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 THE BEGINNING OV A NEW LIKE.
 
 HOWLING WOLF 
 AND HIS TRICK-PONY 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS LIZZIE W CHAMPNEY 
 
 Author of 
 
 The Bubbling Teapot 
 In the Sky Garden 
 
 and others 
 
 MA N Y ILL US TRA TIO.VS 
 
 BOSTON 
 D LOTHROP COMPANY 
 
 FRANKLIN AND HANVI.KY STRKKTS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1888, 
 
 BY 
 D. LOTHROP COMPANY. 
 
 PRESSWOHK BY BtRWICK 4 SMITH, BOSTON.
 
 TO MY SON, 
 
 ED. FRERE CHAMPNEY, 
 
 AN AMIABLE YOUNG SAVAGE, WHOSE LOVE FOR HIS PONY EQUALS THAI 
 OF HOWLING WOLF, THIS STORY, WHICH WOULD NEVER 
 HAVE BEEN WRITTEN WITHOUT HIS ASSIST- 
 ANCE, IS AFFECTIONATELY 
 DEDICATED.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRICK-PONY 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE 24 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE 63 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER . . . . 85 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN Io8 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS 1 29
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 ~THE SNAKE DANCE 152 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE 173 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH 194 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WITH GERONIMO 215 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND 238
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The beginning of a new life .... Frontis. 
 
 White Wolf threw the dollars on the ground . . 19 
 
 The unused schoolhouse at the Ute Agency . . 35 
 
 Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta .... 40 
 
 " The enchanted pony !" cried Ignacio . . . 51 
 
 The pony was as good a climber as a chamois . 67 
 
 The young Navajo shepherdess, " West Wind " . 87 
 
 The blanket weaver 92 
 
 There was shouting and pursuit . . . . 117 
 
 The Royal Gorge, on the Denver and Rio Grande R. R. 131 
 
 In the Garden of the Gods : the seal and the bear . 139 
 
 Helen meets Grandmother Two Tongues . . 145 
 
 Howling Wolf meets " Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah " . . 153 
 
 The Moqui village of Wolpi 157 
 
 A Moqui idol . 166 
 
 A Wolpi basket . . . . . . . 170 
 
 Howling Wolf sends his message to the Great Spirit 183 
 
 The turquoise eagle 188 
 
 " Let go my bear ! " shouted the strange Indian . 203 
 
 Howling Wolf is faithful to his faithful pony . . 232
 
 HOWLING WOLF 
 AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. 
 
 WHOOP ! for the Captain ! " " Go it, West 
 Point ! " " Hooray ! they're off again ! " 
 " The Captain's crazy ! he'll break the mare's legs. 
 Jehu ! he's jumped from the band-stand." 
 " He'll kill himself," said the surgeon. 
 "No, he won't," replied the Quartermaster; 
 "no horse ever failed the Captain. The mare 
 couldn't do it with any other rider, but put the 
 Captain in the saddle and he could lift her over 
 the Black Canon. He can get the last inch out 
 of a horse that it's capable of. There's a new 
 spirit in the beast the minute he's astride of it." 
 9
 
 10 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 The garrison had turned out to a man to wit- 
 ness the race, and the few ladies of the frontier 
 Post were grouped on the veranda of the Colonel's 
 house which overlooked the parade-ground. Only 
 a trifle was required to awaken interest in the un- 
 eventful life of the Post, and when the news was 
 handed from man to man that Captain Hodge 
 had challenged Lieutenant Archer to a trial of 
 horsemanship the entire community were enthusi- 
 astic. Captain Hodge was the best rider in the 
 regiment ; his feats were known for miles around, 
 while the Lieutenant, fresh from West Point, was 
 an unknown quantity. There were rumors, how- 
 ever, that the West Point Riding Academy had 
 never graduated a more daring pupil, and a fine 
 display of horsemanship on both sides was ex- 
 pected. 
 
 Among the lookers-on who framed the parade- 
 ground was a little group of three Indians, who 
 stood holding their ponies and regarding the 
 preparations with keen interest. The youngest 
 was a boy of twelve, whose clothing consisted of a 
 strip of cotton-cloth about his loins, a pair of buck-
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. II 
 
 skin leggings elaborately embroidered and fringed, 
 and moccasons to match. A necklace of blue beads 
 and moose-teeth decorated his chest, which was 
 bare and tattooed ; his hair was long, and had the 
 glossy blue tints of the plumage of a crow. His 
 pony's lariat was wound about one arm ; the other 
 was twined about the pony's neck. The boy 
 seemed more sensitive than Indians generally, for 
 when stared at instead of answering the look with 
 one of scornful indifference he hid his face shyly 
 in his pony's wavy mane. 
 
 Captain Hodge and Lieutenant Archer rode up 
 from the stables in company. Both noticed the 
 Indians, and the Lieutenant inquired how they 
 came there. 
 
 "They've been hanging round the sutler's, 
 changing sheep-skins for whiskey," was the reply. 
 
 "Sheep-skins! do the Utes keep sheep?'' 
 
 "Certainly; our sutler buys them for a mere 
 nothing. It's to his interest to trade with them, 
 but if I had my way I'd shoot every Indian off his 
 Reservation." 
 
 " Why ? "
 
 12 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 "Oh, one can see you are just from the East. 
 Wait till you've been here six months before you 
 talk Injun." And the Captain reined in his horse 
 before the band-stand and discussed the conditions 
 of the contest with the umpires. It was decided 
 that Captain Hodge was to take the lead as chal- 
 lenger, that Lieutenant Archer should follow, re- 
 peating every performance of the Captain's or 
 acknowledge himself beaten. 
 
 The Captain rode a sorrel mare which he had 
 taught to leap, until it was the best hurdle-racer 
 in the command. He set out at once, leaping all 
 the barriers about the parade-ground. The Lieu- 
 tenant followed, taking them as easily on his gray 
 horse. Captain Hodge rode his mare finally up 
 the steps of the band-stand and then forced her 
 to leap the low barrier with the added descent of 
 three or four feet. Lieutenant Archer settled 
 himself a little more firmly, rode swiftly to the 
 platform, and spurred his horse to the jump. But 
 the animal refused, rearing and plunging, and 
 finally dashing down the steps and caracoling 
 about the parade.
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. 13 
 
 " You have failed," said the judges ; " we must 
 award the victory to Captain Hodge." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, gentlemen," replied the 
 Lieutenant, " but the failure cannot be imputed 
 to my horsemanship. It was my horse who re- 
 fused the flying leap which the Captain's took so 
 gracefully. If Captain Hodge will lend me his 
 mare, I will do it at once. I will even agree to 
 take the lead and will give him a few feats quite 
 as difficult of performance as the leap from the 
 band-stand." 
 
 " Let him take her," said the Captain grimly. 
 
 "But where will you find a mount?" asked 
 one. 
 
 The Captain closed one eye mysteriously, and 
 walked over to the little group of Indians. There 
 was some bargaining, and the Captain counted 
 slowly into the older Indian's hand ten Mexican 
 silver dollars. The Indian boy watched this 
 keenly, and when his father at length gave a 
 grunt of satisfaction he handed the Captain his 
 lariat, at the same time burying his face in his 
 pony's mane, with something which sounded like
 
 14 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 a sob. The Captain lengthened the Mexican 
 stirrups, tightened the girth and rode back. 
 
 " I have my mount," he said coolly. 
 
 Some soldiers chatting near the field-pieces 
 raised a cheer. They recognized the animal as a 
 famous trick-pony which had beaten in the races 
 at Durango the previous autumn. 
 
 " The Captain's in luck to be able to get hold 
 of that pony just now," one of them said. "Don't 
 you remember how White Wolf ran it against the 
 best horse entered a Kentucky thoroughbred ? 
 The poor little rat looked ready to drop from the 
 work it had already done in bringing its master 
 and his son from the Reservation, but White Wolf 
 took off the saddle, and hoisted that little chap on 
 bareback, and then you should have seen the dust 
 fly ! That race is famous all over the West. The 
 boy cut up all sorts of monkey-shines on the run- 
 ning pony. First he would lie alongside holding 
 on with one foot and a hand clutching the mane 
 (as they protect their bodies with their horses 
 when they're circling round you on the war-path). 
 Then he'd dance like a circus rider, and finally
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. 15 
 
 the little ape sat with his knees drawn up to his 
 chin, facing the jockey who rode the thorough- 
 bred, and making faces at him as he came in ' 
 about a length ahead. The Indians call it the 
 Enchanted Pony. They made a good thing that 
 day, for they had betted heavily, and we were all 
 about as surprised as we could be." 
 
 "Can it jump as well as run?" asked one. 
 
 "Like a Jack-rabbit," replied the first speaker. 
 " But hush, they're off. That young West Point 
 fellow will break his neck next he knows." 
 
 Indeed this conclusion seemed not unlikely, for 
 mounted on the Captain's mare, Lieutenant Arch- 
 er circled about the field in the most reckless 
 manner possible. Off from the band-stand, as 
 easily as before, over three Catling guns one after 
 another in quick succession, past the Infantry 
 quarters, and over a pile of lumber where the 
 carpenters were at work building new barracks ; 
 and always and everywhere the Captain followed 
 on the Indian pony, leaping, running neck to 
 neck, repeating every manoeuvre with exactness. 
 The crowd of excited spectators ran after them,
 
 1 6 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONV. 
 
 cheering each fresh exploit, and taking sides 
 noisily in favor of the Captain or the Lieutenant ; 
 all talking and running themselves breathless with 
 the exception of the Indians, who ran silently, and 
 apparently without exertion at the head of the 
 crowd, the long-haired boy coming up to pat the 
 pony at every pause in the feats. 
 
 Suddenly the entire chattering throng were still. 
 Had the West Point man taken leave of his senses, 
 that he should attempt such a daring, such an im- 
 possible, feat as this ? There stood the new bar- 
 racks, a long half-finished building ; the walls were 
 up and the beams ready for the flooring which was 
 not yet laid. Waving his hand to Captain Hodge 
 to follow, the Lieutenant spurred the mare into 
 this building. Beam after beam she cleared as 
 lightly as a cat, coming down carefully in the nar- 
 row space between them. 
 
 " He'll break the mare's legs," exclaimed one. 
 
 "I hope he'll break his precious neck," growled 
 the Captain from between his set teeth. But he 
 did neither. Man and beast came out safely at 
 the end of the long building and the Lieutenant
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. 17 
 
 threw up his cap and dared the Captain to 
 follow. 
 
 The White Wolf stole quickly to the Captain's 
 side, laid a hand on his bridle and shook his head; 
 but the Captain thrust him aside and reined the 
 pony to its work, lifting it, as it would seem, by 
 the sheer force of his iron grip over several of the 
 beams. But the pony was nervous and weary with 
 racing so long under so heavy a man as the Cap- 
 tain. Perhaps the long lines of straight beams 
 on which the setting sun quivered dazzled the 
 eyes of both horse and rider. At all events the 
 pony shied at some object between the beams, 
 was sharply twitched by the Captain, stumbled, 
 and fell, laming its shoulder. The Captain was 
 on the ground in an instant attempting to lead 
 the pony out ; but that was impossible until the 
 carpenters had removed some of the beams. 
 
 The pony and the Captain came in each for his 
 share of condolence, but no one thought of the In- 
 dians until White Wolf touched the Captain on 
 the shoulder. " You have spoiled my pony," he 
 said, and his look was black and threatening.
 
 l8 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " Your pony ! " replied the Captain scornfully. 
 " I bought him of you." 
 
 The Indian threw the dollars on the ground. 
 
 "Borrow him this one time," he said. "You 
 say borrow. You no say buy." 
 
 The umpires now interfered. " See here, Hodge, 
 ten dollars is no price for that pony. It was worth 
 a hundred at the very least." 
 
 "We ought to make it good to the owner,'' said 
 the Lieutenant. " It was partly my fault and I'll 
 share the damage." He opened his pocket-book 
 and whistled. " I didn't know I was so nearly 
 broke. Here, you Indian, come up on next pay- 
 day and I'll give you fifty dollars. I'll see to the 
 pony too. Perhaps we can cure her." 
 
 But the Captain sullenly insisted that he had 
 fairly bought the pony for ten dollars, and what- 
 ever it might have been worth before the accident 
 that was a good price for it now, and with this 
 White Wolf was obliged to be content. He was 
 turning from the place when he noticed his little 
 son with his arms about the head of the disabled 
 pony, weeping passionately.
 
 WIIJTK WOJ.l'' THKKW Till-: UOI-LARS ON THE GROUND,
 
 THE TRICK- PONY. 21 
 
 This sight appeared to anger White Wolf more 
 than his previous misfortune. " Ah ! " he cried in 
 the Ute language, "you deserve your pappoose- 
 name of ' Howling Wolf.' Never will you gain 
 the name of a warrior if you cry like a squaw." 
 
 The boy stiffened instantly. The tears seemed 
 to dry from his cheeks as from hot copper. He 
 mounted silently behind his father, and nothing 
 more was said by either of them until they reached 
 a hill from which the last view of the fort was to be 
 obtained. Then White Wolf drew rein and looked 
 long and loweringly at the white buildings. 
 
 " He of the gray horse was not bad," said 
 Howling Wolf. 
 
 " Words are cheap. Will he give me fifty dol- 
 lars if I go to him when he bade me ? I have 
 known white men too long to believe it." 
 
 " Do you think they will cure the pony ? " 
 
 " Perhaps. It did not look like a bad 
 sprain." 
 
 " Then why did you not bring it with us ? " 
 
 " Because it could not travel in that condition. 
 We will have whoever goes to the fort tell us of
 
 22 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 its condition, and if it is cured our most cunning 
 man shall steal it back again." 
 
 " Father," said Howling Wolf suddenly, " I hate 
 my pappoose-name. It is worse than that of any 
 of the other boys. How old were you when you 
 gained the name of a brave ? " 
 
 "I gained mine in my youth," replied the father, 
 "for five white scalps." 
 
 Howling Wolf sat a little straighter and dug his 
 heels into the ribs of the pony while an unpleas- 
 ant smile took the place of his look of despair. 
 "If I kill him the Captain and get back the 
 pony, shall I have my new name ? " 
 
 The father's heart beat high with pride. A 
 white father who felt as White Wolf did at that 
 moment would have hugged his boy, but the In- 
 dian gave no sign of his pleasure. " You are not 
 old enough," he said. " You must not kill the 
 Captain, we are at peace now and it would bring 
 much trouble upon us. Leave him to me, and 
 when there is war again I will remember him. 
 You shall have his scalp on the war-shirt your 
 mother is making for you. As for the pony they
 
 THE TRICK-PONY. 23 
 
 will keep it in the corral a bad place well 
 guarded at night. I forbid you to try to steal 
 it." 
 
 Still the exultant savage look did not leave 
 Howling Wolf's eyes. "I will try," he said to 
 himself , " when the pony is well, I will try ! "
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 
 
 WHITE WOLF carried his son back to the 
 encampment of the tribe, a pretty grove 
 of cottonwood on the brawling Los Pinos River. 
 Long and loud was the howl of indignation and 
 sorrow when it was known that the Enchanted 
 Pony was left maimed and a captive at the Post. 
 The pony was the pride of the tribe. Not an In- 
 dian but had thrilled with triumph at its successes. 
 Many had made themselves rich with bets on its 
 prowess in the race-course, and all took this event 
 as a general calamity. There was a long smoke 
 and pow-wow about the matter in the evening. 
 To this Howling Wolf was not admitted, but he 
 skulked outside the council tent to listen, and he 
 heard Snake-in-the-Grass, the slyest, stealthiest 
 warrior in the tribe, as well as the greatest 
 24
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 25 
 
 boaster, offer to steal back the pony, and he 
 heard, too, the old chief Ignacio accept the offer 
 forbidding any one else to attempt the exploit and 
 stipulating only that he should wait for several 
 weeks until the pony should recover from the 
 sprain. 
 
 Howling Wolf in the darkness shed burning 
 tears of envy. For days thereafter he sulked and 
 moped, sitting in the tepee, or wigwam, and hug- 
 ging his knees while his great eyes burned like 
 coals under his tangled locks, instead of racing 
 through the woods and over the prairies herding 
 his father's ponies, which had been both his work 
 and his pastime. His father understood his feel- 
 ings and simply said, " His heart is great ; Grass- 
 hopper Bow-Legs may herd the ponies." 
 
 So Howling Wolf's younger brother took his 
 place much to the contentment of the ponies, 
 for no one cut up such pranks and antics as Howl- 
 ing Wolf ; no one else kept them in such constant 
 action lying on their backs, turning somersaults, 
 springing from one to another, lassoing, throwing 
 them, urging them to buck, rear, rQll, prance and
 
 26 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 kick and delighting his soul altogether in their 
 pranks. 
 
 The boy's mother, to cheer him, took out the 
 war-shirt she was making for him and embroid- 
 ered it in silence, using her brightest beads and 
 quills. But her son paid no attention to her, and 
 refused to taste the tempting morsels which she 
 placed before him. Then the good woman be- 
 came alarmed ; and sure that there was " an evil 
 spirit in his stomach " she sent for his grand- 
 mother, who, next to the Medicine-Man, was the 
 most knowing person in the treatment of sick and 
 bewitched people. 
 
 The best story-teller too in the tribe was this 
 same grandmother, old Mother Two Tongues, so 
 called because she could out-talk any two squaws 
 in Colorado. Howling Wolf could not remember 
 the time when he did not love to lie in her tepee 
 and listen to hunting tales of the great grizzly 
 bears of the northern mountains, the catamounts 
 and buffalo, the elk and the gray wolves which 
 used to roam as freely as the Indian over the en- 
 tire State,
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 2J 
 
 So now when her daughter asked her to come 
 and weave a spell over Howling Wolf this wise 
 old woman sat down by the fire and apparently 
 not noticing him began to tell stories to the other 
 children, who swarmed into the tepee as soon as 
 they heard of her coming. Even little Afraid- 
 of-his-Shadow crouched behind a buffalo's head 
 sometimes used in the dances, and sat shivering 
 in advance, with the terror which he knew he 
 would feel before Grandmother Two Tongues had 
 finished. Big -Toe and Honey-tooth, the two 
 girls, crept close to the old woman, and Grass- 
 hopper Bow-Legs, having been sent for by climb- 
 ing Wild-Cat, came puffing into the wigwam be- 
 fore the first story had hardly begun. 
 
 " I am going to tell you a legend of the Garden 
 of the Gods," said Grandmother Two Tongues, "a 
 tale of the great Stone Gods which I have myself 
 seen when the Utes wandered at will where they 
 would. Every year when I was a child we jour- 
 neyed over the high mountains to a wonderful 
 healing-spring in a sacred valley. There we car- 
 ried our sick, and there we met the Shoshones in
 
 28 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PON V. 
 
 peaceful dances and councils, and there we wan- 
 dered among the great red sandstone images 
 which Manitou himself carved long ages ago, and 
 we were powerful and happy. I remember two of 
 those Stone Gods very distinctly The Seal and 
 the Bear and it is their legend which I am go- 
 ing to tell you to-day. 
 
 " Ages ago Manitou made this country, say the 
 Wise Men, and he gave it to the great Grizzly 
 Bear, the noblest of created beings, for man had 
 not yet been made. And he said to the Bear, 
 ' Be joyful and courageous, and range through all 
 this land, for it is yours, and whatever creature 
 opposes you fight with him and overthrow him, 
 for the mastery shall be given you, and whether it 
 be bird, or beast, or demon, or spirit, you shall 
 withstand him, until the coming of the Indian. 
 Then it will be of no use for you to fight, for it is 
 ordained that the Indian shall overcome you.' 
 
 " And the Bear heard and believed and ranged 
 through the land and was master of it. Now the 
 Bad God desired this country for his children the 
 White Men, but he knew that he could not obtain
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 29 
 
 it by strength or by right, for the first was given to 
 the Bear and the second to Manitou. So he had 
 recourse to a trick, and he took upon himself the 
 form of a Seal, and stirred up a great commotion 
 in the waters, so that the waves swept over the 
 land and came rolling toward the west in great 
 curling breakers, on the top of which he rode, 
 and behind in ships followed his children, the 
 White Men. 
 
 " Now the Bear sat upon a pinnacle of the rock 
 watching, and when he saw the waves rolling 
 nearer he was astonished, but unafraid, for he 
 trusted in Manitou. Presently the Seal reached 
 the foot of the rock on which the Bear sat, and he 
 climbed upon it, and when the Bear saw his black 
 head appear at the other end of the rock, and 
 marked his malicious eyes and cruel, snarling 
 mouth, he prepared himself to do battle, for he 
 was still unafraid. 
 
 " Then the Seal said, ' It will not avail thee to 
 fight for I shall prevail,' for so it is appointed." 
 
 " Then the Bear thought, ' This surely is the In- 
 dian, and my time is come,' and he said, ' There is
 
 30 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 but one appointed to whom I must yield, and that 
 is the Indian.' 
 
 "And the Seal said, 'I am the Indian.' 
 
 "Then the Bear's heart froze within him and 
 he became stone. But the Bad God did not attain 
 all that he wished, for Manitou changed him also 
 by his great power into stone, and the curling 
 waves which had threatened to overflow the land 
 were frozen into ranges of mountains which sur- 
 round the Garden of the Gods to this day. The 
 White Men, too, who had approached so near were 
 driven back, and not until years afterward did 
 they succeed (after the Medicine of the Utes had 
 been lost) by the wiles of their father in wresting 
 the land from the Bear and the Indian." 
 
 " And have you seen the stone Bear and Seal, 
 Grandmother ? " asked the children. 
 
 "I have seen them," replied Grandmother 
 Two Tongues, " and there they remain to this 
 day." 
 
 Howling Wolf lifted his head from his knees. 
 " Tell me how the Utes lost their Medicine," he 
 said ; but Grandmother Two Tongues had fallen
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 31 
 
 into a waking dream and would say nothing more 
 that day. 
 
 The reservation of the Southern Utes where 
 Howling Wolf lived is a narrow strip of country 
 running along the southern boundary of Colorado. 
 Here Howling Wolf's tribe, about one thousand 
 in number, are penned by the Government. For- 
 merly the Utes ranged over the entire State of 
 Colorado and through the territories adjoining ; 
 but civilization has pressed them in on every side, 
 and now the war-like tribe are confined to a reser- 
 vation one hundred and twenty miles long but only- 
 fifteen wide. The game has entirely disappeared 
 from this strip, and though it contains some good 
 farming land the older Indians have a lofty dis- 
 dain of labor, which in their opinion is only fit for 
 women, and very few of them have planted crops. 
 Howling Wolf's mother was very industrious; he 
 had seen her put up their tepee in five minutes 
 and take it down in three. She could skin a deer, 
 dress the hide, jerk the meat, chop wood, bring it 
 on her back, do all the rough work of their camp- 
 life beside making and embroidering their cloth-
 
 32 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 ing, cooking the meals and caring for a large 
 family of children. Howling Wolf was fond of 
 her in a dumb-animal way, but he never offered to 
 help her ; his sisters could do that it was their 
 place, and if Big-Toe or Honey-Tooth did not do 
 their duty his mother could depend on him to kick 
 them. 
 
 There was little inducement for the Utes to la- 
 bor, for the Government issued rations to them 
 irregularly, which while they are not adequate to 
 their support still keeps up the old delusion that 
 work is not expected of them and that they are 
 to be supported in idleness. 
 
 When the rations failed, as they not unfrequently 
 did, White Wolf and the other Indians had only 
 to shoot some of the cattle belonging to white 
 herders which overrun the Indian reservation al- 
 though contrary to law. The Indians would gladly 
 rent their land for grazing purposes to the great 
 cattle-owners but this Government would not allow 
 them to do, though it made resistance to the ille- 
 gal pasturing of great herds for nothing on the 
 Utes' land. So now and then it was not to be
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 33 
 
 wondered at that a starving Indian killed a steer, 
 especially as he was not allowed to overstep the 
 boundaries of his reservation and hunt the wild 
 game in the mountains on pain of being shot down 
 at sight by any white man. 
 
 The cow-boys invariably retaliated by shooting 
 a few Indians when they found that their cattle 
 had been stolen, and then the Utes, who knew no 
 other law but their own "life for life," would steal 
 away in the night and take white scalps in revenge, 
 often killing unoffending settlers, women and even 
 children. 
 
 This is how it has come about that the citizens 
 of Colorado do not love the Utes, that they say 
 this particular tribe unite all the bad qualities of 
 all the bad Indians, that they are as dirty as the 
 Diggers, as cruel as the Sioux, as stealthy and 
 daring as the Apaches, as treacherous as the 
 Kiowas and lazier than any other tribe. It does 
 not seem to be any excuse for these wretched peo- 
 ple that no one appears to take any interest in 
 making them better; the kindest Colorado Indian 
 policy seems to be to move them away as far off to
 
 34 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 the West as possible, while the more popular idea 
 is that of extermination. 
 
 The Government had built a schoolhouse at the 
 Southern Ute agency and people wondered that the 
 Utes did not become educated faster, not consider- 
 ing the trifling circumstance that the Government 
 had neglected to send a teacher, or any missiona- 
 ries to teach here. Howling Wolf had often peered 
 into the windows of the unused schoolhouse and 
 wondered why it was there. 
 
 It is possible that the Utes reflect something of 
 the uncomplimentary opinions of their white neigh- 
 bors. Howling Wolf had only heard the White 
 Man spoken of as their natural enemy. To be 
 sure there was some one away toward the rising 
 sun called Washington, the chief of the white 
 men, who was very rich and powerful. It was he 
 who sent them their agent and their supplies, but 
 he was not altogether kind, for he often forgot 
 ;hem for long periods, and the " brass-button 
 iiien " who were near them in such numbers and 
 whom they had such cause to fear belonged to 
 Chief Washington and worked his will.
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 
 
 35 
 
 It was the opinion of the wisest and oldest men 
 of the tribe to whom Howling Wolf listened with 
 respect that Chief Washington intended to kill 
 them by slow starvation and that it was of no use 
 to resist, for the Utes had lost their " Medicine." 
 
 Concerning this Medicine there were many leg- 
 ends to which Howling Wolf always listened with a 
 thrill of wild interest and as his grandmother cared 
 more for him than for any of her other descendants 
 it was not hard to tease her into repeating them.
 
 36 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 One evening Howling Wolf came into the tepee, 
 his eyes glowing with suppressed excitement. He 
 counted his arrows, and slyly added two war-arrows 
 from his father's quiver to his own collection. No 
 one paid any attention to him with the exception 
 of Grandmother Two Tongues. " What is the 
 matter ? " she grunted. 
 
 Howling Wolf crept close to her. " I will tell 
 you," he said, " if you will first repeat the legend 
 of The Lost Medicine of the Utes." 
 
 " A story, a story ! " whooped the other children, 
 and Grandmother Two Tongues' audience was 
 soon grouped about her. 
 
