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diff --git a/6612.txt b/6612.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b70c8b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/6612.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1607 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Along The Rocky Range, by Charles M. Skinner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Along The Rocky Range + Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Volume 7. + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: December 14, 2004 [EBook #6612] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + MYTHS AND LEGENDS + OF + OUR OWN LAND + + By + Charles M. Skinner + + Vol. 7. + + + ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + + + +CONTENTS: + +Over the Divide +The Phantom Train of Marshall Pass +The River of Lost Souls +Riders of the Desert +The Division of Two Tribes +Besieged by Starvation +A Yellowstone Tragedy +The Broad House +The Death Waltz +The Flood at Santa Fe +Goddess of Salt +The Coming of the Navajos +The Ark on Superstition Mountains +The Pale Faced Lightning +The Weird Sentinel at Squaw Peak +Sacrifice of the Toltecs +Ta-Vwots Conquers the Sun +The Comanche Rider +Horned Toad and Giants +The Spider Tower +The Lost Trail +A Battle in the Air + + + + + +ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE + + + +OVER THE DIVIDE + +The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards +who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of +Western mountaineers as late as the first half of this century. Ample +discoveries of gold in California and Colorado gave color to the belief +in this land of riches, and hunger, illness, privation, the persecutions +of savages, and death itself were braved in the effort to reach and +unlock the treasure caves of earth. Until mining became a systematic +business, prospectors were dissatisfied with the smaller deposits of +precious metal and dreamed of golden hills farther away. The unknown +regions beyond the Rocky Mountains were filled by imagination with +magnificent possibilities, and it was the hope of the miner to penetrate +the wilderness, "strike it rich," and "make his pile." + +Thus, the region indicated as "over the divide" meaning the continental +water-shed-or "over the range" came to signify not a delectable land +alone, but a sum of delectable conditions, and, ultimately, the goal of +posthumous delights. Hence the phrase in use to-day: "Poor Bill! He's +gone over the divide." + +The Indian's name of heaven--"the happy hunting ground"--is of similar +significance, and among many of the tribes it had a definite place in the +far Southwest, to which their souls were carried on cobweb floats. Just +before reaching it they came to a dark river that had to be crossed on a +log. If they had been good in the world of the living they suffered no +harm from the rocks and surges, but if their lives had been evil they +never reached the farther shore, for they were swept into a place of +whirlpools, where, for ever and ever, they were tossed on the torrent +amid thousands of clinging, stinging snakes and shoals of putrid fish. +From the far North and East the Milky Way was the star-path across the +divide. + + + + +THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS + +Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they +go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer +named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a train. He had travelled the road +with passengers behind him for a couple of months and met with no +accident, but one night as he set off for the divide he fancied that the +silence was deeper, the canon darker, and the air frostier than usual. A +defective rail and an unsafe bridge had been reported that morning, and +he began the long ascent with some misgivings. As he left the first line +of snow-sheds he heard a whistle echoing somewhere among the ice and +rocks, and at the same time the gong in his cab sounded and he applied +the brakes. + +The conductor ran up and asked, "What did you stop for?" + +"Why did you signal to stop?" + +"I gave no signal. Pull her open and light out, for we've got to pass No. +19 at the switches, and there's a wild train climbing behind us." + +Edwards drew the lever, sanded the track, and the heavy train got under +way again; but the whistles behind grew nearer, sounding danger-signals, +and in turning a curve he looked out and saw a train speeding after him +at a rate that must bring it against the rear of his own train if +something were not done. He broke into a sweat as he pulled the throttle +wide open and lunged into a snow-bank. The cars lurched, but the snow was +flung off and the train went roaring through another shed. Here was where +the defective rail had been reported. No matter. A greater danger was +pressing behind. The fireman piled on coal until his clothes were wet +with perspiration, and fire belched from the smoke-stack. The passengers, +too, having been warned of their peril, had dressed themselves and were +anxiously watching at the windows, for talk went among them that a mad +engineer was driving the train behind. + +As Edwards crossed the summit he shut off steam and surrendered his train +to the force of gravity. Looking back, he could see by the faint light +from new snow that the driving-wheels on the rear engine were bigger than +his own, and that a tall figure stood atop of the cars and gestured +franticly. At a sharp turn in the track he found the other train but two +hundred yards behind, and as he swept around the curve the engineer who +was chasing him leaned from his window and laughed. His face was like +dough. Snow was falling and had begun to drift in the hollows, but the +trains flew on; bridges shook as they thundered across them; wind +screamed in the ears of the passengers; the suspected bridge was reached; +Edwards's heart was in his throat, but he seemed to clear the chasm by a +bound. Now the switch was in sight, but No. 19 was not there, and as the +brakes were freed the train shot by like a flash. Suddenly a red light +appeared ahead, swinging to and fro on the track. As well be run into +behind as to crash into an obstacle ahead. He heard the whistle of the +pursuing locomotive yelp behind him, yet he reversed the lever and put on +brakes, and for a few seconds lived in a hell of dread. + +Hearing no sound, now, he glanced back and saw the wild train almost leap +upon his own--yet just before it touched it the track seemed to spread, +the engine toppled from the bank, the whole train rolled into the canon +and vanished. Edwards shuddered and listened. No cry of hurt men or hiss +of steam came up--nothing but the groan of the wind as it rolled through +the black depth. The lantern ahead, too, had disappeared. Now another +danger impended, and there was no time to linger, for No. 19 might be on +its way ahead if he did not reach the second switch before it moved out. +The mad run was resumed and the second switch was reached in time. As +Edwards was finishing the run to Green River, which he reached in the +morning ahead of schedule, he found written in the frost of his +cab-window these words: "A frate train was recked as yu saw. Now that yu +saw it yu will never make another run. The enjine was not ounder control +and four sexshun men wor killed. If yu ever run on this road again yu +will be recked." Edwards quit the road that morning, and returning to +Denver found employment on the Union Pacific. No wreck was discovered +next day in the canon where he had seen it, nor has the phantom train +been in chase of any engineer who has crossed the divide since that +night. + + + + +THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS + +In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was +ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry +a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St. Augustine. The men +wintered on the site of Trinidad, comforted by the society of their wives +and families, and in the spring the women and camp-followers were +directed to remain, while the troops set forward along the canon of the +Purgatoire--neither to reach their destination nor to return. Did they +attempt to descend the stream in boats and go to wreck among the rapids? +Were they swept into eternity by a freshet? Did they lose their +provisions and starve in the desert? Did the Indians revenge themselves +for brutality and selfishness by slaying them at night or from an ambush? +Were they killed by banditti? Did they sink in the quicksands that led +the river into subterranean canals? None will ever know, perhaps; but +many years afterward a savage told a priest in Santa Fe that the regiment +had been surrounded by Indians, as Custer's command was in Montana, and +slain, to a man. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the colonel--so said +the narrator--had buried the gold that he was transporting. Thousands of +doubloons are believed to be hidden in the canon, and thousands of +dollars have been spent in searching for them. + +After weeks had lapsed into months and months into years, and no word +came of the missing regiment, the priests named the river El Rio de las +Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The echoing of the flood as it +tumbled through the canon was said to be the lamentation of the troopers. +French trappers softened the suggestion of the Spanish title when they +renamed it Purgatoire, and--"bullwhackers" teaming across the plains +twisted the French title into the unmeaning "Picketwire." But +Americo-Spaniards keep alive the tradition, and the prayers of many have +ascended and do ascend for the succor of those who vanished so strangely +in the valley of Las Animas. + + + + +RIDERS OF THE DESERT + +Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of +Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave +in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes, for he was +happy in the society of his wife, Zecana (The Bird). To sell beaver and +wild sheep-skins he often went with her to a post on the New Mexico +frontier, and it was while at this fort that a Spanish trader saw the +pretty Zecana, and, determining to win her, sent the Indian on a mission +into the heart of the mountains, with a promise that she should rest +securely at the settlement until his return. + +On his way Ta-in-ga-ro stopped at the spring in Manitou, and after +drinking he cast beads and wampum into the well in oblation to its deity. +The offering was flung out by the bubbling water, and as he stared, +distressed at this unwelcome omen, a picture formed on the surface--the +anguished features of Zecana. He ran to his horse, galloped away, and +paused neither for rest nor food till he had reached the post. The +Spaniard was gone. Turning, then, to the foot-hills, he urged his jaded +horse toward his cabin, and arrived, one bright morning, flushed with joy +to see his wife before his door and to hear her singing. When he spoke +she looked up carelessly and resumed her song. She did not know him. +Reason was gone. + +It was his cry of rage and grief, when, from her babbling, Ta-in-ga-ro +learned of the Spaniard's treachery, that brought the wandering mind back +for an instant. Looking at her husband with a strange surprise and pain, +she plucked the knife from his belt. Before he could realize her purpose +she had thrust it into her heart and had fallen dead at his feet. For +hours he stood there in stupefaction, but the stolid Indian nature soon +resumed its sway. Setting his lodge in order and feeding his horse, he +wrapped Zecana's body in a buffalo-skin, then slept through the night in +sheer exhaustion. Two nights afterward the Indian stood in the shadow of +a room in the trading fort and watched the Spaniard as he lay asleep. +Nobody knew how he passed the guard. + +In the small hours the traitor was roused by the strain of a belt across +his mouth, and leaping up to fling it off, he felt the tug of a lariat at +his throat. His struggles were useless. In a few moments he was bound +hand and foot. Lifting some strips of bark from the low roof, Ta-in-ga-ro +pushed the Spaniard through the aperture and lowered him to the ground, +outside the enclosure of which the house formed part. Then, at the embers +of a fire he kindled an arrow wrapped in the down of cottonwood and shot +it into a haystack in the court. In the smoke and confusion thus made, +his own escape was unseen, save by a guardsman drowsily pacing his beat +outside the square of buildings. The sentinel would have given the alarm, +had not the Indian pounced on him like a panther and laid him dead with a +knife-stroke. + +Catching up the Spaniard, the Indian tied him to the back of a horse and +set off beside him. Thus they journeyed until they came to his lodge, +where he released the trader from his horse and fed him, but kept his +hands and legs hard bound, and paid no attention to his questions and his +appeals for liberty. Tying a strong and half-trained horse at his door, +Ta-in-ga-ro placed a wooden saddle on him, cut off the Spaniard's +clothes, and put him astride of the beast. After he had fastened him into +his seat with deer-skin thongs, he took Zecana's corpse from its wrapping +and tied it to his prisoner, face to face. + +Then, loosing the horse, which was plunging and snorting to be rid of his +burden, he saw him rush off on the limitless desert, and followed on his +own strong steed. At first the Spaniard fainted; on recovering he +struggled to get free, but his struggles only brought him closer to the +ghastly thing before him. Noon-day heat covered him with sweat and blood +dripped from the wales that the cords cut in his flesh. At night he froze +uncovered in the chill air, and, if for an instant his eyes closed in +sleep, a curse, yelled into his ear, awoke him. Ta-inga-ro gave him drink +from time to time, but never food, and so they rode for days. At last +hunger overbore his loathing, and sinking his teeth into the dead flesh +before him he feasted like a ghoul. + +Still they rode, Ta-in-ga-ro never far from his victim, on whose +sufferings he gloated, until a gibbering cry told him that the Spaniard +had gone mad. Then, and not till then, he drew rein and watched the horse +with its dead and maniac riders until they disappeared in the yellow +void. He turned away, but nevermore sought his home. To and fro, through +the brush, the sand, the alkali of the plains, go the ghost riders, +forever. + + + + +THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES + +When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they +found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of +the springs of Manitou that their differences began there. This "Saratoga +of the West," nestling in a hollow of the foot-hills in the shadow of the +noble peak of Pike, was in old days common meeting-ground for several +families of red men. Councils were held in safety there, for no Indian +dared provoke the wrath of the manitou whose breath sparkled in the +"medicine waters." None? Yes, one. For, centuries ago a Shoshone and a +Comanche stopped here on their return from a hunt to drink. The Shoshone +had been successful; the Comanche was empty handed and ill tempered, +jealous of the other's skill and fortune. Flinging down the fat deer that +he was bearing homeward on his shoulders, the Shoshone bent over the +spring of sweet water, and, after pouring a handful of it on the ground, +as a libation to the spirit of the place, he put his lips to the surface. +It needed but faint pretext for his companion to begin a quarrel, and he +did so in this fashion: "Why does a stranger drink at the spring-head +when one of the owners of the fountain contents himself with its +overflow? How does a Shoshone dare to drink above me?" + +The other replied, "The Great Spirit places the water at the spring that +his children may drink it undefiled. I am Ausaqua, chief of Shoshones, +and I drink at the head-water. Shoshone and Comanche are brothers. Let +them drink together." + +"No. The Shoshone pays tribute to the Comanche, and Wacomish leads that +nation to war. He is chief of the Shoshone as he is of his own people." + +"Wacomish lies. His tongue is forked, like the snake's. His heart is +black. When the Great Spirit made his children he said not to one, 'Drink +here,' and to another, 'Drink there,' but gave water that all might +drink." + +The other made no answer, but as Ausaqua stooped toward the bubbling +surface Wacomish crept behind