~Don 
 
 
 n
 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
 
 C/"
 
 DON DIEGO
 
 THE GOD CLOWN DANCER.
 
 Don Diego 
 
 or 
 
 The Pueblo Indian 
 Uprising of 1680 
 
 BY 
 
 ALBERT B. REAGAN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE ALICE HARRIMAN COMPANY
 
 Copyright, 1914 
 BY ALBERT B. REAGAN 
 
 THE VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY 
 Binghamton, New York, U. S. A.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Soon after I became United States Indian Farmer 
 at Jemez, New Mexico, in 1899, the Jemez Indians 
 had a masked dance. As the dance occurred on mail 
 day, they stopped the mail carrier and would not allow 
 him to proceed on his journey. This they did in ac 
 cordance with their custom not to allow a white man 
 to enter or to pass through the village while they were 
 thus occupied. The stopping of the mail led to the ar 
 rest of the Indian governor, Jose Romero. He, as a 
 result of the preliminary examination, was bound over to 
 the United States' grand jury which was to meet the next 
 March, six months after the crime was committed. Tak 
 ing pity on the Indian, I bailed him out and took him back 
 to the village. From that time on throughout the win 
 ter months the Jemez were very friendly to me. They 
 allowed me to visit their performances at will, though 
 they did not send me special invitations to do so. At 
 the trial in March the governor was found guilty and 
 fined the full extent of the law for interfering with 
 the carrying of the mail. As soon as the sentence was 
 handed down, I went to the judge, and after a great deal 
 of argument, persuaded him to suspend the sentence 
 vipon the promise of good behavior. So I returned to 
 the village with the governor a second time. In the 
 evening after our return the " principals " of the place 
 met, and, as the greatest favor they could bestow upon
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 me, they invited me in the name of the tribe to visit 
 any and all of their ceremonies, both open and secret. 
 They stated further that they would let me know when 
 ever they had any special ceremony. This, with but one 
 exception, they carried out to the letter. Acting upon 
 the invitation, I visited each of the estufas at will. I 
 was often with the Indians in them six nights in a week. 
 I also examined the " blind closets " and secret rooms 
 in their dwellings. Furthermore, night after night I 
 listened to the legends told around their firesides. Thus 
 I was enabled to see and hear many things of interest. 
 Later I had charge of the Cibicu division of the Fort 
 Apache Indian reservation and had access to all of their 
 performances, both religious and medicinal. All these, 
 together with the Spanish accounts o>f the discovery and 
 subjugation of New Mexico, and the Indian myths and 
 traditions concerning same, I have used in the follow 
 ing story, believing that it will prove of interest to the 
 public, while laying no claim to absolute historical ac 
 curacy other than in descriptions. Indian customs vary 
 but little and what took place in this century is practi 
 cally the same as what occurred in the seventeenth cen 
 tury. This is not a history but a novel with an historical 
 thread with gaps filled in to make up the story. More 
 over the writer has used the novelist's license to bring 
 out the effect desired. It must also be understood that 
 the word slave as used in this book is used to mean any 
 person who labors without pay, as a forced servant, a 
 peon, or a convict. 
 
 In conclusion I wish to express my everlasting grati 
 tude to Professor Bandelier of Columbia College, New 
 York, who has aided me in correcting the manuscript.
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 For the benefit of students I must add that the au 
 thorities I have principally followed in the historical part 
 are George Parker Winship's " The Coronado Expedi 
 tion, 1540-1542," Fourteenth Ethnological Report, 1893, 
 Part I, pages 331 to 598; also Bancroft's History of 
 Arizona and New Mexico, and the accounts Mr. Ban 
 croft gives from other authors in his notes. 
 
 ALBERT B. REAGAN.
 
 AN EXPLANATORY NOTE 
 
 The Queres were the Zia, Santa Anna, San Felipe, 
 Santo Domingo and Cochiti Indians. The Piros Indians 
 lived in the vicinity of Socorro, south of Albuquerque, 
 New Mexico. The Tompiros lived back of the San Bias, 
 southeast and east of Albuquerque. The Tiguas were 
 the Ysleta Indians and their neighbors. The Tanos 
 were the Indians about Santa Fe. They were the San 
 Lazaro, San Cristobal, Callisteo, San Marcos, San Pedro 
 and Cienaga. The Tehuas were the Santa Clara, San 
 Ildefonso, Jacona, Nambe, San Juan, Pujuaque, and 
 Tezuque. The Picuri were north of Santa Fe, east of 
 the Rio Grande, north of the Tehuas, the farthest north 
 except Taos.
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HOO, ahoo, ahoo, ahoo," broke the stillness of 
 an early morning in May, at Jemez, in the year 
 1680. A masked dance was commencing. The " ahoo, 
 ahoo, ahoo," grew louder and louder, becoming a heavier, 
 basic, hideous sound as sixteen strange-looking creatures 
 issued, one after another, from the passageway in the 
 roof of the rectangular " sun house." They were the 
 clowns who, according to the Jemez religion, represent 
 the principal Gods the Sun, the Moon, the Morning 
 Star and the Evening Star, on special religious occa 
 sions. All of these clowns were gaudily dressed. All 
 had conspicuous head ornaments. All wore circular 
 masks, some eight inches in diameter, on which were 
 painted the gods they respectively represented, together 
 with paintings of clouds, of lightnings, and of snakes. 
 The Indians think that the gods in the vault above wear 
 similarly decorated masks, so large that each respectively 
 hides the whole person of the god that wears it. The 
 mask only is all that is ever seen by human eyes. 
 
 The arms of these clowns were naked. They wore 
 leggings and moccasins tinged in red. Their yellow- 
 painted bodies were wrapped in richly colored blankets 
 or robes, on which were embroidered, in characteristic 
 colors, figures of the sun, of the moon, of the great
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 stars, of the good and evil snakes, of the rainbow in the 
 west and the rainbow in the east, and of four pillars of 
 clouds. They made a fantastic display. 
 
 Nearly all of the head ornaments of these men con 
 sisted of eagle feathers so arranged on a buckskin cov 
 ering as to represent the spread tail of a bird with re 
 verse side presented to the front. Back of this fan of 
 
 K- 
 
 W 
 
 ? 
 
 Ho - wa Ho - wa ho - wa ho - wa ho ho - 
 
 A A 
 
 <EK A 
 
 +h- 
 
 v- 
 
 
 H i- 
 
 . i 
 
 
 
 -fH- 
 
 i j 
 
 wa ho - wa ho - wa ho - wa ho 
 
 A A 
 
 ho - wa 
 
 i-*- 
 
 -s>- -0- 
 
 Mon-te - zu - ma ( Ho - wa Mont-e - zu - ma, 
 
 A A 
 
 A. 
 
 ..... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 - * 
 
 I(T\ 
 
 J 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 n 
 
 : 
 
 
 : J .. 
 
 
 i- i * . 
 
 Mon-te - zu - ma w& - me wa - mS wa - mS 
 
 A A 
 
 ^^- 
 
 & 
 
 m 
 
 wa - m5 wa - mS Mon- te - zu - ma wa - me Ho - wa 
 A A A A 
 
 i 
 
 
 ma - mS Ho - wa ma - m5 Mon-te-zu-ma ma -me
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 J A ' S6> 
 
 MONTEZUMA 
 A A 
 
 A 
 
 Jf -4- 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Si tf ^\ P i K. i 
 
 fis! 2 Nl 
 
 x^ 
 Yu - a -sha-lon, ya - u - sha-lon, 
 
 n A 
 
 ya - a - sha- 
 
 A 
 
 M 
 
 
 1 K 
 
 2L f, 
 
 VJ | 1 . 
 
 
 |g^. _j 1 1 
 
 - | -f ~ -J H | f - 
 
 H ^-i-l ^- 
 
 ^J * * 
 
 -fiJ- -0- * +- -J- 
 
 v-*-* * 
 
 Ion Mon-te-zu - ma, Mon-te - zu - ma Mon-te-zu - ma 
 
 
 a. j 
 
 Mon-te-zu - ma Mon-te-zu - ma ya - a - sha-lon. 
 
 These are Jemez songs. The first is used in the "round dances" 
 in the estufas, also in the "ghost dances." The second is sung by 
 the young people to pass away the time. It is also sung on re 
 ligious occasions. 
 
 feathers were paintings of the greater gods, whose out 
 lines were formed with tiny images, beads of turquoise, 
 and shells of various kinds. 
 
 The masks, with respect to the figures painted on them, 
 were four of a kind. The symbol which the wearer rep 
 resented occupied the central position on the mask. 
 These central figures consisted of a disk surrounded by 
 concentric bands in the sun and moon drawings and by 
 points in the star symbols. The disks of all the figures 
 were red, except those of the moon, which were white. 
 The inner band of the sun was black, the outer was 
 composed of rays of red alternating with outer spaces 
 of yellow. From this outer band there projected darts 
 in red ; one to the right, and one to the left, one towards 
 the heavens, and one toward the earth. The white disk 
 of the moon was surrounded by a wide yellow ring.
 
 4 DON DIEGO 
 
 From it four groups of peculiar-looking figures pro 
 jected, one toward each of the four cardinal points when 
 the mask is laid flat on the ground, with one of the groups 
 extending in a cardinal direction. The Jemez suppose 
 that these groups represent the rays of the moon. Each 
 group consisted of two yellow figures inclined at a small 
 angle from the perpendicular and from each other. 
 Each of these terminated at its outer end in a blue disk. 
 The whole looked much like a half -burned cigar, the blue 
 disk representing the ashy end. The stars were four 
 pointed. The points of the morning star were black, 
 those of the evening star yellow. The disks of all the 
 central figures were god faces. The eyes were triangu 
 lar in shape, the mouth rectangular. Both the eyes and 
 the mouth were painted black. The outer figures on the 
 masks were at the right and at the left of the central 
 emblem. The drawings on the one side were the coun 
 terparts of those on the other. The four pillars of 
 clouds, painted black, projected out and extended as a 
 succession of steps along the rim of the mask almost 
 from its lower part, as the mask is worn, to its upper 
 part. From these cloud pillars, or " steps from earth to 
 heaven," as the Jemez believes them to be, four figures, 
 painted in striking and characteristic colors, extend, one 
 from each cloud projection in toward the controlling 
 symbol. The upper figure represented the bolt light 
 ning; the next lower a red, zigzag-bodied snake, having 
 a blue head from which a horn curved backwards like 
 a goat's horn. This figure is the emblem of evil. It is 
 the Indian devil, Sawah. The third from the top was a 
 sinuously curved yellow figure which terminated in three 
 green buds. It was drawn to represent the flash of heat
 
 VIII. A MISCELLANEOUS GROUP. 
 
 1. The Sun as carved on a bowlder on the trail between Zia and Jemez, 
 N. M. ; also on a rock near White River, Ariz. 
 
 2. A Sun drawing in an Estufa at Santa Anna, N. M. 
 
 3. A Getlu, probably a representation of a comet. It was used as a 
 handpiece in the masked dance of March 17, 1900. (Used here by permission 
 of the Bureau of American Ethnology.) 
 
 4. A Head Ornament worn by a male column dancer in the masked 
 dances at Jemez, N. M. 
 
 5. A Sun Mask worn by a sun clown in the masked dances at Jemez. 
 
 6. A Moon Mask worn by a moon clown in the masked dances at Jemez. 
 
 7. A Morning Star Mask worn by a morning star clown in the masked 
 dances at Jemez. 
 
 8. An Evening Star Mask worn by an evening star clown in the masked 
 dances at Jemez. 
 
 9. The Bolt Lightning drawn on the beam at the entrance of an Estufa 
 at Santa Anna, N. M. 
 
 10. The White Snakes drawn on the center beam in the south Estufa at 
 Jemez, N. M.
 
 DON DIEGO 5 
 
 lightning, which the Jemez believe is the god of bloom. 
 The lower figure was a zigzag, blue-bodied snake, having 
 a green head, with horn turning backwards, similar to 
 that of the red snake. This snake is the representative 
 of good. It is considered by the Indians as the producer 
 of rain, as being the genius of the watercourses. 
 
 As soon as the god representatives had descended 
 from the roof of the estufa, as the Pueblo sun houses are 
 called, they began to dance and crow-hop about, and for 
 several minutes they kept up their ear-grating " ahoo- 
 ing." Then they began to march around the village, 
 if a march it can be called. They advanced in a long, 
 drawn-out column. Some crow-hopped; some jumped 
 like a man, others like a frog; some walked with a cane, 
 mimicking an old man. The cane was tri-colored in red, 
 yellow, and green. Some, leaning forward on short 
 canes, walked on all fours. Others strutted about like a 
 turkey-gobbler. Occasionally all stopped a moment to 
 pose. In this act they usually stood half erect, threw 
 their hips backwards, contorted their bodies, and brought 
 their heads in a position so that the circular mask pre 
 sented a full front to the god of day, or to his place of 
 rising. At the same time they prolonged the " ahooing " 
 and gave it an emphatic accent. In this manner did they 
 march and pose till they had encircled the whole village 
 and returned to the public square in front of the estufa. 
 From that time on they mingled with the populace in the 
 streets and plaza., feasted, danced, crow-hopped, or 
 posed, as the " spirit moved " each individual or the 
 whole group collectively till the close of the dance. 
 
 Soon after the god-clowns had begun their march 
 around the village twelve men, dressed or undressed, as
 
 6 DON DIEGO 
 
 each one's fancy dictated, their faces whitened with 
 paint, issued from the estufa, and began a rude rhythmic 
 chant in a minor key ; the time was beaten with a single 
 stick on a drum made from a hollow log. The musicians 
 advanced in a body through the plaza, keeping time with 
 their feet and gesticulating in a manner intended to con 
 vey the meaning of their song. 
 
 As soon as the musicians were far enough from the 
 estufa to give room, the dancers issued from that house 
 and formed a fantastic procession in double column, two 
 men abreast, then two women, and so alternating till 
 the procession was completed. The men stamped and 
 the squaws tripped lightly, but all were keeping time. 
 They presented a weird appearance, tricked out in their 
 gaudy apparel and ornamented with flashy trinkets. The 
 hair of the men was worn loosely ; tufts of feathers flut 
 tered over their foreheads ; while around their necks and 
 dangling over their naked chests were strings of shell 
 beads, turquoises, bright pebbles, feldspar, obsidian 
 anything, in short, that glitters and shines. Fastened 
 about the waist and reaching nearly to the knee, a kilt- 
 like dancing skirt of buckskin hung and flapped. It was 
 ornamented with an embroidery of red and black threads. 
 Below the knee, garters of buckskin, stained red, yellow, 
 and blue, formed a fringe, to which were attached tor 
 toise-shells and rattles. The ankles were encased with 
 strips of black and white fur. From the waist a fox- 
 skin hung, fastened at the back and reaching almost as 
 low as the heel. Each man carried a tuft of hawk's 
 feathers in his left hand, while the right grasped a rattle 
 fashioned from a gourd, partly filled with pebbles. Al 
 though the women wore their ordinary black dress, they
 
 DON DIEGO 7 
 
 were bedecked with a profusion of necklaces, strings of 
 beads, silver badges, wristbands, and ear pendants, while 
 in each hand was borne a bunch of pifion twigs, which 
 was wagged from side to side. Both the men and 
 women wore masks and striking head-dresses. The 
 masks were heart-shaped, with the exception of the base, 
 which was a straight line. They were made of buck 
 skin, were painted blue or green, and, like the circular 
 masks, had triangular holes cut in them for the eyes and 
 a rectangular hole for the mouth. The head-dresses 
 consisted of a piece of wood about fifteen inches long and 
 eight inches in width. One end of it was carved out, in 
 arch shape, so as to fit the head transversely just in front 
 of the ears. The other end was trimmed in what resem 
 bled a triple turret, squarely notched with white feathers 
 fluttering from each. This head-piece was painted green 
 and decorated in symbolic figures in red and yellow. 
 This peculiar head-gear was held in place by strips of 
 buckskin attached to the center o>f the hollowed-out arch 
 and knotted about meshes of the wearers' dark, stream 
 ing hair, and also by a cord passing beneath the chin from 
 the ends of the board at the foot of the arch. 
 
 Just as these dancers had formed in double column 
 for dancing, the spectators were suddenly attracted to 
 ward the passageway of the estufa, whence were issu 
 ing a dozen or more strange-looking beings. They were 
 the " funny men." They did not walk into the plaza, 
 neither did they dance into it, but rather tumbled into it ; 
 running, hopping, stumbling, cutting capers, like a troupe 
 of ill-trained clowns. In fact, in their clumsy way, they 
 imitated or acted out almost every silly performance 
 known to the clown profession. The lookers-on enjoyed
 
 8 DON DIEGO 
 
 their tricks and pranks immensely. They hailed the 
 clumsy attempts at a joke and the coarse sallies of wit 
 with shrieks of laughter. These " funny men " were 
 attired only in breech-cloth. Their bodies were daubed 
 in transverse rings or bands of black and white, and 
 their heads were decorated with corn husks instead of 
 feathers. 
 
 While the clowns performed, the column dancers 
 moved about the whole plaza, the men gravely stamping, 
 the women gracefully tripping, and when the entire plaza 
 was circled the couples separated and changed places, all 
 turning and facing each other, suggesting by their move 
 ments the flexures of a closely folded ribbon. The cou 
 ples then reformed, the double rank strung out as before, 
 tramping in a wide circle to the rhythm and measure of 
 the monotonous music. The faces were now reversed, 
 and they danced in double column back to the starting- 
 point. A rest was then taken. 
 
 The very moment that the dancing ceased, the " funny 
 men " resumed their performing with increased vigor. 
 One clown climbed a tree backwards. Another snatched 
 a millstone and slab from the grinding box in a house 
 and, rushing to the plaza, commenced grinding sand upon 
 it, singing all the while, and putting handfuls of sand 
 in his mouth now and then. He was in this manner mim 
 icking a squaw grinding meal. Four or five more played 
 a farce in representation of the immorality of the place. 
 Another got the skull of an elk and began to beat it, while 
 several of his fellows danced the double-column dance. 
 As they danced, another one of the order walked rever 
 ently to the column and, as he prayed in jest, sprinkled 
 each dancer with sand and ashes. Thus he mimicked
 
 DON DIEGO 9 
 
 the sun priest sprinkling the dancers with sacred corn 
 pollen in the estufa before they issued from it to dance 
 in the plaza. Just as the mock dancers were dispersing, 
 a " funny man " tumbled out of a house with an ear of 
 corn in his hand. Reaching the dancing area, he began 
 to gnaw the corn as a dog does a bone. Instantly an 
 other clown began to snarl and growl, and finally sprang 
 upon the bone-gnawer. At that moment the attention of 
 everyone was attracted from the pretended dog-fight by 
 the shrieks of the women and girls. The clowns were 
 making sallies on them. Some of the younger men of 
 the fraternity were trying to embrace the older women; 
 some of the older men the young girls. 
 
 After a momentary lull the " funny men," acting upon 
 a previous plan, tumbled and rolled over each other to 
 ward the war-captain, Don Diego, until they were within 
 a yard or so of him. Springing to their feet, they seized 
 and carried him on their shoulders to the center of the 
 public square. Reaching it, they placed him on a piece 
 of buckskin and, in a body, demanded a speech, the 
 chief clown introducing him to the motley multitude. 
 
 " Here is our war-captain," he said. " He is brave. 
 He has killed the bear in his hole. He has been the 
 hero in many a religious hunt. He has fought the Nava- 
 jos and has driven them even to their hogans in their 
 own land. Aye, he is brave. He would fight even the 
 demons of the land of fogs and storms. But he quails 
 before the women. He is a bachelor and a bachelor he 
 will remain, though Geetlu would be his wife if he would 
 ask her. But he is brave. Hear him." 
 
 Tiring of the fun, Don Diego turned a flashing eye 
 upon his tormentors. " You shall have a speech." Then
 
 io DON DIEGO 
 
 without further ceremony he proceeded : " This earth 
 is flat and round like a pancake and is known to possess 
 four places of habitation, situated one above another. 
 Each has for its roof the floor of the apartment above 
 it, except this one, which has the sky. A long, long 
 while ago our people lived in the apartment beneath this 
 one. For a long time they lived there. Finally one 
 day a man saw a hole which led up through the roof to 
 this world. He crawled up through it and all the people 
 followed him. The mouth of the hole being in the far 
 north, a council was called. At this meeting the ' prin 
 cipals ' decided to move toward the noon-day sun. Said 
 they : ' The sun warmed the place from which we came ; 
 therefore, by moving towards it this earth must become 
 warmer.' So they began their march over mountains of 
 ice and snow toward the boiling ocean. For a long, 
 long time they journeyed; but the land of sunshine was 
 not reached. On, on they marched till their food supply 
 became scanty and their blankets became worn out. Then 
 one by one they died of cold and hunger. For a while 
 those who survived kept up courage even under the ad 
 verse conditions, and continued their onward march. At 
 last, however, their numbers being so depleted, they be 
 came despondent and wished all to die. At this junc 
 ture the mother god, the moon, prayed to her husband, 
 the sun, to save the remnant of men, their children. So 
 the sun took one of the survivors of our people, painted 
 his body in transverse black and white bands, decorated 
 his head with corn husks, and suspended an eagle feather 
 behind each ear. As soon as he was thus painted and 
 decorated, this man became a ' funny man,' and began 
 to dance, cut capers, and make grimaces. So interested
 
 DON DIEGO ii 
 
 did the people become in his performing that they forgot 
 their sorrows and became glad. They then resumed their 
 journey, which they continued till they reached the con 
 fluences of the Rio Grande. 
 
 " Here in this valley they ceased their wandering and 
 took up their abode. Being few in numbers and not 
 trained in the arts of war and defense, they were afraid 
 of the savage tribes, the Apaches, and Navajos, who 
 dwelt in the region. So they established their places of 
 habitation in narrow canons, along cliffs, and in caves. 
 In these they lived a great, great while, subsisting on the 
 grain they raised and on the plentiful game. Then the 
 savage hordes began to make inroads into the territory. 
 They killed all the game, or, by their presence, it was 
 made unsafe to hunt. They took the fields one by one. 
 They drove the people to the cliffs and caves; and then 
 captured these strongholds by storm or starved the people 
 until they came out of their own accord and gave them 
 selves over to be slaughtered or to be enslaved. Only 
 a few places still held out and these were reduced to 
 such straits that their capture, followed by the massacre 
 of the prisoners, was daily expected. Certain was their 
 annihilation. 
 
 " Again the mother god prayed to the sun to save their 
 children, and a second time the great father came to the 
 rescue. At this time he placed among them a ' knowing 
 man,' whose name was Pest-ya-sode. 
 
 " Pest-ya-sode defeated the enemies, raised the siege 
 of the caves and cliffs, and drove the savages out of the 
 narrow canons. He trained the people in the arts of war. 
 He led them out into the open country. He at last ex 
 pelled the hostile tribes from the region after a desperate
 
 12 DON DIEGO 
 
 encounter. He instructed the Indians to build villages in 
 horse-shoe shape with continuous outer walls, so that they 
 served both as places of residence and as fortifications. 
 He taught them their religious rites and ceremonies. He 
 instituted the sacred hunts. He taught the people to paint 
 their houses and edifices of worship in representative fig 
 ures of the gods. He made the column-dancers the 
 sprouters of grain; the 'funny men' the maturers of 
 grain and of everything that lives and grows upon the 
 earth. To the god-clown dancers he gave power to rep 
 resent men before the deities. To the medicine men he 
 gave the power over ' sick ' and over death. To the sun 
 priest and his aids he gave the power to intercede be 
 tween those above and men. 
 
 " For a long, long time he lived with them, extending 
 their territory, building pueblos, and erecting temples to 
 the sun. Finally, after he had made them a powerful 
 and prosperous people, he called them all together and 
 told them that there were many peoples that he must teach 
 as he had taught them, and that he must go and instruct 
 them. ' Then,' said he, ' when I am gone you will neg 
 lect to do the things that I have taught you. Therefore 
 will my father, the sun, come in his wrath, destroy your 
 pueblos, and give your fields to another race. After 
 that will you return to do the things I have commanded 
 you. Then when you have returned from your evil 
 ways will I come on the wings of the morning, in the 
 chariot of the sun, expel the intruder from the land, re 
 store your ancient possessions, and establish you in all 
 your former glory.' 
 
 " After Pest-ya-sode had departed, the people did ex 
 actly what the great man said they would. They de-
 
 DON DIEGO 13 
 
 parted from keeping his sayings and commandments, 
 quarreled among themselves, and finally became divided. 
 One division came to this valley, the remaining section 
 is still at Pecos, the home of our tribe at the time Pest- 
 ya-sode took his departure toward the boiling ocean. In 
 this valley our people built village after village, only to 
 have an earthquake throw them down or to have them 
 razed to the ground by some of our many enemies. We 
 have built villages on almost every foot of land in the 
 valley from the Rio Grande River to this place, a distance 
 of a good day's walk; and, besides the ruins in the val 
 leys, thirteen of our deserted villages dot the mesa to 
 the northward between here and the boiling springs. 
 But yet we were still powerful. We still had seven vil 
 lages in the valley of this river which bears our name. 
 Here our people were admirably situated for agricul 
 tural purposes. In the broad valley of the river and the 
 valleys of its upper tributaries were large and good 
 farms; while the great river always had water and to 
 spare to irrigate the crops. 
 
 " The scenery around the villages then was the same as 
 that of the villages now, and is as good as any I have 
 had the privilege of seeing. To the north in Guadalupe 
 canon are the falls ; and in the canon of San Diego, the 
 hot springs and soda dam. Still farther to the north is 
 a forest-covered plateau and a great valley surrounded 
 by obsidian cliffs and craters. To the northeast Mt. 
 Balda kisses the blue sky. To the east the Cochiti range 
 shuts out the morning sun. To the southeast, across 
 lava-capped mesas, our river joins the great river that 
 flows in the direction of the sun at noon. Still farther 
 southeast the high escarpment of the Sandia moun-
 
 H DON DIEGO 
 
 tains rises abruptly from the plains. To the south are 
 white-capped mesas ; to the southwest, mesas and escarp 
 ments of stone so red that they reflect the rays of the sun 
 in the morning, the reflected red light reaching even to 
 this place. And to the west, the mountains, which have 
 our name, give the sky a ragged horizon, while in the 
 valleys are red and white domes and castled buttes. 
 
 " With respect to defense, the situation of the vil 
 lages then as now, could scarcely have been bettered. 
 The villages were walled. If defeated in the valley, our 
 people could retreat to the isolated mesa at the forks of 
 the river. There on its top they can make a decided 
 stand against any enemy that might wish to attack them, 
 for its precipitous walls rise perpendicularly from the 
 valley-floor below to eighty times the height of a man, 
 and is only accessible by two narrow trails. But the 
 evil day came " 
 
 The drum-beat and the monotonous chanting of the 
 musicians drowned the war-captain's voice. The dou 
 ble column reformed and the dance was resumed. 
 Around the plaza the dancers proceeded as before till 
 the processional movement was completed. 
 
 The sowing-and-planting act was then given. The 
 columns separated and faced each other, the dancers 
 keeping time with both hands and feet for a minute. 
 Then the columns joined at the ends and spread out in the 
 middle so as to form an ellipse. Around this all danced 
 in a side movement to the right till each individual faced 
 his respective partner again. Then the partners passed 
 each other in a vigorous forward movement, turned 
 quickly to the right with a sweeping motion, and leaned 
 forward nearly to the ground, the men swinging their
 
 Altar and Sand Painting of the Snake Society of Jemez.
 
 16 DON DIEGO 
 
 gourd rattles as if sowing grain, the women sticking 
 the heavy end of the twigs in the ground in imitation of 
 planting corn. 
 
 At this instant other women rushed out of their houses 
 with baskets of eatables, ears of corn and various kinds 
 of corn cakes. These they threw up into the air in all 
 directions. When the baskets were emptied, they re 
 plenished them and tossed the contents toward the abode 
 of those above. Of these eatables whoever could catch 
 anything that fell proceeded to do so. The general 
 scramble that followed was much like a sheep-salting 
 scene, or more correctly, more like feeding swine in a 
 trough in the center of the hog-yard. In this act of 
 throwing heavenward the food which heaven has enabled 
 it to raise, the whole tribe displayed its gratitude to those 
 above. 
 
 Just as the excitement had reached a high pitch, a shout 
 from the watch-tower filled everyone with consterna 
 tion. Could an enemy be approaching? Someone was 
 approaching; there could be no mistake about it, for the 
 Jemez scout in the vicinity of Mt. Negro was sending up 
 rings of smoke. Towards Jemez the rings of smoke 
 moved. Whoever it was or whatever it was, it was 
 coming to Jemez. Anxiously and breathlessly everyone 
 waited, till the rings of smoke signaled that friends and 
 not enemies were approaching. Then the dance was re 
 sumed. 
 
 Soon masked scouts were seen approaching the vil 
 lage with the strangers, who proved to be Pueblo In 
 dians of rank. Don Diego and several unmasked In 
 dians went out to meet them. As they drew near Don 
 Diego recognized one of them as Ojeda of Santa Anna
 
 DON DIEGO 17 
 
 Pueblo, 'but the others were unknown. Ojeda intro 
 duced the four Indians accompanying him to the Jemez 
 war-captain : 
 
 " This is Pope, a San Juan Indian, but now living at 
 Taos and an officer there. This is Jaca, also an officer 
 of Taos. This is Catite of Santo Domingo and Tupatu 
 of Picuri. This is Tactu of San Juan and Francisco of 
 San Ildefonso. They have come on a mission of great 
 importance to the Pueblo Indians, one that concerns us 
 all. They have brought me with them to assure you 
 that their mission is friendly. But you are having your 
 special ceremony to-day. My friends do not wish to dis 
 turb you, so we will remain here till it is your pleasure 
 for us to enter the village. Their mission is urgent, 
 but they will wait." 
 
 " No," said Don Diego, " you need not wait outside 
 the village. Come with me." 
 
 At Tongay's, the father of Geetlu, lodgings were 
 found. There they staid till given special invitation to 
 attend the closing ceremonies of the dance. 
 
 The sun was now commencing to hide his burning 
 face beyond the jagged Jemez peaks. The participants 
 in the dance and the lookers-on lined up in double col 
 umn facing each other. Between these lines the cacique 
 and his aides marched solemnly backward and forward; 
 sprinkled their hearers and specially the visiting strangers 
 with sacred meal, and prayed to their gods. The dance 
 was over.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 NIGHT came and the moon rose high. From house 
 to house the guests were escorted and feasted, for 
 no Jemez would allow a guest to leave his house without 
 first having eaten something. Midnight came and the 
 owls hooted in the pifion woods near by; yet sleep was 
 not thought of. 
 
 The drum of the estufa sounded a low, calling sound ; 
 and to that house the leading men of the village re 
 paired for consultation. The strangers were led into 
 the rectangular building and sat in dignified silence on 
 the floor by the north wall beneath the two rainbow sec 
 tions. The symbolic drawings of the gods painted on 
 the walls of the edifice were not more immovable than 
 they, as the aged, gray-haired cacique prayed to his gods 
 and sprinkled all with sacred meal. Having finished his 
 official duty he likewise seated himself. For a few min 
 utes all was still, till the stillness made itself felt. Then 
 there was a grunt from several of the Indians. Many 
 of the Jemez present uttered a low exclamation, " Oh, 
 oh, oh, hang!" indicating that they were all ready for 
 the business of the night. 
 
 Again silence. Little would a looker-on have believed 
 or even imagined that the destiny of New Mexico was in 
 the balance, that the actors in that hall would decide its 
 fate for years to come, but the grave and stoical faces 
 might cause one to pause and think. The silence was 
 
 18
 
 DON DIEGO 19 
 
 broken by Don Diego's rising. He passed around par 
 tially pulverized tobacco leaves in an earthen jar, also a 
 bundle of the inner, finer husks that surrounded the ear of 
 corn when growing. Each individual helped himself to a 
 small handful of tobacco and a cornhusk. Cutting the 
 cornhusk crosswise so as to make it a suitable length, 
 the tobacco was recrushed in the hand that held it and 
 then poured into the husk. When the husk was rolled 
 into a cigarette, the outer edge was moistened with the 
 lips so that it would adhere to the rolled surface under 
 neath it. When all the cigarettes had been rolled, a dish 
 containing live-coals was passed around ; and soon every 
 one was sending rings of smoke upward as prayers to 
 the gods, whose symbols looked down upon them from 
 the imposing walls. 
 
 When all had partaken of the ceremonial smoke, the 
 cacique nodded to Don Diego, and he at once opened the 
 conference. 
 
 " These," he said, " our brethern, are here from differ 
 ent tribes to see us on important business, business 
 which by their request must be kept secret, not even the 
 women of the village are to be told it. Our Spanish 
 authorities have been to Santa Fe for a feast for several 
 days; and, in their absence, we had our forbidden spe 
 cial ceremony. This evening they returned. Knowing 
 that the white men must sleep, I have waited till they 
 have retired before calling the meeting. They do not 
 know that these, our friends, are here, as they came late 
 and have not been to our part of the village since return 
 ing. We must proceed with the business before us with 
 dispatch and finish it before the red-fingered morning 
 appears. Our friends and brothers wish to leave us
 
 20 DON DIEGO 
 
 with the coming of the morning star. My brother Pope 
 of San Juan, now of Taos, will address you." 
 
 Again there was silence, broken only by an occasional 
 grunt. Pope half arose and said that he had wished 
 Ojeda of Santa Anna to talk to them first, as the Jemez 
 were acquainted with him. As the stately San Juan In 
 dian seated himself again and put his face between his 
 hands, several of the Indians called, "Ojeda! Ojeda!" 
 After some hesitation, Ojeda arose. Having blown his 
 breath gently through his hands toward the symbol of 
 light on the east wall before him, then again blowing 
 his breath straight before him and lifting his hands 
 over his hearers as if in blessing, he began his speech : 
 
 " My brothers," he said, " it would have pleased me 
 to have my friends here talk first, as I represent only 
 one Pueblo and they represent practically all the Pueblos. 
 I am a young man and do not have the experience of 
 years that they have. Nevertheless it gives me pleasure 
 to address you. 
 
 " My friends and brothers here have come to talk to 
 you. They wish to talk to you about the pale- faces who 
 came to this country from the southland and who have 
 always cruelly treated us. 
 
 " The first pale- faces, according to the traditions of 
 my people, came to this region by way of the buffalo 
 country and passed through our lands toward the boiling 
 ocean. There were three white men and a negro. They 
 pretended to be medicine men ; and everywhere they went 
 they doctored the sick. They had some great mysterious 
 power and helped the suffering with it. They also could 
 do many mysterious things. They could take a single 
 feather and perform over it under a blanket a little
 
 DON DIEGO 21 
 
 while, and then remove the blanket and there would be 
 an armful of feathers. They could blow a small pebble 
 through a cowhide and not make a hole in the hide. 
 They could make the native medicine men do anything 
 they wished without their touching them or saying a 
 word to them, even cause them to try to climb a wall and 
 do all other sorts of absurd things. The man with the 
 , longest whiskers had the most power. He would pick 
 up and carry about scorching hot stones, handle fire, and 
 dance about on burning objects without the fire hurting 
 him. He would take a snake out of his neck. He 
 would drink two large jars of water at one time, as much 
 water as two women could carry. He would talk with 
 one's dead ! " 
 
 A solemn hush fell at the recital of magic, but Ojeda 
 went on. " But they soon went to the land toward the 
 south, as their course was continually westward and 
 southward. After they had been gone a short while, 
 the black man came back to Cibola [Zuni]. He came 
 to the village farthest toward the sun at noon. He 
 was unwelcomely received by the people there. It then 
 developed that the first party that passed through the 
 land were spies. To appear big and important and as 
 evidence of position and authority, the negro sent a 
 gourd as a present to the Zufiis while he was yet a con 
 siderable distance from the village. On this gourd-rat 
 tle were suspended a few strings and two large eagle 
 feathers ; the one white, the other red. This was a 
 declaration of war. The chief who received the present 
 told the messenger who brought it that they would be 
 ready for the fight and that they would be prepared to 
 kill the strangers. But the Black Mexican came on,
 
 22 DON DIEGO 
 
 with his little army, sure that my people would surren 
 der without fighting. 
 
 " He came. He had a beard. He dressed in the outfit 
 of both a war chief and a medicine man, wearing things 
 that sounded, rattles, bells, and plumes on his feet and 
 arms. He was a man to be feared. He came; but he 
 nor his men were allowed to enter the main village. 
 Instead they were put under guard. He talked big to 
 the chief men. He told them of his God and of the 
 great chief who ruled the whole earth. He showed his 
 red lips and the whites of his eyes extra large and de 
 manded my people to be subjects to his majesty and to 
 give him, his lord's ambassador, all the treasures they 
 had, turquoise, gold, silver, and other valuables, also 
 all the young and beautiful women. But they gave him 
 nothing. They took away from him the things which 
 he had brought with him, much turquoise and many 
 other things, and he was given nothing to eat and drink. 
 The next morning his big talk had left him, and he 
 tried to run away, saying that he would bring warriors 
 and not guests against the place. But he was overtaken 
 and killed. Most of those with him, however, were al 
 lowed to return peacefully to their own land, as they said 
 the black man was at fault for their coming there. 
 
 " Before the second harvest after the Black Mexican 
 was killed, a general with an army of men came from 
 the southland by the same route which the other party 
 had come. They came to the same Cibola village, Ha- 
 wikuh, and at once demanded it to surrender. But they 
 refused to surrender and drew lines on the ground with 
 yellow corn pollen and told the strangers to stay outside 
 of that line. The strangers, however, paid no attention.
 
 DON DIEGO 23 
 
 They crossed the forbidden line on their horses, a new 
 and monstrous beast to our people ; and charged upon the 
 villagers, who fled behind the walls. Then the pale 
 faces charged against the walled fortress. Our people 
 fought desperately, but were defeated and the village 
 taken after they had lost many warriors and had killed 1 
 or disabled many of the soldiers. Twice they knocked 
 the general [Coronado] from his horse. They defended 
 themselves by shooting arrows from the top of the walls 
 and by hurling stones down upon the invaders. Not 
 withstanding the heroic stand made, the place was taken 
 and my people were at the mercy of the newcomers 
 [July 7, 1540]. 
 
 " The people who escaped capture," went on Ojeda, 
 " then fled to Taaiyalone [Thunder Mountain], not only 
 the people from the captured village but the people from 
 all the other villages of the valley; and there they pre 
 pared to defend themselves. This mountain village was 
 their stronghold and there they could defend themselves. 
 But what of their fields and homes? The enemy had 
 them. What was to be done? 
 
 " A council of the ' principals ' was called, and it was 
 decided that, as the strangers wanted gold and treasure 
 and had inquired about nothing else since coming to the 
 country, they could rid the region of them by telling them 
 of vast treasure-lands to the westward and thus send 
 them into the desert country to die of hunger and thirst. 
 Another plan was to persuade them to go to the Moqui 
 country and get the Moquis to fall upon them. 
 
 " Both plans worked and both failed. The Moquis 
 backed out and would not fight the strangers and were 
 even friendly to them. And the party going into the
 
 24 DON DIEGO 
 
 desert in search of gold, reached the great red-walled 
 river to the westward and returned. The Zunis.had not 
 counted on how fast the horses could travel. The Zunis 
 were, therefore, in worse straits than before. It was 
 then rumored that more and many more of these pale 
 faces were coming. What were my people to do ? 
 
 " Another council was called, and it was decided to 
 cause the strangers to be led far into the plains coun 
 try toward the rising sun ; so that the roving, more war 
 like tribes there would fall upon and kill them all. Or, 
 if this failed, the guides were to lead them so far into 
 that treeless region that they would never be able to 
 find their way back. 
 
 " This plan met the approval of all the council. And 
 that same night, a messenger was sent to Cicuye [Pecos] 
 to arrange with the inhabitants of that pueblo to carry 
 out the plan for them, as it was the last village toward 
 the east and was situated on the very edge of the great 
 plains where the dreaded savages lived. 
 
 " The messenger laid the plan before the ' principals ' 
 of that pueblo on his arrival. He explained the purpose 
 of the new peoples' coming was to get gold and other 
 treasures and that they had already declared their in 
 tention of visiting and subduing all the pueblos. He 
 then also told them of the monstrous animals they rode ; 
 that these animals devoured people, and that when going 
 at a full run fire was often emitted from their mouths 
 followed by a cracking thunder-sound. That the men 
 also carried a stick and holding it straight out in front 
 of them and looking down it, it emitted lightning from 
 the end out from the holder and also produced the thun 
 der-noise like the thunder-bird produces when he flaps
 
 DON DIEGO 25 
 
 his wings above the raging storm. Several of the 
 ' principals ' at first objected to the bringing of these 
 dreaded people into their country. But when they 
 learned that the strangers were going to come anyway, 
 all agreed that it was best to prepare for them. At 
 all events, they must get them through the country as 
 soon as possible, if they would visit it anyway. They 
 must get them into the savage country in the winter, 
 where a storm would kill them, if the savages there did 
 not before that time, or something else happen to them: 
 anything to get rid of the terrible people, their horrid 
 beasts, and their thunder-fire. 
 
