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“Was it not then the stranger who is your lover, Yahn Tsyn-deh?” asked the other, not as one who cares, but as one who states a fact––“the man whom you give love to in these new days.”
“Who says I give love?” demanded Yahn. “Säh-pah the liar, or Koh-pé, who knows not anything!”
“You walk together alone as lovers walk. The other women do not think they lie.”
“They are fools––the other women!” stated Yahn––“also they are liars. They are glad if a man of the beard looks the way they are,––they would make a trail to follow if the men of iron whistled them,––they would be proud to make their own men ashamed––they!”
For the first time the older woman looked in the face of the girl with intentness, as though suddenly aroused to interest in the human drama about her, and the actors in it.
“Then you would not follow, Yahn Tsyn-deh?” she asked. “The others say you laugh at the men of the tribe and give love to the strangers––they say you pass Ka-yemo on the trail and your eyes never see him any more because of the men of iron who give you gifts!”
“A jealous woman says that!” stormed Yahn Tsyn-deh,––“a woman who maybe lies to him when he will listen! You see this:”––and she picked up a black water worn pebble with a vein of white through the heart of it––“Sometime when the Earth Mother was beginning with the work, these two were maybe not together like this. They were apart––maybe it was before the ice went from around our world and the mountains sent fire to split the rocks. Look you now––you are wise, but maybe you do275not know how this is, for you go into shadow lands, and men and women, and the stones over which your feet walk, are all the same to you––also the love of a man and a woman are not anything to your thoughts!”
The other looked at her, and beyond her, and said nothing. The words of Yahn were words of angry insistence on the thought she had never yet been able to express––and to say it to even the god medicine woman who sheltered a witch, was to speak it aloud, and have it forgotten!
“You are wise in medicine craft but do you know how this grew?”––she demanded––“I know––I feel thatI know!––the mountain fire or the sky fire broke it that the white stone of fire could be shot like an arrow into the heart of it. To keep some count it was made like that by the Most Mysterious;––and in the hand of the Mystery it was held––and the hand was closed over it while the mountains came down to the rivers, and the rivers made trails through rock walls. When the hand was opened and the sun looked on it, it was grown into one;––can you with all high medicine put them apart?––can you break the black and leave the white not broke? Can you make two colors of the powder you would grind from it between grinding stones?––Yet the two colors are there! Like the two colors are Ka-yemo and Yahn Tsyn-deh. One they were made by some magic of the Great Mystery, and no woman and no man, and no lies of women, can break them apart! When you hear them lie another time, you can look at this stone, and know that I said it!”
She had worked herself into such a passion that the long smothered rage against the women who spoke her name lightly in the village spent itself on the one276woman of all who lived most apart from such speech. But aloud had Yahn Tsyn-deh said once for all that her life was as the life of Ka-yemo, and that no earth creature could make that different, and for the saying of it aloud she was a happier woman.
And Gonzalvo who listened to her defiance, fancied that the silent woman of mystery had given her chiding, and that Yahn was doing wordy battle for the new Castilian friends.
All the more could he think so when Yahn joined him with her great eyes shining like stars, and braided in her hair some flowers he had plucked for her––and walked back to the camp with him openly before all men!
And she said to him;––“I like only men who fight,––men who are not afraid. Tell your priest who does not like me that now is the time to speak again to the council of the sun symbol and of brothers. The old men have seen that your fighting was good, and that it saved them their women. This will be the time to speak.”
“But their proud Cacique––”
“It is a good time to speak––” she insisted––“else will Tahn-té grow so tall with prophecies that his shadow will cover the land, and the men in the land,––tell your priest that the shadow has grown too tall now for one man. Other men have fought well and taken scalps––yet only one name is heard in your camp––the name of Tahn-té who sees visions in the hills!”
He wondered at her mocking tone of the visions in the hills, for no other Indian mocked at the visions of the sorcerer.
Don Ruy was well agreed to get back to the fair camp by the river, and so pleased with them were277their new comrades in arms, that he was amused to see more than one dame of the village trudging homewards across the mesa:––they forgot to doubt the new allies who had helped send the Navahu running to the hills. When he reached Povi-whah he rallied Chico that he kept close to the camp and found so many remembered records to put safely down the “Relaciones,” when there were more than a few pairs of strange dark eyes peeping from the terraces.
But Chico had quite lost the swagger of the adventurous youth since he tumbled down the arroyo bank almost on top of the flayed savage. The fainting fit need not have caused him so much of shyness, since his Excellency had also apparently indulged in the same weakness;––for Chico on awaking had carried two hats full of water and drenched his highness completely ere he had opened his eyes and again looked on the world. However, without doubt that fainting fit of Master Chico’s had taken away a fine lot of self confidence, for ink-horn and paper gave all the excitement he craved. His audacity was gone, and so meek and lowly was his spirit, that Don Diego had much pleasure in the thought that the vocation of the lad was plainly the church, and that sight of the dead, unconfessed barbarians, had awakened his conscience as to human duties for the Faith.
This interesting fact he made mention of to Don Ruy, who bade him god speed in making missionaries out of unexpected material,––and got more amusement out of the idea than one would expect, and Don Diego hinted that it was unseemly to jest at serious matters of the saving of souls when his own had stood so good a chance at escape through the hole in his neck.