him, flung himself against the hunter, +forced his head beneath the water, and held him there until he was +drowned. As he pulled the dead body from the spring the water became +agitated, and from the bubbles arose a vapor that gradually assumed the +form of a venerable Indian, with long white locks, in whom the murderer +recognized Waukauga, father of the Shoshone and Comanche nation, and a +man whose heroism and goodness made his name revered in both these +tribes. The face of the patriarch was dark with wrath, and he cried, in +terrible tones, "Accursed of my race! This day thou hast severed the +mightiest nation in the world. The blood of the brave Shoshone appeals +for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their +throats." + +Then, whirling up an elk-horn club, he brought it full on the head of the +wretched man, who cringed before him. The murderer's head was burst open +and he tumbled lifeless into the spring, that to this day is nauseous, +while, to perpetuate the memory of Ausaqua, the manitou smote a +neighboring rock, and from it gushed a fountain of delicious water. The +bodies were found, and the partisans of both the hunters began on that +day a long and destructive warfare, in which other tribes became involved +until mountaineers were arrayed against plainsmen through all that +region. + + + + +BESIEGED BY STARVATION + +A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the +Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what +they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved to be the +enemy in force, and who, in turn, drove the Utes--for the aggressors were +of that tribe--into the hills. Most of them took refuge on a castellated +rock on the south side of Bowlder Canon, where they held their own for +several days, rolling down huge rocks whenever an attempt was made to +storm the height; wherefore, seeing that the mountain was too secure a +stronghold to be taken in that way, the besiegers camped about it, and, +by cutting off the access of the beleaguered party to game and to water, +starved every one of them to death. + +This, too, is the story of Starved Rock, on Illinois River, near Ottawa, +Illinois. It is a sandstone bluff, one hundred and fifty feet high, with +a slope on one side only. Its summit is an acre in extent, and at the +order of La Salle his Indian lieutenant, Tonti, fortified the place and +mounted a small cannon on it. He died there afterward. After the killing +of Pontiac at Cahokia, some of his people--the Ottawas--charged the crime +against their enemies, the Illinois. The latter, being few in number, +entrenched themselves on Starved Rock, where they kept their enemies at +bay, but were unable to break their line to reach supplies. For a time +they secured water by letting down bark vessels into the river at the end +of thongs, but the Ottawas came under the bluff in canoes and cut the +cords. Unwilling to surrender, the Illinois remained there until all had +died of starvation. Bones and relics are found occasionally at the top. + +There is yet another place of which a similar narrative is +extant--namely, Crow Butte, Nebraska, which is two hundred feet high and +vertical on all sides save one, but on that a horseman may ascend in +safety. A company of Crows, flying from the Sioux, gained this citadel +and defended the path so vigorously that their pursuers gave over all +attempts to follow them, but squatted calmly on the plain and proceeded +to starve them out. On a dark night the besieged killed some of their +ponies and made lariats of their hides, by which they reached the ground +on the unguarded side of the rock. They slid down, one at a time, and +made off all but one aged Indian, who stayed to keep the camp-fire +burning as a blind. He went down and surrendered on the next day, but the +Sioux, respecting his age and loyalty, gave him freedom. + + + + +A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY + +Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone +country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil +spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river as the +crest of the world, and whoso gained their summits could see the happy +hunting-grounds below, brightened with the homes of the blessed. They +loved this land in which their fathers had hunted, and when they were +driven back from the settlements the Crows took refuge in what is now +Yellowstone Park. Even here the soldiers pursued them, intent on avenging +acts that the red men had committed while suffering under the sting of +tyranny and wrong. A mere remnant of the fugitive band gathered at the +head of that mighty rift in the earth known as the Grand Canon of the +Yellowstone--a remnant that had succeeded in escaping the bullets of the +soldiery,--and with Spartan courage they resolved to die rather than be +taken and carried away to pine in a distant prison. They built a raft and +placed it on the river at the foot of the upper fall, and for a few days +they enjoyed the plenty and peace that were their privilege in former +times. A short-lived peace, however, for one morning they are aroused by +the crack of rifles--the troops are upon them. + +Boarding their raft they thrust it toward the middle of the stream, +perhaps with the idea of gaining the opposite shore, but, if such is +their intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among +them have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who +stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch, +with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the +current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster. +The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that +distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red man +has his face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the tones +of the death-chant have in them something of mockery no less than hate +and vaunting. + +The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily. Beyond +and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf a +thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of +morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were +no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The +raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the +soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the +savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft +tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched +over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep forever +on the rocks and mosses. + + + + +THE BROAD HOUSE + +Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently +coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good +preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling +god, came on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a +prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property. To +do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and +challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and +skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own +side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and children, +and, finally, some of the men themselves. + +In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives +were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the +people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up some of +the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval on this +performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god power to +defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had gone to +gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a challenge, +and the animals agreed to help him. + +When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a +large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was +because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest +Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his +far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before +touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at every +point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, and returned to +their people. + +The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him to +a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of +sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the man +lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new animals +and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico, the moon +people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and came +northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had passed the +site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and after his +return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini. + + + + +THE DEATH WALTZ + +Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at +Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of +the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies at the +post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a captain, who +enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found there, and +enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her, for women +who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild country. A young +lieutenant proved especially susceptible to her charms, and devoted +himself to her in the hope that he should ultimately win her hand. His +experience with the world was not large enough to enable him to +distinguish between the womanly woman and the coquette. + +One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an Apache +outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and punish the +marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of the expedition, +but before starting he confided his love to the young woman, who not only +acknowledged that she returned his affection, but promised that if the +fortune of war deprived him of life she would never marry another. As he +bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is well. Nobody else shall +have you. I will come back and make my claim." + +In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing. +It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and +nobody was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young +man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the post, +and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the dance +was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a draught of +air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike that of any +human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned to the door. +In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the stained uniform +of an officer. The temple was marked by a hatchet-gash, the scalp was +gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned with a terrible light. + +Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband, who, +like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the power of +motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The musicians, who +afterward declared that they did not know what they were doing, struck up +a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around and around, the woman +growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen jaw and staring eyes +showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead man allowed her to +sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment, wrung his hands as he +sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished through the door. A few days +after, a troop of soldiers who had been to the scene of the Apache +encounter returned with the body of the lieutenant. + + + + +THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE + +Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although +French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year +of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of Johnstown, +Pennsylvania, to save her image on the Catholic church in that place, when +it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons perished. It was +the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood in New Mexico long +years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Santa +Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance of the Virgin to Juan +Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the sixteenth century. She +commanded that a chapel should be built for her, but the bishop of the +diocese declared that the man had been dreaming and told him to go away. +The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still the bishop declared that +he had no evidence of the truth of what he said. A third time the +supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a certain difficult +mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and take them to the +bishop. + +After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's +amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and +returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds before +the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a glowing +picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but is +duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept. These +treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness and +threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in +procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then +made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin makes +prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results of +their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time, +though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred +picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image of +its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That +night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the +populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives. +They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and +addressed their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness +than ever before. + + + + +GODDESS OF SALT + +Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic +rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while +near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The goddess +of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her domain on the +sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures without offering any +sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and went to live in the +mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a pool to rest she made +it salt, and she wandered so long about the great basins of the West that +much of the water in them is bitter, and the yield of salt from the +larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury large tolls from +other tribes that draw from it. + +Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and +wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they lived +happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had concealed +herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed her to that land +and troubled her again until she declared that she would leave their view +forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way through a high wall of +sandstone as she did so. The arched portal through which she passed is +plainly visible. As she went through, one of her plumes was broken off, +and falling into the valley it tipped upon its stem and became the +monument that is seen there. The god of turquoise followed his wife, and +his footsteps may be traced in outcrops of pale-blue stone. + + + + +THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS + +Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red +tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and +the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the precipitous +bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night the fairies +"little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah legend finds a +parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the interior of the +earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of Oswego River, New +York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from the rocks about Red +River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big Black River in the +Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath; the Aztecs were one of +seven tribes that came out from the seven caverns of Aztlan, or