 " According to the compact agreed upon, all the pueblos 
 were to be friendly so as not to cause any excuse for 
 destroying any of the villages or killing any of the in 
 habitants. Messengers were to be sent to Zufii pretend 
 ing they wished to see the godly people, their cross, and 
 their robed priests, and to invite them to visit Pecos as 
 their guests. In the meantime, all preparations were 
 to be made to lead them into the far unknown from 
 which no Pueblo had ever returned. A slave, a native 
 of a country far toward the sunrise in summer " [from 
 near Florida] " was promised his freedom if he would 
 lead the strangers into the trackless, savage region and 
 see that they perished there. This he at once agreed to 
 do, and, with the aid of others, set about immediately to 
 prepare untrue stories of the marvelous wealth of that 
 far-off region of the East so that he would be ready to 
 tell them to the pale-faces as soon as they arrived at 
 Pecos ; for it was wished to get the strange people on the 
 plains before the winter set in. 
 
 " According to the plan, a party of our people led
 
 26 DON DIEGO 
 
 by one Whiskers, called Bigotes by the Spaniards be 
 cause he wore a long mustache, set out from Pecos to 
 Zuni. They carried with them presents of tanned hides, 
 shells, and head-pieces to give to the strangers to show 
 that they desired to be their friends. 
 
 " They arrived at Zuni, as planned, presented their 
 gifts to the white chief, and were warmly received by 
 him and his people. For several days they visited with 
 each other, the Pecos never offering information on any 
 subject unless first asked about it. The white people 
 inquired about gold, if they had any gold or turquoise 
 in their village, to which they answered that they had 
 no gold and only a small amount of turquoise. Then 
 they asked about the hides that they had brought with 
 them and the drawings on them. In answer, the In 
 dians stated that there were countless numbers of these 
 kind of ' cows ' in their land on the side of the rising 
 sun. The Indians also had some of the dried meat with 
 them, and they showed it to the white people. Finally, 
 Bigotes, who was a tall, well-built young fellow, with 
 a fine figure, invited them to see their country and go 
 and kill some of the ' cows.' But the messengers said 
 nothing about gold. That was the business of the slaves. 
 
 " For several days there were council meetings of 
 the white people. Finally they decided to go and see the 
 ' cows ' ; but only a part of the pale- faces were ordered 
 to go with Bigotes and not the whole army that was 
 at Zuiii then, not counting the main body which was re 
 ported to be somewhere in the wilderness of the Apache 
 country on their march thither. Great was the disap 
 pointment; but the best possible under the circumstances 
 was done, with the hopes that good reports would cause
 
 DON DIEGO 27 
 
 the whole army to follow. Bigotes did not appear to be 
 over anxious for them to go to his country; but, as a 
 friend, he consented to lead them through the Pueblo 
 country to his home. 
 
 " When ready, the expedition, under one of the sub 
 ordinate white chiefs [Captain Hernando Alvarado], 
 started on its journey [Aug. 29th]. In five days 
 they came to Acoma, the high-rock village. Here the 
 people came down on the plain to fight. They drew 
 lines on the ground with sacred meal and told the 
 strange people not to cross it; but seeing that the pale 
 faces would fight and being afraid of the horses, they 
 made peace with them, though the strongly fortified vil 
 lage could not have been taken. They also made pres 
 ents to the white people of turkeys, corn, cornmeal, 
 bread, and dried skins, believing it was best to let them 
 go to the plains as planned. 
 
 " From Acoma, the army traveled northeastward and 
 came to Tiguex [Bernalillo, New Mexico], the home 
 of my people. Here the party with Whiskers were well 
 treated, feasted, and caused to speed on their journey, 
 while white messengers went back to the big white chief 
 with the glittering armor. In five more days they 
 reached Pecos, where they were welcomed with signs of 
 joy by the populace: they went out to meet them and 
 then escorted them into the village with drums and flute- 
 like pipes. 
 
 " Here they rested, and, as planned, they met the slave 
 from the country towards the rising sun [Florida]. He 
 told them of the rich country, of such great things, and 
 of great quantities of gold and silver there. For sev 
 eral days they questioned this slave. They then had
 
 28 DON DIEGO 
 
 him act as their guide to the country of the 'cows'; 
 but they could not be induced to go far into the un 
 known region. They seemed to have lost their desire 
 to look for the ' cows,' and wished to return to report 
 the prospect of getting rich to their big chief. So they 
 returned soon to Tiguex by a detour route so as to visit 
 several of the other pueblos en route farther up the Rio 
 Grande, taking Turk, as they called the slave, along 
 with them so that he could talk to the chief white man 
 himself. 
 
 " Arriving at Tiguex, they found another subordinate 
 officer with a part of the white army there. That of 
 ficer's name was Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas. Coro- 
 nado came later by a detour by the way of Tutahaco 
 and Ysleta with about thirty men. And several moons 
 afterwards, the main army also followed under Don 
 Tristan de Arellano. 
 
 " Here at Tiguex, Cardenas and Alvarado began to 
 prepare for winter quarters, to the great disappointment 
 of the natives, as they had still hoped that Turk would 
 be able to lead the strangers into the land of savages 
 and blizzards without their staying any length of time 
 in the Pueblo country. These two lieutenants forced 
 the Indians to abandon one of their villages to them and 
 to leave to them all they had, except the clothing they 
 had on. 
 
 " Soon after the taking of the village, the big white 
 chief came. There at the village he met Turk. And 
 upon request, Turk again told the story of the marvel 
 ous rich country toward the place where the sun rises. 
 He said that in this country there was a river in the 
 level country which was two leagues wide, in which
 
 DON DIEGO 29 
 
 there were fishes as big as horses, and large numbers of 
 very big canoes, with more than twenty rowers on a side, 
 and that they carried sails, and that their lords sat on 
 the poop under awnings, and on the prow they had a 
 great golden eagle. He said also that the lord of that 
 country took his afternoon nap under a great tree on 
 which were hung a great number of gold bells, which 
 put him to sleep as they swung in the air. He also said 
 that everyone had their ordinary dishes made of wrought 
 plate, and the jugs and bowls were of gold. 
 
 " After hearing the story, Coronado brought several 
 kinds of metals for him to look at to see if he knew 
 gold and silver from other metals. And he did ; for the 
 envoys from Zuni had shown him gold and silver 
 pieces, so that he would know them when tested. Of 
 course the Spaniards did not know this. Consequently 
 they gave credit to his story. And such good news 
 caused no slight joy among the soldiers ; but Turk could 
 not induce them to go in search of the precious metals 
 till spring. This was very unfortunate. 
 
 "Not only was that unfortunate; but Turk, when 
 questioned if he had anything of gold on his person 
 when taken prisoner by the Pecos, stated that he had 
 some little bells and some gold bracelets; this he said 
 to verify his statements that gold was so plentiful in that 
 land he had described, known as Quivira. Coronado, 
 thereupon, asked him what had become of the bracelets. 
 To the question he replied that the Pecos had taken 
 them from him at the time of his capture. He had been 
 lying all the while and had to cover his tracks by an 
 other untruth. At once Alvarado was ordered back to 
 Pecos to get the bracelets, as these would be proof of
 
 30 DON DIEGO 
 
 the gold in the country the slave had told them about. 
 But arriving at the place, Alvarado could find no trace 
 of the bracelets, everyone saying that Turk was deceiv 
 ing the white people. Not being able to get the treas 
 ures, Alvarado arrested Whiskers and the governor and 
 took them in chains to Tiguex. This move made our 
 people plan all the harder to rid the country of the 
 strangers. But winter was at hand; and such a terrible 
 winter ! 
 
 " Not only were the strangers occupying the best quar 
 ters, the best village of our people, and had taken pos 
 session of all the corn and other things that the people 
 had; but soon they began to levy on the neighboring 
 villages for corn for themselves and horses. Then the 
 big white chief gave orders for the pueblos to furnish 
 cloth for the soldiers to make into wearing material. 
 He ordered one of us, whom they called Dutch Jack, 
 to go and get the cloth, three hundred or more pieces. 
 But Jack said he was not able to do it; but that it per 
 tained to the governors of the different villages, and that 
 the amounts should be divided among the villages and 
 that the demand should be made on each village sep 
 arately. This the general did and sent men to the vil 
 lages on each side of the river to collect the amounts 
 demanded. But the collectors became impatient, since 
 with us everything must be decided on in council before 
 any open action is taken on it. They not only became 
 impatient, but also some of the blankets and cloth given 
 them were not good enough to suit them. So when 
 they saw a good suit they stripped it off the wearer 
 and appropriated it without more ado. This of course 
 caused more intense hard feelings. In addition, they
 
 DON DIEGO 31 
 
 mistreated the women of the villages; and, when com 
 plaint was made to Coronado, they got no redress for 
 their grievances, got no satisfaction whatever. 
 
 " The next day following the day on which the In 
 dians complained to the general, we began retaliatory 
 measures. We captured the band of horses that was 
 feeding in the valley of the lower Jemez River in about 
 where old Santa Anna is situated, and began to drive 
 them off, At this juncture, a party of Spaniards came 
 to the rescue of the herdsmen and recaptured the greater 
 part of the animals. We, however, succeeded in driving 
 many of them and seven of the general's mules into the 
 central plaza of our respective villages. There the beasts 
 were forced to run the gauntlet, were chased around and 
 around the inclosure and shot at with arrows and stoned 
 while the people danced the war dance on their roofs. 
 While this performance was going on, several of the 
 Spaniards came and tried to get our people to make 
 peace. But the time of peace was passed. We were 
 ready to fight. 
 
 " Coronado then sent Cardenas with the army to punish 
 my people. He attacked the village of my fathers. 
 They [the Spaniards] attacked it suddenly; and, getting 
 inside the plaza, fought a fierce hand-to-hand fight for an 
 hour, but were defeated and escape through the entrance 
 to the village cut off. But by seizing some of the ladders, 
 they gained the roof of the upper story of the houses, 
 and there they made a final stand. A terrible conflict 
 followed. Sometimes our people were victorious; 
 sometimes the pale- faces. Our people, however, were 
 afraid of the thunder-sound of the stick the white man 
 used to send bolts of lightning into their crowded ranks.
 
 32 DON DIEGO 
 
 But they were able to wound many of the enemy, not 
 withstanding that they wore such strong clothes [ar 
 mor]. For nearly two days the battle raged, and the 
 contest was much in favor of the Indians, when the 
 horsemen and native allies from Mexico cut holes into 
 the lower stories of the houses and into the estufas 
 and smoked the people out into the open plaza, where 
 they were at the mercy of the accurate marksmen on 
 the village roofs. But even then we were the victors, 
 had we but known it. The cacique, however, being 
 wounded, advised the village people to surrender or flee 
 from the place. But the war-captain said he would not 
 surrender and went about encouraging the men in a vig 
 orous harangue, calling upon the gods to help them. A 
 bullet struck him down. My people having lost their 
 leader, there was a momentary lull in the attack, which 
 was made use of by the Spaniards who were now driven 
 to the last extremity, their position then being an ex 
 ceedingly perilous one. What they could not do by 
 arms they now did by artifice. They induced our war 
 riors to surrender by promising them ample protection 
 and safety, sealing the same by making the sign of the 
 cross. 
 
 " Having surrendered and laid down their arms, the 
 Indians were taken to the tent of Cardenas, who had 
 been with the horsemen on the plains in front of the vil 
 lage. He at once violated the pledge given the Indians. 
 He ordered the captives burned at the stake, as a warn 
 ing to the neighboring tribes. Two hundred were 
 burned and many more were run down and killed while 
 attempting to escape. Not a warrior of the village es 
 caped; nearly all the women and children had perished
 
 DON DIEGO 33 
 
 previously. From that on it was a by-word among the 
 different pueblos : ' The white men are liars, they will 
 not keep their word, even when they call upon their gods 
 to witness it.' 
 
 " But the fate of the pueblos was sealed. The keep 
 ing of the Pecos chiefs in chains and the burning of the 
 warriors at the stake, after they had surrendered, caused 
 the Indians of the other pueblos to remain hostile. Sev 
 eral attempts were made to get them to make peace ; they 
 were told that they would be pardoned and would be 
 safe from any punishment for past offenses. They, 
 however, would not accept any terms. Each time such 
 an offer was made they told the Spaniards that they did 
 not know how to keep good faith after they had once 
 given it, that they could not be trusted. 
 
 " Two moons of severe winter weather passed and 
 the strangers were in sore straits, for their provisions 
 were most gone. So they set out to get food by any 
 means whatever: by making peace with the Indians, 
 if possible; if that could not be accomplished, then a 
 resort to arms would be used. And they preferred the 
 latter. 
 
 " They decided to get possession of the town called 
 Tiguex, from which the country and river were named. 
 In this village lived the man they called Dutch Jack. 
 They thought they would hire him to persuade the other 
 members of the tribe to make peace; or surrender the 
 fortress to them. They came within hallooing distance 
 of the village and called for 'Jack'; and succeeded in 
 getting a conference with him. He, however, would 
 not agree to their terms. They then sought to kill him ; 
 but he was rescued, a Spaniard of rank being nearly
 
 34 DON DIEGO 
 
 killed in the melee. The village was then besieged for 
 fifty-one days. The fighting was of the fiercest from 
 the beginning to the tragic end. Water became scarce. 
 A large well was dug; but it caved in and killed thirty 
 people. Two hundred more were killed in battle. Part 
 of the women and children were surrendered to the 
 enemy to keep them from perishing of thirst and hun 
 ger. The warriors still held out for fifteen days longer. 
 Finally when all the water and provisions were 
 gone, they attempted to leave the village by stealth in 
 the night; but they were discovered and many of them 
 run down and killed by the cavalry; or driven into the 
 icy waters of the river, where they drowned or perished 
 of cold, after gaining the opposite bank. A few were 
 captured and made slaves. 
 
 " Another large village near this one was captured 
 about this time, most of the inhabitants being killed in 
 its capture. 
 
 " All the rest of the inhabitants of the region, seeing 
 how their neighbors had been treated, fled to the moun 
 tains and left the country and their belongings in the 
 enemy's possession. 
 
 " Coronado then visited many of the villages of the 
 other tribes, sending men here and to Zia to get things 
 to eat and to procure clothing for his men. While 
 making the tour, he left six worthless cannon at Zia 
 as a gift to them, so that they would not join in war 
 against them. He also went to Pecos at this time to 
 pacify the people there, taking Whiskers and the Pecos 
 governor with him. He was trying to leave the coun 
 try in peace so as to go in search of Quivira. After 
 being in Pecos a few days he returned, bringing the two
 
 DON DIEGO 35 
 
 prisoners, Whiskers and the governor, with him, but 
 leaving the people there in a peaceful mood; he had 
 promised them that he would free the prisoners from 
 their village as soon as he started on his eastern jour 
 ney. 
 
 " Returning to Tiguex, the general hastened prepa 
 rations and was soon on the march eastward [starting 
 from Tiguex, April 23, 1541]. Arriving at Pecos, he 
 left Whiskers and the Pecos governor. He then pro 
 ceeded onward with Turk, as a guide; everything was 
 going well, except that, unfortunately, the Pecos not 
 knowing much about where Quivira, the country of the 
 great wealth was, the governor and Whiskers had 
 given the general another slave, an actual native of 
 Quivira, to act as guide, also another of that same vil 
 lage by the name of Ysopete, all of whom had been 
 promised their freedom if they would see that the pale 
 faces never returned. 
 
 " Day after day they journeyed with their course a lit 
 tle south of east, Turk acting as guide; and day after 
 day they got farther and farther from their base of sup 
 plies. Finally it was made evident that Turk had been 
 lying, as villages and camps that he mentioned were not 
 to be found where he said they were. Yet on they 
 marched. At last the guides quarreled about the di 
 rection. It then developed that Turk was not a native 
 of Quivira, but of a tribe of Indians farther to the 
 southward. He, however, was still allowed to act as 
 guide. On they went. Unfortunately the natives of 
 the prairies were afraid of the horses and did not at 
 tack them, though all three of the guides tried time and 
 again to induce them to do so. The corn and other
 
 36 DON DIEGO 
 
 supplies they had brought from Tiguex were nearly ex 
 hausted and the horses were tired and weak from the 
 constant traveling. Then a halt was called [on the 
 north bank of the Canadian river in Oklahoma], From 
 there Coronado and thirty of his men on horseback 
 started in a north direction for Quivira, with Turk and 
 Ysopete as guides. The rest of the army returned by 
 a direct route to Tiguex, having some trouble with the 
 Pecos on the way. The general went with his men in 
 a north-northeast direction, crossed a river with a big 
 bend [Arkansas river near Ft. Dodge, Kansas], thence 
 on till he reached Quivira [near Kansas City, Kansas]. 
 But finding no gold and only some people who raised 
 a little corn and hunted ' cows/ he garroted the un 
 truthful Turk and returned also to Tiguex. 
 
 " The Indian knew nothing about the white man's 
 compass and that was why all the plans failed and the 
 hated people were back on the Rio Grande the next win 
 ter. 
 
 " After the army returned to Tiguex and the general 
 had also returned from Quivira, they all went into win 
 ter quarters. There they remained till the following 
 spring, sending out parties to beg, or confiscate sup 
 plies from the neighboring villages, as dire necessity 
 demanded ; for the Tiguex, though they had returned to 
 their respective villages when the army started for Qui 
 vira, abandoned the region and took all their belongings 
 with them when the army returned. Nothing else of 
 importance happened during that seemingly never-end 
 ing winter. 
 
 " As spring approached, it was rumored that the gen 
 eral was making preparations for another extended trip
 
 DON DIEGO 37 
 
 northward and eastward in search of gold the next sum 
 mer and that a division of the army would remain at 
 Tiguex and prepare for keeping the whole army there 
 or at some other village farther up the river the next 
 winter. At the same time we learned that the army, 
 for the most part, were wishing to return to Mexico 
 and that Coronado alone was in the way of their return 
 ing. My people, therefore, called a big meeting. By 
 any means whatever, they were willing to rid the coun 
 try of these people. They had tried losing them on the 
 plains and it seemed useless to attempt it again. It was, 
 therefore, decided to kill the white war chief; his peo 
 ple could then return to the southland from whence 
 they had come. This had to be done at once, as re- 
 enforcements were said to be en route to the valley of 
 our river. The servants [slaves] were entrusted with 
 the task; and they found it easy to accomplish, though 
 it did not prove fatal to him as was planned, but the re 
 sult desired was obtained. 
 
 " One feast day the general proposed to have a tilt 
 on horseback with one of his captains [Don Rodrigo 
 Maldonado]. The Indian servants went to the band of 
 horses and procured the animals as usual. They got 
 the largest and most powerful horse for the general. 
 The saddle blanket they filled with cactus spines. Then 
 they took off the saddle girth and put in its place a rot 
 ten one. Then when all was ready, they saddled the 
 horse and helped that distinguished officer mount. The 
 tournament was on. The general charged his opponent. 
 At the same time the horse, being pricked with the cac 
 tus needles, began to rear and buck. The girth broke 
 and the rider was hurled under the heels of the other
 
 38 DON DIEGO 
 
 rider's horse. The horse struck him on the head with 
 his hoof and nearly killed him. After that for a long 
 time he was sick almost unto death. Finally he got 
 some better and consented to withdraw from the re 
 gion. 
 
 " Accordingly, in a few days they started back over 
 the route over which they had come. They passed Zufii 
 and then went on southward into the Apache wilderness 
 and were seen no more. A few missionaries were left 
 behind, that was all. It was learned in recent years 
 that, after reaching his home, the white chief died of a 
 broken heart. 
 
 " When the people saw that the pale- faces were in 
 deed gone, they had a great jollification and for days 
 and days they danced the Devil's Dance around the vil 
 lages that the white people had lived in. Then peace 
 settled down upon the whole land." 
 
 Ojeda seated himself, and was sprinkled with sacred 
 meal by the cacique and given a lighted cornhusk ciga 
 rette by the war-captain, Don Diego. 
 
 Then Francisco of San Ildefonso arose at a nod from 
 Pope. 
 
 " My brothers," he began, after blowing his breath in 
 blessing over his hearers and extending his hands out 
 ward toward the symbolic designs on the painted walls 
 and toward the abode of those above, " what our brother 
 of Santa Anna has told you is all true, and more. From 
 the first coming of the pale- faces from the land toward 
 the boiling ocean, it has been flogging, peonage, impris 
 onment, and death to our people. It is true that after 
 Coronado returned to Mexico we had peace for a con 
 siderable time; for his people all returned with him.
 
 DON DIEGO 39 
 
 Then about one hundred summers ago a small party of 
 Spaniards [the Espejo expedition, 1582] came through 
 our country again. They were treated very kindly by 
 our people; and were led from one place to another, 
 till, fearing that we would lead them into some trap 
 or so far away from home that they would never get 
 back [and that is exactly what our people were planning 
 to do to get rid of them], they returned to their own 
 land, but not by the way they had come. 
 
 " After these people had gone, we had peace, but for 
 a short time only. Then it was rumored that the pale 
 faces were again coming with their families and some 
 sort of wagons to our land by the way of the great river 
 which flows toward the sun at noon. They, however, 
 never reached our part of the country. Another party 
 of pale-faces came. The two parties quarreled over the 
 property and the pretty women that the first party had 
 stolen. The first party was overcome by the last com 
 ers and they were all taken back to Mexico. We never 
 heard of them again, except something about the great 
 chief across the big waters being angry with the first 
 party because they had not obtained permission from 
 him to rob, enslave, and murder our people. 
 
 ' They were gone ; but soon our people were dis 
 turbed again. Other pale-faces came with soldiers. 
 They came by the plains country east of the mountains 
 east of the great river. They had their families with 
 them, also several lazy men. They took the country 
 where Santa Fe now is from our people and at once pro 
 ceeded to build a town there of their own. They also 
 immediately began to levy on us for corn and other 
 necessities. Being lazy, too lazy to work, they enslaved
 
 40 DON DIEGO 
 
 the natives and made them build their forts and 
 churches, wall their City of the Holy Faith, and even 
 erect their houses for them. Not only that, but they 
 stole our young women and mistreated the married 
 women of our race. 
 
 " When the new city was finished, even before it was 
 completed, they began to take possession of the rest of 
 the village-country. Our people have all been treated as 
 slaves and worse than slaves ever since. As I said before, 
 it has been flogging, slavery, imprisonment, and death to 
 the red-earth people. But I have done." 
 
 Thus saying he returned to his seat beneath the rain 
 bow sections, and was sprinkled with sacred meal and 
 given the ceremonial cigarette of the gods. 
 
 As soon as the cacique had finished his sprinkling, 
 Tactu of San Juan arose; and without further cere 
 mony, began his address to those present. " My broth 
 ers," he began, " you have heard what my brothers here 
 have told you. It is all so; and more. Yes, my broth 
 ers, it is all so. The white man's rule has been nothing 
 but oppression, flogging, imprisonment, and death to 
 our people. Not only have they compelled us to do 
 all their labor for them, but they have taken our young 
 women to be their wives, against their will. They have 
 made servants and worse than servants of our wives. 
 And their priests are the worst of their kind. The 
 priests live among us, they work not, and our women 
 are their servants. Not only that ; but they report what we 
 do to their big chief at Santa Fe and under every pretext 
 our young men are taken from us. They are compelled 
 to work for them till they drop dead. Worse still, 
 these white intruders forbid us to worship our gods.
 
 DON DIEGO 41 
 
 They call our priests sorcerers. They kill them. They 
 shoot them. They hang them. They burn them at the 
 stake. They will not let us have our Indian dances. 
 Consequently, our column dancers cannot have the 
 ceremony that causes the crops to grow ; and the ' funny 
 men ' cannot cause the crops to mature. So we have 
 famine now, instead of plenty as in the old times. 
 Worse still, we are forbidden to have our medicine dances 
 over the sick, and our other medicine ceremonies. Con 
 sequently, our people are dying off. And worst of all, 
 we are not permitted to perform our ceremonies over 
 our dead. Our departed are, therefore, compelled to 
 wander throughout all time in the land of fogs and 
 storms, never to be permitted to enter the happy hunt 
 ing ground. O brothers, it is terrible! It is terrible! 
 Why have our people endured these outrages so long? 
 Why do we endure them? We will not endure them 
 longer." 
 
 Hardly had the venerable cacique finished blessing 
 Tactu, when the next speaker, said to be the Tupatu of 
 Picuri, arose, threw off his blanket, and began impetu 
 ously : 
 
 " I have come with my brothers here to talk to you 
 on this great and important, all-important question to 
 us all. Forty times have the pinon nuts ripened since 
 these hated pale- faces first despoiled our land. Our 
 fathers' fathers thought they were beings from the 
 abode of the good dead; but they have always acted 
 as if they were demons from the land of fogs and storms. 
 They have almost made our land desolate like our medi 
 cine men say that land is. Their rule has been unbear 
 able from the first. They have enslaved us. They have
 
 42 DON DIEGO 
 
 taken our women from us. They have forbidden us to 
 worship our gods. By preventing the ceremonies over 
 our dead, they have caused our departed to be wander 
 ers in the land beyond for all time. The dead have no 
 sun-god drawing to aid them on their long journey. 
 They have no thunder-darts to protect them on that 
 dreary road. There is no road-runner to lead them 
 along that rough, dark road to the land of bliss. Con 
 sequently, being unable to reach that land of continual 
 dancing and feasting, they are compelled to spend all 
 their days and all their nights where storm clouds are 
 continually overheard, the bolt lightning is the trees of 
 the land, and the thunder is the only music they have. 
 
 " Time and again have our people tried to rid the 
 country of this hated race. Your fathers, my Jemez 
 brothers, were in arms [about 1644] and killed many of 
 the pale-faces living in the vicinity of your village. One 
 of the Spaniards killed was Naranjo. But your fathers 
 being unaided by other tribes, the Spaniards came in 
 force and defeated them, captured many prisoners, 
 hanged twenty-nine of the chief men, and many more 
 were sold because they were idolaters, because they 
 wished to worship their own gods and worship them in 
 their own way. 
 
 "A few years afterwards [1650] the chief men of 
 Zia tried to overthrow the Catholic worship and reestab 
 lish their own faith. But they were overcome and fifty 
 of their number hanged. 
 
 "The same year [1650] all the Tehuas, aided by the 
 Apaches, planned a revolt on Thursday night of Pas 
 sion week when the friars and soldiers would all be at 
 church ; but a Spanish Captain by the name of Vaca dis-
 
 DON DIEGO 43 
 
 covered the plot; nine of the leading intriguers were 
 hanged and many more were sold for a period of ten 
 years. 
 
 " The Piros revolted against the hated, red-eyed race 
 and church and priesthood [1660]. But attempting the 
 undertaking single-handed, they met with the same fate 
 as their neighbors had before them, and many of their 
 number were put to death for the alleged crime of sor 
 cery. 
 
 " After all these uprisings had failed, it became evi 
 dent to us that no one tribe was able to throw off the 
 Spanish yoke and drive the intruders from our villages 
 and our homes. The people of the red-earth tribes be 
 gan to talk about uniting all the people of our blood to 
 expel the ever-cruel white-earth man from their once 
 pleasant land, but now land of sorrow and sorrows. 
 Finally [1662], the Taos people drew upon two deer 
 skins a plan for this general movement. The Moquis, 
 however, refused to aid their brothers, and the plan 
 was abandoned and our people were compelled to en 
 dure the torture on, as before. 
 
 " Later, another plan was resorted to. Knowing the 
 white man's greed for gold [for it is all gold, gold with 
 him, anything and everything to get gold, the means 
 are all right if the end brings gold], our people began 
 to plan, as in the days of Coronado, how they might be 
 able to lead them all from the country to a far-off re 
 gion in search of that yellow metal, so precious to them, 
 in hope that they would die on the way or be annihilated 
 by some of the more savage tribes. The guide was to 
 see that the pale- faces never returned, even if it cost 
 him his life to bring about their destruction. My Jemez
 
 44 DON DIEGO 
 
 brothers, one of your own tribe volunteered to attempt 
 this hazardous undertaking. He went to the Spanish 
 governor [about 1664] and told him that he had once 
 been a slave in the great kingdom of Tiguey, also Qui- 
 vira and Tejas, and the Cerro Azul, rich in gold and 
 silver ores : and that they surpassed any country in rich 
 ness yet seen by the pale-faces. So abundant was the 
 gold that the people had their dwelling houses and the 
 houses dedicated to the sun veneered with it both within 
 and without, instead of being whitewashed with gypsum 
 as the pueblo houses of this country are. The Spanish 
 governor believed our brother and planned to go. Jubi 
 lant were we. In secret did we dance to the sun-father 
 and the moon-mother and to Pest-ya-sode, their son. 
 The women gave gifts to one another; and the men 
 sprinkled the sacred meal seven times oftener to the 
 four gods that hold up the four corners of the earth and 
 cause the four winds to blow, and to the god of the 
 straight-up-above and the straight-down-below. But 
 the Spanish governor did not go. But the hated race 
 staid and is still with us. Outrage upon outrage ! " 
 
 Thus saying, he extended his hands outward toward 
 the abode of the gods of war and sent a hissing breath 
 toward their place of habitation. He then seated him 
 self and received the blessings of the gods at the hands 
 of the war-captain and the cacique. 
 
 Jaca of Taos then arose. " Brothers," he emphatic 
 ally cried before he had hardly gained an upright posi 
 tion. " Brothers," he repeated, " what you have heard 
 here is all true and there is more. Outrage and outrage 
 and continual outrage. At the pueblo of San Juan an 
 Indian was hanged some ten years ago because the priest
 
 DON DIEGO 45 
 
 said he had caught him conversing with the devil in a 
 pitcher of water. Only five years ago [1675], four 
 Pueblos were hanged, forty-three whipped, and many 
 more imprisoned for having hypnotized [bewitched] a 
 Catholic priest, another place that same year, many of 
 our people were killed for having killed some mission 
 aries, when an investigation would have shown that they 
 were killed by Apaches and not by our people. No 
 chance for defense was given. The Pueblo suspects 
 were rounded up like a lot of swine for the slaughter 
 and were either executed on the spot or sent to the 
 mines. 
 
 " Not only have these Spaniards cruelly treated us, 
 but by their treatment and misgovernment, they have 
 so weakened our people that we are less able to defend 
 ourselves against the savage Apaches and Apache-Nava- 
 jos as in the old times. Worse and still worse. These 
 pale-faces, when they believe that there is a possibility 
 of an uprising of any one of our tribes in force against 
 their authority, they intrigue with the Apaches and 
 Navajos and get them to make war on that respective 
 tribe. Thus are their battles fought for them and we 
 are the victims of the butchery. Through the Spanish 
 intrigues, the Apaches fell upon Zuni and six neighbor 
 ing towns further east [1672] and totally destroyed 
 them, murdering the men, women and children.* Again 
 they destroyed several of our Indian villages three years 
 ago. And so on. And what are the pale- faces plan 
 ning to do now? Brothers, what are they planning to 
 do now? It is time that these intruders should be 
 driven from our land. Our very existence depends upon 
 
 * A very good specimen of an Indian exaggeration.
 
 46 DON DIEGO 
 
 it. To let them stay is death to us in this world and 
 everlasting misery for us in the world to come. We 
 must unite. We must act together. We must act to 
 gether. These white-earth people must be driven out of 
 our land. The gods of our fathers bid us act. They 
 must be expelled from our land or meet death in it. 
 It is death to them or to us. The death is to them. 
 Yes, the death is to them. We have visited all the other 
 pueblo tribes. Your tribe, my Jemez brothers, is the 
 last tribe. All the other tribes have agreed to join in 
 freeing our land, in ridding the country of these usurp 
 ers. We ask your aid. We need your aid. We must 
 have your help. You must join with us. We must all 
 act together. This move must be a success. No tribe 
 is to hold back. All must fight the common foe. It is 
 a right and just cause. We must all fight. We must 
 fight till the last pale-face has departed the region or 
 joined his God and his beloved Mary. You must lend 
 your aid to this movement. Your warriors must help 
 us fight these people. Your vote alone will decide the 
 fate of our race. Vote, my brothers, for the war which 
 will come in time whether we wish it to come or not. 
 Vote that we wage it now, while we have a chance to 
 prepare for it. Vote for the freedom of your women. 
 Vote for the freedom of your young men. Vote for 
 the freedom of our land. Vote that we may worship 
 our gods as we wish. Vote that the dead may have a 
 safe journey to the abode of the good dead. My Jemez 
 brothers, your vote enslaves us or frees us. In the name 
 of all the gods of my fathers and of your fathers I ask 
 you to vote to expel this hated race from our land." 
 Catite of Santo Domingo immediately followed Jaca
 
 DON DIEGO 47 
 
 in another vigorous harangue. " Brothers," he began, 
 " now is the time for us to act. We must rid the land 
 of these pale- faces. They know our strength. They 
 know that they are at our mercy. They know that they 
 are weak. Under pretext to fight the apostate Apaches 
 but in matter of fact more thoroughly to subdue us and 
 crush out our existence as a race, an army is now march 
 ing to this region. Padre Francisco Ayeta went to 
 Old Mexico three summers ago [1677]. What for? An 
 army! My brothers, will we wait till they come and 
 then be crushed more under their heel than now ; or will 
 the snake strike while his head is yet free and his fangs 
 are not yet extracted? My brothers, we will not wait. 
 We will strike the decisive blow. We will strike it 
 now. It is now or never. It must be done. The 
 morning star looks down upon us. All the gods of our 
 fathers are looking down upon us. They are for us. 
 God and Mary and Jesus Christ are made of wood. They 
 are rotten wood. They have no power. They never 
 had any. Our gods are all-powerful. They are for 
 us. Here in the presence of the symbolic paintings of 
 these, your gods and my gods, I beg you, my Jemez 
 brothers, to lend us your strength o>f arms in this just 
 cause. I entreat you to aid your brothers. The vital 
 moment is at hand. The recruiting army must never 
 reach this land. The last Spaniard of this region must 
 be in the dust and be returning to dust before any other 
 soldiers cross our river at the Pass [El Paso, Texas]. 
 Come with us, my Jemez brothers. Come with us. 
 Fight the foe with us and share the glory with us. We 
 bid you join the war party. We beg and entreat you to 
 do so. On your decision rests the destiny of our race.
 
 48 DON DIEGO 
 
 Make your decision, my brothers. Make it now. Make 
 it here in the presence of these, the painted symbols of 
 your gods. Vote to exterminate, to annihilate, to send 
 the last pale- face in our land to the abode of his dead 
 and his Holy Mary. The moon-mother, the sun- father, 
 the morning star, the evening star, all the gods of your 
 fathers and of my fathers are awaiting your decision." 
 
 For a few minutes after Catite had been sprinkled by 
 the cacique and had begun to puff wreaths of smoke 
 from the ceremonial cigarette toward the symbolic 
 drawings of the estufa and toward the abode of those 
 above, no one stirred. All were waiting for Pope to 
 address them. All eyes were turned toward that august 
 person. Slowly he arose, threw down his blanket, and 
 walked around the entire room, blowing a gentle breath 
 on each of the wall paintings. Then he faced those 
 present and advancing extended his hands, and blew a 
 gentle breath in blessing over them and then heaven 
 ward toward the abode of his deities. Then, dropping 
 his hands to his side, he paused a moment before begin 
 ning his address. 
 
 There before them he stood, dressed in a tunic and 
 Indian pantaloons, with the end of the breech cloth sus 
 pended outside of the trousers both before and behind. 
 He was tall, muscular and raw-boned. His cheek bones 
 were rather high, his lips thick for a Pueblo Indian. His 
 under jaw was large and his jaws closed and set firmly 
 like a vise. His nose was large and of the ruling type. 
 Wrinkles curved around the corners of his mouth and 
 also marked his forehead. His eyes were small and 
 deeply set. His hair was done up in two cues at the back 
 of his head. He had a scanty beard and mustache, the
 
 DON DIEGO 49 
 
 latter being very scanty in the middle-lip region and 
 extra heavy over the corners of his mouth. His hands 
 and feet were large. He wore moccasins tinged in red, 
 from which tail feathers of the eagle were suspended 
 behind. His face and hands were painted red. His 
 head was sprinkled with eagle down. A feather was 
 suspended behind each ear. Turquoise pendants were 
 suspended from his ears. A bone, some three inches in 
 length, was thrust through his perforated nose, and 
 strings of deer hoofs, eagle claws and bright-colored, 
 sparkling, glittering stones were suspended from his 
 neck over his chest. There he stood, with determina 
 tion exhibited in every outline of his body and with the 
 fire of pent-up enthusiasm shining out of his snake-like, 
 beady, black eyes. 
 
 " My brothers," he began, as he gave his shoulders a 
 broadening shrug and made one step nearer to his hear 
 ers. " My brothers," he repeated, " I am Pope. I 
 have traveled from village to village. I have seen the 
 wrongs heaped upon our people by the pale- faces, who, 
 under the disguise of Christianity, have made us slaves 
 to their greed for gold. I have seen them whip the aged 
 till they die under the lash. I have seen them torture 
 our sunpriests to death, because they dared worship 
 their own deities, because they dared be more civilized 
 than the white usurpers of this land. I have seen them 
 drag our young men from their peaceful homes and put 
 them to work day and night till death put an end to their 
 suffering and misery. I have seen the children taken 
 from the mother because she had dared do what her 
 heart said was right, she dared worship her gods, the 
 gods of her fathers. And I have seen worse things
 
 50 DON DIEGO 
 
 than these . I have seen the aged Indian priest put to 
 death, while in the very act of conducting the ceremonies 
 over our dead. Brothers, I could endure these things no 
 longer. I went to my home and to my estufa and there 
 I fasted and prayed, did penance and mortified my body 
 many days. 
 
 " One day while I was fasting and praying and feeling 
 so very, very sorry for the deplorable condition of my 
 race, the great father of all the Pueblos, he who had been 
 our father since before the flood, appeared and stood 
 before me. His face was bright red like the flaming 
 pillar from the clouds. His hair was the flash or heat 
 lightning. His eyes were a redder red than his face. 
 His body was in zigzag and green, like that of the good 
 snake, the genius of the water courses. His feet were 
 like the many tails of a snake. He had two arms, as 
 we, but they were powerful and strong arms. In his 
 left hand, he held a shield that covered the whole sky 
 and made the whole earth dark, completely dark, even 
 when the sun was in his full strength at the noon-time. 
 In his right hand he held a mighty war club, studded 
 with massive flints, pointed and ground down to a fine 
 edge. It was a war-club so large that it reached even to 
 the Seven Stars. I wished to hide myself. But where? 
 His eyes penetrated all places. He spoke to me. I 
 turned my face toward him. I was no longer afraid. 
 Said he : 'I am your father and the father of all the 
 Pueblos. I am the sun with the mask removed. I have 
 witnessed the oppression of my people, till I can endure 
 it no longer. My son, I commission you, I command 
 you to go to your countrymen and order them to rebel 
 against the hated pale-faces, the cruel, gold-seeking Span-
 
 DON DIEGO 51 
 
 iards. The time is at hand. Go, my son. I will be 
 with you in every conflict and the victory in the end and 
 all the time is yours. Your people will obey you. I 
 have put it in their minds to do so. Go now, go to every 
 pueblo. I am your supreme god, and I will fight your 
 battles for you. I have defeated that hated race al 
 ready. Rebel against them. Go now, my son, go to 
 your countrymen at once and command them as I have 
 said. Go, my son ' And lo! the god of my fathers 
 had instantly vanished. 
 
 "I looked again and lo! in the place where the god 
 of all the heavens and the earth had stood, there stood 
 three departed spirits, Cadit, Tilim, and Tlesime. These 
 communed with me also. They likewise bade me to 
 command my race to rise as one man and dispel the des 
 picable, gold-hunting Spaniards from our land. They 
 also directed me to make a rope of palm leaf, a mystic 
 cord, and tie it in knots to represent the number of days 
 before we shall rise like the whirlwind of the sandy 
 country and remove this vile, contemptible race, root 
 and branch and stump from our country of habitation. 
 Our revolt, they said, should begin in this growing of 
 the leaves that each pueblo should show its willingness 
 to act by untieing one of the knots on the cord presented 
 to it. Thus saying, they likewise vanished to the world 
 of the good dead, saying as they departed that the pueb 
 los who would be killed in the overthrow of the Spanish 
 power should live and feast forever after in the palace of 
 the Morning Star, our first brother, our great and pow 
 erful brother who guards the front entrance to the palace 
 of the sun. 
 