“It may be that I found a soul through that same278wound,” said Don Ruy, “at least I gained enough to make amends for the scar to be left by the wicked lance.”
“It is true that the knowledge gained of their savage surgery is a thing of import for the ‘Relaciones,’” agreed Don Diego,––“but only the infidel Cacique made practice of it, and his acts are scarcely the kind to bring a blessing on any work––I have been put to it to decide how little space to give his name in these pages. It is not a seemly thing that the most wicked should be the most exalted in the chronicles of our travels.”
“Whether exalted or not he must be again considered in this quest of the gold,” stated Padre Vicente, “Gonzalvo brings me word that more than one of the tribe would have joy in his downfall, and that it is the good time to talk with the head men openly on this question. Our men have helped fight their battles:––thus matters have changed for us. Many of the women are allowed to come home––they perceive we are as brothers and are not afraid.”
“They also perceive that we have a Navahu war captive whom they desire exceedingly for use on the altar of the Mesa of the Hearts,”––observed Don Ruy. “They are much disturbed for lack of a sacrifice these days. They say the Ancient Star will send earth troubles until such sacrifice is made, some of the clans must donate a member unless the gods send a substitute––their preference is for a young and comely youth or maiden. They plainly hinted to Gonzalvo that the Navahu has been given into our hands by the gods for that purpose.”
Don Diego was emphatic in his horror, but the padre explained that from the heathen point of view it was not so cruel as might be thought. When the279savages went to war they prepared themselves for such fate if captured. More:––the death was not torture. The ceremonies were religious according to the pagan idea––chants and prayers and garlands of flowers and sacred pine were a part of the ritual. The blade of sacrifice must be sharp, and the heart removed from the victim quickly and held to the sun or the star behind which the angry god waited. When it was a sacrifice of much high import, it was made on the Mesa of the Hearts, and in remembrance a heart shaped stone was always left near the shrine by one of the secondary priests:––for that reason one could find many heart shaped stones, large and small on that mesa. When a medicine man found one, even in a far hunting ground, he brought it home for that purpose.
“And the body of the victim?” asked Don Ruy––“I have been on that mesa and seen no bones––what becomes of it?”
“If it is trouble of floods or storm or drouth, the victim is thrown to the god of the river below. On the mesa to the west is an ancient circle of stones with the entrance to the east. The ordinary sacrifice is made there for good crops, and the body is divided until each clan may have at least a portion which he consumes with many prayers.”
Don Diego confessed that such ritual sat ill upon even a healthy stomach, for his own part the open air seemed good and desirable, and he was of a mind to return whence they had come, rather than risk longer unauthorized visits among such smiling soft voiced savages. Since his eminence had learned thus much of their horrors, who was to know how many might be left untold?––or how soon the tribes might have280a mind to circle the camp and offer every mother’s son of the Christians on some such devilish altar?
Even while he spoke a curious shock ran through the men, and they stared at each other in amaze and question. Plainly the floor had lifted under their feet as though some demon of the Underworld had heaved himself upward in turning over in his sleep.
Screams and loud cries were heard from the terraces, men came tumbling up the ladders from the kivas, and Master Chico let fall a slender treasured volume of Señor Ariosto’s romances and ran, white faced and breathless to Don Ruy, who caught and held him while the world swayed about them.
In truth he did not even release him so quickly as might be after the tremor had passed, but no man had time or humor to note the care with which he held the secretary, or that it was the lad himself who drew, flushing red, from the embrace of very strong arms.
“I––I feared you might not know––I came to tell you––” was the lame explanation to which Don Ruy listened, and smiled while he listened.
“I wonder what ‘Doña Bradamante’ would have done in all her bravery of white armor if such an earth wave had shaken her tilting court?” he asked, but the secretary did not know, and with face still flushed, and eyes on the ground, went to seek Yahn Tsyn-deh to hear if this was a usual thing that walls lifted in wavy lines––and that chimneys toppled from Te-hua dwellings.
The old people said it was long since the earth had shaken itself, and they watched closely the Mesa of the Hearts, and the mesa of the god-maid face, and a mountain over towards Te-gat-ha. If the281anger of the earth was great against earth people, then smoke would come from certain earth breathing places,––and the sentinels kept watch––and the old men watched also.
And around the village went a murmur of dire import––for it was plain that the Great Mystery was sending many signs to the Te-hua people;––the altars had been too long empty!
A strange foreboding filled the air, and the Castilians gathered in little groups and talked. To send the Navahu captive to his death at the hands of the tribe was not to their fancy, but if a member of a Te-hua clan must be offered up, who could tell what vengeance that clan might not take on the strangers?
Padre Vicente looked over all, and listened to much, and then talked to the governor:––was it not the time to take strong brothers that they share both the evil and the good together?
“The gods are certainly not well pleased with us, we make offerings and we make prayers––and the only good they let come to us has been our brothers of the iron and thunder and the fire sticks,” said Phen-tzah. “Yes, I think it is the time to take brothers of a strong god.”
This was the word of the governor and it was the strongest word yet given for union. But the governor made it plain that he did not belong to the order holding secret of the sun symbol. The Po-Athun were the people who must decide these spirit things. He thought the hearts of the old men of that order were kind and soft for the strangers, but––the head of that order was Tahn-té, the Po-Athun-ho!