 "Many years ago," she began, "our people, 
 the Utes, were both powerful and happy. They 
 roamed over the mountains from the Garden of 
 the Gods to the great Western Sea, and herds of 
 buffalo, of elk and antelope grazed beside their 
 camps. Manitou had given the Utes a sacred ob- 
 ject to be their Medicine, or talisman, against mis- 
 fortune. 'As long as you possess this,' he had 
 said, 'you will continue to be happy and fortunate, 
 and no other tribe can prevail against you in war.
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 37 
 
 When you lose this Medicine, misfortune will come 
 to you, but whoever finds it will be happy.' Now 
 there is no very clear tradition as to what this 
 Medicine was. Some say that it was a little squat 
 image such as the Pueblos worship. Other of our 
 learned men are of opinion that it was a scroll of 
 magic writing; but, whatever it was, it was very 
 carefully guarded by the chief of our tribe, who 
 slept with it bound to his breast, while it was 
 guarded by day in turn by the most noted braves 
 of the tribe. And the Utes prospered more and 
 more, until the neighboring tribes grew envious, 
 and knowing the reason many attempts were made 
 to buy or steal our precious Medicine. 
 
 " One night a war-party of Arapahoes, our deadly 
 enemies, crept silently up to our camp and two of 
 their young men stole into the tepee of the chief, 
 slew him and secured the Medicine. Then they 
 hurried away ; but the sound of the hoofs wakened 
 some one in the camp, the alarm was given and 
 the calamity instantly discovered. Then there 
 was mounting in haste, and our braves skimmed 
 away across the shadowy prairie after the fleeing
 
 38 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Arapahoes. And because our horses were better, 
 or, perhaps, only because they were fresher, they 
 gained upon them. Then a part of the Arapahoes 
 turned and fought and the others sped on with the 
 Medicine. But the hearts of our men were big 
 with sorrow, and they slew the party which faced 
 them, and again they gained upon the others who 
 made a last stand seeing that it was impossible to 
 escape. And our warriors slew them every one. 
 But when they came to search the bodies they 
 found not the Medicine. And when an embassy 
 was sent to the chief of the Arapahoes with many 
 gifts he could only tell us that not one of that war- 
 party ever returned and the Medicine was lost. 
 Some thought that finding themselves hard pressed 
 they had buried it as they fled, with some mark to 
 show where it was hidden. So the ground was 
 very carefully hunted over, but no trace of it was 
 ever found. 
 
 " Then the miseries came which had been fore- 
 told. The game went, and the White Man came, 
 and little by little our lands were taken from us 
 and our tribe reduced to this wretched remnant.
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 39 
 
 Not without struggle or effort ; sometimes we have 
 risen and struck fiercely at the white men and have 
 beaten them back, but they have come again with 
 overwhelming numbers and have crushed us down, 
 clown. Then our last great chief, Ouray, said, ' It 
 is no use fighting against them ; let us join hands 
 and welcome them as friends.' But that was of no 
 use either. They drove his widow Chipeta from 
 the home which he had built in the white men's 
 fashion with peach trees all about it ; a home 
 where he had fed and sheltered the white man, 
 and they sent Chipeta wandering away to build 
 her tepee with her fugitive tribe. It was of no use. 
 Nothing is of any use our Medicine is lost." 
 
 The old woman's head sunk upon her breast and 
 the fire, untended, died down to a few embers. 
 
 "Grandmother Two Tongues," said Howling 
 Wolf in a voice husky with emotion, " what would 
 happen if some one should find the Medicine ?" 
 
 " Nothing would be too good for him," she re- 
 plied. " Every man in our tribe would impoverish 
 himself to reward him suitably. They would make 
 him their chief, all his wishes would be gratified."
 
 4O HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 "But what would happen to our tribe?" 
 
 The squaw's eyes flashed. " We would be pow- 
 
 CHIHF OURAY AND HIS WIFE CHIPETA. 
 
 erful once more. The men would no longer be 
 lazy and drunken. They would all be great war- 
 riors and hunters, and the women' would be rich
 
 THE LOST MEDICINE. 41 
 
 and beautiful and there would be plenty plenty ! 
 No children or old people would die of hunger, 
 and sickness and trouble would flee away." 
 
 "Grandmother Two-Tongues," said Howling 
 Wolf, " I am going to find our Lost Medicine." 
 
 " Many have said so before you, my boy." 
 
 " But I have an idea, and you must listen," in- 
 sisted Howling Wolf. " I believe that one of those 
 Arapahoes got away with the talisman but did not 
 return to his tribe. He took refuge with some 
 other people who still have the Medicine. Now I 
 am going to visit all the tribes about us until I 
 find happy Indians, then I shall know that our 
 Medicine is there and I will stay and watch until 
 I find and steal it and bring it back to you." 
 
 " It is a boy's reasoning, a boy's plan," mused 
 the old woman, " yet not stupid. There is sense 
 in it, but your father will never consent to it." 
 
 " I am going to prove to my father that I am not 
 a pappoose," the boy continued. " Snake-in-the- 
 Grass came back from the Post to-night. He has 
 made two efforts to get back the Enchanted Pony 
 and has failed,' and now Ignacio has given anyone
 
 42 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 in the tribe permission to try, but no one dares. 
 I shall do it to-night. Tell no one, but in the 
 morning I shall bring back the Enchanted Pony." 
 " Go," said Grandmother Two-Tongues, " and 
 Manitou aid you. If you succeed in this under- 
 taking, I shall believe you will succeed also in the 
 desire of your heart you will bring us back our 
 Lost Medicine." For a moment her claw-like fin- 
 gers rested upon the head of her favorite grandson. 
 Then White Wolf entered the tepee, and Howling 
 Wolf stole silently out into the darkness.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 
 
 WHEN Howling Wolf left his grandmother's 
 tepee he selected one of the swiftest 
 ponies in his father's herd and rode quietly away 
 in the direction of the fort. 
 
 About midnight he reached a little copse of 
 pinyon trees, half a mile from the corral in which 
 the Government horses and mules were kept. 
 From this spot to the enclosure there was no 
 cover, and a mounted horseman could have been 
 easily descried on the treeless expanse, even on 
 such a night as this, when the sky was obscured 
 from time to time by flitting clouds. 
 
 Howling Wolf concealed his mustang in the 
 copse and cautiously crept along the plain in the 
 direction of the fort. He could see a sentry pac- 
 ing from the gate of the corral to the opposite 
 
 43
 
 44 HOWLING NVOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 corner of the fort, a distance of about one eighth 
 of a mile, and if the clouds would befriend he 
 thought he could dash for the gate of the corral, 
 and possibly get inside, while the sentry was at 
 the most distant part of his beat. Meantime his 
 quick eye discerned another favoring circum- 
 stance. An arroyo, or dry gulch, ran in a zigzag 
 direction from the spot where he lay nearly to the 
 gate of the corral. He rolled into it and crept 
 on all-fours to the spot nearest the gate. Here 
 he cautiously raised his head, but ducked it none 
 too quickly, for the sentry was within a few yards 
 of him. Fortunately he had not been noticed, 
 and waiting until his footsteps sounded faintly in 
 the distance the boy again lifted himself from the 
 ditch. 
 
 The sentry was still walking away from him 
 and, although it was now not quite so dark as it 
 had been, he ventured to slip up to the gate of 
 the corral. It was fastened by a bolt on the out- 
 side, and was further secured by a rope twisted 
 several times around and knotted. It was the 
 work of an instant to slip the bolt ; but untying
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 45 
 
 the rope was a longer operation. It was only half 
 done when he noticed that the sentry was return- 
 ing, and he dropped instantly upon the ground 
 and crept to the hiding-place afforded by the arroyo. 
 Waiting until sufficient time had elapsed for 
 the soldier to be at the other extremity of his 
 walk Howling Wolf raised his head. To his con- 
 sternation the man had not moved away. Some- 
 thing had excited his suspicion, and he stood at a 
 little distance from the gate looking intently to- 
 ward the arroyo. He saw Howling Wolf, but did 
 not comprehend that the vague, moving object 
 was an Indian. It was something alive, however, 
 some wild animal he thought, and he brought his 
 gun to his shoulder. The boy dropped into the 
 bottom of the ditch, and uttered an imitation of 
 the cry of the coyote or prairie-wolf. This cry 
 confirmed the sentry's belief, but it was not worth 
 his while to waste a shot and alarm the garrison 
 by firing at such small game. Howling Wolf re- 
 peated the yelping bark at intervals and retreated 
 down the arroyo. It would not do, he thought, to 
 attempt anything further to-night.
 
 46 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 But this was a favorite cry of the boy's, and the 
 Enchanted Pony inside the corral heard and 
 recognized it as the voice of his dearly-loved little 
 master. He whinnied uneasily and trotted up 
 to the gate. It was still tied by the rope, but the 
 pony was as skilful at untying knots as any of the 
 trained animals in the " Equine Paradox," and he 
 worked away at it industriously with his teeth, 
 answering each of the distant howls with an impa- 
 tient, loving neigh, which said as plainly as horse 
 could speak : " I hear you, little master. I am 
 coming." 
 
 The sentry, who had resumed his walk, was 
 astonished as he paced back toward the corral to 
 see the gate open without any apparent agency, 
 and the herd of horses scatter rapidly over the 
 plain. He shouted and ran, other soldiers com- 
 ing in answer to his cries, but the horses delight- 
 ing in their liberty had capered to quite a distance 
 and were so full of frolic that it was a long time 
 before they were re-captured. 
 
 But not until the next morning, when Captain 
 Hodge came down to the corral, was it discovered
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 47 
 
 that the Enchanted Pony was gone. He was very 
 angry and perfectly convinced that the Utes had 
 stolen it away, but the sentry, and the other sol- 
 diers who had arrived at the first alarm, were 
 positive that no Indians had been around. "If 
 they had," argued the sentry, "why didn't they 
 stampede the whole herd ? They could have got 
 off with all as easily as with one." 
 
 This question was unanswerable ; but Captain 
 Hodge went over the ground carefully, and his 
 practised eye soon singled out the arroyo. He 
 walked along its side with the Lieutenant, closely 
 scanning the appearance of the earth. " Some- 
 thing has been here recently," he said, pointing 
 to some soil which had been freshly disturbed. 
 
 "There was a coyote prowling round there in 
 the fore part of the night," said the sentry. 
 
 " A coyote who wore beaded leggings," replied 
 the Captain contemptuously, as he lifted a bit of 
 broken string with three beads threaded upon it, 
 from the entangling root on which it had caught. 
 " What do you say, Lieutenant, will you ride with 
 me over to the Ute Reservation ? "
 
 48 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TfclCK-PONY. 
 
 " You surely do not intend to provoke hostili- 
 ties," replied the other. 
 
 " Why not ? " returned the Captain. " If the 
 Utes dare to resist my taking back that pony 
 there will be trouble, that's all, and they will have 
 the worst of it. The quicker they give us occa- 
 sion for wiping them out the better, and the entire 
 Indian problem will be settled." 
 
 " There will be no trouble," said the Major. 
 " The Utes are on their good behavior now. They 
 know we are only waiting for an excuse to exter- 
 minate them. They will make no resistance, and 
 if the Captain demands the pony through their 
 agent they will doubtless give it up." 
 
 Meantime there was great excitement in the 
 Indian encampment on the Los Pinos River. At 
 the same hour that the foregoing conversation was 
 taking place, Howling Wolf's young companions 
 were yelling, the squaws running with streaming 
 hair, even the braves had thrown down their pipes 
 and were whooping, and through it all Howling 
 Wolf came riding in on the trick-pony, outwardly 
 calm (though his little heart was bursting with
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 49 
 
 pride and consequence), up to the chief's lodge. 
 Here he reined in, and sat as straight and motion- 
 less as a totem, awaiting the appearance of Ignacio. 
 The barking of the dogs and general human up- 
 roar soon brought out the chief. He put aside 
 the flap of buffalo-hide which served as a door to 
 his tepee or wigwam, but when he saw the pony, 
 he raised both arms, whether in wonder or in 
 blessing one could scarcely say, for he uttered but 
 one word, which may be translated by three of 
 ours " The Enchanted Pony ! " 
 
 "The Enchanted Pony!" echoed the throng, 
 and they all began talking at once ; explaining, 
 arguing, asking questions, shouldering each other 
 to get near enough to lift the animal's hoofs, gently 
 to rub his smoking flanks or examine his shoulder. 
 Howling Wolf meantime maintained his attitude 
 of profound indifference, affecting not to see the 
 little group about him and apparently studying the 
 wanderings of the distant Los Pinos River with 
 the eye of a landscape artist. 
 
 It was only when the chief spoke to him that he 
 condescended to awake to consciousness.
 
 50 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " You stole back this pony, when ? " 
 
 " Last night at midnight." 
 
 Old Ignacio gave a grunt of satisfaction, while 
 the crowd exclaimed that he must have ridden 
 hard to have reached home so soon. Further en- 
 couraged Howling Wolf related the entire story. 
 
 " You were a fool not to bring more horses," 
 said Snake-in-the-Grass, who had twice failed in 
 attempts to secure the pony, and was envious. 
 
 " He would have been a fool to have thus 
 brought destruction upon his tribe," said the chief. 
 "The soldiers will be here by evening as it is. 
 Neither Howling Wolf nor his pony must be here. 
 Let him ride across the Lonely Mountains to our 
 brothers the Uncompahgres." 
 
 Howling Wolf's family hustled him away. " You 
 can rest your pony at the Divide in the San Juan 
 Mountains and push on toward evening." 
 
 Old Mother Two Tongues crept up to him and 
 fastened some pieces of jerked beef to his saddle. 
 "All right, grandmother," he whispered, "but I 
 am not going to the Uncompahgres'. I shall go 
 to the Navajoes."
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 53 
 
 She nodded. The Uncompahgres were Utes 
 like themselves ; there was no chance of the Lost 
 Medicine existing among them. But the Navajoes 
 were very different in character and condition ; 
 they were peaceful, industrious and, in comparison 
 with the Utes, rich. It was very possible that 
 they possessed the luck-bringing charm. 
 
 In half an hour Howling Wolf was gayly and 
 rapidly journeying away toward the Divide which 
 his father had mentioned. But by and by, instead 
 of striking off toward the north, he followed the 
 Las Animas River on its southern course to the 
 San Juan, which would lead him into Arizona and 
 the Navajo Reservation. 
 
 Just as the pony showed signs of fatigue he 
 
 reached some ancient cliff-dwellings, mere caves 
 
 
 in the sides of a hill inhabited ages ago, it might 
 
 be, by his own ancestors. In one of these a little 
 larger than the others, he stabled his pony, and 
 lay down beside it secure from observation, and 
 happy as a king. 
 
 Meantime officers reached the Ute Reservation 
 a few hours after Howling Wolf's departure. The
 
 54 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 agent immediately summoned the family of White 
 Wolf and charged them with the theft of the pony, 
 which they all stoutly denied. 
 
 " Where is your boy, Howling Wolf ? " asked 
 the agent. " You have sent him off to hide some- 
 where in the mountains until the search is over." 
 
 "Howling Wolf," said the father with more 
 truth than he thought, " has gone to the Navajoes." 
 
 Old Mother Two Tongues started. " It is not 
 so," she exclaimed ; " he left this morning for our 
 cousins, the Uncompahgre Utes who live in Utah." 
 
 Such truth and treachery was met by a howl 
 from the entire family. " Howling Wolf has gone 
 to the Navajoes to trade bead-work for blankets. 
 Believe her not, she is crazy, she is a liar, she is 
 an idiot." And her relatives did not scruple to add 
 blows to their wordy abuse driving her from the 
 Agency building with all precipitation. 
 
 " Where do you think he has gone ? " asked the 
 Lieutenant of the agent. 
 
 "In such a case as this," said the agent, "we 
 can safely presume that the Indians would not 
 speak the truth. The majority declare that he
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 55 
 
 has gone to the Navajoes, therefore he is probably 
 on his way to the Uncompahgres." 
 
 " Urn," said the Captain musingly, " that is just 
 the way an Injun would expect us to reason. He 
 would say 'I will try to make them think I am 
 anxious for them to go to the Navajoes and they 
 will be sure to take the other direction.' There- 
 fore I'm of the opinion that he has gone to the 
 Navajoes, and that if we ride fast we can overtake 
 him." 
 
 The pursuing party accordingly set out in the very 
 direction in which Howling Wolf had gone. The 
 Indians followed them till they mounted the Di- 
 vide and turned southward. Then the family, 
 with grunts of satisfaction, returned to their Res- 
 ervation. But one old woman threw up her arms 
 and shrieked, and ran after the cavalry until breath 
 and limbs failed, wildly declaring that her grand- 
 son had not gone in that direction, but that White 
 Wolf had deceived them into an ambush, and that 
 she alone was friendly to the whites. The Lieu- 
 tenant drew rein, half inclined to believe her, but 
 Captain Hodge called to him and he followed.
 
 56 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 They had not travelled many miles before they 
 met a mounted cowboy searching for his cattle, 
 who seemed particularly glad of their company. 
 "There are Injuns skulking round," he said. "I 
 saw one pop his head out of one of the old cliff- 
 dwellings yonder, and I didn't stop to shoot but 
 just dusted." 
 
 When the Captain explained that they were in 
 search of a single boy the man's courage rose. 
 " Sho ! " he exclaimed, " I might have brought 
 him down as easy. But I suspicioned there might 
 be more on 'em I'll help you catch the little 
 varmint. I shouldn't wonder if it's he that's been 
 stealing my cattle. The Government has been 
 three months behind in sending the Utes their 
 rations, and they do say some on 'em are starving, 
 and when a Ute is hungry he's ugly they don't 
 seem to have any idea about property-rights. Why, 
 the unprincipled rascals would ftill one of my steers 
 as quick as well, as quick as you or I would 
 shoot an Injun." 
 
 Unluckily for Howling Wolf the three came in 
 sight of the cliff-dwellings just as he was leaving
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 57 
 
 his covert. He heard the quick beat of hoofs in 
 the distance and whistled in his pony's ears as he 
 threw a glance over his shoulder at his pursuers. 
 
 The race which was now run was even more 
 exciting and more reckless than that which intro- 
 duced his pony to us. This time the pony's own 
 will was engaged. He had his beloved little master 
 on his back, and he was an Indian pony through 
 and through and knew that he was fleeing from 
 United States soldiers. But his long journey of 
 the morning and the night before told upon him, 
 and the Captain's thoroughbred pressed him close 
 was upon him ; and now the Captain made a 
 dash at the bridle, but the pony swerved deftly and 
 was off again, with Howling Wolf grinning from 
 under his neck. Captain Hodge did not intend 
 to kill the boy, but he was angry at being served 
 such a trick, and his pistol was out of his holster 
 in an instant, and brought to the steady aim which 
 was so sure to bring down its victim. Just as his 
 finger touched the trigger the Lieutenant came 
 skimming along, with so little or such good heed, 
 that his horse brushed roughly against the thor-
 
 58 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 oughbred, and the pistol was discharged into the 
 air. The Captain drew rein and faced the Lieuten- 
 ant angrily. 
 
 "Pardon me," said the Lieutenant, "but we 
 agreed that if we caught them the pony should be 
 yours, but the boy mine." 
 
 In avoiding the officers Howling Wolf had glided 
 dangerously near the cowboy, who, only a few 
 yards behind, was now coiling his lariat for a 
 cast. 
 
 " About his waist ! " shouted the Lieutenant ; 
 " don't strangle him ! " 
 
 Lightly, gracefully, the flying loop descended. 
 Howling Wolf ducked, but too late. The fatal 
 noose had bound his arms to his side and dragged 
 him from his saddle. The pony dashed away a 
 few rods then turned, looked at his little master, 
 and approached doubtfully ; but Howling Wolf 
 saw this and raising himself to his elbow gave 
 vent to a yell, only to be equalled in its hideous- 
 ness by that of a city milkman, and the pony, 
 frightened or recognizing its import, dashed still 
 more swiftly away.
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 59 
 
 " You are more fortunate than I," said Captain 
 Hodge sulkily. " But we can make the boy whistle 
 in the pony. Give me that lariat and I'll whip 
 the young rascal into submission." 
 
 " If you please," said the Lieutenant firmly, " I 
 doubt whether he would yield if you whipped 
 him to death, and I do not care to have the ex- 
 periment tried." 
 
 With the help of the cowboy Howling Wolf was 
 marched back to the old cliff-dwelling where, as 
 evening had overtaken them, it was resolved to 
 camp. A fire was built, a prairie-chicken, which 
 had been shot on the way, was roasted ; and a 
 small, cell-like cave was selected from those with 
 which the cliff was honeycombed as a prison for 
 the young Indian. The low entrance was blocked 
 by their saddles, and the Lieutenant lay down in 
 front to keep guard over his prisoner, with more 
 loving thoughts than probably ever before filled 
 the mind of a jailer. The boy's beseeching eyes 
 haunted him. " I will teach him to love me," he 
 thought ; " I will see his father and get his per- 
 mission to keep him. I will make him my com-
 
 60 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 panion and be to him a true friend. I will teach 
 him and when he is older and prepared for it I 
 will enter him at West Point. He will make a 
 splendid soldier. How unflinchingly he glared at 
 the Captain when he held the rope's end over 
 his shoulders he seemed to dare the brute to 
 strike." 
 
 The camp-fire settled into darkness, and a little 
 sob sounded hollowly in the cavern behind him. 
 Howling Wolf's vaunted courage had given way. 
 A great pity filled the Lieutenant's heart. He 
 recalled his own lonely boyhood and striking a 
 light he removed one of the saddles and called 
 Howling Wolf. Had the boy but known it the 
 Lost Medicine was very near him at that instant, 
 but he dashed the baby-tears from his eyes and, 
 standing with folded arms, regarded his captor 
 with the same vindictive glare. 
 
 " Are you hungry ? " asked the Lieutenant. 
 
 The boy did not answer. 
 
 " You are lonesome, eh ? Well, come out here 
 and sit with me." 
 
 The boy showed that he understood, for he
 
 A RACE FOR LIFE. 6 1 
 
 retreated further into the little cave, his eyes 
 shining like those of a wild cat. 
 
 The Lieutenant sighed. " I must wait for it," 
 he murmured, and replacing the saddle, he fell 
 asleep to dream of his foster-child. 
 
 Howling Wolf sat with his arms about his knees, 
 staring before him and thinking. Suddenly he 
 realized that he was not in the dark. The embers 
 without were buried in ashes, the light with which 
 the interior of the cavern was illuminated must 
 come from the moon. He looked up, and saw it 
 shining down through a narrow shaft cut through 
 the solid rock to the top of the cliff. The shaft 
 was smoke-blackened, and must have originally 
 served the first inhabitants of the cavern as chim- 
 ney. There were ashes below it and broken 
 pieces of pottery which sufficiently proved this; 
 but there were convenient notches made to fit 
 moccasoned feet cut in the sides which showed 
 that it had been staircase also, and the ingenuity 
 of his ancestors served Howling Wolf now. 
 
 Outside, skirting the camp, was a shadowy form. 
 Now circling nearer, now scampering away, it
 
 62 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 flitted about like an uneasy ghost. The Captain's 
 thoroughbred whinnied but the phantom pony did 
 not answer. Its faithful heart was not longing 
 for horse-companionship. It snuffed the air and 
 trotted uneasily about, until from the top of the 
 cliff sounded the mournful cry of the prairie wolf. 
 The pony threw back its head, listened, and then 
 was off like a shot around the end of the cliff. 
 
 The Lieutenant awoke at sunrise a little stiff, 
 but his heart was warm if his hands were cold. 
 "Come, Howling Wolf," he cried out cheerily, 
 " let us see if we cannot be better friends this 
 morning." He pulled aside the saddles and 
 stared into the sunlighted interior with speechless 
 surprise the boy was gone.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 
 
 HOWLING WOLF scuttled away on his pony 
 across the plain in the weird moonlight. 
 When morning dawned he was far beyond pursuit. 
 But he did not pause until toward noon, when he 
 reached a canon or deep crack in the table-land, 
 in the bottom of which a little stream fed from 
 the melted snows of the Dolores Mountains 
 trickled southward to the San Juan. Here he 
 hid and rested his pony until toward evening. 
 Here, too, he ate the last remnant of the jerked 
 beef with which Mother Two Tongues had pro- 
 vided him, and he knew that it behooved him to 
 travel carefully and swiftly in order to reach the 
 Navajoes before the pangs of hunger should be- 
 come unendurable. 
 
 He attempted to ford the San Juan at night- 
 63
 
 64 HOWLING WOLF* AND HiS TRlCK-PONY. 
 
 fall ; a dangerous experience, for the rushing 
 water lifted him from his saddle and separated 
 him from his pony, and when he finally reached 
 the southern shore he found that the pony had 
 given up the effort and had returned to the start- 
 ing-place. Howling Wolf called him. He can- 
 tered up and down the opposite bank neighing 
 and dashing into the stream but not daring to 
 cross. So Howling Wolf was obliged to swim 
 back again and follow the river further westward 
 to a better ford ing-place. 
 
 He finally accomplished the crossing and struck 
 off in a southwesterly direction. But when the 
 sun rose he found himself in an unfamiliar country. 
 He saw a great stretch of prairie, with here and 
 there a clump of stunted pinyon-trees, and long 
 dry gulches crossing his course as though on pur- 
 pose to perplex him. 
 
 For two days he rode on guided by the sun 
 which burned like a copper ball in the sky. Once 
 he killed a prairie dog and ate him without cook- 
 ing. 
 
 The herbage was scanty and they had found
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 65 
 
 water but once since he left the San Juan. Pony 
 and rider were giving out when they reached a 
 deep canon into which they descended for the 
 sake of the water and shade, and because Howling 
 Wolf fancied that by following it he might reach 
 a settlement of the Navajoes. Anything was bet- 
 ter than the tawny plain stretching away without 
 change for miles and miles. The canon, which 
 appeared to lead him nearly due south, was the 
 wildest and deepest he had ever seen. The sun 
 was already hidden though it was only a little 
 past noon-day, and the sides were so precipitous 
 that in some places they rose in sheer rocky walls 
 almost perpendicularly for hundreds of feet. It 
 was difficult picking his way. Sometimes it was 
 impossible to ride, but the pony followed docilely 
 and was as good a climber as a chamois. 
 
 After a time they struck into a foot-path cut 
 in a shelf of the rock, which gradually mounted 
 about a third of the way up the side of the pre- 
 cipice. Howling Wolf was obliged to hug the 
 wall, for a glimpse downward sickened him. It 
 was growing dusky in the canon, and darkness
 
 66 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 would increase the danger. He pressed on rapidly 
 for he felt sure that the foot-path must lead to 
 some human habitation and he was not mistaken, 
 for a turn in the canon showed him some grand 
 houses built into the rock, overhung by beetling 
 crags. They looked like robber castles in this 
 wild gorge, and Howling Wolf hardly knew 
 whether to approach or not. He feared that such 
 stupendous structures could not be the work of 
 Indians, and that they were inhabited by his 
 enemies, the whites. But he was very hungry 
 and too tired to run away, besides there was no 
 room in the narrow path for him to turn the pony 
 around. 
 