 " Brothers, as ordered, I am here. Your gods have
 
 52 DON DIEGO 
 
 sent me here. My mission is yours. In the name of 
 the gods who appeared unto me in the estufa at Taos and 
 in the name of all the gods of our fathers, I beg you, I 
 command you to join in this uprising, in this revolt 
 against the pale- faces. We must rid the land. It must 
 be done now. Now is the time. We are prepared for 
 action; they are not. A year from now our hands will 
 be tied; now they are free. Your decision frees us or 
 sends us further into slavery. Your decision means 
 everything to our women. Your decision means the 
 complete annihilation of our fathers' religion, or its re- 
 establishment in all the meanings of that word. Your 
 vote means that our dead shall be doomed to live for all 
 days and for all nights in the sorrow land, or in the 
 land of happy hunting and continual feasting. Broth 
 ers, vote to rebel. The gods of all your fathers bid 
 you rise in arms. The fiery face of the sun bids you. 
 The red and white rays of the sun bid you lift your 
 war club against these people. The yellow-faced moon 
 and its light-colored rays bid you rise in arms. The red- 
 faced, black-pointed morning star commands you to vote 
 for the overthrow of these peoples. The evening star 
 and its yellow points command you. The four pillars 
 of clouds, the steps on which the dead pass in their jour 
 ney to the land of the good dead, command you. The 
 bolt lightning, the flash lightning and the genius of the 
 water courses have given their strength to this cause. 
 The two rainbows await your decision. The people in 
 the land of the dead are rising to help you. All the 
 gods of our fathers command you to rebel. I, the rep 
 resentative of those above, ask you to make your de 
 cision this night, to make it now. Here is the mystic
 
 VII. 
 
 A WALL PAINTING IN A SECRET DARK ROOM IN ONE OF THE INDIAN 
 HOUSES AT JEMEZ, N. M. 
 
 Sun. (In left-hand upper corner.) 
 
 Moon. (In right-hand upper corner.) 
 
 Morning Star. 
 
 Evening Star. 
 
 Rainbow in the West. 
 
 The Red Snake. 
 
 The Blue Snake, the God of Rain. 
 
 The Flash Lightning, the God of Flowers. It is projecting from the 
 water receptacles of the universe. The step-like figures below the water- 
 jars are clouds from which raindrops, represented by black points, are 
 dropping.
 
 VI. A RAINBOW SECTION IN ONE OF THE ESTUFAS AT JEMEZ, N. M. 
 
 1. Clouds. 
 
 2. The Bolt Lightning that does not strike the ground. 
 
 3. The Bolt Lightning that strikes the earth. It is the Red Snake or In 
 dian Devil. 
 
 4. The Flash Lightning, believed by the Indians to be the producer 
 of bloom, hence the God of Flowers. 
 
 5. The Blue Snake, the God of Rain. 
 
 6. The Rainbow in the East, (a) Water receptacles of the universe; (b) 
 Clouds, the Steps to Heaven; (c) raindrops; (d) the rainbow arch; (e) dart- 
 heads thrust out by the rainbow as a means of protection. 
 
 NOTE. This is the rainbow in the east. Beneath the arch the repre 
 sentatives of good and evil, the rain snake and the red snake, are in com 
 bat. The rain snake, being defeated, is retreating eastward and is taking the 
 clouds with him, hence the rain is over.* 
 
 The Rainbow Section just opposite this section represents the rainbow 
 in the west. It differs from the rainbow section given here in that it has the 
 God of Flowers projecting from the water jars beneath the arch.
 
 DON DIEGO 53 
 
 cord. Untie one of its knots that we may know that 
 you are willing to fight for your country, for your homes, 
 for your wives and daughters, for our fathers' worship, 
 for the safe passage of our departed to the good world. 
 Untie the knot, my brother and war-captain, that we may 
 know that you are on our side and on the side of the 
 deities of our fathers. All the gods of our fathers bid 
 you act. We await your decision. It must be to rise 
 in arms against these pale- faces. It must be to drive 
 out this hated, greedy, merciless, gold-seeking race. My 
 brothers we await your decision." 
 
 Pope at once seated himself and was sprinkled and 
 blessed by the cacique and given the ceremonial ciga 
 rette; but he did not smoke it. He waited for the de 
 cision ; but none was given. Not that the Jemez did not 
 wish to rise in arms against the Spanish misrule, but 
 was it wise to do so? Things as they were, were bad 
 enough : what might the result of the proposed uprising 
 be in the end? Many things were to be considered. 
 What if the Spaniards should be able to crush the re 
 bellion? Not a Jemez stirred. Not a word was ut 
 tered by one of them. Not a hand was moved. Min 
 utes and minutes passed. Was the cause lost? United 
 action alone could defeat the Spaniards; here was one 
 of the leading pueblos that was undecided. Cold sweat 
 collected in great drops over Pope's face. Had he lost 
 the cause for which he had labored so faithfully and 
 which he honestly believed was a just cause? The gods 
 forbid. He had. been commissioned by them and to 
 win was the only possible outcome. But just what 
 further to do or to say at the moment he did not know. 
 
 At this juncture when it seemed very evident if the
 
 54 DON DIEGO 
 
 Jemez voted at all it would be a negative vote, Ojeda 
 again arose. " Brothers," he at once emphatically and 
 earnestly began, " brothers," he repeated, " will you be 
 the enemies of your own race and the enemies of your 
 own gods? The gods of my fathers forbid. You must 
 act with us. You must be our friends. The gods, all 
 the gods of our fathers command you to join with your 
 sister tribes. Will you not do it? We have always 
 been your friends. Will you now be our enemies? 
 Will you make servants of your women? Will you con 
 demn our priests to be tortured to death ? Will you send 
 your dead to the sorrow land? The gods forbid. All 
 the gods of our fathers bid you rebel against this hated, 
 cruel race. The sun- father, the moon-mother, the even 
 ing and the morning stars, the bolt and flash lightnings, 
 the red snake, and the blue snake bid you rise in arms. 
 The two rainbows bid you. The elder war hero of our 
 race bids you. The cougar deity, the bear, the badger, 
 the eagle, the shrew, the spider bid you. The younger 
 war hero and our great and knowing brother, Pusha- 
 ian-kia, command you. The goddess of the north, of 
 the south, of the east, of the west, of the straight-up- 
 above, and of the straight-down-below are looking upon 
 you. The medicine water bowl, the cloud bowl, the cere 
 monial water vase, the ancient road await your decision. 
 The white-shell-bead woman who lives where the sun 
 descends bids you. The mighty whirling winds com 
 mand you. The wooden images on your own hearth 
 stone order you to aid us. The yellow woman of the 
 north, the blue woman of the west, the red woman of 
 the south, the white woman of the east are looking down 
 through these walls upon you this moment. The yel-
 
 I. SUN-GOD SECTION IN ONE OF THE ESTUFAS AT JEMEZ, N. M. 
 
 1. Clouds, the Steps to Heaven. (Dark marginal figures.) 
 
 2. The Bolt Lightning that does not strike the earth. (Upper figures.) 
 
 3. The Bolt Lightning that strikes the earth. It is the Red Snake or 
 Indian Devil, called Savah by them. (Second fieure from the top on each 
 side.) 
 
 4. The Flash Lightning, the God of Flowers. (Third figure from top.) 
 
 5. The Good Snake, the Blue Snake, the God of Rain. (Lower figures.) 
 
 6. The Sun, the father of the universe and the God of all things. By 
 the Indians he is called Patahgatzah or Pay.
 
 II. THE MOON-GOD SECTION IN ONE OF THE ESTUFAS AT JEMEZ, NM. 
 
 1. Clouds. 
 
 2. Bolt Lightning that dos not strike the earth. 
 
 3. The Red Snake or Indian DeviL 
 
 4. The Flash Lightning, the God of Flowers. 
 
 5. The Blue Snake, the God of Rain. 
 
 6. The Moon, the Mother God of the Universe, called by the Indus 
 AhtuhwahUah. or Pah.
 
 DON DIEGO 55 
 
 low-bluish woman of the zenith and the dark woman of 
 the nadir command you to aid your brothers in driving 
 the race from our land. Pusha-ian-kia and all the gods 
 of our fathers command you to aid us. Will you be 
 the enemies of all your brothers? Will you be the ene 
 mies of even your gods? We await your decision. We 
 beg you in the name of all the gods of our fathers and 
 in the name of those above to make your decision now. 
 We must have your decision. The great snake that en 
 circles the starry vault [the Milky Way] commands you 
 to act. The departed of our race urge you. The gods 
 of all our fathers command you. Will you be the ene 
 mies of our race? Will you be more despised than the 
 hated pale- faces? Will you have the blood of all the 
 other tribes upon your heads ? " 
 
 Without waiting for the close of the speech, Don 
 Diego, the Jemez war-captain, arose slowly, took his 
 tomahawk from his belt and without saying a word to 
 anyone, walked with a brisk step to the center of the 
 room and hurled that Indian weapon, sticking it into the 
 centerpost of that house. Then he returned and seated 
 himself. Slowly and deliberately the rest of the Jemez 
 present then arose one by one and likewise drove their 
 tomahawks into the same centerpost. Then when all 
 iad reseated themselves. Don Diego took the mystic 
 :ord and untied one of its knots. Thus was the declara 
 tion of war ratified by the last tribe.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 DIOSj see that bunch of peons that came 
 in this morning. They are prisoners. I sup 
 pose they are prisoners from the Great River of the 
 North. Do you happen to know any of their history? " 
 " Yes, they are Pueblo Indians. Those four over 
 there are from San Ildefonso, wherever that place may 
 be. They sprinkled corn pollen over an altar made to 
 their gods of petrified wood. Our good father at the 
 pueblo saw them at their heathenish worship, and they 
 are here. Those twenty over there are from Santa Fe. 
 They refused to give up their own houses and all their 
 property to the conquerers. But what matters it, any 
 way. In a few years they will all be dead and their 
 masters will be rich. Those Indians over there by that 
 rock are from Zia and Santa Anna pueblos. They did 
 not go to mass one Sunday. Oh, well, it matters not, 
 just so we get them as slaves. Those alcaldes are paid 
 so much per head for all the Indians they can send to 
 labor in the mines. It's all for the glory of the Father 
 and Santa Marie [and our purses, you know]. This 
 is an Indian from Jemez"; so are these over here. They 
 are fine looking fellows. This Indian would not allow 
 his daughter to be a servant in the priest's house. Oh, 
 well, we need them and we get them. That's all. The 
 Indians were made to be slaves of the white race. The 
 more of them we kill off the better it is for us, if they 
 
 56
 
 DON DIEGO 57 
 
 bring us the gold. Per Dios, there seems to be trouble 
 yonder." 
 
 It was in the mining region of Nueva Vizcaya where 
 the above conversation occurred. It was early in the 
 morning. The smoke-wreathed burning-red orb' of day 
 was rising above the jagged mountain points of the 
 mother saw-tooth ranges to the eastward. Slowly its 
 rays descended into the inner canon-like valleys, which, 
 for the most part, presented a desert-like appearance. 
 Here and there on the walls and steep slopes were many 
 varieties of the cactus family, vieing with each other in 
 the length of their spines. Now and then a pifion or red 
 cedar dotted the landscape. A narrow band of chap 
 arral and " polly-verde," and an attempt at a growth of 
 grass lined the central low area. 
 
 Here in these valleys were situated many of the mines 
 which were enriching the Spanish people and their sov 
 ereigns in Spain. They were not conducted in the same 
 manner as mines are to-day. Only free milling gold 
 could be handled. There was no machinery of any 
 sort. Everything was hoisted with a hand windlass. 
 The men went down into the mines on rope ladders, or 
 on poles. When the mines got very deep the slaves, for 
 slaves [convicts, as the Spaniards called them] did the 
 work, were kept in the underground recesses till they 
 died. Then their bodies were either thrown into some 
 abandoned tunnel or shaft; or hoisted up to the sur 
 face and cast into some out-of-the-way place, for the 
 birds and beasts of the Sierras to feed upon. They 
 fared as well dead as alive. In the dingy mine they, 
 never saw the light of day. Their bed was possibly a 
 sheep skin on the hard rock floor; and more often not
 
 58 DON DIEGO 
 
 even that. Their clothes consisted of a breech cloth, if 
 even that much. Their food was a morsel of corncake. 
 The water they had was scanty and impure. The air 
 they had was foul. And work they were compelled to, 
 not eight hours a day, but the greater part of each 
 twenty- four. If the desired amount of the precious met 
 als was not forthcoming each day, a beating with worse 
 than the cat-o'-nine-tails was the inevitable result. 
 Death was preferable to this treatment; but death is 
 not usually preferred by the races of men. 
 
 It was at one of the mines of this region that the 
 scene about to be described occurred. A man was 
 climbing out of the mine. He was an Indian, a convict, 
 if that word may be used to cover Spanish sins. His 
 face was shriveled and wrinkled. He was short one 
 ear. A finger was off of his left hand, a toe off of his 
 right foot. His hair was white and very long. His 
 teeth were partly gone, the rest as white as ivory. He 
 was bent with age; but was still muscular and strong. 
 His eyes were small and hazel in color. But were fiery 
 at the moment. 
 
 As he climbed out of the mine, two guards rushed to 
 seize him. But old and decrepit as he looked, the aged 
 slave gained a footing at the entrance of the mine and, 
 seizing a pick, prepared to defend himself. 
 
 " Oh, you dog," shouted one of the guards, " you'll 
 fight, will you ? You're not worth much, anyway. You 
 wouldn't even make good crow feed. Go back down 
 that ladder. Go, I say. You haven't seen the light of 
 day for twenty years and you'll never see it again. It 
 won't be good for you to stay here. Your Jemez friends 
 yonder will carry your carcass to that precipice in the
 
 DON DIEGO 59 
 
 distance for the wolves and vultures to devour. Go 
 back down in that mine or I will shoot you in your 
 tracks. Go! Go, or I light the powder in the pan of 
 this gun. Get down there at once." 
 
 But the aged man climbed not down the pole in the 
 mine shaft, but made several quick steps from its en 
 trance toward the advancing guard, brandishing his pick. 
 " Kill me," he shouted. " I might as well die here as in 
 the mine. Aye, I have not seen the sun for more than 
 twenty years." Nearing them he again exclaimed: 
 " Kill me if you wish. Blessed god of my race. I am an 
 old man now and will work no longer in your mines, O 
 gold-seeking pale- faces. Yonder god of light and his 
 son, and the moon-mother are my principal gods. To 
 them I command my being and they will take it safely to 
 she-pa-pa [the Indian heaven], where you pale-faces can 
 not enter; where only the good people go, and you are 
 not good. 
 
 " Five times, and more, have I served out my sen 
 tence in this mine. By your own words I have served 
 it out five times. My fine was four years only. I 
 counted the time when I would be back with my family, 
 my wife and my little son, Don Diego, at Jemez ; for, 
 as you intimate, I am a Jemez. I counted the days by 
 tying knots on a string. I also kept the number of 
 times the green corn [roasting ears] were in the fields 
 by their bringing me green corn for my food. Four 
 years came and went and four more. Yet you kept not 
 your word : you kept not the order of the court. I saw 
 the alcalde write my sentence in the record book and 
 also give a copy of it to the bailiff. No! you have not 
 respected the orders of your own courts. You respect
 
 60 DON DIEGO 
 
 nothing but gold. Eight years and eight years more 
 have passed ; yet you have not freed me. Now I am out 
 of that mine, not by your will but by my own strength 
 and the power of my gods. The guard at the bottom 
 of the mine has gone to the pearly gates and his be 
 loved Mary ; and I will go to my deities. 
 
 " I never did any wrong to cause me to be arrested 
 and sent to this place. Of course, you do not believe 
 what I say. You don't want to. But I never did. I 
 call on all the gods of my fathers to witness that I did 
 no wrong. Your chief man visited our village. We 
 were all friendly to him. Our young men went out to 
 meet the visitors. They escorted them to the village. A 
 procession lined up on each side of the main entrance 
 to receive them. Pinon twigs and branches were laid 
 in their path for them to walk upon, and our women 
 took off their bright colored panas [the aprons they 
 wear suspended from their shoulders at the back] and 
 placed them on the ground for the high men to walk 
 upon. They did not touch the ground with their feet 
 from the time they dismounted till they entered the 
 church of San Jose in our village to attend mass. The 
 whole village attended mass that day. There was gen 
 eral good feeling everywhere. 
 
 " After the services were over in the church, the 
 strangers were given the best quarters in the pueblo. 
 I gave quarters to two of them in my house, and the best 
 things to eat that we had. Everything possible was 
 done to make the visiting people welcome. The Catholic 
 father, who accompanied them, was also asked to visit 
 each house and bless it and its occupants and to baptize 
 the children into your church. He visited my own house
 
 DON DIEGO 61 
 
 and baptized my little son, naming him Don Diego. I 
 was a happy man that day, but, oh, the biting sting! 
 
 " After the midday meal was served, four of our men 
 entertained the guests in the giving of a vigorous, knee- 
 springing, foot-scraping, turkey-gobbling dance; while 
 a clown, dressed like a Spanish lord accompanied by an 
 imitation Navajo chief, made grimaces and did funny 
 things to amuse the populace. 
 
 " After this dance was completed, a procession was 
 formed at the church. The sacred image was then 
 carried at the head of the procession to the plaza and 
 there placed in a booth. In front of this then the 
 ' column dancers ' danced till darkness began to take 
 possession of the land; while those who were not en 
 gaged in the dance went into the booth and said their 
 prayers and ' counted their beads ' in the presence of the 
 image. Also, all who could went to confession to the 
 priest in a near-by house. As night came on, we all 
 lined up in two columns, facing each other. Then our 
 principal men prayed to God for us and asked him to 
 bless the pale-faces and help us obey them and make us 
 always to be friends. When the prayers were finished, 
 we all started home happy. I had never felt so happy 
 before in my life. 
 
 " When near ing my house, my wife ran out to meet 
 me. She was crying as though her heart would break. 
 She cried and cried and cried. I took her in my arms 
 and carried her to my house. I asked her what the 
 matter was ; and she still cried and sobbed and could not 
 tell me anything. Finally she became quiet so she could 
 talk. Then she said she had been mistreated by the two 
 Spaniards whom I had been so good as to give shelter
 
 62 DON DIEGO 
 
 in my house. At once I was enraged, as any husband 
 should have been. I started to report the affair to the 
 chief Spanish officer; but before I could hardly leave my 
 door, I was arrested by one of the Spanish governor's 
 officials. Those Spaniards, to cover their own shame 
 ful act, had brought charges against me, that I had stolen 
 a spur belonging to one of them and that my wife had 
 aided me in concealing it. 
 
 " The next day I was taken before the alcalde and 
 sentenced to four years in the mines. I protested my 
 innocence but was given no chance to make my defense. 
 I was not allowed to open my mouth. I could easily 
 have proven the charge false, as I had danced in the col 
 umn dance throughout the afternoon and had not been 
 home. So, of course, I could not have stolen the spur. I 
 tried to explain but it was no use. I tried to tell of the 
 wrong my accusers had done; but, instead of being given 
 a fair trial, I was gagged and taken from the region. I 
 never saw my wife again. I never saw my child again. 
 I have never heard what became of them. 
 
 " After I was sentenced and gagged, a rope was tied 
 around my neck, like I was a dog. The free end of the 
 rope was then tied to the saddle of one of the armored 
 men. He then started with me for the mines, leading 
 me, jerking me along over rocks, brush, bunches of 
 cactus, anything just the same, swimming rivers with me; 
 and on we went. After a while we were joined by 
 other groups of convicts, and on we went. At nights, 
 my hands were tied behind me and I was tied by the 
 neck to a tree or rock just like a horse. If there was 
 nothing else to tie to, I was tied to a hobbled horse to 
 be pulled around as the horse grazed. Water and food
 
 DON DIEGO 63 
 
 were scarce, I had to do without. Doing without water 
 was the worst. Often the man and horse would drink; 
 but I was given not so much as would dampen the point 
 of my parched, swollen tongue. 
 
 " At last, we arrived here at this mine. Oh, horrible 
 nightmare ! I was put at the windlass. Big chains were 
 put on my feet to keep me from running away. Day 
 after day I worked with these chains on and slept with 
 them on. Day after day I almost starved. Day after 
 day, I almost famished for want of water which I could 
 see running yonder but which I could not get on account 
 of the guards and the heavy chains that weighted me 
 down. 
 
 " At last I planned to escape, as you may know, but 
 you were not there. I managed to get a stone mallet 
 hid away in the little hovel I was allowed to live in. 
 Then I got a chisel and a stone hammer secreted in the 
 dirt under the sheep skin I used for a pallet. Then in 
 the dead hour of the night, one night when you were 
 having a big feast to your Lady of Guadalupe and were 
 all enjoying yourselves in a building which, it seems to 
 me, stood in that ravine yonder, I carefully cut the links 
 of the chain and freed my legs. Then I cut the clasps 
 that encircled my legs. I was free. 
 
 " It w 7 as nearly morning. No one heard my pound 
 ing. So I decided to make the quickest possible escape 
 from this mining section. I rose up quickly ; but found 
 that my legs were stiffened by having worn the chains 
 so long. After a great deal of effort, however, I suc 
 ceeded in being able to walk quite well and briskly. 
 I took a direction through a region that I knew was 
 traveled over but little. I climbed over yonder peak.
 
 64 DON DIEGO 
 
 I was on its top at sun up. There I paused and looked 
 and gazed upon the red-fingered morn. I hoped and 
 prayed that my god would come, as he has promised he 
 would come, on the flaming aurora in the chariot of his 
 father, the sun, and drive out your hated, cruel, unjust 
 race from our land. Soon I heard bloodhounds baying 
 on my track. I then hastened on. I broke into a brisk 
 run and run as in the races of the old times, when I 
 used to win the snake race year after year. But I 
 was in a broken country and the hounds gained upon 
 me. I could hear them coming near. There were two 
 of them. Seeing that I could not outrun them, I sat 
 down and caught my breath. Then I climbed up over 
 a rather steep cliff to its top. Then I quickly gathered 
 some rocks and a few clubs and prepared to make a 
 stand for my life. The hounds started to climb up the 
 steep-walled slope. When in good throwing range, I 
 hurled a boulder at the foremost one; but the stone went 
 wide of its mark; for I had not done any throwing for 
 many years, though when a young man I had been an 
 expert thrower. The hounds gained materially by my 
 missing. They were now within five lengths of a man 
 from me. [I can see their red tongues, glittering sav 
 age eyes, and sharp teeth yet.] I threw another stone. 
 I took deliberate aim and hurled it with all my strength. 
 I missed the first dog entirely ; but, fortunately, the dogs 
 being practically in line, I struck the second one square 
 between the eyes and killed him instantly. The other 
 dog was upon me before I could hurl another rock. I 
 seized a club and struck at him furiously, but, excited, 
 I missed my aim and the great brute jumped for my 
 throat. I could see death staring me in the face. I
 
 DON DIEGO 65 
 
 could feel the hound's teeth on my throat At the same 
 instant I seized him by the throat-collar and with one 
 supreme effort and terrible struggle, I hurled him from 
 me and down over the steepest part of the cliff, a place 
 that had a perpendicular face, nearly losing my balance 
 in doing so. Long afterwards I could hear the animal 
 howling in pain where he had fallen. 
 
 " From there I ran on and on. At last I came to a 
 trail that led in the direction of the Seven Stars. Night 
 had come on, and, being tired, hungry, and thirsty, I 
 gathered some cactus apples for my evening meal. Then 
 I went in search of -water, which I found after consid 
 erable searching. Being tired, I then lay down under a 
 juniper tree to have a few moments' sleep. 
 
 " How long I slept, I do not know. I must have slept 
 very soundly. For suddenly awakening, I found myself 
 being bound hand and foot with maguey-fiber cords. 
 I had been discovered by scouts who had been on the 
 trail to watch for me. Knowing the country, they had 
 come by the trail, a much shorter route than I had come, 
 and had laid in wait for me at the little stream of water 
 that crossed the trail. And though I went far from the 
 stream and trail to find a sleeping place, they were not 
 tired and were able to follow my every move. I was at 
 their mercy ; that was all. 
 
 " The next day I was again at the mine. The cruel 
 guard, to punish me, tied me to a block. Then whipped 
 me till he gave out. The rest of the day I, bleeding from 
 head to foot, was let lie face up in the burning heat, 
 while my torturer went off to a torrel combat. Return 
 ing at night-time, he lowered me into the mine: there 
 to labor till I died of bad usage or of old age. He was
 
 66 DON DIEGO 
 
 angry and wished to kill me. He said that the dogs 
 I had killed were worth more than I was. 
 
 " For years and years, for eight more long years, I la 
 bored in the mine. By a poor grease lamp that nearly 
 blinded me and whose smoke and fumes I could hardly 
 endure, I drove the chisel into the rocky wall, hurled the 
 pick, and carried the rocks in a box to the mine entrance 
 to be hoisted, that you people might become rich. 
 
 " After laboring all these years, more than twice the 
 time of my sentence, I became sick. I was hot. My 
 skin was parched. My tongue, throat, and mouth was 
 dry and burning. My step was not steady. My head 
 swung. But no pity was shown me. At this time, you, 
 the guard nearest to me, was detailed as overseer in the 
 mine. You cruel wretch. If the Father, the Holy 
 Mary, and Jesus, their son, whom you profess to wor 
 ship, are indeed the beings you hold dear, most dear in 
 your hearts and whom you are following in word and 
 in actions, I want none of them in mine. Because I 
 could not bring you in the value of as many pesos per 
 day as I had done when well, you whipped me, and 
 whipped me every day till the blood ran do\vn my body 
 and onto the ground. Here are the places where you 
 mangled my flesh with your merciless whip. See them. 
 Yet you prayed to your gods, three of them, daily. When 
 I sickened so that I could no longer work and lay help 
 less and in horrible, agonizing pain of the terrible fever, 
 you, you cruel gold-seeker, would come each day; and, 
 continuing to be angry because I was not adding gold to 
 your fortune, would kick me around to give me all the 
 agonizing pain you could.. Finally, I became uncon 
 scious, and you had me carried to an abandoned recess
 
 DON DIEGO 67 
 
 and thrown into the garbage pile to die, and had another 
 slave put in my place. 
 
 " How long I remained unconscious, I do not know. 
 One day I felt a dull sensation as of something gnawing 
 on my face. It proved to be some rats. They had 
 eaten this ear off and were then eating on my face here 
 where you see this big scar. I waved the rats away 
 with my hand. Then by my moaning, I caused the man 
 who had taken my place at the mining process to hear* 
 me. He came and carried me out of that horrid place; 
 gave me some water, all the water he had been allowed 
 to quench his thirst for the day; and also shared his 
 meager allowance of corn cake with me. I ate it. I 
 tried then to sit up, but found that I was too weak to 
 do so. I could only raise my head with the greatest ef 
 fort. 
 
 " Later in the day after I had become conscious again, 
 I heard my friend being beaten by you because he had lost 
 time while waiting upon me; and as a final result of his 
 being good to me, he was put in another division of the 
 mine and I never saw him again. But the gods were 
 good. You were transferred to, I suppose, your present 
 position ; for to this day I had never had the privilege 
 of seeing you again. Had I, you would not be here this 
 day. 
 
 " Your successor was not so cruel a man at first as 
 you; so I was given a little to eat. I suppose he looked 
 forward to the time when I would be bringing him in 
 money, as I had done so many years for you. I got 
 stronger and stronger and in a little while I was given 
 a location to work in the mine. Soon I was as strong as 
 before my sickness. Day after day and moon after
 
 68 DON DIEGO 
 
 moon since then, have I labored and brought gold to you 
 and to your people to enrich them. But my work is 
 over. I will not work more. 
 
 " Last night I dreamed that I was at my own home 
 at Jemez, that it was to-day. My people were having 
 their special occasion. The god-clowns, the ' funny men,' 
 and the column-dancers were all performing. The 
 women rushed from their houses and threw bread and 
 other things to eat skyward as a thank offering to those 
 above. I heard my own son making a big speech to the 
 Indians. Then I heard that big drum on the estufa, the 
 drum I used to beat in the long ago. I heard that drum 
 beat. Then I saw strangers enter the village. Night 
 came on and I saw them all in solemn council in the pres 
 ence of the symbolic paintings of my gods in our prac 
 tice house. The business was secret. I heard my own 
 name called. Instantly, Pest-ya-sode, my great brother 
 and father, stood before me and said : ' Go, my son, go. 
 Your son, Don Diego, needs you. Go.' 
 
 " At once I awoke and am here. O glorious god of 
 day and god of my fathers! I am going, O cruel Span 
 iard. I will work in your mines no longer. I go to my 
 people. I will go in this red-clay body, or I go in spirit ; 
 but I go, nevertheless. Many times have I served out 
 my sentence, the unjust sentence." 
 
 " Go back down that pole, you dog of an Indian. Go. 
 I light this powder. I have heard enough from you. 
 No Indian has ever been given such a privilege to talk 
 here before and no other one ever will be. You dog, 
 you'll come towards me, will you. Here, hand me that 
 firebrand. We'll " 
 
 But quick almost as a flash of lightning, the aged sav-
 
 DON DIEGO 69 
 
 age had hurled his pick, like he had hurled war clubs 
 when a young man. There was a thud, a choking sound, 
 a heavy fall, and the cruel guard had left his gold and 
 gone to his God. Then with a shriek and a whoop that 
 reverberated through the ragged hills and canons, the 
 gray haired slave bounded swift as a deer for the wild 
 country. A flash from the other guard's gun doubled 
 him up ; and instantly, his spirit went to aid his son and 
 his Jemez brothers.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IT was San Juan [St. John's] day, 1680. The bells 
 on the Spanish church at Santa Fe proclaimed the 
 day. The robed priests proceeded to the church. The 
 people gathered. Mass was said. Then the populace 
 arose from their kneeling positions on the adobe floor 
 and silently left the church, reverently making the cross 
 with the holy water as they left the thick-walled adobe 
 structure. 
 
 Just as they were leaving that edifice, there was a yell 
 ing and hallooing in the rear of the building; and soon 
 some men, dressed like Indian herders, came driving a 
 mock bull, a cow-hide including horns and head-skin 
 suspended over a plank and carried by two men beneath 
 it in imitation of a bull in life. The mock torrel com 
 bat was at hand. Bellowing, the animal charged upon 
 the multitude of curious spectators. It trampled them 
 under foot. The men hustled out of its way. The 
 women and children, laughing, screaming, some with de 
 light, some with fear, scampered up the ladders to the 
 housetops. The infuriated brute then charged upon its 
 keepers. They pretended to try to control it. They 
 hallooed and cracked whips and did many sorts of things 
 to make the biggest noise possible. But the shaggy ani 
 mal charged them, chased them from place to place till 
 they finally came to a mud hole. It had rained the night 
 before. Here the keepers made a final stand; but were 
 
 70
 
 DON DIEGO 71 
 
 overcome, hooked down into the muddy water and slimy 
 mud and were trampled under foot: this was a part of 
 the play. Then the released animal charged down the 
 street at a mad pace, followed by the be-muddied keep 
 ers, who looked more like some animal of the jungle 
 than human beings. Overtaking the bellowing beast, 
 they drove it into an adobe-walled enclosure. There the 
 matador was prepared for the combat. The people 
 gathered on the walls and housetops to see the fun. The 
 matador, carrying a red cloth, allowed the " torrel " to 
 chase him around the enclosure several times, managing 
 clumsily to fall and be run over by the bull. Then he 
 threw off his cloak, seized a dirk, and after making sev 
 eral false passes at the charging beast and again being 
 run down, he was hooked and tossed completely over the 
 animal's back, as a horrible bellowing issued from be 
 neath the dry hide. But the matador had not been in 
 jured and he was up and ready for the fray. Quickly, 
 then, he finished the work. A well aimed thrust in the 
 animal's flank disabled it, and it fell to the ground in a 
 heap. 
 
 At that instant as the " dying bull " was panting out 
 his life, there was a squawk, squawk from a rooster in 
 a near-by shed. It was the beginning of the prepara 
 tion for the " gallo " [rooster] race. The day was to 
 be a gala day, as San Juan day always is among the 
 Spaniards and Mexicans. " Squawk, squawk," screamed 
 another rooster, and another. It was San Juan day, and 
 every man whose name was Juan was to furnish a rooster. 
 Squawking, squawking, the fluttering fowls were 
 taken to the plaza; and one by one, as needed, were 
 buried in the sand all but the head and the sand pressed
 
 72 DON DIEGO 
 
 tightly around them. Then the men and boys, stripped 
 of all clothing except short pantaloons, rode at a gallop on 
 saddleless horses past the imprisoned chicken. As they 
 did so, each rider reached over and grabbed for its head. 
 Faster and faster they rode around and around the plaza 
 and tried their luck again. At last one of the number 
 luckily leaned far enough over and succeeded in getting 
 the rooster by the neck, but his hold slipped and he was 
 crowded on by the next rider. The third rider follow 
 ing this one succeeded in pulling the fluttering fowl from 
 its imprisonment. Then the race began in earnest. The 
 holder of the chicken, spurring his horse to the greatest 
 possible speed, rode through the town, closely pursued by 
 the other riders, whom he beat and pounded with the 
 squawking, fluttering chicken when they approached near 
 to him. Over hills and valleys, over rocks and gulches 
 alike, he was chased. At last a pursuer got hold of the 
 chicken also; he seized it by the leg. Then the two 
 rode side by side and pulled on the screaming, struggling 
 bird for a considerable distance. Then they turned their 
 horses in opposite directions and, spurring them forward, 
 pulled and pulled until they had torn the quivering body 
 to pieces. Then over the hill they chased each other 
 and pounded each other with the pieces till the bits were 
 too small to race for. Then another rooster was buried 
 in the plaza, and the same performance was acted out 
 over again. And so on, till the roosters in the city had 
 been mutilated in the sport, and all the men were bloodier 
 than a butcher in a slaughter house. But it was fun 
 for them. 
 
 The race being completed, the midday meal, a feast, 
 was served to all. The people gathered in their houses
 
 DON DIEGO 73 
 
 and seated themselves around baskets of " tortea," 
 " wyava " [corn-cake, paper-like bread], sour-dough loaf 
 bread, dishes of venison, fresh pork, and beef, and bowls 
 of wine. And a feast it was for the people of that race 
 and time. Of course, the governor and priests had bet 
 ter things; tables set in the shade of the trees in the 
 plaza, loaded down with choice eatables and wines; the 
 latter had been imported from far-away Spain. They 
 had knives and forks to eat with, also spoons. The 
 common people, on the other hand, had no such luxuries. 
 They dipped the pieces of meat out of the dishes with 
 their fingers and sopped their bread in the soup dishes; 
 and each group drank out of the same wine bowl. But 
 it was all the same to them. All ate and talked and en 
 joyed themselves. 
 
 After the meal, the men and women talked about the 
 unusual amount of rain and the much better crops that 
 would be raised that year, about the fun of the day, and! 
 the extra good behavior of the Indians of late. As they 
 were thus conversing, a priest came from one of the 
 adobe structures adjoining the plaza and entered a room 
 in the convent where a group of priests were sipping 
 wine at one of the tables. " Oh," said the senior priest, 
 looking up, " what was it ? That was the most unearthly 
 yell I ever heard. What was the matter and what were 
 you called for ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing. It was an almost blind Indian woman. 
 She was going to the governor's cellar to get a jug of 
 wine for his table, and not seeing the men racingj got 
 run over. They have buried her already. That's all." 
 
 " Oh, well," spoke up another priest, " it was only an 
 Indian dog, anyway, a convict, you say. I suppose you
 
 74 DON DIEGO 
 
 got her through all right ; or did she live long enough to 
 make a confession? I hope she did; she would not be 
 worth any more labor on our part." 
 
 " Well, I have done my part," replied the one ad 
 dressed. " But she being an Indian, declared she had 
 no sins to confess, that she had not sent for me, her mis 
 tress had, and she kindly thanked her for it, saying that 
 it was the only kind act ever shown her by the white peo 
 ple. She, however, had no confession to make, she 
 said." 
 
 " Oh," broke in all at the table at once ; " done no 
 wrong. She a convict." 
 
 " I explained to her the meaning of confession and 
 even went so far as to ask her about the wrong she had 
 done that brought her here. And I was surprised at 
 what she told me. Whether a lie or the truth, I could not 
 tell. It is a confession I shall long remember, if you 
 could call such a death statement a confession. She 
 declared her innocence to the last breath. She said she 
 had committed no sin against any god, either Indian 
 or white, and that she had wronged no one in her 
 life." 
 
 " That's queer," rejoined the senior priest. " What 
 reason did she give for being a convict. She certainly 
 must have done some wrong to be here as she was, and 
 that, too, as the slave of the governor himself." 
 
 " I asked her about that, and she again declared her 
 innocence. She said that long, long ago, the governor, 
 one of our former governors, visited Jemez, her home 
 village, and that her husband gave quarters to two of 
 his men in their house. She said that all had an enjoy 
 able time. It w r as a gala day to all. The priest came
 
 DON DIEGO 75 
 
 to their house and they had him christen their only child 
 Don Diego " 
 
 " Don Diego," spoke up one of the brothers present; 
 " that's the Jemez war-captain now. And this his 
 mother. But go on, brother. Excuse me for interrupt 
 ing you." 
 
 " Well, the woman continued : ' After the priest had 
 gone, the two Spaniards whom we had kindly given quar 
 ters came to the house and mistreated me. Then they 
 left. Soon after they had gone, my husband came and 
 found me broken-hearted. I told him all. At once, he 
 left the house, saying he was going to see the governor. 
 I never saw or heard of him again. A little while after 
 he left, the governor's guards entered my house; tied 
 and gagged me, and started that same night for this 
 place with me. I have been a slave ever since. I have 
 been cruelly treated always. See these marks on my 
 body where I have been whipped nearly to death time 
 and again. Why I was arrested, I do not know. I 
 was never given any chance to make any defense. I 
 was not allowed so much as to open my mouth. And I 
 have never been allowed to mention the subject to this 
 day. Then you will come and ask me to confess to your 
 God when I am dying. No, I do not wish to have any 
 thing to do with your unjust race and your gods. I 
 wish to thank my mistress again for her kindness to me 
 in sending for you; but her act covers a multitude of 
 sins. She sent me into the street to get me run over, 
 because I am old and am no longer profitable to keep. I 
 am worth more dead than alive. So, I die. No, I do 
 not need your help. I do not need your prayers. My 
 father and brother, Pest-ya-sode, has a place for me in
 
 76 DON DIEGO 
 
 " she-pa-pa." I am going to it and there I'll be a slave no 
 longer. 
 
 " ' Last night I dreamed I was there ; I was in the 
 abode of the good Indian dead. My husband was there 
 also. He told me of the horrible torture he had been 
 compelled to endure for many, many years in the mines 
 of the land toward the sun at noon. But he is free now, 
 as I will be soon. And our son. I saw him in my 
 dream. ' 
 
 " She ceased talking. I looked and she was dead. 
 Well, she's buried now and gone to her beloved Pest-ya- 
 sode." 
 
 " Well ! " said the senior priest. Then after remain 
 ing in a meditative mood for a time, he turned to his 
 brother priests and said : " It is time for us to prepare 
 for the next scene of the day." 
 
 Soon a procession was forming at the church. The 
 priests came out first, followed by men carrying candles. 
 These were followed by men carrying a huge wooden 
 cross, and following these were half -kneeling men and 
 women. The procession passed out of the church yard 
 and up a gentle slope to the top of a low hill, supposed 
 to represent Calvary. Here a hole was quickly dug and 
 the cross raised to an upright position. Then about it 
 all knelt devoutly and chanted the " Miserere " in a mel 
 ancholy wail. This weird performance was kept up for a 
 considerable time till the attention of all was attracted 
 by hollooing, screaming, crying in the distance. 
 
 Thither then everyone proceeded; that had been the 
 program. The performers in the distance were the 
 " penitenties." 
 