This gave pause for thought, every man who chose to go contrary to the will of Tahn-té, found himself well nigh helpless in the Indian land, his infernal282gods were so strong that the Castilians were none too eager to flout them, only Yahn Tsyn-deh seeing the crisis of things, crept to Juan Gonzalvo and whispered,
“You hate the Po-Athun-ho––and you say love words to me. You think you want me?”
Juan Gonzalvo was a blunt soldier who had never before been kept at the distance of Tantalus by an Indian girl who took his gifts. On her brown neck a silver necklace of his shone richly, and in her braided hair corals of the sea gleamed red. While others had fled to the altars for prayers,––and sprinkled sacred pollen to the Go-hé-yahs––the mediators between earth and spirit world––Yahn had bathed in the river and made herself beautiful with Castilian gifts and barbaric trinketry.
To the man who measured her with eager eyes, she looked beautiful as the Te-hua goddess of whom she had told him––Ta-ah-quea who brings the Spring.
He told her so while he devoured her with his glances.
“Good!” she said. “You give me love, and you hate the Po-Athun-ho. You can have us both if your heart is brave this night.”
His arms would have clasped her for that promise, but she eluded him and laughed.
“Your Don Ruy tells you the Po-Athun-ho must have no harm,” she whispered, “but is there not among your men, one, maybe even three soldiers who are master of the bow,––and can destroy in silence?”
Gonzalvo was himself a master bowman––and had some pride in knowing it, also he could if need be, pick men of his company who had skill, and could be trusted.
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“Could you send these men as if to hunt or to fish,––could you have them find the way past the Te-hua sentinels to the place where they camped in the pines?” and she made a gesture towards Pu-yé. “Could you secretly find your way there in the dark before the Mother Moon looks full on the face of the earth?”
“I can do this––and I can do more than this.”
“Can you win for your people the good heart of the council that they show you the sun symbol?” she asked. “Only Tahn-té closes the door to you, and they fear Tahn-té. Tell me why your hate of him is strong.”
“His father was the Devil. Through the devil soul he learns magic things.”
“Good! You hear the wise men tell of a maid of evil who brought the tornado and the battle––and now brings this shake of the world?”
“The witch maid,” and Gonzalvo crossed himself––“Yes––the men speak of her in whispers––and the Indians say a sacrifice must be made.”
“It must be made,” said Yahn Tsyn-deh, and her white teeth shut tight in decision. “Maybe it happens that you can make it, and win the council––how then?”
“I––make the sacrifice––I?”
“Not where the altar is,” soothed Yahn as he recoiled from the thought. “But listen you!––maybe I dream––but listen!––maybe the witch maid is a human thing with the heart of magic like Tahn-té,––maybe I can find them together for you in the sacred place of the stars in Pu-yé. Maybe the spirit of Tahn-té has been traded into her keeping, and with the double strength of evil she will destroy the earth in this place. The stars say so;––a great evil is coming! The medicine men see it in the sacred vessels of water and in the clear stone of the ancient prophets––they say so! You are a brave heart––you can save these people and win the gold secret from the council. If you want Yahn Tsyn-deh for love you will do this thing!”
She Led Him Up the Ancient StairwayPage 295
She Led Him Up the Ancient StairwayPage 295
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Gonzalvo stared at her incredulous, she was crediting him with a power that would place him high in the Castilian camp––if he could win! And more––she was to give him her own intense, glowing, restless self!
“I also hate Tahn-té,––that is why!” she said frankly, “and I love only men who are brave above all other men. Your fire sticks of thunder must not be heard on the heights of Pu-yé, but when Tahn-té and the witch meet there in the night, your arrows must send them together to the Afterworld––not one alone––buttogether! When the men of Te-hua find the dead witch (for the men of Te-gat-ha and the Navahu can witness that it is the one!) and when they find the lion robe of Tahn-té on her body,––and other gifts of Tahn-té––and find them dead the one beside the other, then the man who has made this happen will be a great man! Even the men of Te-gat-ha will come with gifts, and the men of Te-hua will give you honor, and will open the trail for you to the sun symbol. There will be no Tahn-té to put evil magic on them for doing so! When he is found dead with the witch maid they will see clearly that his magic was evil magic, and they will have breath that is deep and free again. Also I––Yahn Tsyn-deh––will walk beside you where you choose.”
Low and rapid was her speech there in the shadow of the adobe wall––and so fair was the dream she285made clear for him, that he felt himself grow dazed with the glory of it––yet he was a strong man!
If it was true that Tahn-té and the witch nested together in the ruins of Pu-yé, he knew well that the day of the young Ruler was ended in Povi-whah, or in any Te-hua council where it was known. But the strange mental or spiritual power of Tahn-té made it a thing of danger to let him live after accusal had been made. The way of Yahn seemed the best of all ways. If he was found dead beside the maid accursed, the evidence would be clear against him––and the True Faith would have the credit for such extermination!
He knew this was not a thing to speak of to Don Ruy––and though the padre was enemy to every thought of Tahn-té––he feared even the padre––that strange man who knew so much that was hidden in Indian life, would so clearly see that Yahn Tsyn-deh was as much the motive as gain of the gold, or glory for Mother Church.
