its tracks. I expected my companions to meet me soon, +coming my way. Instead, I found them, after my all-night's walk, +snugly camped where I had left them. Don Juan explained that with +God's favor they had found the water soon after I had left them. He +said that they had called loud and long after me, but I did not seem +to hear. + +This day we descended the mesa and entered the valley of the Verde +River, one of Arizona's permanent water courses. This valley is +cultivated for at least forty miles from its source to where it +enters precipitous mountains. We forded the crystal waters of the +river at Camp Verde, an army post, and crossed another range of +mountains and several valleys into a comparatively open country, and +on the night of a day late in November we camped on Lynx Creek, and +were then within a half day's travel of our destination. + + + +CHAPTER X. AT THE SHRINE OF A "SPHINX OF AZTLAN" + +Not a drop of rain had fallen on us since we left the Rio Grande, the +days were as summer in a northern climate, but the nights were quite +chill, the effect of an altitude of five thousand feet above sea +level. The country had lost its appearance of loneliness, for we +passed several parties of miners and heard the heavy booming of giant +powder at intervals, and from various directions all through the day. + +We were joined by a jolly party of miners who were eager for news and +camped with us over night. There were three men in this outfit. +Keen-looking, hearty old chaps with ruddy faces and gray beards, they +looked like men who are continually prospecting for the "main +chance." I passed a delightful evening in their company. They said +they owned rich silver mines farther up on Lynx Creek, and had come +out from town to perform the annual assessment work on their claims, +as prescribed by the laws of the United States, in order to hold +possession and perfect legal title to the ground. As I was not versed +in matters pertaining to the mines, I asked why they did not work +their mines continually for the silver. They explained that they +could not work to good advantage for lack of transportation +facilities which made it very difficult and costly to bring in +machinery for developing their prospects into mines. Therefore, until +the advent of railroads they chose to perform their annual assessment +work only. + +Two of these gentlemen were substantial business men and the other +was their confidential secretary or affidavit man. It was his duty to +make an affidavit before a magistrate that his employers had +performed the labor required by law, which is not less than one +hundred dollars per claim and incidentally he cooked for the outfit +and attended to the horses. Of course, they might have hired mine +laborers to do this work, but they said they enjoyed the outing and +exercise, especially as this was the time of house cleaning and they +were glad to get away from home. "Yes," affirmed the affidavit man, +"and so are your wives." + +These gentlemen rode horses and carried a supply of provisions on a +pack mule. The most conspicuous object of their pack was a keg +labelled "dynamite." When the clerk placed this dangerous thing near +the fire and sat on it, I became fidgety, but was reassured when +subsequently I saw him draw the stopper and fill a bottle labelled +"Old Crow" from it. They advised me to go prospecting and gave me +much valuable information and kindly offered to sell me a prospecting +outfit, "for cash," at their stores. + +As we were chatting, I became aware of a delicious, pungent odor, +like the perfume of orange blossoms. "Is it possible," said I, +astonished, "that there are orange groves in bloom in this vicinity?" +The old gentlemen said they did not smell anything wrong, but the +clerk jumped to his feet and sniffed the air in the direction of +Prescott. "Why, gentlemen," said he, "of course, you cannot smell any +further than the blossoms on the tips of your noses, but the young +man has a sharp proboscis, he scents the girls. Here comes Dan bound +for the Silver Bell Mine with his blooming show." We heard the +clatter of hoofs and wheels and saw a large coach pass by, crowded +with passengers, mostly ladies. The clerk said that the genial owner +of the Silver Bell Mine, who was also the proprietor of a popular +resort in town, was going out to pay his miners their monthly wage. +"That is it," said one of the merchants, "and to keep the boys from +leaving the mine in order to spend their money at his resort in town, +he takes his variety show out there. He cannot afford to have his +mine shut down just now, as they have struck horn silver, and that is +the kind of tin he needs in his business." + +These kind old gentlemen cautioned me to keep away from a +dark-looking, broken mountain, looming to the north. "That country is +no good," they said; "there is nothing but copper there, even the +water is poisoned with it." Those were the black hills where there is +now the prosperous town of Jerome and one of the great mines of the +earth, the famous United Verde Mine, the property of Senator William +Clark. + +The following day, about noon, we rounded a sharp bend of the road +and Fort Whipple and the town of Prescott came into view. A pretty +and gratifying sight truly, but imagine my astonishment! Here to the +right was the identical mysterious hill which I had seen in that +memorable night from the height of the Mogollon mesa and behind it +was the black range, the Sierra Prieta, which had formed a part of +the encircling horseshoe. + +Never in my lifetime have I come to a town where the people were as +hospitable and kindly disposed toward strangers as here. It is no +wonder that I got no farther, for here the people vied with each +other to welcome the wayfarer to the gates of their city. The town +was then young and isolated. The inhabitants had come by teams or +horseback from as far away as the State of Kansas, where the nearest +railway connection was eastward, or from California, via Yuma and +Ehrenberg on the Colorado River. Stages and freight teams made +regular trips across the arid desert to Ehrenberg. The first settlers +of this region came from California in search of gold. They first +found it in the sands of the Hassayampa, which is born of mighty +Mount Union, the mother of four living streams. From its deathbed in +the hot sands of the desert, they traced the precious waters to its +source. Gold they found in plenty with hardship and privation. They +encountered a band of hostile Indians, and hardest to bear, a +loneliness made sufferable only by the illusive phantasies of the +golden fever. Their expectations realized, the majority of these +pioneers returned to the Golden State and civilization with the +burden of their treasure, saying they had not come to Arizona for +their health. Now in these present days there comes a throng of +people in quest of health solely, and many are they who find its +blessing in the sunny and bracing air of this climate, in hot springs +and the balmy breath of the fir and juniper of our mountains. I found +employment in a mercantile establishment of this little mining town +and grew up with the country, as the saying is. I formed new +acquaintances and made new friends. Among others, I met William Owen +O'Neill. I cannot now remember the exact time or year. Attracted by +the