 For several days a group of men had been secluding
 
 DON DIEGO 77 
 
 themselves in a little stone chapel, erected for the pur 
 pose in the neighboring foothills to the city. Here they 
 had been mortifying their bodies and doing penance. 
 They were known as the " Los Hermanos Penitenties," 
 and were in charge of an officer known as the Hermano 
 Mayor. There was a procession of them. This was 
 headed by several pipers playing an unearthly wail. Fol 
 lowing these were several members of the fraternity, 
 each walking backwards and carrying a huge, hewn-out, 
 wooden cross that weighed more than two hundred 
 pounds, in representation of Christ's carrying the cross 
 to the crucifixion. Following these cross-bearers was a 
 long line of brother penitenties, who were naked, except 
 for short trousers. In addition, the faces of all were 
 concealed in black cloths and their heads crowned with 
 thorns, the crowns of the officers and cross-bearers were 
 more massive than those of their fellows. Flanking the 
 procession on either side, men, armed with whips of 
 thorny-bush and cacti, were whipping and pounding the 
 cross-bearers and processional brothers till the skin had 
 often been removed and the flesh was raw and bleeding. 
 In addition too, the processional group were pricking 
 themselves with cacti or any other horrible thing that 
 their imagination could devise to make the torture the 
 more terrible. Even their trousers were lined with cacti 
 and bound tightly to the skin. Moreover, other members 
 of the torturing flank-runners were placing cacti in front 
 of the procession that all might walk over the spiny mass 
 to make the suffering the more intense [even yet this per 
 formance is had in certain parts of New Mexico: many 
 men volunteer their flesh for the elevation [?] of their 
 people each year]. A cross-bearer fell under the heavy
 
 78 DON DIEGO 
 
 cross on account of the pain and the loss of blood ; but 
 was beaten with cacti till he resumed his task. On they 
 came, leaving blood on the cacti they were walking over 
 and on the ground. They entered one of the little nar 
 row streets between rows of low adobe houses, as the 
 populace on their knees lined the side of the street or 
 followed in a long column on either side of the peniten 
 tial procession. They passed into the street surrounding 
 the plaza and proceeded around the dwellings and shops 
 on its three sides and the low adobe building on the other 
 side, known as the governor's palace. Here two of the 
 cross-bearers became exhausted and fell beneath the 
 weighty crosses ; but again the cacti was applied unmerci 
 fully till they resumed their labors. Across the plaza 
 the procession then proceeded and up another narrow 
 street to the church entrance; thence to " Calvary." 
 
 Arriving at " the place of the skull," three of the 
 cross-bearers were sacrificed. They thought it an honor. 
 They were to impersonate Jesus and the two thieves. 
 They were placed upon the crosses they had respectfully 
 carried, backs to the standard, arms outstretched on the 
 cross-bar. Then with hammer and spikes each and every 
 one were nailed to the cross in the same manner as the 
 trio they were impersonating were nailed to their respec 
 tive crosses 1,680 years before. Not a sound was heard 
 from the martyrs. Long ropes were then fastened to 
 the head of each cross to steady it. Other brothers then 
 raised them to an elevated position, with the one imper 
 sonating Christ in the center, the others partly facing 
 him. The base of each standard was then caused to 
 slip into a deep hole prepared for its support, it slipping 
 down with a thud which caused excruciating pain; but
 
 DON DIEGO 79 
 
 it was silently endured. Then all the brotherhood gath 
 ered around in prayer, some lying on prickly cacti, some 
 pressing the crowns of thorns down on their heads till 
 the blood ran in streams. Others were beating them 
 selves and pricking themselves with the sword, dagger- 
 pointed, Spanish bayonet plant. For an hour or more 
 this horrible blood-curdling scene was allowed to con 
 tinue. The whole population witnessed it; and all knelt 
 and prayed with uplifted hands toward the sufferers. 
 But the inhuman performance went on till those on the 
 crosses lost consciousness and they were apparently ac 
 tually dead. 
 
 As they were thus about to expire, a few women 
 gathered around the central cross, wailing dismally and 
 imperso'nating Mary and Martha. This they continued 
 to do for a considerable time. Then the crosses were 
 lowered ; the bodies removed, and the " two thieves " 
 buried in the church graveyard without ceremony. The 
 body of the honored one was then wrapped in cloth and 
 borne to a cave in the foothills and there interred with 
 all the honors the church and Hermano order could be 
 stow upon him. The crowd then returned to the city 
 to prepare for the next and last scene of the day, feel 
 ing that they had done their duty and that they had been 
 forgiven their transgressions. A chosen few, however, 
 remained to apply restoratives and resurrect the victim. 
 After great effort on the part of the resuscitators, con 
 sciousness returned, and the man was taken to the vil 
 lage on a crude stretcher, as the resurrected Christ. The 
 next scene was then at hand. 
 
 As the Hermano Mayor and the members of his fra 
 ternity entered the city carrying the " resurrected " one
 
 8o DON DIEGO 
 
 [had it been beyond their power to resuscitate him, as 
 was sometimes the case, a substitute would have been 
 used], the Ma ta China dance was ushered in, beginning in 
 the open court at the church entrance, whither the popu 
 lace had assembled for the performance. Coming out of 
 the church, the dancers lined up in two rows, with the 
 chief of ceremonies at the front and between the rows. 
 All were masked. The chief of ceremonies wore a mask 
 resembling the head of a donkey. Each of the dancers 
 wore a cloth mask, and a circular, pointed cap, from 
 which there floated variously colored strips of cloth. 
 
 When all the dancers were in their proper places, the 
 processional group, bearing the resurrected one, passed 
 between the rows of dancers and into the church edifice, 
 where elaborate ceremonies were performed over him. 
 After the resurrection procession had passed into the 
 church building, the chief of ceremonies of the dancing 
 group began to writhe and wriggle his body in a labori 
 ous manner. This performance was to indicate that 
 with the resurrection of Christ a furious battle had been 
 waged against sin. As soon as the chief began to per 
 form, the gaudily attired dancers commenced to move 
 their limbs in a lively manner to the time of the music 
 played by the special musicians of the day. They 
 pranced about much in the same way that a baboon trips 
 about in a cage, except that each column of dancers kept 
 in some sort of a line; the space between the lines was 
 kept open for the master of ceremonies to perform in. 
 This spectacular and, at times, grotesque acting was kept 
 up till sunset. Then the simple-hearted people all set out 
 for their respective homes, feeling that they would begin 
 a new year with unsullied records.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 JUST as the dance was breaking up, a strange Indian 
 carrier handed the governor a letter. He tore it 
 open, glanced at it a moment, then thrust it into his 
 pocket. His wife asked him what was in the letter that 
 had caused him to turn pale, to cause such a change to 
 come over his visage. To her question he merely an 
 swered, " Oh, nothing, nothing at all. Too much feast 
 ing, possibly." 
 
 That night the moon rose over the city and the stars 
 shone brightly. The populace feasted till a late hour, 
 then retired; most of them on sheepskin mats in what 
 ever house they happened to be. But there was no sleep 
 for Governor Otermin and his official family. His place 
 was lighted and his office was filled with councilmen. 
 The contents of that letter were the subject of discus 
 sion. It said but little and gave no definite knowledge, 
 but enough to cause the gravest suspicions. It was dated, 
 Jemez Pueblo, just after midnight, morning of June 24, 
 1680, and signed by Juan de Jesus, Padre de Jemez. 
 After giving the customary salutation of the times and 
 ranks of the parties concerned, it read : 
 
 " I have the honor to report to your majesty that this 
 quietness of the Indians is forboding trouble. What, 
 of course, I do not know ; but trouble is brewing. I can 
 see it in the actions of many of the Indians, especially 
 
 81
 
 82 DON DIEGO 
 
 the ' principals.' Not only that, but last evening I had 
 a squaw at confession. She said that while I was away 
 about a month ago the Indians had one of their forbid 
 den heathenish dances and that six strangers attended 
 it, also that that night there was a solemn council held in 
 the south estufa. She further stated that at this coun 
 cil the visitors made many and strong speeches, the pur 
 pose of which she did not know: it was forbidden the 
 women being told what they did in the secret chamber. 
 She knew nothing further, except there was something 
 about a ' mystic cord,' and that when its last knot was un 
 tied something dreadful was going to happen. One of 
 these cords has been left at the village here and similar 
 cords had been left at each of the other Indian villages. 
 She knew nothing further, not even who the strangers 
 were. 
 
 " I believe that trouble is at hand and beg your 
 majesty to use every possible means at your command to 
 protect your subjects in the outlying districts. We are 
 wholly unprotected in these parts. 
 
 " I will advise you, if possible, of any suspicious move 
 ments that may occur. There is trouble coming, I know. 
 " Your majesty's humble servant, etc., 
 
 " Juan de Jesus, 
 "Padre de Jemez." 
 
 " Gentlemen, you have heard the letter read," com 
 mented the governor. " More than three years ago it 
 was made evident to this office through various channels 
 that trouble with these Indians was imminent. It was 
 for that purpose and not to fight the apostate Apaches, 
 as was given out to the public at the time, that Padre
 
 DON DIEGO 83 
 
 Francisco Ay eta, the custodian, went to Mexico in 1677 
 to obtain the help of fifty armed, trained soldiers and a 
 thousand horses and supplies to aid the people here and 
 prevent a general uprising of the pueblos. But the ex 
 pedition being estimated to cost 14,700 pesos, the King 
 of Spain delayed his approval of it till June, 1678, and 
 not until September last was the expedition ready to 
 start here from Mexico. Furthermore, the officers in 
 charge are in no hurry to get here. They will not be 
 here before December or January. And the delay may 
 be costly. Moreover, many of these Indians are shrewd 
 enough to realize that the armed force now on the way 
 are to suppress their heathenish customs and more firmly 
 tighten our hold upon them than to subdue the roving 
 Apaches. They, no doubt, are hurrying matters up. I 
 believe the Padre Juan de Jesus' suspicions are well- 
 founded. Similar reports have been sent by the priests 
 of other villages lately. Exactly what is best to do is 
 quite a question. Should we attempt to call in the 
 priests from the neighboring Indian villages and the 
 small farmers throughout the entire region, a massacre 
 would follow at once. It is not likely they would ever 
 be able to reach this place. Furthermore, it is a question 
 whether this place could be defended against the savage 
 hordes. In addition, if we were quite certain that it 
 could be, we have not soldiers enough to send any aid to 
 the outlying settlers. Any move may cause an uprising, 
 and we are not at all prepared for it. On the other 
 hand, if by any possible means whatever we can prevent 
 a clash till the recruits arrive, we must do it. We will 
 then be able to hold the whole pueblo country under sub 
 jection. We must keep it under subjection by craft:
 
 84 DON DIEGO 
 
 then we can hold it by force. We can then keep what 
 we have already obtained possession of that way, and 
 we can extend our boundaries later. When once under 
 our control completely, the Pueblos can be compelled to 
 fight the Apaches for us. The Indians know not their 
 strength ; they must not know it. We must remain firm, 
 give as little chance for offense as possible, and make no 
 move that will cause suspicion. At the same time we 
 must prepare for the inevitable should it come. 
 
 " By letters as fast as they can be sent by carriers and 
 not cause any distrust, I will advise the different padres 
 of possible trouble, and ask them to get as many of the 
 Indian women to confession as they can and find out 
 from them any information they may have about what 
 is being planned and about the six Indians who are said 
 to be going from village to village making strong 
 speeches to the ' principals/ also about that ' mystic 
 cord,' if it has any significance. 
 
 " In the letters to the different padres, I will advise 
 them and their immediate white neighbors where to flee 
 for refuge. Those from Cochiti south I will advise to 
 flee to Ysleta: those north of that village I will order 
 to flee behind the wall of this palace. 
 
 " I will tell the padres not to tell anyone of the sup 
 posed danger and these plans, unless absolutely neces 
 sary. And I hereby forbid any of you to mention the 
 subject outside of this room. In the meantime, we will 
 repair the walls of the city and put everything in as good 
 condition as can be done with the means at hand. Keep 
 your horses in trim and where you can get them at a mo 
 ment's notice. Also watch the Indians in your own 
 households and the Indians quartered here in the vicinity
 
 DON DIEGO 85 
 
 of the city. I will also send several messengers by dif 
 ferent routes to the recruiting army to hurry to our sup 
 port with the greatest possible speed. I hope that 
 the catastrophe can be averted; but feel that it is at 
 hand." 
 
 Several days passed, then the letters from the padres 
 began to be brought in. To Governor Otermin's sur 
 prise, all the first ones stated that the Indians were on 
 their best behavior and that there was no ground for the 
 current belief that they were preparing for an uprising. 
 Moreover, three of the padres went so far as to upbraid 
 the government for always suspicioning the natives. 
 After reading the letters, the governor began to feel that 
 possibly he had been mislead. A letter from the Pecos' 
 padre, however, indicated that there might possibly be 
 trouble in the near future. More Indians had been no 
 ticed going out to see the sun rise than usual; to see if 
 their saviour was coming on the wings of the morning 
 to claim his own. Four fires had also been seen burning 
 without the village at night. Two feathered, small trees 
 had been found set in the ground on opposite sides of 
 the village. One morning at dawn, the whole population, 
 gaudily dressed, marched in single file to the northeast 
 corner of the wall of the village. Reaching it, each one 
 tossed a single feather to float heavenward on the gen 
 tle breeze as a prayer to the gods. At several times, also, 
 Indians were seen to slink into a dark corner at night, 
 if the priest should be out walking in his yard or go into 
 the street. Then an owl was heard to hoot and to be 
 answered. That was all. Something extraordinary was 
 going on in secret. That was all the padre knew about 
 it.
 
 86 DON DIEGO 
 
 Several days again passed without any news from any 
 of the outlying districts. Then a letter came to the 
 governor's hand from the Jemez priest. The carrier 
 seemed exhausted, and when asked when he left Jemez 
 with the letter, replied : " At the going-to-bed-time, your 
 honor." 
 
 "And you here before I have had my breakfast; and 
 Jemez sixty miles away?" asked the governor. 
 
 " Your honor, the padre is very anxious that you 
 read that letter," replied the carrier. 
 
 The governor tore open the envelope and spread the 
 letter before him. His eyes unconsciously blurred. He 
 cleared them. Then glancing over the heading, which 
 was dated, " August 8th, bed time, Pueblo de Jemez, 
 Mission church of San Jose de los Jemez," he began to 
 read: 
 
 " I will never see you again. It is all over with us 
 all. I bid you all adieu. It is as I had suspicioned. 
 The uprising is planned. The I3th of this month we 
 are to be all massacred. I am sending you this note by 
 a friendly Indian, one that I have trusted these many 
 years. Being with me in my house, the Indians have 
 not confided to him. At least, I do not think so. At 
 any rate, this is my only possible chance to advise you 
 of the calamity at hand, hoping that it may yet be in 
 your power to warn the Spanish families on the small 
 farms in some of the out-districts before the clash comes. 
 
 " The carrier of this communication I am sending 
 over the mountains by the Mt. Pelado route, that he may 
 not pass any other Indian villages and this letter fall into 
 the Indians' hands, and the messenger likely be killed. 
 To cover his departure, I will send him to the river for
 
 DON DIEGO 87 
 
 a water jar of water. From there he will take the trail. 
 May God and our Holy Mary guard his footsteps. 
 
 " Two days ago I realized that I was a prisoner. In 
 the daytime men worked at various things in sight of my 
 house, not all working at one time, but first one and then 
 another. Some were hoeing corn; some picking fruit 
 from the near-by orchards ; and so on. I thought noth 
 ing of this, except that the Indians were seemingly more 
 industrious than usual. At night time, I also found 
 someone lurking in every dark corner, only to slip away 
 to some darker, shadier, more obscure place at my ap 
 proach, then to whistle like a night bird or hoot like an 
 owl, to be answered by some other bird or cat in some 
 other obscure place. I knew the meaning of all this at 
 once. I was being watched and was, in fact, a prisoner. 
 Yesterday I sent for the horses; but they could not be 
 found. I knew the meaning of this also: I was not to 
 leave this place. 
 
 " Yesterday I went to the village. There in one part 
 of the plaza I saw an old man, evidently a sun-priest, 
 throwing seven small sticks into a fire which he had 
 kindled. He did not see me. I approached close to him 
 unnoticed. He was talking to his gods. I understand 
 the language here. He was saying over and over again : 
 ' May the hated Spaniards be utterly consumed as these 
 sticks are.' Some one whistled, and the aged man ut 
 tered not another word. I walked on as though I had 
 not heard him. 
 
 " I came to the second plaza. There I saw an aged 
 woman pounding a cub bear to death. The Indians be 
 lieve the bear is the evil one. She was pounding it and 
 talking to her deities. She was saying in all earnestness :
 
 88 DON DIEGO 
 
 ' May our warriors beat the life out of the last pale-face 
 as I pound this cub bear to death.' A cat meowed some 
 where. The woman dropped the lifeless animal and 
 leisurely walked into her house. 
 
 " I beg your pardon for writing this in detail ; but I 
 cannot send it till evening, till everyone has retired for 
 the night. So am taking my time to tell you all that 
 has happened. But before I proceed further, I restate 
 that August 1 3th we all perish. We will all be butch 
 ered. I beg you after reading this long letter to send 
 messengers to all our people, if possible, and get them in 
 a safe place, also make all possible preparations for the 
 defense of your city. 
 
 " I tried to leave here to-day to carry this news to 
 you and was prevented from doing so by masked men 
 without the village ; I was going on foot. So will write 
 you everything as I know it, for this is the last communi 
 cation I will ever be permitted to send, if this one; the 
 last time the world will ever hear from me. But before 
 going further I beg you to send the messengers. 
 
 " As I was saying, I was walking about the village in 
 my official capacity. As I passed Tongay's house, I 
 heard two men quarreling. I saw the men. The one 
 was the war-captain of Jemez, Don Diego. The other 
 man was a stranger to me and not a native of Jemez; for 
 he could not talk the Jemez dialect. The men were using 
 the Spanish as a medium of communication. They did 
 not see me ; no one in that part of the village knew that 
 I was there. I learned from the conversation that the 
 stranger's name was Ojeda and that he was a Santa Anna 
 Indian, the war-captain of that village, I believe. The
 
 DON DIEGO 89 
 
 men were quarreling over Geetlu, Tongay's oldest daugh 
 ter. Don Diego was saying: 
 
 " ' Ojeda, you Santa Anna dog, you bring men here, 
 big chief men. You make big speeches to have us kill 
 all the white men. Then you come back here under first 
 one pretext and then another to try to get my fiance, my 
 Geetlu, to go to your village to be your wife. No, you 
 cannot do that thing. Go to your home at once or you 
 will die before the pale- faces you caused us to plan to 
 kill. Go' 
 
 " A rooster crowed. The men stepped into an ad 
 joining room and I heard nothing more, nothing only 
 a woman crying and saying : ' Don't kill him.' I saw 
 her. It was Geetlu. Almost instantly I heard a woman 
 in some other part of the house utter a hissing ' Sh'h ' ; 
 and the maiden likewise disappeared. 
 
 " Heavy of heart, I walked on to my house. I knew 
 then that our fate was sealed; but when was the dread 
 ful day to come. It was not far distant, I was sure. 
 Good fortune, in a sense, followed. 
 
 " I had been in my residence only a little while, when 
 Geetlu' s younger sister, a young woman about seventeen 
 years of age, opened my door and came into my room 
 without waiting to knock. She was perfectly composed 
 when she entered. No one would have thought her mes 
 sage by her appearance. Coming in she looked all about 
 to see if anyone else was in my apartments. Satisfying 
 herself that we were alone, she walked up to me and 
 placed her hand on my head. Then she began crying. 
 I said to her, as I stroked her long, jet-black hair: 
 ' What is it ? Tell your white friend, your white brother,
 
 90 DON DIEGO 
 
 what the trouble is.' She stepped a few paces from me 
 to the other side of the room. Then stood and looked 
 at me for a few minutes before saying a word. Then 
 in faltering tones : 
 
 " ' My good padre, five suns more and you are to be 
 whipped and goaded to death in the plaza and all the 
 white people in this whole country from the white-topped 
 mountains to the north to the boiling ocean toward the 
 noon-day sun are to be killed. O father, you have been 
 so good to us all. To-day Ojeda, the big war chief of 
 the Santa Anna Indians, came here to take my sister 
 with him to his own village to be his wife, though he 
 knew that it was understood long ago that she was to 
 be the wife of our war chief, Don Diego. This Ojeda 
 is the one who made the big speeches here once when 
 you were away. He was one of the men who got the 
 people to agree to kill all the white men. He persuaded 
 Don Diego to agree to do it against his will. Don Diego 
 is a good man at heart and I wanted him to marry my 
 sister and my sister wished to marry him. To-day, this 
 Ojeda, a cruel- faced man to my eyes, came here and per 
 suaded my parents through presents to let him have their 
 daughter. Then he proceeded to take her with him. 
 She objected to leaving our village and the one she 
 thought the most of. She refused to go and, through 
 me, sent for Don Diego. He came and compelled that 
 Santa Anna chief to leave the place without my sister. 
 They quarreled and started several times to use the ax on 
 each other; but the women and my father prevented 
 their fighting. At last, as my sister cried a great deal 
 and begged the men not to kill each other, at the same 
 time declaring that she would never be the wife of Ojeda,
 
 DON DIEGO 91 
 
 that Santa Anna war-captain left the village for his 
 home. 
 
 " ' Since that chief's departure, my sister has become 
 the wife of our war-captain. He placed the dress- 
 blanket over her nude form, as is our custom in marriage. 
 Then she baked him the ceremonial cakes and he ate 
 them, and she has combed and done up his hair. Now 
 they are husband and wife, and he has taken her to his 
 own house. 
 
 " ' While he was eating the cakes, they talked a great 
 deal. I was in the little dark room. I had crawled in 
 there when I thought the men were going to fight and I 
 was still in there. My sister asked what he and Ojeda 
 meant when they spoke about killing all the white people. 
 For a few minutes Don Diego looked puzzled. Then 
 he got up and looked all about the room, then into the 
 next room, then into the dark room where I was, then 
 out into the adjacent street to see if there was anybody 
 about. He did not see me, as I hid under a blanket in a 
 very dark corner. Supposing no one about, he com 
 menced to talk to my sister about the many, many things 
 which are about to happen. I heard your name men 
 tioned. I heard him say that all the white people were 
 to be killed in one day. I could not hear all that they 
 said distinctly in the corner where I was. So I crawled 
 very carefully to the open door of the room I was in and 
 slid myself along the wall till my ear was in front and 
 just beneath the opening. There I laid and listened. I 
 could then hear distinctly everything that was said. It 
 was something like this, as I remember it : 
 
 " ' " Yes, Geetlu, we are to kill all the white people. 
 Four days more and we will kill them all."
 
 92 DON DIEGO 
 
 " ' " And will you kill our good padre, Juan de Jesus," 
 broke in my sister. 
 
 " ' " Yes, Pope of Taos, Catite of Santo Domingo, 
 the one of Picuri, this Ojeda of Santa Anna, and the 
 other strangers who were here when we had that special 
 dance, say that we must kill all the white people. These 
 men are the leaders. We must obey them. All the 
 white people are bad, they say, and the priests are the 
 worst of all. Yes, we will kill him. He will never live 
 to leave this place. The gods have ordered it." 
 
 " ' At this juncture my sister sighed and remarked : 
 " Poor, poor padre Juan de Jesus. He has always been 
 good to everyone." 
 
 " ' Don Diego here said rather sharply to my sister : 
 " You are to keep secret what I tell you. You are not 
 to tell anyone; not anybody. If you do both you and I 
 will be put to death, and the cause for which we are all 
 going to fight will be lost. 
 
 " ' " As I was going to say," he continued, " they 
 came here and made big speeches that night in the estufa. 
 I was opposed to war to the last minute. When sud 
 denly my father and mother appeared before me in a 
 vision. You know they were both sold into captivity 
 when I was very small. My father appeared to me. His 
 hands were swollen from climbing ropes. Great cuts 
 showed over his body where he had been whipped nearly 
 to death time and again. Blood was besmearing his body 
 from a gun-shot wound in the back. I could see him 
 distinctly, and my poor bent-over mother. My father, 
 with uplifted, trembling hands, begged, commanded me 
 to fight the pale- faces. So I got up and struck my 
 hatchet into the big post in the center of the estufa. In-
 
 GOVERNOR'S Two DAUGHTERS, SAN ILDEFONSO, NEW MEXICO
 
 DON DIEGO 93 
 
 stantly I heard my father exclaim : ' Ye gods, it is 
 done ! ' I looked and the vision had vanished, and 
 around me were the Jemez principals voting for war as 
 I had done. By that vote, five days from to-day we 
 will fall upon all the white people as one man and kill; 
 not one is to be left alive. Here is the cord they left 
 for us to count the days on till the uprising. It is a 
 twisted, maguey-fiber rope. It had knots on it for each 
 day from the day of the meeting in the estufa to the 
 time of the killing of the white people. Each day a knot 
 is to be untied till all are untied. The day the last knot 
 is untied is to be the day of the outbreak." 
 
 " ' I lifted my head so that I could peer out through 
 the latch hole in the wall of the door casing. There I 
 saw Don Diego holding up a small rope for my sister 
 to count the knots yet remaining on it. Fearing they 
 would see or hear me, I again lay down close to the wall, 
 as quietly as possible. 
 
 " ' They talked only a little while longer; then left the 
 room to go to his father's house, as man and wife. After 
 they had gone, I came from my seclusion; and there in 
 the room where they had been sitting was that mystic 
 cord. They had forgotten to take it. Here it is. See 
 the many places where the knots have been untied. And 
 see there is just as many more knots on it as the fingers 
 and thumb on my one hand. The day this knot is left to 
 be untied is the day they are to kill you and all the white 
 people. Poor, poor, good white man, they will kill you, 
 too.' 
 
 " She walked over to me, crying again, and, putting 
 her hands on my head in a stroking manner, then on my 
 shoulders, she blew a gentle breath in blessing on me.
 
 94 DON DIEGO 
 
 Then she instantly departed before I had time to bless 
 her in the name of God and Santa Marie. 
 
 " I have nothing more to write, except that at some 
 time when our people again subdue this region, I beg 
 that my bones, if found, be interred in the Holy ceme 
 tery at Santa Fe with appropriate Christian burial cere 
 monies. 
 
 " There is nothing more. I will now prepare to meet 
 my God. May God and Holy Mary aid and bless you 
 all. 
 
 " I bid you all adieu for the last time. 
 " Your humble servant, 
 
 " Juan de Jesus, 
 " Padre de Jemez." 
 
 Hurried were the footsteps in the capital building. 
 Messengers were running to and fro. Others were writ 
 ing orders. Soon horsemen were thundering over the 
 hills to the distant villages and ranches. Before the sun 
 had left the western sky, there was great excitement in 
 all the settlements that could be reached. As darkness 
 closed over the land, all that could possibly do so were 
 fleeing to a place of safety, those south of San Felipe to 
 Ysleta, those north of that village to Santa Cruz or to 
 Santa Fe. The gates of the capital city were also closed ; 
 and sentries and bristling cannon, brought out for action, 
 told that the days of peace were over.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IT was the 9th of August, 1680. The sun was still 
 pouring his burning rays down into the upper Rio 
 Grande valley. A sand storm was raging on the bar 
 ren region beyond. A " thunder-gust " was winding its 
 way among the distant mountain tops. In the valley a 
 lone footman was wending his way toward Taos at a 
 coyote gallop. He had been running all day, as no one 
 but a Pueblo Indian can run. He neared the village. 
 He entered it and ran directly to the house of Pope, the 
 leader of the proposed uprising. He rushed into the 
 house and into its secret room, where he found that dis 
 tinguished Indian chipping flints for arrow points. 
 Breathlessly the runner paused a moment, as the other 
 Indian faced about and saw what ? 
 
 " My brother," exclaimed the new-comer, getting his 
 breath, " they know all. It's all over with us. They 
 know all," he repeated. " The pale-faces know all we 
 have planned to do ; they know that we have planned an 
 uprising. Some woman found it out and has told them. 
 Pale-face messengers are running their horses every 
 where. The white people are fleeing behind the walls of 
 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz. The " 
 
 But the chief waited to hear no more. Instantly he 
 was in the plaza and in another instant he was on the 
 estufa. The big drum sounded; and the plaza and 
 streets were alive with people. Before another hour, 
 
 95
 
 96 DON DIEGO 
 
 messengers were racing to the many pueblos. Time was 
 precious : they must strike the fatal blow while the snake 
 was yet uncoiled. 
 
 After the messengers had departed, Pope returned 
 from the plaza, entered the estufa, and quiet again set 
 tled down over the village. 
 
 The chief medicine man, the cacique of the place, had 
 preceded Pope in entering that house of the gods for 
 war preparations. As the latter climbed down the lad 
 der to the floor of the edifice, the medicine man ad 
 dressed him: 
 
 " War-captain, the great crisis is at hand. The an- 
 nihilators of the children of the sun, the desecrators of 
 altars and religious houses, the destroyers of the wor 
 ship of nature must be exterminated or expelled from 
 this land. I present you to the gods to lead the pueblo 
 nations to battle against these vile men." 
 
 Then as he prayed and sprinkled Pope with the sacred 
 corn pollen, the dust of the gods, he presented him be 
 fore each of the symbolic paintings on the walls of the 
 edifice in the order of their occurrence beginning with 
 the sun-god group and ending with that of the moon- 
 god group, paintings very similar to those on the god- 
 clown masks eight times enlarged. When the circle of 
 the wall was completed, he lead him to the black mats and 
 sand drawings near the center of the room, presenting 
 him before the step-like altars, stone gods and images 
 of Pest-ya-sode and his wife, at the head of each respec 
 tive mat as he continued his praying and sprinkling. 
 The medicine man next presented him before the altar 
 of the grove behind the fireplace in the center of the 
 room.
 
 DON DIEGO 97 
 
 Time and again had the war chief seen this altar, but 
 never had he been formerly introduced to it, never be 
 fore had it meant so much to him. He inspected each 
 thing carefully. A miniature grove of pine extended out 
 in horn-shape from the corner of the chimney on each 
 side of the altar, the two horns almost forming a half 
 
 A sand drawing used in the Masked Ghost Dance of March 17, 1900. 
 
 circle. The painting on the chimney wall, like those 
 on the masks, had central figures surrounded at the sides 
 by marginal black lines representing clouds. From these 
 projected inward, one above another, the Rain Snake, the 
 God of Bloom, the Red Snake, the Bolt Lightning. The 
 central figure in this case was the Rainbow in the West.
 
 98 DON DIEGO 
 
 It rested at each end upon four pillars of clouds. Above 
 each group of these sat a water jar from which the God 
 of Bloom extended skyward. From beneath each group, 
 drops of rain were represented as falling toward the 
 earth. From the rainbow-arch, three darts of protection 
 lifted their barbed points on high. Beneath the arch on 
 the center line were drawings of the sun, moon, and 
 great stars. The sun occupied the upper central posi 
 tion, the moon the lower. The morning star occupied a 
 position to the right of the major symbols within the 
 arch, the evening star a position to the left. The altar 
 was of stone and without ornamentation. On it, in the 
 center, sat an earthen bowl rilled with corn pollen. In 
 front of it was a sand-drawing on the floor of the room. 
 On this were placed bunches of downy eagle feathers, 
 which represented the prayers of the village before those 
 above. Among these, set bowls of corn pollen and meal, 
 the representatives of medicine and prayer. Among 
 these at the right of the altar stood an image of Pest-ya- 
 sode beside that of a crouching mountain lion. At the 
 left stood an image of Pest-ya-sode's wife, at the 
 side of which was that of a bear. The god had a rod of 
 authority in each hand; his wife a bunch of pine twigs. 
 All these Pope took in at a glance. Then kneeling be 
 fore the altar in the midst of the bunches of feathers 
 and bowls of sacred meal and corn pollen, he received 
 the further religious preparation for the great work be 
 fore him. The medicine man leaning over him sprin 
 kled him with the sacred dust, rubbed him with feathers, 
 and put sacred corn pollen in water and had him drink 
 it. Then as he lifted his hands in supplication, he 
 prayed :
 
 DON DIEGO 99 
 
 " O sun, O moon, O morning star, O evening star, 
 O rainbow in the East, O rainbow in the West, O bolt 
 lightning, O red snake, O flash lightning, O rain snake, 
 O all the gods of our fathers, take this man, our war- 
 captain, the war-captain of all the Pueblos, and give him 
 and his braves the strength and cunning of the lion! 
 Give them the courage and valor of the great Pest-ya- 
 sode! Direct them in battle! Reduce our enemies to 
 annihilation ! Perpetuate the religion established by 
 Pest-ya-sode, your son ! " He then blew in blessing on 
 Pope and said : " Call your braves ! Overcome the 
 enemy in the name of those above ! " 
 
 The big drum again sounded. " Waw, waw, waw," 
 shrieked an old woman, as she batted her mouth to make 
 the noise the more terrible. " Waw, waw," she con 
 tinued as she entered the plaza, carrying a cub bear in 
 one arm and a club under the other. " Waw, waw," she 
 howled till the savages filled the plaza about her. Then 
 taking the innocent animal by the neck and shaking it 
 she ceased her " wawing " and said : 
 
 " This is the representative of one of the enemies of 
 our race. Long, long ago our mother, the moon, went 
 down to the river in the early morning to get water to 
 use in cooking breakfast for our father, the sun. She 
 dipped the water jar into the flowing water and filled 
 it nearly full. Then to complete the filling, she took the 
 gourd cup, as we all do, and commenced dipping up cups 
 of water to put into the jar. Once as she leaned over 
 to fill the cup, a bear, which had approached her unno 
 ticed, seized her from behind and carried her to his great 
 cave in the mountains. In the entrance way he rolled a big 
 rock and there he kept her, bringing her food each day.
 
 ioo DON DIEGO 
 
 " After she had been there a great while, she gave 
 birth to a male child, the son of the god of day. This 
 child grew to his full maturity in this cave. He could 
 not get out, because, on leaving each morning to search 
 for food, the bear always rolled the rock into the en 
 trance, and, on his returning, he closed it behind him at 
 all times with the same rock. But after obtaining his 
 full powers, this offspring of the parents of all things 
 was able to roll the stone away and go where and when 
 ever he pleased. He always continued, however, to go 
 after the bear had departed in pursuit of game and to 
 return before that animal came back at the close of 
 day. 
 
 " At first, this son of the moon-mother thought that 
 he was the offspring of the bear, but, at length, his mother 
 told him who his true father was and related to him 
 how it happened that she was in that miserable condition. 
 From that time on the mother and son talked over plans 
 of escape. At last they made up their minds what to do, 
 and at the first opportunity they failed not to put their 
 plans into execution. 
 
 " As soon as the bear was out of sight and hearing 
 one morning, the son of our great mother rolled the 
 stone from the cave entrance, put his mother on his back, 
 and ran and ran all day toward the place where the sun 
 sets ; because he knew that at this place the sun touches 
 the earth on all sides of the great hole at his going down. 
 Towards night they could hear the growling bear com 
 ing in the distance. Harder and harder our first brother 
 ran with our mother. Nearer and nearer the bear came. 
 With open mouth he got so close to them that his breath 
 blew in our mother's face. With a horrifying growl the
 
 DON DIEGO 101 
 
 animal sprang to seize her. At the same moment our 
 brother, with one great leap, reached the palace of 
 the sun. The great gate closed and shut the bear 
 out. 
 
 " But the terrible beast charged upon the gate and 
 would have broken it in pieces had not our brother left 
 his mother and drove him from the palace front with his 
 mighty war-club. Bent upon having his wife, as the bear 
 styled our mother, he then attacked the palace in the 
 rear. On this side another of our brothers, a son of 
 those above, defended the edifice and drove the infuri 
 ated animal away. 
 
 " To reward these defenders of the sun's wife and of 
 his home, the Great Spirit made our first brother the 
 morning star, and the other brother the evening star. 
 They are in the sky. We have all seen them. The morn 
 ing star still guards the entrance to the sun in front, 
 the evening star the entrance in the rear. These two 
 brothers our father has made the emblems of truth, 
 bravery, and filial love. 
 
 " Ever since the rescue, the bear and his descendants 
 have been enemies of the moon, or mother-god and 
 her children, and ever since then it has been the woman's 
 privilege, the woman's duty to destroy the bear every 
 chance she can to avenge the wrong done the moon- 
 mother in the long ago. Our sons capture or kill them, 
 and we take revenge on the living animal or upon its 
 lifeless hide. 
 
 " The bear is the enemy of our race. In vengeance 
 for the loss of his wife in the long, long ages ago, he 
 has come upon us in the form of these pale-faces. O 
 sun, O moon, O morning star, O evening star, O flash
 
 102 DON DIEGO 
 
 lightning, O bolt lightning, O water snake, O all the 
 gods of our fathers, may all our enemies perish as this 
 bear, the representative of evil ! " 
 
 " Waw, waw," shrieked the aged squaw again. The 
 lookers-on struck up the bear chant. The drummers 
 beat the drum. The aged squaw danced the bear dance, 
 shaking first the club toward the god of day, then the 
 struggling little bear. The medicine men and sun- 
 priests sprinkled the dancer with sacred meal and prayed 
 to those above. The old woman dropped the bear to 
 the ground, and, as the helpless little thing howled and 
 cried most pitiably, she beat it to death. 
 
 Picking up the lifeless body, the old woman shook it, 
 saying: "So be it to all the pale- faces in our land." 
 Then dancing about the plaza as she shrieked and batted 
 her mouth, she entered her own house and laid the bear 
 with head to the fire a moment, then laid it in the rear 
 of the room with head still toward the fire. Here to 
 this house the populace followed. Hither the women 
 then rushed with baskets of eatables. Hither into this 
 house entered the populace. As each entered, he blew on 
 his right hand, patted the bear a moment with that hand, 
 passed on, squatted himself on the floor and partook 
 of the feast till he had satisfied his hunger. Then he 
 arose, lit the ceremonial cigarette and passed out again 
 into the public dancing area. Here seated in the center 
 of the area, the hero, the Indian who had touched the 
 bear first when it was captured, was telling everyone 
 his hunting adventures and the difficulties he had in cap 
 turing and caging the cub bear which his mother had 
 just killed, closing with: "May the gods do unto the 
 white people as we have done unto this bear."
 
 DON DIEGO 103 
 
 Hardly had the ceremony over the bear been completed 
 at the residence when a continuation of the bear cere 
 monies were begun in the plaza. Hither men, dressed 
 in breech cloths, their bodies painted in symbolic colors, 
 their heads decked with feathers, came and began to dance 
 in single file back and forth across the public dancing 
 area, as the chief penitents beat drums, sang the bear 
 song, gesticulated to bring out the meaning of the song. 
 Soon almost all of the male population of the village 
 joined the musicians, and, as all sang or shouted at the 
 top of their voices, the whole procession, dancers and 
 all, moved toward the general feast hall of the pueblo. 
 As they neared it, women rushed out of their houses 
 with baskets of eatables. These they threw skyward to 
 shower down upon the dancers and chanters, as a thank 
 offering to those above. 
 
 On entering the feast hall, the aged woman, with the 
 hide of the cub bear she had killed, headed the proces 
 sion, dancing, " wawing," and batting her mouth with 
 her hand. Thus performing, she encircled the middle 
 space of the room twice. She then proceeded to her 
 son, the hero, blew on him in blessing, gave him the 
 hide and immediately left the room. 
 
 As soon as the mother had departed, the chief med 
 icine men sprinkled the bearskin and its possessor with 
 sacred corn pollen as they prayed to the gods. One of 
 their number cut the left front leg from the hide and 
 placed it among his medicine curios. While the pop 
 ulace danced from left to right around him, he laid 
 the hide on the ground and stamped on it as he prayed 
 and sprinkled on it the sacred dust, saying in the con 
 cluding words of the prayer:
 
 104 DON DIEGO 
 
 " O gods, give us strength to destroy our enemies as 
 we have destroyed this bear." 
 
 " Finishing his earnest appeal, he gave the hide to Pope 
 and left the ring. 
 
 The scene at once changed. With one blow, Pope 
 severed the scalp from the hide and hoisted it on a pole. 
 Then around it the men danced the scalp dance, as they 
 chanted over and over again the words : " May the 
 scalps of our enemies hang as trophies in the houses of 
 our gods as this scalp of the hereditary enemy of our 
 race hangs in our feast house." 
 
 Boom sounded the estufa drum. At once the scene 
 again changed. Shrieks and war whoops sounded from 
 every part of the village and gave back their echoes from 
 the surrounding hills and mesas. The warriors stripped 
 themselves, smeared their bodies with grease, daubed 
 themselves with paint, bedecked themselves with feath 
 ers, took their shields, bows, quivers, and tomahawks, 
 marched to the sun house [kiva~\, passed before the rep 
 resentatives of the gods on the walls, before the black 
 mat and sand paintings in the center of the room and be 
 fore the altar and the grove behind the fireplace chim 
 ney. From there they made the circuit of the village, 
 passed into the secret chambers and dark rooms be 
 fore the drawings of the great serpent and the altars 
 and sand drawings of the Snake Society, of the Giant 
 Society, and of the Knife Society. Thence they re 
 turned to the plaza, danced the war dance, shrieked, 
 whooped till the morning star looked over the eastern 
 horizon. Then they set out on their mission of destruc 
 tion and butchery, as had the other Indian villages as 
 soon as Pope's messengers arrived.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PEACEFULLY the northern missions and neighbor 
 ing ranches were wrapped in sleep. Otermin's 
 messengers in that direction had all been killed and no 
 one had been warned. 
 