 He roused all his courage and entered the first 
 doorway to which he came. He found himself in 
 a moderate-sized chamber utterly unfurnished and 
 vacant. This room communicated with others, 
 and stumbling over de'bris Howling Wolf explored 
 the structure as far as he could, only to find it 
 ruinous and deserted. The cliff-dwellings to which 
 he was accustomed were only small caves in the 
 rock; but he soon saw that this house of solid
 
 THE PONY WAS AS GOOD A CUMBER AS A CHAMOIS.
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 69 
 
 stone masonry was like them the home of a race 
 long passed away. Without knowing it he had 
 wandered up the wonderful Canon de Chelly, 
 the admiration and puzzle of antiquaries. 
 
 In the sad Southwest, in the mystical Sun land, 
 
 Far from the toil, and the turmoil of gain ; 
 Hid in the heart of the only the one land 
 
 Beloved of the Sun, and bereft of the rain ; 
 The one weird land where the wild winds blowing 
 
 Sweep with a wail o'er the plains of the dead, 
 A ruin ancient beyond all knowing, 
 
 Rears its head. 
 
 On the Canon's side in the ample hollow, 
 
 That the keen winds carved in ages past, 
 The Castle walls like the nest of a swallow 
 
 Have clung and have crumbled to this at last. 
 The ages since man's foot has rested 
 
 Within these walls, no man may know; 
 For here the fierce gray eagle nested 
 
 Long ago. 
 
 Above these walls the crags lean over, 
 
 Below they dip to the river bed ; 
 Between, fierce-winged creatures hover, 
 
 Beyond, the plain's wild waste is spread, 
 No foot has climbed the pathway dizzy, 
 
 That crawls away from the blasted heath 
 Since last it felt the ever-busy 
 
 Foot of Death.
 
 70 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 In that haunted Castle it must be haunted 
 
 For men have lived here and men have died, 
 And maidens loved, and lovers daunted, 
 
 Have hoped and feared, have laughed and sighed 
 In that haunted Castle the dust has drifted, 
 
 But the eagles only may hope to see 
 What shattered shrines and what Altars rifted 
 
 There may be. 
 
 The white, bright rays of the sunbeam sought it, 
 
 The cold, clear light of the moon fell here, [it 
 The west wind sighed, and the south wind brought 
 
 Songs of Summer year after year 
 Runes of Summer but mute and runeless, 
 
 The Castle stood, no voice was heard 
 Save the harsh, discordant, wild and tuneless 
 
 Cry of bird. 
 
 Dismantled towers, and turrets broken, 
 
 Like grim and war-worn braves who keep 
 A silent guard, with grief unspoken, 
 
 Watch o'er the graves by the Havenweep. 
 The nameless graves of a race forgotten, 
 
 Whose deeds, whose words, whose fate are one 
 With the mist, long ages past begotten 
 
 Of the sun. * 
 
 The thoughts which the ruined towers awoke in 
 the mind of Howling Wolf were hardly like these. 
 Still the Indian lad was superstitious, and with 
 
 * From a poem by Mr. Stanley Woods, in The Crest of the Continent.
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 71 
 
 the darkness there settled down upon him a great 
 awe and dread. He heard the hooting of some 
 owls and a bat brushed by him as he crouched 
 near the doorway. He believed that they were 
 ghosts and that he had found his way to the Land 
 of Spirits. But after a time tired nature asserted 
 itself over his fears and he slept long and dream- 
 lessly. 
 
 For days Howling Wolf lived in the haunted 
 castle, exploring its hidden recesses in search of 
 the Lost Medicine which he fancied might have 
 been brought here by spirits, and subsisting on 
 the small birds and animals which made it their 
 home. 
 
 But he was never quite at peace. The loneli- 
 ness grew upon him. Sometimes it seemed to 
 him that he would lose his power of speech. 
 Then he would shriek aloud to the echoes who 
 were to him underground demons, or he would 
 talk to his pony. 
 
 He found many arrow heads of obsidian or vol- 
 canic glass, also pieces of pottery; and in a recess 
 he came across an earthen jar half-filled with
 
 72 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 parched corn, which was a treasure beyond price, 
 but he shared a part of it with his dumb companion. 
 
 At last by long searching he found a path, half- 
 trail and half-stairway, leading to the surface of 
 the prairie. Overjoyed he leaped downward to 
 bring his pony, when a rumbling noise reverber- 
 ated through the canon, the castle shook and he 
 stood for an instant perfectly still, frozen to the 
 spot with fear. Then he darted to the room 
 where he had left his pony. It had disappeared. 
 He stood in the doorway, for a black well-hole 
 yawned before him. He shouted and called his 
 pony. A whinny answered him from the bottom 
 of the gulf. Bending forward he could hear the 
 pony trotting about and so felt sure that he was 
 not injured. By degrees his eyes became accus- 
 tomed to the darkness and he could see his pet 
 not so very far below. 
 
 The floor of the room in which he had stabled 
 him had been the ceiling of an estufa or under- 
 ground council chamber which, jarred and beaten 
 by the pony's hoofs, had fallen in, carrying the 
 animal with it.
 
 THE HAUNTKD CASTLE. 73 
 
 How was he to get the pony out ? He thought 
 over many plans and found them all impracticable 
 without help. He must journey as rapidly as pos- 
 sible to the Navajoes and get some of the Indians 
 to return with him. 
 
 He filled th'e earthen jar with water from the 
 canon and lowered it with his lariat into the pit, 
 showering down the greater part of the parched 
 corn and all the dried grass which he could find. 
 Then he climbed the staircase and set out on foot 
 across the prairie. To wander at random would 
 perhaps be death, but in no other way could he 
 save his pony, and he set out bravely on his jour- 
 ney. He had brought a gourd of water and a 
 little corn with him, and he marched steadily on 
 toward the south. 
 
 He had travelled for about three hours, and 
 was now out of sight of the canon when he paused, 
 turned about, and looked and listened earnestly 
 with his ear to the ground. It seemed to him that 
 he heard the tramp of horses. So strong was the 
 impression that he walked back for several miles 
 until he could see the dark edge of the canon like
 
 74 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 a crooked thread in the level prairie. All was as 
 lonely and desolate as when he had left it. Per- 
 haps they were phantom horses pursuing him from 
 out the haunted castle. Whatever the cause he 
 had lost two good hours, and he tightened his 
 belt, bent his elbows and set out once more on a 
 swinging dog-trot, his long hair streaming behind 
 him. Poor little Howling Wolf ! 
 
 The lad had not been mistaken. The sounds 
 which he had heard were made by the horses of 
 an exploring expedition who had come to follow 
 up the wonderful Canon de Chelly, about which 
 such remarkable tales had been told. At the 
 head of the little troop and by the side of the 
 learned Professor rode Captain Hodge, and the 
 boy's best friend the Lieutenant. They had met 
 the party on their return to the fort and had been 
 detailed with a small escort to guide it to the cliff- 
 dwellings. They had just descended into the 
 canon at the time when Howling Wolf had turned 
 back and scanned the horizon so eagerly. If" he 
 had seen them he would certainly not have ap- 
 proached any nearer, but he would have been
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 75 
 
 filled with apprehensions as to the fate of his be- 
 loved pony. 
 
 The party moved along the canon filled with 
 wonder and delight at the great castle. They 
 camped within its chambers and spent the next 
 day excavating and making discoveries, taking pho- 
 tographs and gathering curiosities. The learned 
 Professor found some rude drawings which Howl- 
 ing Wolf had made on one of the walls with bits 
 of colored chalk and he immediately drew up a 
 theory of the worship of the ancient Tollecs there- 
 from. As ponies predominated in these drawings, 
 he inferred that the horse was a sacred animal 
 with the cliff-dwellers, especially blue horses with 
 green tails and pink ones with lavender spots. He 
 also found hoof-marks on the floor, which con- 
 vinced him that horses were anciently kept in the 
 castle. But most startling discovery of all, as he 
 was peering over the brink of a precipice he heard 
 a live horse neigh. The Professor sprang back so 
 suddenly that he precipitated his spectacles into 
 the abyss. The Captain drew his revolver and 
 the Lieutenant looked troubled.
 
 76 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " I would not have believed it possible," mur- 
 mured the Professor. "I have positive proofs 
 that this castle was built before the reign of 
 Thothmes in. of Egypt, by the same workmen 
 who constructed the great Theban pyramid about 
 the year 3000 B. c. Now I had no idea that a 
 horse could live so long." 
 
 "Nonsense," interrupted the Lieutenant. "I, 
 too, heard it neigh. But it is probably some wild 
 mustang which has strayed into the vaults through 
 some opening lower down. Light lanterns, some 
 of you, and lower me into the cavern." 
 
 " Wait," ordered the Captain, " until we have 
 fired several volleys into this trap. It may be full 
 of skulking Injuns." 
 
 But the volleys were not fired. Large fire- 
 brands were brought to illuminate the interior, 
 and they showed the pony standing alone. 
 
 "By all that's marvellous!" exclaimed the Cap- 
 tain. " It's the Enchanted Pony ! " 
 
 " Enchanted indeed ! " replied the Lieutenant ; 
 " how did he get there ? and where is his little 
 master ? "
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 77 
 
 " He fell in don't you see there's been a land- 
 slide or something ? Most likely the boy's buried 
 under the ruins." 
 
 The Captain had hardly spoken when the Lieu- 
 tenant gave one leap to the bottom of the cellar. 
 " Give me the pickaxe ! " he cried ; and seizing it 
 he fell to work with the force of a giant. The 
 others helped him, the Lieutenant urging them on, 
 entreating them to dig more carefully. It was a 
 long time before he would be convinced that the 
 body of the gentle boy was not there. But at last 
 he desisted. The final shovelful of crumbled ma- 
 sonry had been removed ; only the hard floor 
 remained, and no traces of Howling Wolf had 
 been found. 
 
 Meantime the Captain had examined the pony, 
 and to his delight found him entirely sound. " I 
 am in luck this time," he exclaimed, "and now I 
 should like to see the rascally young horse-thief 
 steal it from me again." 
 
 "There might be two opinions as to who is the 
 horse-thief," the Lieutenant thought, but he for- 
 bore expressing his opinion as he did not care to
 
 78 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 quarrel with the Captain. An inclined plane was 
 constructed and the pretty animal led out of the 
 pit. He shook himself with a joyful neigh and 
 proclaimed himself " all right." As the party re- 
 turned to the fort Indian stories were told by 
 more than one wild scampers over the prairie, 
 hair-breadth escapes and terrible massacres. 
 
 " I'll say this for the Injuns though," said a 
 guide, " I never knew of their cutting up 'thout 
 somebody had first served them a mean trick. 
 They seem to have a law a life for a life. If a 
 fellow is careless and kills one of them they come 
 down mighty disagreeable on some one else ; and 
 it don't matter whether it's the party that was on 
 the shoot or not." 
 
 "They never can be civilized," said another. 
 "Just look at these Utes, all the Government's 
 done for 'em ; built them a schoolhouse with nice 
 desks and they are not the least bit better." 
 
 " Yes," replied the Lieutenant bitterly, " I saw 
 the schoolhouse when I was on the Reservation, 
 and the agent told me he had petitioned for a 
 teacher repeatedly without success. There stands
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 79 
 
 the schoolhouse, and the Indian children look 
 at it with wondering eyes, but no one is sent to 
 teach them." 
 
 "Well, 'twouldn't be no use if a teacher were 
 sent. No matter what you teach 'em they all 
 drift back to barbarism. There was Chipeta the 
 wife of their great chief Ouray. She had as pretty 
 a house as a white man, all painted up and fur- 
 nished, and an orchard of fruit-trees ; but when 
 her husband died she just took to her tepee and 
 blanket like all the rest of the wandering gang." 
 
 " Hold on," exclaimed Captain Hodge, " I'm no 
 friend of the Utes, but I'm bound to deny this 
 story whenever I hear it, and I'm always hearing 
 it. The Government moved the tribe as it does 
 about every five years, just gave them a chance to 
 improve their lands and then ousted them. Chipeta 
 begged hard for her home, said she would stay 
 and live with the white people and let her tribe 
 go. But the Government sold it over her head 
 and turned her out of doors. It was rather hard 
 lines, but then she was only a squaw, you know. 
 They wouldn't have done it if her husband had
 
 So HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 been alive, for he was the best chief the Utes ever 
 had and kept the unruly tribe friendly to us." 
 
 The Lieutenant made a gesture of disgust : 
 " Such deeds on the part of our Government 
 make me ashamed of my uniform." 
 
 "Oh! that's nothing," said the guide; "but 
 there was one thing which I saw happen which I 
 do call kind o' mean. Our troops had surrounded 
 a party of Injuns and we were thinning them out 
 pretty lively, when they sent out a little girl with a 
 flag of truce. Well, sir, they shot the child through 
 the head and she fell dead on her flag. Somehow 
 it seemed to me as if that wasn't exactly civilized 
 war, but I dunno as any kind of war is." 
 
 " Better change the subject," growled the Cap- 
 tain, " if we go to. fishing up stories of when we 
 haven't dealt just on the square there'll be no 
 end of them. But I tell you you can't fight Injuns 
 as you would human beings you might as well 
 be a missionary at once." 
 
 The Lieutenant bit his lip and they rode on in 
 silence. The pony trudged very unwillingly, with 
 many a longing look to the southward, and yet he
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 8 1 
 
 was going toward his own pasture-grounds. The 
 Captain was finally convinced that he had been 
 lamed in his fall into the estufa, for he limped 
 along in a particularly ungainly and painful manner. 
 
 They camped that night on the San Juan, for 
 their march had been hindered by the pony, and 
 they reached it too late for fording. The Captain 
 hobbled the animal with his own hands and turned 
 him loose with the other horses. " This is as safe 
 a position against surprise by Indians as we could 
 have chosen," he remarked as he wrapped his 
 blanket about him, " the river protects us from 
 attack on one side and that low line of bluffs from 
 discovery on the other, while our horses grazing 
 along between the two, can not wander away in 
 either direction." He loaded his carbine and 
 placed it beside his head. " If that little scamp 
 of a Ute shows his head," he muttered, " I will 
 shoot him like a dog." 
 
 Howling Wolf never knew how long he wan- 
 dered on. His corn and water gave out and he 
 found no food to take its place. He was racked 
 by chills by night, and overhead all day rolled the
 
 82 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 great unpitying sun, and still he came to no hu- 
 man habitations or saw a single human being. 
 Still he staggered on, on, thinking only of his 
 pony, wondering whether he had eaten all his 
 corn or had had the sagacity to save a part. To- 
 ward the last he suspected that he was going 
 around in a circle, and sank upon the ground 
 spent with fatigue and hunger, and suffering ago- 
 nies of thirst. He raised himself upon his elbow 
 and looked around. Still the lonely waste. Yes, 
 it was true he was dying all alone and the Medi- 
 cine which should bring happiness to the Utes 
 would never be found. His head fell upon his 
 arm and two great tears scorched his copper 
 cheeks. He was Howling Wolf still, and would 
 never earn the name of a warrior. 
 
 At that instant he heard a gentle sigh some 
 one's breath was on his cheek, and a pair of soft 
 lips touched his neck. He looked up ; two great 
 longing eyes were looking into his own, and stand- 
 ing over him so that his own body sheltered him 
 from the sun stood the Enchanted Pony. 
 
 We are already acquainted with the pony's ex-
 
 THE HAUNTED CASTLE. 83 
 
 pertness at untying knots. Down by the San Juan 
 that night, it was the work of but a few moments 
 for the cunning creature to nibble himself loose 
 and then the halt with which he had been af- 
 flicted disappeared as if by magic. It would have 
 astonished the Captain could he have seen the 
 little Indian horse roll in the dust, then shake 
 himself and scour away over the bluff straight 
 toward the south. Was it some magical instinct 
 that guided him, some second-sight or exquisite 
 scent, keener than that of a hound, that he fol- 
 lowed the invisible foot-prints of his little master 
 so exactly, and stood at last above him with 
 an almost human compassion in his troubled 
 eyes? 
 
 Howling Wolf tried to raise himself. But he 
 sank back with a sharp pain in his head and back. 
 The pony seemed to understand. He knelt be- 
 side him as a camel might have done. The lad 
 twined his arms about his neck, but he was too 
 weak to mount the pony even in its kneeling pos- 
 ture. The animal whinnied in a mournful way, 
 but the exertion had been too much, the boy's
 
 84 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 hands relaxed their grasp upon his mane and an 
 ashen look came into his face. 
 
 The pony got upon his feet, gazed at him a mo- 
 ment, and then fled like a demented creature 
 across the level prairie.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 
 
 THE pony had not deserted Howling Wolf 
 when he left him lying alone upon the prai- 
 rie. A mile or two away he had passed this morn- 
 ing a black-faced sheep. In some mysterious way 
 the pony now remembered it and knew that this 
 was a domestic animal and that human beings were 
 not far away. He found the sheep again and pro- 
 ceeded to worry her by nipping and twitching her 
 wool. The sheep very properly resented such treat- 
 ment. She was very nearly as agile as a Rocky 
 Mountain goat, and she lifted up her voice and heels 
 with one accord. How she scampered over the prai- 
 rie and the pony after her, sure at heart that she 
 would lead him to some one who could help his lit- 
 tle master. Around a sandy butte frisked the nim- 
 ble sheep, and close at her heels cantered the pony. 
 
 85
 
 86 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 There watching her flock stood a young Navajo 
 shepherdess, a most picturesque little figure in a 
 pink calico dress over which were belted two bright- 
 colored shawls, secured at the shoulders by silver 
 brooches hammered from trade dollars. Her belt 
 was very wide and handsome, woven in gay stripes. 
 Her hair floated in the wind quite over her face 
 apparently it shaded her from the sun and she liked 
 it. She parted it now however with both hands, 
 and gazed at the pony in wide-eyed surprise. 
 Then, as she took in his good points, she plainly 
 became possessed with a longing to secure and own 
 the animal. 
 
 She approached him very cautiously. But just as 
 she was about to snatch the bridle the pony dashed 
 to a little distance and stood looking at her from the 
 other side of the butte. 
 
 The little shepherdess did not give up the chase 
 so easily. She stole cautiously near the animal 
 only to be served in the same manner. In this 
 fashion the pony lured her on further and further, 
 until, mindful of her flock, the girl much disap- 
 pointed was returning to her charge, when she
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 89 
 
 heard the pony trotting behind her. The animal 
 which had seemed so shy now followed her in the 
 most docile manner, and even allowed her to pat 
 his neck. A wild desire to ride the pony again 
 seized upon the girl. The pretty Mexican saddle 
 which had once been Howling Wolf's was no longer 
 on the creature, but the little shepherdess was ac- 
 customed to bareback riding. She easily mounted, 
 and the pony seemed willing to have her do so. 
 
 But once seated his gentle mood changed and 
 he scoured away across the prairie as though sud- 
 denly gone wild. The Indian girl, though a brave 
 one, was frightened. It was less dangerous as well 
 as less difficult to keep her seat than to dismount, 
 and she held on for dear life, hoping that the pony 
 would presently slacken his pace and give her an 
 opportunity to alight. But this he did not do, until 
 he reached his little master. 
 
 When the girl saw the unconscious boy she was 
 touched with pity as well as curiosity. She saw by 
 his deerskin clothing so richly beaded that he did 
 not belong to her own tribe, but, good Samaritan 
 that she was, this did not matter. An old battered
 
 go HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 army-canteen, containing water, hung from her 
 shoulder and she at once knelt and poured a few 
 drops between his set .teeth, bathing his face, all 
 the while making caressing little noises which were 
 hardly words. 
 
 Slowly, painfully, Howling Wolf came back again 
 to life. He looked wonderingly into the kind face. 
 " I am, E-ah-te-ne-al, the West Wind," she said ; and 
 Howling Wolf who knew a little of the Navajo lan- 
 guage smiled contentedly. The pony came near 
 intelligently and crouched again and W 7 est Wind 
 lifted Howling Wolf upon his back, seating herself 
 behind the boy, and supporting him in her arms 
 while she held the reins. The pony allowed him- 
 self to be guided, and leaving her sheep, to care for 
 themselves, West Wind set out straight for home. 
 
 It was a poor enough home only a " hogan," 
 as the Navajoes call their hovels, partly dugout 
 and partly booth. It backed against a low hill 
 into which a cave had been dug, and its entrance 
 consisted of two upright stakes on which a cross- 
 beam had been placed, while the space between 
 the doorway and the cave was thatched with
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 91 
 
 boughs. Still, rude as it was, it was yet a settled 
 dwelling not to be moved from one pasturage to 
 another like the tepees of the Utes. Howling 
 Wolf, as he lay on a sheepskin, looked about at 
 the miscellaneous articles which its Navajo owner 
 had obtained from the whites, or which he had 
 manufactured by his own ingenuity, with a feeling 
 of intense respect for the opulent family to which 
 he was so kindly introduced. 
 
 West Wind's father was a blanket-weaver, and 
 was widely known for his original and fantastic 
 patterns and for his startling combinations of 
 color. His blankets were so closely woven too 
 that they would hold water, and were always in 
 demand at a good price at the Agency. He had 
 even received as high as a hundred dollars for a 
 blanket, but this was for a large one on which he 
 had patiently toiled for an entire winter. 
 
 He had dropped his shuttle upon his knees and 
 looked up with mild surprise when he saw his 
 daughter before the door of the hogan on the 
 back of a strange pony, accompanied by a strange 
 lad. The dog had sprung out from behind the
 
 92 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONV. 
 
 loom, and a pet fox from its couch on the meal 
 bag. The mother had dropped the lid of the ket- 
 tle which, propped on a few stones above a smoky 
 
 THE BLANKET WEAVER. 
 
 fire, contained their dinner of boiled corn. Two 
 young men of nineteen or twenty had risen from 
 some unseen corner. All had been eager inquiry 
 and confusion. At length West Wind had been
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 93 
 
 allowed to explain how she had found Howling 
 Wolf, whereupon the Blanket Weaver proceeded to 
 unroll the family bedding, which had served him 
 for a seat, and had laid Howling Wolf gently on it. 
 
 " There are not so many of the children now," 
 he said to his wife ; " one more will not make any 
 difference." 
 
 " Not while the harvest lasts," she replied, nod- 
 ding kindly ; " there is plenty of corn for the pres- 
 ent and when there is nothing more to give he will 
 not care to stay." 
 
 They fed him and his pony with gentle hospital- 
 ity and Howling Wolf soon grew to love the trust- 
 ful family who took him so unquestioningly into 
 their hearts and home. 
 
 He often passed the day with West Wind while 
 she herded her sheep. It cannot be said that he 
 tried to be of any assistance to her that is not 
 in the wild Indian nature of things. He simply 
 lay on the grass with his hands above his head 
 watching her while she scampered about after her 
 charges or sat and told him stories. Howling 
 Wolf very soon found that young West Wind was
 
 94 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 quite as good a story-teller as Grandmother Two 
 Tongues, and he kept her busy day after day recit- 
 ing the legends of her people. 
 
 "You have a funny name," he said one day. 
 " Why did they call you that ? Is it because you 
 are always flying about ? " 
 
 The girl laughed. " Have you never heard the 
 story of the West Wind ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," replied the boy. " I only know it blows 
 every afternoon, but I don't know where it comes 
 from or where it is going. Tell me all you know." 
 
 "The first E-ah-te-ne-al," said the girl, "was a 
 beautiful Navajo maiden who lived long, long ago, 
 and she was carried away to the west by robber- 
 tribes, some say by evil spirits. Her lover Jehu- 
 miah, the sun, mounts every day one of his herd of 
 white ponies, that we call clouds, and carrying his 
 blazing shield upon his arm, rides into the west in 
 search of her. But he never finds her. So he 
 comes back at night and sleeps in his underground 
 hogan, and sets off afresh every morning to seek for 
 her again." 
 
 " He must be very stupid," said Howling Wolf.
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 95 
 
 " Now if / were in search of you I would find you 
 right away. It must be that his cloud-ponies are 
 not as good as mine. I don't think much of that 
 story." 
 
 " O, that is not all," said the girl, with a little 
 toss of her black-tressed head. " Though the 
 maiden may not be released, her spirit comes 
 every afternoon to visit her home, and she strokes 
 the faces of her friends, and whispers messages in 
 their ears." 
 
 " That is some better," said Howling Wolf. " I 
 should like that. Do you know I thought you 
 were a spirit when you stroked my face on the 
 prairie ? " 
 
 Sometimes, instead of going out with West Wind, 
 Howling Wolf would follow her brothers to the corn- 
 field. What surprised him most was that they were 
 always busy. That West Wind should herd the 
 sheep, and the mother mind the house was not so 
 strange to him. Among his own people the 
 women were always industrious and he knew too 
 that West Wind owned the sheep herself. But 
 that the boys, Tomas and Manuelito, who among
 
 g6 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 the wilder Utes would have scorned any other 
 labor than hunting, should every morning shoulder 
 clumsy scythes and hoes and trudge away to fields 
 which even a New England farmer would have 
 thought incapable of cultivation was surprising. 
 
 There was a little water here so strongly tinged 
 with alkali that his pony at first refused to drink 
 it. The stream had cut itself a canon in the sand 
 and had sunk several feet below the level of the 
 cornfield, but the boys had with great pains and 
 labor built a dam which had raised the water to 
 the surface, and had constructed little " acequias" 
 or irrigating canals, down the middle of their corn- 
 field, which caused their small ranche to look like 
 a green oasis in the desert. But the spectacle of 
 young braves submitting to such drudgery greatly 
 shocked Howling Wolf. He munched the corn 
 given him, and looked on wonderingly. He did 
 not offer to lend a hand. 
 
 He was more interested in the work of the 
 Blanket Weaver. He watched him spinning his 
 wool, preparing his dyes mysterious concoctions 
 of barks or earths, but which kept their color much
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 97 
 
 better than the aniline dyes sold at the Agency. 
 He soon begged for some of the colors to touch 
 up his frescoed person, and to tint the feathers of 
 some arrows which he was making. Still the boy 
 felt that it was not good form to show too much 
 interest, and he repressed all admiration and as- 
 tonishment under a demeanor of lofty indifference 
 especially when in the presence of the Blanket 
 Weaver and his sons. 
 
 With West Wind his curiosity expressed itself in 
 a thousand questions. What was the use of each 
 of these articles with which the hogan was fes- 
 tooned ? and where were they obtained ? Well, 
 that worn-out pair of boots one of the boys had re- 
 ceived in trade for a pony from a railroad surveyor. 
 That box of baking powder her mother had bought 
 at the Agency store paying for it with a pair of 
 turquoise ear-rings. The stirrups, the two tin pails 
 and the canteen, her father had received in exchange 
 from an army sutler for one of his blankets. Those 
 baskets were woven by the Moqui Indians away to 
 the south, that pottery made by the Pueblos. So 
 said West Wind.
 
 98 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " Do other Indians work beside yourselves ? " 
 Howling Wolf asked in amazement. 
 