Place of +the Heron; and the Navajos believe that they emerged at a place known to +them in the Navajo Mountains. + +In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything that +they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and flowers +grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud that arose in +the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west made the night. +Here they lived for centuries, and might have been there to this day had +not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth that led to some place +unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They set off up the passage to +see where it led, and after long and weary climbing the surface was +reached. Pleased with the novelty of their surroundings, they settled +here, but on the fourth day after their arrival their queen disappeared. + +Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the +mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when, +looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She +told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only +after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that +the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the +eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert +lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having +found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their +retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills +above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl +babe. + +This child grew to womanhood under their care, and her charms attracted +the great manitou that rides on a white horse and carries the sun for a +shield. He wooed and married her, and their children slew the giants that +had destroyed the Navajos. After a time the manitou carried his wife to +his floating palace in the western water, which has since been her home. +To her the prayers of the people are addressed, and twelve immortals bear +their petitions to her throne. + + + + +THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS + +The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals +was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from +the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the junction of the Verde and Salt +Rivers, and from his own sweat made men. As the people multiplied they +grew selfish and quarrelsome, so that Cherwit Make was disgusted with his +handiwork and resolved to drown them all. But first he told them, in the +voice of the north wind, to be honest and to live at peace. The prophet +Suha, who interpreted this voice, was called a fool for listening to the +wind, but next night came the east wind and repeated the command, with an +added threat that the ruler of heaven would destroy them all if they did +not reform. + +Again they scoffed, and on the next night the west wind cautioned them. +But this third warning was equally futile. On the fourth night came the +south wind. It breathed into Suha's ear that he alone had been good and +should be saved, and bade him make a hollow ball of spruce gum in which +he might float while the deluge lasted. Suha and his wife immediately set +out to gather the gum, that they melted and shaped until they had made a +large, rounded ark, which they ballasted with jars of nuts, acorn-meal +and water, and meat of bear and venison. + +On the day assigned Suha and his wife were looking regretfully down into +the green valleys from the ledge where the ark rested, listening to the +song of the harvesters, and sighing to think that so much beauty would +presently be laid waste, when a hand of fire was thrust from a cloud and +it smote the Blue Cliffs with a thunder-clang. It was the signal. Swift +came the clouds from all directions, and down poured the rain. +Withdrawing into their waxen ball, Suha and his wife closed the portal. +Then for some days they were rolled and tossed on an ever-deepening sea. +Their stores had almost given out when the ark stopped, and breaking a +hole in its side its occupants stepped forth. + +There was a tuna cactus growing at their feet, and they ate of its red +fruit greedily, but all around them was naught but water. When night came +on they retired to the ark and slept--a night, a month, a year, perhaps a +century, for when they awoke the water was gone, the vales were filled +with verdure, and bird-songs rang through the woods. The delighted couple +descended the Superstition Mountains, on which the ark had rested, and +went into its valleys, where they lived for a thousand years, and became +the parents of a great tribe. + +But the evil was not all gone. There was one Hauk, a devil of the +mountains, who stole their daughters and slew their sons. One day, while +the women were spinning flax and cactus fibre and the men were gathering +maize, Hauk descended into the settlement and stole another of Suha's +daughters. The patriarch, whose patience had been taxed to its limit, +then made a vow to slay the devil. He watched to see by what way he +entered the valley. He silently followed him into the Superstition +Mountains; he drugged the cactus wine that his daughter was to serve to +him; then, when he had drunk it, Suha emerged from his place of hiding +and beat out the brains of the stupefied fiend. + +Some of the devil's brains were scattered and became seed for other evil, +but there was less wickedness in the world after Hauk had been disposed +of than there had been before. Suha taught his people to build adobe +houses, to dig with shovels, to irrigate their land, to weave cloth, and +avoid wars. But on his death-bed he foretold to them that they would grow +arrogant with wealth, covetous of the lands of others, and would wage +wars for gain. When that time came there would be another flood and not +one should be saved--the bad should vanish and the good would leave the +earth and live in the sun. So firmly do the Pimas rely on this prophecy +that they will not cross Superstition Mountains, for there sits Cherwit +Make--awaiting the culmination of their wickedness to let loose on the +earth a mighty sea that lies dammed behind the range. + + + + +THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING + +Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the +scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a +tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil and tended +their flocks about the settlements that grew along their line of march. +They were little people, four feet high, but they were a thousand strong +and clever. They were peaceful, like all intelligent people, and the +mystery surrounding their incantations and sun-worship was more potent +than a show of arms to frighten away those natural assassins, the +Apaches. + +After they had lived near the mountain for five years the "little people" +learned that the Zunis were advancing from the south and made +preparations for defence. Their sheep were concealed in obscure valleys; +provisions, tools, and arms were carried up the mountain; piles of stone +were placed along the edges of cliffs commanding the passes. This work +was superintended by a woman with a white face, fair hair, and commanding +form, who was held in reverence by the dwarfs; and she it was--the Helen +of a New-World Troy--who was causing this trouble, for the Zunis claimed +her on the ground that they had brought her from the waters of the rising +sun, and that it was only to escape an honorable marriage with their +chief that she had fled to the dwarfs. + +Be that as it might, the Zunis marched on, meeting with faint resistance +until, on a bright afternoon, they massed on a slope of the mountain, +seven hundred in number. The Apaches, expecting instant defeat of the +"little men," watched, from neighboring hills, the advance of the +invaders as they climbed nimbly toward the stone fort on the top of the +slope, brandishing clubs and stone spears, and bragging, as the fashion +of a red man is--and sometimes of a white one. + +At a pool outside of the walls stood the pale woman, queenly and calm, +and as her white robe and brown hair fluttered in the wind both her +people and the foe looked upon her with admiration. When but a hundred +yards away the Zunis rushed toward her with outstretched