No,––it was a thing to think out alone.
Yahn pressed his hand furtively and smiled on him as he left her, and then entered her own dwelling and sprinkled prayer meal to the spirits who carry messages to the gods.
Then she sent a child for Ka-yemo and gave the child some dried peaches that he be content to stay with his fellows in the sunshine and eat them.
Ka-yemo entered her dwelling for the first time in many moons and clasped her close, and then seated himself in the farthest corner from the Apache god pictures while Yahn Tsyn-deh talked.
Her voice was low, and often she went to the opening to see that no one listened, and Ka-yemo was286wonder-struck at the greatness of the thing she whispered.
“You have won scalps in this battle––you have led the men in the scalp dance, and the people know you are strong. If Tahn-té went out of the world now, at this time, you would be strongest. This is the time he must go!”
“But if the vengeance of the Castilians came heavy?”
“It will not come heavy. Don Ruy has forbidden Gonzalvo even to speak words against Tahn-té to the padre. So it is that he would be angry if Gonzalvo sent arrows into the Po-Ahtun-ho.Youmust not do it, for his magic power might come heavy on your head. If you fear to destroy the Castilian capitan you are foolish in your thought––for it need never be known. Look!––here are arrows of the Navahu, from the place of battle I gathered many, these are the arrows for the work. Let Gonzalvo risk the magic of Tahn-té, and the magic of the witch maid, and destroy them, then you must alone, trail the Castilian, that he comes not back alive to tell how it was done! The Navahu arrows will take the blame from your head––it will be plain that some Navahu men stayed to take pay for their dead! So it will be, and you, Ka-yemo, will stand high, and your clan will be proud that no man stands more high. And I––Yahn––will be with you each step of the life trail––and each step we dare look down on all others and be proud. The songs you sing can be proud songs!”
The blood of Ka-yemo jumped in his veins at that picture of victory as drawn by Yahn Tsyn-deh. Now, since she had asked him to destroy Juan Gonzalvo287was he at last content in the thought that her love had not wandered from him, Ka-yemo! Even in the days of silence and anger had he held her spirit;––and to do that with a woman is proof that a man is strong! It made him feel there in the dwelling of Yahn the Apache, that he could do battle in the open for her with the Castilian capitan if need be and have no fear;––how much more then would he dare do the work to be done in secret on the heights!
Thus did Yahn Tsyn-deh spin her web that Tahn-té and the maid of the forest be caught in its meshes, and it seemed good to her that the men of iron be killed when chance offered;––especially must the Castilian capitan not be let live to tell the clan of Tahn-té aught of how the plan was made;––and above all had she spoken truth to the Woman of the Twilight by the path to the well:––her life was as the life of Ka-yemo;––if the Castilian escaped and dared claim the price she offered––!
At that thought Yahn felt for the knife in her girdle, and had joy that the edge of it was keen as the steel of the Castilians, and her smile was a threat as she almost felt her hand thrust and twist it in the flesh of the man of iron who had dared think himself the equal of Ka-yemo!
Some savage creatures of the wilderness there are who choose their mates, and stand, to live or to die, against all foes who would break the bond. The tigress will watch her mate do battle for her and then follow his conqueror,––but Yahn Tsyn-deh had not even so much as that meekness of the tiger in her;––her own share of the battle would she fight that the mate she chose should remain unconquered. Proud she was of his beauty and of his grace in the scalp dance,––but more proud would she be when no288serene young Po-Athun-ho looked at her lover as if from a high place of thought. It was, strangely enough, theunspokenin Tahn-té against which she rebelled in bitterness. No word that was not gentle had he ever spoken to her––and to Ka-yemo no word that lacked dignity. It was as if the man in his thoughts was enthroned on the clouds:––and at last she had found the way for that cloud to be dragged low in the dust!
289CHAPTER XXTHE CHOICE OF YAHN TSYN-DEH
And while Yahn Tsyn-deh laid the trap, and the medicine drums sounded, and the women gathered the children close because of the trembling earth, one girl robed in the skin of a mountain lion waited alone at the portal of the star, and knelt in the shadow, and looked with eyes of fear at the great pieces of severed cliff, or ancient wall sent crashing downwards by the force of the earth shock.
Past her portal they had crashed until it seemed the roof must fall also, and she gathered the robe of Tahn-té about her, and came as far as might be into the open––and watched with longing eyes the trail across the mesa to the great river!––for that trail was as the path of the sun to her,––or the rainbow in the sky!
The feet of Tahn-té had touched that trail, and when the night came, and the moon rose in the great circle over the eastern hills––over that trail would he come, and though the mountains themselves crashed downwards to the mesa, he would hold her close, and the very spirits of darkness could send no more fear!
She kept very still there waiting at the portal, for strange noises were heard on the mesa, a dislodged stone rumbling down the long slope––or a bit of loose clay falling from the ancient walls. At times the smaller sounds suggested passing feet––and290above all things must she remain hidden from people until he came for her––he––the god-like one who had brought her to this dwelling so akin to the dwellings of the Divine Ones of the Navahu land in the place called Tsé-ye. The difference was that the Tsé-ye dwellings were deep in the heart of the world––while these dwellings were lifted high above the world.