 West Wind laughed merrily : " Of course. How 
 else could we live ? " 
 
 " Does not the Government issue you rations ? " 
 asked the boy. 
 
 " No what are ' rations ? ' ' 
 
 Howling Wolf explained the way in which the 
 Utes were herded and fed in idleness. 
 
 "I have heard," said West Wind, "that the 
 Apaches are supported by the Government. But 
 they are bad Indians. We Navajoes are not like 
 them." 
 
 " That is the very reason," replied the boy as- 
 tutely. " If you would go on the war-path the 
 Government would buy you off. You are too 
 good and too peaceable." 
 
 The idea seemed to strike West Wind favorably, 
 and she talked the war-path idea over that evening 
 with her father and the boys. But the Blanket 
 Weaver shook his head. " That is not like the 
 Navajoes," he said. 
 
 " No," replied Tomas " I would like to steal a
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 99 
 
 mule if I had a chance, as it is rather hard plough- 
 ing oneself with no beast, but I could not kill any 
 one no, not even the storekeeper at Wild Cat, 
 who is the worst man I know." 
 
 " Could you kill any one ? " asked West Wind, 
 looking into Howling Wolf's gentle face. 
 
 The boy burst into tears. " No," he replied, 
 " I am only a baby. I am afraid I never shall be 
 a warrior. But perhaps when I am a big man, if I 
 shut my eyes very tight and ride very fast I could 
 shoot at some one. I am going to try." 
 
 " No," grumbled the Blanket Weaver, " the Nav- 
 ajoes tried fighting the white people long ago and 
 were soundly whipped ; they know now that fight- 
 ing is of no use. They know enough now to follow 
 the white man's road it is the best Medicine for 
 bringing luck." 
 
 It was the first time that a Medicine had been 
 mentioned, and Howling Wolf started. Was it 
 possible that these Navajoes had the Lost Medi- 
 cine of the Utes ? 
 
 He said nothing, but determined to watch more 
 closely and question the use of every article which
 
 100 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 he saw. It was not long before he ascertained 
 that there really was something which the Blanket 
 Weaver held very precious secreted in a hole in 
 the ground at the end of the hogan. He saw him 
 dig it up one night when the old man thought all 
 his family were asleep, hug and fondle it when he 
 found it safe, and then bury it once more. 
 
 The next morning he asked West Wind if she knew 
 of this mysterious object. She told him that it was 
 " a Medicine " obtained at a great price from the 
 white men by means of which they kept their home 
 and had been prospered. 
 
 This was great news for Howling Wolf. He 
 determined to possess himself of this object ; a de- 
 termination not so very easy to carry out since the 
 Blanket Weaver was nearly always in the hogan. 
 
 Now the real history of the " Medicine " was 
 this : A year before, two white men had come to 
 the hogan. One was a surveyor, the other the 
 man who kept the store at Wild Cat. They ad- 
 mired the industry and ingenuity which had irri- 
 gated the little ranche. " If the old man only 
 knew it," said the storekeeper to his companion,
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. IOI 
 
 "he could with a little simple machinery water a 
 vast tract of land here and have a superb ranche. 
 It's just as well not to tell him. He knows too 
 much already." 
 
 The two men accepted the hospitality of the 
 simple Blanket Weaver, looked at his work and 
 strolled about his place. Finally the surveyor, 
 who had been making measurements, came to him 
 with the startling information that his ranche was 
 fully a mile outside the limits of the Navajo Res- 
 ervation. " You will have to up stakes, my friend," 
 he said. " Any white squatter could pre-empt this 
 claim and drive you out. You have no right 
 here." 
 
 The Blanket Weaver was much troubled. " Is 
 there no way," he asked, " for me to 'pre-empt ' it 
 as you say ? Can I not buy it of the Father at 
 Washington so no settler could take it from me ? " 
 
 The storekeeper looked at the surveyor signifi- 
 cantly. The man instantly took the hint. " I 
 could arrange it for a white man," he said. " These 
 are free lands for any one to take up, but for an In- 
 dian it will be difficult. I never heard of an Indian
 
 102 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 owning land personally, even on his own Reserva- 
 tion." 
 
 "I will pay you," pleaded the Blanket Weaver. 
 "I will pay you well." 
 
 " Then," said the surveyor, "bring me two hun- 
 dred dollars some day to my office at Wild Cat and 
 I will fix it all right for you." 
 
 Two hundred dollars was a great sum for the 
 poor Indian. He had one hundred which he had 
 obtained for the beautiful blanket on which he had 
 worked the entire winter. A wealthy lady, the wife 
 of a Senator, had visited the Navajo agency and 
 had expressed a desire for a blanket of a certain 
 size and pattern as a portiere for an Indian room 
 in her new house in Washington. The Agent had 
 sent for the Blanket Weaver and he had taken her 
 order, had executed it very faithfully and had re- 
 cently received the money. He had felt very rich 
 and now it must all go and more too. Still to 
 what better use could it be put than to secure 
 their home ? He had a small herd of ponies with 
 which the boys had hitherto conducted the farm- 
 work and carried their produce to market. There
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 103 
 
 was nothing else which he could part with, for the 
 women of his family would wish to keep the sheep 
 for their wool, and for the mutton needed for the 
 subsistence of the family during the winter. He 
 drove the ponies to Wild Cat and sold them at 
 auction. They brought only sixty dollars. Then 
 he went to see the surveyor and offered him all he 
 had for a deed which should secure him his ranche. 
 The man was very unwilling at first to accept less 
 than the full two hundred dollars, but at length 
 agreed to take the one hundred and sixty if the 
 Blanket Weaver would make him a blanket as 
 handsome as the one which he had sold to the 
 Senator's wife. Greatly delighted, the old man re- 
 turned with the precious paper, and wrapping it 
 carefully, buried it in his hogan. For another 
 winter he toiled at his loom and delivered the 
 blanket to the surveyor. The man was surprised 
 at its beauty, and evidently conscience-stricken, for 
 he gave the weaver a five dollar gold-piece, with 
 which the poor man returned home overjoyed at 
 the unexpected generosity. 
 
 He was happy indeed, for now no one could
 
 104 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 take away his home. Nearly every night he ex- 
 humed the precious " Medicine," and prayed to it, 
 or rather through it to the Being who had granted 
 him this great blessing. 
 
 The longer Howling Wolf lived with this happy 
 family, the more he saw of their contentment and 
 what seemed to him great wealth, the more certain 
 he became that this could only have been accom- 
 plished by magical means. Indeed West Wind 
 had admitted as much. This object to which the 
 old man prayed, which he hugged each night with 
 such love and gratitude, which had brought him so 
 much happiness and prosperity what could it be 
 but the Lost Medicine of his own tribe of which 
 he was in search ? 
 
 He watched his opportunity, and one day the old 
 man set out for Wild Cat to sell a couple of saddle- 
 cloths which he had lately finished. Howling Wolf 
 lent him his pony for the trip, glad to do anything 
 to secure his absence. West Wind asked him to 
 come with her and watch the sheep, but he refused. 
 Her mother took down the two tin pails and an- 
 nounced that she was going up the canon to gather
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 105 
 
 some wild plums, and she also invited their young 
 Ute guest to accompany her. This invitation 
 Howling Wolf did not dare to decline, but he man- 
 aged after an hour to become separated from her 
 and to hurry back to the hogan. 
 
 It was quite deserted and open. With trembling 
 hands he dug in the well-known spot and unearthed 
 the treasure. He unwound the wrappings of deer- 
 skin tied with thongs of sinews, and disclosed a 
 large paper ornamented with a picture of Indians 
 shooting buffalo, and some strange lines and char- 
 acters variously colored. 
 
 This paper he wrapped very closely around his 
 left thigh inside his deerskin legging, and expedi- 
 tiously tied up the packet exactly as before and 
 buried it again with great care and much haste. 
 
 Then for the first time he hesitated. He had 
 always been taught that it was right and commend- 
 able to steal from any one outside his own tribe. 
 But the Blanket Weaver had been as kind to him 
 as a father and W 7 est Wind was she not dearer 
 to him than his own sisters ? West Wind had 
 saved his life. He thought of how she brought
 
 106 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 him to the hogan with his languid head lying on 
 her shoulder and her strong arms about him. 
 They had been good to the pony too. He had 
 grown fat and lazy on their corn. Could he do 
 this thing to his kind benefactors ? 
 
 Then he thought of his own home, of its filth and 
 misery, of how they gorged themselves when the 
 rations were issued, and starved until they came 
 again. He thought of his father drunk half the 
 time and lazy always, of his mother overworked 
 and always tired, of Grandmother Two Tongue's 
 stories, of their lost happiness and how he who re- 
 stored it should be a prince among his people. 
 His eyes kindled. The Blanket Weaver had had 
 their talisman long enough. It had brought him 
 good fortune, now surely it was the turn of the 
 poor Utes to whom it rightfully belonged. He 
 would carry it away, and then, when chief of his 
 tribe, he would return Howling Wolf no longer, 
 but with some honorable name, and claim West 
 Wind as his bride, and bear her away to share his 
 fortune. 
 
 The lad hurried from the hogan impatient to be
 
 THE NAVAJO BLANKET WEAVER. 107 
 
 gone. He placed the arrows which he had made 
 in the corner which held West Wind's belongings. 
 They were the only things he could leave her. He 
 took a few ears of corn for his journey, and then 
 he thought of his pony.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 
 
 HOWLING WOLF felt that he could not go 
 away, even with the precious Medicine, 
 without his beloved pony. He would have left 
 the talisman with all its unknown possibilities, had 
 he been obliged to choose between the two. As 
 it was he slunk away into the cornfield, and hid, 
 awaiting the return of the Blanket Weaver. He 
 did not ask himself why he stole away here like a 
 guilty creature, when he might have met the un- 
 suspecting man face to face without fear of detec- 
 tion. Even his rudimentary bit of a conscience 
 told him he had done a dishonorable thing, and 
 like Adam in the garden he went and hid himself. 
 The long leaves of the corn rustled gently and 
 filled him with continual apprehension. Presently 
 something hurried through the field just beyond 
 108
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 109 
 
 him. He dodged back at first, then, seeing that 
 it was some wild creature, shot an arrow and 
 bounded after it. It was a little brown fowl which 
 uttered a plaintive cry and fluttered, wounded, to 
 a short distance. The boy easily secured it, and 
 sure that it was not teal or grouse, snipe or quail, 
 stood wondering what manner of bird this might 
 be, when he was startled by a louder rustling; the 
 green masts with their drooping pennons swayed 
 aside, and West Wind stood under the plumed 
 and tasselled archway. 
 
 "You have shot a little sage-hen," she cried. 
 " I have never before known one to wander into 
 our country. They belong in the desolate Moquis 
 lands. They are uncanny little creatures and haunt 
 the clumps of sage-brush. Their movements are 
 odd and shy, and they cry like a lost pappoose. 
 The Moquis have a legend about them. But 
 father will soon return and the corn is cooked. 
 Let us go to our supper." 
 
 " Stay awhile and tell me the legend first," said 
 Howling Wolf, anxious to avail himself of any pre- 
 text to avoid meeting the Blanket Weaver.
 
 110 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 "The Moquis live in towns on high cliffs, which 
 overlook a waste and barren country," said West 
 Wind. "They are poor now, but they say that 
 once, centuries ago, they were a powerful people. 
 At that time they made war upon a wealthy West- 
 ern tribe and captured Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah, the 
 daughter of the chief. The sorcerer of her peo- 
 ple, gathering the necessary herbs and reptiles, 
 transformed the princess in her captivity into a 
 sage-hen. The Moquis found that their prisoner 
 had vanished, notwithstanding their constant watch. 
 A 'strange bird had appeared in her place which 
 so wearied them by its constant cries that they 
 set it free. It was a prisoner still, however, being 
 unable to leave the land of the Moquis, where it 
 wanders timid and sad to this clay. 
 
 " Sometimes the traveller hears its piteous call 
 from the sage-brush, and if he pauses it will fly to 
 his saddle-bow and journey with him for a little 
 distance. But when the boundaries of Moquis 
 land are reached it is forced by some hidden power 
 to glide back to the cheerless sage-brush." 
 
 "I wonder what brought it from its prison-coun-
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. Ill 
 
 try to-day," Howling Wolf said. " I am sorry 
 that I killed it. Perhaps it was sent to me for 
 some special purpose." 
 
 West Wind examined the bird carefully. " It is 
 not dead," she said. " See, you have only broken 
 its wing. It closed its eyes because it was afraid. 
 I will take it to the hogan, and we will nurse it 
 until it is well." 
 
 Howling Wolf followed her reluctantly. It 
 seemed to him that every one must know that he 
 had stolen the Medicine from his benefactor. He 
 stopped outside and patted his pony, and saw to 
 his surprise that the animal had been ridden hard. 
 He was reeking with sweat and trembling in every 
 limb ; it would not do for him to steal away at 
 moonrise as he had intended to do, for the pony 
 was in no condition for a long ride. 
 
 Then a sound of lamentation from the hogan 
 smote upon his ear. West Wind's mother was 
 beating her breast and tearing her hair, while the 
 Blanket Weaver sat on the ground in silent, stony 
 despair. Howling Wolf was sure at once that the 
 theft had been discovered. West Wind, who had
 
 112 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 sprung before him into the hogan presently re- 
 turned and explained the full cause of their 
 grief. 
 
 The Blanket Weaver on his way to town had 
 discovered a cabin built on a corner of his land. 
 The circumstance had not troubled him at first, 
 for he imagined that some one had settled there 
 in ignorance of his ownership; but when he 
 reached Wild Cat and found that the surveyor, in 
 whom he had confided for his right to his claim, 
 had left the town, and that in his place was a 
 strange land-agent, he began to be uneasy. This 
 uneasiness deepened into the wildest alarm when 
 the store-keeper told him that some unknown par- 
 ties had " squatted " upon his claim and that he 
 advised him as a friend to move quietly away and 
 not to make trouble. 
 
 This the Blanket Weaver was not willing to do. 
 He called on the strange land-agent and stated 
 his case. The man seemed friendly enough, but 
 he shook his head gravely. He did not think the 
 surveyor had any right to give him a deed to the 
 land. Still it might be all right and he would like
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 113 
 
 to see the paper which the Blanket Weaver 
 promised to bring on the next day. 
 
 Just before leaving he had asked the name of 
 the settler who had preempted his claim, and was 
 thunderstruck to ascertain that it was the store- 
 keeper himself. He had ridden home in haste 
 and had hastened to take from its place of con- 
 cealment the powerful Medicine which would pro- 
 tect them from all evil. He did not undo the 
 package to see if the paper was still there, but 
 contented himself with caressing and fondling it. 
 
 Howling Wolf saw him confidingly praying, 
 soothing his perturbed spirit, with child-like faith, 
 and his heart misgave him. Should he let him 
 carry the empty wrappings to the office and receive 
 the great blow which would surely come ? One 
 glance at the distracted family and the smitten 
 man was enough for Howling Wolf. He believed 
 all the more firmly in the efficacy of the Medicine 
 now that he saw what calamity had come upon the 
 family with its- loss, but he could not be responsi- 
 ble for all this misery, no, not if his tribe remained 
 forever in wretchedness.
 
 114 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 He tore the paper from its hiding-place and 
 gave it to the old man while great sweat-drops of 
 excitement gathered on his brow. The wife of 
 the Blanket Weaver drove the boy indignantly 
 from the hogan, and he threw himself supperless 
 on the ground beside his pony only waiting for the 
 animal to rest to go away. 
 
 It was hard to be cut off thus when he had per- 
 formed the most noble act of his life. Howling 
 Wolf's heart was filled with bitterness and an evil 
 spirit stirred within him, when suddenly West 
 Wind stood before him. Her eyes were full of 
 tears and great drops glistened on her cheeks in 
 the moonlight. She took his hand, but said noth- 
 ing, though her silence was eloquent with thanks 
 and pleading. 
 
 "I must go," Howling Wolf said at last. "You 
 have been very kind to me. Good-by." 
 
 " Do not forsake us," West Wind cried. " Some- 
 thing tells me that our troubles have only begun. 
 Stay at least till father returns to-morrow from the 
 office and we know the truth." 
 
 At that moment the old man raised the blanket
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 115 
 
 which served the hogan as door and called .both 
 of the children to supper. West Wind looked at 
 Howling Wolf. It was the sign that he was for- 
 given. 
 
 " I will stay as long as I can help you," the boy 
 said. 
 
 The next day the Blanket Weaver set out again 
 for the town bearing with him the precious papers. 
 He rode Howling Wolf's pony and his sons, Toinas 
 and Manuelito, deeply interested, walked by his 
 side. In the afternoon the little party returned, 
 and there needed no word of explanation to tell 
 the disheartening result of their trip. The old 
 man's head was sunken upon his bosom and 
 wagged helplessly as his sons supported him. 
 The lustre and intelligence had gone out of his 
 eyes, with the heart-breaking information that the 
 Medicine in which he had trusted and for which 
 they had paid so dearly was only a railroad-map 
 worth absolutely nothing. The store-keeper's 
 claim had been made good according to law, they 
 were off their Reservation, and must leave their 
 improved land and journey away into the desert.
 
 Il6 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Fortunately the old Blanket Weaver could not 
 fully comprehend this. He still fondled his pre- 
 cious paper with childish confidence and allowed 
 himself to be put to bed without remark of any 
 kind. About midnight Howling Wolf was awak- 
 ened by the wailing of the Blanket Weaver's wife, 
 and he saw the sons bear the old man out of the 
 hogan and lay him with up-staring eyes in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 The Navajoes have a superstition that if a soul 
 passes from the body within a house it can never 
 free itself; but will continue to haunt the building 
 until its walls are burned. To escape this calamity, 
 the boys, who believed their father was dying, 
 were carrying him out under the sky. Attracted 
 by a horrible fascination, Howling Wolf drew near. 
 The fresh air revived the Blanket Weaver, who 
 was only in a fit. West Wind lay across his feet 
 in silent grief, and the boy shook her, saying, " I 
 do not think he is dying, I will bring hot stones 
 from the hogan. Rub his hands. I believe we 
 can save him." 
 
 The two children worked with a will, and West
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 119 
 
 Wind's mother seeing what they were doing joined 
 them. The shock had been a great one ; but 
 thanks to Howling Wolf's energetic action the 
 old man did not die. He was much shaken, how- 
 ever, both in mind and body. He could no longer 
 sit at his loom, and was only happy when hugging 
 the Medicine, and mumbling to it his prayers of 
 thankfulness. Only Howling Wolf could rouse 
 him from his stupor ; and the family having taken 
 him back into their confidence he remained with 
 them in the sad, laborious days of moving. 
 
 With West Wind's approval the boys had ex- 
 changed half the sheep for a few burros or don- 
 keys. On these they piled their household effects, 
 and seated their father, mother and sister. They 
 left their half-ripened crops standing in the fields, 
 and the now useless loom in the hogan, and 
 trudged stolidly along, driving the remnant of 
 their flock while the tame fox trotted after them 
 with the dog, and West Wind carried the little 
 sage-hen in her bosom. 
 
 They journeyed to Fort Defiance, the Agency 
 of the Navajoes. Although they had suffered so
 
 120 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 much from the hands of white people the trustful 
 family did not blame the Great Father at Wash- 
 ington ; they were sure that he would have some- 
 thing for them to do. 
 
 And they were right. The agent heard their 
 story sadly. " There is nothing for you to do but 
 to begin a new farm somewhere on the Reserva- 
 tion, and it is about as well fitted for farming pur- 
 poses as so many acres of clear sky. Stay," he 
 exclaimed, "it just happens that at this time there 
 is something else which the young men can do." 
 
 There was trouble with the Apaches, a regiment 
 hitherto stationed in Colorado had been changed 
 to the Department of New Mexico, and who but 
 Captain Hodge and the Lieutenant had been sent 
 to Fort Defiance to secure Navajo scouts ! 
 
 Tomas and Manuelito heard of this opportunity 
 for action, and joyfully offered themselves, first 
 building for their parents near the Agency a hogan 
 still more wretched than the one which they had 
 formerly occupied, having the sheep with them 
 and promising to bring back all their pay for their 
 support during the coming winter. The Govern-
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 121 
 
 ment had offered a premium on every Apache 
 scalp, and the feeling of Toinas and Manuelito 
 was that they would kill, kill, until they had 
 enough black locks to decorate many war-shirts, 
 and perhaps there might be one red strand among 
 them also ; for they would return by way of their 
 old home and the wicked store-keeper must look 
 out, for when their hearts were great with blood 
 and gunpowder, and government whiskey, they 
 might do great deeds. They did not tell this to 
 their parents, for they knew that they would disap- 
 prove ; but Howling Wolf heard it, and the plan did 
 not shock him so greatly as it ought to have done. 
 
 There was a war-dance outside the fort the night 
 before the scouts rode away. Some of the chiefs 
 of the tribe. Old Gandamoocha and Manuelito 
 for whom the younger of the boys was named were 
 there, and after the young braves had leaped about 
 the fire in their paint and feathers and had chanted 
 their hideous war-song, Chief Manuelito addressed 
 them. 
 
 " I am disheartened," he said. " I have tried 
 to follow the white man's road. I educated my
 
 122 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 two sons and they have died, and I am left a 
 blasted tree. The white men shove us on further 
 and further from poor lands to poorer. We are of 
 no use to them but to fight. The Apaches have 
 done us no wrong. Some of them have married 
 our sisters. It is no matter. We have had 
 wrongs and our hearts are sore; we must fight 
 some one. We are not strong enough to revenge 
 ourselves on those who have wronged us. We 
 will kill the Apaches instead and cool our anger 
 with blood. So we will die, but die warriors ! " 
 
 It was a strange speech, but it kindled the love 
 of fighting in Howling Wolf's soul. He would be 
 a warrior too, some day. He did not quite see 
 why one should kill the Apaches however, or ex- 
 pose oneself to be killed by them. It seemed to 
 him eminently more fitting to kill the store-keeper 
 who had taken away their home and unseated the 
 reason of the poor old Blanket Weaver. It was 
 all a wretched muddle to Howling Wolf. Perhaps 
 if he could have overheard a conversation between 
 the Captain and the Lieutenant he would have 
 understood the situation better.
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 123 
 
 The Lieutenant was happy and enthusiastic. 
 " This is always what I have contended should be 
 done," he said. "The Indians have made capital 
 soldiers. Colonel Cooke says that he raised a 
 company of Pueblos at Taos in one day, and effi- 
 cient fine fellows they were." 
 
 Captain Hodge shrugged his shoulders. " It is 
 the military policy to enlist them. The trouble is 
 that the best fighters are against us. I should like 
 to see you raise a company of Utes or Apaches. 
 These Navajoes are peaceful creatures ; no more 
 spirit than cattle, except when they are thoroughly 
 mad or drunk. But as I said before, it's policy to 
 stir them up. It's all nonsense trying to civilize 
 the Indians. What we want to do is to extermi- 
 nate them. We must exasperate the bad Indians 
 in order to make them go on the war-path, that we 
 may have an excuse to shoot them and then pay 
 the peaceable Indians to fight the war-like ones 
 that they too may be shot." 
 
 The Lieutenant drew himself up thoroughly in- 
 dignant. " I consider such sentiments unworthy 
 of your uniform," he said.
 
 J24 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 The Captain laughed. " Wait till the campaign 
 is over," he said. "I'll warrant you'll have trou- 
 ble enough with these Navajo scouts to change all 
 your skim-milk Eastern notions." 
 
 "We shall see," replied the Lieutenant warmly. 
 " There are two young men who have enlisted to- 
 day, sons of an old blanket-weaver, who have such 
 honest determined faces that I know I can trust 
 them. I stake my opinions on their conduct." 
 
 "And I foretell," replied the Captain scornfully, 
 "that those very chaps will fail you. Either they'll 
 desert like a couple of cowards at the first scent 
 of gunpowder, or they'll get wild with fighting and 
 go to murdering innocent settlers. Look out." 
 
 There was a school at the Agency, and West 
 Wind had decided to attend it during the coming 
 autumn and winter. She tried to persuade Howl- 
 ing Wolf to go with her, but now that the family 
 were settled the old idea of the Lost Medicine once 
 more held his mind in thrall. If he could only 
 find that, everything would be straightened out. 
 It was evident to him now that the paper in which 
 the old man so vainly trusted was not the Mecli-
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEN. 125 
 
 cine of the Utes. He confided the entire matter 
 to West Wind ; and asked her where he had best 
 seek for it. 
 
 "The Moquis have the most powerful Medicine 
 Men of any that I know," she said. "The priests 
 of the Snake Order make a poison-ointment which 
 our Navajo braves sometimes buy with which to 
 rub their arrow-points. Anyone wounded ever so 
 slightly by such an arrow will die in great agony 
 in a few days, the flesh falling from his bones while 
 he is yet living. Oh! they are powerful Medicine 
 Men, but very wicked. They have their great 
 Snake Dance in a few weeks in which all the 
 Moquis are turned into devils. Do not go to 
 them. Stay and go to school with me." 
 
 The boy's brow darkened. " I do not like to 
 live cooped up like the white people," he said. 
 " They are tame like the ox and the cow, but we 
 belong to the wild creatures the elk, the eagle 
 and the fox." 
 
 "But the wild creatures may be tamed," said 
 West Wind. " There is our fox ; he would not 
 leave us now, and look at the little sage-hen which
 
 126 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 you caught; her wing is healed, but she is con- 
 tented to stay." 
 
 "That is because you keep her in a box and 
 give her corn. Leave the door open over night, 
 and if she stays with you I also will stay and go 
 to the school." 
 
 With many misgivings West Wind tried the ex- 
 periment. She left the door of the cage slightly 
 ajar, but heaped plenty of corn within. The next 
 morning Howling Wolf rode up to the schoolhouse 
 door on his pony. 
 
 " Are we to have a new scholar ? " asked the 
 teacher, smiling. 
 
 "Ask her," Howling Wolf replied, pointing to 
 West Wind. The tears stood in the girl's eyes. 
 " The little sage-hen has gone to Moquis land," 
 she said ; " the enchantment was upon her, she 
 could not stay." 
 
 The boy gave a long wistful look at West Wind. 
 "The enchantment is upon me too," he said and 
 rode away. 
 
 Where should he go ? The scouts were break- 
 ing up their camp, in preparation to march. He
 
 THE LITTLE SAGE-HEM, 127 
 
 knew that he was too young to serve, but perhaps 
 the officers would let him go with West Wind's 
 brothers he could ride as fast and he would eat 
 very little. 
 
 From the head-quarters two officers were step- 
 ping down to their horses which orderlies held for 
 them. Orfe of the officers was quite short, and 
 round. He wore a great deal of gold on his uni- 
 form, and he had a loud, commanding voice. The 
 other officer was younger and slighter, and in- 
 stinctively Howling Wolf determined to ask him. 
 He circled once around the buildings to put his 
 pony to its best paces and then dashed up toward 
 head-quarters. The shorter and stouter man threw 
 up his hand with an oath and the younger man 
 joined in the exclamation: "The enchanted 
 pony ! " 
 
 The recognition was mutual. Quick as a flash 
 the pony's head was turned. With throbbing heart 
 the boy urged him away from the Post out over the 
 bluff and the level mesa. There was shouting and 
 pursuit for a little way, then the command were 
 ordered back.
 