light-hearted, cheerful, and dare-devil spirit of this ambitious +and cultured young man, I joined a military organization, of which he +was then a lieutenant and later the captain, this was Company F of +Prescott Grays, National Guard of Arizona. Poor, noble-hearted, +generous Buckie--he knew it not, but this was his first step on the +path of glory leading to the altar of patriotism whereon he laid his +life. It was he who, with a poet's inspiration, first divined the +mystery of the mountain which I have before alluded to. He likened +this beautiful mound to a sleeping lion who guarded the destinies of +the mountain city. Poor friend, his glorious song stirred the dormant +life in the metallic veins of the Butte and, wonder of wonders, the +sleeping lion awoke, the poet's lay had brought the Sphinx to +life--the die of fate was cast and he had sealed his doom! When I +read his beautiful poem, I gasped in wonder, for only I on earth +fathomed the significance of this revelation. This dream of a poet's +fanciful soul, soaring on the wings of Pegasus, was stern reality to +me and anxiously I awaited developments. Nor waited I in vain. + +The grateful Sphinx showered honor and wealth upon my friend. The +generous sportive boy, who cared naught for gold, actually grew rich, +for the Sphinx had granted him the most lucrative office in the +county, the people made him their sheriff. He rose step by step to +the highest place of honor in the community until he became the mayor +of Prescott. Not satisfied with this token of its favor, the Sphinx +rewarded him in a most extraordinary and convincing manner. By the +help of nature, its help-meet, it transformed a great deposit of +siliceous limestone into beautiful onyx and painted it in all the +colors and after the pattern of the rainbow. This magnificent gift +made Captain O'Neill independently rich, but it is a fact that as +soon as it passed from his hands, the stone lost in value and no one +has since profited from it. I believe that our hero would have risen +to the highest position of dignity on earth, the Presidency of the +United States, if he had not unwittingly aroused the jealousy of the +terrible heathen god. When he chose a wife from the lovely maidens of +Prescott, then the vengeful Sphinx laid its sinister plans for his +undoing, for it is in the nature of cats, small or great, to be +exceedingly jealous. The furious idol remembered the people of a long +forgotten race, its loyal subjects, who had reared and worshiped it, +inconceivably long ago, when the Grand Canyon of Arizona was but a +tiny ravine and before icy avalanches had ground the rocks at the +Dells into boulders. It remembered the descendants of its subjects, +the Aztec Indians. It remembered how the Spaniards had cruelly broken +the Aztec nation. Through the subtle influence of psychic forces, it +stirred up a passion of hate for Spain in the hearts of the people of +the United States, and it fostered the awful spirit of strife, and at +the right moment it let loose the dogs of war. One convulsive touch +of its rocky claws on the hidden currents coursing in earth's veins +and an evil spark fired the fatal mine under the battleship Maine, in +the harbor of Havana. + +"Is this possible; can this be true?" If not, why is it that at the +call to arms, even before the nation rallied from the shock of the +cowardly deed which sacrificed the lives of inoffensive sailors--why +is it, I say, that from under the very paws of the Sphinx, so far +away in Arizona--and at the call of Captain O'Neill, the noble mayor +of Prescott, there arose the first contingent of fighting volunteers +in our war with Spain? The inexorable Sphinx had resolved to grant to +our beloved and honored friend its last and most exalted gift, a +hero's death on the field of battle. It has graven the name of +Prescott, the city of the Sphinx, on scrolls of everlasting fame, as +the town which rallied first to the call of the President and as the +only town which gave the life of its mayor, its first, its most +honored citizen, to the nation. + +On the isle of Cuba, in the battle of San Juan Hill, fell the gallant +Captain William Owen O'Neill of the regiment of Rough Riders. Peace +to his ashes! + +I have been told the circumstances surrounding his death by friends, +who were soldiers of his company. They were lying under cover behind +every available shelter to dodge a hailstorm of Mauser bullets, +awaiting the order to advance. Captain O'Neill exposed himself and +was instantly killed. How could he avoid it? How could it have been +otherwise? What can keep an Irishman down in the ditch when bullets +are flying in air, "murmuring dirges" and "shells are shrieking +requiems?" You may readily imagine an Irishman on the firing line, +poking his head above the ground, exclaiming: "Did yez see that? And +where did that Dago pill come from now? Shure it spoke Spanish, but +it did not hit me at all, at all, Begorra!" + +The activity of the Sphinx ended not with the battle of San Juan +Hill, for it cast the luster of its glorious power on the gallant +Lieutenant Colonel of the famous regiment of Rough Riders, Theodore +Roosevelt, and on him it conferred in time the greatest honor to be +achieved on earth, it made him President of the United States of +America. Not knowing it, perhaps, he still is at the time of this +writing in the sphere of influence and in the power of the Sphinx and +is doing its bidding. Else why should he, as is well known, favor the +jointure of New Mexico and Arizona into one State? Surely the loyal +subjects of the Sphinx, the Pueblo Indians of Aztec blood, live +mostly in New Mexico, and the cunning idol plans to deliver them out +of the hands of the Spanish Mexicans, and place them under the +protection and care of the Americans of Arizona, knowing full well +that the Anglo-Saxon blood will rule. + +Every miner and prospector of Arizona knows that there have been, and +are found to this day nuggets of pure gold and silver on the summit +of barren hills, in localities and under geological conditions which +are not to be reckoned as possible natural phenomena. Whence came the +golden nuggets on the summit of Rich Hill at Weaver, where a party of +men gathered two hundred thousand dollars worth in a week's time? +Whence came the isolated great chunk of silver at Turkey Creek, +valued at many thousands? The wisest professor of geology and expert +of mines cannot explain it. This, I say, is the gold and silver from +ornaments employed in temples of the idols of ancient races, who +lived unthinkable thousands of years ago. The very stones of their +temples have crumbled and been decomposed, but the precious metal has +been formed into nuggets, according to the natural laws of molecular +attraction, and under the impulse of gravity and in obedience to the +laws of affinity of matter. + +People from Prescott in their rambles in the vicinity of Thumb Butte +have probably noticed a slag pile as comes from a furnace. I have +heard them theorize and argue on the question of its origin or use, +as there is not a sign of ore in existence thereabouts to indicate a +smelting furnace. I say this was an altar erected I by the ancient +worshipers to their idol, the Sphinx. Before it stood the awful +sacrificial stone, whereon quivered the bodies of victims while +priests tore open their breasts and offered