 Just as the first streak of faint light began to rise 
 above the mountains to the eastward of the Rio Grande 
 in that section, a little baby cried in one of the " ranch " 
 houses. The mother sang a sweet lullaby and soothed 
 the child to sleep, and was soon asleep herself, again, 
 never to awaken. A man heard one of his horses neigh 
 ing and whinnying and went out to see what was dis 
 turbing it : he never came back. A shepherd was awak 
 ened by his sheep being disturbed. Thinking that a wolf 
 or bear was attempting to secure a lamb for his break 
 fast, he werit to the corral and met the same fate as 
 his sheep. A Mexican woman arose early and started 
 to the river to get a water jar of water : her dismembered 
 body turned to dust under a juniper tree near the river's 
 brink. A devoted padre walked a short distance from 
 one of the missions to engage in secret communication 
 with his God: the Indian ax did its work. Yet, though 
 all these things had occurred, everything was still, save 
 the whistling of the customary, cool, morning breeze 
 from the mountain tops. ^ 
 
 Suddenly, throughout the whole section, the blood 
 curdling Indian warwhoop resounded on every side, even 
 
 105
 
 io6 DON DIEGO 
 
 from the housetops. Instantly the Taos, aided by the 
 Picuries and Tehuas, began the horrible massacre. They 
 dragged the people from their beds. They struck down 
 the father with their flint-studded war-club, while 
 he was trying to defend his family. The infant was 
 pounded into a shapeless mass in sight of the begging, 
 helpless mother ; or was cut to pieces in her arms. The 
 mother was tortured to death. There was no mercy in 
 the heart of the Indian. With him it was bottled up 
 revenge suddenly released. 
 
 Throughout that day and for days and days the 
 atrocities went on. As the uprising gained they became 
 the more diabolical. 
 
 The three priests and five Spanish attendants at Santo 
 Domingo were dragged by the hair of the head com 
 pletely around the church several times before they were 
 put to death. The priests at Perea [Jemez Hot Springs, 
 Church of San Juan de los Jemez] were paraded around 
 the entire village dressed in the attire which is worn at 
 mass. The circle of the village and plaza being made, 
 women came out of their houses and tormented them 
 while they were compelled to say the Rosary. Their 
 tongues were then cut out. Later they were stoned to 
 death. 
 
 At Jemez proper, Pope's messenger did not arrive till 
 the middle of the forenoon on the loth of August. The 
 village was perfectly quiet. Young women were grind 
 ing meal and singing happily the moments away. The 
 matrons were baking bread, paperleaf corn bread in 
 their baking rooms, and sour-dough bread in the ovens 
 in the plaza and on the house-roofs. The virgins were 
 in the cornfields gathering corn pollen in little flat bas-
 
 DON DIEGO 107 
 
 kets, made for the purpose, the pollen to be used by the 
 caciques in prayer. Old men were irrigating in their 
 fields. The boys were playing " kwits " in the plaza. 
 The medicine men and priests were in their secret apart 
 ments casting corn, sprinkling pollen and sacred meal 
 and praying to their deities for their aid in the impend 
 ing conflict. The braves were placing arrow points and 
 flints and mixing paints. The sky was clear over head. 
 The sun was scorching hot. The usual mid-forenoon 
 calm had set in. Not a leaf moved. Storm clouds, 
 however, stood up in irregular columns above Mt. Pe- 
 lado and adjacent peaks; while distant, reverberating 
 thunder and an occasional red streak down the black 
 bank against the violet blue, indicated that the afternoon 
 would be breezy in the valley. 
 
 Suddenly the scene changed as if in an earthquake. A 
 runner, nude with the exception of a breech cloth and 
 with body daubed in war paint, came from the north 
 east by the way of Vallecito creek. He entered the open 
 ing in the pifion shrubbery. Around the bend north 
 of the village. The watchman on the north estufa saw 
 him as he emerged from the bushy woods saw the war 
 paint. The drum proclaimed the news. In one minute, 
 knives, war-clubs, and Indian hatchets were being bran 
 dished in the plaza : the war dance was on. The braves 
 had already bedaubed themselves with war paint. They 
 shrieked, hallooed, danced till they were frenzied. Then 
 all rushed to the church, where the devouted padre was 
 in prayer, preparing for the inevitable, horrible death 
 which he knew was soon to come to him. With a shriek, 
 a howl, and the terrifying, horrifying war whoop, they 
 rushed into the sacred edifice, knocked down the lighted
 
 io8 DON DIEGO 
 
 candles, and broke the sacred image in pieces. They 
 then seized the praying father by the hair and dragged 
 him without the building, paraded him around that ed 
 ifice on the back of a hog, and finally beat him with 
 sticks. Tiring of this sort of amusement, they made 
 him get down on all fours. His cruel persecutors then 
 got on his back and lashed and spurred him till he fell 
 dead. Then having destroyed all in their village, they 
 set out to aid their Indian neighbors in further destruc 
 tion and murder. Only two people took no part in the 
 inhumane acts at Jemez, Geetlu and her sister. They sat 
 in their mother's house and cried. 
 
 Two days later Pope's messenger arrived at Acoma. 
 At once the merciless slaughter began. The priests of 
 the place were stripped, tied together by a hair rope, 
 driven through the streets at a run on all fours, then 
 killed with clubs and stones, and their bodies thrown into 
 a cave. 
 
 At Zuni and Moqui, daylight of the morning of the 
 1 3th of August dawned, the original day set for the up 
 rising. Pope's messengers had not reached the Indians ; 
 neither had Governor Otermin's brought orders to the 
 w r hite people. All was as originally planned. The set 
 tlements and missions were attacked at sunrise. The 
 priests at Zuiii were dragged from their sleeping rooms, 
 stoned, and then shot. At Moqui, after suffering many 
 indignities, the men of God and Mary were stoned to 
 death. Then their bodies were hurled from the walls of 
 the mesa to the plain below. 
 
 While these things were going on in the outlying set 
 tlements, Santa Fe, itself, was in the throes of a death 
 struggle. It was known the loth in that city that the
 
 DON DIEGO 109 
 
 uprising had begun. Towards evening it was also 
 known that Indians, warriors, were lurking about the 
 place in the bush woods and in the neighboring ravines 
 and behind rocks in the region immediately adjacent to 
 the walls of the city; but no attempt at an attack was 
 made. Every precaution possible was made for the pro 
 tection of the place. Should the savages capture the 
 place it was torture and death to all. Horses were kept 
 in readiness to take their riders to any part of the city 
 that might be attacked. The antiquated cannon and the 
 muskets were loaded, the powder placed in the pan, a small 
 fire was kindled for each group of defenders, though 
 obscured from view, and a fuse was at hand for the 
 deadly work when the moment arrived. But daylight 
 of the morning of the nth came. Yet no Indian had 
 attempted to scale the walls or shoot an arrow over it. 
 As the sun began his westward journey across the sky 
 visible to the Rio Grande country, the Pecos, five hun 
 dred strong, were seen approaching the city. They were 
 out in the open, dancing and brandishing war implements, 
 and the medicine men were continually sprinkling them 
 with sacred meal and corn pollen. At the front they car 
 ried two large crosses, one red, the other white. Reach 
 ing a safe distance from the city, they halted; several 
 of the leading Indians, carrying the two crosses, pro 
 ceeded to the city walls, while the remaining portion 
 continued their war dancing. Reaching the city gate, 
 the " envoys " told the Spaniards that the red cross was 
 war, the white one, peace. That they could have which 
 they chose, but if they chose the white one, they must 
 leave the country; the Indians assuring them that if they 
 departed from the region they would not be molested. In
 
 no DON DIEGO 
 
 a three minute conference, Governor Otermin chose the 
 red cross, and the battle was begun. Three hours later 
 the governor would have accepted the white cross, if he 
 had had the opportunity. 
 
 With the terrifying war whoop the Indians rushed upon 
 the walls. They scaled them. They killed the cannon 
 eers at their posts. They struck the gunsmen down 
 with their war-clubs. The Spaniards rallied. Back and 
 forth over the wall the battle raged. All day they fought. 
 " Per Dios, venga paca," and " Hang " resounded, as 
 the participants clashed with each other. As night be 
 gan to approach, it became evident that the pale- faces 
 were the victors. The armor, the horses, the walls, and 
 the cannon were too much for the naked savages. Be 
 fore darkness closed over the land they were utterly 
 routed: the cross had triumphed over the symbol of the 
 sun. But worse days were to follow. 
 
 The Pecos in full retreat were met by the Taos, Pic- 
 uries, and Tehuas, victorious and besmeared with the 
 blood of their many butcheries. A conference was 
 called. The Pecos insisted that it was useless to re 
 new the assault, as the terrible guns would kill them all. 
 Many speeches were made. A vote was called for, but 
 not a sound was uttered. Two-thirds of the attacking 
 party had been killed and many of the remaining braves 
 were more or less wounded. Was the cause for which 
 they were fighting lost? With fire flashing from his 
 eyes Pope arose, threw down his blanket, and at once 
 began to address the wavering throng: 
 
 " Vile men are these strangers. To-morrow they will 
 raze our villages to the ground, burn or torture our 
 medicine men to death, and kill us, our women and our
 
 DON DIEGO in 
 
 children, or make worse than slaves of us all. Will you 
 not in the name of our villages and of our race, will you 
 not in the name of the river which waters our land, will 
 you not in the name of the mountains and hills which 
 close in our horizon, will you not in the name of the gods 
 and the evil snakes, will you not in the name of the rain 
 bow in the east and the one in the west, will you not 
 in the name of the bolt and the flash lightnings, will you 
 not in the name of the sun- father and the moon-mother, 
 will you not in the names of all the gods of our fathers, 
 will you not strike the death blow while the snake is yet 
 uncoiled ? Will you- not kill the mountain lion while he 
 is off his guard? Will you not ? The ashes of your 
 fathers speak to you from the ground: will you not 
 march against these hated, cruel men? The spirits of 
 the dead exhort you! Will you not march with me to 
 victory while time and opportunity is given you? The 
 Great Pest-ya-sode and those above command you: will 
 you not do their bidding? Your brother shall obey 
 their orders. Shall he go alone ? Shall he alone of all this 
 host receive the blessings of the gods? Shall he alone 
 of all this host have the privilege of enjoying the pleas 
 ures of the happy hunting ground, the beautiful and 
 pleasant land, where there are no fogs and storms, where 
 the game is so plentiful that it is killed even in the streets 
 of the villages, where the people are always happy and 
 dancing, where the player is always the winner of the 
 game, where the women are always young and pretty, 
 and where there is plenty of whiskey [tiswin] to drink? 
 Shall your brother be the only one of all these warriors 
 present to enter the palace of the sun and sit in the pres 
 ence of the great Pest-ya-sode ? "
 
 iia DON DIEGO 
 
 " The gods forbid," shouted hundreds of voices. 
 
 Under cover of the darkness the Indians resumed the 
 assault. With renewed determination, they scaled the 
 walls. Again the naked savages fought hand to hand 
 with men clad in " stone clothes." Again the rude in 
 struments of the savage clashed with the two-edged 
 sword. Again the white man's powder drove the na 
 tives from the works. But reenforced, the Indians 
 charged again and again. Backward and forward the 
 tide of battle wavered, as one or the other side was vic 
 torious. For four days more they fought on, till so 
 many of the assailants were killed that those who con 
 tinued the attack walked over the walls of the city in 
 many places on the dead bodies of their fallen brothers. 
 Though defeated, the aborigines were unwilling to give 
 up. More and more recruits were coming in from the 
 remote villages to take the place of those who had met 
 death in battle. 
 
 Night of the fourth day came, and with it, a gloom 
 settled down both over the city and the Indian camps. 
 The white people were yet victorious ; but how long could 
 they hold out ? The Indians were certain of victory : the 
 gods had declared it. The pale-faces who could, went 
 to mass; the Indians went through various ceremonies 
 to cause the gods to aid them. Thus the night passed. 
 
 Daylight came, and the battle was renewed with 
 greater vigor and more determination on each side. The 
 Spaniards brought the reserve powder and balls into ac 
 tion. The Indians fought under a new leader, the Jemez 
 war-captain, Don Diego. He massed the entire Indian 
 army for one final charge on the place, with orders for 
 the braves to capture the cannon and to keep possession
 
 DON DIEGO 113 
 
 of the respective pieces till the city was entirely in their 
 hands or they were called to the home of the good dead. 
 Over the walls they charged. They silenced every can 
 non. They captured the suburbs of the city. They 
 stormed the church and convent, captured them, and 
 burned them to the ground, killing every inmate of each. 
 But their hand was stayed. While they were capturing 
 the church, the Spaniards had, also, been in vigorous 
 action. They had recaptured several of the cannon and 
 now turned them upon the exposed savages in the street. 
 These were mowed down by hundreds. Yet those who 
 survived flinched not. Notwithstanding every effort of 
 the Spaniards, they could not be driven beyond the walls. 
 Night only put an end to the horrible carnage. 
 
 For three days then each party rested, each holding the 
 ground it had possession of at the end of the six days' 
 continual assault. In this interval, Don Diego went to 
 Jemez for more braves. Also Governor Otermin made 
 an enumeration of the white people still left to defend 
 the banner of the cross. He found the population still 
 living to be about one thousand souls, those able to bear 
 arms numbering one hundred and fifty. 
 
 Daylight [August 2Oth] brought a complete change in 
 operations. After enumerating the people, it became evi 
 dent that the Indians must be driven from the city at all 
 hazards: it was also known in the city that Jemez re- 
 enforcements were likely enroute. If the place was cap 
 tured they would all meet death; and, if die they must, 
 they would sell their lives dearly. Bidding their wives 
 and children adieu and being blessed by the priests, they 
 moved into action at dawn. It was a hand to hand 
 struggle for hours. The suburbs were cleared. The
 
 ii4 DON DIEGO 
 
 captured cannons freed the last Indian put to the 
 sword within the walls. Then the big gate swung open ; 
 and mounted men sallied forth and dealt death on every 
 hand among the fleeing Indians. Three hundred braves 
 were run down and killed and forty-seven captured in 
 this sortie. Those captured were brought back to the 
 city and made to testify as to who had caused the trouble : 
 then they were all shot. 
 
 Again the people behind the walls were the victors. 
 But it had been costly. Not only that, but it was learned 
 from the captives whom they shot that more and more 
 Indians were coming to fight against the place : that the 
 Jemez war-captain had two thousand braves and that 
 they would be there in two suns. Fifteen hundred were 
 coming from Zia, and hundreds from the other villages. 
 When one attacking party of the Indians was annihilated, 
 there would be another ready to take its place. But 
 Otermin had no reserves. A man killed on the fight 
 ing line could not be replaced. Reinforcements likely 
 would not reach them before January or February. 
 They could not hold out that long; for to that time they 
 had been contending with only a fraction of the whole 
 Pueblo country. While the Indians were still unrecov- 
 ered from the defeat, the governor thought, though 
 hazardous as such an undertaking would be with the coun 
 try in possession of the savage hordes, best to flee. He 
 called a council of war; and it was the unanimous opin 
 ion of all to accept the governor's proposals. This was 
 midnight after the sortie. 
 
 The next morning [August 2ist] the Spaniards com 
 menced abandoning the place, all going, leaving every 
 thing to fall into the hands of the Indians. The mounted
 
 DON DIEGO 115 
 
 men passed out of the gates first, then the foot soldiers, 
 then the women and children. South they marched. 
 Several times they saw Indians in war paint; and once 
 they thought that an attack was imminent: they learned 
 afterwards that such- had been planned; but was pre 
 vented by Don Diego, who withdrew his braves saying 
 that it was useless to shed blood when nothing would be 
 gained by it. The strangers were leaving the country: 
 what more should the Indians want. 
 
 Unmolested, the refugees journeyed. On the way 
 they saw the mutilated bodies of the three padres at 
 Santo Domingo, also five dead Spaniards, also all the 
 ranchers on the small farms throughout the whole dis 
 trict. Reaching San Felipe and San Dia they found 
 that the settlers had timely abandoned them, and later 
 the places had been sacked and burned. On the 27th, 
 they reached Ysleta; and soon afterwards, they passed 
 on southward to El Paso, leaving the whole region ab 
 solutely in possession of the savages. But the worst to 
 the Indians was yet to come.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 INDEED, the Indians were now again the de facto 
 rulers of the country, and, with great ceremonies they 
 celebrated their return to power. 
 
 As the last pale- faces passed out of sight on their 
 southern journey from Sante Fe, the Indians rushed out 
 of their hiding places among the pirion and red cedar 
 shrubbery and behind rocks and in ravines and entered 
 the opening in front of the city. There they crow-hopped, 
 danced, tossed their war implements heavenward and 
 caught them again and again, sang songs, re-besmeared 
 themselves with paint, were sprinkled with the sacred 
 dusts and prayed over by the sun-priests and medicine 
 men. Then with a howl and a continuous, hideous 
 whoop, they broke into a run, facing the goal of their 
 labors. Rolling, tumbling, leaping, hallooing with wild 
 delight, they entered the open city gate, or scrambled 
 over the city walls. Once within the city, they danced, 
 crow-hopped around within the walls, up and down every 
 street, and from house to house, within the houses and 
 on the roofs, though they molested nothing. Then 
 around the burning convent and church they danced the 
 frenzied war dance till darkness closed over the land. 
 
 As the evening star began to leave his watch in the 
 western heavens, the medicine men and caciques lined the 
 braves up in two columns in the plaza in front of the 
 governor's abandoned residence and began to sprinkle 
 
 116
 
 DON DIEGO 117 
 
 them with the sacred dusts and to pray over them. This 
 was the first act of the scene of purification. For, after 
 having engaged in battle, a Pueblo must pass through 
 a period of purification from the time a certain star or 
 the sun is at a given. point in the heavens till it reaches 
 the same position again, or, in civilized terms, for a 
 period of twenty-four hours, before he can have com 
 munication with those who have not been thus engaged, 
 before he can visit his family or converse with them. 
 
 After being sprinkled and prayed over for a consider 
 able time, the warriors lined up in a long line and danced 
 in tip-toe around the plaza and then out to the nearest 
 stream with water sufficient for bathing purposes. Into 
 this they plunged one after another, crossed to the op 
 posite bank, breathed a minute, then dove into it and 
 recrossed it again. Emerging from the water on the 
 bank where they had first plunged into it, they were 
 again sprinkled with the sacred dust and prayed over 
 by the " men of the gods." They then returned to the 
 plaza, ate a meal of what they could find to prepare for 
 food in the city, then stretched themselves on the ground 
 under the trees in the plaza, and were soon dreaming 
 the night away. The medicine men and a chosen few of 
 the braves, however, did not retire, but continued the 
 exercises of purification. 
 
 As midnight approached, the chief medicine men en 
 tered the plaza and kindled small fires at several places. 
 Around each of these they set seven sticks in a line in 
 each of the cardinal directions. Over these they sprink 
 led sacred meal and prayed for a considerable time. 
 Then they took up the sticks, and, as they blew on them, 
 they put them in the fire one by one, saying : " We thank
 
 n8 DON DIEGO 
 
 you, our gods, that our enemies have been destroyed, as 
 these sticks are about to be consumed by these flames." 
 
 When the stick-burning was completed, seven medi 
 cine men went from the plaza toward each of the four 
 points of the compass. Each of these medicine men car 
 ried a young pine tree in his left hand and a bowl of 
 sacred meal in his right. Each pine tree, thus carried, 
 had seven feathers suspended from it to the breeze, each 
 tree and its feathers symbolizing the Pueblo tribes. 
 These trees their bearers planted at points quite distant 
 from the city. Then over them they scattered the sacred 
 dust, dedicating them to the moon-mother, who the 
 Indian believes especially protects his home, his village, 
 and aids him in his every undertaking. Completing the 
 consecration, the sprinklers of the sacred meal turned so 
 as to face the moon and said : " As the little pine be 
 comes a stately tree, O mother, may our race be a pow 
 erful race from now on throughout all days and all 
 nights." 
 
 Throughout the following hours of the night, men, 
 dressed in deer skin, embroidered in symbolic designs, 
 raced the plaza and streets at a coyote-gallop, shaking 
 shell bells and gourd rattles, and sprinkling the dust of 
 the gods toward the goddess of night. 
 
 At daylight every brave bathed, rinsed out his stomach 
 with warm water, and partook of the ceremonial 
 smoke. 
 
 As the sun again rose over the land, poles were cut and 
 placed in the ground in the plaza, with tops tied together 
 so as to make the skeletons of sweat-houses. Then over 
 these were placed a blanket and straw covering so as to 
 make them practically air-tight. Then as fast as the
 
 DON DIEGO 119 
 
 braves could be accommodated, all, three or four at a 
 time, went into the respective houses, had red hot rocks 
 placed in the center of each house, and then on these they 
 poured water to make them steam. They then sat in the 
 " boiling " room with every opening closed till they 
 could stand the strangling steam no longer. Then they 
 pushed aside the blanket door and plunged themselves 
 into a prepared tank of cold water, which had been made 
 " holy " to the Indian deities by being sprinkled with 
 the sacred meal and pollen and by having been prayed 
 over by the caciques. As each brave emerged from this 
 bath, he also was sprinkled with the sacred dust and 
 prayed over by the religious order. 
 
 The sweat bath purification being completed, a soap 
 suds bath was prepared for the same end, that of purifi 
 cation. A great quantity of the roots of the soap-weed 
 plant, a relative of the " Century Plant," were gathered 
 and pounded up with stone mallets on the doorstep of 
 the governor's abandoned quarters. These, thus 
 mashed, were placed in warm water and the whole made 
 into a suds. Each and every brave and medicine man 
 bathed himself in this " water of the gods." Then he 
 dried himself by a fire, spread out his long hair over his 
 arm to dry in the afternoon sun, and, when dry, he 
 combed it and did it up in a cue according to the Indian 
 custom. Then were all sprinkled with the sacred dusts 
 and prayed over again. 
 
 This last act completed the ceremonies of purification ; 
 and the women, old men, and children of the near-by 
 tribes who had gathered without the city were allowed to 
 enter it and feast their heroes; for they had brought 
 with them great quantities of every eatable known to the
 
 120 DON DIEGO 
 
 Pueblo race. And from that on, all took part in the 
 feasting and ceremonies. 
 
 Hardly had the sun hid his face below the horizon an 
 hour when another set of scenes were ushered in. Two 
 men, carrying parallelopiped-shaped drums made of 
 cornhusks, entered the plaza. Seating themselves on the 
 opposite sides on the public social ground of the late 
 Spaniards, now the public dancing area of the 
 aborigines, so as to face each other, they began to beat 
 their curious looking musical instruments with drum 
 sticks that resembled potato mashers, except that they 
 were much larger. Scarcely had they seated themselves, 
 when the medicine men and sun-priests gathered around 
 them and began to chant and gesticulate to the earth 
 and the four semi-cardinal points, the animals and the 
 other sacred things of earth, and, also, to those above. 
 This chanting was only just beginning, when men, 
 dressed in the skins of animals or of birds, all wearing 
 masks as near as possible in the natural shape of the 
 head of the animal or bird they represented, in imitation, 
 came cantering, galloping, crawling, or flying from an 
 improvised dressing room and commenced performing 
 according to their kind. 
 
 The buffalo pawed and bellowed. The rabbit and 
 deer leaped from place to place. The turtle proceeded 
 slowly to move about. The turkey gobbled and strut 
 ted. The coyote howled, the bear growled. Followed 
 by the musicians, these odd performers gradually moved 
 across the plaza till the whole public space was danced 
 over. The chief sun-priest sprinkled the participants 
 with sacred meal. The actors disappeared in the sur 
 rounding darkness. A new set then formed and the
 
 DON DIEGO 121 
 
 extravagant actions and strange ejaculations were gone 
 over again. This performing was continued till the 
 morning star began to look down into the Rio Grande 
 valley on his western journey. The medicine men then 
 sprinkled all with sacred meal, while the chief sun-priest 
 prayed : 
 
 "O bear, O wolf, O coyote, O buffalo, O deer, O moun 
 tain lion, O wild cat, O rabbit, O turkey, O eagle, we 
 thank you for having been on our side in this conflict 
 with the white men ! We invoke you to continue to aid 
 us in any time of need, to fight for us ! We in deed and 
 in truth thank you for your having aided us ! " 
 
 Daylight found the preparations for another series of 
 ceremonies in progress. At sun up, the "Ahoo, ahoo, 
 ahoo," of the sun-clowns proclaimed the masked ghost- 
 dance. For four days and four nights the masked plaza 
 dancers tripped or stamped and the clowns cut capers, 
 made grimaces, jested, and mimicked. For four days 
 and four nights, the medicine men prayed, drummed, 
 chanted, and sprinkled the dust of the sacred corn to 
 ward the abode of those above. At sunrise the fifth 
 morning the praying of all the medicine men closed the 
 dance. 
 
 From early morning till darkness closed over the land 
 again, all feasted, rested, and had a much needed sleep. 
 Then the preparations for another dance was begun, 
 preparations for a dance modeled after the corn dance 
 of the Pueblo tribes. It, too, was a thank offering to 
 the gods for their having aided the Indians in expelling 
 the pale- faces from the country and restoring the former 
 to their rightful possessions. 
 
 At dusk, every man, woman, and child that could walk
 
 122 DON DIEGO 
 
 prepared prayer sticks, feathered them and then set out 
 in a long drawn-out procession in Indian file to the west 
 wall of the city, on which they climbed. Here they 
 tossed the prayer sticks out from the wall without the 
 city toward the silvery moon. After the sticks they cast 
 the dusts of the gods, as a thank offering to those above. 
 Then they marched back to the plaza in the same man 
 ner as they had come. 
 
 Arriving at the plaza, some of the men commenced 
 digging holes near the fountain with sharpened sticks, 
 pieces of pottery, and obsidian knives; some cut down 
 pine trees in the region adjacent to the city and dragged 
 the same to the plaza; others, under the direct guidance 
 of the medicine men, began to peel a long pole and painted 
 it like a barber pole, except that it was many times 
 higher. When painted they put a cross on it, not a Chris 
 tian cross but a cross somewhat resembling our printed 
 capital Z. Beneath this they also placed a carved-wood 
 " swastica," the symbol of the four winds and the good 
 that these winds bring. Over both the " swastica " and 
 the cross they then suspended large wreaths of corn 
 leaves interwoven with pinon twigs. Meanwhile, the 
 men in the plaza set the trees in the ground so as to 
 make a crescent-shaped grove, with open space to the 
 north. On the trees thus placed, were profusely hung 
 strips of cloth of various colors, eagle feathers, snake 
 skins, stuffed birds, claws of the bear and mountain 
 lion, coyote hides, buffalo horns, deer antlers, packages 
 of eagle down, and medicine bags filled with pollen and 
 sacred meal all thank offerings to those above. This 
 completed the night scenes. 
 
 At sunrise the populace gathered around the painted
 
 DON DIEGO 123 
 
 pole, and with a great shout raised it to a vertical posi 
 tion. Then before it, that is, between it and the plaza, 
 the dancers, two men alternating with three women, 
 lined up abreast facing the prepared grove. The women 
 were dressed in black " manta," richly embroidered in 
 shining stones and shells. The men wore coats of buck 
 skin and leggings and moccasins of the same material, 
 beautifully fringed and embroidered in porcupine quills 
 and snail shells. They also wore an outer mantle of 
 buffalo hide. The women were bare-headed; the head 
 dresses of the men were deer skins and the feathers of 
 the war eagle. To finish off the singularly rich and elab 
 orate head-dresses, there was added a pair of buffalo 
 horns of full size and weight and arranged as they grew 
 upon the animal. And to give the whole dancing suit a 
 more striking appearance, each dancer had suspended 
 at his back from the crown of his head to his ankles a 
 line of war eagle feathers so arranged on a buckskin 
 cord that they were kept in a horizontal position. 
 
 The drum sounded. The dancers danced slowly 
 abreast to the public square. Behind them the pole was 
 laboriously carried to the now general dancing plot. 
 There it was set in the ground just west of the artificial 
 grove. The dancers then retired to the improvised 
 dressing-room, as the medicine men prayed and sprink 
 led the sacred pollen to the breeze. 
 
 Soon the five dancers re-appeared and formed a col r 
 umn abreast inside the crescent arch with their faces 
 turned toward the north. The musicians came next: 
 two chanters, two drummers, and two flute players, the 
 flutes being rude pipe instruments made from the elder 
 tree. Following these came the assembled squaws.
 
 i2 4 DON DIEGO 
 
 They were gaudily painted and dressed. Sparkling ear 
 pendants dangled from their ears, and ring upon ring 
 of shell beads encircled their necks and reached almost 
 to their waists in front. These squaws formed in line 
 to dance in a great circle, having the striped pole, the 
 grove, and the musicians as its center. In dancing they 
 tripped sidewise to the right, moving about four inches 
 at a step; while, as a counter movement, they moved 
 their hands, first to the left and then to the right, to the 
 time of the music. In these waving hands they gripped 
 ears of corn, pinon, and red cedar twigs. The moving 
 around the entire circle by each participant completed a 
 dancing set. 
 
 The women of the five-special-dancing-set danced 
 lightly five steps in succession as they alternately waved 
 the ears of corn and twigs in their hands. The men 
 of this group vigorously stamped and shook the gourd 
 rattles in their left hands and waved the bunches of 
 pinon twigs in their right hands. Then all wheeled 
 about so as to face the West. Five more steps were 
 stepped briskly. A whirl to the South was then made. 
 This time the dancers raised their hands alternately 
 above their heads in a vigorous thrust as they danced. 
 Wheeling so as to face the East, both hands were el 
 evated above the head, and five steps were emphatically 
 stamped by both men and women. Turning on their 
 heels so as to face the North, they began to dance as at 
 first. Thus they continued to perform throughout the 
 whole set and from set to set till the ceremonies were 
 brought to their consummation. 
 
 While the dance was thus progressing, the medicine 
 fraternity ceased not to sprinkle all those who were tak-
 
 DON DIEGO 125 
 
 ing part in it with the corn pollen medicine and to pray 
 to the gods. 
 
 At the close of the set the actors retired to the dress 
 ing-room, and another set of performers, after they had 
 been sprinkled by the sacred dusts in the presence of 
 the sun in the vault above, came from the dressing-room, 
 similarly costumed, to take their places. 
 
 Just as the first set was breaking up, the " funny men " 
 came tumbling, rolling, jumping, leaping, hallooing, 
 shrieking, whooping into the plaza. One of them was 
 attired in a Mexican woman's dress. Another had on a 
 silk hat which the Spanish governor, in his haste, had 
 neglected to take with him. Another had on a pair of 
 Spanish silk pantaloons. Several more were lapping 
 plates and bowls from the abandoned executive mansion, 
 as though they were the pet cats of the mansion. An 
 other clown came running with the governor's official 
 writing desk, another with the official chair. Reaching 
 the grove, the desk was placed near and to the eastward 
 of it; the chair in front of it. Then both the desk- 
 carrier and the bearer of the chair seated themselves on 
 the same chair and began to make crow-tracks in red 
 ink on a sheet of paper which they had found in the resi 
 dence, both giving orders to supposed servants and pages 
 in a pompous manner at the same time : 
 
 " Get me a glass of wine. This quill is broken ; go 
 and chase the old gander and get me another feather. 
 Go to the spring and get another water-jar of water, 
 so I can have a drink: this jar of water has been here 
 three minutes. Report your troubles to the king: I 
 am busy. Build me a fire, you dog. Go to the hills and 
 get some wood, you coyote. Here [tearing off a frag-
 
 126 DON DIEGO 
 
 ment of paper], here, take this to the Jemez padre, you 
 lazy-bones, and don't let the sand rest under your feet. 
 Here's a drink to good old Spain." 
 
 Just then a woman was heard screaming. It was a 
 whipping scene. About the same instant, a long drawn- 
 out procession of the same " funny men " entered the 
 plaza. At the head of the procession were men carrying 
 the bodies of the few Spaniards whom they had found 
 unburied in the city. Back of these came men flourish 
 ing the scalps of the dead foes, as they wavered, stag 
 gered, stumbled, hiccoughed like drunken men. Behind 
 these came other clown-actors on horses and mules. Be 
 hind these were men driving a few hogs. And still be 
 hind these were others carrying every sort of house 
 hold furniture that could be found in the city: Here 
 was one " funny man " with a costly vase for a hat. 
 Another was brandishing pewter spoons, knives, and 
 forks, and pretending to be eating with them at the 
 same time. Another was doing the juggler act pre 
 tending to swallow the knives and forks he had taken 
 from the governor's residence. Another had the gov 
 ernor's boots on and was stepping high. Another was 
 branishing the governor's cane and waving that august 
 person's official seal. Another came running, holding 
 a ham in both hands before him as he bit great chunks 
 off of it with his shining white teeth. At the same time, 
 another group of the fraternity was acting out a farce 
 to represent the immorality of the Spanish-Americans. 
 
 Suddenly the attention of all was attracted to an 
 other group of clown-actors, a procession, headed by an 
 Indian dressed in the full regalia of a priest serving 
 mass. Immediately following the priestly attired In-
 
 DON DIEGO 127 
 
 dian, were four Indians carrying the church image that 
 had been saved from being destroyed when the church 
 was burned and was later found by the aborigines in 
 one of the abandoned houses. Following these were 
 quite a procession of the " funny fraternity," all chant 
 ing in mimicry of the church music used at mass and on 
 processional feast days. As they advanced, some of the 
 fraternity rushed about among the lookers-on, seized 
 their robes and buffalo skins and laid them down for the 
 " people of God " to walk over. Another group rever 
 ently got down on their knees and went to counting the 
 shell beads and pebbles that were suspended from their 
 necks. Two men rang sheep bells around the mock 
 priest; and close behind him, several Indians also car 
 ried small vases filled with burning tobacco. Two 
 " funny men," dressed in Mexican women's clothes went 
 to a mimic confession to the " priest." Another mock 
 Spanish woman of rank seized a prayer book out 
 of the governor's mansion and, running to the plaza, 
 squatted herself on the ground in front of the procession 
 and began to read in mimicry, with book inverted. The 
 mock priest seized a small child by the heels and, hold 
 ing it clear of the ground, went through the act of 
 christening it. At this instant two men came running 
 from opposite directions. The one had a chunk of rot 
 ten wood in his hands; the other had a piece of wood 
 that was completely honey-combed with worm holes. 
 " See here," they both shouted at once, " these are more 
 powerful than God and Jesus and Santa Maria. God 
 and Jesus and Santa Maria are dead and the Span 
 iards" 
 
 The drum sounded. The Spanish accouterments were
 
 i 2 8 DON DIEGO 
 
 piled within the circle without the grove. The bodies 
 of the fallen foes were placed under the artificial trees, 
 and the scalps of the many victims were hung on the 
 limbs of the trees with the other offerings to those above. 
 The church image was then crushed to powder and sprin 
 kled over all and the residue scattered to the four winds. 
 The clowns then retired and the next dancing set was 
 formed. 
 
 Thus throughout the whole day dancing scenes alter 
 nated with clown performances till evening claimed the 
 land. Then all lined in double column with columns fac 
 ing each other. Between the lines four medicine men 
 marched backward and forward and sprinkled all with 
 the sacred meal and pollen medicine. At the same time 
 Pope walked backward and forward between the lines and 
 addressed them, telling them what had been accom 
 plished, eulogizing their gods, decrying the Christian God, 
 and explaining his plans for the future government of 
 the Pueblos: 
 
 " Jesus the Son, God the Father, and Mary the 
 Mother, of the Spaniards are dead and only the gods of 
 the Indians live. The Spanish gods were made of rot 
 ten wood and of wormwood and were powerless. The 
 Indian gods, the evil one, so the Spaniards declare, had 
 power and is still powerful. The followers of the hated 
 God are driven from our land and we are the rulers. 
 Through our deities we are supreme. Our gods are the 
 rulers of heaven and earth. No one ever saw the God 
 of the pale- faces : we see our gods every day. The sun- 
 father and the moon-mother visit our country every pe 
 riod of one day and night and every twenty-seven days 
 the moon-mother goes to the end of the earth to com-
 
 DON DIEGO 129 
 
 mune with her husband [at new moon] about what is 
 best for us, their children. Our gods rule all things. 
 We their offspring, through them, are rulers of this land. 
 As we fought the armored foe and sprinkled meal and 
 pollen and prayed, our elder and warrior and " know 
 ing " brother, Pest-ya-sode, came on the dawning light, 
 on the red-tipped wings of the morning in the flaming 
 car of his father, the sun. He came to aid us. From 
 yonder mountain tops, he looked down into this valley. 
 Our medicine men saw him coming to help us. He 
 spoke to me in a strong voice that filled the great abyss 
 and echoed and reechoed against its outermost walls. 
 The enemy saw his piercing eye. They could not stand 
 before it. They were discomforted. They fled from 
 his presence in haste. The land is now ours, the owners 
 and rightful heirs. Henceforth the will of the gods be 
 done. 
 
 " Now we are rid of this detestable race, and if nec 
 essary, we will build walls up to the skies to keep them 
 out of this country. Now we must rid our fatherland 
 of their loathsome things and the last vestige of their 
 abominable religion. From now on only native crops 
 are to be raised. The Spanish language is hereby or 
 dered to be abolished. All accouterments of the white 
 people whatsoever that may be found in your houses 
 or villages or in any of the captured places must be de 
 stroyed at once. The gods do not look well upon such 
 things. The estufas [kivas] must be reopened immedi 
 ately. The old regime must be reestablished in its en 
 tirety. All baptismal names are to be dropped. Every 
 one is to leave his life partner given him in marriage 
 through a Christian priest, and marry whom he chooses
 
 130 DON DIEGO 
 
 and as many as he chooses. To propitiate the deities, 
 offerings of meal, flour, feathers, the seed of the maguey 
 plant, corn, corn pollen, and tobacco are to be placed 
 on the summit of every hill and at all places where 
 there is petrified wood enough to make an altar. Our 
 visible church is the four semi-cardinal points, the 
 mother-earth, and the eyes and faces in the vault above. 
 To cleanse yourselves of the curse of Christian baptism, 
 you are to bathe yourselves in a neighboring stream, 
 either here or at the place where you live. Then you 
 must be rebaptized into the old Indian customs in a 
 soap-weed suds. These things must be done at once. 
 
 " I also propose that the Pueblos form a centralized 
 government, for the purpose of being prepared to make 
 a stand against our savage and Christian enemies. This 
 uprising has demonstrated that in union there is strength, 
 and we should profit by it. I place the question before 
 you now: Shall we have a centralized government? 
 Shall we have one general head to govern us all, and who 
 shall be the first governor?" 
 
 He had hardly stated the question, when all present, 
 in a clamorous tone, proclaimed him [Pope] the ruler 
 of all the Pueblo tribes. 
 
 Pope then thanked them all for their having chosen 
 him, and requested that all things that he had mentioned 
 be done as he had instructed. He then lifted his hands 
 in blessing over his visible hearers, then toward the de 
 clining sun, as he was sprinkled with the sacred dusts 
 and prayed over by all the members of the medicine 
 and religious fraternities present. He was then pre 
 sented a golden-headed cane, as a rod of authority. 
 Thus were the ceremonies of the day brought to their
 
 DON DIEGO 131 
 
 consummation; and the iron-bands of a new kingdom 
 welded that in years to come brought misery, sorrow, 
 civil wars, and death to the very ones it was formed to 
 protect. 
 
 Darkness closed over the land again. The drum 
 sounded. The instructions of the new ruler were at 
 once begun to be carried out. Painted, shrieking, shout 
 ing, whooping, the braves lined up in two columns, fac 
 ing each other. Then between the lines two white cap 
 tives were compelled to run the gauntlet, goaded on by 
 being prodded with knives, spears, and by being whipped 
 and clubbed. As they thus ran, arrows were shot 
 through and through the fleshy parts of their bodies. 
 Their ears were shot off. Their noses were shot away. 
 Their flesh was chipped off of them with knives and 
 tomahawks as they ran. Both tried time and again to 
 escape but could not get through the solid lines. On 
 they were goaded, till, on account of the loss of blood, 
 they fell. Then they were taken to the grove and tied, 
 each to a substantial artificial tree. Then added to this 
 group, a woman with a babe in her arms was tied to an 
 intermediate tree so that the woman had a man on 
 the right of her and one on the left. All were firmly 
 tied. Then around them were piled all of the things 
 that the " funny men " of the daytime ceremonies had 
 carried to the plaza. Also the hogs and the horses that 
 had been paraded with were killed and piled on the fu 
 nereal pyre. The heads and upper parts of the white 
 victims were left exposed, that is, the rubbish was piled 
 only to their waists. 
 