 128 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 But Howling Wolf darted on and on away 
 from West Wind and the school, away to the west, 
 to the Moquis Land, away from the hated white 
 men and away if he had but known further 
 and still further from the Lost Medicine.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 
 
 THE Denver and Rio Grand railroad threads its 
 way through the most picturesque regions of 
 Colorado. In and out among awe-inspiring mount- 
 ain peaks, through stupendous canons, and by the 
 side of dizzy gorges this adventurous little railway 
 climbs or tunnels or zigzags. 
 
 A merry party from Washington had been play- 
 ing hide and seek for weeks with the great Colo- 
 rado mountains by following the windings of this 
 fascinating road. The party consisted of an old 
 Senator, his wife, and his daughter Helen, whose 
 clear eye took in the wonderful panorama of the 
 everlasting hills which " God ploughed one day 
 with an earthquake," with the deep solemnity of 
 an earnest soul, but whose quick sense of the 
 humorous gathered all the bits of fun in her way, 
 129
 
 130 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 and whose sparkling fancy was a continual delight 
 to all about her. They had passed through the 
 Black Canon by moonlight in an observation-car, 
 a thrilling experience. The cliffs towered on either 
 hand to a height of two and three thousand feet, 
 and were so near on one side that a hand stretched 
 from the car would have been torn from the body. 
 The black water dashed on the other side close 
 under the cars, and the trees were reflected in it as 
 from a Claude Lorraine glass. 
 
 " This is simply stupendous," said the Senator, 
 baring his head in the "pure emotion of astonish- 
 ment ; " " no other word expresses it." 
 
 "It reminds me of the Valley of the Shadow of 
 Death drawn by Gustave Dore," said the Senator's 
 wife. 
 
 In the centre of the canon rose a wonderful 
 pinnacle of pink stone the Currecanti Needle. 
 "They say," said a fellow-traveller, "that the 
 Utes used to have their council-fires on a shelf 
 part way up the rock. What a weird look it must 
 have had with the firelight flashing back from the 
 crags on the dancing red demons."
 
 THE ROYAL GORGE, ON THE DENVER AND RIO GRANDE R. R.
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 133 
 
 "The Utes?" Helen asked. "What Indians 
 are they ? " 
 
 "A mean set," replied the Colorado gentleman, 
 " though they do tell some decent things of their 
 former chief Ouray. All this land was in the pos- 
 session of the Utes, and when the mining fever 
 broke out the white population just turned crazy 
 and swarmed in upon them. The general then 
 in command here issued an order that the miners 
 shouldn't go a foot further without the permission 
 of the Utes, and things looked pretty threatening 
 when Ouray came forward, like a gentleman, and 
 bid the miners welcome. I don't know how true 
 it is, but he took our side at the time of the 
 Meeker Massacre, and threatened his men with 
 death if they did not submit. Then, too, he fed 
 many a starving miner, and on the whole I'm in- 
 clined to credit it. No one but a Ute would have 
 been such a fool." 
 
 " I wish I could see a Ute,'' said Helen. " What 
 you say interests me in them. Are there any 
 about here now ? " 
 
 " Bless you, no ! we have them pretty well cor-
 
 134 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 railed in the southern part of the State, and we are 
 in hopes soon to rid Colorado of them altogether. 
 They are a dirty, lazy, thievish set, my dear young 
 lady, and as soon as you see them, you will say 
 that the romance which you hear about them in the 
 East has no foundation whatever." 
 
 "Your friend, the Lieutenant, who is to meet us 
 at Manitou, has been stationed among the Utes," 
 said the Senator, " he can tell us about them." 
 
 This happened before Captain Hodge and the 
 Lieutenant had been transferred to the Depart- 
 ment of New Mexico, and so it chanced that the 
 two officers obtained a furlough and presented 
 themselves one evening at the Senator's camp just 
 above Manitou, one of the most charming mount- 
 ain resorts which the world has to offer. 
 
 It was ideal camping ; that old army cam- 
 paigner, Captain Hodge, was hardly willing to call 
 it by that name ; for the Senator had a log house 
 of two rooms built over a rollicking little brook, 
 crossed at the doorstep by a rustic bridge. There 
 were skins and rugs on the floor, lace curtains at 
 the windows, cord bedsteads, and a dressing-table
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 135 
 
 constructed of the packing box furbished out with 
 a ruffled muslin dress of Helen's. The cooking 
 department was an " A " tent stationed at a con- 
 venient distance, while another of similar make 
 was provided for their guests. But the charm of 
 the place was in the landscape. They were sur- 
 rounded by the mountains shouldering each other 
 away to where Pike's Peak, like the Veiled Prophet 
 of Kolahassan, kept his head shrouded in mystery. 
 Below them was Manitou with its villas and spring 
 houses, and Swiss chalets clinging to the mountain 
 side. Across the mesa, just out of sight, was Colo- 
 rado Spring with its busy life, while above and all 
 around them were the Eternal Silences. 
 
 Fine horses were sent up to them every morn- 
 ing and the staple amusement, of which they never 
 tired, was riding. Once they explored Ute Pass, 
 and Helen asked why it was so named. The Lieu- 
 tenant was her escort, and he replied that he be- 
 lieved that Manitou was formerly a favorite resort 
 of the Utes who came down the mountains in long 
 procession through this pass bringing their aged 
 and sick to avail themselves of the healing springs.
 
 136 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " Tell me about the Utes," said Helen, " I am 
 interested in them." 
 
 "There was one Ute boy," replied the Lieuten- 
 ant, " in whom I was greatly interested ; " and 
 then he told the story of Howling Wolf, of his 
 love for his pony, of his daring riding, his bravery 
 and unaccountable escape. " I love that Indian 
 boy yet," said the Lieutenant, "and am sure some- 
 thing could be made of him." 
 
 " Do try to find him," pleaded Helen, " and 
 papa and I will see that he is educated in the 
 East." 
 
 " That was my idea at first," replied the Lieu- 
 tenant sadly. " I thought he would do honor to 
 West Point. But I am afraid he doesn't want to 
 be educated." 
 
 On another day Helen rode with Captain Hodge 
 through the Garden of the Gods. She found this 
 ride one of grotesque surprises. The sublime is 
 never far from the ridiculous, and in the weird 
 valley through which they rode nature seemed to 
 have wearied of her grand effects, and to have taken 
 holiday in a spirit of mimicry and caricature.
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 137 
 
 Columns of red sandstone have here been worn 
 by wind and drifting sand into grotesque statues 
 which the imagination may shape as it chooses. 
 Helen kept discovering gigantic griffins and As- 
 syrian and Egyptian deities. 
 
 One splintered pinnacle reminded her of West- 
 minster Abbey, but the Captain, who did not quite 
 catch the remark, assured her that he thought it 
 looked more like a church than a woman ! He 
 proved very quick however in detecting resem- 
 blances to animals, The Buffalo's Head, Mount- 
 ain Rat, the Deer, Alligator and Kissing Camels, 
 and he pointed out the famous Seal and Bear, and 
 entertained her with spirited stories of hunting and 
 racing. 
 
 " I owned a pony once," he said, " which I would 
 have liked to see yours, Miss Helen. It knew 
 nearly as much as a human being. The Indians 
 all called it 'the Enchanted Pony.' It beat even- 
 race in which it was ever entered, and as a trick- 
 pony had no superior in any circus." 
 
 " How did it happen," Helen asked, " that you 
 parted from such a treasure ? "
 
 138 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 "A little sneak of an Indian stole it from me," 
 the Captain replied with some wrath. " I found 
 it afterwards secreted in an old cliff-dwelling and 
 thought I had secured it finely, but on the first 
 night after my find the young rascal stole it from 
 me again. I presume he has taken it to the 
 Apaches. I hear that Geronimo has been raiding 
 up through the northern part of New Mexico, and 
 has been securing all the horseflesh he can lay his 
 hands on. The Indians all help one another, and 
 although the Utes are apparently at peace with 
 us just now, I haven't the slightest doubt that they 
 play into the hands of the Apaches." 
 
 "I wonder whether you will ever find your 
 pony again," Helen said musingly. 
 
 "If I do," replied the Captain, "will \ou do 
 me the honor to accept it at my hands ? " 
 
 " I fear that would be entirely too valuable a 
 present," said the startled girl. 
 
 " Nothing would be too precious for you," re- 
 plied the Captain, growing very red in the face. 
 " Such loveliness as yours would melt the heart of 
 a Great Caesar! if there isn't an Indian."
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 14! 
 
 Helen turned, hardly knowing whether to be 
 most frightened or relieved. At the foot of one of 
 the wildest shaped rocks stood a woman of more 
 than ordinary stature. She was clothed in a dress 
 of deerskins fringed and richly embroidered with 
 quills and beads, and strange tassel-like ornaments 
 of hair fastened at irregular intervals across the 
 front. Helen did not at first comprehend that 
 these were scalp-locks, and she looked at them 
 with simple curiosity. A belt of leather bossed 
 with silver confined her singular drapery to her 
 person. She held a pointed stick with which she 
 had been digging at the foot of the rock, and her 
 face with its setting of floating gray hair was so 
 wild that it instantly suggested Meg Merrilles. 
 
 " She is a Ute," said the Captain ; " I thought 
 they were not allowed off their Reservation," and 
 he addressed the woman roughly in her own lan- 
 guage. 
 
 " What does she say ? " Helen asked, as the 
 woman replied volubly with many expressive gest- 
 ures. 
 
 "She is crazy," replied the Captain, "and
 
 142 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 ought not to be allowed to ramble at large. She 
 says that her name is Two Tongues, that she is 
 the sister of a chief, and that she has come to this 
 country to search for the Lost Medicine of the 
 Utes. Her face is strangely familiar to me. I am 
 sure that I have seen it before. Ah ! I remember 
 when I was on the trail of that little Ute horse- 
 thief she threw herself in our way and tried to 
 persuade us that he had gone north to the Un- 
 compahgres. She may be shamming insanity now. 
 They are all great liars." 
 
 This was not the last time that Helen was fated 
 to meet Grandmother Two Tongues. The next day 
 she visited one of the mineral springs for which the 
 place is famous. It was one in which many coins 
 had been found, deposited there by the Indians as 
 offerings to the healing spirit. Outside the door, 
 parleying with the keeper, stood the weird woman 
 whom Helen had seen in the Garden of the Gods. 
 
 The doorkeeper appealed to the Lieutenant. 
 " The woman is evidently crazy," he said. "She 
 wants to examine the spring, and says that there 
 is a powerful charm belonging to her nation buried
 
 PA-I'.H -vT/ 
 
 ;/ :, . -''frS. ".
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 145 
 
 in it. Of course we can't have her here. Will 
 you keep her talking while I slip away for the 
 proper person to arrest her ? " 
 
 " Why, I know her ! " exclaimed the Lieutenant ; 
 " she is the grandmother of Howling Wolf, the 
 boy of whom I told you, Miss Helen. I well re- 
 member how she tried to turn us from his trail." 
 
 Helen's mind seemed to her to turn a complete 
 somersault. Then the boys of whom the Lieuten- 
 ant and the Captain spoke were the same person ; 
 but they had given them very different characters. 
 Which was the true one ? Was Howling Wolf a 
 horse-thief, or were there two enchanted ponies ? 
 Was the Lieutenant mistaken, or had the Captain 
 told her a falsehood ? 
 
 While she was puzzling over these things the 
 Lieutenant engaged the witch-woman in conver- 
 sation. She recognized him instantly, and began 
 to beg piteously for her grandson. She soon 
 caught Helen's dress and begged her to intercede 
 for the return of the boy. 
 
 " What does she say ? " asked Helen, half-fright- 
 ened, half-touched, by her evident distress.
 
 146 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " She thinks that we must have captured Howl- 
 ing Wolf as he has not returned to his own tribe. 
 My good woman, I have no idea where your grand- 
 son is. I shut him up in an old cliff-dwelling, but 
 he vanished in the night like smoke, and I am 
 much obliged to him for not having first chloro- 
 formed us all with a scalping knife." 
 
 The gate-keeper now returned with the authori- 
 ties, who led the woman away screaming and 
 struggling with all her might. 
 
 " What will they do with her ? " asked Helen. 
 
 " She will be sent back to her Reservation, from 
 which she is now miles away." 
 
 " But do you suppose there is any truth about 
 the charm in the spring ? " 
 
 " Perhaps so," replied the gate-keeper ; " it is a 
 wonderful healing spring, and if you are troubled 
 with muscular rheumatism, or poison ivy or nettle- 
 rash " but Helen had walked away. 
 
 That evening they talked of wild life and of the 
 Indians. " This is all play-camping," she said, 
 "with game that has been brought on ice for a 
 hundred miles on the cars, and trout sent over
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 147 
 
 every Friday from the hotel. There is none of 
 that delicious sense of insecurity, of being miles 
 away from any other white person, with Indians 
 and bears and wolves prowling near, and all that 
 sort of thing. Here there is not a speck of danger 
 except from father's rifle which has not been 
 cleaned for a month and may go off sometime 
 when the maid takes it into her head to dust it." 
 
 " I'll tell you what Miss Helen wants," ex- 
 claimed Captain Hodge. " She is pining for a 
 little real campaigning. She'll enjoy a scout with 
 the troops on the open plains, such as Mrs. Custer 
 sometimes took part in with her husband. Now I 
 propose that you all go back with us to Fort Lewis. 
 The railroad takes you on the way through some 
 of the finest scenery in Colorado. The Toltic 
 Gorge is sure to make you dizzy. Why, you can 
 pitch a stone from the car window fifteen hundred 
 feet down into the canon and there are the Sangre 
 du Cristo Mountains ; and if you choose to go on 
 to Silverton there is the Las Animas Canon which 
 beats Switzerland any day." 
 
 It was a long speech for the Captain.
 
 148 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 "Your programme is a fascinating one," said 
 the Senator; " we will consider it." 
 
 It would probably have been adopted ; but a 
 few moments later a telegram was placed in the 
 hands of the Captain which created nearly the 
 same effect that a lighted match might have done 
 in a powder magazine. When he quite recovered 
 his breath he explained that the Apaches were on 
 the war-path, and that his regiment had been 
 transferred to the department of New Mexico, 
 where he and the Lieutenant were ordered to re- 
 port without delay. 
 
 " It is possible we may meet again," said the 
 Senator, " for we shall go down to Santa Fe for the 
 autumn." 
 
 " If I come across the Enchanted Pony," said 
 the Captain, " I will send it to you at Santa Fe." 
 
 And as they parted, and the Lieutenant took 
 Helen's hand for a moment, he too preferred a 
 request : 
 
 " If I find Howling Wolf, as I may, for I fear 
 he has gone to the Apaches, may I send him 
 to you ? I will gladly provide for his support if
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 149 
 
 I live ; and if I should be shot may I rely that you 
 will find the proper school for him ? " 
 
 And Helen gave back the frank friendly look. 
 " If you live we shall share this work together," 
 she said; "if you die," and her lip quivered, " I 
 shall regard it as a sacred trust." 
 
 The first military duty which Captain Hodge 
 and the Lieutenant were called upon to perform 
 in the new department, was the enlistment of 
 Navajo scouts. To do this it was necessary for 
 them to make a long, perilous journey straight 
 across a portion of the country frequently raided 
 by Geronimo, the chief of the hostile Apaches, to 
 Fort Defiance, a lonely outpost now used as the 
 Navajo agency. Here among the newly-enlisted 
 men the Lieutenant was particularly struck by the 
 manly, honest bearing of two young men, Man- 
 uelito and Tonias, sons of an old Blanket Weaver 
 who wandered about the Post in a crazed con- 
 dition. The Lieutenant had spoken to the old 
 Weaver, for there was something in. the man's 
 appearance which suggested the wreck of noble 
 things ; but he had only replied by complaining
 
 150 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 that he had been brought far from his ranche, and 
 he wanted to go home. 
 
 "How is this?" the Lieutenant asked of 
 Tom as; 
 
 But the uncomplaining youth did not explain. 
 He touched his own forehead significantly, and per 
 suaded the old man to wander back to his wretched 
 hogan, and the Lieutenant had no idea of the great 
 wrong which had been done the poor creature. 
 
 Just as they were setting out on their expedition, 
 a boy mounted on a beautiful pony came riding 
 swiftly toward them ; and just as the Captain and 
 the Lieutenant fancied that they recognized Howl- 
 ing Wolf and the Enchanted Pony, he wheeled and 
 skimmed over the mesa. They followed hotly, but 
 the pony and its rider disappeared so quickly that 
 they were almost inclined to think them an appara- 
 tion or a trick of their own imaginations. 
 
 That evening, however, as they sat by their 
 little camp-fire after their first day's march, Man- 
 uelito approached the officers respectfully. " That 
 boy," he said, "that runaway boy, nice pony, 
 know him heap."
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 151 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the Lieutenant, "do you 
 know Howling Wolf ? " 
 
 The man's simple face brightened. "Yes, all 
 same Howling Wolf, Ute boy, know him heap." 
 
 "He is a young thief," said the Captain. "That 
 is my pony." 
 
 Manuelito looked up incredulously. " Ute boy, 
 Ute pony, all same. Know pony heap nice 
 pony, nice boy. Live my father, eat heap corn 
 all same brother." 
 
 " Do you know where he has gone ? " the Lieu- 
 tenant asked. 
 
 "Ute boy, maybe gone home," replied Man- 
 uelito. 
 
 "That's so," assented the Lieutenant, "that's 
 the most likely conclusion to make. Of course he 
 has gone back to the Ute Reservation," and taking 
 out his writing materials he began a letter to 
 Helen detailing his adventures, and another to the 
 Ute agent begging to be informed should Howling 
 Wolf appear in the bosom of his family.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 
 
 AS Howling Wolf rode on the country grew 
 more and more waste and desolate. The 
 only animals which he saw were the nimble prairie- 
 dogs, and here and there a rattlesnake which rus- 
 tled through the dry grass. The yucca rose here 
 and there from its bayonet-like spikes, a fountain 
 flower, its white bells glistening in the sunlight 
 like bubbles. The pony, accustomed for some 
 time past to good feeding, scorned the dry herb- 
 age and whinnied discontentedly. 
 
 Away on the western horizon Howling Wolf 
 could see the bluffs of the Province of Tusayan, 
 where lie the seven towns of the Moquis, and he 
 urged on the lazy and unwilling pony. He had 
 looked from time to time for the little sage-hen. 
 It would not have been strane if he had met
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 155 
 
 numbers of them, but he had a superstitious feel- 
 ing that the very one which had escaped from 
 West Wind would appear and serve him as guide. 
 
 He had nearly reached the foot of the butte 
 however before there was any sign which even his 
 credulous imagination could regard as supernatu- 
 ral guidance. In a little copse which skirted a 
 small stream, where he stopped to water his pony, 
 he unexpectedly came upon a young woman who 
 was gathering willow-withes for basket making. 
 She was decently clad and wore a precious neck- 
 lace of moose-teeth and charms. Her abundant 
 black hair was parted in two portions and arranged 
 on each side of her head in great bows or wagon- 
 wheel puffs. She looked at Howling Wolf in 
 wide-eyed surprise. 
 
 He addressed her civilly in the sign-language, 
 which is a medium of communication between dif- 
 ferent tribes, asking her name and nation. 
 
 " Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah (the Little Sage-Hen)," she 
 replied ; and Howling Wolf instantly concluded 
 that the shy, mysterious fowl had been allowed to 
 take a bodily shape, to communicate with and di-
 
 156 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 rect him ; and when on learning that he had come 
 to see the snake-dance, the young woman told him 
 that her husband was one of the dancers, and was 
 at that moment collecting reptiles on the mesa, to 
 be used in the ceremonies, and invited him with 
 simple hospitality to visit with them until the fes- 
 tival was over, he accepted the offer with gratitude. 
 
 Wolpi, the village to which they were going, is 
 situated on a butte, or ledge, overlooking the prai- 
 rie, and rising from it like an island from the sea 
 to a height of nearly five hundred feet. At first 
 sight the sides of the cliff seemed almost perpen- 
 dicular; but his guide showed him a tortuous, 
 narrow path winding between the clefts. 
 
 Arrived at the summit, Howling Wolf found 
 himself in a large village built of adobe, or sun- 
 dried bricks, and of stones rudely cemented to- 
 gether and plastered with mud. Some of the 
 houses were two, -three and even four stories in 
 height, the upper rooms opening upon the flat 
 roofs of the lower ones. The town was swarming. 
 Beside the usual inhabitants there were a number 
 of visitors in the town, attracted by the approach-
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 159 
 
 ing festival. These were Indians of different 
 
 O 
 
 tribes as well as of the surrounding towns, and 
 two or three white men. With characteristic pride 
 in their ceremonies and generous hospitality the 
 poor people had given of their best to these stran- 
 gers, in several instances vacating their own homes, 
 and camping in the open plaza, that their guests 
 might be lodged. 
 
 The horses and burros of the town were turned 
 into a corral, or enclosure, and the Enchanted 
 Pony was herded with the rest, exciting remarks 
 of admiration from all who saw him. Among 
 others a dark-looking, under-sized man who was 
 standing near the gate of the corral patted it, ex- 
 amined its good points and asked Howling Wolf 
 what he would take for it. The boy assured him 
 that the animal was not for sale. " How far can 
 he travel in a day ? " the man asked, disregarding 
 Howling Wolf's answer. 
 
 " I left Fort Defiance this morning," said he. 
 
 The man started, ever so slightly. " Were there 
 any blue-button men there ? " he asked. 
 
 Howling Wolf told him that there were officers
 
 160 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 forming a company of Navajoes to fight the 
 Apaches. The man's long taper fingers clenched ; 
 but he remarked indifferently: "Your pony has 
 made over sixty miles, and does not seem tired, he 
 could do more at a push." He took out a long 
 purse filled to the brim with Mexican silver dol- 
 lars. " Name your price," he said. 
 
 Howling Wolf still shook his head. 
 
 " I could take him for nothing," said the man. 
 
 The boy smiled. In a civilized community, in 
 the towns and cities of white people, Howling Wolf 
 might have feared for his pony's security; but 
 here among a people considered expert horse- 
 thieves he knew that he was perfectly safe. 
 
 Later in the evening he was regaled with an 
 abundant supper of jerked beef fried with onions, 
 and a dessert of delicious peaches. He ate rather 
 more than was good for him, for he had not tasted 
 beef since he had left his own home, and the 
 peaches were a great luxury. Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah 
 told him that they possessed an orchard of this 
 fruit in a little fertile valley miles away. She 
 showed him a large and curious-shaped basket,
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. l6l 
 
 which she had braided from the leaves of the 
 yucca; there were ears or loops of horse-hair at- 
 tached to the sides through which she could slip a 
 leather strap, which she passed around her fore- 
 head, the basket resting on her shoulders. In this 
 way she was in the habit of bringing a half bushel 
 of peaches at a time, she said, from their distant 
 orchard. She showed him also other very beauti- 
 ful baskets of her own make. They were flat or 
 saucer-shaped, of coiled structure very closely 
 woven and decorated with gay colors and original 
 designs. They might almost have held water, and 
 were used for the finest of meal. Howling Wolf 
 could not help admiring the ingenuity displayed ; 
 and as he remembered the skill of the Blanket 
 Weaver a new desire sprung up in his heart to be 
 able to make something beautiful. He had never 
 felt so before, and he wondered at himself. 
 
 After the supper the boy amused himself by sit- 
 ting on the roof and watching the busy life of the 
 town. The dancers, one hundred and thirty young 
 men, who formed the secret society of the Snake 
 Order, were descending into the underground es-
 
 162 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 tufa, or council chamber, to spend the night in 
 incantations and orgies. As they passed, the 
 Sage-Hen sprinkled them with sacred meal. They 
 marched on chanting a strange song and waving 
 little wands decorated with eagle feathers. A tall 
 Indian followed the procession to the door of the 
 estufa, but did not enter. He was however treated 
 with such consideration that Howling Wolf was 
 sure that he must be a distinguished guest, and 
 was not surprised when told that he was a cele- 
 brated Medicine-man of the Zufiis, a member of 
 the Prey Brother Priesthood, a great hunter and 
 magician. 
 
 In an angle of a building not far away he saw 
 too the man who had wished to buy his pony. 
 There was a woman with him, who, he was sure, 
 was not a Moqui, for her hair was not arranged in 
 the wagon-wheel rolls. 
 
 " Who are they ? " he asked, pointing them out 
 to the Sage-Hen. 
 
 " She is a stranger," Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah replied. 
 " She has taken refuge with us while her husband 
 is away with the Apaches."
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 163 
 
 " But is not that her husband ? " 
 
 "Who?" said the Sage-Hen; "there is no one 
 with her." And Howling Wolf looking again saw 
 that the woman was alone. She had drawn her 
 shawl over her head and Howling Wolf noticed 
 that it was a Mexican one, of sky blue crepe, em- 
 broidered with green parokets and crimson dah- 
 lias, which seemed to the boy a very beautiful 
 combination. Presently she too glided away and 
 the night came down grand and silent except for 
 the tom-toms in the underground estufa. 
 
 The next day was the great day of the dance, 
 and all was excitement in the village. The best 
 rooftops had been rented for the spectacle, like 
 so many stalls at the opera. At one end of the 
 plaza was a stone altar around which the Snake 
 Order marched, chanting dismally. They wore 
 tunics, reaching nearly to the knee, and attached to 
 each leg a rattle made of a turtle's shell. The 
 faces of the dancers were painted, the upper half 
 black and the lower part white. They seemed 
 to Howling Wolf a band of grotesque demons. 
 Shuffling, dancing, they approached a huge sort
 
 164 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 of basket containing about two hundred coiling, 
 writhing serpents. Into this mass an attendant 
 would thrust his arm, and hand each dancer a 
 snake. The dancer would seize it firmly in the 
 middle with his teeth and pass on, the creature 
 struggling about his face. Each man in the pro- 
 cession held two eagle's feathers with which he 
 teased the snake and endeavored to keep it from 
 burying its fangs in his face. Nearly all the rep- 
 tiles were rattlesnakes and they kept up their 
 angry rattling, and sometimes coiled themselves 
 about the necks of their persecutors. 
 
 The men continued their dance until it seemed 
 to Howling Wolf that he would go crazy with hor- 
 ror; round and round their arms waving in the 
 air, the loathsome reptiles writhing, hissing, strik- 
 ing at the men who held them. Surely West Wind 
 was right and the men of Wolpi were turned by 
 their incantations into fiends incarnate. Not for 
 all the medicines of all the sorcerers would he 
 remain in this place and learn such dreadful 
 rites. 
 