arms, whereupon +she stooped, picked up an earthen jar, emptied its contents into the +pool, and ran back. In a moment sparks and balls of fire leaped from +crevices in the rocks, and as they touched the Indians many fell dead. +Others plunged blindly over the cliffs and were dashed to pieces. + +In a few minutes the remainder of the force was in full retreat and not +an arrow had been shot. The Apaches, though stricken with terror at these +pyrotechnics, overcame the memory of them sufficiently in a couple of +years to attempt the sack of the fort on their own account, but the queen +repelled them as she had forced back the Zunis, and with even greater +slaughter. From that time the dwarfs were never harmed again, but they +went away, as suddenly as they had come, to a secret recess in the +mountains, where the Pale Faced Lightning still rules them. + +Some of the Apaches maintain that her spirit haunts a cave on +Superstition Mountain, where her body vanished in a blaze of fire, and +this cave of the Spirit Mother is also pointed out on the south side of +Salt River. A skeleton and cotton robes, ornamented and of silky texture, +were once found there. It is said that electrical phenomena are frequent +on the mountain, and that iron, copper, salt, and copperas lying near +together may account for them. + + + + +THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK + +There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, +where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white +men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos fell into their hands they +shot them unhesitatingly, firing into the dark recesses of the cavern, +the fitful but fast-recurring flashes of their rifles illuminating the +interior and exposing to view the objects of their hatred. + +The massacre over, the cries and groans were hushed, the hunters strode +away, and over the mountains fell the calm that for thousands of years +had not been so rudely broken. That night, when the moon shone into this +pit of death, a corpse arose, walked to a rock just within the entrance, +and took there its everlasting seat. + +Long afterward a man who did not know its story entered this place, when +he was confronted by a thing, as he called it, that glared so fearfully +upon him that he fled in an ecstasy of terror. Two prospectors +subsequently attempted to explore the cave, but the entrance was barred +by "the thing." They gave one glance at the torn face, the bulging eyes +turned sidewise at them, the yellow fangs, the long hair, the spreading +claws, the livid, mouldy flesh, and rushed away. A Western paper, +recounting their adventure, said that one of the men declared that there +was not money enough in Maricopa County to pay him to go there again, +while the other had never stopped running--at least, he had not returned +to his usual haunts since "the thing" looked at him. Still, it is haunted +country all about here. The souls of the Mojaves roam upon Ghost +Mountain, and the "bad men's hunting-grounds" of the Yumas and Navajos +are over in the volcanic country of Sonora. It is, therefore, no unusual +thing to find signs and wonders in broad daylight. + + + + +SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS + +Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and +perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large +towns--the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens, City of +Stones, and City of the Dead. The people worked at trades and arts that +had been practised by their ancestors before the pyramids were built in +Egypt. Montezuma had come to the throne of Mexico, and the Aztecs were a +subject people; Europe had discovered America and forgotten it, and in +America the arrival of Europeans was recalled only in traditions. But, +like other nations, the Toltecs became a prey to self-confidence, to +luxury, to wastefulness, and to deadening superstitions. Already the +fierce tribes of the North were lurking on the confines of their country +in a faith of speedy conquest, and at times it seemed as if the elements +were against them. + +The villagers were returning from the fields, one day, when the entire +region was smitten by an earthquake. Houses trembled, rumblings were +heard, people fell in trying to reach the streets, and reservoirs burst, +wasting their contents on the fevered soil. A sacrifice was offered. Then +came a second shock, and another mortal was offered in oblation. As the +earth still heaved and the earthquake demon muttered underground, the +king gave his daughter to the priests, that his people might be spared, +though he wrung his hands and beat his brow as he saw her led away and +knew that in an hour her blood would stream from the altar. + +The girl walked firmly to the cave where the altar was erected--a cave in +Superstition Mountains. She knelt and closed her eyes as the +officiating-priest uttered a prayer, and, gripping his knife of jade +stone, plunged it into her heart. She fell without a struggle. And now, +the end. + +Hardly had the innocent blood drained out and the fires been lighted to +consume the body, when a pall of cloud came sweeping across the heavens; +a hot wind surged over the ground, laden with dust and smoke; the +storm-struck earth writhed anew beneath pelting thunder-bolts; no tremor +this time, but an upheaval that rent the rocks and flung the cities down. +It was an hour of darkness and terror. Roars of thunder mingled with the +more awful bellowing beneath; crash on crash told that houses and temples +were falling in vast ruin; the mountainsides were loosened and the rush +of avalanches added to the din; the air was thick, and through the clouds +the people groped their way toward the fields; rivers broke from their +confines and laid waste farms and gardens! The gods had indeed abandoned +them, and the spirit of the king's daughter took its flight in company +with thousands of souls in whose behalf she had suffered uselessly. + +The king was crushed beneath his palace-roof and the sacerdotal +executioner perished in a fall of rock. The survivors fled in panic and +the Ishmaelite tribes on their frontier entered their kingdom and +pillaged it of all abandoned wealth. The cities never were rebuilt and +were rediscovered but a few years ago, when the maiden's skeleton was +also found. Nor does any Indian cross Superstition Mountains without a +sense of apprehension. + + + + +TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN + +The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and +the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find +listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen to this, for +example. It is a legend among the tribes of Arizona. + +While Ta-Vwots, the hare god, was asleep in the valley of Maopa, the Sun +mischievously burned his back, causing him to leap up with a howl. "Aha! +It's you, is it, who played this trick on me?" he cried, looking at the +Sun. "I'll make it warm for you. See if I don't." + +And without more ado he set off to fight the Sun. On the way he stopped +to pick and roast some corn, and when the people who had planted it ran +out and tried to punish him for the theft he scratched a hole in the +ground and ran in out of sight. His pursuers shot arrows into the hole, +but Ta-Vwots had his breath with him, and it was an awfully strong +breath, for with it he turned all the arrows aside. "The scamp is in +here," said one of the party. "Let's get at him another way." So, getting +their flints and shovels, they began to dig. + +"That's your game, is it?" mumbled Ta-Vwots. "I know a way out of this +that you don't know." With a few puffs of his breath and a few kicks of +his legs he reached a great fissure that led into the rock behind him, +and along this passage he scrambled until he came to the edge of it in a +niche, from which he could watch his enemies digging. When they had made +the hole quite large he shouted, "Be buried in the grave you have dug for +yourselves!" And, hurling down a magic ball that he carried, he caved the +earth in on their heads. Then he paced off, remarking, "To fight is as +good fun as to eat. Vengeance is my work. Every one I meet will be an +enemy. No one shall escape my wrath." And he sounded his war-whoop. + +Next