their throbbing hearts in +the sacred fire on the altar, a sacrifice to their cruel god. Many +prospectors have undoubtedly traced a blood red vein of rock coursing +from this place toward Willow Creek--a valuable lode of cinnabar, +they must have thought. If they had tested the ore for quicksilver, +they would have received discouraging results. Porphyry stained with +an unknown petrified substance and without a trace of metal +invariably read the analytical assays. + +This is the innocent, petrified blood of victims which stained a +ledge of porphyry when it ran down the mountain side in torrents, an +awful sacrifice to the ancient idols of lust and ignorance. A kindly +warning to you, fellow-prospectors and miners, who delve in the +vitals of Mother Earth! Beware Thumb Butte, beware the district of +the Sphinx! Have a care, for you know not what you may encounter in +this mystic neighborhood! Shun strange gods and set up no idols in +your hearts, as you value the salvation of your souls. But if your +mine lies in this district, be fearful not to excite the anger of the +gnomes of the mountain. Charge lightly, lest you blast the bottom out +of your mine. Disturb not the slumber of the spirits of the hills +lest they throw a horse into the shaft and push your pay-ore down a +thousand feet. + +Now, I who am what I am, a servant of the Sphinx, have erected the +shrine of my household gods in the beautiful town, which lies in its +shadow and is held in its paw. Even now is the Sphinx weaving on the +web of my destiny. I hope I may be spared the cumbersome burden of +the wealth of a Rockefeller, who is said to possess a billion dollars +for every hair on his head. One thousandth part of his wealth would +suffice to reward me amply. + +I received a message in a dream, in a vision of the night, a promise +from the Sphinx. I fancied that I was on Lynx Creek, sitting on the +windlass at the shaft of my silver mine. This mine is within a mile +of the place where we had camped and met the party of miners. I had +worked the mine with profit until I met, through no fault of mine, +with a fault in the mine and encountered a horse in the formation +which faulted the ground in such a manner as to interrupt the pay +chute and to make further work unprofitable. + +While I sat there, lighting my pipe and blessing my luck, I saw a +black tomcat come along and jump my claim. As I have always detested +claim jumpers, I threw a rock at him and with an uncanny mee-ow and +bristling tail he disappeared down the mine. When I went to the spot +where he had scratched, after the fashion of cats, probably preparing +to build his location monument and place his notice, I was +thunderstruck to see that the rock I had thrown at him had been +transformed into a chunk of pure gold. Surely where that cat jumped +into the mine, there lies a bonanza, there shall I sink to the water +level. + +From the time of my youth have I always possessed great bodily +strength and physical endurance, combined with good health, and now, +I am, if anything, stronger in body than ever and I am blessed with +the identical passions and thoughts I harbored in the days of my +youth. To me this signifies that my life's real task is now +beginning, the Sphinx is fitting me for glorious work. What and +where, I care not; but ambitious hope leads me on, past wealth and +power to visions of a temple of divine, pictorial art. Fain would I +guide my light, frivolous thoughts long enough into the calm channels +of serious reflection to bid you, my kind readers, a dignified +farewell and express the sincere hope that, when we have prospected +life's mortal vein to the end of time and our souls soar on the last +blast of Gabriel's trumpet to shining sands on shores of bliss +eternal. + + + +AN UNCANNY STONE. + +(A sequel to the last chapter of "Wooed by a Sphinx of Astlan."') + +"Gigantic shadows, dancing in the twilight +Fade with the sun's last golden ray. +On quivering bat-wings, sad and silent, +Flits darkness--night pursuing day. +Hark! as the twelfth hour sounds its knell +At midnight, tolls a whimpering bell +When yawning graves profane their secrecy. +Ghosts stalk in dreamland haunting memory +And spectral visions of departed friends arise +Who freed of sin, that fetter of mortality, +With Angels in their kingdom of Eternal Life +Grace Heaven's choir of harmony." + +The third day of July A. D. 1907 was a gala-day for the citizens of +Prescott, a historic date for Arizona, as then our governor, in +behalf of the territory, formally accepted an equestrian statue from +its sculptor. + +This monument which commemorates our war with Spain had been erected +on the public plaza of Prescott in honor of "Roosevelt's Rough +Riders," the first regiment of United States Volunteer cavalry. + +A master-piece of modern art the statue breathes life and action in +the perfection of its every detail, representing a Rough Rider who is +about to draw his weapon while reining his terrified horse as it +rears in a last lunge. This is indicated by the steed's gaping mouth, +distended nostrils, the bent knees, knotted chords and veins of its +neck and body. + +The expression of a noble beast's agony is rendered in so life-like a +manner that its protruding eyes seem to glaze into the awful stare of +death, and instinctively the spectator listens for the stifled +whimper and whinnying screams of a wounded creature. + +Borglum's splendid statuary, this heroic cast of bronze which so +faithfully portrays the destiny of a dumb animal, man's most useful +and willing slave, always ready to share its master's fate, even unto +death--to my mind is a most eloquent, if silent, argument against all +warfare. + +But the glory of the monument is its pedestal. + +A solid stone, a bed-rock from the cradle of the idol-mountain it was +contributed by nature to the memory of one of its noblemen, "Captain +William Owen O'Neill," who crowned his life with immortality, +suffering a soldier's death. + +During the storming of San Juan Hill to anxious friends imploring him +not recklessly to expose himself, with smiling lips he gave this +message of death's Angel, that mysterious oracle of a Sphinx which +from the gaze of mortals veils their ordained doom: "Comrades, +sergeant! I thank you for your kindly warning--fear not for me, the +Spanish bullet that could kill me is not molded!"