 After what seemed several hours to the terrified
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 165 
 
 boy, but really at the close of about thirty minutes, 
 the men suddenly threw all the reptiles in one 
 wriggling heap. The Sage-Hen and several other 
 squaws who, robed in white, had been set apart 
 to the task of sprinkling the dancers with prayer- 
 meal, rushed with loud shrieks from the plaza, and 
 at a given signal the men ran to the pile of snakes 
 and seizing as many as they could hold, dashed 
 down the precipitous sides of the butte and scoured 
 away across the plain to the four points of the 
 compass, only throwing down the snakes when 
 nearly out of sight, and then returning, panting 
 but still running, disappeared one by one in the 
 estufa. To Howling Wolf's alarm several large 
 rattlesnakes escaped this final gathering-up, and 
 disappeared in the crevices of the buildings. It 
 was for this reason that he looked closely at his 
 arrows and was pleased to see that his quiver held 
 one with a long slender reed and a point made 
 from a broken knife blade sharpened to a razor's 
 edge. 
 
 As he walked down to the corral to water his 
 pony he stopped in a deserted lane to look at some
 
 1 66 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 wooden effigies held very sacred in Wolpi arranged 
 in a booth of green branches ; and a feeling almost 
 of scorn came over him. They were doll-like fig- 
 ures, brightly painted, and on their heads they bore 
 
 representations of 
 villages, pyramids 
 of blocks in sto- 
 ries like short 
 flights of steps. 
 It was the old 
 myth of Atlas sus- 
 taining the world. 
 And this was the 
 creature whom the 
 Moquis believed 
 sustained their 
 villages ! It would 
 be very easy to 
 carry it off on his pony ; but Howling Wolf was per- 
 fectly sure that this was not the Lost Medicine of 
 the Utes. On the summit of each of the little houses 
 or villages waved an eagle's feather, and that was 
 a sacred emblem in his tribe as well as with most 
 
 A MOQUI IDOL.
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 167 
 
 of the Indians. He was just wishing that lie had 
 an eagle's quill to feather his arrow-shaft when he 
 heard an ominous rattling. One of the escaped 
 serpents was near. Yes, there it was gliding from 
 a bunch of red peppers along the parapet of the 
 opposite house, and just beneath, with her blue 
 crepe shawl draped carelessly about her, the green 
 parokets and crimson dahlias rising and falling 
 on her bosom, sat a beautiful woman. She heard 
 the sound, but mistook it for an expected signal, 
 for she raised her head and whispered : 
 
 " Geronimo ! " 
 
 The serpent glided on. In another instant its 
 fangs would be buried in that oval cheek, but the 
 knife-bladed arrow was on the string and whizzed 
 from Howling Wolf's hand pinning the reptile to' 
 the wall. At the same instant the low dark man, 
 whom Howling Wolf had seen twice before, who 
 had just entered the lane with the Zuni Hunter 
 Priest, and who had totally misunderstood Howl- 
 ing Wolf's action, sprang upon him like a panther, 
 drawing from his belt a savage scalping-knife. But 
 the Prey Brother held his hand. "Look," he said.
 
 1 68 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " The boy meant your wife no harm. On the con- 
 trary he has saved her life.'"' 
 
 He drew him to the wall and showed him the 
 transfixed rattlesnake. " A nice shot," he com- 
 mented critically; "the boy is worthy to enter our 
 priesthood." 
 
 The shorter man having assured himself that 
 his wife was uninjured, turned to Howling Wolf, 
 his look of rage changed to one of gratitude. 
 " Come with me," he said. " I coveted your pony 
 yesterday, to-day I covet you. You are worthy of 
 each other. You will make a great warrior. Come 
 with me ; you know not who asks you, or you would 
 not shake your head." 
 
 " I know. She has spoken your name. You are 
 Geronimo, the enemy of the white man." 
 
 "And are you the white man's friend?" asked 
 the Apache. 
 
 " He has done me no harm," Howling Wolf 
 replied. 
 
 "Wait, then," said Geronimo bitterly. "That 
 answer shows how young you are. The white man 
 will treat you to injuries enough if they are what
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 169 
 
 you want, and when your heart is big with hate 
 then come to Geronimo and he will teach you to 
 revenge." 
 
 With that the man and woman disappeared and 
 Howling Wolf was left with the tall Zunian, whose 
 appearance he liked better than that of the Apache. 
 
 "You were right," said the Hunter Priest, "not 
 to go with him. He hunts men and his game will 
 turn upon him. Come with me and I will teach 
 you to be a great hunter of all other kinds of game. 
 The Prey animals of the six regions ; the moun- 
 tain lion of the North, the sheep of the Western 
 mountains, the wildcat of the great land of sum- 
 mer the wolf of the East, where live wolfish men 
 by the great Ocean of Day, the mole of the under- 
 world and the eagle of the upper regions of air, 
 for each of these I have a Medicine and none can 
 resist my power." 
 
 "Good," said Howling Wolf impulsively. "I 
 will go with you. But first I must bid farewell to 
 the Sage-Hen." 
 
 Early the next morning the Hunter Priest and 
 Howling Wolf set out from Wolpi, each mounted
 
 170 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 on his own pony. Ez-mah-ah-nee-tah had pre- 
 sented the boy a basket of her weaving which 
 served him as knapsack and contained food. 
 Though it was scarcely light when they descended 
 the mountain, and none of the village were astir, 
 
 A WOLPI BASKET. 
 
 there were fresh hoof-prints before them Gero- 
 nimo and his wife had descended the pass fully 
 two hours in advance of them, and had been met 
 at the foot of the cliff by a small party of Apache 
 warriors, who had been raiding the surrounding 
 country in search of horses. Their success had
 
 THE SNAKE DANCE. 171 
 
 been poor and they met their chief with only 
 five indifferent farm-animals. Geronimo was dis- 
 pleased. He was even alarmed, and was on the 
 point of returning to steal the Enchanted Pony 
 and others of the Moquis ; but on being informed 
 by one of his scouts that a party of United States 
 Cavalry were in camp, in a ravine at a little dis- 
 tance, he changed his mind. 
 
 This party had come out in search of him with- 
 out having any idea that the game they sought was 
 so near. They were sleeping, even the sentries doz- 
 ing ; the horses were hobbled at a little distance. 
 
 Very cautiously Geronimo approached until his 
 men had stolen in between the soldiers and their 
 animals. Quickly the ropes were cut and every 
 Indian mounted. Then with hardly a sound the 
 entire herd were driven over the tufted prairie 
 silently and swiftly out of sight, and the command 
 which had camped that night as mounted cavalry 
 woke in the morning to find themselves a company 
 of foot, not a hoof for officer or man, or a pair of 
 ears for the Quartermaster's department. 
 
 An angry man was little Captain Hodge, a
 
 172 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 deeply chagrined man the young Lieutenant. 
 Manuelito and Tomas, his pet Navajo scouts, 
 shook their heads -and laughed sheepishly. The 
 men talked with all their might, some indignant, 
 others frightened, all utterly astonished. The en- 
 tire camp was transformed into a buzzing nest of 
 hornets. And straight toward this hornet's nest, 
 utterly unconscious of the danger ahead of them, 
 rode the Hunter Priest and Howling Wolf.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 
 
 THE Hunter Priest and Howling Wolf had 
 ridden only a few hours when the elder 
 drew rein and pointed to the ground all trodden 
 and marked with hoof-prints. 
 " Ugh ! " said the Hunter Priest. 
 " Ugh ! " replied Howling Wolf ; " Apaches ? " 
 "No horses all shod. Brass-buttoned men." 
 Howling Wolf pointed to a canon which showed 
 itself in the distance like a crack or seam in the 
 prairie. From this crack slender lines of smoke 
 were rising. " Ugh," he said ; " camp." 
 
 The Hunter Priest shook his head in a puzzled 
 way, and examined the hoof-prints more carefully. 
 " Fresh trail, not more than two hours ; horses all 
 go other way go fast, trot, gallop. Left camp 
 hurry all gone."
 
 174 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Convinced that the camp had suddenly been 
 abandoned and that possibly something of value 
 to themselves might be found on the ground the 
 two rode confidently toward it. They had pro- 
 ceeded about a mile when the pony showed signs 
 of uneasiness. He sniffed the air and repeatedly 
 turned aside. Howling Wolf took the alarm. 
 " He knows that there are soldiers still there," he 
 thought, and at the same time it struck him that 
 the camp-fires, instead of going out as they would 
 have done had they been abandoned, were burn- 
 ing more steadily, and that several more had been 
 lighted. He communicated his doubts to his 
 companion, and the two drew rein. At the same 
 instant two figures appeared on the edge of the 
 canon, two officers whose uniforms glistened in 
 the morning sun. One was tall and slender, the 
 other short and round. The short man held a 
 field-glass, with which he swept the horizon. 
 
 Excellent as were the lenses the boy recognized 
 the Captain before he made out the two Indians, 
 and was effecting his escape before pursuit had 
 been ordered. The Hunter Priest waited a mo-
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 175 
 
 ment longer, but when he saw the two soldiers 
 joined by several others and heard the notes of a 
 bugle, he turned and scoured across the prairie 
 after Howling Wolf. 
 
 At the same time two Indian runners, Navajo 
 scouts, started from the camp and set out after 
 the retreating Indians at a steady dog-trot. It 
 seemed absurd for footmen to strive to overtake 
 mounted horsemen, and so long as the two kept 
 their horses at full speed they distanced their pur- 
 suers. But the horse of the Hunter Priest began 
 to flag, and his curiosity was excited when he saw 
 that they were followed only by two apparently 
 unarmed Indians. He stopped accordingly and 
 waited for them to come up. Howling Wolf, more 
 cautious, rode further on and witnessed the parley 
 from a distance. Suddenly the pony whinnied 
 joyfully, and turning trotted toward the new com- 
 ers. "He knows them," Howling Wolf said to 
 himself, and a moment later he also recognized 
 Manuelito and Tomas. 
 
 They told him of the loss which the troops had 
 just sustained and asked if the missing horses had
 
 176 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 been seen. The Hunter Priest could only give it 
 as his opinion that it was the work of Geronimo. 
 
 "Where are you going?" Manuelito asked of 
 Howling Wolf. The Hunter Priest replied that 
 he was taking the boy with him to hunt in the 
 Zufii Mountains. 
 
 "Good," said Tomas; and he explained that 
 these mountains were not far from the old ranche 
 where they had spent so many happy days, and 
 that the Captain had said that the troops were to 
 march to the nearest telegraph-station, which hap- 
 pened to be Wild Cat, where they would wait until 
 provided with horses. The probability was that 
 they would remain at Wild Cat for several days, 
 and that the two scouts would have an opportunity 
 to visit the old ranche and secure various pieces 
 of property which they had left in their hasty leave- 
 taking. 
 
 " Good," said Howling Wolf, " I will meet you 
 at the ranche in three days." 
 
 "And we will salt much corn," laughed Tomas. 
 
 Then they shook hands and the scouts turning 
 trotted back to the camp. Captain Hodge was
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 177 
 
 angry when he saw them come in empty- 
 handed. 
 
 " Why did you not bring back those Apache 
 horse thieves with you?" he asked sternly. 
 
 " No Apache ; Zufii Indian no steal horse, own 
 pony," said Manuelito speaking in broken Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 The Captain who had watched the interview 
 through his field-glass, and imagining treachery 
 supposed that of course they would lie to him, 
 continued : " If you could not catch up with 
 the Indians why did you not return before ? " 
 
 "Catch him easy," replied Manuelito. "Zuni 
 pony no good." 
 
 "I saw you," thundered the Captain. "You 
 did not catch the pony at all. The Indian rode 
 back to meet you. What did you talk about for 
 so long time ? You were plotting mischief." 
 
 " Other pony good, yes ; " and catching the 
 Lieutenant's eye he explained : " Other pony that 
 Howling Wolf." 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. "Howling 
 Wolf ! Why didn't you bring him in ? " and the
 
 178 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Captain fairly shouted with rage : " And you let 
 the young scoundrel off again with my pony, when 
 I have no doubt he was concerned in the stealing 
 of our horses beside ! You are a pretty scout ! 
 Lieutenant, I congratulate you on your various 
 pets." 
 
 " Howling Wolf no steal our horses," Manue- 
 lito replied calmly. " Geronimo, he got em this 
 time most down Mexico." 
 
 "The fellow is right," said the Lieutenant; "I 
 do not believe that Howling Wolf was concerned 
 in stampeding our horses, though I do wish Man- 
 uelito had brought him in." . 
 
 The scout looked at the Lieutenant steadily as 
 though to fathom his purpose with the lad. " May- 
 be see Howling Wolf some more," he said. 
 
 " If you do," said the Lieutenant eagerly, " and 
 will bring him to me, I will give you one, two, 
 three, four, five dollars." 
 
 "And if you let that pony slip through your 
 fingers again," said the Captain, "I'll give you 
 one, two, three, four, five whippings do you un- 
 derstand ? "
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 179 
 
 The scout's brow clouded but he did not reply. 
 When he talked with the Lieutenant he felt sure 
 that the white men meant well to Howling Wolf 
 and to the Indians in general, but of this little 
 Captain he was not so certain. 
 
 There was no time now for further parley, for 
 the command were ordered to break camp, and to 
 march as infantry across the country to the nearest 
 railroad and telegraph station, the town of Wild 
 Cat, familiar to the two scouts from the wrong 
 there inflicted upon their father. 
 
 When at liberty they strolled by the store and 
 looked in with darkened faces, but a stranger 
 stood behind the counter dispensing whiskey in 
 the place of "Grab-em-all-Joe," the man who had 
 turned them from their happy home. Manuelito's 
 clutch on his revolver relaxed. 
 
 " He is over at the ranche, most likely," sug- 
 gested Tomas. " Perhaps you better not go. I 
 get boots and canteen for you. You get too much 
 pretty soon mad." 
 
 " No," replied Manuelito, throwing open his 
 hands, " no more get mad. No use."
 
 l8o HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 They idled about the station filled with the 
 greatest wonder by the manoeuvres of the tele- 
 graph operator whom they called " the wire list- 
 ener." The Lieutenant, who found them trying 
 to understand the young man's explanations, added 
 his own, making it clear to them why they could 
 not telegraph to places where no lines existed. 
 Manuelito's heart was won. He looked up at the 
 Lieutenant with a mixture of shyness and frank- 
 ness. " If I bring you Howling Wolf," he said, 
 " Cap'n Hog, he catch his pony ? " 
 
 " No," returned the Lieutenant, " I will have a 
 talk with the Captain, and buy him off. The pony 
 belongs to the boy, and he shall keep it." 
 
 " And Howling Wolf go when he please ? come 
 when he please ? stay, eat, ride all same me, all 
 same Tom as ? " 
 
 "Yes, I promise you sacredly that I am Howling 
 Wolf's friend. He shall be perfectly free." 
 
 "Then," said Manuelito, "to-morrow, two days, 
 Tomas and me go find Howling Wolf, bring him 
 back sure." 
 
 The Lieutenant was delighted with this prom-
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. igl 
 
 ise and he hurried to the Captain to speak to 
 him in reference to the pony, little knowing how 
 impossible it would be to induce him to renounce 
 this long coveted object. 
 
 In the meantime the Hunter Priest and Howl- 
 ing Wolf rode away toward the mountains. Hunt- 
 ing with the Zunian was a religious observance to be 
 undertaken with certain rites and ceremonies which 
 he now explained to the boy.* He took from a 
 little pouch suspended about his neck a fetich, or 
 image of an animal, on which was tied an arrow- 
 head. "This," said he in his own dialect, " is the 
 image of the mountain lion, the great prey-animal 
 of the North ; I found it in the mountains. It was 
 consecrated by the priests and now it is my peculiar 
 fetich ; possessing it I can hunt all the animals 
 which the mountain lion preys upon ; the buffalo 
 and the deer and the bear. It is the most power- 
 ful fetich of all the regions. It is for you now to 
 go alone to the mountains and seek fasting for 
 your fetich." 
 
 * Mr. Frank Cushing's article on Zuiii fetiches, in the Second Annual 
 Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, is the author's authority for 
 the superstitions described in this chapter.
 
 182 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Howling Wolf examined the little image. " I 
 can carve a much better representation of a lion 
 than that," he said. 
 
 "That would not do," the priest explained. 
 " Years ago the Maker of Men killed many of the 
 great prey-animals with his arrows of lightning. 
 Killed them, but left their bodies shrivelled and 
 turned to stone in the mountains. When you find 
 these strangely-shaped stones you find really the 
 body of one of these fierce animals made smaller, 
 but with the same hungry instinct, the same cruel 
 heart-longing to prey upon the lesser game-animals, 
 and if you bind it upon your own heart it will lead 
 you straight to your game and give you power over 
 it. You cannot choose your own fetich, or tell 
 what species of game you would rather hunt ; you 
 must find your fetich, and hunt the particular ani- 
 mals over which it gives you power." 
 
 The Hunter Priest left Howling Wolf beside a 
 lonely butte, and rode on to his town, promising 
 to return on the morrow and to consecrate what- 
 ever image the boy should find. Howling Wolf 
 led his pony by the bridle and sought carefully
 
 HOWLING WOLF SENDS HIS MESSAGE TO THE GREAT SPIRIT.
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 185 
 
 among the rocks. He found many splinters of 
 obsidian or black volcanic glass, which he saved to 
 make arrow-heads, a few petrified shells and leaves, 
 but no concretions resembling animals. The grey 
 wolf would give him power over the eastern coun- 
 try ; with a wild cat he could hunt the antelope 
 toward Mexico in the south ; and with a coyote 
 he could follow the mountain sheep to the west- 
 ern sea. But he longed especially for the moun- 
 tain lion which would make him a hunter in his 
 own northern land the mountains of Colorado. 
 There were lava beds in these mountains, be- 
 lieved by the Indians to be the blackened blood 
 of a slain giant. Among these Howling Wolf wan- 
 dered when in a dark cranny his eye was caught 
 by something bright and shining. It was silver, 
 virgin silver, in irregular nodules a rich vein 
 cropping out to the surface a find which would 
 have made the fortune of any white prospector. 
 The boy did not know the wealth that lay before 
 him, and it would have done him little good if he 
 had realized that he had discovered a valuable 
 silver mine, for he could not have secured its
 
 l86 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 possession in any legal way. He loosened the 
 ore from the rock with his knife and after digging 
 for some time in it found what delighted him quite 
 as much as the ownership of the mine would have 
 done a small nodule of silver somewhat resem- 
 bling a bird, streaked on the wings with turquoise. 
 Here was his fetich which gave him power over 
 the winged creatures of the upper air. 
 
 He descended from the mountain and mount- 
 ing the pony rode toward Zufri. He reached the 
 town at nightfall faint with hunger. The Hunter 
 Priest received and fed him, but the town was 
 quite as dirty, though not so poverty-stricken, as 
 the Moqui villages ; and on the whole Howling 
 Wolf was not pleasantly impressed. No life would 
 henceforth seem quite so desirable to him as that 
 which he led with the old Blanket Weaver. Still 
 the desire to do something had awakened within 
 him, and he was pleased when the Hunter Priest 
 expressed his surprise that he had been so soon 
 successful in his search for a fetich, and pro- 
 nounced it one of the most unmistakably powerful 
 ones which he had ever seen. He took it to the
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 187 
 
 Keeper of the Deer Medicine, who shaped it very 
 slightly marked the eyes, bored a hole through 
 the body by which it could be suspended during 
 ceremonies, and bound upon its back with a bit of 
 deer's sinew an arrow point of pink chalcedony. 
 
 "Now," said the priest, "you may seek for any 
 winged creature, or for any of the small animals 
 upon which eagles prey ; rabbits or prairie dogs or 
 even young antelope. For what will you hunt ? " 
 
 " I would like," said Howling Wolf, " to capture 
 an eagle." 
 
 " But the eagle is a sacred bird," replied the 
 Hunter Priest, "and you may not kill it. You 
 may rob it of its tail feathers, which are very val- 
 uable, by plucking it alive ; or, if you are able, you 
 may take him alive and clip his wings. But you 
 may not kill the lord of the upper regions of air, 
 the mediator between man and Heaven. This is 
 a belief which is common to all the Indians whom 
 I have met, and even the Black Robes, the priests 
 of the white men, believe with us that the eagle is 
 the messenger between God and man. They have 
 it painted in their churches but very badly, so
 
 l88 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 that it resembles a dove and they call it the 
 Holy Bird or Holy Spirit." 
 
 "Then if I had an eagle," said the boy, "and 
 wanted at any time to send a message straight to 
 the Great Spirit, and you would write it for me, 
 all I would have to do would be to tie it to the 
 eagle's leg or wing and let him go, and Manitou 
 would have my message." 
 
 " Without doubt," replied the Hunter Priest. 
 " Then," said Howling Wolf, " I will capture an 
 eagle." 
 
 The keeper of the Deer Medicine and others of 
 
 the old hunt- 
 ers laughed, 
 but the Hunter 
 Priest frowned 
 at them. 
 
 "The boy 
 will do great 
 things," said he, and taking out his writing mate- 
 rials and turning to Howling Wolf, he asked : 
 "What is the message which you wish to send to 
 the Great Spirit ? " 
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE.
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 189 
 
 " Write," said the boy, " Howling Wolf asks 
 Manitou to help him in finding the Lost Medicine 
 of his tribe." 
 
 The Hunter Priest wrote, or rather painted, on 
 a strip of bark as requested ; and very early the 
 next morning the boy started on his hunt. He 
 had received directions from his friend and he 
 stole out of the town fasting before any one was 
 awake. Away to the northeast was a lonely butte 
 from which rose abruptly a splendid crag known 
 as the Navajo Church. By hard riding he could 
 in one day reach this pinnacle. It was not far 
 from the old ranche, and he had often seen eagles 
 majestically sailing about its spire. Very likely 
 there was an eagle's nest upon the summit. 
 
 All day Howling Wolf rode steadily on, talking 
 to his pony for lack of other company. " We are 
 going on a hunt, pony," he explained, " and you 
 must be quiet and not start the game." The pony 
 pricked his ears sagaciously as though he under- 
 stood all that was said. Perhaps he did, for a 
 little later he stopped suddenly and turned squarely 
 round. Then when Howling Wolf shook the reins
 
 190 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 for him to go on he reached his neck backward 
 and gently bit Howling Wolf's toe, but did not 
 utter the slightest noise. 
 
 His attention thus sharply drawn the boy looked 
 keenly about him ; and there, right in his path, its 
 long ears alone showing above a clump of sage 
 brush, sat a large cotton-tailed rabbit, destined to 
 be the first prey of the turquoise eagle. Drawing 
 his bow string to his ear, the knife-bladed arrow 
 whizzed on its way, and the rabbit speedily lay 
 across his saddle-bow. He did not pause to build 
 a camp-fire and cook himself a savory dinner. No 
 morsel of food must pass his lips until he had se- 
 cured the nobler game to which he had destined 
 this expedition, but the rabbit would be excellent 
 bait for the eagles, and this first success put new 
 courage into Howling Wolf's heart. 
 
 He reached the foot of the mountain just at 
 sunset. He shaded his eyes from the red glare as 
 he looked up to the spire of the Navajo Church. 
 Yes, slowly wheeling about the crag, buoyantly 
 floating, rising, sinking with scarcely a perceptible 
 flutter of the strong pinions, was a magnificent
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 19 1 
 
 grey eagle. His plan for its capture was a com- 
 mon one, frequently adopted by Pueblo eagle- 
 hunters. Turning his pony loose, he climbed as 
 far as it was possible. Then collecting branches 
 of pinyon-trees he partially roofed a small chasm 
 in the rocks, making for himself a hiding-place. 
 Concealed within he could still view the sky through 
 a large hole in his green roof. On the roof he laid 
 the rabbit which he had shot on his way, and which 
 though very hungry he had not tasted it was to 
 be the lure for his lordly game. He fastened one 
 end of his stout bow-string to the rabbit and the 
 other to his own wrist and then lay down in 
 his little cabin waiting the success of his plot. 
 The night was partly passed when these prepara- 
 tions were completed, and the strong wings were 
 no longer visible. He knew however that the 
 eagles were not night-birds, and that it lacked sev- 
 eral hours to dawn. He was very weary and not 
 a little hungry and he fell asleep confident and 
 happy, his hand crossed upon his breast where 
 nestled the turquoise eagle and the prayer which 
 he hoped soon to send to the Great Spirit. No
 
 1Q2 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 one had ever taught him how to pray ; but from 
 the depths of his own soul had sprung this yearn- 
 ing which refused to be stifled and had found this 
 way to " mount up on wings as eagles " and lay 
 his heart's desire before his God. 
 
 So trustfully, prayerfully, Howling Wolf slept 
 until just at daybreak he was awakened by a sud- 
 den tug at his wrist. Confused as he was he had 
 presence of mind sufficient to pull the cord with 
 both hands and with all his might. The eagle's 
 claws were entangled in the body of the dead rab- 
 bit, and he was dragged through the aperture of 
 the roof into the darkened cabin. Howling Wolf 
 quickly threw his Navajo saddle-cloth over the 
 noble bird's head, but even then its struggles were 
 so terrific that he had great difficulty in subduing 
 it sufficiently to pluck the tail feathers which he 
 wished as a proof of his victory, and he found it 
 next to impossible to affix his prayer to the bird's 
 leg. The cabin was filled with beating wings, and 
 Howling Wolf's hands and even his face were 
 scratched savagely by the eagle's talons. But at 
 last the missive was securely attached, and bear-
 
 THE TURQUOISE EAGLE. 193 
 
 ing his captive out into the light of day he liber- 
 ated him. Straight up to the sky darted the 
 heavenly messenger, and Howling Wolf bowed 
 his head in thankfulness, little suspecting that he 
 was himself a young, wild eagle for whom a trap 
 had that day been laid, and that his friends Man- 
 uelito and Tomas were the lure to lead him into 
 captivity.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 
 
 WEST WIND, at Fort Defiance, was having 
 her troubles as well as her successes. 
 School-work was not difficult for her, for though 
 she had been accustomed to an out-of-door life 
 she was used to very hard labor. She was bright 
 and anxious to learn, and soon took her place as 
 the leading scholar and also the favorite of the 
 school. 
 
 Her troubles were at home. It was not poverty 
 alone, or the loneliness which had come into their 
 lives now that Manuelito, Tomas, and Howling 
 Wolf had gone ; but the old Blanket Weaver's 
 mental trouble increased and he was no longer 
 contented, but was continually asking to go home. 
 He wandered about the Post asking the way to 
 the old ranche, or beseeching the teamsters to 
 194
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 195 
 
 take him there. It was pitiful and it made West 
 Wind's heart ache to hear him beg for his loom, 
 and tell of the beautiful blankets which he longed 
 to weave. " I want to go home," he would whim- 
 per ; " take me home, child, I have bought some 
 beautiful dye stuff at the store, such blues and 
 reds ! I will make you a blanket such a blan- 
 ket ! Where is the loom ? Why are we staying in 
 this little hogan ? Why do we not go home ? " 
 
 One day West Wind came back from school to 
 find her mother in fresh trouble. The old man 
 had wandered away. There was a lame mule at 
 the stables which had been abandoned by Captain 
 Hodge on his last visit to the Post, and the person 
 in charge had thoughtlessly lent it to the old man, 
 supposing that he only wished it for a short trip. 
 