day he saw two men heating rocks and chipping arrow-heads from them. +"Let me help you, for hot rocks will not hurt me," he said. + +"You would have us to believe you are a spirit, eh?" they questioned, +with a jeer. + +"No ghost," he answered, "but a better man than you. Hold me on those +rocks, and, if I do not burn, you must let me do the same to you." + +The men complied, and heating the stones to redness in the fire they +placed him against them, but failed to see that by his magic breath he +kept a current of air flowing between him and the hot surface. Rising +unhurt, he demanded that they also should submit to the torture, and, +like true Indians, they did so. When their flesh had been burned half +through and they were dead, he sounded his warwhoop and went on. + +On the day following he met two women picking berries, and told them to +blow the leaves and thorns into his eyes. They did so, as they supposed, +but with his magic breath he kept the stuff away from his face. + +"You are a ghost!" the women exclaimed. + +"No ghost," said he. "Just a common person. Leaves and thorns can do no +harm. See, now." And he puffed thorns into their faces and made them +blind. "Aha! You are caught with your own chaff I am on my way to kill +the Sun. This is good practice." And he slew them, sounded his war-whoop, +and went on. + +The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and +the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him +by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to +eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He +called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to +you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in +bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their +balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims of your own greed. +One should never be so anxious as to kill one's self." This was his only +comment, and, sounding the warwhoop, he went on. + +A day later he came upon two women making water jugs of willow baskets +lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes that +bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?" + +"What were you saying?" asked the hare god. + +"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of endearment.) + +"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water jugs while you +braid the neck." + +He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed +to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, +when--puff! the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not +know anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out. + +"Easily enough," replied the hare god. "These things may hold water, but +they can't hold men and women. Try it, and see if they can." With their +consent, Ta-Vwots began weaving the osiers about them, and in a little +while he had them caged. "Now, come out," he said. But, try as they +might, not a withe could they break. "Ha, ha! You are wise women, aren't +you? Bottled in your own jugs! I am on my way to kill the Sun. In time I +shall learn how." Then, sounding his war-whoop, he struck them dead with +his magic ball and went on. + +He met the Bear next day, and found him digging a hole to hide in, for he +had heard of the hare god and was afraid. "Don't be frightened, friend +Bear," said the rogue. "I'm not the sort of fellow to hide from. How +could a little chap like me hurt so many people?" And he helped the Bear +to dig his den, but when it was finished he hid behind a rock, and as the +Bear thrust his head near him he launched his magic ball at his face and +made an end of him. "I was afraid of this warrior," said Ta-Vwots, "but +he is dead, now, in his den." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. + +It was on the day following that he met the Tarantula, a clever rascal, +who had a club that would deal a fatal blow to others, but would not hurt +himself. He began to groan as Ta-Vwots drew near, and cried that he had a +pain caused by an evil spirit in his head. Wouldn't Ta-Vwots thump it +out? Indeed, he would. He grasped the club and gave him the soundest kind +of a thwacking, but when the Tarantula shouted "Harder," he guessed that +it was an enchanted weapon, and changing it for his magic ball he +finished the Tarantula at a blow. "That is a stroke of your own seeking," +he remarked. "I am on my way to kill the Sun. Now I know that I can do +it." And sounding his war-whoop he went on. + +Next day he came to the edge of the world and looked off into space, +where thousands of careless people had fallen, and there he passed the +night under a tree. At dawn he stood on the brink of the earth and the +instant that the Sun appeared he flung the magic ball full in his face. +The surface of the Sun was broken into a thousand pieces that spattered +over the earth and kindled a mighty conflagration. Ta-Vwots crept under +the tree that had sheltered him, but that was of no avail against the +increasing heat. He tried to run away, but the fire burned off his toes, +then his feet, then his legs, then his body, so that he ran on his hands, +and when his hands were burned off he walked on the stumps of his arms. +At last his head alone remained, and that rolled over hill and valley +until it struck a rock, when the eyes burst and the tears that gushed +forth spread over the land, putting out the flames. The Sun was +conquered, and at his trial before the other gods was reprimanded for his +mischievous pranks and condemned thereafter to travel across the sky +every day by the same trail. + + + + +THE COMANCHE RIDER + +The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground +sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South +Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies +gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their +scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of +mutilation in killing. + +Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut +a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew +there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan +from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his +brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had +pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with +silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the +weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place +and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's +tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his +wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of +his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he +had taken hung to the bridle. + +When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that +his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. +His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony +is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy +hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort +Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind +of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They +killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the +late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a +lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a +grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, +formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself +to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and +sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a +stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused +to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. +Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, +and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession +when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world. + +Myths and Legends + + + + +HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS + +The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that +they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the +country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out of the +west and troubled them, going so far as to dine on Moquis. It was hard to +get away, for the monsters could see all over the country from the tops +of the mesas. The king of the tribe offered the handsomest