But she knew without words that he indeed belonged to the Divine Ones ere he brought her to the ancient dwellings. That her name had been in his heart, and on his lips before she herself had told him, was but a part of the strange sweet magic of the new life into which he had led her.
Through the storms––and the dark nights––and the long days of loneliness had she lived since he had hidden her first from the scouts of Te-gat-ha––but they had passed over her as dreams of sweetness pass.––That the groves of pine, or the mesa of the river, hid him from her sight, did not mean to her that he had quite gone away, the wonderful magic wrought by him made it possible for her to feel his arms about her even when she lay alone in the darkness of the dwelling of the star. To be hidden like that, and to watch for his coming, was to be granted much joy by the gods. That the gods exact payment for all joys more than mortal, was one secret Tahn-té did not whisper to her, though the thought had clouded his own eyes more than once as he clasped her close to him.
What the gods would exact he did not know, but daily and nightly he made prayers to the mediators of the spirit land, and hoped in his heart that the god of his people prove not akin to the jealous god of the men of iron;––for a jealous god would, without291doubt, take her from him! Against men he could protect her––but if the gods awoke––and were jealous––
And he remembered the fastings, and the penance, and the prayers by which he had, unknown to all others, dedicated his life to the gods alone!
But of this he said no word––only held her more close in his thoughts––but ever a gray shadow moved beside him––the shadow of an unknown fear––and it was the same shadow by which he had been led to count over the seeds of the sacred growth––that he be sure it was in his power to make the death sleep beautiful to her, if the death sleep should shorten their trail together in the Earth Life.
She knew nothing of his fear, and watched each lengthening shadow with delight––since the growing shadows were heralds of his coming! Even the trembling of the earth was forgotten in that joy––and she scarcely noted that the air had grown strangely sultry––almost a thing of weight it seemed;––a brooding, waiting spirit, silencing even the whisper of the pines––and the whisper of the pine was sacred music to the Te-hua people;––through all the ages it had whispered, until in a good hour it had given voice to their earth-born god!
She knew not anything of the gods of her own people, and the ominous silence of the pines meant not to her what they would mean to a girl of the river villages. But the magic of the place did make itself felt to her when her robe, as she touched it, sent out little snappings as of fireflies’ wings, and far across the land tiny flashes flamed from earth to sky as the dusk grew. When she shook loose her hair that she might arrange it more pleasing for his sight, she was startled by the tiny crackling, like finest of twigs in a292blaze––and to smooth it into braids silenced none of the strange magic;––each time her hand touched it, the little sparks flashed––under the heavy brooding atmosphere, electric forces were at work in strange ways––and on the heights of Pu-yé they have for ages been proof of the magic in those mountains.
Therefore is it a place for prayer.
Startled by the strange earth breathings, the girl crept within the portal for her waiting––and the dusk was too deep for sight across the rolling land of ancient field, and piñon wood far below.
Had she kept the watch she might have seen more than one figure approach the heights from different ways––only a glimpse could be had, but through the dusk of piñon groves certainly two figures moved together, a man and a woman, and even before them one man stole alone from the south, and halted often as if to plan the better way of approach.
The man and woman skirted the foot of the mesa, and crept upward on the side to the north.
“It is the hard way to climb you have come,” said the man, and the strange heavy air caused them to stop for breath, and as she reached to cling to the hand of the man, he drew back with a gasp of terror. As their hands touched, a little electric shock ran through each,––it was plain they had reached the domain where the witch of evil powers held sway.
“It is not I whom you need fear,” said Yahn Tsyn-deh,––“it is the witch maid of Tahn-té, and we have come to see the killing.”
“And if––if Gonzalvo grows weak on the trail––or if his men take fear from this evil magic of the mesa of Pu-yé?”
“No other men come with him––we talked––we two! Alone he will do it:––for me!” she said293proudly. “He knows the strong bow, with it he will send the arrow first to the man,––that will be when they stand clear in the moonlight. Then to the witch:––that all people may see they were near to each other. The arrows are good and the bow is good. I saw that it was so;––also I saw that no man of our people can use it better than can Gonzalvo. By the river I watched him. He needs no fire sticks to find the heart of an enemy––alone he can do it with an arrow.”
Ka-yemo looked at her sullenly,––she was giving much of praise to the man she would have him destroy!
“How are you sure that he does not bring the thunder and lightning stick also?” he demanded,––“and how are you sure that it is not used for me?”
“Oh––fool you!––who make fears out of shadows––yet are so big to fight!” she breathed softly. “Why is it that the Navahu or the other wild people do not make you fear––yet the Castilians––”
“They are truly men of iron. As a boy I saw the things they could do,” he answered.––“Not as men do I fear them, but it is their strong god who tames their beasts.”
“Your arrows are good,” said Yahn Tsyn-deh with conviction,––“when you see him dead as other men die, you will know that our own gods are also strong.”
The dark had fallen heavily, and only the Ancient Star gleamed threatening as it waited for the moon. The smaller stars were not seen and the shadows were very dense.
Because of this a strange thing came to them as they reached the summit. Strong as was the heart of Yahn the Apache, she was struck by terror, and294Ka-yemo knew that the great god of the men of iron had sent a threat for his eyes to see.