 " Don't be worried, mother," West Wind said 
 cheerily, hastily munching her dinner, a piece of 
 cold corn bread, " I will soon find him and bring 
 him back. The herder will lend me one of the 
 donkeys, and 1 will overtake that old mule before 
 night-fall." 
 
 It so happened, however, that West Wind lost
 
 196 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 important time by starting in the wrong direction. 
 She came back at night disheartened and her 
 mother would not allow her to start out again. 
 
 How it was that he found his way no one ever 
 knew; but the Blanket Weaver on the halting mule 
 rode straight to his old home. It was deserted, 
 for Grab-em-all-Joe had built a smart house for 
 himself in another part of the land. He tied his 
 mule, and entering the hogan, seated himself at his 
 loom and was soon absorbed in filling his shuttles. 
 
 But unfortunately Joe had seen the Indian cross 
 the farm, and, leaving his ploughing, he ran to his 
 house for his shot-gun and stealthily stole up to 
 the hogan. The old man heard him as he ap- 
 proached, and turned his kindly face toward him 
 with a bright smile of recognition. He had for- 
 gotten every wrong, and only remembered the 
 early days of their friendship, when the store- 
 keeper had bought his saddle-cloths and rugs. 
 But Joe's evil conscience could imagine no other 
 cause for the presence of the man he had de- 
 frauded, than a desire for revenge ; and, covering 
 him with his rifle, he ordered him roughly off the
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 197 
 
 premises. The old man's face clouded, and as he 
 hesitated, the ruffian ruthlessly shot him down. 
 
 The murderer let loose the mule and strode back 
 to his house, somewhat dissatisfied with himself. 
 He did not believe that there was any general plot 
 against him on the part of the Indians, but he 
 tried to convince himself that the deed was one 
 of self-defence. Why was he there if not from 
 evil intent ? And at any rate there was no telling 
 what he might have done if he had been left to 
 his own devices. 
 
 He at last determined to ride over to Wild Cat 
 and report the case to the authorities, and as the 
 military were now there, it might be well to ask 
 for a guard for a few days, for an uneasy feeling 
 had taken possession of him. 
 
 While the gentle old man who had never 
 wronged any one lay dead in his hogan beside the 
 loom on which he had labored so industriously, 
 Howling Wolf who had just captured his eagle was 
 thinking of joining Tomas and Manuelito. He 
 was very hungry and as his fast might now be 
 broken he built a fire and made an excellent meal
 
 198 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONV. 
 
 from the rabbit which had served as bait for his 
 eagle. 
 
 As he finished his breakfast, he noticed a slen- 
 der line of smoke rising from another promontory 
 far away in the southwest. He observed it with 
 idle curiosity at first, and then as the cloudy col- 
 umn wavered strangely, as though fanned by a 
 blanket, he realized that this was a signal-fire. It 
 was the Apache mode of telegraphy. Geronimo 
 was probably not far from that thread of smoke ; 
 doubtless he had scouts in this vicinity, and he 
 had mistaken Howling Wolf's camp-fire on the 
 Navajo Church for a preconcerted signal. Howl- 
 ing Wolf laughed softly to himself as he wondered 
 what news his smoke had carried across the coun- 
 try. Then he grew grave ; lives might be lost by 
 the broiling of his breakfast. He hastily trod 
 out the smoking embers, and descending the 
 mountain found his pony and rode away toward 
 the ranche. 
 
 On the way he fell in with Manuelito and 
 Tomas and told them of the signal-fire. "That 
 is good news for the Lieutenant," said Manuelito;
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 199 
 
 "the horses will be sent on to-morrow and we will 
 follow up that smoke." 
 
 "Geronimo wanted me to go with him," said 
 Howling Wolf. 
 
 " Better go after him with us," replied Tomas, 
 speaking freely and fluently in the Navajo lan- 
 guage. " Geronimo is a bad man and he is injuring 
 all of the Indians, for he makes the white people 
 think we are all like him, whereas we are nearly all 
 trying to follow the white man's road ; and, Howl- 
 ing Wolf, we too have had a wrong idea of white 
 men. We have only seen bad white men like Grab- 
 em-all-Joe the store-keeper, who used to cheat 
 the Indians. But I believe the greater part of the 
 white men mean kindly to us. Since we have been 
 with the brass-button men I have become sure of 
 this. There is the Lieutenant. He knows you, 
 Howling Wolf, and he told me if you would go 
 back with us he would be your fiiend. We have 
 always found him good to us, have we not, 
 Tomas?" 
 
 Tomas grunted an emphatic consent, but Howl- 
 ing Wolf shook his head doubtfully. " What does
 
 200 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 he want of me ? I let him alone, why can't he let 
 me alone ? " he asked. 
 
 " He likes you," said Manuelito. 
 
 Howling Wolf laughed mockingly. 
 
 "What are you going to do?" asked Manuelito. 
 " The winter is coming, you say you are not going 
 with Geronimo, you are many miles from home 
 what will become of you ? " 
 
 Howling Wolf bared his breast and showed the 
 fetich. "I will hunt," he said. "See these eagle 
 feathers. Manitou gave them to me. Manitou 
 takes care of the coyotes he will take care of 
 Howling Wolf." 
 
 "See here," said Manuelito impressively, "Man- 
 itou is taking care of you ; he has sent the brass- 
 button men to give you food and clothing. We 
 trust them. They have been good to Tomas and 
 me. Come with us." 
 
 Howling Wolf thought for a moment, "/do not 
 trust them" he said, " but I trust you. I will go 
 with you." 
 
 "Good," said Tomas, "then let us go back at 
 once. We met Grab-em-all-Joe a little while ago
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 2OI 
 
 as we rode over from Wild Cat, and though we 
 turned aside to let him pass he threatened us if we 
 dared set foot on the ranche." 
 
 " I can see the hogan now," said Howling Wolf. 
 " There is some one there. I can see a horse at 
 the door with a red saddle cloth." 
 
 " Listen ! " cried Manuelito. " Do you not hear 
 the Navajo death-wail ? Come, quickly." 
 
 But Tomas caught his brother's arm. " It is 
 impossible that there should be Navajo Indians 
 there now," he said. "What you hear must be evil 
 spirits." 
 
 Manuelito spurred his horse forward and the 
 others followed. At the door of the hogan stood 
 the lame mule, whose doleful braying must have 
 been the cry which Manuelito had heard. The 
 hogan was silent and apparently deserted, yet all 
 hesitated to enter. Howling Wolf was the first to 
 do so, and never, to his dying day, will he forget 
 the sight which met his eyes. He knelt beside 
 the murdered Blanket Weaver and tried to restore 
 him to consciousness, chafing his hands, and rais- 
 ing his head. But it was too late. Manuelito and
 
 202 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Tomas regarded the boy's efforts with deep but 
 unexpressed feeling. At length Manuelito roused 
 himself. " We must hurry," he said. "Grab-em- 
 all-Joe may soon return and shoot us all, and there 
 is much to do. As father has died in the hogan 
 his soul cannot get out until we have pulled the 
 walls down. We will therefore bury him at once, 
 and make clear way for his spirit." 
 
 A shallow grave was quickly dug in which the 
 old man was buried, and the hogan was levelled 
 above the grave. 
 
 Tomas, searching about the premises, found 
 some tar of the pinyon-tree, which he smeared on 
 all their faces as a sign of mourning, and as a 
 protection against Chinde, the devil. 
 
 This done the little party were preparing to 
 proceed to Wild Cat in order to report the affair 
 without delay to the Lieutenant, when Grab-em- 
 all-Joe suddenly appeared with his guard of sol- 
 diers. He was greatly excited when he saw the 
 demolished building, and called loudly upon the 
 soldiers to fire on the Indians. The men recog- 
 nizing the scouts refused to do this, but arrested
 
 ' ' ' c, 
 
 V 
 
 -1 ' ' 
 1. ! 
 
 v "fe, . V 
 
 ,(rv 1, 
 
 .'v / 
 
 ,!) f
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 205 
 
 the entire party and marched them off toward 
 headquarters. 
 
 Only Manuelito and Tomas were bound. Howl- 
 ing Wolf rode beside Tomas. He was thoroughly 
 frightened. " I shall get away," he said, " at the 
 fording of the creek. I shall go back to the 
 Navajo Church. If all is right you can call for 
 me there to-morrow." 
 
 At the creek he found the opportunity he ex- 
 pected and dashed away up a little side-canon and 
 off across the darkening prairie. The men were 
 too few to follow and at the same time guard their 
 prisoners, and he was unpursued. 
 
 All the next day he waited in his eyrie, but no 
 one came. Toward evening he killed a prairie 
 fowl and cooked it as he had done the rabbit. 
 And again as before there was an answering col- 
 umn of smoke, but this time from a little copse of 
 trees only a few miles distant. It gave the lad a 
 sense of companionship to know that there was 
 some one near, talking with him though he could 
 not understand what was said. 
 
 He sat patiently waiting for news from his
 
 206 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 friends, when he heard a shuffling sound at the 
 foot of his rock. Then his pony gave a shrill 
 scream and started across the plain at a gallop. 
 Howling Wolf grasped his arrows, for he knew that 
 just below him, though concealed by the overhang- 
 ing rock, was some enemy. His first impulse was 
 to rush to the edge and see what the threatened 
 danger was. But he restrained himself; as he 
 had not seen the creature so probably it had not 
 yet spied him. He lay flat upon his breast and 
 listened acutely. The shuffling continued with a 
 heavy lumbering sound as though of some large 
 body brushing against the side of the cliff. Pres- 
 ently there was a scratching and slipping the 
 creature was trying to climb up the rock accom- 
 panied by a sniffing and grunting, which told him 
 plainly that his pursuer was not one of the soldiers 
 as he had at first imagined, but some great animal, 
 attracted by the fragrance of his supper, probably 
 a bear, anxious to share his meal with him and 
 ready to devour his host as second course. 
 
 Very cautiously Howling Wolf crept to the edge 
 of the rock, to find his fears realized. There was
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 207 
 
 a huge grizzly bear climbing up the ragged wall 
 toward him. 
 
 The boy gripped his fetich, and then turned sick 
 as he thought how powerless it was in the present 
 instance. Of what avail was a great eagle against 
 a mountain bear? The beast saw him now and 
 crept a little nearer, snuffing in a significant and 
 unpleasant manner. Howling Wolf rolled some 
 loose stones to the edge of the precipice, and sent 
 them crashing down upon the brute. One of them 
 struck the animal upon his nose and clapping his 
 paw to the injured part, the creature lost his hold 
 and rolled to the ground. But it was only infuriated 
 by the pain, and in no way disabled. Growling sav- 
 agely it proceeded to make a more deliberate survey 
 of Howling Wolf's citadel, and seeing a more easy 
 way of mounting again climbed, this time surely 
 and successfully, to the summit. Howling Wolf 
 saw that his only safety lay in flight, and as soon as 
 the hairy muzzle appeared above the wall he made 
 speed to leap down from the other side, leaving 
 the brute in undisputed possession of the little 
 plateau. Then he set out at a run in the direction
 
 208 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 in which his pony had taken. At first he could 
 not >see his four-footed friend ; but on giving his 
 peculiar wolfish howl, the faithful creature ap- 
 peared from behind a butte and approached his 
 master doubtfully. 
 
 Throwing a glance over his shoulder Howling 
 Wolf saw the reason for the pony's hesitation. 
 The bear was pursuing him at an easy trot, and 
 gaining upon him rapidly. It was in vain that he 
 whistled and entreated ; the pony dashed about 
 in a circle, would approach him trembling, and 
 then, panic-stricken, wheel and canter away. He 
 loved his little master, but Howling Wolf was sub- 
 jecting his friendship to too great a test. 
 
 Howling Wolf could hear the bear panting be- 
 hind him, and, desperate, snatching his tomahawk 
 from his belt, he turned and hurled it at his foe. 
 Attempting at the same time to run backward, he 
 fell and before he could recover himself the bear 
 was upon him. He had missed his mark. As he 
 felt the pressure of the animal's fore-foot upon his 
 breast, he abandoned all hope of life. 
 
 Still the instinct of self-preservation was strong
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 209 
 
 within him and with the strength of despair he 
 attempted to throttle the creature. As he did so 
 his fingers felt something under the shaggy hair ; 
 a collar ! The animal was not a wild one, but a 
 half-tamed pet escaped from its owner; and so 
 accustomed was he to subjection that when he felt 
 the boy grip and twist the collar, he lifted his paw 
 and submitted, growling. 
 
 Howling Wolf stood up, still keeping his hand 
 upon the collar, and sorely puzzled as to what to 
 do next. The pony, astonished at the turn which 
 matters had taken, but not sufficiently reassured 
 to approach, trotted back, to the Navajo Church. 
 The bear also seemed inclined to return in that 
 direction, and Howling Wolf concluded to accom- 
 pany him, and they proceeded together, each 
 equally distrustful of the other. On his way he 
 managed to pick up his tomahawk, with which he 
 felt a little safer. 
 
 Suddenly an Indian approached him mounted 
 on Howling Wolf's own pony, and shouting in the 
 Apache tongue : " Let go my bear ! What are 
 you doing with my bear ? "
 
 210 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Howling Wolf laughed. " What are you doing 
 with my pony ? " he asked. " Get down and I 
 will be glad enough to change." 
 
 "Your pony!" retorted the strange Indian, "it 
 is easier to say that than to prove it." 
 
 " You will believe it, perhaps," Howling Wolf 
 replied, " if I order the pony to throw you and he 
 obeys me." 
 
 The Indian replied with a derisive gesture, at 
 which Howling Wolf uttered a cry and clapped 
 his hands, whereupon the pony planted all of his 
 feet close together and humped his back rapidly. 
 Off went the Indian, and Howling Wolf, daring 
 now to leave the bear, sprang to the pony's back. 
 
 The strange Indian rubbed his shoulder good- 
 naturedly. " Who are you ? " he asked ; " and 
 what are you doing around the Navajo Church ? " 
 
 Howling Wolf explained that he was waiting for 
 friends now in the custody of the soldiers at Wild 
 Cat. The strange Indian scowled savagely. 
 
 " You will never see your friends again," he 
 said. " I have just come from Wild Cat, where I 
 have been exhibiting my bear. (I live in a cave
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 211 
 
 under this mountain and when I wish to know 
 what is going on I take my bear out and exhibit 
 it.) The two young men, your friends, are to be 
 hung. They have been ordered to the next fort 
 as prisoners." 
 
 Howling Wolf nearly leaped from his pony. 
 " Hung ! " he exclaimed, " Manuelito and Tomas 
 hung I " 
 
 "Yes," replied the other stolidly, "for an at- 
 tack on the ranche of Grab-em-all-Joe, and for 
 communicating with the Apaches by signals when 
 they should have been tracking them as scouts." 
 
 " It is false," cried Howling Wolf. "I will go 
 to the Lieutenant and tell him. I was with them. 
 They made no attack. They have made no sig- 
 nals." 
 
 " Who would believe you ? The soldiers caught 
 them in the act of tearing down a house at Joe's 
 ranche. Let them hang. There were signals. I 
 myself saw them a fire from this rock, telling 
 the Apaches that the brass-button men had left 
 this region a lie and Geronimo believed it for 
 he is near. I saw his answering smoke this morn-
 
 212 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 ing and hurried back to set the danger-signal. 
 They are traitors to Geronimo. How did they 
 find out our signals ? Why did they get permis- 
 sion to leave Wild Cat long enough to make the 
 fires and then go back again, if not to lure the 
 Apaches into danger and then betray them ? Let 
 them hang." 
 
 " If this were true," Howling Wolf exclaimed, 
 "the soldiers would not wish to hang them. I 
 made the fires myself." 
 
 "You?" exclaimed the old Indian, laying his 
 hand upon his knife. 
 
 " I made them to cook my dinner. I had no 
 idea that they would be taken as signals." 
 
 " But what were you doing here at my lookout ? 
 Fifty years have I been Medicine-Man and seer 
 for the Apaches. I travel before them with my 
 bear and the Navajo Church is an old signal-sta- 
 tion of ours, the northernmost one we have. Ge- 
 ronimo never ventures so far except when he sees 
 the smoke banner waving from its summit. Lucky 
 if I am not too late to warn him. What were you 
 doing here, I say ? "
 
 ON THE WAR-PATH. 213 
 
 " I was hunting eagles," Howling Wolf ex- 
 plained, pointing to the cabin which he had built 
 and extending the feathers. " You are a Medi- 
 cine-Man," and you know the value of these. 
 Take them as a present, and if you have any 
 charm that will save my friends give it to me." 
 
 " I have no charm," replied the Medicine-Man, 
 "but Geronimo may be able to rescue them. 
 Ride straight to that saddle-shaped mountain, and 
 when you reach it if there is a buffalo's skull on 
 the summit, keep on to the south. You will find 
 the Apaches in the next canon." 
 
 Howling Wolf hesitated. " When are Manue- 
 lito and Tomas to be hung ? " he asked. 
 
 " They are to be sent to the fort with a small 
 escort to-morrow. They will never leave it alive. 
 If you wish to save them your only hope is to get 
 Geronimo to stampede the party on their way to 
 the fort." 
 
 " And this is what they get for serving the white 
 men ! " Howling Wolf mused bitterly. 
 
 "Treats them right," replied the Medicine-Man, 
 striking his bear roughly; "the only luck-bringing
 
 214 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Medicine for the Indian is the war-path. In 
 fighting he may be the match of the white man ; 
 in treachery and cheating he can never be his 
 equal." 
 
 " Is this the answer ? " thought Howling Wolf. 
 He had asked Manitou to show him how to find 
 his Lost Medicine ; was it to be recovered only 
 through blood ? He thought of the old Blanket 
 Weaver murdered in his own home, of his friends 
 sentenced to death for no crime, and he drew a 
 long bow and shot an arrow in the direction of 
 the United States camp. " I will try it," he said. 
 " Good-by. I am going to Geronimo. We will 
 see what help there is in the war-path."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WITH GERONIMO.* 
 
 THE report which the Apache Medicine Man 
 had given Howling Wolf, however, was 
 only partly true. 
 
 Shortly after Manuelito and Tomas had started 
 for the ranche, the horses expected by the troops 
 had arrived. A little later the smoke-signals had 
 been discovered, and the Lieutenant had been de- 
 tailed with an escort to ride toward the Saddle 
 Mountain and discover what they meant. Dur- 
 ing his absence the guard detailed to the ranche 
 at the request of Grab-em-all-Joe, returned with the 
 
 * The account of Geronimo's raid given in this chapter while not a de- 
 tailed report of any one of his numerous Rob-Roy adventures, aims to be 
 a typical picture true in general characteristic. While it is largely drawn 
 from the author's personal observations in the West, she is also indebted 
 to the reports of Generals Crook and Miles and to the writings of Captain 
 John G. Bourke, Lieutenant John Bigelow and Mr. Edwards Roberts. 
 
 2I 5
 
 2l6 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Navajoes. Captain Hodge was furious. " Here 
 are the Lieutenant's pet scouts, Manuelito and 
 Tomas, caught in the act of committing depreda- 
 tions on a white settler and suspected of com- 
 municating with the enemy ! I rather think he 
 will have less to say now about trusting Indian 
 auxiliaries." 
 
 He would listen to no explanation, but ordered 
 them sent under arrest to the nearest military post. 
 Certain as he was of their guilt his sense of jus- 
 tice or rather love of formality, told him that they 
 ought not to be executed without more investiga- 
 tion than he had now time to make. This matter 
 was hardly off his hands when the Lieutenant re- 
 turned reporting indications of Apaches near by, 
 and the command was instantly in motion. 
 
 It was early morning, but the scouts who sought 
 for the trail in advance of the troops reported fresh 
 hoof-prints ; those of a single pony. For a long 
 way they followed them, until they blended into 
 the trail of a mounted troop. Howling Wolf had 
 joined Geronimo. 
 
 Much to the boy's disappointment there was no
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 217 
 
 attempt made to rescue his friends. Geronimo 
 had made a bold dash much further to the north 
 than he was supposed ever to raid, attracted by 
 cattle pastured here by extensive cattle owners. 
 He would not have ventured so far had he not 
 been deceived by assurances of safety from the 
 smoke-signals, and now, with United States' troops 
 pressing him closely in the rear, he had no time 
 for any one's business but his own. Straight for 
 the south with a line as direct as the bee makes 
 through the air the troop started for Mexico. They 
 were well mounted now on the horses which they 
 had stolen from the cavalry. He had secured sev- 
 eral hundred head of beeves as well and was ready 
 to return to his stronghold in the Sierra Madre. 
 But he had not counted on being so hotly fol- 
 lowed. He had imagined that it would take the 
 soldiers longer to secure fresh horses, and on the 
 evening of the first day's march there was a brisk 
 skirmish with the advance guard of the troops and 
 the cattle were abandoned. 
 
 Howling Wolf rode by the side of Geronimo's 
 wife. She had a kind face and she wore the blue
 
 2l8 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 crepe shawl much soiled, but embroidered with still 
 gaudy paroquets and dahlias. Once Geronimo 
 suggested putting Howling Wolf on another horse 
 as he had himself taken a liking to the pony, but 
 the woman took the boy's part, and the change was 
 not made. 
 
 On and still on ! Twenty-eight hours at a stretch 
 in the saddle, the pony doing good work and keep- 
 ing up with the best. Then there were hurried 
 halts at lonely ranches and bloody deeds which 
 frightened Howling Wolf, murder and pillage and 
 fire marking their way as they fled. In the hard 
 lines which marked Geronimo's face the boy saw 
 only cruelty and indomitable will ; but the face 
 softened when it turned toward his wife, and the 
 woman told Howling Wolf how Geronimo had once 
 ventured into a fort where she was a prisoner and 
 although surrounded by soldiers had managed to 
 rescue her. She had insisted on accompanying 
 him on his last raiding expedition, but finding the 
 country roused he had left her with the Moquis and 
 had been driven back into Senora without her. His 
 present wild dash through the country had for its
 
 WITH GERON1MO. 2 19 
 
 prime object finding her again, though he had been 
 tempted farther east by the great herds of the 
 cattle-men. 
 
 " He has risked his life for me many times," she 
 said proudly. " The whole country is afraid of him. 
 He has tired out the army. General Crook has 
 caught him more than once, but has found him 
 harder to hold than water in his hands. As for 
 the Mexicans, ugh ! they flee if one but utter his 
 name." 
 
 As they went further south the country became 
 more and more sterile ; but their commander knew 
 where to find the rare springs, and the Apaches 
 could ride an entire day under the burning sun 
 without water. They frequently ate their beef raw 
 for fear that the smoke of fires would discover their 
 whereabouts. They encountered a sand storm at 
 one point, which was hailed with joy, for they 
 skimmed lightly through it, while they knew it 
 would cover their tracks and confuse and embar- 
 rass their pursuers. 
 
 It was after this tornado that Geronimo gave or- 
 ders for a halt. Some of the men scattered chasing
 
 220 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 wild turkeys, others constructed small wigwams 
 with branches and blankets for the steam bath, of 
 which the Apache is as fond as a Turk. Stones 
 were heated and placed in the centre of the tent, 
 and water dashed upon the stones filled the en- 
 closure with steam. After this came a plunge into 
 the river, then a sleep and a meal of roast turkey, 
 and the band awoke ready for another long ride 
 which carried them across the border and into 
 Mexico. Here there was a skirmish with the Na- 
 tional Guard, the Mexicans verifying the predic- 
 tion of Geronimo's wife and fleeing after the first 
 shot. 
 
 And now the vegetation grew denser and more 
 tropical in character. Cactus of many species, 
 some higher than a man's head, and covered with 
 flaunting blossoms, odorous night-blooming cereus 
 abounded, with parrots and humming birds more 
 brilliant than the flowers winging everywhere. 
 They raided a ranche and supplied themselves 
 with tropical fruit, and more cattle, and then 
 turned toward the mountains. Over the foothills 
 covered with groves of scrub oak and then up the
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 221 
 
 gorges of the Sierra Madre. Only cedar now ; 
 and further on the trail led over rocky promonto- 
 ries bare of all vegetation, but a little river dashed 
 down the rocks and settled here and there in deep 
 tanks and pools, affording abundance of water for 
 their stock. 
 
 Howling Wolf was deputed to help drive the 
 cattle and he found this no easy task, for the trail 
 was narrow and steep and sometimes led by the 
 side of dreadful chasms. Now and then a poor 
 ox lost his footing and rolled down the precipice 
 breaking his neck in the gorge below. Up and 
 still up; and now they began to find signals 
 skulls of animals arranged in a peculiar way. 
 "That means," said Geronimo's wife, "that they 
 are all well and expecting us. How glad I shall 
 be to see my children again ! See, I have brought 
 them some shoes and a doll,'' and she showed 
 Howling Wolf a pair of pink satin ball-slippers 
 taken from a Mexican store, and a china doll from 
 some American home. 
 
 It was the first indication that Howling Wolf 
 had had that there were other Apaches in this
 
 222 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 mountain fastness awaiting the arrival of Geroni- 
 mo, but presently smoke-signals were seen in the 
 daytime in answer to their own, and beacon-fires 
 at night. The men were happy and more careless. 
 They sang and in intervals of rest played cards, 
 joked and fished for trout. 
 
 At length, on one peak sharper that the rest, 
 sentinels were discerned, and then a turn through 
 a narrow pass, which might have been easily de- 
 fended by a few against an army, showed them a 
 grassy valley and in it a double row of lodges, before 
 which women were working and children playing. 
 There was immense excitement as the party de- 
 scended into this stronghold. Wives greeted their 
 husbands, children were carried upon their fathers' 
 shoulders. Happiness was so universal that Howl- 
 ing Wolf who stood a little apart to observe the 
 meeting, was convinced that at length the Lost 
 Medicine was found, and that it lay in vigorous 
 resistance to the United States. 
 
 For a time all went merrily in the mountains. 
 The children played at hunting or fighting, cany- 
 ing imaginary raids into the heart of the States
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 223 
 
 and bringing away droves of cattle and booty. 
 What the children played the elders did in earnest, 
 and Howling Wolf wandered with his fetich on 
 many a lonely hunt, or descended with the braves 
 for a wild dash on some Mexican hacienda. 
 
 But winter came with snow and bitter cold in 
 these high altitudes and the band broke up, a few 
 returned to their Reservation with promises of 
 good behavior ; but there were more who did not 
 dare to do this. Some had committed crimes, at 
 first under the influence of whiskey which trans- 
 forms an Indian into a fiend, and which had been 
 illegally sold them by white men, and now know- 
 ing themselves to be liable to arrest felt that there 
 was no better way than to resist to the bitter end. 
 