woman in his +country and a thousand horses to any man who would deliver his people +from these giants. This king was eaten like the rest, and the citizens +declined to elect another, because they were beginning to lose faith in +kings. Still, there was one young brave whose single thought was how to +defeat the giants and save his people. + +As he was walking down the mesa he saw a lizard, of the kind commonly +known as a horned toad, lying under a rock in pain. He rolled the stone +away and was passing on, when a voice, that seemed to come out of the +earth, but that really came from the toad, asked him if he wished to +destroy the giants. He desired nothing so much. "Then take my horned +crest for a helmet." + +Lolomi--that was the name of him--did as he was bid, and found that in a +moment the crest had swelled and covered his head so thickly that no club +could break through it. + +"Now take my breastplate," continued the toad. And though it would not +have covered the Indian's thumb-nail, when he put it on it so increased +in bulk that it corseleted his body and no arrow could pierce it. + +"Now take the scales from my eyes," commanded the toad, and when he had +done so Lolomi felt as light as a feather. + +"Go up and wait. When you see a giant, go toward him, looking in his +eyes, and he will walk backward. Walk around him until he has his back to +a precipice, then advance. He will back away until he reaches the edge of +the mesa, when he will fall off and be killed." + +Lolomi obeyed these instructions, for presently a giant loomed in the +distance and came striding across the plains half a mile at a step. As he +drew near he flung a spear, but it glanced from the Indian's armor like +hail from a rock. Then an arrow followed, and was turned. At this the +giant lost courage, for he fancied that Lolomi was a spirit. Fearing a +blow if he turned, he kept his face toward Lolomi, who manoeuvred so +skilfully that when he had the giant's back to the edge of a cliff he +sprang at him, and the giant, with a yell of alarm, fell and broke his +bones on the rocks below. So Lolomi killed many giants, because they all +walked back before him, and after they had fallen the people heaped rocks +on their bodies. To this day the place is known as "the giants' fall." +Then the tribe made Lolomi king and gave him the most beautiful damsel +for a wife. As he was the best king they ever had, they treasured his +memory after he was dead, and used his name as a term of greeting, so +that "Lolomi" is a word of welcome, and will be until the giants come +again. + + + + +THE SPIDER TOWER + +In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated +valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered +sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base in a sheer +uplift. Centuries ago an inhabitant of one of the cave villages was +surprised by hostiles while hunting in this region, and was chased by +them into this canon. As he ran he looked vainly from side to side in the +hope of securing a hiding-place, but succor came from a source that was +least expected, for on approaching this enormous obelisk, with strength +well-nigh exhausted, he saw a silken cord hanging from a notch at its +top. Hastily knotting the end about his waist, that it might not fall +within reach of his pursuers, he climbed up, setting his feet into +roughnesses of the stone, and advancing, hand over hand, until he had +reached the summit, where he stayed, drinking dew and feeding on eagles' +eggs, until his enemies went away, for they could not reach him with +their arrows, defended as he was by points of rock. The foemen having +gone, he safely descended by the cord and reached his home. This help had +come from a friendly spider who saw his plight from her perch at the top +of the spire, and, weaving a web of extra thickness, she made one end +fast to a jag of rock while the other fell within his grasp--for she, +like all other of the brute tribe, liked the gentle cave-dwellers better +than the remorseless hunters. Hence the name of the Spider Tower. + + + + +THE LOST TRAIL + +The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a +keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells +this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed +his lodge beside the spring that bubbled from a thicket of wild roses in +the place where Rosita, Colorado, stands to-day. He left his +wife--Manetabee (Rosebud)--in the lodge while he went across the +mountains to attend a council, and was gone four sleeps. On his return he +found neither wife nor lodge, but footprints and hoofprints in the ground +showed to his keen eye that it was the Arapahoes who had been there. + +Getting on their trail he rode over it furiously, and at night had +reached Oak Canon, along which he travelled until he saw the gleam of a +small fire ahead. A squall was coming up, and the noise of it might have +enabled him to gallop fairly into the group that he saw huddled about the +glow; but it is not in the nature of an Indian to do that, and, tying his +horse, he crawled forward. + +There were fifteen of the Arapahoes, and they were gambling to decide the +ownership of Manetabee, who sat bound beneath a willow near them. So +engrossed were the savages in the contest that the snake-like approach of +Acantow was unnoticed until he had cut the thongs that bound Manetabee's +wrists and ankles--she did not cry out, for she had expected rescue--and +both had imperceptibly slid away from them. Then, with a yell, one of the +gamblers pointed to the receding forms, and straightway the fifteen made +an onset. + +Swinging his wife lightly to his shoulders Acantow set off at a run and +he had almost reached his horse when his foot caught in a root and he +fell headlong. The pursuers were almost upon him when the storm burst in +fury. A flood of fire rushed from the clouds and struck the earth with an +appalling roar. Trees were snapped, rocks were splintered, and a +whirlwind passed. Acantow was nearly insensible for a time--then he felt +the touch of the Rosebud's hand on his cheek, and together they arose and +looked about them. A huge block of riven granite lay in the canon, +dripping blood. Their enemies were not to be seen. + +"The trail is gone," said Acantow. "Manitou has broken it, that the +Arapahoes may never cross it more. He would not allow them to take you. +Let us thank the Manitou." So they went back to where the spring burst +amid the rose-bushes. + + + + +A BATTLE IN THE AIR + +In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold +by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is +heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields, for it +heralds battle, starvation, or pestilence. The powerful nation that lived +here once was completely annihilated by an opposing tribe, and in the +valley in the western part of the Territory there are mounds where +hundreds of men lie buried. Spirits occupy the valley, and to the eyes of +the red men they are still seen, at times, continuing the fight. + +In May, 1892, the last demonstration was made in the hearing of John +Willis, a United States marshal, who was hunting horse-thieves. He was +belated one night and entered the vale of mounds, for he had no scruples +against sleeping there. He had not, in fact, ever heard that the region +was haunted. The snorting of his horse in the middle of the night awoke +him and he sprang to his feet, thinking that savages, outlaws, or, at +least, coyotes had disturbed the animal. Although there was a good moon, +he could see nothing moving on the plain. Yet the sounds that filled the +air were like the noise of an army, only a trifle subdued, as if they +were borne on the passing of a wind. The rush of hoofs and of feet, the +striking of blows, the fall of bodies could be heard, and for nearly an +hour these fell rumors went across the earth. At last the horse became so +frantic that Willis saddled him and rode away, and as he reached the edge +of the valley the sounds were heard going into the distance. Not until he +reached a settlement did he learn of the spell that rested on the place. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Along The Rocky Range, by Charles M. 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