 When all was in readiness, " the things of the people 
 of God and Mary " were ignited. Then as the fire
 
 i 3 2 DON DIEGO 
 
 slowly burned to the martyrs, " the mother, the son, and 
 the two thieves," the archers used them as practice tar 
 gets. An arrow grazed one of the men's chin. Another 
 cut the hair off of the other man's scalp at his crown. 
 The woman's right arm was pinned to the tree with a 
 barbed point. The babe had a foot shot away, then a 
 hand. The mother was heard crying. The strangling 
 smoke caused one of the much suffering men to expire. 
 An arrow cut the jugular vein of the other, and he soon 
 scorched and bled to death. An arrow cut off the 
 woman's thumb. Another cut through both of the 
 child's legs and the woman's side and stuck into the 
 tree. The fire was now burning the woman's feet and 
 singing her hair and eyebrows. An arrow cut through 
 her left wrist; another passed through her left side. 
 She was heard to scream. She was enveloped in smoke 
 and obscured from view for a moment. She became 
 visible again. An arrow passed through both her heart 
 and the child's heart, and both went to the land of the 
 blessed dead. [Don Diego had sent the arrow to put 
 them out of their misery and to save them from further 
 torture!] 
 
 The victims being dead, the circular ghost dance was 
 inaugurated. Forming a great circle with the burning 
 heap as the center the dance began with the movement 
 around the circle to the right, all facing the direction of 
 movement. Thus all danced the frenzied ghost dance, 
 self -hypnotized themselves, trembled, body-quivered, 
 briskly stepped high and hard, shrieked, whooped, till 
 the surrounding hills gave back the fearful sounds. 
 Thus they continued to dance till daylight claimed the 
 land again. All plunged into the nearest stream and
 
 DON DIEGO 133 
 
 bathed themselves. All then washed in the soap-weed 
 suds preparation. Thus again were they " full fledged " 
 children of the moon-mother and the sun- father and 
 brothers of the great Pest-ya-sode.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE Pueblo kingdom being established, Pope, the 
 ruler, went from village to village, scattering corn 
 meal and corn pollen upon the people, as emblems of 
 happiness and tokens of his blessing. He proceeded, at 
 each place he visited, to destroy the Christian relics. 
 This was attended by noisy demonstrations, processions, 
 dances, offerings to Indian deities, and every conceiv 
 able profanation of all that the missionaries had con 
 sidered sacred. But even from an Indian point of view, 
 his rule, from the start, had gall mixed with the sweets. 
 Often those who refused to obey him in the least things 
 were put to death. Moreover, wherever he went, the 
 most beautiful women were taken for himself and cap 
 tains; forced to be their wives whether they were mar 
 ried to other men or not. At later times worse things 
 happened. 
 
 While on this tour, Pope visited the pueblo of Zia. 
 The Zias at that time were a populous tribe. They had 
 what might be termed a continuous village, with the 
 Jemez river running through the middle of it. The 
 part on the southwest bank of the stream was bounded 
 on the North by Salt River, a confluence of the former 
 river, entering it from the west. The ruins of the vil 
 lage on the left or north bank have been entirely removed 
 by erosion. The part of the right bank is covered with 
 shifting sand : only the part of a fireplace and the founda- 
 
 134
 
 DON DIEGO 135 
 
 tion of the wall of a house now and then jotting above 
 the sand is left of that once one of the largest of the 
 Pueblo villages. The Zias also had other villages here and 
 there, at the " big bend " and in the vicinity of the con 
 fluence of the two streams both below and above the 
 main village; but this central village was the largest 
 of them all and was the seat of government for the 
 tribe. On the whole, it occupied a very picturesque lo 
 cation. To the westward for many miles stretched the 
 alkali-salt-frosted flood plain of Salt river, with its nu 
 merous magnesium, iron, and soda springs gushing and 
 sparkling, to the west of which were valleys suitable for 
 agricultural purposes, alternating with hills of green 
 marl and white gypsum. To the northwest were red 
 mesas back of which loomed up the Jemez-Nacimiento, 
 mountains. To the northward, the Jemez river came 
 through the broad, farmland-orchard region of the Jemez 
 tribe from the highland tufa-lava country of Mt. Pelado, 
 and brought the water to irrigate their lands. To the 
 east were low mesas capped with lava, through which the 
 master stream of the section cut through to join the 
 Rio Grande. To the south were " bad land " mesas 
 and castled buttes, banded with black and yellow. While 
 to the southwest, was the gypsum-capped Mesa Blanca. 
 In the valley, orchards and crops were growing; and all 
 was in a flourishing condition. 
 
 It was to this central village where the Zia governor 
 lived that Pope came on his tour up the Jemez River 
 from the Bernalillo-Ysleta-Rio Grande section. As he 
 approached, great processions lined the streets, and the 
 house-tops thronged with people, all gaily dressed in 
 bright-colored blankets and shawls, all wearing bead-
 
 136 DON DIEGO 
 
 like flashy trinkets suspended on multiple buckskin cords 
 from the neck over the chest. While the virgins and 
 children were attired as were Adam and Eve on the 
 afternoon of their creation. 
 
 As the visitors neared the place, a procession went out 
 to meet them. Meeting, a sham battle was fought, in 
 which the Zias surrounded the pretended enemy and cap 
 tured them. Then all turned about and proceeded to 
 enter the city of the Two Rivers, as this village of Zia 
 was called. 
 
 Pope, followed by his select escort, numbering about 
 five hundred men, headed the procession. He was 
 dressed in the full costume of a warrior-priest, and rode 
 a mule. His face was painted vermilion. He wore a 
 bull's horn, fastened on his head at the front just above 
 the eyes, with point of horn turning skyward. Thus 
 attired, he rode around about the entire place, speech- 
 making to the populace, ordering them to obey him, 
 promising health and good crops to all who would do 
 his bidding, and sprinkling all with corn meal and corn 
 pollen, as emblems of happiness. In great furore, the 
 populace then destroyed the church and convent. Then 
 all sat down to a sumptuous repast, drinking wine from 
 the sacred vessels. 
 
 After the feast came the dance, as nothing with an 
 Indian is complete without it ; with it, he prays and gives 
 thanks to his gods as well as amuses himself. The dance 
 given was the Tomahawk-Bow-and-Arrow Dance. 
 
 A group of chanters and several drummers entered 
 the plaza of the estufas and began to sing and lift their 
 hands toward the heaven as in supplication. Soon the 
 dancers, two in number, a man and a woman, descended
 
 DON DIEGO 137 
 
 the ladder of the sun-house backwards. Both had their 
 faces, arms, and all exposed parts of their bodies 
 painted or daubed in white and red. The woman, a 
 virgin, let her hair hang loosely over her shoulders. 
 Her dress was of heavy, black cloth, ornamented in shells 
 and sparkling stones, precious to the Indian. Her feet 
 were bare. From her neck at the front were suspended 
 many strings of shell and turquoise beads. From the 
 top of her head to the bottom of her dress at the back 
 she wore a feathered cord. In her right hand, she car 
 ried a bow and some arrows; in her left, a tomahawk. 
 The man also had his hair hanging loosely over his shoul 
 ders. In addition, he had it bedecked with feathers. 
 He wore a coat, leggings, and moccasins, each made of 
 buckskin beautifully fringed and painted in symbolic de 
 signs. At his back he carried a quiver filled with ar 
 rows. In his right hand he gripped a bow; in his left 
 he held a heavy rawhide shield, on the front of which 
 were pasted the scalps of four white men and a babe, 
 so that the hair waved to the breeze. 
 
 Entering the plaza, the dancers crow-hopped, leaped, 
 tripped, or danced as the meaning of the chant de 
 manded. On separate lines in front of the slowly for 
 ward-moving musicians and the populace who had joined 
 them, they danced back and forth the full width of the 
 dancing arena, the squaw facing and dancing in one di 
 rection, the Indian in the opposite. As they thus danced, 
 the half of the time that they faced each other, the 
 squaw, in mimicry, shot at her adversary and drew her 
 tomahawk to scalp him. At the same time her approach 
 ing foe defended himself with his shield and went 
 through motions as though shooting at her with his bow.
 
 138 DON DIEGO 
 
 Passing each other, they each leaped and crow-hopped 
 at a rapid pace to the turning point of their respective 
 courses. As they thus danced, the squaw lifted the toma 
 hawk and the bow and arrows alternately above her 
 head: the Indian elevated first his shield, then his bow 
 and arrows with a quick, vigorous thrust. Reaching 
 the turning points in their respective courses, the inner 
 dancer swung around the outer dancer to a line in front. 
 The latter then wheeled about and performed in the 
 reverse direction over the line he had just performed 
 over. When these dancers had moved in a sidewise 
 movement across the entire plaza from one end of it to 
 the other, they retired, and a new set took their places 
 and danced the very same dance over again [nothing 
 every gets monotonous to an Indian]. In this manner, 
 when one set broke up another took its place till night. 
 Then the medicine men lined the people up, scattered 
 sacred meal over them and prayed : 
 
 " O sun, O moon, O evening star, O morning star, O 
 all the stars of the roof above us, O lightnings, O snakes 
 of the clouds, O fields and water courses, O fruits of the 
 fields, O animals of the forest, O god of war, O all the 
 gods of our fathers, we thank you all for making our 
 bows and tomahawks strong against our enemies; for 
 making the medicine on our shields proof against the mis 
 siles of the pale- faces. Continue to make us strong! 
 Always give us courage! Always give us the victory 
 over the destroyers of our homes and desecrators of our 
 houses of worship! Indeed and in truth we thank you 
 for all things ! " This closed the ceremonies. 
 
 The next morning following the dance at Zia, the 
 whole visiting host set out for Jemez, taking with them
 
 DON DIEGO 139 
 
 practically all the pretty women and girls, mostly as 
 temporary wives, though some they kept permanently, 
 no difference whether they were other men's wives or 
 not, objections and remonstrances notwithstanding. It 
 was Pope and Pope's men and they were all powerful. 
 Two men were put to death, because they had had the 
 audacity to speak to that supreme earthly ruler about 
 such trivial things. 
 
 Don Diego had not attended the ceremonies at San 
 Felipe, Santo Domingo, and Santa Anna, but had re 
 turned to his wife and his village. He advised the In 
 dians of the coming of the visitors; and they at once 
 began to prepare for the great event. The evening of 
 his arrival, thirteen Indians entered the south estufa 
 to fast and pray and give thanks to the gods. For 
 four days they prayed in that house, ate not, drank not, 
 prayed to the deities only. The fifth day, as the visitors 
 were arriving, they left the estufa, and bathed themselves 
 in the river, their work having been completed. As soon 
 as they returned to the village, there followed an enter 
 tainment-dance in the plaza till the mid-day hour for 
 the welcoming of the honored guests. 
 
 In this dance the old men danced around the drummer 
 as they waved their hands to bring out the meaning of 
 the song the musicians were chanting. The dancers, 
 a man and a woman, were gaudily garbed. Both had 
 their hair bedecked with the long feathers of the eagle's 
 tail. The man carried a gourd rattle in one hand a 
 tomahawk in the other; the woman, a tomahawk in her 
 right hand and a bow and some arrows in the left. In 
 the dancing, they commingled with the musicians, wind 
 ing backward and forward, not unlike a snake in his
 
 i 4 o DON DIEGO 
 
 cravvlings, as they advanced, the woman in the lead. 
 When the woman reached the front, the bystanders threw 
 bread and various other things into the air, to shower 
 down upon the performers. The scrambling for these 
 things was wonderful to see. When the residue had 
 been trampled in the ground as a thank-offering to those 
 above, the musicians and bystanders formed in double 
 column and the dancers danced in the open space between 
 the files. The principal performance was acted by the 
 female dancer. She danced and leaped about like a jack- 
 rabbit, lifting first the bow to heaven as she leaped to 
 the left, and the tomahawk as she leaped to the right. 
 A heavy beat of the drum on the estufa roof brought 
 this dance to a close. 
 
 During the mid-day hour while the people feasted, 
 there was given a burro dance to amuse the populace. 
 A man pretending to be riding a mock burro [a Spanish 
 donkey] entered the plaza. The man was dressed in 
 bright-colored clothes. He wore a sort of tapering 
 dunce cap, from which floated to the breeze many bright 
 strips of cloth. His face was painted black. His arms 
 were bare and painted white, with red zig-zag lightning 
 bolts running up them. He wore a black " manta " 
 dress, as though he were a woman. His body was placed 
 through a wooden frame, the frame of the mock burro. 
 This animal, in imitation, was a fair model of the liv 
 ing beast, only a shade smaller; the animal itself is small. 
 The burro was bridled and tasseled. Its body was 
 blanketed. And from the lower edge of this covering, 
 a fringe suspended nearly to the ground and obscured 
 the movements of the bearer's lower extremities. A pair 
 of stuffed moccasins and pantaloons extended down over
 
 DON DIEGO 141 
 
 the frame, one on each side, the upper parts being ob 
 scured beneath the loose outer, flashy-colored robe that 
 the rider wore, so that it truly looked like a real burro 
 and its rider. From the bridle bit on either side a strap 
 extended to the rider's hand. By this he guided the 
 beast and caused its freak movements. 
 
 As the beast and the rider entered the plaza, several 
 Indians came out of a dressing room and accompanied 
 it from place to place, beating some old Mexican metallic 
 pots and shouting to make all the noise possible. As 
 they thus proceeded, the mock animal would canter, gal 
 lop, balk, rear, buck. Then to make it go, the " keep 
 ers " would have to catch it and lead it. These it would 
 jerk down and run over, now and then. Then it would 
 quiet down and trot along quietly. After they had en 
 circled the entire plaza in the antique performing, they 
 then caused the burro to prance back and forth in 
 front of each house while its " keepers " received bread 
 and other eatables as a thank-offering to the deities; 
 these eatables to be given to the guests as a stranger's 
 gift for food on their further journey. Having visited 
 each and every house, the burro cantered off into 
 obscurity, and it and its " keepers " were seen no more. 
 
 The noon-day feast being completed, the Buffalo Dance 
 was ushered in to further entertain the visitors. . This 
 dance consisted of two dancers, a man and a woman, 
 as in the Bow-and- Arrow Dance. The man was dressed 
 in a buffalo hide. While dancing, he held a bow and 
 some arrows in his right hand and a tomahawk in his 
 left. The woman was dressed in gala attire, jeweled, 
 beaded. For a head covering she wore the complete 
 neck and head skin of a buffalo, including the horns.
 
 142 DON DIEGO 
 
 The dance from start to finish was a peculiar knee- 
 springing, foot-scraping forward and then backward 
 movement. It lasted till the close of day. 
 
 As the dance was closing, it was noticed that Ojeda 
 was not among the group of chief men in the plaza. 
 Don Diego noticed his absence, and, instantly thought of 
 his wife and of Ojeda's attempt to get her to be his life 
 partner. He started toward his house. As he neared 
 it, he heard a scuffling, muffled noise. Then he heard 
 his wife scream. He rushed into the house and found 
 Ojeda and several of his confederates tying his wife's 
 hands and feet. " O Don Diego," she exclaimed as she 
 saw him coming, " save me ! " In furore he seized an 
 Indian ax and struck at the would-be abductor of his 
 wife, but the force of the blow was checked by himself 
 being hit on the head from the rear by one of the 
 strange Indians accompanying Ojeda. When he gained 
 consciousness again, it was far into the next day, the 
 guests had gone and his wife was nowhere to be found. 
 Furthermore he could learn nothing about her where 
 abouts. In addition, he learned that to pacify the Jemez, 
 they had been told that he had been kicked by a horse. 
 He was furious, but powerless. 
 
 The visiting strangers wended their way westward 
 through Salt River gap and by Mt. Cabezon and on west 
 ward past Mt. Taylor, with the rebellious Geetlu either 
 tied on a horse or compelled to walk ahead of the proces 
 sion. She was not cruelly treated, only that Ojeda had 
 her in his power and kept her where he could watch her 
 every move and prevent her escaping him. He had been 
 promised her once and now no power on earth could 
 prevent him from keeping her in his possession. Thus
 
 DON DIEGO 143 
 
 journeying, they visited La Guna, Acoma, Zufii, and, 
 finally, Moqui, the last of the inhabited pueblo groups. 
 Moqui has several villages even in our own time. 
 
 The Moquis had made elaborate preparations for their 
 coming ; and when they had entered the principal village, 
 all was in readiness. It was in the early morning when 
 they arrived. The first ceremonies were begun as soon 
 as the morning meal was served and the captive woman 
 was put in a safe place. The medicine men took all the 
 medical accouterments to the plaza and laid them in a 
 row in a line with the sun, with the most important ones, 
 according to the Indian notion, heading the list, then the 
 next important, and so on till the long row was com 
 pleted. Beginning at the head of the list, they were ar 
 ranged as follows : idols, bowls of corn pollen and corn 
 meal, groups of eagle feathers, the medicine beads, the 
 skins of snakes and of birds, the left front legs of the 
 bear, bunches of rabbit wool, the head coverings of 
 beasts, and the scalps of human beings. When the 
 things of medicine were arranged, the men, followed by 
 the women, passed down the long line in a stooping posi 
 tion, and each one, having blown on his left hand, 
 stroked the curios one by one with it, as he sprinkled the 
 sacred meal over them at the same time with his right 
 hand. In this act the Indians believed that the strength, 
 cunningness and health powers of the things of medicine 
 they had thus stroked and sprinkled would be imparted 
 to them and they would therefore be more fit to govern 
 themselves. 
 
 Soon after the medicinal things were taken back to their 
 places of safe keeping, the antelope priests, or snake med 
 icine men, began the next and last ceremony of the day.
 
 i 4 4 DON DIEGO 
 
 It was the Snake Dance, the Pueblo Indians' elaborate 
 way of praying for rain, also used on this occasion to 
 amuse and entertain the strangers and to carry to the 
 deities the thanks of a people, grateful because the pale- 
 faced enemies had been driven out of the country to 
 the region of the big boiling waters under the noon-day 
 sun. The priests went to a place where the Moqui kept 
 snakes of every kind to be found in the region. They 
 fed the hundreds of caged reptiles till they would eat 
 no more. Then after they had sprinkled them with 
 sacred meal, they took snake canes, having feathers sus 
 pended at one end, and with these they rolled the snakes 
 around, waved the feathers over them till they became 
 bewildered and uncoiled if they had been coiled. They 
 then picked them up one by one with their bare hands, 
 put them into large earthen jars, covered them and 
 then carried them on their heads to the snake estufa 
 \kvua\. Entering the estufa the priests placed the jars 
 in a circle around the central post. Then around them 
 in the presence of the idols, the grove, and the symbolic 
 paintings of the house, they danced, sprinkled sacred 
 dust, and prayed till the coming of the morning star. 
 
 Then men, dressed only in breech-cloth and bearing 
 no weapons whatsoever, left the pueblo one after another 
 in a long drawn-out procession, and marched with maj 
 estic tread to a leveled spot of earth at a considerable dis 
 tance from the village, but still on top of the mesa on 
 which the village was built. Reaching the desired spot, 
 all lined up abreast, facing the village. All waited the 
 coming of the sun. Just as the first level rays of light 
 struck over the eastern horizon, " Hahng," shouted the 
 chief priest of the day, and the snake race was on. In-
 
 DON DIEGO 145 
 
 stantly the competitors were running like deer over the 
 parched ground. For a few minutes all kept pace with 
 each other. Then four or five began to lead out. Then 
 two of these made gains on their companions. For a 
 considerable distance these ran side by side. Then one 
 of them began to outstrip the other. Nearer and nearer 
 they came. Across the public dancing area the leader 
 dashed to the sun-house. With one bound he leaped 
 upon the roof, a tall, muscular, powerful Indian, with 
 gleaming eyes. Amid the great shouting of the breath 
 less spectators, the chief snake priest placed a wreath 
 of pifion twigs upon his head. Triumphant and pant 
 ing, the victor left the roof of the estufa. 
 
 Immediately following the race, a horrible, blood 
 curdling ceremony began in the snake estufa. There 
 some of the priests, dressed in fantastic garments, stood 
 a moment over the jars containing the slimy, wriggling, 
 crawling snakes, sprinkled the yellow powder to the four 
 winds that control the semi-cardinal positions of the 
 earth, and muttered half audible incantations. Then, 
 uttering a low, rattling noise, they took the reptiles from 
 the jars and passed them to six other snake priests, as 
 we would hand a bunch of shoestrings to another person. 
 The latter priests squatted about a large bowl containing 
 a dark red, medically prepared liquid in which the snakes 
 were to be washed. As soon as the passing of the 
 snakes began, the musicians commenced a low, humming 
 chant, the roughly handled snakes hissed or rattled, the 
 big drum measured out the time, and the squatting priests 
 beat it with their writhing snakes. This humming, rat 
 tling, hissing, and drum-beating grew gradually louder 
 and wilder and more barbaric and ferocious, until it
 
 146 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 burst into a fiendish shrieking and howling. Just as the 
 excitement had reached its height, the squatting priests 
 grasped the snakes by their necks, thrust them into the 
 liquid, drew them out again, and dashed them furiously 
 upon a sanded circular plot called the snake home. 
 Around this " snake-area " stood three other priests with 
 snake whips to prevent the hissing, rattling, infuriated 
 reptiles from coiling as they fell. This they succeeded 
 in doing by a process of rolling the snakes about in the 
 sand. As the snake bathing progressed, the fanatical 
 excitement grew more and more intense. The low mur 
 muring song broke into wild, hideous, unearthly shrieks. 
 The six priests grew more wild and fierce. With red 
 stained hands, they vigorously dipped snake after snake 
 and dashed them furiously down upon the sand till all 
 the snakes were washed. 
 
 A drawing on one of the beams in the estufa at Santa Anna. 
 
 The snakes were then put back into the jars and car 
 ried to the plaza. Following them when they set out 
 danced the antelope priests with measured and dignified 
 steps and with tragic solemnity of manner. Their al-
 
 DON DIEGO 147 
 
 most naked bodies were streaked with white paint; their 
 faces were streaked with white paint from ear to ear 
 across their mouths and chins. Rattles of antelope hoofs 
 and tortoise shells were tied to their knees. Embroid 
 ered kilts of white cotton hung about their loins. Neck 
 laces of shell beads, rabbit paws, antelope hoofs, rattles 
 of the snake, and tortoise shell encircled their necks and 
 extended nearly to the waist line in front; fox skins and 
 those of the coyote were suspended from the waist-belt 
 at the back. At the head of the line walked the chief 
 antelope priest, bearing the ti-po-ni, or sacred snake sym 
 bol, across his left arm. Immediately following him 
 came the bearer of the sacred medicine bowl. All the 
 other representatives of the order carried rattles in their 
 hands, with which they kept up a constant noise like that 
 produced by the sacred snakes. With stately and meas 
 ured steps, they danced and sprinkled the sacred dust 
 four times around the plaza. Then they lined up to 
 await the coming of the snake men, whom they had 
 passed on the way. Silently, and with long, swift and 
 majestic steps, the latter soon came, entered the inclosed 
 space, facing the antelope priests. 
 
 Thus lined up, the snake men presented a grewsome, 
 diabolical picture. Their bodies were nude, but painted 
 in white splashes on both shoulders, down the back, down 
 in front, and, in addition, were daubed here and there in 
 red paint. Their chins were blackened, and outlined 
 with a broad white stripe. Their breech-cloths and their 
 moccasins were dyed in red with the blood of the mar 
 tyred priests. From their ankles, knees, waists, and 
 necks suspended shell beads, stone ornaments, pieces of 
 sacred wood [wood of trees that had been struck by
 
 148 DON DIEGO 
 
 lightning], bird skins, snake skins, rattles of various 
 sorts, hideous-looking objects. Also from the waist be 
 hind was a coyote hide hung nearly to the ground. In 
 their left hands they carried snake whips, each com 
 posed of two sticks to which large feathers were attached, 
 on the ends of which smaller feathers were tied by means 
 of a buckskin cord. In the jars on their heads they car 
 ried the snakes that were to play such a prominent part 
 in the coming exercise. 
 
 After the lining up of the snake men, for a moment 
 there was silence. Then this group, now formed into 
 two lines, began a low chant in the minor key, as the 
 chief of ceremonies sprinkled them with sacred meal and 
 prayed to the six world points : the southwest, the north 
 west, the northeast, the southeast, " the straight-up-above 
 and the straight-down-below." Then the water propitia 
 tion was likewise sprinkled on them. After this was fin 
 ished, the ti-po-ni was placed on a low stool in front of the 
 line between it and the line of antelope priests. All the 
 members of both lines of priests made obeisance before it, 
 as they prayed to the gods it represented. At a given 
 signal the snake priests lifted the jars from their heads 
 and poured the snakes on the ground. At the same time 
 a deep humming of the artificial rattles began, followed 
 immediately by a vigorous chant. The chant grew 
 louder and louder. The two lines of priests swayed 
 slowly backwards and forwards toward each other like 
 two lines of writhing snakes. The snake whips were con 
 stantly waved over the wriggling, writhing, rattling rep 
 tiles. All who were concerned in the ceremony spit toward 
 the pile of snakes, not as a sign of disgust, but in prayer. 
 The bearer of the sacred bowl, the master of ceremonies,
 
 DON DIEGO 149 
 
 strode back and forth and sprinkled the sacred meal 
 toward the four semi-cardinal points. The snake-priest 
 line suddenly broke up into groups of three. The chant 
 at once grew louder and louder and of wilder refrain and 
 more and more weirdly fantastic. The dance grew more 
 frantic and the dancers more and more excited. One 
 man in each of the groups of three dropped on one knee 
 and arose with a squirming snake in his mouth, which 
 writhed and twisted and turned and wriggled and coiled 
 its shiny folds about the Indian's cheek and chest. 
 Around the leveled area four times he then danced with 
 his snake, as another priest of the set of three to which 
 he belonged waved eagle feathers before the reptile to 
 prevent it from sinking its fangs into its bearer. Reach 
 ing the starting-place the fourth time, the snake was 
 dropped to the ground, and was dexterously picked up 
 by the third member of the trio. Thus were the reptiles 
 gathered up and danced with again till every one in the 
 collection had been danced four times around the circle 
 in the mouth of a " carrier " of each group. 
 
 As the snakes were being danced with the fourth time 
 in this horribly revolting yet weirdly fascinating cere 
 mony, the wailing chant rose higher and higher, accom 
 panied by the sibilant rattles of the antelope priests ; and 
 the excitement of the dancers rose to the highest pitch of 
 frenzy. At that moment the chief priest of the cere 
 monies scattered sacred corn pollen in a circle on the 
 ground. Instantly a profound silence fell over all. The 
 snake men advanced and threw down their snakes within 
 the yellow ring. Then at a given signal, with a howl 
 the whole medicine line made a mad rush for the circle, 
 and each Indian seized as many snakes as he could carry
 
 150 DON DIEGO 
 
 in as many ways as possible. Then they all made off 
 with them in every direction as fast as they could go 
 down the steep and precipitous trails from the mesa vil 
 lages into the valley below, there to set them at liberty 
 to carry the prayers of the people to the divinities. 
 
 Just as the snake ceremonies were nearing the most ex 
 citing stage, a Moqui squaw, with disheveled hair, rushed 
 among the visiting guests and exclaimed : " Ojeda, your 
 lady [Geetlu] gone, I can no find her." 
 
 The village was searched for her, but she could not be 
 found anywhere. Once, without the village they thought 
 they found her tracks leading southward, but these could 
 be followed only a short distance. No other trace could 
 be found. For three days after his colleagues had re 
 turned to their own homes, Ojeda searched the country 
 for her. Then he likewise returned to his village.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 MANY days elapsed before Don Diego was re 
 covered from the blow he 'had received on his 
 head so that he was able to walk about his premises. But 
 he cared not so much for the bodily injury as for the loss 
 of his wife. For an Indian, he grieved about her very 
 much. Yet when the " principals " asked him about mak 
 ing war on all the Santa Annas, as is the custom of sav 
 ages to make war on a whole tribe instead of punishing 
 the guilty one alone as among civilized people, he op 
 posed it, saying that only one Santa Anna was guilty and 
 why make war on the whole tribe ; besides war was a bad 
 thing and no one knew where it would end: the Jemez 
 and not the Santa Annas might be annihilated. Later 
 he sent a deputation to Santa Anna to see Ojeda, offer 
 ing to buy back the woman, as it was better to do that 
 than to have war and kill innocent people, he thought. 
 
 The embassadors were gone several days. Then re 
 turned with the sad news that no one knew the where 
 abouts of Geetlu, that she had escaped from the trium 
 phal party while at Moqui, and it was generally believed 
 at Santa Anna that she had returned to Jemez and to 
 her husband. 
 
 Don Diego believed that the Santa Annas had told 
 an untruth, that his wife was there and was kept in hid 
 ing. So he hired some Zia and some Santo Domingo 
 Indians to watch the village to see if they could see her 
 
 151
 
 152 DON DIEGO 
 
 anywhere thereabouts : if he could not buy her back, he 
 would get her by stealth. But after a surveillance of 
 considerable time they brought back word that they be 
 lieved the reported escaping of Geetlu to be true, that 
 without doubt she was not at Ojeda's village home. 
 They had pretended friendship and had even been guests 
 of Ojeda himself at his own home for many days. Yet 
 the abducted woman they had not seen. What would 
 Don Diego do? He loved the woman, and to the limit 
 less sea he would go in search of her. 
 
 One day in autumn that year, most of the Jemez men 
 were " jerking " their corn and piling the husk-covered 
 ears in piles on the ground to be sorted. A great many 
 of the women were engaged in the sorting process. The 
 ripe ears were husked and carried in baskets, supported 
 on top of the carriers' heads, to the estufa roofs to be 
 further cured in the sun. The green corn, unhusked, 
 was also being carried in baskets to the village there to 
 be baked in the ovens, after which process the husks were 
 stripped up off of the ear, tied together, and the ear hung 
 up on a pole by them so that the corn would dry: after 
 the corn was dried it was to be shelled from the cob and 
 put away in ollas to be kept for future use. While these 
 things were being done, some men were cutting the fod 
 der and storing it on the roofs of their corrals to feed 
 to their sheep and horses during the winter. Other men 
 were also busy carrying melons, squashes, and pumpkins 
 to their store-rooms. [For with a Pueblo Indian, these 
 are always gathered and put away for winter use, 
 whether green or ripe: if not ripe they will ripen; and, 
 furthermore, a Pueblo will eat a green melon as quick 
 as a ripe one, with apparently as much relish. He takes
 
 DON DIEGO 153 
 
 it up in both hands and eats it as we do an apple, rind 
 and all; or, better, more like a monkey would eat it.] 
 As the pumpkins were thus being stored away, some 
 women were also busy stringing wristas of red pep 
 per and hanging them on poles in front of the houses to 
 dry. Jack Frost had visited the valley the night before, 
 and now everyone was busy putting their winter supply 
 of food and provender away before it spoiled in the field. 
 Everybody was thus employed, but one. 
 
 A lone Indian went to the estufa of his clan ; and there 
 sprinkled sacred meal and pollen before his image-gods, 
 the sacred altars, and the symbolic paintings on the walls 
 of the edifice, as he invoked the aid of his gods in his be 
 half. Then he smoked the ceremonial cigarette and blew 
 the smoke toward the symbol of first one and then an 
 other of the principal deities of his people till the cigar 
 ette was burned out. Then he blew a breath in prayer 
 toward the mother god, after which he climbed up the 
 ladder onto the estufa roof. He then again blew a gen 
 tle breath in prayer toward the noon-day sun. He 
 paused a moment and waved his right hand toward each 
 of the semi-cardinal directions. He then descended to 
 the plaza, walked to his residence, and breathed a prayer 
 to the yaya, household gods, as he sprinkled them 
 with the sacred dust. He then left the village and passed 
 down the trail that lead to the river and the farm lands 
 on its opposite bank. As he walked briskly along, he 
 came to a pile of petrified wood, a Jemez altar. He 
 lifted a small block of the stone- wood and placed a feath 
 ered fetish under it, two small sticks clamped together 
 with strong cord, from the ends of which feathers ex 
 tended. He replaced the rock and lifted another. He
 
 154 DON DIEGO 
 
 took the fetish sticks from beneath this rock and put 
 them in the medicine bag he carried. Then he sprin 
 kled the altar with meal and passed on down the trail. 
 Reaching the river, he blew gently over it, sprinkled it 
 with the dusts of the gods, then waded it to the opposite 
 bank and passed on westward. He trudged through 
 the valley lands of his tribe and climbed the red sand 
 stone [Jura-Trias] mesas. Over these he descended into 
 a little flat, covered with coal-measure rock. Here he 
 picked up some petrified sea shells of that far-off age 
 [Carboniferous shells: Productus punctatus, Spirifer 
 species, etal.]. Several of the smaller of these he put 
 in his medicine bag as charm-fetishes. He then jour 
 neyed on westward over an upthrust of granite, then 
 over red sandstone, again up over a ridge, through Jack- 
 Rabbit valley at the south terminus of the Jemez-Na- 
 cimiento Range. Another and the last of the Jemez 
 ridges he had to cross was scaled. Reaching its summit, 
 he faced about and there he stood as it were between 
 earth and sky, a strong, well-built, muscular Indian, full 
 six feet in height, with broad forehead, rather high cheek 
 bones, a prominent nose of the controlling type, firmly 
 set jaws, large, pleasing black eyes, and a clear coun 
 tenance. He took one long look at the tiny village and 
 the river of his country in the distance, made an altar 
 of small stones, sprinkled it with sacred dust, sprinkled 
 a pinch of the dust toward his home, breathed a prayer to 
 his gods, faced about, and continued his journey. 
 
 It was Don Diego. He was going in search of his 
 wife. The village of Moqui where she had been seen 
 last was his destination. He was alone; but he was not 
 afraid. On he journeyed. He descended the steep west-
 
 DON DIEGO 155 
 
 ern talus slope of the foothill range and out over a white- 
 capped gypsum mesa onto the Rio Puerco table-land. 
 At the edge of this he passed over upturned strata of 
 coal, fire clay and sandstone. Then over a slag rock 
 where the coal had been burned out during a volcanic dis 
 turbance in some former age of the world. Passing over 
 the slag he came to horizontal layers of the yellowish- 
 green Puerco formation. As it had rained in the valley 
 in the afternoon, he soon found it to be as slippery as 
 the name signifies [Puerco means dirty, slippery] : but 
 he trudged on. His course was now southwestward. 
 The sun went down, but he continued the journey till 
 toward midnight he reached Mt. Cabezon, a huge mon 
 olithic, volcanic core that stands more tfian a thousand 
 feet above the plain and has an area of about thirteen 
 acres of a summit. Near it Don Diego rested for the 
 night. 
 
 As the sun began his westward journey again over 
 the far away Sandia, he resumed his journey, now more 
 to the westward. As the days went on, he passed Mt. 
 San Mateo, flanked by the awl-like Alesna from near 
 which heads the Rio Puerco and San Jose's creek which 
 empty into the Rio Grande below where Albuquerque 
 now stands. On westward he continued his course, now 
 over " mal pais," bad country lava rock, of the lava flows 
 of Zuni canyon ; and on westward by the vast crater of 
 Aqua Fria. On he traveled. A little way from the 
 crater, he came to an ice-cold stream of water which 
 still flows from beneath the black lava cap. Being 
 thirsty, he stooped down and began to scoop some water 
 into his mouth with his right hand, using it as a cup- 
 like shovel: by such a cup the Jemez throws the water
 
 156 DON DIEGO 
 
 into his mouth somewhat like a cat laps milk out of a 
 dish, except that the instrument used is wholly external 
 and not attached to the mouth and is held more in the 
 shape of a grocery scoop. As he thus leaned over the 
 little clump of grass that margined the stream to get his 
 drink, a rattle quickly told him that the place was already 
 occupied and that no trespassing was allowed. As quick 
 as the bound of a deer, he leaped backward and pre 
 vented himself from being struck by the reptile. But 
 the serpent struck not; only remained coiled and kept 
 up a constant rattle. Don Diego looked at it a moment. 
 Then he took out his medicine bag and sprinkled it with 
 sacred meal, prayed over it a minute, and passed up the 
 small brooklet a little ways, took the needed drink, pass 
 ing on in his travels. A day later he arrived in the vicin 
 ity of the majestic and historic El Morro, or Inscription 
 Rock, and the Giant's wonderful pillar of erosion, " and 
 the most stupendous flying buttress in the world." 
 
 As he was wending his way onward, he heard human 
 voices in the distance. He knew no Pueblo village was 
 near. So he thought it best to conceal himself and see 
 from a secure place who the strangers might be. And it 
 was well he did; for it proved to be a band of marauding 
 Navajos that were approaching. He had hidden himself 
 in a niche in the rock front of El Morro, and in a little 
 amphitheater-arena area by and in front of this same 
 buttress the Navajos camped. They piled up some brush 
 and soon had a bright blaze. On this they roasted some 
 yucca pods, broiled some venison, also baked some corn 
 cakes on the upper side of a flat rock over the fire. Then 
 all squatted down on the ground, some thirty or more, 
 and partook of the repast set before them. The supper
 
 DON DIEGO 157 
 
 looked inviting to Don Diego, who had not had a bite 
 all day ; but he dared not move lest he be seen and cap 
 tured; for the Navajos, as a rule, were never friendly 
 to the Pueblos. He only crawled farther back into the 
 dark recess and prayed that his track might not be seen : 
 a Pueblo moccasin being of a different cut from that of 
 a Navajo, had they seen the track they would have known 
 at once that there was a stranger in the land. He also 
 prayed that no ray of light from the fire would pene 
 trate the chink in the rock where he lay hid. He 
 started to crawl farther back into the recess; but see 
 ing two bright balls of fire, in appearance, in the dis 
 tance ahead of him and hearing a low growl, he pro 
 ceeded no further. He was evidently disturbing some 
 beast in his den. Snakes were also heard to rattle in 
 some distant crevice in the rock-wall. He moved back 
 a few feet toward the entrance and there almost breath 
 lessly waited. To leave the place was death or a hor 
 rible life; to stay there was, possibly, death also. For 
 like that old serpent, the Navajos would give him a warm 
 reception if he fell into their possession: the other 
 alternative need not be commented upon. Fortunately, 
 the snakes and animals quieted down, and the Navajos 
 never suspected that a Pueblo Indian was in the vicinity. 
 As the hours passed, the medicine men of the roving 
 band began to sing and beat small drums and sprinkle 
 some sort of powder toward the Great Dipper. As they 
 sang, other members of the party joined in a circular 
 dance, advancing in a forward movement around it to 
 the left. Thus they danced and enjoyed themselves till 
 the wee hours of the morning were approaching. Then 
 they lay around the fire among the ancient pueblo ruins
 
 158 DON DIEGO 
 
 of the place to snatch a little sleep. This would have 
 been a chance for the lone man to escape but for the fact 
 that the sleepers had left a man on guard ; so he patiently 
 had to wait the slowly dragging time. 
 
 Little did the sleepers, the watchman, or the lone 
 sleepless Indian in the niche know that where they were 
 spending the night would be an historic landmark long 
 after they had turned to dust and were forgotten. There 
 were the pueblo ruins left for a Fewks of our own day 
 to explore; but they were not much different than the 
 ruins of many other villages of the region which super 
 stition or savage hordes had caused to be abandoned. 
 Ruins they were, and their history was prehistoric and 
 would never be known further than a patch-work of 
 imagination. Besides these ruins, however, there were 
 things there that were and are of historic value. On the 
 rock face which loomed up in the fire-light there were 
 some peculiar markings, unnoticed and unintelligible to 
 those immediately concerned in the story. These were 
 chiselings in the rock-face, the writings of civilized man, 
 the accounts of historic movements. They were in the 
 Roman-Spanish character. Two of them, translated, 
 read as follows: 
 
 [ i ] " Passed by here the adelantado Don Juan Onate 
 to the discovery of the South Sea on the i6th of April, 
 1605." 
 
 [2] " Bartolome Narrso, Governor and Captain-Gen 
 eral of the province of New Mexico, for our lord, the 
 king, passed by this place on his return from the pueblo 
 of Zuni, on the 2Qth of July, of the year 1620, and put 
 them in peace, at their petition, asking the favor to be 
 come subjects of his majesty, and anew they gave obedi-
 
 DON DIEGO i $9 
 
 ence; all of which they did with free consent, knowing 
 it prudent as well as very Christian, ... to so distin 
 guished and gallant a soldier, indomitable and famed; 
 we love . . ." But the aborigines present knew not 
 that these writings and the strange, meaningless, Indian 
 hieroglyphics, cut in the same bold, precipitous white 
 sandstone face, were even there. The sleepers slept on, 
 the lone guard watched, and the hiding one prayed to his 
 gods that his whereabouts be not discovered. Morning 
 finally came ; and the Navajos, eating a hurried meal, re 
 sumed their wanderings. And later Don Diego con 
 tinued his course toward Moqui. 
 