 Others had been defrauded by cattle-men, who 
 had rented their lands and refused to pay, or had 
 seized them without any formalities. Each had 
 some grievance of his own beside the general one 
 of the tribe that of being unconfined prisoners, 
 kept to a comparatively small Reservation where 
 they had been in the habit of roaming at their own 
 will. They saw the iron walls of civilization clos-
 
 224 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 ing around them, with the avowed object of crush- 
 ing them out of existence. They had no voice by 
 which to make their complaints heard, no way of 
 attracting the attention of the Government except 
 by making themselves a terror, often no escape 
 from starvation except through rapine. 
 
 Like " their cousins the coyotes " they had been 
 hunted, driven, shot down by military and settlers 
 without inquiring as to their guilt, until the only 
 life left to them was that of the wild beast. 
 
 It sometimes seemed to Howling Wolf that he 
 was growing more and more like his namesake a 
 skulking, lean Ishmaelitish creature half cowardly, 
 half reckless, with a wolfish nature like the coyote 
 as Bret Harte describes him, stealing silently over 
 the prairie in the twilight : 
 
 " A shade on the stubble, a ghost by the wall, 
 Now leaping, now limping, now risking a fall, 
 Loath ever to leave and yet fearful to stay, 
 A thoroughly vagabond outcast in gray." 
 
 The greater part of the band took refuge for the 
 winter further south in the sheltered valleys of the 
 Sierra Madre ? others among the villages of the Pu-
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 225 
 
 eblos or building-Indians. As these were leaving 
 Mexico the National Guard attacked the small 
 party with which Howling Wolf was travelling, 
 and he with a number of women and children 
 whom he was obstinately defending were captured. 
 He was mounted on his pony grown lean and wiry 
 but no less rugged for its mountain scrambling, 
 and he had resolutely kept his place between the 
 squaws and the Mexicans, guarding their retreat, 
 which was necessarily slow, as many of the wo- 
 men were mounted on stubborn little donkeys. 
 At last two soldiers caught the pony by its bridle 
 and a third dragged Howling Wolf from the sad- 
 dle, disarming and pinioning him with the help of 
 two comrades, but not before he had made fierce 
 resistance. One of the Mexicans mounting the 
 pony, the animal did not wait for Howling Wolf's 
 yell of command to throw its rider, but sagaciously 
 " bucked," and finding that his rider who had 
 been a raquero was not to be dislodged by this 
 means, went through with all his accomplishments 
 in the way of rearing, rolling, kicking, biting, shy- 
 ing, plunging and stopping suddenly, until with a
 
 226 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 final leap he sent the adventurous soldier with a 
 back somersault through the air. Then he threw 
 a vicious kick toward the nearest group which 
 doubled up two more of the National Guard, and 
 turned in a doubtful way toward his little master, 
 who shouted fiercely the order which the pony 
 knew meant, " Flee for your life," and which was 
 instantly obeyed. In a moment more the pony 
 was racing after the retreating Apaches, and 
 Howling Wolf had the satisfaction of seeing Ge- 
 ronimo abandon the horse on which he was riding 
 and leap to his back. 
 
 Some of the Indians lay dead upon the ground ; 
 these were instantly scalped by the Mexicans, who 
 in so doing showed themselves a grade below their 
 foes, for the Apache never scalps an enemy. The 
 bloody locks, for which a large price had been of- 
 fered by the Mexican Government, were hoisted 
 on long poles, and the party took up its line of 
 march for the city of Chihuahua, driving their cap- 
 tives before them. 
 
 The city gave the guard a public reception. 
 As they marched down the tree-shaded alameda
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 227 
 
 in triumphal procession the bells of every church 
 pealed out a paan of frenzied joy, guns were fired, 
 the men cheered and shouted, and the women 
 waved their scarfs and threw flowers to the sol- 
 diers. Howling Wolf drew closer to the side of 
 one of the squaws whom he had defended, a wo- 
 man in a dirty and faded Mexican shawl itself a 
 trophy taken by her husband long since from her 
 captors. Apparently deserted by her husband and 
 friends, she still bore herself with the grand mien 
 of a conquered Zenobia. She was confident that 
 Geronimo would come for her again, and bitterly 
 revenge any indignity which might be put upon her 
 by these "dogs of Mexicans." 
 
 The captives were huddled temporarily in a filthy 
 dungeon, and the procession breaking up the more 
 pious proceeded to the cathedral where a Te Deum 
 was sung in honor of the event. Shortly after this 
 a strange sight was seen. The captives were di- 
 vided, sold would be the truer term among the 
 rancheros, and Howling Wolf and Geronimo's 
 wife became the property of the same man. Out 
 of the city, away to the north, to a hacienda or farm,
 
 228 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 they were marched on the following day. Here 
 at least were warm adobe houses and the captives 
 fared even better than the Apaches who escaped, 
 but they were made to work, and were corrected 
 by the overseer of the peons with a sharp stick of 
 mescal. They were fed with ateol, a kind of por- 
 ridge which was hardly sufficient to sustain them, 
 and the wife of Geronimo fell sick with longing 
 for the deliverance which did not come. 
 
 She pined so day by day, that at last the master 
 of the hacienda turned her loose telling her to go 
 where she would. It was in the early spring, the 
 weather inclement, and she the day before had 
 been in an apparently dying condition ; but the 
 sense of freedom put new life in her, and she 
 trudged away full of hope and happiness. Before 
 she left she bade Howling Wolf be of good cour- 
 age, for he would certainly be rescued soon. The 
 season was approaching at which the tribe would 
 take to the mountains, and she would send for 
 him. 
 
 With this hope at his heart Howling Wolf lived 
 on and labored to avoid the mescal stick. His
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 229 
 
 work was about the corral in the care of the cattle 
 and burros, and he slept in a shed in one corner 
 of the cattle-pen. No one had spoken kindly to 
 him during the entire winter, not even the priest 
 who came occasionally and preached in the little 
 mud chapel. He had been obliged to attend the 
 service, but he had regarded it as white men's 
 " medicine " for their own success, and he had 
 hugged his precious fetich during the preaching, 
 beseeching the Great Blue Eagle which it repre- 
 sented to come and carry him away in its claws. 
 
 He had found some indigo and freshened up 
 the tattooed pony on his breast, fancying that the 
 brighter he kept the image the sooner he would 
 see the original, for all through his weary captivity 
 he had kept up heart and courage by his faith that 
 sooner or later the pony would come back to him 
 or he to it. 
 
 And it was the pony who came back. One day 
 the rancheros brought it in, panting, frightened, 
 trembling in every limb, worn thin with hard 
 usage, and shaggy from neglect a miserable- 
 looking little beast. Still there was fire in its eye
 
 230 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 and plenty of go in the sinewy legs. Howling 
 Wolf noticed that Geronimo had hardened the 
 pony's hoofs with a preparation of mescal render- 
 ing them nearly as well provided for mountain 
 travel as though shod with iron. The rancheros 
 had found the pony in a wood a few miles distant 
 tied to a tree by a bit of rope. Who had left it 
 there they could not imagine, perhaps some trav- 
 eller who would appear and claim it. 
 
 So they talked among themselves, but Howling 
 Wolf knew that Geronimo had passed by ; that he 
 had not dared attack the hacienda and that his 
 wife, knowing that the rancheros passed every day 
 through this little wood, had left the pony there to 
 aid him in escaping. 
 
 Howling Wolf did not go near the pony while 
 the men were present, but when they were at din- 
 ner he stole into the corral and covered it with 
 caresses. The poor creature recognized its little 
 master and almost human tears trickled down its 
 face. Howling Wolf fed it well and hurried out 
 of the corral for fear that the affectionate animal 
 would betray their acquaintance.
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 23! 
 
 He was met by one of the rancheros who took 
 him to Don Miguel, the owner of the hacienda. 
 He led Howling Wolf to a window and pointed to 
 a slender line of black resinous smoke ascending 
 in a spiral curve in the direction of the mountains. 
 " That is a smoke-signal of Apaches," said Don 
 Miguel. 
 
 Howling Wolf did not reply, and Don Miguel 
 went on to explain that a great reward had been 
 offered by the Government to any one who would 
 secure, or lead to the securing of Geronimo. 
 " You," said the Don, " were with him, you know 
 his haunts and his signals. To-morrow I shall 
 lead a band of rancheros in pursuit of him. We 
 will arrange an ambuscade, and if you will answer 
 his signals in such a way as to lead him into our 
 trap you shall be rich beyond your utmost power 
 of conception." Don Miguel opened a small iron 
 bound chest full of silver dollars. "This shall be 
 yours," he said, " if you will call Geronimo into 
 our hands." 
 
 Howling Wolf laughed aloud and snapped his 
 fingers. in derision. This opportunity of rejecting
 
 232 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK- PONY. 
 
 all that could be offered filled him with a fierce 
 joy. Nearly all of Geronimo's desperate followers 
 had had such chances, and none of them had ever 
 thought of being other than incorruptibly loyal. 
 
 Don Miguel, much incensed, ordered his hands 
 and feet to be tied with stout cord, and he was 
 laid in his cabin. Howling Wolf had already cut 
 notches in the adobe wall by means of an old stir- 
 rup by which he expected to climb over and effect 
 his escape that night. But, now that he was tied, 
 all hope seemed to have been taken away, and 
 another night the Indians would be far beyond his 
 reach. He struggled with his bonds until the 
 ropes cut into the flesh, but could not break them, 
 and had given up in despair, when he heard a 
 mournful questioning whinny. He had forgotten 
 his pony. He uttered the low wolfish cry which 
 the bright creature knew so well. 
 
 The shed was open to the corral and though it 
 was now quite dark the animal found him imme- 
 diately. For a time Howling Wolf had some dif- 
 ficulty in making it understand that he wished the 
 knots picked from the cords, but at length the in-
 
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 '.;.
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 235 
 
 telligent animal comprehended and performed the 
 task. Then it was perfectly easy to scale the wall, 
 and opening the gate from the outside, he let out 
 the pony, who was all impatience for the start. 
 
 This rescue was the last kind deed which his 
 pony was to perform for him. 
 
 He caught up with Geronimo the following day 
 and telling him of the search which had been or- 
 ganized they hastened on with a precipitancy which 
 cost them dear. A scouting party of United States 
 soldiers were encamped in the next valley and 
 upon them they incautiously rushed. 
 
 The Apaches broke and wheeled as soon as the 
 troops were discovered, and again Howling Wolf 
 skimmed lightly back and forward aiding the 
 frightened squaws and children. 
 
 On came the troops. They were cavalry who 
 had dismounted on account of the uneven ground 
 and were firing by the side of their Indian allies. 
 They were led by Captain Hodge, who uttered a 
 fierce shout of exultation as he recognized Howl- 
 ing Wolf and the pony. " Aim for the boy, Lieu- 
 tenant," he cried, "and I will take the pony. If
 
 236 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 I cannot secure it alive at least that little wretch 
 shall not get off with it again." 
 
 He snatched a rifle from one of the soldiers, 
 and screening himself behind a bowlder, took care- 
 ful aim. There was a sharp report and the pony 
 bounded high and fell. Howling Wolf was on his 
 feet instantly and Geronimo drew rein and called, 
 extending his hand to help him mount behind him. 
 
 But Howling Wolf was deaf to any sound but 
 the gurgling moan in his dying pony's throat. He 
 ran to the spot unmindful that the Indians had now 
 deserted it and that the troops were swarming in, 
 and threw himself upon the ground taking his 
 pony's head in his lap. The filmy eyes recognized 
 him ; there was a quiver of the sensitive nostrils, a 
 twitch of the ever-ready ear and his faithful friend 
 was gone. 
 
 A heavy hand was laid upon his shoulder and a 
 gruff voice exclaimed, " You little rascal ! you are 
 my prisoner at last." 
 
 The boy struggled fiercely. "You shot my 
 pony!" he cried, endeavoring to draw his Ute 
 knife, But a pair of strong arms pinioned him
 
 WITH GERONIMO. 237 
 
 from behind and Manuelito disarmed and held 
 him securely, while the Lieutenant coming up ex- 
 amined the dead pony. "The pony was to be 
 yours," he said at last to Captain Hodge, "and 
 you have secured it. The boy by your own agree' 
 ment is mine."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 
 
 IT was long after the capture of Howling Wolf 
 before Geronimo gave up the unequal fight. 
 But at last, leaving the deserted Jesuit mission in 
 which he had been hiding; he came into the United 
 States camp and surrendered to General Miles. 
 A great breath of relief was drawn by the settlers 
 of both Arizona and Mexico. For years they had 
 lived in terror of their lives. For three years one 
 sixth of the entire United States army had fol- 
 lowed this daring free-booter, with an immense 
 expenditure of money, valor, and hardship, and 
 with all the appliances of the telegraph and rail- 
 road on their side to give warning and to furnish 
 transportation for comparatively unlimited sup- 
 plies. With the army of Mexico as allies, and 
 with all civilization to back them, our army in the 
 238 .
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 239 
 
 field with over four thousand men, had been suc- 
 cessfully defied and flouted by from fifty to a hun- 
 dred vagabonds ! 
 
 It was a mad struggle. Yet if our forefathers 
 were authorized in taking up arms against Great 
 Britain this handful of men also had right upon 
 their side in uttering their protest for the whole 
 Indian race against tyranny. People talk of In- 
 dian atrocities but never think of the atrocities 
 which have been committed upon the Indian ; how 
 our government has never kept a single treaty in 
 its long " century of dishonor." Our fair land has 
 much to account for and it is well that the boys, 
 the voters of the next generation, should know some 
 of the wrongs of the Indians and face this great 
 problem with a spirit of fairness which has not 
 hitherto been shown. 
 
 Howling Wolf was greatly surprised by his 
 meeting with Manuelito and Tomas. His heart 
 softened as the scouts told him how the Lieuten- 
 ant had exerted himself in their behalf ; saving 
 them when circumstantial evidence seemed so 
 much against them, by laying bare before their
 
 240 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 judges the character of Grab-em-all-Joe, his seizure 
 of their land and the murder of their father, the 
 old Blanket Weaver. 
 
 The scouts had been devotedly attached to their 
 Lieutenant ever since. They had led the sol- 
 diers surely and unfalteringly on the track of the 
 Apaches, travelling like them seventy-five to a 
 hundred miles in twenty-four hours, often running 
 for entire days on foot beneath a broiling sun or 
 climbing mountains ten thousand feet high, find- 
 ing the trail where no one else could discover it, 
 and more than once pointing out an ambuscade. 
 The scouts, too, had saved the Lieutenant's life 
 more than once, and had proved themselves faith- 
 ful and efficient. They possessed all the traits 
 which General Crook says render the Apache the 
 tiger of the human species : " acuteness of sense, 
 perfect physical condition, absolute knowledge of 
 locality, and almost absolute ability to preserve 
 themselves from danger." They were now in their 
 element, and were perfectly happy, and they took 
 Howling Wolf to themselves with great delight. 
 As he was not an Apache he did not fall under
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 241 
 
 the head of prisoners-of-war, and the Lieutenant 
 was allowed to incorporate him for the time among 
 his scouts. 
 
 Howling Wolf himself did not care. All of his 
 joy in life had gone out with the death of his pony ; 
 they might take him where they pleased or do with 
 him what they would it did not matter to him. 
 He looked the picture of listless indifference. 
 Captain Hodge said that he was sullen and ugly. 
 Manuelito was of the opinion that he was sick 
 " had an evil spirit in his stomach." But the 
 Lieutenant feared that his heart was broken. 
 
 The Senator and his daughter Helen were in 
 New Mexico. The Lieutenant wrote them of his 
 acquisition and they met him at once at a frontier 
 post some distance from the railroad where the 
 troops had been ordered. Helen had been in- 
 tensely interested in what she had heard of the 
 boy's history. Manuelito told her now all that 
 he knew, and as she was about to return to the 
 East she offered to take Howling Wolf with her 
 and place him in some proper educational insti- 
 tution.
 
 242 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 " I fear," said the Lieutenant, " that he will kill 
 himself from sheer homesickness, and that under 
 no circumstances can he become accustomed to 
 civilization." 
 
 " Let me talk with him," said Helen ; and walk- 
 ing to where he sat apart she placed her hand on 
 Howling Wolf's head, saying, " I saw your grand- 
 mother in Colorado." 
 
 The boy drew away shyly and kept his gaze 
 fixed on the distant prairie. 
 
 " She was looking for the Lost Medicine of the 
 Utes," said Helen. 
 
 A slight spasm swept over the boy's face and 
 he gave her a look both wondering and pleading. 
 
 Grandmother Two Tongues will not find it," 
 Helen continued impressively and kindly. " But 
 Howling Wolf will. The Lost Medicine of the 
 Utes is hidden at a school for Indian boys and 
 girls where I am told you are soon to be sent, and 
 you will find it." 
 
 The boy sprang to his feet, every nerve quiv- 
 ering with excitement. " How you know all this ? " 
 he said, in broken English. "Who tell you?"
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 243 
 
 " I know more about you, Howling Wolf," Helen 
 said kindly, " than I can tell you now. I know all 
 about Manuelito and Tomas and your dear pony. 
 A true friend of yours has told me, and how you 
 have sought so long for the Lost Medicine of your 
 tribe. I think it was Manitou who put it into 
 my heart to come and tell you just where to 
 find it." 
 
 " When ? where ? how ? " asked the boy eagerly. 
 
 " You must learn to speak English first, a great 
 deal better than you do now ; you must learn to 
 read, for you will find directions about this Medi- 
 cine in books ; and above all you must learn to 
 work. You will never find the Medicine if you 
 are lazy, or untruthful. You must be patient, too," 
 she added. " It will not come right away, but 
 never lose hope or courage, for you will find it ! " 
 
 A moment more and Howling Wolf was alone, 
 staring as blankly as before at the shimmering 
 distance ; but there was no longer any listlessness 
 in face or attitude, and the day really marked the 
 beginning of a new life. It was long before he 
 understood v/hat the magic Medicine was for which
 
 244 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 he toiled, but through study, work and waiting, 
 there ran a steady, powerful persistence which 
 never lost sight of its aim. 
 
 Arrayed in some cast-off clothing of the Lieu- 
 tenant's, he bade a cheerful good-by to the dis- 
 appointed Manuelito and Tomas and took his 
 place in the cars, guarding Miss Helen's baggage, 
 a perfectly trustful, confident look in his dark eyes. 
 He shook hands with the Lieutenant politely, but 
 it was plain that he only admitted him into his 
 friendship on tolerance, because he, too, was a 
 favorite of the ) r oung lady's, and that he parted 
 from him with sublime indifference. 
 
 " You have stolen his heart," said the Lieuten- 
 ant, smiling ; " well, it is an old trick of yours." 
 
 Helen left Howling Wolf at the Indian Indus- 
 trial School at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, where he 
 mingled with several hundred other Indian youth. 
 It was the prettiest home he had ever lived in 
 these old barracks surrounding a grassy plaza 
 with band-stand in the centre and shady trees and 
 cool verandas. He wore a cadet uniform now 
 with brass buttons which were a continual delight
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 245 
 
 to him, and over which his fingers played contin- 
 ually. His long locks, purple-black like a crow's 
 plumage, had been cut, and his pony's likeness 
 was covered beneath a white shirt front ; but he 
 learned very soon to be as proud of these symbols 
 of civilization as he had been of his bead-embroi- 
 dered deer-skin and eagle's feathers. 
 
 He sat quietly in the little white chapel listen- 
 ing to sweet hymns and the simple words of Jesus 
 which did not strike him now, as the service in the 
 Mexican chapel had once done, as a Medicine- 
 Dance. He studied in the schoolroom, though 
 the confinement was irksome to him, with earnest 
 endeavor because the beautiful lady had told him 
 that some way these books were to help him in 
 finding his talisman. 
 
 But he found a new joy and interest in the 
 trade to which he had been assigned. He was to 
 learn tinsmithing. The bright metal fascinated 
 him at once ; he would have liked to cut out orna- 
 ments with the great shears, moons and stars from 
 the shining sheets, but it was quite as amusing to 
 fashion the little pans and cups. It reminded him
 
 246 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 of the work of some Navajo silversmiths which he 
 had watched with interest, and he soon learned to 
 use the soldering iron with great deftness. It 
 was a proud moment for him when he made all by 
 himself an army canteen similar to the one for 
 which the Blanket Weaver had paid so dearly, and 
 his first request was to be allowed to send a set of 
 cake tins to Miss Helen and a couple of canteens 
 of his own make to his friends, Manuelito and 
 Tomas. He took great pride in his work, as do 
 all the boys at this model institution. He saw 
 young men in the next shop making wagons which 
 were purchased by the government for army use. 
 There were boys from the wildest tribes, Coman- 
 ches, Kiowas, Sioux, Cheyennes and even Apa- 
 ches, with a score of other tribes, running sewing 
 machines in the tailoring establishment, making ex 
 cellent harnesses and shoes, blacksmithing, paint- 
 ing, baking, building houses, printing, farming, 
 acting as overseers, as musicians, drilling as sol- 
 diers, learning the duties of clerk, hospital steward, 
 waiter, caring for stock, driving teams, making 
 themselves competent and useful in many ways.
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 247 
 
 Summer came and Howling Wolf noted a new 
 feature ; the more apt of these who had been 
 in the school for two years were " planted out," 
 or allowed to work for themselves during vaca- 
 tion. Many found homes in farmers' families 
 where they progressed even faster than at the 
 school, and learned to love more and more a civ- 
 ilized life, and to appreciate the blessings of a 
 Christian home. Howling Wolf had not spent the 
 usual length of time at the school, but the pro- 
 prietor of a large canning establishment had ap- 
 plied for hands, and the boy had made such 
 progress in his trade that he was allowed to go. 
 This glimpse of outer life had its usual effect. He 
 experienced the first thrill of earning money, he 
 learned to measure himself by white boys and to 
 find that he could do as good work as the other 
 operatives. He made several acquaintances who 
 treated him kindly, and he learned that white men 
 were not all his enemies. He saw something of 
 business and the large way in which it was con- 
 ducted in this establishment opened his mind to 
 broader notions of the way white men amassed
 
 248 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 fortunes. His nights were spent not in a board- 
 ing-house but in a farmer's home, and here too he 
 was constantly imbibing new ideas. He went back 
 to school in the autumn with twenty-five dollars 
 laid aside and a new trunk of his own purchase 
 containing a mysterious something which none of 
 his fellow students were allowed to see. 
 
 On the very day of his return he had an inter- 
 view with Captain Pratt, the large-hearted, clear- 
 headed superintendent of the school. 
 
 It was hard for him to explain exactly what he 
 wanted. "At Fort Defiance," he said, "one girl 
 they call West Wind I want to come to this 
 school. You write letter, send this twenty-five dol- 
 lars, this trunk ; maybe she come." 
 
 " This West Wind is your sister ? " asked the 
 Captain. 
 
 "Pretty near all same," replied the boy. 
 
 " But if she comes," said the Captain, "you can 
 then give her the trunk ; it would cost a great deal 
 to send it to Fort Defiance, and it would trouble 
 her to bring it back with her." 
 
 Howling Wolf turned an imploring look to Mrs.
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 249 
 
 Pratt. " Come see," he begged. He opened the 
 trunk and showed the interested lady a girl's dress, 
 which he had bought at some store of ready-made 
 clothing. It was of neat gray wool goods, for 
 Howling Wolf had selected a dress as nearly as 
 possible like that which the beautiful lady wore 
 who had spoken to him in New Mexico. There 
 was also a hat and a pair of shoes and stockings. 
 
 " I understand," said Mrs. Pratt ; " you wish 
 West Wind to have these things ; but will it not 
 do to give them to her after she arrives? " 
 
 The boy flushed. " I don't want West Wind to 
 look like Apache when she comes," he said ; " old 
 blanket, bead moccason, no stocking. I want her 
 look all same white girl. Other scholars not 
 laugh at West Wind." 
 
 " They shall not laugh at her," said Mrs. Pratt 
 kindly. " I will write to friends in the West and 
 we will see how we can manage it ; she shall come 
 neatly dressed and you may leave this trunk in 
 my room and give it to her as soon as she arrives." 
 
 It so happened that the Lieutenant was coming 
 East on important business to himself, and West
 
 250 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 Wind, whose mother had died, was very willing to 
 accept the opportunity of education offered her. 
 She had already made good progress at the 
 Agency school, and Howling Wolf need not have 
 trembled for her appearance. 
 
 The joy that lit up the boy's manly face at the 
 reunion was something good to see. He stepped 
 up to the Lieutenant too, and gave him his hand 
 asking for Manuelito and Tomas, who were quite 
 happy in their army life, and thanked him for the 
 interest which he had at last learned to appreciate. 
 
 " Tell Miss Helen," he said, " I find 'em, that 
 Medicine ; any Indian work hard, he have good 
 luck every time." 
 
 Howling Wolf still studies at the Training 
 School. He will be a superior workman, perhaps 
 more, for he has developed a taste for original ex- 
 periment rare in a boy of his opportunities. It 
 all came from a desire to make a ring for West 
 Wind from a ten-cent piece. He labored over it 
 in the shop at odd moments and became inter- 
 ested in the difference between silver and tin, and 
 from this fell to experimenting with lead, brass,
 
 THE MEDICINE FOUND. 251 
 
 iron, every metal on which he could lay his hand. 
 One of the teachers showed him a small cabinet 
 of minerals, and gave him some simple chemical 
 tests for detecting different metals. From that 
 time he developed a habit of observing the stones 
 on the roadside, searching for traces of ore. 
 
 At last, one day and this showed how his 
 love for scientific inquiry was overcoming his 
 superstition he broke his eagle fetich in pieces 
 and analyzed it. With the knowledge that this 
 was virgin silver, came the realization that he had 
 discovered a valuable silver mine. But he knew, 
 too, that he could never secure any benefit from it 
 to himself. Law was all on the side of the white 
 man ; there was no chance for the Indian. 
 
 As he sat moodily with the silver in his hand, a 
 messenger came to tell him that a visitor wished 
 to see him. It was Miss Helen, Miss no longer, 
 but wife of the Lieutenant, who had stopped at 
 the school with her husband on her way West. 
 " What have you brought me ? '' she asked, noticing 
 his closed fingers. " Is it a wedding present ? " 
 
 " Yes," Howling Wolf replied eagerly, pouring
 
 252 HOWLING WOLF AND HIS TRICK-PONY. 
 
 the shining grains into her hand, and hurriedly ex- 
 plaining the circumstances of his finding it, and 
 the situation of the mine. " The Lieutenant can 
 secure it for you and I want you to have it," he 
 added with great earnestness. 
 
 " We will secure it for you, dear fellow," Helen 
 replied. 
 
 But Howling Wolf shook his head. " Govern- 
 ment must make me an American first," he said. 
 
 " We will see, we will see," said the Lieutenant 
 cheerfully; " and meantime study and learn all you 
 can here and when you are through, if you like, you 
 shall go to some Technological Institute and learn 
 about metallurgy and geology, and we will have 
 you a prospector or assayer one of these days. 
 My wife shall own the mine in trust for you, and 
 you must fit yourself for it. The Indian shall yet 
 find his Lost Medicine, even in the West."
 
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