--when instantly he +fell struck dead--not by a "Spanish" bullet--"no!" but by the bullet +fired from a Mauser rifle, "not made in Spain." Not an ordinary stone +this Arizona granite rock is entitled to highest honors among the +stones of the earth. + +By none outclassed in witchery it ranks equally in fame with the +Blarneystone of Ireland; old Plymouth Rock does not compare with it, +for that derives its prestige only from "Mayflower pilgrims" who +accidentally landing at its base merely stepped over it. + +Proudly our Arizona stone bears a most precious burden--the tribute +of a people who in exalting patriotism honor themselves. + +Originally an archaean sea-bottom rock this stone lay submerged in +the ocean until during the Jurassic Period, under the lateral +pressure of a cooling earthcrust the table-lands and mountain-chains +of Arizona rose from the seas. + +Then it slumbered through several epochs of geology, representing +many millions of years in the bosom of earth, the mother, until at +the beginning of the psychozoic era, through erosion or the action of +atmospheric influences and nature's chemistry it came to the surface; +uncovered and freed from all superimposed stratified rock. + +It saw the light of day long before the advent of primitive man; but +the giant-flora and fauna of pre-historic time had developed, +flourished and vanished while it rested under ground. + +Contrary to the habit of rolling stones which gather no moss, this +Arizona stone accumulated much, for when it had reached its assigned +site on the plaza of Prescott it had become a very valuable, +expensive rock. + +When first I saw it, this fearful Aztec juggernaut was within a half +mile of its destination. Slowly it crawled along, threatening +destruction to everything in its path, and in the course of a week +had arrived at the Granite-creek bridge. + +It moved by main strength and brute force employing men and horses +after the custom of the ancients when more than thirty-seven hundred +years ago King Menes, son of Cham reigned in Egypt, who albeit +surnamed Mizrain the Laggard, yet was the first king of the first +dynasty of the children of the sun. + +When I saw the direction from whence the stone had come I feared that +disaster would overwhelm our town and unfortunately was I not +mistaken. + +At the bridge the stone gave the first manifestation of its unholy +heathen power when it balked, defying modern civilization and through +sorcery or in other unhallowed ways contrived to interfere with the +public electric traction service, paralyzing the traffic so +effectively that every street car in the town was stopped; not merely +a few hours, but for days. + +Like that colossus of strength and wisdom, the elephant which refuses +to pass over a bridge until satisfied that this will uphold its +weight, the cunning stone did not budge another inch until the bridge +had been braced with many timbers. + +As foreseen by me this uncanny rock was sent by the Idol of the +mountain, the "Sphinx of Aztlan," to cast a hoodoo, an evil spell +over the monument. + +It caused dissension among the people and confused their minds into +rendering abnormal criticisms, making them indulge in eccentric +vagaries and speculations on the artistic and intrinsic value of the +monument. Some persons guessed at the value of the metal contained in +the statue, while others reckoned the cost of the horse or that of +the rider's accoutrements. + +However, of thousands of admiring and delighted spectators none +shared an exactly like opinion except in this, that the statue bore +no individual resemblance; but that also was contradicted by a young +lady whom I heard exclaim: "Girls, surely that looks like Buckie +O'Neill, but in love and war men are not themselves!" "How do I know? +Oh, mamma said so!" + +During the ceremony of unveiling the monument a dark, ragged storm +cloud hung over the Aztec mountain, fast overcasting the sky. +Thousands of people strained their eyes and held their breath in the +glad anticipation of seeing the features of their lamented friend, +Prescott's honored mayor, immortalized in bronze. When after moments +of anxious suspense the veil which draped the statue parted and fell +to earth, the sun's rays pierced the clouds, while deafening cheers +rent the air. I thought I heard a weird, faint cry, an echo from the +past--but cannons boomed, drums crashed as a military band rendered +its patriotic airs. + +And we saw--not the familiar, fine features of our soldier hero, so +strikingly portrayed by a famed artist and molded into exact, +lifelike resemblance, but instead we beheld an unknown visage--a +type, merely the semblance of a "Rough Rider," its rigid gaze riveted +on the Idol-mountain, forever enthralled by the Sphinx. + +In nineteen hundred seven, on the third day of July +With shining mien and naming sword earthward St. Michael came +To save--ever auspicious be the blessed day- +From blighting heathen guile a Christian hero's fame +The while, breathless with awe, solemn the people gazed +And rhetoric's inspired flame on Aztlan's altar blazed. +Adore the Saints, behold a miracle Divine! +Hallowed, our Saviour, be Thy Name +And Heaven's glory thine! + +Of idol-worship now has vanished every trace +In deepest crevice and highest place +On mesa, butte and mountain-face; +From the Grand Canyon's somber shade +The sun-scorched desert, the dripping glade +And sunken crater of Stoneman's Lake. +The "Casa Grande," a home of ancient race-- +A ruin now--is haunted by Montezuma's wraith. +In Montezuma's castle, crumbling from roof to base +The winds and rain of heaven ghosts of the past now chase. + +Where erstwhile the Great Spirit's children dwelt +Forever hushed is the papoose's wail, and stilled the squaw's +low-crooning lilt. +No longer shimmers starlight from eyes of savage maids +Worshippers of the fire and sun, poor dwellers of the caves- +The sisters of the deer and lo, shy startled fawns of Aztec race +Or coy ancestral dams of moon-eyed Toltec doe. +Now Verde witches bathe in Montezuma's well +And over its crystal waters the tourists cast their spell. + +Rejoice! To Arizona has the Saviour vouchsafed His Grace +For our Salvation Army lass teaches true Gospel faith: +"Be saved this night, poor sinner, repent, the hour is late! +Salvation is in store for thee, brother do not delay +As fleeting time and sudden death for no man ever wait!" +"Praise God!" the lassie's war-cry is, the keynote of her song. +To the tune of "Annie Roonie" and kindred fervid lay +With mandolin and banjo, marching in bold array +The devil's strongholds strorming, battling to victory- +With banners flying, the tambourine and drum +Forever has she silenced the shamans vile tom-tom. +All Fetish Spirit-medicine she has tabooed, banished away +Except bourbon and rye, sour-mash, hand-made +And copper-distilled, licensed, taxed and gauged, +Then stored in bond to ripen, mellow, age. +God bless the Army, rank and file who fight our souls to save! +Modern disciples of the Son pf Man, true followers of Christ, +They work by day, then preach and pray and pound their drum at night. + + + +L'ENVOY. + +Farewell, this ends my rhyming, submitted at its worth. +Lest I forget--pride goes before the fall, on earth +And exceeding fine if slowly, grind the mills of angry gods-- +The muses' steed, a versifying bronco had I caught +And recklessly I rode; but fast as thought +Fate overtook me when Pegasus bucked me off. +Sorely distressed I hear a satyr's mocking laugh +As on my laurels resting, on my seat of honor cast +And thanking you for kind attention now your indulgent censure ask. + + + +THE BIRTH OF ARIZONA. (AN ALLEGORICAL TALE.) + +On the summit of a mountain I staked my claim; in the shade of a +balsam-spruce I built my hut. + +When the south wind that rises on the desert climbs to the mountain's +ridge and rustling among silvery needles, rattles the cones on boughs +and twigs--the tree-giant whispers with resinous breath, bemoaning +the fate of a prehistoric civilization, and lisps of the mystery and +romance of a humanity long extinct, mourning for races forgotten and +vanished. + +Alone--unrivaled in her weird, wild grandeur stands Arizona where +spiry rock-ribbed giants stab an emerald, opal-tinted sky, and +terraced mesas of wondrous amber hue form natural stairways, that +grandly wrought were carved step after step, through