For, still and erect against a dark wall of the Lost Others, stood a man outlined in fire. In Castilian war dress he stood, and little flickering lines of fire ran along helmet and breastplate and lance. No face could they see of the horror, which added to, rather than lessened the terror of Ka-yemo. A living face he could meet and fight––but this burning ghost of a man not yet dead––!
He turned and stumbled downward blindly, and Yahn Tsyn-deh clung to him and gripped his hand cruelly for silence, and when they sank at last beside a great boulder, her arms were around him, as though that clasp kept the solid world from crumbling beneath her feet.
“No––no––no!” muttered Ka-yemo as though she had actually uttered words of persuasion,––“it is what their padre said long ago. Their strong god has an army of saints, and of angels,––they stand guard;––all who go against them are swept into the flames of their Underworld! It is what the Padre Luis said––and now it has been seen by my eyes! Their altars are the stronger altars,––we will go there––we will both go;––the fire of their hell will not reach us at their altar––the medicine prayers of their padre are strong prayers––we will go to him––”
The old fear of his boyhood had enveloped him as the unchained electric force had enveloped the heights. Yahn Tsyn-deh put up her hand to her throat;––she felt herself strangle for breath as she listened.
“It was some trick!” she insisted––though she also had trembled with awe––“Listen to me!––they have many tricks––these white men! Because of295a trick will you go to their altars, and be shamed in your clan? Their priest is the head of all things––will you follow the steps of another when you can wear the feathers of a leader? Will you be laughed at by the tribe? Hear––oh hear!––and let your heart listen! Never again will the gods send you this chance to be great––this is your day and your night!”
“Their devils keep guard––the flames of their hell no man can fight!”
“Ka-yemo!––I am holding you close––I give myself to you!––one arrow only must you send when the witch maid is killed, and Tahn-té is killed,––one arrow, and forever you are the highest, and I am your slave to give you love! Ka-yemo!”
The light of the moon was sending a glow above Na-im-be mountains. The moon itself was not yet seen, but enough light was on the mesa for the pleading girl to see the face of the man she adored.
The face was averted and turned from her. In terror he bent the arrow shafts across his knee, and flung the bow far down into the shadows.
“Ka-yemo!”––she moaned as the last vestige of her idol was destroyed by his own hand;––“do you give me then to the Castilian? MustIpay the debt?”
“Against the gods of their hell I will not send arrows,” he muttered––“He may not claim you––the sign sent to me here is a strong sign––a god of fire is a strong god––and I am only a man! It may be that if we go to their padre––and if we confess––”
She could see that he was blindly groping in his mind for some chance––some little chance, to be296forgiven––to be forgiven by the Castilians whose feet would be on his neck––and on hers!
It was his day and his night, and he had thrown it away! Never again could the day dawn in joy for those two.
She drew him to her as the light grew, and looked in the face she had loved from babyhood. It was a long look, and a strange one. She was thinking of the archer above them who waited to send death to a man and a maid!
“What is it?” he asked as her fingers slipped from his shoulder along his arm and clasped his hand with the closeness, the firmness of settled resolve.
“It is that you have chosen,” she said quietly. “It is the right of the man to choose;––and it will be well. It is the right of the woman to follow: and before the moon comes again from the blanket of the east we will know––and the gods will know, that the choice is a good choice!”
She held his hand and led him upwards;––steadily, yet without haste. The edge of the moon showed red, and the moon was to be clear of the mountains when Tahn-té came to the portal of the star––thus had his mother told the girl while Yahn listened like a coiled snake close to the well.
To Ka-yemo, Yahn seemed again the adoring creature of love. She held him close, and whispered endearing things. Never had Yahn, the Apache tigress, let him see how completely her love could make her gentle and make him master. The sweetness of it, and the absolute relief when the arrows were destroyed––gave him a sense of security;––It would be easy to confess to the padre;––the Castilians would be glad of converts––and Juan Gonzalvo––someway297they could make words to Juan Gonzalvo––and padre would help––and––
Holding closely his hand she led him up the ancient stairway, and the little doorways of the cliff dwellings showed black, for the moon had slipped above the far hills and shone, a dulled ball of fire through the sultry haze. Enough light it threw on the white cliffs to show any moving creature, and Ka-yemo glanced fearfully towards the portal of the star, for surely a movement was there!
But Yahn Tsyn-deh at the head of the stairway looked straight ahead where a man with a strong bow held himself close in the shadow of a great rock. When the twang of the bow string sounded, she loosened not her hand from that of Ka-yemo as he fell, but with her other hand she pulled aside the robe from her breast––also the necklace of the white metal, that not anything turn aside the point of the arrow which was to follow.
And when it came she fell to her knees, and then over the huddled body of the man she had loved and led to death.
She loosened not her hand, and only once she spoke.
“It is a good choice,” she whispered, but he had led the way into the Twilight Land––and she followed as she had said was the right of a woman.
And the clan of Ka-yemo could chant songs of bravery all their days and not know that Yahn the Apache had saved the pride of her father’s people, and had hidden the weakness of Ka-yemo on the heights of Pu-yé!
298CHAPTER XXITHE CALL OF THE ANCIENT STAR
When the moon had scarce reached the center of the sky, a gray faced man slipped through the corn fields of the river lands, and spoke to the Spanish sentry who paced before the dwellings where the camp was made outside the wall.