 As he was journeying he again heard voices. 
 Closer and closer the voices came. Among those who 
 were talking were women: he could hear girls giggling. 
 He crawled around under a bush and from it he could 
 see that the strangers were Pueblos and that they were 
 engaged in the sacred rabbit hunt. He concluded at 
 once that he must be near the pueblos of Zufii. It proved 
 to be as he surmised. He was near Zufii-Cibola of the 
 Spanish conquest, Halona of the Pueblos. He was 
 among friends. He immediately arose and made him 
 self known to the war-captain. This Indian recognized 
 him at once, embraced him by facing him and placing 
 his extended hands on his shoulders, then touching him 
 gently with the flat palms under the arms, then stroked 
 him gently with the right palm on the head and shoul 
 ders as one would stroke a cat : this is the Pueblo way of 
 greeting. Thus being completed, the Zufii chief asked 
 him to eat and drink such food as they had brought with 
 them. As he ate, he told the Zuni his mission and asked 
 him if he had seen the woman he was seeking.
 
 160 DON DIEGO 
 
 The one addressed studied a moment, then answered : 
 " No, brother, your wife is not here. I saw them have 
 her with them as they passed by here going to Moqui. 
 They were not cruel to her, but she was held as a pris 
 oner. When they returned, she was not with them. 
 And a few days later, her supposed husband, the Santa 
 Anna chief, dejected in spirit, came following the others 
 looking for her, stating that she had escaped from Moqui 
 while the Snake ceremonies were in progress. He 
 seemed to be much concerned and offered one of the In 
 dians here two horses if he would bring her to Santa 
 Anna to his house, should she be found by our people. 
 Several of our Indians went to examine the region to 
 the south westward to see if they could find her. They, 
 however, found no trace of her, except that one evening 
 just at dusk they saw a lone woman fleeing far in the 
 distance, but the next morning they could not find her. 
 No, she is not here. We did not know that she was your 
 wife, but Ojeda's, and she had become obdurate." He 
 mused a moment, as he rubbed his hands together, then 
 continued : " No, brother, she is not here. But you will 
 go no further to-day. You are tired and need rest. I 
 also invite you to join in our sport. Here is an extra 
 club I have brought along with me. Use it and when 
 night comes you are to be the guest of my people. We 
 are glad to see you ; for we know of your gallant attack 
 on the pale-faces at Santa Fe. But we must be going. 
 Here is the extra rabbit club [a club shaped like a shinny 
 or golf club]. We must be going." 
 
 They soon joined the hunters. All were armed only 
 with the rabbit clubs : no bows or arrows or white man's 
 guns are ever taken in this sacred hunt even in our own
 
 DON DIEGO 161 
 
 time. The hunters were closing in on a sage-brush- 
 covered ridge just as they came up. At once the war- 
 captain took charge of the movement. On all sides of 
 the ridge alike the hunters were caused to advance, ex 
 cept at a point where a small dry ravine descended. 
 Here a group lined up on either side forming a chute- 
 like pocket, closed in at the bottom by Indians with ready 
 clubs. As those on the other sides of the ridge advanced, 
 the game, thinking they could escape down the appar 
 ently open ravine, entered the blind pocket and were at 
 once at the mercy of the deftly handled clubs. A rabbit 
 leaped down the chute. A dexteriously hurled club 
 broke its back or neck. Another and another rabbit met 
 the same fate, as the great commingling of human voices 
 and the pounding of brush and bushes at all other places 
 on the ridge drove the game hither where all was still. 
 A coyote ran down the chute. Club after club passed 
 over it. Several hit it, but with little effect, only to 
 make the tormented, scared beast run the harder. 
 Finally, however, just as it neared the blind point of 
 the pocket-inclosure, a club hit it on the head and caused 
 it to stagger. Instantly forty clubs were beating it to 
 death. At this juncture the Zuni war-captain stepped 
 up to Don Diego, whose mind was occupied in searching 
 the wide world for his wife, not noticing what was going 
 on in his immediate presence, and, patting him on the 
 shoulder, said : " Brother, why do you not kill some 
 thing and be blessed of the gods." Just at that momejit 
 there was a hue and din in all parts of the front of the 
 chute from all parts of the ridge; while thundering 
 through the brush and over the rocks came a male deer 
 with antlers and head raised. Snuffing the air of dan-
 
 1 62 DON DIEGO 
 
 ger, he bounded down the open space toward coveted 
 liberty. A club hit him, another, a hundred more. 
 Higher he leaped, jumped. Swifter he bounded. He 
 ran the chute, broke through its protected terminus and 
 had leaped high into the air in free territory, when a 
 forcibly hurled, heavy club struck him at the base of the 
 skull and he fell with a crash. Instantly Don Diego 
 found himself being cheered and lauded by everyone. 
 He had killed the big game of the day. 
 
 Soon the hunt was completed and everyone returned 
 to the village, a quaint adobe structure, even for that 
 far-away time. It was a seven storied communal 
 house, a giant edifice, surrounded by other, smaller build 
 ings, some only two stories high. This village would 
 have been odd-looking to one of us, with the ends of the 
 heavy roof-beams projecting out several feet from under 
 the roofs; some of the buildings whitewashed, some 
 veneered with a thin coat of yellow-ocher, and still many 
 left in the native mud color ; no doors as we have them, 
 but hatchways in the roofs; window-like portholes, with 
 strips or slabs of selenite, crystallized gypsum, or mica 
 instead of glass; all with ladders extending over the 
 bench-step-like plaza- front of the houses from story to 
 story, with ladders projecting skyward through the 
 roof-doors their elongated poles uselessly but pictur 
 esquely projecting far higher than the rounds; chimneys, 
 projecting here and there above the roofs, made of 
 earthenware ollas or tinajas piled one above another 
 after their bottoms were removed. But these things 
 were unnoticed by Don Diego: his own village at home 
 was builded somewhat after the same fashion. As they 
 entered the village, they found the swarthy little people,
 
 DON DIEGO 163 
 
 the children of both sexes fat as pigs, naked as they 
 were born, and dirty as only naked Indian babies can 
 become, as they wallow in the mud playing one with 
 another in front of the houses, in the streets, on the 
 roofs. 
 
 The hunting party entered the plaza and placed the 
 captured game on the ground in a long line through 
 the village, end to end, with the larger game heading the 
 list all with heads toward the evening sun. Then all, 
 headed by Don Diego, passed down the long line on one 
 side of it and then back on the opposite side and stroked 
 each animal's hide with the left hand, as they sprinkled 
 it with the sacred pollen and prayed to their gods. This 
 praying, sprinkling, stroking process being completed, the 
 populace lined up in two long columns facing each other, 
 with the victims of the hunt between them. Then in the 
 presence of all, the cacique prayed that the cunningness, 
 agility, and strength of the animals stroked be imparted 
 to the stroker. The animals were then carried to the 
 cacique's house and the people all went to their respective 
 homes, Don Diego accompanying the war captain to his 
 house. 
 
 That night all slept soundly, but the men of the gods. 
 These were at the cacique's praying and doing penance, 
 casting yellow corn [casting lots], sprinkling the now 
 sacred animals, skinning them, and putting the skins of 
 each kind by themselves : a part of the rabbit skins were 
 to be used in the ceremonies the following day ; the rest, 
 together with the skins of the other animals obtained, 
 were to be preserved for future religious ceremonies. 
 
 Morning came and each Indian washed out his stom 
 ach, bathed his body, and combed and arranged his long
 
 1 64 DON DIEGO 
 
 hair. Then without eating a mouthful, the whole pop 
 ulation repaired to the " cacique's field." [A field set 
 apart by each pueblo village for the use of its gods is 
 known as the cacique's field. Everything raised in it is 
 used in some of the various religious ceremonies of the 
 place ; or as food for the men of the gods while engaged 
 in religious ceremonies. A rabbit hunt is had at the 
 planting of this field; also at the gathering of the crop.] 
 Reaching the field, the women set about grinding meal 
 for bread for breakfast from parched corn previously 
 prepared; they had brought their grinding slabs with 
 them. The meal being ground, a stiff dough was made, 
 rolled in corn husks and baked in the ashes of a huge 
 fire that had been kindled on the margin of the field. 
 Then rabbit meat was broiled on the live coals in suffi 
 cient quantity to satisfy all; no other meat is ever eaten 
 on such occasions. As the eatables were being prepared 
 and cooked, the medicine-priest fraternity were rubbing 
 rabbit fur with feathered sticks and praying to the god 
 of all rabbits. The meal being ready, these same people 
 sprinkled all the rabbit fur used in the ceremony and 
 all the people present with the sacred dusts, as they 
 prayed to the deities. Then all partook of the repast set 
 before them. After the meal, all present went to gather 
 ing the crop from the field of the gods. A process simi 
 lar to that described as occurring at Jemez the day Don 
 Diego departed, except that everything, gathered in, was 
 stored in the cacique's official residence for use in re 
 ligious ceremonies. 
 
 Don Diego stayed not for the close of these cere 
 monies. He was anxious to be on his quest. He now 
 knew that his wife had been last seen at Moqui, that
 
 DON DIEGO 165 
 
 Ojeda had told the truth when he said she was not at 
 Santa Anna. Toward the noon hour he bade the Zuni 
 war-captain adieu and started toward Moqui. 
 
 As he journeyed, he passed by Thunder Mountain 
 mesa, the Zuni fort of the old times, where now the Zuni 
 lasses and lads go and pray for their life partners; and 
 here then as now were the shrines of the Zuni to their 
 warrior god Unaika. But Don Diego was not looking for 
 the god of war. At last he arrived in sight of one of the 
 towns of the Moqui Indians, the people who reverently 
 regard the snake as their maternal ancestor, the snakes 
 being their elder brothers, and through whom they 
 pray to those above for rain. Before him lay the vil 
 lage like a toy but such a toy and such a village ! The 
 town stretched before him a long line of gray adobe 
 houses arranged in cell-like structure, crudely resembling 
 a mud-wasp's nest, set on glaring red sand, and sur 
 rounded by gray, sun-parched sagebrush. 
 
 As he approached, the walls of the village showed 
 vari-colored life. Against the dull background, the sun 
 blazed down upon a kaleidoscopic mass of red and green 
 and blue. The pueblo and adjacent mesa swarmed with 
 gleaming, painted savages, half clad in gaudy feathers 
 and gay breech-cloths. It was a gala day. The harvest- 
 corn-husking dance was in session. It was a masked 
 ghost dance like the one previously described, except that 
 all the actors wore wreaths of corn and pumpkin vines; 
 the clowns so loaded themselves with these things that 
 they would have reminded one much of Christian with 
 his load of sin in Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress." But 
 Don Diego cared not for this dance. Not even when 
 the corn, pumpkins, and peppers were thrown heaven-
 
 1 66 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 HOPI SONG 
 
 Presto. 
 Prelude . 
 A 
 
 $ : f 
 
 m 
 
 **- 
 
 He ye ye ye ne ya a a a a a ah Ha wo e na moo, 
 
 Let us (ye) my fathers, 
 
 Anteral . 
 
 sc^qi 
 
 i 
 
 Ha wo e na moo E tarn na-65 ka-l& ye -a ka-a 
 Let us (ye) my fathers, Let us say good -bye to one an- oth-er 
 
 Interlude. 
 
 3^ 
 
 J-J-Ja4ii= 
 
 O ma o c65 co ye va ne ya he na 6, 
 
 That the clouds may gath er. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 A yaho II a ya ya a a ya ya ho II ; 
 
 A a - ha e yl -hi a a a ha ha a e he He - e he-e 
 
 CODA. 
 
 a he ye ne ya ye ne ya a a a a Ya ya. 
 
 Transcribed by W. H. Pfeifer. 
 
 ward to be trampled under foot as a thank offering for 
 the bounties of the generous gods did he pay any atten 
 tion. He was looking for his lost wife and here was 
 where she was seen last, so far as he could learn. His
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 167 
 
 mind was occupied in planning how he would proceed in 
 his search, of how he would make his inquiries. Noth 
 ing could be done that day till the ceremonies were con 
 cluded. So he patiently waited. 
 
 It was ten o'clock the next day before he got an audi 
 ence with the governor and war-captain of the place. 
 They knew him and readily granted the conference, but 
 were surprised when they learned the purpose of his 
 coming. After hearing the story, the governor ques- 
 
 POPULAR SONG 
 
 O u nah 
 
 o u nah o u nah 
 
 X X It A 
 
 
 [ Jf Tlif P* 
 
 
 r 
 
 P P fc 
 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 f\ fh. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 JN J 3 
 
 1 i 
 
 , 
 
 k. 1 N 
 
 P II 
 
 fCT) " R 
 
 
 ! . . . 
 
 r 9 
 
 -J 4 
 
 
 
 F^-J 
 
 H 
 
 ty ^ " 
 
 i 1 -^ 
 
 L. 1 L-^, U_^ 
 
 
 o u nah o u nah Ith yo e hay nay. 
 
 Music transcribed by Albert Gale. 
 FAREWELL SONG 
 
 
 * 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 She say- zay - ga zi - yo da - yah, she say- zay 
 
 r^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ^ * 
 
 ^ 
 
 ga zi - yo da - yah. she say- zay - ga zi - yo 
 
 n u 
 
 A '1. 
 
 m 
 
 JLJii N 
 
 
 
 
 
 F^^ 
 
 rfK tt j^ i 
 
 -j\^ J^ 
 
 1 1 
 
 ' 1= 
 
 -x ^ 
 
 J I 1 
 
 da - yah, 
 
 nah i ya - lab. 
 
 Music transcribed by Albert Gale.
 
 1 68 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 MEDICINE SONG 
 
 ac aczn . ,L p j 
 irn " 4 4 r^ s* j 
 
 j j n i 
 
 -fr 
 
 fej^ 
 
 ^*- 
 
 ~>- 
 
 i r^ 
 
 WJ 44 ,N i 
 
 1 ! 
 
 ! 
 
 -N-*- 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 t) * ' * _ 
 To-kwa zhu-na nod-o-tash 
 
 m m 9 m^ m 
 to-kwa zhu-na nod-o-tash 
 
 A 
 
 _ if Ll |^ ^ 
 
 r r \ 
 
 P 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Xj ff \ N ~P J 
 
 
 3H v 
 
 + 
 
 
 k ^ 
 
 19) ~ 1 N ^ 
 
 pi 
 
 \-^- 
 
 i * * 
 
 h- 
 
 
 P 
 
 ^-jr y< 9 
 to - kwa zuh- na nod - o - tush-she 
 
 n ft x - - 
 
 V 
 
 ah i a 
 
 JT 
 . . nah ah 
 
 ^_ A 
 
 U ft u K r 
 
 i"^ i^ .. 
 
 r 
 
 ^T 
 
 
 /L IL fL ^ 
 
 
 * 
 
 h J J 
 
 
 
 k. "i 
 
 fiSI3t3CIZn~I * 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 ..f\^ . 
 
 to - kwa zhu- na nod - o - tush-she ah i a. . nah ah. 
 
 Music transcribed by Albert Gale. 
 
 tioned him closely about the woman. " Did you say," 
 he asked, " that the woman with our friend Ojeda was 
 your wife? " 
 
 " Yes, she was my wife." 
 
 " Did you not know that our honored ruler, the ruler 
 of all the Pueblos, gave an order that any man of our 
 race could take any woman he chose and marry her ac 
 cording to our customs, whether she were single or was 
 married to another, had the ceremony been performed by 
 a Christian priest? And your wife " 
 
 " Hold," broke in Don Diego ; " we never were mar 
 ried by any Catholic priest; or by any ceremony of the 
 pale- faces. I married my wife according to the cus 
 toms of our fathers and the decrees of our gods. She 
 is legally my wife and wishes to be my wife, if alive. 
 She is faithful to me and I will always be to her. You 
 say she ran away from Ojeda, and she has not been seen 
 since? " 
 
 " Yes," spoke up the war-captain, " she seems to have
 
 DON DIEGO 169 
 
 KWAATTE SONG OF THE QUILLAYUTES 
 
 day, ah ye da 2, a K wees clee tah.k wees clee 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 > &> 
 
 tah ah ah he che kwal ah chet chu u yah us shes koo lah 

 
 I JO 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 -OJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 t=d 
 
 
 
 N N 
 
 H *y 
 
 | 
 
 =^=^ 
 
 1 t^ IJ 
 
 
 a 
 
 t=i 
 
 
 =: 
 
 a a lah wats ah keel ah ye day ah ye da a a 
 
 ^*~ 
 
 
 
 Jf fr 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 H 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 (m g 
 
 p 
 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 gj 
 
 -a( -^ 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 
 t'* 
 
 1 
 
 T 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 s 
 
 i 
 
 - 
 
 
 ' 1 
 
 y^^ ff 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 [\^* Ji 
 
 
 J 
 
 ^-~ 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 TW^ 
 
 
 J 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^* 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^j 
 
 
 
 -z*- -s 
 
 Melod 
 
 -^ -Bf 
 y recorded, Aug. 9, 1905. . J hv Alhert r -,. 
 
 gone in that direction," pointing eastward. " But though 
 we diligently searched for her, we were unable to track 
 her. She is not here. Brother, she is not here. It 
 may be that in her wanderings she has gone to ' the na 
 tion of the willows/ though that place is to the westward 
 of us." 
 
 Yet that day Don Diego set out with a lone guide for 
 the " nation of the willows," the Knhnikui, as they were 
 called by their neighbors, or Yava Supais, as they call 
 themselves. In due course of time they arrived at the 
 home of this people, who might also be termed " the 
 dwellers in the canyon depths," for their village is situ 
 ated on a little side stream in the Grand Canyon of the 
 Colorado itself : to use the Indian phrase, " they are in 
 the biggest ditch in the world." Truly, nowhere else on 
 earth has man found so stupendous a dwelling place, a 
 tiny fertile spot, green, dotted with orchards and fields, 
 is bisected by a little creek whose banks are lined with 
 willows of the dainty kind used in fine basket weave. 
 This little area is an inclosed amphitheater of nature's
 
 DON DIEGO 171 
 
 make. At its front is the great gorge of the Colorado. 
 Surrounding it on the curved side rise red sandstone 
 walls to a height of more than two thousand feet, the 
 strata so symmetrically arranged that it causes one to 
 imagine it the work of giants of a previous earth age. 
 
 Arriving at the place, Don Diego made inquiries 
 through his guide-interpreter if they had seen the woman ; 
 and offered them presents if they would tell him her 
 whereabouts. A council was called; and, after a thor 
 ough inquiry, the chief man of the place advised the 
 strangers that none of his people had even seen the 
 woman they mentioned. He said he was sorry, and re 
 gretted very much that he could not aid them; but the 
 woman was not in the country of his jurisdiction and 
 never had been. 
 
 Don Diego, sad of heart, started on his return: there 
 was nothing else for him to do. In a few days he was 
 again at Moqui ; and a few days later he passed through 
 Zuni and on to Acoma. Thence he went northwest 
 ward to Taos by the way of the pueblo of San Juan; 
 but at none of these places did he hear any news of 
 Geetlu's having been seen by anyone. At Taos he con 
 ferred with Pope concerning Ojeda's taking his wife; 
 but failed to get any satisfaction from that august per 
 son. From this place he turned homeward down the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 Passing Cochiti and Santo Domingo, he took the cut 
 off between the San Felipe lava flows and the eastern 
 limb of the Cochiti mountains. 
 
 As he was journeying toward dusk the evening of the 
 night before the day he expected to arrive at Jemez, he 
 saw footprints ahead of him in the sand. He was
 
 172 DON DIEGO 
 
 walking fast and paid no attention to them at first. 
 Suddenly, however, a very plain, fresh impression in 
 the loose sand of the trail attracted his attention. The 
 make of the moccasin that made the print was not of the 
 Pueblo type. He got down on his hands and knees and 
 examined the tracks more closely. An enemy was in 
 the country. The moccasin prints were those of Yute 
 Indians, and of men only. Evidently a band of war 
 riors were on their way toward Jemez; for only Indian 
 warriors travel without their women. Quick as thought, 
 he slunk from the trail and hid himself behind the first 
 obstruction, and took a closer, searching view of the 
 surrounding country. Sure enough a band of warriors 
 was ahead of him. His eyes had not deceived him. 
 The rear members of the band were only a little way 
 ahead, just around a slight turn. He could hear them 
 talking; he could have heard them before, had his mind 
 not been so deeply occupied with the thoughts of getting 
 home. He crawled out at an angle from the trail from 
 bush to bush till he could get a fair view of the maraud 
 ing band. They were painted and shone glisteningly in 
 the light of the declining sun. In addition, they car 
 ried shields and other war implements in their hands; 
 and, also, had their hair cut to the scalp lock. There 
 were many of them. They were warriors; and their 
 steps were directed around the point of land ahead to 
 ward Jemez. A supreme determination took possession 
 of Don Diego: he would save his people. But till dark 
 ness filled the valley-canon, he must stay in hiding. So 
 he concealed himself and patiently waited the setting of 
 the sun and the going down of the new moon. 
 
 When he was sure that it was dark enough so he
 
 DON DIEGO 173 
 
 could venture out in the open without being seen, he re 
 sumed his journey, not by the regular path but by a detour 
 over a point of the eastern extension of the Cochiti Range. 
 Though the distance was much greater and the trail 
 rougher than around the point, the way the Santa Fe road 
 runs to-day, he had faith that, knowing the country as 
 he did, he could reach his village in time to warn the peo 
 ple of the approaching danger. He started in a " coyote 
 gallop," the peculiar Pueblo gait used in the long dis 
 tance contests. He crossed the low sandy bench, 
 climbed up the mountain foot, over it, and into the Val- 
 lecieto valley ; and on over upturned Red-Bed rock to the 
 fertile region of the Jemez valley. Once he fell and 
 rolled down a steep place; but, unharmed, he was im 
 mediately on his feet again, never stopping his running 
 pace till he had reached the watch tower of his native 
 village. The watchman halted him. But on taking him, 
 to the light of a small fire that was burning in the tower, 
 he was overjoyed to see him, as it had been reported 
 that he had been killed by a band of Navajos. He was 
 about to embrace him in greeting, when Don Diego 
 seized the watch tower drum and sounded the warrior 
 call. 
 
 The streets and plazas were quickly filled with armed 
 braves who had rushed from their sleeping apartments 
 so quickly that they were daubing themselves with war 
 paint as they ran. Hurriedly Don Diego told them of the 
 impending raid ; and quickly he placed the warriors both 
 within and without the village in the most advantageous 
 positions both for attack and defense. Then all became 
 quiet again, as all waited for the Yutes to fall into the 
 trap that had been laid for them.
 
 174 DON DIEGO 
 
 The orders had been given in the dark, and no one 
 but the watchman knew that Don Diego had returned. 
 But all knew that whoever was giving the orders knew 
 his business. Faithfully, they patiently waited: messen 
 gers were also sent to warn the Indians in the other parts 
 of the Jemez country. 
 
 The Yutes had planned to fall upon the village just 
 at break of day, at the time the watchman would become 
 less vigilant. They had already made successful raids 
 on Taos and Picaris two days previous, carrying off 
 men, women, and children, and most all the provisions 
 and stock of each place; and now they hoped to take 
 Jemez by surprise the same way, before word could 
 reach them of their being in the region. They had at 
 tacked these places after Don Diego had left them on his 
 trip down the Rio Grande; and he likewise was not 
 aware of their presence in the heart of the pueblo coun 
 try. Not only that but the Jemez were scattered in their 
 valley villages (it was now seed-planting time in the 
 spring of 1681) ; and they did not suspect that an enemy 
 was in the country; their fortified village was on the 
 mesa at the forks of the river. But for the timely ar 
 rival of Don Diego, they would have been wholly at the 
 mercy of the invadors. The valley-village that they had 
 planned to attack was then to the east of the same ravine 
 of which the consolidated village is now to the west 
 ward and adjacent to it. 
 
 As the first gray streak of light shone over the valley 
 in the early dawn of that April morning, the raiders 
 were seen in the ravine closely hugging the north wall; 
 the ravine has its general course east and west. They 
 were crawling and gliding along as noiselessly as possi-
 
 DON DIEGO 175 
 
 ble, with shields used as hand pads for the left hands. 
 Their bows and arrows were held in their right hands; 
 their tomahawks and dirk-knives were in their belts 
 at their sides. So sure were they of surprising the place 
 that they had taken no precaution against a possible 
 sortie, or ambuscade. They had nearly reached the 
 open space in front of the village-wall, when from the 
 mesa adjacent to the stream at the north great quanti 
 ties of large bowlders were hurled down with death- 
 dealing effect upon the semi-prostrate, crawling Yutes 
 beneath. The battle was on. The Jemez had begun 
 the onslaught. There was scrambling in the gulch: 
 there were shouts, the hurling of huge rocks, the shoot 
 ing of arrows from the mesa brink. Those of the at 
 tacked who could extricate themselves fled to the open 
 spaces in the vicinity; and, with shield in position, began 
 to send arrows into the ranks of the Jemez on the mesa 
 wall. At the same time, quite a group of them rushed 
 upon the village itself; there were so many of them that 
 they were sure they had the place at their mercy. In 
 addition, they thought that if they could once get into 
 the village and commence killing the women and chil 
 dren, the Jemez braves would become disheartened and 
 abandon the place to them. They killed the guards at 
 the entrance and gained the plaza. At about the same 
 instant Don Diego closed on the enemy's rear and swept 
 down the canon-like valley, killing everything before 
 him. At the same time the battle was hotly contested in 
 the plaza and on both flanks in the section of the ravine. 
 The enemy was in a veritable slaughter pit. From all 
 sides, front and rear, the death-dealing missiles were 
 hurled invariably to the intended mark. But the Yutes
 
 176 DON DIEGO 
 
 were many in number and all fought desperately. They 
 cleared the plaza, drove the people to their house-roofs, 
 then commenced to take possession of them and descend 
 the ladders and mercilessly murder the screaming, plead 
 ing women and the helpless children. The Jemez braves 
 within the village, aided by the old men and boys, ral 
 lied. They closed on the heartless enemy. The contest 
 became a hand to hand fight. What the Jemez could not 
 accomplish with arrows they now accomplished with 
 dirk and war club. No Yute that ever entered a house 
 got out of it alive. Those on the roofs were either 
 killed or driven to the plaza and from there ejected 
 without the village into the fiery furnace, as it were ; for 
 now they were compelled to fight the combined Jemez 
 army in the open. They saw, at once, that they were 
 defeated. They attempted to cut through the Jemez rear 
 and make their escape up the ravine. Thus, almost in 
 stantly, was the main fighting transferred to that di 
 vision of the Jemez braves that held the canon, the di 
 vision in charge of Don Diego himself. This division 
 stood up like a stone wall against the terrible onslaughts 
 of the enemy who were fighting the death that stared 
 them in the face. But a stone wall will stand only so 
 much pressure, then it yields ; so also with a division of 
 men. The Yutes broke through the Jemez lines; and 
 the tables for it were turned : it was let him save himself 
 who could ; or deal as much death to the enemy as possi 
 ble before his own end came. Don Diego was swept 
 away with the division. In vain did he try to rally his 
 braves. Back and back the enemy pushed the small 
 division who still remained alive around him faithful to 
 the Jemez gods. Finally they reached the place where
 
 DON DIEGO 177 
 
 the canon is " boxed." The water, when there is any, 
 falls over a broad precipice from the level mesa into the 
 canon ; the hard layer at the summit of the mesa protects 
 the less hard rock beneath, but the latter crumbles faster 
 than the former is worn away, hence a hooded projec- 1 
 tion. Into this roofed pit the enemy drove Don Diego 
 and his handful of men. On them they charged. But 
 the defenders flinched not. With their bows and arrows 
 they did good service till the last arrow was gone. Then 
 with well handled shields, they kept themselves from 
 being hit with the arrows dispatched at them, returning 
 the arrows in a most unfriendly manner as fast as they 
 chanced to get in their reach. Coming closer, the enemy 
 then charged upon them with their war clubs and In 
 dian axes. Fiercely and savagely they fought. The de 
 fenders and assailants went to the death together 
 gripped in each others' arms, with hands gripped to tufts 
 of hair and pieces of bloody scalps. Finally, of the 
 Jemez, Don Diego alone was left of the righting division 
 that had entered the canon, and of the Yutes only two 
 were left in fighting condition. The latter charged upon 
 the war-captain, who was so surrounded by the dead and 
 dying that he could hardly find space in which to act. 
 He hurled his war club at the foremost one as he rnshed 
 at him, but missed his aim, succeeding, however, in dis 
 patching him with his dirk-knife; but at the same mo 
 ment he received a wound in his side that staggered him. 
 The other Yute, taking advantage of the proffered in 
 stant, leaped upon him with a blood-curdling yell, seized 
 him by the hair, and, pressing him against the wall by 
 sheer force of weight against an exhausted man, he 
 raised his hand to deliver the fatal blow. It was a ter-
 
 178 DON DIEGO 
 
 rible moment. With one supreme effort, Don Diego 
 rallied all his strength. With one powerful blow of his 
 left fist, he struck his antagonist a stunning blow on the 
 point of the chin, and at the same time so raised his arm 
 as to ward off the intended knife thrust. With his 
 right hand he drove his dirk to his enemy's heart. The 
 battle was over. 
 
 Don Diego, the victor, was carried on the shoulders of 
 a grateful people into the village and to his home. But 
 it was no home to him; for what is home without the 
 wife.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 SAD and down-hearted, Don Diego resumed the role 
 of life in his native village again. He was tired 
 and he needed to recuperate from the slight wounds re 
 ceived in battle with the Yutes. But no respite was given 
 him. The storm was already begun from whose effects 
 the Pueblos never recovered. The seven years' " rain 
 of ashes " had already entered the arena of action. 
 There was no rest, no peace. It was tiger and lion, and 
 lion and tiger fighting to the death in an amphitheater; 
 Yutes, Apaches, Pueblos, Spaniards, Mexicans. 
 
 The scene at once transferred itself to the vicinity of 
 El Paso [Texas] ; then back to the Pueblo country. 
 
 Calling a halt in his retreat near where El Paso is 
 now situated, Governor Otermin began to plan for the 
 recovery of his lost province. Two things were to ac 
 complish this for him. What he could not accomplish in 
 arms, intrigue and " awful diseases " were to bring to 
 pass. 
 
 In the spring of 1681 some of the Indians were taken 
 sick of a dreadful disease and they were doctored 
 according to the Indian customs. Every Indian in 
 the village visited them. To use the Indian phrase, 
 " we visit our sick " ; and they did. In a fortnight, 
 worse than the plagues of Egypt had taken possession 
 of the land. Raving, the sick ones tossed about on 
 their sheepskin mats, bumped their heads against the 
 
 179
 
 i8o DON DIEGO 
 
 wall, rushed out into the streets, even ran to the river, 
 jumping into its cooling waters to abate the terrible 
 burning. The medicine men sprinkled the patients with 
 sacred meal and pollen, prayed to the gods, contorted 
 and otherwise mortified their own bodies, doctored the 
 sick with a crude massage, and occasionally gave them 
 root-tea to drink. While they were doing this, a house 
 full of nude men danced around the sick one in the cell- 
 like room till the room was hot and the air was foul. 
 When they had performed as long as they could stand it 
 in the ill-ventilated room, they would rush into the streets 
 and plaza and run hither and thither, uttering shriek 
 after shriek that would have made one think that the 
 demons of the lower world had taken possession of the 
 place. These were the night ceremonies. In the day 
 time hours, small " wickey-up " sweat-houses were made 
 in wigwam-fashion by the river's brink. These were 
 covered over with hides and blankets till practically air 
 tight. In the center of each were placed red hot rocks. 
 Around the heated piles, the " sick " were placed. Water 
 was thrown on the rocks till the room was filled with 
 hot steam. Then " scalding-hot," they threw the en 
 trance-way open to the respective sweat-houses and 
 plunged from it into the swift cold waters of the adjacent 
 stream, to reach the opposite bank in a death-chill from 
 which they never recovered. Some homes were obliter 
 ated. Of some pueblos, not a living soul was left. The 
 disease took its victims till there were no more to take. 
 It wore itself out: the Indian doctor-performances only 
 augmented the mortality list. 
 
 The disease was stayed. Then came the Devil's 
 Dance to prevent its coming again, as if such things
 
 DON DIEGO 181 
 
 would stay a plague. For four days and four nights, 
 each village that had people enough to dance, danced in 
 masked, ghost-dance fashion, shrieked, hallooed, yelled, 
 screamed, sprinkled the dusts of the gods, prayed, and 
 pounded themselves with clubs, pricked themselves with 
 cactus, gashed themselves with knives, thrust the fleshy 
 parts of arms and legs through and through with elk- 
 horn spikes, and mortified their bodies in every other 
 conceivable way known to the pueblos to appease the 
 wrath of their gods. 
 
 While disease was operating, other things were 
 progressing to bring about the death of great numbers of 
 those whom fate had spared. Through Spanish in 
 trigues, it was newsed throughout the pueblo region that 
 a considerable part of the pueblo villages were in favor 
 of the Spaniards. These villages were mostly in the 
 southeastern part of the middle Rio Grande country. 
 Rumor had it that they were Tiguas, Piros, and Tom- 
 Piros. 
 
 Hardly had the ravages of the pestilence ceased, when 
 the northern tribes were in a jealous rage. War prep 
 arations were on every hand in the Jemez and Queres 
 villages. The streets resounded with the war whoops. 
 The war dance filled every plaza. The big drums beat 
 out the long roll. The braves, leaping and jumping and 
 tossing their weapons high into the air, marched out of 
 the villages on their mission of destruction and slaugh 
 ter. Carefully they marched and so well planned were 
 their movements that the unsuspecting Pueblos that were 
 supposed to be friendly to the white people were taken 
 wholly by surprise. At each village the men had gone 
 to their daily work in the fields, all were hoeing and irri-
 
 i8a DON DIEGO 
 
 gating their corn. The women were busy in the villages 
 at their house work, singing the time away. Suddenly 
 there was a blood-curdling whoop; and instantly the 
 ceaseless massacre took possession of every quarter. 
 There was running, and screaming, and begging, and 
 pleading; but all in vain. The people of Piros all per 
 ished; the Tom-Piros were exterminated; a few of the 
 Tiguas escaped to Moqui.* 
 
 Triumphant, the victors returned laden with booty, 
 the Jemez to find their own villages sacked by the Yutes, 
 who had also simultaneously attacked Taos, Picuries, 
 and especially the Tehuas. With his braves, Don Diego 
 followed the marauding Yute band that had devastated 
 the Jemez country. By forced travel, he overtook them 
 in the Valle Grande country, the great valley between 
 the mountain peaks on the summit of the Jemez range. 
 Here taking them by surprise, he routed them, killing a 
 great number. He recaptured the Jemez prisoners, men, 
 women, and children, and sent them back to Jemez with 
 a division of his braves ; while he pursued the fleeing 
 enemy. He appeared before Taos, which was being be 
 sieged, and drove the Yutes from it ; but came near being 
 annihilated by the Taos, who mistook his warriors for 
 enemies. The Picuries had already routed the enemy 
 in a pitched battle. A few days later the combined 
 Pueblo army under Pope and Don Diego routed the re 
 maining Yutes that were attacking the Tehuas villages, 
 killing their chief and recapturing all the captives they 
 had taken. 
 
 * It must be understood that the author has, at times, used 
 the novelists' license. This description, however, is in the main 
 after Bancroft's History, vol. on Arizona and New Mexico, which 
 refers to the extermination of the Piros, etc.
 
 DON DIEGO 183 
 
 While these stirring events were going on in the north, 
 rumor had it that the Spaniards were making an entrada 
 to reconquer the country this is what the Spaniards 
 had planned to do as soon as they thought the condi 
 tions were favorable, and this seemed to be the suitable 
 opportunity. The entrada was actually in operation, 
 Governor Otermin was on his way northward to re 
 establish the Spanish authority in the land and to rebuild 
 his reputation, as governor. On December 6th, 1681, 
 he arrived at Ysleta, near the present sight of Albu 
 querque on this northern trip to reconquer the lost prov 
 ince. The Ysleta Indians submitted. But to the north 
 ward there was opposition. The Jemez and most of the 
 northern tribes were still in the throes of a gigantic 
 struggle with the Yutes; but the Queres were free. 
 These were quickly gathered by (Alonso) Catite to op 
 pose Otermin. But that cowardly general, having once 
 been defeated by the Indians, did not wish to engage in 
 a titanic struggle with them again, being surprised to 
 find so many Indians yet able to fight. Upon the ap 
 proach of the aborigines, he fled from the region, be 
 ginning his retreat January 2d, 1682. To keep the 
 Ysleta Indians that had submitted to his authority from 
 being exterminated by their angry brethren, he took them 
 with him to the number of three hundred and eighty- 
 five, burning their village. On reaching the vicinity of 
 El Paso, he founded the village of Ysleta, Texas, for his 
 Indian allies. Thus ended the first attempt to reconquer 
 New Mexico. 
 
 Thus the Spaniards were driven from the country a 
 second time ; but there was no peace for the noble Pueblo. 
 Hardly had the braves washed the paint from their
 
 1 84 DON DIEGO 
 
 bodies, when the Apaches and Navajos began to make 
 raids into the land of villages; and for years it necessi 
 tated the most careful vigilance to keep them from de 
 stroying all the Pueblo tribes. Jemez and Taos suffered 
 most. But Don Diego and Pope finally routed them and 
 drove them from the land. 
 
 Quiet seemed to take possession again, when Pope's 
 oppressive rule suddenly brought matters to a crisis. 
 He wanted to appropriate the wife of a Tanos governor. 
 The chief objected to the taking of his life partner; 
 whereupon Pope had him immediately put to death. At 
 once the Tanos and Tehuas rebelled. The Queres, Taos, 
 and Pecos fought them ; but were driven from their con 
 fines. The Tehuas and Tanos then deposed Pope en 
 tirely, and elected (Luis) Tupatu in his place; but again 
 in 1688 Pope was reflected ruler of all the Pueblos and 
 peace reigned. Pope, however, soon died, and Tupatu 
 was chosen to succeed him. 
 
 After the short breathing spell of peace, there fol 
 lowed civil wars again, the Yutes and Apaches also re 
 suming their raids. Many Pueblos were abandoned; 
 others scattered; and some changed to more naturally 
 fortified positions. The Tanos of San Cristobal and 
 San Lorenzo, south of Santa Fe, were forced by the 
 Queres, Pecos, and Apaches to abandon their villages 
 and go to the region of the San Juan. The remnants of 
 the other Tanos villages to the number of four thousand 
 went to Moqui ; and, overpowering the natives of Oraibe, 
 took possession of that village and hold it to this day. 
 Only a few of the Tiguas and Jemez survived, a few 
 more of the Tehuas and Taos. The Pecos, on account 
 of being more isolated to the east on the edge of the
 
 DON DIEGO 185 
 
 buffalo plains, fared better. The Queres within the walls 
 of Santa Fe, however, were safer from attack and suf 
 fered least of all. 
 
 Even the gods were not good to the Pueblos. For 
 four long years it rained not a drop in the Rio Grande 
 embayment, not a flake of snow even whitened the 
 mountain tops. The Rio Grande and confluences became 
 dry and crusted with white alkali salts. A great meet 
 ing was called to which all the Pueblos that were at peace 
 assembled. For days and days they danced the circular 
 ghost dance and mortified their bodies to make it rain. 
 The snakes of the region were collected and the snake 
 dance was performed on an elaborate scale; but no rain 
 fell. The people became frantic : would the gods not lis 
 ten to them? They danced themselves to complete ex 
 haustion, in many cases till death called them to she-pa-pa. 
 It was at this time that (Alonso) Catite, one of the arch 
 conspirators against the Spaniards, entered an estufa 
 in the dance- field to sacrifice to his gods, and there danced 
 so hard under the frenzied excitement that he " sud 
 denly burst " (to use the Spanish account), " all his in 
 testines coming out in the sight of many Indians." 
 (Louis) Cupavo, another leading Indian against the 
 Spaniards, like Catite, died by bursting his bowels in this 
 dance. For days the dancing continued ; but not a cloud 
 appeared even over the mountain tops. Finally the 
 dancing ceased, and the medicine fraternity went into 
 council. 
 
 The morning following ushered in a new set of scenes. 
 In an open, level spot near the dancing-field, the medi 
 cine men congregated the motley multitude. Then each 
 medicine man [cacique] gave the orders for the day in a
 
 1 86 DON DIEGO 
 
 basic, sale-crying tone in his own language to his respec 
 tive people. And such a medley, such a babel of voices; 
 but differing from that " confusion " of tongues in that 
 far-away biblical time : for all understood, and with will 
 ing hands proceeded to carry out the orders. Soon all 
 were busy from the little tots that could scarcely tod 
 dle to the aged, decrepit, whom the storms of life had 
 bent nearly to a prostrate position. From the neighbor 
 ing hills every bowlder and loose rock was collected and 
 carried into the valley. Here men were busy putting 
 them in position. A solid block in cylindrical form, 
 some thirty feet in diameter, was quickly erected to a 
 height of about twelve feet; a mixture of adobe clay, 
 blood, sand, salt, ashes, and chipped straw was the mor 
 tar used. It was near night when the structure was 
 completed, with upper face of mortar, so smoothed with 
 the hand that it might have been said to be a polished sur 
 face, which sloped gently eastward. 
 