successive +epochs of erosion, affording thus an easy ascent to the rugged +profile of this land of the Western Hemisphere. All this is of +historic record in stony cypher of geology indelibly engraved by time +on the rocky walls of deepest canyons, as traceable from the +primordial archaean to our present era, the age of man. + +In tremor-spasms of terrestrial creation, 'midst chaotic fiery +turmoil of volcanos, out of the depth of globe-encircling waters, +from the womb of Universe--Eternity--came the Almighty Word, and then +was born fair Arizona. + +Fraught with golden prophecy was her horoscope, cast by fate's oracle +for her birthday fell under the sign of the scorpion when in the path +of planets Venus contended with the Earth for first place of +ascendency to the second house of the heavens. + +High above the tidal wave rose Arizona, as fleecy clouds float in the +rays of Apollo's sun-torch when at eventide his flaming chariot +plunges into unfathomed depths of the Pacific Ocean. + +With her first breath this daughter of Columbia, born of gods, +clamored for aid. Neptune was first among the planets to heed the +plaintive cry and held her to his breast, with fond caresses. + +The grandest canyon on the face of earth with flowing streams and +limpid crystals he gave her as a birthday present. + +These crystals rare are famed as Arizona diamonds now. + +Bright, lovely Venus, the sister of Earth, a shining planet, gave the +ruby-red garnet, her pledge of love and Arizona hid it in her bosom. +There shall you find it, if worthy so you be, in the hearts of happy +maidens. + +Saturn gave her his ring of amethysts and Uranus the greenish +malachite, of buoyant hope the emblem. This, in time, was changed to +copper, the king of all commercial metals. + +Mars gave the bloodstone. From it came soldiers bold, heroes who +fought Apaches and the Spaniard. + +The winged Mercury on passing tossed her two stones, most precious; +the lodestone and a Blackstone. The lodestone was a stone of grit. +When Arizona placed it in her crib thence came the lucky prospector +who sinks his shafts through earth and rock in search of mineral +treasure. + +Then opened she the Blackstone and lo, from it arose the men of +eloquence who aided by retainers fight keenly in continued terms for +order, law and justice with weapons that are mightier than the sword +which giveth glory, eternal rest and immortality to heroes only whom +it smiteth. + +Behold, a shadow now fell on the Earth and as a serpent coils and +creeping stretches forth its slimy length, it came apace. + +Foreboding evil it announced the knight-errant of never-ending space, +a wicked comet. To Arizona gave he playthings many: the rattlesnake, +hairy tarantelas and stinging scorpions, horned toads and centipedes, +a scented hydrophobia-cat, the Gila monster, a Mexican and the +Apache; also a thorny cactus plant. + +Anon the tricky Hassayampa rose from his source. On mischief bent he +overflowed his bed, teasing the infant Arizona. He worried her, poor +dearie--dear till she shed tears and nature adding to the gush of +waters there flowed a brackish stream away; now named Saltriver and +on its banks nested the Phoenix. + +From Elysium in his chariot descended then the sungod to nurse his +infant daughter. He dried the Hassayampa's bed in the hot desert sand +and where man-like, incautiously he scorched the hem of Arizona's +dress--where now lies Yuma--there the temperature rose ten degrees +hotter than hades; but luckily since then it has cooled off as much. + +The happy maiden smiled with joy as Apollo kissed her long and often. +He took the turquoise from the skies, an emblem of unfaltering faith. +It and a lock of shining hair he gave her. That hid she in her rocky +bed where it became gold of the mint; the filthy lucre of +unworthiness and avarice, a blessing when in charity bestowed; a boon +as the reward of honest labor! + +With lengthening shadows Luna, night's gentle goddess came, a full +mile nearer to Arizona than to other lands beaming her softest rays +over the sleeping child. Under the lunar kisses woke Arizona and +stored the moonshine in her gown. That nature has transformed to +silver; serving the poor man as his needed coin. + +In sadness waned the moon, for caught between the horns of a dilemma +she had no wealth left to endow the infant with. Intemperate habits +had the goddess always, was often full and now reduced to her last +quarter, but that was waning fast and her man's shadow also growing +less. Her semi-transparent stone, alas! had given she long since to +California, but this proudest of all daughters of the seas did not +appreciate the kindly gift. She cast it on the white sands of her +beaches where it is gathered by the thankful tourist who shouts +exultantly, delighted with his find: + +The moonstone, climate, atmosphere, +The only things free-gratis here- +Eureka! +I have found! + + + +A ROYAL FIASCO. + +(HISTORICAL ANECDOTES.) + +A village on the coast of northern Germany, where the Elbe flows into +the North Sea, was my birthplace, its parsonage, my childhood's home. + +Two great earth-dikes which sheltered our village from fierce +southwesterly gales were the only barrier standing between untold +thousands of lives and watery graves, for the coasts of Holland and +northern Germany are below the level of high tides. + +It is known that through inundations caused by breaks in these +levees, occurring as late as the tenth and eleventh centuries of our +era more than three hundred thousand persons with all their domestic +cattle were drowned over night. + +These dikes which extend for many miles along the banks of the river +were erected by the systematic herculean toil of generations of our +ancestors. + +According to a popular tradition it was Rolof, the dwarf, a thrall of +Vulcan, who taught my forefathers the art of forging tools from iron +ore, enabling them to battle successfully against the might of +Neptune. + +They blunted the angry sea-god's trident with their plows and shovels +and repulsed him at the very threshold of his element, stemming the +inroads of hungry seas with their stupendous handiwork which still +stands intact, an imposing monument to the memory of my forebears, +being their children's children's most precious inheritance. + +On the soil which my ancestors reclaimed from the sea they founded +their homes and sowed grasses and cereals. + +But ere long a dire calamity came over the land, for at the command +of the revengeful Neptune his mermaids spewed sea-foam into the +river's fresh water addling it with their fish-tails into a nasty +brine. + +Luckily the good dwarf who in his youth had served his term of +apprenticeship at the court of King Gambrinus and was therefore +master of the noble craft of brewing kindly taught my forefathers to +brew a foaming draught from the malt of barleycorn, which thereafter +they drank instead of water. + +And now all seafaring men who navigate the river Elbe between +Cuxhaven and Hamburg are still troubled with a tremendous thirst +which nothing but foaming lager beer may quench. + +The founding of the village's church dates from the conversion of +Saxon tribes who inhabited that country. The chapel's original walls +were built of rock, but its newer part was constructed of brick-work +during the fourteenth century. + +Our domicile, the parsonage, although