The sentry wondered who the woman was who had held him belated, for many were now coming from Shufinne, and some of them were pretty.
But Capitan Gonzalvo laid himself down to dream of no woman. He crept to the pallet of Padre Vicente. There were no words lest others be aroused, but a pressure of a hand was enough to bring the padre to his feet, the sleep of the man was ever light as that of one who does sentry duty day time and night time.
Out into the open of the summer night they both passed, and in the shadow of a wall where the Te-hua sentinel could not see, a man of iron broke down and half sobbed a confession of horror.
The padre paced to and fro in the dusk of the night, and gave not over much care to the shaken heart of the penitent.
“A hundred Aves, and half as many rosaries,––and candles for the altar of San Juan when we return to Mexico.” He tabulated the penance on his fingers, with his mind clearly not on those details.
“Take you courage now, and hark to me,” he said299brusquely. “You say you saw the maid and the man dead one on the other;––and that you fled across the mesa at sight of their faces. That pretty Apache devil told you that the witch lived at that place, and that the Po-Ahtun-ho was her lover. How know you that it was not indeed witchcraft you looked upon? How know you that the infernal magic was not used to change the faces of the two that you be sent home not knowing which are dead and which are living? This may yet be turned to our advantage.”
Juan Gonzalvo was past thinking. Not though gold was found as plentiful as the white stones of Pu-yé would he again go to the witch accursed spot! His own armor had been touched by the fire of hell in that place until he had lain it aside while he waited for the coming of the sorcerer, and the sorcerer had in some way kept hidden––magic spells had been worked to blind the eyes of Gonzalvo to the faces of the others––even though light was given for the arrows to speed true! He would fight living Indians in the open:––but no more would he trail witches in the dark!
So he mumbled and made prayers and calmed himself somewhat at sight of the calm, ever cool padre.
“Go you to your rest,” said his reverence at last,––“and forget all the work of this night.”
“Forget?––but they will be found––they––”
“I will see that they are found, but let it not trouble you,” stated Padre Vicente. “We must meet trickery by trickery here. Go to your bed, and sleep too sound for early waking.”
“But––how––”––between the shock and fear of the night, Gonzalvo fairly clung to the quiet strength of the padre.
“Take your sleep:––and keep a still tongue forever! I have had a dream or a vision this night,”300and the padre smiled grimly. “I can as well afford a vision as can the elect of the Po-Ahtun!––and my vision will send people of Ka-yemo’s clan to search for dead friends on the heights of Pu-yé!”
“And if they find there also––?”
“Ah!” and the padre nodded and smiled that the thought had penetrated the shocked mind of Capitan Gonzalvo;––“If they find there also the evidence that their high priest is the lover of a witch––and that he runs from council prayers to meet her in the night:––is that not the best of all things the saints could send us? You have done good work for the cause this night, Juan Gonzalvo. Go now to your sleep––and when you hear of that which is found on Pu-yé, you hear it for the first time!”
The council of that night had been a late council because of the quaking of the earth. Every one knew it was time that a sacrifice be made to the visitor in the sky. All of evil was coming to the land because this had not been done. One Yutah slave belonged to the Quan clan, and a robe and shell beads must be given by the vote of the council to that clan. It would be a better thing to use the new Navahu who was made captive by the men of iron, but their new brothers would not listen to this wisdom.
When the sun looked over the edge of the mountain in the new day the sun must see the heart lifted high;––and the body must go to the murmuring river––then only could hope come that the evil magic be lifted from the land of the Te-hua people.
Thus the vote had been, and thus had Tahn-té been held in council long after the time the Moon Mother came over Ni-am-be mountains.
Don Ruy was at that council, and asked to speak against the offering of blood to the god whose eye was301as the star. But Tahn-té listened and then spoke,
“Your own god of the book asks for sacrifice––your god of the book accepted his own son as a sacrifice––and that people prospered! Your priests teach the blood atonement, and the death they gave the earth-born god was a hard death––if he had really died there! Being a god he could not die in that way;––all medicine men who know strong magic know that. But the blood was spilled and the spirit went away from that place––the earth gods always go away like that while they are young;––never do they die. There are days––and there are nights, when they come back! They speak in many ways to earth people. You men of iron do not to-day make blood sacrifice to your gods;––so you say! Yet your people go out to battle and kill many people for your god––also many of your own people are killed in such god wars––your tribes of different names call these wars ‘holy’. Our people do not think like that. Even the wild tribes hold the Great Mystery sacred in their hearts. They will fight for hunting ground, or to steal women or corn––but to fight about the gods would bring evil magic on the land––the old men could not be taught that it is a good thing! Also your Holy Office has the torch, and the rack, and the long death of torture for the man who cannot believe. The priests of your jealous god do that work, and their magic is strong over men. You talk against our altars, but on our altars there is not torture,––there is one quick pain––and the door of the Twilight Land is open and the spirit is loose! This world where we live is a very ancient world, but it is not yet finished. All the old men can tell you that. It may be in the unborn days that earth creatures may see the302world when it finished,––and when the gods come back, and speak in the sunlight to men. In that time the sacrifice may be a different sacrifice. But in this time we follow the ancient way for the gods have not shown us a different way.”