not quite as ancient, was a +very picturesque ruin with its moss-covered roof of thatched straw, +under which a flock of sparrows made their homes; but a modern +building, how prosaic-looking it might be, or deficient in uniqueness +and the charm of its surroundings, would undeniably have made a +better, more sanitary and comfortable residence. + +Mother, at least, thought this when father landed her, his blushing +bride at the ancient parsonage in a rain storm which compelled them +to retire for the night under the shelter of an umbrella; and thus +the honeymoon of their married life waxed with uncommon hardship. + +Later the old leaky house received a tile roof, part of it was +removed and with it the room where first I saw the light of day. + +That was a cold day for father indeed, as there was another mouth to +be fed then, a very serious problem for a poor parson to solve. + +When my aunt remarked that I looked like a "monk" father eyed me +thoughtfully, saying: "Perhaps there is something to Darwin's theory +after all," but mother took me to her arms, withering her sister with +scornful glances of her flashing eyes. "Certainly does he look like a +monk, the poor little tiddledee-diddy darling," she said; "what else +would you expect of him, being the son of a preacher and a descendant +of priests?" + +On a certain fateful summer day when assembled at dinner we heard the +rumble of wheels as an imperial post-chaise hove into view, lumbering +lazily past the parsonage. + +The postillion's horn sounded a letter-call and my sisters rushed +out, racing over our lawn to the gate, in order to take the message. +They returned with a large envelope bearing great official seals, +both girls struggling for its possession and fighting like cats for +the privilege of carrying the precious document. Mother's face was +wreathed in smiles of ecstacy. + +"Your salary, papa," she whispered, but father was very solemn. "No, +dear, it is not due," he answered. He took the missive from my +sister's hands and turned it over and over, guessing at its contents +until mother who was favored with more of that quality which is +commonly called "presence of mind" urged him to open it, and see. + +An ashen pallor spread over father's countenance, the letter dropped +from his hand and he would have fallen if mother had not caught him +in her arms. She grabbed the evil message, slipping it into the bosom +of her gown, where it could do no further harm. + +Then she guided father's faltering steps to the sanctity of his +studio, where he wrote his sermons and closed the door. + +My sisters availed themselves of the opportunity to make a raid on +mother's pantry, but I, poor little innocent, waited in the corridor +for mother's return, dreading to hear the worst. I heard my dear +father groan aloud and bemoan his fate and listened to mother's +soothing sympathetic words as she begged father to be calm and bear +it like a man and a Christian. + +When at last mother came out I flew to her. She took me to her arms, +kissing my tear-stained face. + +"Poor little boy," she said, "cheer up and you shall have a big +cookie, don't you cry!" + +"Oh, mamma," I faltered, "will papa die?" + +"No, sonny, that he won't," said she with a determined glint of her +eyes and a twitching of the corners of her mouth, "for I won't let +him; but he does suffer anguish!" + +"Oh, tell me, mamma, what misfortune has befallen us," I cried. + +"It is very sad," said mother. "Your father, who is the finest +speaker in the country, has been commanded by a worshipful senate and +most honorable civic corporation of the Free City of Hamburg to +appear before the visiting king in full dress, and officiate as +orator of the day at a reception to be tendered his majesty by our +city"--here mother broke down completely, overwhelmed by grief and +wept copiously into her handkerchief. + +"Oh, oh," I wailed, "do say it, mamma!" + +"And--and your father has no coat!" she sobbed. "Poor man, he fears +disgrace and dreads the loss of preferment and of a royal decoration, +perhaps. He will have to feign sickness as an excuse for his absence; +but I hope he realizes now how degraded and unhappy I must feel with +my last year's gowns and made-over millinery--and your poor sister's +ancient bonnets, I dare not look at them any longer!" + +"But papa has a coat," I said, "a royal Prince Albert!" + +"True," answered mother, "but it has no swallow's tails!" + +"A Prince Albert has no swallow-tails?" I gasped wonderingly; "but it +has great, long tails, surely!" + +"Oh, now I see," an idea flashing through my mind; "it has +cock-tails, has it, mamma, and it can't swallow them, can it, mamma?" + +"Oh my, oh my!" screamed mother, "you are the funniest little chap to +ask me questions. Go, ask pussy!" + +Then I went into the back yard to interview my favorite playmate, our +big, black tomcat, and aroused him from his cat nap. But he blinked +sleepily only, saying nothing. + +However, speech was not to be denied me in that manner, for I held +the combination which unlocks the portals of silence. I gave the +handle a double twist and he spat and spluttered: "Sh--sh--sht--t--t!" + +As may be imagined, my father passed a sleepless night in the +solitude of his studio. He wrestled with a host of demons and made a +good fight of it; for finally in the small hours of morning he +overcame the evil spirit of worldly ambition and with true Christian +humility, his soul purified by vanquished temptation, resigned +himself unreservedly, good man that he was, to the mandate of a cruel +fate. He began to write his sermon for the Sabbath, and being +spiritually chastened and battle-sore, naturally his thoughts dwelt +on melancholy topics. Therefore, he took the text of his sermon from +the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3, v. I: + +"I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath." + +It may be stated here that on the next Sabbath, from "firstly" to +"seventhly" for two long hours father pondered over the uncertainties +of earthly life, and that on this occasion he delivered the most +effective sermon of his pastoral career. + +When father had written his sermon he resumed work on an unfinished +volume of historical sketches which he prepared for future +publication. + +Meantime mother, who was busy with a pleasanter task was +correspondingly cheerful. She altered father's "Prince Albert" into a +stately full-dress coat, ripping up its waist-seams, and pinned back +the skirts of the coat into the proper claw-hammer shape. + +Then she took that other garment which goes with the long waistcoat +and the full-dress coat of a courtier's suit, in hand. + +This article had not been mentioned before by anyone, as there was a +goodly supply of it known to be in mother's wardrobe. Deftly cutting +the lace away, a few inches above the knees she placed some +mother-of-pearl buttons and bows of ribbons and with few stitches +fashioned a beautiful pair of courtier's small clothes, or +knickerbockers, for father's use. + +Father had begun a description of the battle of Waterloo, for nothing +so touched a responsive chord in his mind as the recording of a most +fearful catastrophe, the direst calamity known to history, nor served +as well to alleviate by comparison his mind's distress and +mortification. + +Just as he wrote the sentence, "Alas for Napoleon, here set his lucky +star; not only was his misfortune repeated, but also his final +downfall accomplished when Blucher's tardy cavalry appeared on the +field, turning the tide of battle in favor of the British"--in came +mother with happy, triumphant laughter, unfolding and flaunting to +the breeze the so anxiously wished-for full-dress suit. + +"Julia, darling, you have saved the day, oh you are so clever," +shouted father, joyfully embracing her; "but I say!" he exclaimed in +startled surprise, where on earth did you get this--er--trousseau? Do +you really think I shall need those?" + +"Yes, indeed you shall, dearest, when you are going to court," +replied mother. "Here you have everything needed except the silken +hose which you must buy." + +"But you have a plenty of long-limbed stockings," said father, +wrinkling his brow. + +"My good man, look here now!" answered mother, bristling, "well +enough you know that all my stockings are very old and holey!" + +"Oh, darn them!" growled father testily. + +"Wilhelm, do you wish the king to see my stockings then?" cried +mamma, angrily. + +"But, my dear, you know that he can't see, as he is stone-blind," +said father. + +"So he is, Wilhelm, and for that very reason he could not find the +throne of England," snapped mother, "but never was he blind as you to +his queenly wife's unfashionable appearance, nor was he ever deaf to +her demands for something decent to wear!" + +And mother, as always when it came to ultimate extremes, finally +gained her point, for father loved her dearly and dared not deny her. + +On the following day arrived the king, for whose reception our +township had made grand preparations. Festoons of evergreen decorated +the roadway from the parsonage to the opposite house, and mother and +my sisters were stationed at our gate with an abundance of roses to +strew in the king's path. + +From the steeple pealed the chimes, heralding his majesty's arrival. +He traveled in an open landau, which was drawn by six milk-white +Arabian steeds and surrounded by a select escort of young men who +were his subjects and served as his guard of honor. + +They wore scarfs of the royal colors over breasts and shoulders. + +A courtier sat on either side of the king for the purpose of advising +him and to direct his movements. + +Poor man, he turned his sightless white eyes on us, bowing to the +ladies in acknowledgment of their curtesies and roses. + +This king was very unlike his royal namesake predecessors, as he was +pitied by everyone and not envied or hated. I must confess to having +been sorely disappointed with this sight of royalty, for I thought a +king must be an extraordinary being, expecting to see a +double-header, as kings and queens are pictured on playing cards, the +kings holding scepters in their left hands and bearing a ball with +their right, but I saluted and shouted as everyone else did, and when +my sisters pelted the royal equipage with their roses I shied my cap +at his majesty, at which the people who saw this laughed as loudly as +they dared in the presence of a king. I expected also to see a +military display, but there were no soldiers present, because the +king traveled "incognito," which means that it was forbidden to +reveal his royal identity. He was supposed to be a plain nobleman +merely, "Herr von Beerstein" for instance. + +But a king, who is human after all, may wish to enjoy himself as +others do and desire to associate occasionally with ordinary people. +So "Herr von Beerstein" goes to a beer garden in quest of a pleasing +companion who is readily found, for he has money to burn and invests +it freely. + +An obliging bar-maid introduces him to her lovely cousin and they +retire to a lonely seat in the most secluded spot of the garden. + +"Herr von Beerstein" now places his heart and purse in the keeping of +his gentle companion, who calls directly for "zwei beers." + +Now follows a repetition of the old, old legend that yet is always +new and ever recurring in the romance of mutual love on sight, two +hearts beating as one and in the love that laughs at locksmiths, but +as the course of true love seldom runs smooth, now with the maiden's +oft repeated calls for "lager" "Herr von Beerstein" grows by stages +sentimental, incautious and then so reckless that "presto!" before he +is aware of any danger to himself he has stopped Cupid's fatal dart +with his royal personal circumference. Maddened with pain he exhibits +symptoms of a most violent passion and becomes very aggressive. But +the cunning maid appeals to the protecting presence of Fritz, the +waiter, with other calls for beer, whispering in the ear of her +love-lorn swain: "Nine, mine lieber Herr von Beerstein, ven you has +married me once alretty, nicht wahr? Ach vas, den shall you kiss me +yet some more, yaw!" + +Thus she tantalizes the poor man until he becomes desperate under the +strain of an unrequited love and as a last resort he places his hand +over his heart, bares the bosom of his shirt and exposes the insignia +of royalty, flashing the sovereign's star before her eyes. Humbly, +overcome with shame and remorse at the thought of having trifled with +her king's affections, and prompted by her pitiful exaggerated notion +of loyalty the poor thing kneels before his majesty, craving his +pardon. + +With royal hands the king uplifts her, graciously kissing her rosebud +mouth and when she says: "Your majesty's slightest wish is a command +to me, your servant!" and is about to surrender her loveliness to +Cupid's forces and temporarily lose her heart, but her soul +forever--in the very nick of time comes her guardian-angel to the +rescue. + +When she, poor little gray dove, lies trembling in the royal falcon's +talons a head rises up and peeps over the fence, for the royal star +has been seen through a crack between the boards, its knowing, sly +grin passing into the lusty shout: + +"Heil dem koenig, hoch, hoch!" + +An excited crowd rushes from all directions, cheering: "Ein, zwei, +drei, hurrah!" while a constable places the damsel under arrest, +charging her with lese majeste. When, however, his majesty intercedes +most graciously the your lady is promptly released, and restored to +freedom. + +But the constable's fee that she must pay--in earthly power, not even +a king can save her from it, for that is a "trinkgeld" and she pays +it from the royal purse. + +On the evening of the king's arrival I accompanied my father to the +castle where the reception royal took place. There were no ladies +present on this occasion. The king was, as has been said, totally +blind, but indulged in the curious habit of feigning to have an +unimpaired eye sight and pretended to admire scenic objects which had +been pointed out to him beforehand as though he really saw them, +carrying out this illusion to the extent of ridiculousness. It is +said that at a hunt-meet a courtier incurred his royal displeasure +through these incautious words: "Sire, you shot this hare from a next +to impossible distance, condescend to feel how fat it is!" + +As the poor man failed to say "See how fat," he fell promptly into +disfavor, which is equivalent to being blacklisted in our country. + +The king's general behaviour suggests that he deemed his blindness +not merely to be a most regrettable misfortune, but that he regarded +it as a deserved culpable affliction. + +When