“You have studied much in books––you have learned much from men,” said Don Ruy––“You could change the minds of these people in this matter.”
Tahn-té looked kindly on him, but shook his head.
“Not in the ages of ten men can you change the mind of the men you called Indian,” he said, “in my one life I could not make them see this as you see it––yet am I called strong among them. Also I could not tell them that the way of the white priest when he breaks the bones in torture until the breath goes, is a better way than to take the heart quickly for the god! That would be a lie if I said it, and true magic does not come to the man who knows that he is himself a teller of lies!”
The men of the council went their separate ways to sleep in the kivas, well content that the angry god was to be appeased at the rising of the sun,––and Don Ruy rolled himself in his blanket and lay near the door where Ysobel and her husband lived apart from the camp, with only the secretary inside their walls. But Don Ruy slept little––and cursed the heathenish logic of Tahn-té, and wished him to the devil.
And stealthily as a serpent in the grasses,––or a panther in the hills, Tahn-té sped from the council of sacrifice, to the hills where he knew a girl had waited long for his coming.
Little thought gave he to trailers. The night before had been the night of the scalp dance––and now the trembling earth, and the council, had left the303men weary for the rest of sleep. He ran swiftly and steadily in the open as any courier to Shufinne might run.
But those of the Tain-tsain clan who followed, noted that he did not go to Shufinne,––he climbed instead the steeps where they were to climb, and for that reason their coming was stealthy, and the cleverest men were sent ahead, and all said prayers and cast prayer meal to the gods,––for this was a strange thing the white priest had seen in a vision––it was to be proven if he was of the prophets!
The two couriers of the clan knew it was proven when they saw the two dead people near the head of the stone stairway. And when they heard the sobs of a woman within the dwelling of the Reader of the Stars in the ancient days––also the soothing tones of a man,––they crept back into the shadows and told the leaders. And a circle of men was made about the place, and in silence they waited.
Ere their hearts had ceased to beat quickly from the run, that which they waited for stepped forth;––a man to whom a creature clung––her face was hidden against his breast, and he led her with care lest she see the dead people on the stairway––for the Navahu shrinks more than another from sight or touch of the dead!
“There are other places––and safe places,” he said to her and held her close. “Does not the bluebird find nesting place in the forest? And does not her mate find her there in the summer nights?”
And then––with his arms around her, and his robe covering her, his path was closed by a warrior who stood before him! His eyes turned quickly on every side, but on every side was a circle of men,––and304the men were all of the clan of Ka-yemo to whom Tahn-té had never been precious since the days of boyhood––and the camp of Coronado.
And the younger men were for claiming the maid when they saw her face, and the older men read triumph against Tahn-té for the work of this night.
“That which is meant for the gods is not to be given to men,” they said in chiding to the young men, and Tahn-té knew what they meant when they said it.
“It is the Navahu witch maid of Te-gat-ha,” cried another––“look––brothers! This is a Navahu arrow through the eye of Ka-yemo, and through the heart of Yahn Tsyn-deh. Alone here she has destroyed them!––and alone here would Tahn-té the Po-Ahtun-ho have cherished her! The priest of the men of iron is a man of strong magic. His vision has sent us to find the one who has made angry the gods of our land!”
“Go you and gather pine for the altar,” said the head of the clan, and two youths ran joyously down the slope;––for they were to aid in driving evil magic from the valley!
“This maid did not touch those dead people,” said Tahn-té,––“for that she must not suffer.”
“You Summer people are easily held by witches’ craft,” retorted one of the men insolently,––a day before he would only have addressed Tahn-té with reverence.
“Was she not marked for sacrifice at Te-gat-ha?”––“Has she not caused the killing of the corn?” “Did not the Navahu men come to destroy us because of her?” “Is the earth not angry that she has hidden in the sacred places?”
These questions came thick and fast for Tahn-té305to answer, and Tahn-té held her hand and knew there was no answer to be made. And Phent-zha, who was the oldest man there, looked at him keenly.
“Are you also not more weak in magic for her coming,” he asked,––“is your heart not grown sick? The magic of the white priest is against you;––and it is strong! When we have taken the heart from this witch, and you have again fasted in the hills, the sick land and the sick people will be made better.”
The maid looked from face to face in the glare of freshly lit torches, and caught little of meaning from the rapid speech. But no one touched her, and she looked with confidence into the eyes of Tahn-té. He had not moved from his tracks, and he held himself proudly as he faced the man who had long wished his humiliation.
“When the time comes to fast in the hills, I will know it,” he said,––“and no hand touches the heart of this maid, but––my own!”
“It is at sunrise,” said the governor, stilled by the look of the Po-Ahtun-ho––“a runner has been sent––the council will be waiting for the enchantress, and the women to prepare her will be waiting.”
“I will lead her,” said Tahn-té and took her hand, and from the medicine pouch he took one bead of the by-otle, and in Navahu he bade her eat of it in secret, which she did wonderingly, and the men of the Tain-tsain clan walked before and after them and held torches, and they went down the steep of Pu-yé before the moon had touched the pines of the western hills. And a runner was sent to Shufinne that the people there might come and put Yahn Tsyn-deh and her lover under the earth together.