a small boy I was told that he lost his eyesight through an act +of charity. He drew a purse from his pocket, intending to give a +beggar an aim when his horse shied violently, causing the +steel-beaded tassels of the purse to injure his eyes. + +Later, as I grew older, I heard a different tale: + +The king as a student, then being crown-prince of the realm, found +pleasure in looking at the wine which was red, and at a pair of eyes +that were blue and shone like heavenly stars, oh so gently and +tenderly! But he looked, alas, once too often--into eyes that blazed +with lurid flames of hate and fury--the terrible eyes of the +green-eyed monster. There came a flash as of lightning with a loud +report and he saw stars that fell fiercely fast until they vanished +under a cloud of awful gloom in the hopeless despair of perpetual +night; but the glorious luminous star of day for him shone not again, +nevermore, on earth! To this day I know not which version tells the +truth. + +The castle's grand hall was overflowing with people. I followed in +the wake of father, who had fallen into line, advancing gradually +toward the august presence of a crowned king. Nervously father +awaited his turn to bask for one anxious moment in the sunshine of +royal favor and touch a king's hand. + +I slipped away unperceived to the kitchen, knowing well the premises +of this fine old castle which was kept in good repair by the city of +Hamburg, its present owner. It had been won by conquest of arms in +1394 A.D. from the noble family "Von Lappe." + +The principal occupation of these knights was the waylaying and +robbing of merchants; but the wrecking of ships was their favorite, +most profitable pastime. + +The kitchen was in the basement of the castle and great in size, its +floor paved with slabs of stone, the walls and ceilings were paneled +in oak. On one side of the room were stone-hearths with blazing +fires, over which hung pots and brazen kettles. Game and meats +broiled on spits, there being no cook-stoves in those days. Heavy +doors, strapped with great wrought iron hinges and studded with +ornamental scroll-work led into pantries and cellars. + +The place swarmed with liveried servants and cooks; also the king had +brought his "chef de cuisine and own butler. The latter, a lordly +Englishman, was a grand, haughty person who superintended the +extravagant preparations for the entertainment of royalty. + +A maid conducted me to a corner where I was out of harm's way and +regaled me with delicacies when the courses were served, oh it was +fine! The chef prepared certain dishes for the king and I saw the +butler taste of the viands that were placed on crown-marked dishes of +porcelain and gold. He also tasted the king's wine. + +When at last I grew sleepy, kind maids arranged a couch of snowy +linen for me, and I slept until the banquet royal was over when the +guests returned to their homes. + +But me lord, the butler, eyed me with questioning curiosity. + +"Aw me lad, h'and where did your father get 'is blooming costume?" he +asked. + +"Mother supplied it, good sir," I answered. + +"Hi say, me lad," he laughed, "your mother h'is a grand lydie, you +tike me word for h'it; h'in h'England they would decorate that suit +with the h'order h'of the garter!" + +"Honi soit, qui mal y pense!" I lisped. + + + +A MAID OF YAVAPAI. + +To S. M. H. + +(AN IDYLLIC SKETCH.) + +People from every land sojourn in Arizona. + +From the Atlantic's sandy coasts, the icy shores of crystal lakes, +from turbid miasmatic swamps--east, north and south, they come. + +Over mountain, canyon and gulch they roam, prospecting nature's +grandest wonders. + +But the purest gold on Arizona's literary field, that was found by +the genius of a lonesome valley's queen, the song-lark of our "Great +Southwest." + +From the sheltering tree of her ancestral hall shyly she fluttered +forth. + +Among stony crags of the sierra, on fearsome dizzy trails, in the +somber shadows of virgin forests, in the rustling of wind-blown +leaves (the seductive swish of elfin skirts) she heard the voices of +Juno's sylvan train. Enchanted she listened to the syren's call, and +ere the echo died within her ear she had devoted her talent to +literature, a priestess self-ordained in Arizona's temple of the +muses. + +In the flight of her poetic mind she met his majesty, king of the +hills, the mountain-lion at the threshold of his lair and toyed with +his cubs, princes and heirs to freedom. + +She heard the were-wolf scourge of herds, fierce lobos snarl in +silent groves of timber and shivered at the coyote's piercing yelps +from grave yards in the valleys. + +At nighttime, in her lonely camp the dread tarantela disturbed her +rest and in day's early gloam a warning rattle of creepy serpents +sounded her reveille: + +"Fair maid, awake, arise in haste! When darkness vanishes with dawn, +heed our alarm-clock in the morn!" + +She spoke not to the sullen bear, in cautious silence passed him by +and shunned the fetid breath of monster lizards and venom stings of +centipedes and scorpions; but woman-like she feared the +hydrophobia-skunk more for its scent than for its deadly poison. + +She heeded not the half-tamed Indian on the trail; but the insolent +leer of Sonora's scum, the brutalized peon, the low caste chulo of +Chihuahua, froze into the panic-stare of abject terror under the +straight glance of her eye. The slightest motion of her tender hand +to him augured a sudden death, for she was of Arizona's daughters, +invulnerable in the armor of their self-reliant strength, a shield of +lovely innocence, white as the snow is driven. + +On the Mesa del Mogollon, in the darkling Coconino Forest she +interviewed the cowboy, that valiant belted knight of modern western +chivalry, and in the chaparral she cheered the lonesome herder. + +In the treasure-vaults of earth, a thousand feet below the surface, +invading the domain of Pluto's treacherous gnomes she met the +hardiest man in Arizona, the miner, who always happy is and full of +hope. + +Poor fellows, they hobnob with death and do not mind it! + +Floods of rivers, cloudbursts in narrow gorges, the lightning of the +hills, blinding and smothering sandstorms on the desert detained her +not, for in her chosen path not on delay she thought. + +By fragrant orange groves in the valley of Saltriver, past "lowing +kine on pastures green," under the luring shade of palms, among the +vines she passed. + +Winging her virgin-flight to snowclad pinnacles of Parnassus she +pours her jubilant songs of hope, faith, love into men's souls and +women's hearts. + +"May constant happiness attend thee, fair lady, our precious pearl in +Arizona's diadem!" + +Though time shall wreath thy raven tresses with silvery laurel, and +with his palsied hand forever stay, in the fulfilment of thy mortal +destiny, the throbbing of thy faithful heart--"Yet shall the genius +of thy lyre with angel-hands reverberate the shining chords through +untold future ages in heavenly strains of resonance and glory, until +the solace of their faintest echoes dies within the last true heart +in Arizona." + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tales of Aztlan +by George Hartmann + diff --git a/old/toazt10.zip b/old/toazt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f5a100 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/toazt10.zip |