 That night and the next night also, while the mortar 
 was hardening, all slept but the medicine men. These 
 were continually occupied in praying, sprinkling the sa 
 cred dusts and stroking medicine curios. On the second 
 day a solid rectangular structure, some five feet in length 
 and three feet in width, was raised to an elevation of 
 about forty inches in the center of the disk-like top of 
 the structure, they had previously made. This was made 
 of stone and mortar also; but the rocks composing it 
 were heated so that the mortar used in making it would 
 soon dry. When completed, its surface also sloped to 
 ward the morning sun, and was rubbed to a semi-pol 
 ished state on its surface. 
 
 Night again came and went without anything of note
 
 DON DIEGO 187 
 
 happening; but the following day found everybody busy. 
 The non-medicinal fraternity present gathered all the 
 combustible material that could be found in the vicinity 
 and put it in great stacks, where it could be easily obtained 
 when needed. The medicinal fraternity were also busy. 
 At the rising of the sun, they whitewashed the entire 
 structure they had erected till it was as white as the 
 whitest linen. When this had dried in the blazing sun, 
 they set about to draw symbolic designs on its surface. 
 On its cylindrical-lateral face, they drew scenes of the 
 hunt, the dance, and field scenes ; lightnings, snakes, and 
 clouds. On its upper disk-face they also drew symbols 
 of the sun and moon, the steps from earth to heaven, the 
 greater and lesser star deities, the household gods, the 
 various sand-paintings used in the secret religious per 
 formances, and a life-size painting of Pest-ya-sode, 
 attired in the full regalia of a Pueblo cacique and war- 
 chief. The sides of the central, raised portion they dec 
 orated with drawings of the animals considered sacred 
 by the pueblos. Then on its upper, sloping face, they 
 made a painting of the god of day, with red disk, from 
 which wavy, alternating yellow and red rays extended. 
 From these, " thunder darts " also extended toward the 
 semi-cardinal points. Then around the whole were 
 drawn the great footprints of the First Brother of the 
 village tribes. On the upper disk-surface of the column 
 were then placed the fetishes and things of medicine, in 
 cluding tobacco pouches made of the skins of white men. 
 Then over all were sprinkled the dusts of the gods, as 
 they prayed loud and earnestly to the deities. The 
 altar-making was thus completed. 
 
 Night came on, and the big drum proclaimed the be-
 
 i88 DON DIEGO 
 
 ginning of the culminating ceremonies. Instantly from 
 every side there was shouting, calling, whistling, as all 
 rushed forward from the darkness to join in the dance 
 in the light of the circular fire that encircled the altar- 
 column at a distance of some twenty feet from it. Hands 
 they clasped by entwining the fingers, and from left to 
 right in a great circle around the column and the fire, 
 they began to dance, first slowly, then with increasing 
 speed to the time of the music. Louder and louder and 
 more earnestly the chanters chanted; harder and harder 
 and faster and faster the drums were beaten ; and more 
 and more vigorously did the dancers stamp, as the hours 
 passed. After some two hours the hands were freed; 
 and, from that on, wild gesticulating and the wrying of 
 the face intensified the dance movement. The moon 
 rose high over the valley; the moon was at the full. 
 
 The next day it rained throughout the region ; and the 
 night following the water again ran in the Rio Grande.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE scene is transferred to another quarter. A 
 lone woman was seen to run hither and thither 
 over the parched desert sand trying to reach her home, 
 but had lost her way. Afraid of being captured, she hid 
 herself behind some obstruction at the least noise. Some 
 men on horseback chased her; but she escaped capture 
 by prostrating herself prone upon the brown earth, they 
 riding past her and on into a pifion wood. One day 
 passed, two days, and not a drop of water to drink or a 
 mouthful of anything to eat; for she was weaponless 
 and in the barren desert. She wore the skin off the 
 soles of her feet till she left blood in her tracks. Yet 
 when a lone horseman passed by near her she hid herself 
 in a gulch. 
 
 After satisfying herself that she was not longer pur 
 sued, she began to examine her surroundings carefully. 
 Oh, joy ! there was a sparkling spring of water. Quickly 
 she rushed to it; and, famishing, she thrust her mouth 
 and face into the water and took one big swallow of it, 
 but jerked her head up quickly: the water was strongly 
 mineralized with epsom salts. Though unfit to drink, she 
 bathed herself in a pool near by and also dipped her 
 clothes in it and then put them on while wet, conse 
 quently absorbing a small quantity of water through the 
 skin. While she was dressing, she saw a cactus grow 
 ing a little way off. Going to it, she found it covered 
 
 189
 
 190 DON DIEGO 
 
 with prickly pears of the sour type. Some of these ap 
 ples she quickly picked and, rubbing them in the sand 
 to remove the spines, soon had sufficient fruit to satisfy 
 her hunger; and, as the fruit contained a great quantity 
 of juicy-watery substance, her thirst was also allayed 
 for a time. 
 
 The sun had advanced far on his western journey the 
 next day when she awoke; for she had fallen asleep as 
 soon as she had satisfied her hunger. She arose; ate 
 some more cactus apples; and taking off a part of her 
 mania dress, also tied up some of the fruit in it and 
 took it with her. All the rest of the day she traveled in 
 the burning heat, arriving at sundown at the identical 
 spot from which she had started in the morning. She 
 was evidently lost and she now knew that she was. 
 Seeing that she was lost, she sat down and cried, as is 
 the custom of womankind. 
 
 That night, the next night and the next day she re 
 mained at this place and ate of the sour cactus fruit till 
 it was all gone and her mouth and lips were all sore on 
 account of the acid nature of the pear. 
 
 Night again came and she tried to travel eastward 
 toward her home, using the North Star as a guide; and 
 in this she had some success : for she did not return to 
 the bitter spring again. Morning brought her to another 
 spring, a spring of good fresh water. From this she 
 drank till her thirst was quenched. Here she also found 
 some cactus fruit, which proved to be of the sweet 
 flavored kind. So she satisfied her hunger and also 
 gathered some of the fruit to take with her. Fain would 
 she have also carried some water with her if she had
 
 DON DIEGO 191 
 
 had an Olla. Resting a few minutes, she again resumed 
 her journey toward where she had seen the sun rise. 
 
 As she was slowly wending her way, she casually 
 picked up a stick, shaped somewhat like the rabbit-clubs 
 she had used in the sacred hunts. As she was carrying 
 it, a jack rabbit jumped out of a clump of bush ahead 
 of her; and, instantly, before she had had time to think, 
 she had hurled the club and broken the animal's neck 
 with it. She then had a meal of raw meat; she was 
 too hungry to stop to make a fire ; for making a fire was 
 a slow process in those times. Again she fell asleep. 
 
 Sometime in the night she was rudely awakened by 
 something running over her. Looking about, she saw 
 many eyes shining in the darkness. At once she took 
 in the situation. Some coyotes having smelled the fresh 
 meat that had been left of the rabbit, were here to get 
 their share of it; and under the circumstances, she 
 thought it best to let them have it, she fleeing the place 
 to keep from making a meal for them herself. Before 
 she had gone far, however, she found that the whole 
 pack was following her, the rabbit only sharpening their 
 appetites. She broke into a brisk run, but the beasts 
 soon gained on her. Twice they snapped at her at such 
 close quarters that they tore her dress. At the same 
 time other coyotes also began to yelp in the immediate 
 vicinity in the direction she was running, evidently other 
 wolves coming to get a mouthful of the expected break 
 fast. Suddenly a juniper tree appeared in view. With 
 one great effort she reached it and clambered upon its 
 lowest limb just out of reach, as the first wolves came up 
 and began to snap at her. She took a long breath while
 
 192 DON DIEGO 
 
 the wolves howled. She felt herself quite safe, when 
 suddenly the limb cracked, snapped off, it being old and 
 dead. She seized a limb above her with both hands, but 
 before she could climb up to it her support left her and 
 she found herself swinging in mid air, with angry wolves 
 surging and charging beneath in vain attempts to be the 
 first to tear out a portion of her flesh when she fell ; one 
 of the wolves jumped so high that he succeeded in tear 
 ing a rent in the lower part of her dress and another 
 wolf cut the skin on her left foot. But she had many 
 days yet to live. When a virgin, she had practiced the 
 game which country schoolboys generally term " skin 
 ning a cat." 
 
 At this moment she brought this knowledge into good 
 use, of how to lift and pitch her body. The limb she now 
 had a firm hold on was three inches through and was 
 green and strong. Over it by pure muscular strength 
 she pitched her body in a movement reverse to that of 
 diving. Then she climbed upon the limb and sat on it 
 over against the tree. She now was safe from the 
 wolves let them howl. 
 
 She had sat on the limb only a short space of time, when 
 she was apprised of the fact that she was trespassing. 
 It was the home of a large eyed screech owl ; and he pro 
 ceeded to advise the intruder of the fact in commanding 
 tones. An Indian is deathly afraid of an owl. They 
 believe that when it hoots it is calling someone to die. 
 That it is itself " death," is believed by many tribes. At 
 the first screech of this bird, Geetlu, for the wandering 
 woman was the lost Geetlu, almost lost her hold on the 
 tree and limb. She, however, gained a firm hold again ; 
 and, gritting her teeth, sat there trembling between the
 
 DON DIEGO 193 
 
 hereditary death-bird and the certain death beneath her, 
 should she fall. 
 
 Morning came; the coyotes disappeared; and she re 
 sumed her journey still to the eastward, she thought. 
 Toward night she saw great trees lying on the ground 
 ahead of her; and, having killed another rabbit and also 
 a sage hen, she decided to make a fire and broil some 
 of the meat, then to sleep by the fire at night so that the 
 wild animals would not molest her. She quickened her 
 pace at the sight of the prostrate trees. It made her 
 think of the great firs of the Jemez plateau. As she 
 proceeded, she also saw a small stream of water ahead 
 of her. She came to the first giant trunk that lay in 
 her path and attempted to remove the outer bark to get 
 some of the inner, finer fibers with which to kindle the 
 fire. When to her surprise the tree was found to be 
 solid rock. She was in the petrified forest. Around 
 her lay the trees of another earth-age, likely having been 
 submerged in a lake of siliceously saturated water that 
 was kept heated by volcanic ejections and earth-crust 
 disturbances of that far-away time till they were turned 
 to stone. She had heard the myth about these trees in 
 her home land: of how the goddess Arizona brought a 
 curse on the place and turned the trees to rock; because 
 she once tried to light a fire in the region and, it having 
 rained that day so that everything was damp, she could 
 not get a thing to burn. Wearing out her patience, she 
 mounted a large fallen tree and blowing a hissing breath 
 over the region, exclaimed : " From now on for all 
 days and all nights, there shall not a piece of this giant 
 timber ever be burned." Instantly it all fell down, rock 
 as it is to-day.
 
 194 DON DIEGO 
 
 While Geetlu was gazing absent-mindedly at this freak 
 of nature, her eye suddenly caught a glimpse of some 
 moving object on the horizon. Quickly she hid herself 
 between two of the huge trunks, throwing herself flat 
 on the ground as she had done previously when she 
 thought she was pursued. She had not been concealed 
 long when she heard voices; and, from their increasing 
 in volume, she could easily tell that the people who were 
 talking were approaching the very spot where she was. 
 She gathered herself into a stooping position and looked 
 over the broken edge of one of the trees. They were 
 Apache warriors, she knew. They were tracking her. 
 With a bound, she leaped from her place of concealment 
 and made off in the direction opposite from which the 
 warriors were coming. With a whoop, the whole band 
 joined in the chase. The lone woman screamed and ran 
 like a demon, but the warriors gained upon her. Some 
 of them also swung around in a circle to her front to 
 prevent her entering a bushy wood that covered the sides 
 of a small ravine. Exhausting her strength and seeing 
 that she could not escape, she threw herself on her back 
 on the ground and breathlessly waited to be put to death. 
 But the warriors wished not to kill her. They seized 
 upon her person and, tying her hands, motioned for her 
 to accompany them; but she refused to arise and also 
 moved her head to one side for them to decapitate her: 
 she was a Pueblo and cared not to be an Apache slave. 
 But they wished not to put her to death then, so forced 
 her to accompany them. 
 
 It was over a long and strange trail they took her. 
 The Apaches were homeward bound. They crossed the 
 desert area and entered what is now known as the Black
 
 DON DIEGO 195 
 
 Mesa Forest Reserve. Thence on southward past the 
 site of the present town of Sho Low and on into what 
 is now the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, following, 
 roughly, the same route that Coronado had followed in 
 1540 and the route of the present Holbrook-Fort Apache 
 wagon road. Reaching the edge of the Black Mesa, 
 Geetlu's feet gave completely out on account of the " mal 
 pais " (bad country), lava covering the country there. 
 So the warriors halted a day and let her rest. In the 
 meantime they killed several deer for food. Also from 
 the skin of one of the animals they made a pair of moc 
 casins for the captive. The next day they resumed their 
 journey. Soon the surging waters of the North Fork 
 of White River could be distinctly heard in the deep 
 canon where it makes its bold bend southward on its 
 journey from the White Mountains and Green Point to 
 join its master stream. On they journeyed with the 
 river to the left. The valley broadened, as did the 
 bench they were on; and the timber became less tall as 
 they descended. Over tavertine deposits that had a hol 
 low sound as they walked over them, they wended a 
 part of their way. Ruined villages of former Pueblo 
 greatness were passed over now and then, some in horse 
 shoe shape, some in rectangular form. At last they 
 reached the forks of the river where Fort Apache is now 
 situated. It was night when they arrived at the Indian 
 settlement there and all, even the captive, slept soundly. 
 Just as the first streak of light entered the valley, 
 Geetlu awoke. At first she could not recollect where she 
 was and how she got there. They were in a low 
 tepee thatched with rushes, cat-tail flags, and yucca leaves. 
 Near her the household accouterments of the family were
 
 196 DON DIEGO 
 
 promiscuously piled; while around the central, low fire 
 the inmates of the wigwam were yet sleeping. She 
 arose and went to the river and bathed herself, then 
 returned to take a view of the surrounding country. 
 And she found it more beautiful than she had expected. 
 To the eastward, the sun, the fond object of Indian wor 
 ship in that southwestern country, was apparently resting 
 his fiery chin on the snow-covered peaks of Mounts Ord 
 and Thomas of the White Mountains ; while he was send 
 ing his fingered rays down the valley of the East Fork 
 of White River to the hills beyond where the observer 
 was standing. To the north were bisected and tongue- 
 like, red and yellow walled mesas, capped with black 
 basaltic lava. To the south for a distance of forty miles 
 stretched the black-capped, lava-covered Nantan mesa. 
 To the south west ward ran the main trunk of W'hite River, 
 amid perpendicular, basaltic walls to join its master 
 stream, the Black- Salt River that goes on south west ward 
 to be overcome by the Gila desert. To the westward 
 across a flat area of some miles in extent, extending on 
 westward past the southern tongue-like prolongation of 
 the Mogollon mesa at this point, loomed up in the back 
 ground the Kelley Butte series of volcanic plugs, now 
 quiet and picturesque. 
 
 Absorbed in viewing the scenery, she was startled by 
 a woman speaking to her, calling her by her own name. 
 Then she remembered that she had tried to make her 
 captors understand that her name was Geetlu and that she 
 was a Jemez Indian, and by her motions they had, at 
 least, understood what her name was. The woman mo 
 tioned to her in the sign language to prepare breakfast, 
 first giving her a basket and by motions making her un-
 
 DON DIEGO 197 
 
 derstand that she must first get some wood. This she 
 readily understood and went and got the wood and, later, 
 the breakfast. 
 
 After the breakfast was served, the men eating all they 
 wished, the women and girls waiting and then eating 
 what was left, she was made to understand that she was 
 to be the wife of one of the men, a man named Kilpe. 
 He had but one eye, was rather old, was quite wrinkled, 
 and had a large, disfiguring scar covering the greater 
 part of the left side of his face. His complexion was 
 dark. He was one of the laziest men of the tribe, an in 
 veterate gambler and a confirmed drunkard. He had 
 been married many times, but was then without a wife, 
 as he had so mistreated his women that no Apache would 
 now sell his daughter or relative to him. But this cap 
 tive had no friends ; he had the price ; and she was his. 
 
 She saw the transfer made, saw her captors receive 
 the trinkets sufficient to cover her purchase ; and, though 
 women were not bought and sold at Jemez, she under 
 stood the transaction. There was nothing left but to be 
 the wife of her purchaser. Every ounce of her rebelled 
 but it was useless. She had not a friend in the region ; 
 and open rebellion meant the stake ; possibly at some time 
 she might get a chance to run away from the place. Re 
 luctantly she followed him to his hovel, carrying his be 
 longings in a basket at her back. 
 
 Arriving at the tepee, he made her understand by signs 
 that she was to gather some wood from a near-by tim 
 bered district. This being done, he then compelled her 
 to go to his cornfield and gather corn for him and carry 
 it to the tepee. She then carried more wood and some 
 water and prepared the evening meal. She afterwards sat
 
 198 DON DIEGO 
 
 in a corner of the tepee with her back to him while he 
 and his friends ate every morsel of food she had cooked. 
 Then to round out the first day of married life to show 
 his spouse that she was his slave, he gave her a thorough 
 beating. Thus the days came and went. And years. 
 
 A few days after Geetlu entered Apachedom, some 
 women invited her to go with them to gather mescal 
 [Agava, related to the century plant]. Willing to do 
 anything to get away from her cruel husband, she went 
 with them. They left the camp at the forks of the river 
 and went northwestward through the Kelley Butte gap 
 to Cedar creek by Sugar-Loaf peak near the confluence 
 of this creek with Carrixo creek. From there they jour 
 neyed southwestward over the mesa tops till they came 
 to the Carrixo canon itself, opposite the warm springs, 
 which gush up from the canon depths and form warm 
 pools for the wild ducks and geese to bathe in in winter. 
 
 Here they threw their basket-loads down ; for that is 
 all there is of camping with an Apache. Then they set 
 about to gather some of the mescal tubers. Throughout 
 one whole day they gathered these from far and near, 
 from mesa ridge, and hog-back, the new woman being 
 compelled to carry the tubers to the place of camping. 
 That night they slept on the bare ground, digging out a 
 hollow for the back and hips to lie in. 
 
 The next morning Geetlu arose more tired than when 
 she lay down, but another hard day's work was before 
 her. With the other women, she carried to the camp 
 all the fallen trees and dead limbs she could find. Then 
 while the other women rested, she was compelled to dig 
 a pit in which to make a fire to cook the tubers. She 
 got the pit completed. Then for a few minutes she got
 
 DON DIEGO 199 
 
 a chance to rest, as she did not know how to make a fire 
 by the crude method used by the Apaches. This she 
 afterwards learned. As she sat there and rested, one 
 of the Indian women took a cedar " spinning stick " 
 some two feet long and, producing a dry mescal stalk, 
 began to drill rapidly on its upper face, so that the drill 
 would cut through one edge of the stalk as it proceeded 
 in its downward movement. Rapidly and more rapidly 
 she drilled, the drilled particles falling on some fine, very 
 dry inner fibers of cedar bark. Soon the released par 
 ticles began to smoke; and, by the time she had drilled 
 through the stalk, particles of live coals could be seen 
 among the drillings. The woman then vigorously and 
 cautiously blew her breath on the material till it blazed 
 - the whole process taking less than seven minutes. 
 Soon they had a huge fire. Then there were other things 
 to do. 
 
 Rocks were carried in great numbers and piled on the 
 burning mass. While the fire burned, Geetlu and another 
 woman went to the creek to get some water, each carry 
 ing a five-gallon tus at the back, a strap passing from 
 each side of it across the forehead; the tus, or water 
 jug, was a basket woven in jug- shape, it being made 
 water-tight by being daubed both within and without 
 with pinon pitch. They came to the brink of the canon 
 in which the tiny stream ran; down it they went for 
 a mile or more till they found a place where they could 
 descend. Then down over the rough-edged rocks they 
 clambered for five hundred feet in vertical section to the 
 water's edge. They then quenched their thirst first by 
 drinking of the cooling waters from a gourd cup. They 
 dipped the jugs in the current where it was deep enough
 
 200 DON DIEGO 
 
 to cover them, and lifting them out of the water, made 
 stoppers of hay and small willow brush and corked their 
 respective tus. The next thing was to put the jug in 
 position at the back for carrying. This Geetlu could not 
 do, though she tried time and again to do so. The other 
 woman, who had already put her jug in position, had 
 started to leave, when, on looking back, she noticed 
 the predicament her companion was in. So she came and 
 gave the needed aid. As she did so, she noticed that 
 Geetlu was trembling from exhaustion; but she said not 
 a word. They started to climb. The Apache woman, 
 who was called Bedessendaha by her people, soon reached 
 the summit of the mesa ; but Geetlu was yet only barely 
 started. The load was more than she could bear up such 
 a steep and rocky road. The other woman set her jug 
 down and returned to Geetlu and relieved her of her 
 burden, carrying it up the steep incline herself. When 
 they had reached the level mesa top, Bedessendaha and 
 Geetlu sat down and looked at each other as they rested ; 
 for as yet the latter could not converse in the Apache 
 language. As they thus sat there, the Apache woman 
 made Geetlu understand by signs that she must not work 
 so hard. Being rested, they returned to the camp, and 
 the rest of the day Geetlu was not called upon to do any 
 work. 
 
 The work of preparing the mescal went on. The fire 
 burned down till only live coals and red hot rock were 
 left in the pit. On these, wet grass was quickly placed 
 and on it the tubers were piled. Then wet grass over all, 
 then rock again, then earth to a thickness of about six 
 inches. Over all this wood was piled and ignited. This 
 being done, the women rested till after the sun had gone
 
 DON DIEGO 201 
 
 down. Then their husbands joined them and all danced 
 the night away, dancing around the fire while the m-escal 
 baked. Morning came, the mescal was removed from 
 the rock- furnace to cool, while the dancers snatched a 
 little sleep. 
 
 About the middle of the forenoon they awoke; ate a 
 breakfast of dried venison and mescal mescal thus 
 baked tastes somewhat like squash that has been slightly 
 burned in the cooking. After the hurried breakfast, 
 the women packed up the things; put them in their bas 
 kets together with the cooked mescal; swinging the 
 baskets to their backs, they set out for home, the men 
 following leisurely without a burden of any kind. 
 
 They arrived at the encampment at the forks of the 
 river in due time, tired, very tired. For a day they 
 rested, all feasting on the mescal. As soon as rested, 
 they finished gathering the corn. The corn being jerked 
 and piled, the ripest was husked, dried in the sun, shelled, 
 and buried in a small pit for future use. The green 
 corn was piled by itself when jerked; and when the husk 
 ing of the ripe corn was completed, it was baked in a 
 pit, similar to the mescal baking. Winter was now at 
 hand and the next thing was to re-thatch the tepees; the 
 medicine man had them moved as far from water and 
 wood as possible so that the squaws would be sure to be 
 kept busy in the non-agricultural season. 
 
 As the time passed on, Geetlu learned considerable of 
 the Apache language; and, with the woman who had 
 befriended her when going for the mescal, she spent 
 many pleasant moments, while grinding corn, making In 
 dian whisky, skinning and tanning hides, and broiling 
 venison, as their husbands came home laden with the
 
 202 DON DIEGO 
 
 spoils of the hunt. Occasionally, they had a spare mo 
 ment to themselves, when their husbands were engaged 
 in the chase or off gambling with other men. At these 
 times Geetlu and her companion and friend, Bedessen- 
 daha, joined the other women; and like all good Apache 
 squaws they played the game of Setdilth, as they gos 
 siped, betting on the game, of course, as all good In 
 dians do, betting their wearing material and household 
 wears and personal trinkets. 
 
 This game, then as now, was played by the women 
 only. The requisites of this game are the game field 
 including its rock circle, the counting sticks, and the 
 three setdilth sticks used in playing the game. 
 
 The game field is a circular, leveled spot of ground 
 some six or seven feet in diameter, inclosed in a circle 
 of forty cobble-stones; these are arranged in groups of 
 ten stones each, a group being placed opposite each of the 
 semi-cardinal directions. These rocks are the tallies ; an 
 entire circle of forty tallies constitute a game. In ad 
 dition to the tally-cobbles, a large flat rock occupies the 
 center of the field. On this are hurled the setdilth sticks 
 on their mission of chance, as is described later. 
 
 The counting sticks are small sticks of any sort, a 
 straw or a blade of grass answering for the purpose just 
 as well. They are used in marking the tallies gained. 
 One of these is placed between the last rock-tally and 
 the next cobble in the direction the player is moving. 
 
 The setdilth sticks are three in number. Each is a 
 foot in length and the half of a green limb or a willow 
 shrub of about an inch in diameter. The bark is left 
 on the rounded surface; its split face is marked with 
 charcoal in a broad diagonal line across its center. When
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 203 
 
 used in playing, these sticks are all held in the hand in 
 vertical position at the same time and are hurled edge 
 wise upon the center rock to fall whichever way the 
 fates may direct. 
 
 The Setdilth Game Field, showing the rock-circle and the counting 
 sticks in place. The Setdilth sticks in the inclosed space have 
 so fallen that the thrower received two points. 
 
 The faces of the setdilth sticks that are up after the 
 sticks have fallen decide the points gained in the throw. 
 If one split face is up, it counts two points; if two split 
 faces, three points; if all three split faces, five points; 
 and if three bark-covered faces are up, ten points and the 
 player has another throw of the sticks.
 
 204 DON DIEGO 
 
 Marking the points gained. Usually four persons 
 play this game. The opposite players are partners. In 
 playing, the opponents move the counting sticks around 
 the stone circle in opposite directions, all starting at the 
 same point and each moving her own counting stick, 
 whether she has a partner or not. An equal number of 
 rocks in the circle are counted for the points gained ; and 
 the counting stick is moved forward to the position be 
 tween the last rock-tally gained and the next cobble 
 stone in the direction the player is moving. Should a 
 counting stick chance to be placed in the space between 
 two rocks that an opponent's counting stick is occupy 
 ing, the opponent's counting stick, that is, the first one 
 occupying the space, is taken up ; and its owner must be 
 gin the game anew. When a counting stick has marked 
 forty successive tallies, that is, has completed the entire 
 circle, its owner has the game and the staked property. 
 
 Geetlu watched them play this game a great deal be 
 fore she could be persuaded to attempt to play it herself. 
 Finally one day Bedessendaha persuaded her to be her 
 partner. So they commenced the game. Geetlu did the 
 best she could; but lost and caused her partner to lose 
 also. They had staked some turquois ; and the opponents 
 won them. Geetlu felt very sorry about this loss; for 
 the beads were hers, the only thing she had left to re 
 member her childhood home and the husband she longed 
 for but never expected to see. 
 
 That night she lay awake and studied the game. 
 Morning came and she had every move planned. In the 
 hours following, she practiced throwing the sticks till 
 she could throw them as planned. That afternoon she 
 went again to the little sheltered, grassy spot where the
 
 DON DIEGO 205 
 
 other women were already gambling on the game. As 
 she approached the place, a smile spread over the faces 
 of the players; for they thought that now since she had 
 been induced to play they would get all her private be 
 longings. 
 
 " Come, play," shouted a chorus of voices. " Let us 
 play first with you," said two of the players, Bent and 
 Lupe, who were already seated in position facing each 
 other across the stone circle. 
 
 Geetlu looked at them a moment ; then said : " I do 
 not wish to play; but if Bedessendaha will be my partner 
 again, I will try it." 
 
 They sat down and went to playing, Geetlu playing 
 last. The game was brisk from the start. The first 
 player was Bent. She succeeded in getting three succes 
 sive throws the first time, throwing the sticks so as to 
 have the rounding-barked faces up twice, thus making 
 ten points each time. The last throw she succeeded in 
 making only two points, in all, twenty -two; and her 
 counting stick was moved forward to mark the tallies of 
 the same. Geetlu's partner played next; and, out of 
 luck, received only two tallies. Then Lupe played. She 
 had better luck than her associate. She succeeded in 
 making twenty-five tallies. It was now Geetlu's turn. 
 As she took up the sticks, several women sneered. But 
 the player paid no heed to this. She carefully placed her 
 sticks in position and hurled them, succeeding in getting 
 two successive throws of ten tallies each. Then, as a 
 consequence, she was still entitled to one more throw. 
 Again she carefully arranged the sticks, this time in an 
 altogether different position. She needed two more 
 tallies or five more tallies " to send one of her opponents
 
 206 DON DIEGO 
 
 home," to use the Indian phrase. She decided to use the 
 two, and so planned that she succeeded in getting the re 
 quired tallies in the throw. Back to the starting point 
 she hurled Bent's counting stick, thus causing that one 
 to start over again. Bent played next. She succeeded 
 in getting twelve tallies, ten with the first throw and two 
 with the second. Bedessendaha next played. She re 
 ceived ten tallies the first throw. Consequently she 
 landed her counting stick in space twelve and hurled 
 Bent's stick, that occupied that space, back to the start 
 ing point again. She had another throw in which she 
 made two tallies and, therefore, moved her counting stick 
 up to space fourteen. Lupe then played and, out of luck, 
 received only two points, moving her stick up to space 
 twenty-seven. Again Geetlu cast the sticks. Carefully 
 she arranged them, gripped them tightly and hurled them 
 on the center of the flat rock, from which they bounced 
 and fell with all the white faces up, giving her five points. 
 " You coyote," was heard to be uttered by several women, 
 as she moved her stick forward to space twenty-seven 
 and throwed Lupe's counting stick back to the place of 
 beginning. Again Bent played; but could not reach 
 Bedessendaha's stick, as fourteen tallies could not be ob 
 tained with two throws, using combinations of two, five, 
 and ten; neither could she reach Geetlu's stick with two 
 tens and another throw of two or five. Her only hope, 
 therefore, was to make as many successive throws of ten 
 tallies each as possible. She did her best and received 
 thirty-two tallies, three tens and a two. Bedessendaha 
 played next. She got two throws, a ten and a five, mak 
 ing her twenty-nine points, and from her position, also 
 making herself safe from Lupe's stick; no successive
 
 DON DIEGO 207 
 
 series of throws would tally twenty-nine. Lupe then 
 played and got twenty-two points. Geetlu picked up the 
 setdilth sticks and looked at them carefully. If lucky, 
 she could possibly get her forty tallies completed ; but her 
 colleague was not out yet and to beat in the game they 
 must both get to the goal ahead of their opponents. She 
 had it in her head to " whitewash " them. So she 
 thought best to do what damage she could and still re 
 main in the game. She gripped the sticks and hurled 
 them, securing the three white faces and the consequent 
 five points. She then moved her counting stick forward 
 to space thirty-two and threw Bent's tally stick back to 
 the starting place a second time, as some by-standers 
 hissed : " The wolves ought to have eaten her." Bent 
 played next but made only five tallies. Bedessendaha 
 then cast a ten and a two, thus reaching a goal and hav 
 ing one tally to spare. Lupe again played receiving ten 
 tallies the first throw and five the second, thus throwing 
 Geetlu's tally stick back to the starting point again, as 
 all the women cheered, she placing her tally stick finally 
 in space thirty-seven. Carefully, Geetlu again played. 
 She blew a breath in prayer upon the sticks, gripped them 
 tightly, arranged and rearranged them, then cast them on 
 their mission of chance four successive times, receiving 
 ten tallies each time and thereby winning the game. 
 
 She was so interested that she saw not the blackened 
 faces around her. As she threw her counting stick 
 " home," more than twenty women seized her by the hair, 
 tore her clothes off of her, and beat her shamefully. And 
 that night, Kilpe, her husband, also pounded her because 
 she had beaten Lupe, his sister. She never played an 
 other setdilth game.
 
 aoS DON DIEGO 
 
 It was a long time before she joined the " social circle " 
 again. It was at night time. The performance was to 
 be the moccasin game, called Kah by the Apaches. They 
 had been playing it many nights. Her husband was one 
 of the leading players ; and, on account of his talking so 
 much about it with the men who lounged about his tepee, 
 she wished to see it. It was somewhat near nine o'clock, 
 postmeridian time, as the white man reckons duration, 
 when she joined the spectators and players of the night. 
 They had all gathered in a circle around a fire, which 
 served both for warmth and light. The players were 
 divided into two groups, or " sides," as that term is 
 used in civilized games. One group was called " birds," 
 the other " beasts." The " birds " were the players, 
 whichever side that happened to be. Only four played 
 on a side, but in case they represented a clan of Indians, 
 the staked property might include all or practically all the 
 belongings of the respective clans concerned, as was 
 the case in this instance. When playing, one of the 
 groups of players occupied the west, the other the east 
 part of the circle, which then assumed the form of an 
 ellipse. When all was ready, a captured, old, Spanish 
 blanket was propped up between the " beasts " and the 
 " birds," or was placed over the " birds " to screen their 
 movements. The " birds " then dug seven holes some 
 six inches deep in the ground and in one of these they 
 hid a moccasin containing a small white bone. Then 
 they filled all the holes with leaves and leveled all over. 
 Finally they removed the blanket and the " beasts " be 
 gan to guess ; the game was on the same principal as the 
 " chuck-luck " game of the English walnut shells and the 
 pea, except it was more complicated. It is a straight
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 209 
 
 game of guess. The " beasts " had game clubs, sticks 
 somewhat resembling a cane. As they sang: 
 
 MOCCASIN GAME SONG 
 
 ;= 104. 
 
 f*i 
 
 I \=-4 
 
 - e 
 
 yi. 
 
 ya - e yl... ya - e yi. 
 
 H -i H + t 
 
 P^=3=^--j-^=;- 4- 
 
 ,Q_ 
 
 yi - e 
 
 ya - e i... e ha na... 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 " Yah e yi, 
 
 Yah e yi, 
 
 Ain-ne ah, 
 
 Ain-ne ah, 
 
 Hay, hay, ah hay ah ah ah." 
 
 their leader pointed with his club to the hole where he 
 thought the bone was. If he was right, they again sang 
 the song vigorously, as an umpire gave their tally keeper 
 a ribbon-like leaf of the shoe-string yucca plant ; the tally 
 keeper of each of the groups had ten of these shoe 
 strings at the beginning of the game. 
 
 For a long time Geetlu looked on but could not un 
 derstand how it was played. Finally she asked Bedes- 
 sendaha to explain it to her. " I will explain it, sister," 
 said Bedessendaha. " It is this way : There are two 
 ways of playing the game : with the moccasin, and with 
 a buried pebble ; the last is known as the dirt type. These 
 are the rules used in playing the game: 
 
 " i. If in the preliminary or false motion movement 
 the pebble or moccasin is uncovered, it counts one tally
 
 THE MOCCASIN GAME FIELD OF THE DIRT TYPE 
 
 Map showing the various arrangements of the moccasin game field of the dirt type, 
 used in playing one game at the camp of Chief R 6 the night of January 29, 1902. 
 
 The broken lines indicate the false or preliminary motions. 
 
 H shows the line where the pebble should be hid. 
 
 C shows where the pebble is hid. 
 
 S shows the final stroke. It is represented by a continuous line. 
 
 In 2, 8, 10, 13, 17, 19 the pebble was uncovered in the preliminary motion. In i, 3, 
 4. 6, 7, 9, ii, 12, 14, 15, 16, 1 8, and 20 it was missed both in the preliminary 
 and in the final strokes. In 5, it was uncovered in the final stroke. This was 
 the only one which counted points for the searchers. In this case they got the 
 pebble and took it to their own game field. The beasts at the beginning of the 
 game then turned " birds " and were finally the winners of the game. 
 
 210
 
 DON DIEGO 211 
 
 for the side which has buried it, that is, for the 
 ' birds.' 
 
 "2. If the pebble is located at the final stroke, not the 
 preliminary strokes, of the 'mystic stick (game club),' 
 it counts one point for the ' beasts,' and that side takes 
 the pebble to its own game field. The other side then 
 becomes ' beasts ' and begins to guess. 
 
 "3. If the pebble is not located in the final stroke, 
 nor the preliminary stroke of the ' mystic stick,' it counts 
 one tally for the ' birds.' And that side retains it and 
 hides it again. 
 
 " 4. There is always one less false motion of the 
 ' mystic stick ' than there are possible places for the peb 
 ble or moccasin to be hid ; for example, in case there are 
 nine holes in any one of which the stone may be hid, 
 eight preliminary strokes of the * mystic stick ' may be 
 made, and two must be made. 
 
 " 5. There are always two tally keepers and an um 
 pire; one of the tally keepers represents each opposing 
 party. At the beginning of the game each of these tally 
 keepers has a number of bear grass blades, ' Indian shoe 
 strings,' corresponding to the number of tallies decided 
 upon to constitute a game. When a side looses, the 
 tally keeper of that side gives a blade of grass to his 
 opponent tally keeper. When all the ' Indian shoe 
 strings ' have passed to the possession of any one side, 
 that side has won the game." 
 
 As they were thus talking, the first game closed; the 
 group, to which Geetlu's husband, Kilpe, belonged, won 
 the game and swept in the staked property. It was then 
 proposed to play the game again, using the dirt type. 
 Again, the property was staked, the umpire sitting on
 
 212 DON DIEGO 
 
 the pile of trinkets. The winners of the previous game 
 kept the " mystic pebble." This they buried beneath 
 one of several ridges of dirt they had ridged up in the 
 game field. This being done and the dirt all smoothed 
 over, a member of the " beasts " came to the game field ; 
 and after making several false motions with his stick 
 while he argued and joked with his opponents to see if 
 he could decide from their actions where the valuable 
 pebble was, he struck with a vigorous thrust, the spot in 
 which he had decided the stone was. He had lost and 
 his opponents sang the moccasin song and jumped for 
 joy. 
 
 Again and again they hid the pebble ; and the " beasts " 
 lost till nine tally ribbons had passed over to the pos 
 session of the " birds " ; only one more, and the win 
 ning side had the game. The excitement reached a high 
 pitch. The " birds " sang and crow-hopped ; so did the 
 " beasts." All stroked their fetishes, prayed to their 
 gods, and sprinkled cat-tail-flag pollen toward the semi- 
 cardinal points. The air rang with the wild shouts. 
 The leader of the " beasts " struck and won. A roar 
 like the whizzing of a mighty wind before a raging 
 storm, filled the valley, as the " beasts " became " birds " 
 and the " birds " became " beasts." The tables were 
 turned. Kilpe's group of players lost and losjt, lost 
 seventeen successive tallies. They had but one tally rib 
 bon left. Would the gods favor them? Earnestly they 
 prayed to their gods and sprinkled the sacred pollen to 
 the four winds. Kilpe took the divining stick and by 
 every means known to an Apache, he tried to find out 
 beforehand where the pebble was buried in a " potato " 
 mound over which eight small furrows had been made
 
 DON DIEGO 213 
 
 with the hand, four crossing the other four; the pebble 
 was buried beneath one of the places where the lines 
 bisected. After using every other artifice he knew, he 
 tried the false-motion scheme; and in this preliminary 
 movement he uncovered the pebble and thereby lost the 
 game. His opponents shrieked for joy and tripped in 
 baboon fashion over the grassy plot, as the staked prop 
 erty was turned over to them. Besides many other 
 things, Kilpe had staked his and also his wife's wear 
 ing apparel on the game and, loosing, took his off and 
 gave them to his opponents, being dressed then only in 
 breech-cloth. But Geetlu fled the place, followed by her 
 angry husband, angry because he had lost and because 
 his wife had publicly disobeyed his orders. 
 
 Arriving at the tepee, he beat her unmercifully; he 
 even accused her of being the cause of his loosing the 
 game. For two days she sobbed and begged him to kill 
 her or to take her into the Pueblo country where she 
 would see that he was amply paid for his troubles. But 
 he would do neither. He seemed to be contented when 
 he had something to abuse. And being a foreigner, she 
 was totally at his mercy. She loathed the man and loved 
 another. She wished to die; but the gods had decreed 
 that her days were not yet finished. On, on she dragged 
 out the miserable life. 
 
 The summer following the playing of the moccasin 
 game, she labored hard breaking ground, irrigating, and 
 planting corn and attending to it till it matured; while 
 in sight day by day, her husband played the pole game 
 with other men as lazy as himself. 
 
 In playing this game, Kilpe and his companions laid 
 off a pole ground in a north and south direction some
 
 214 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 eighty yards in length by six yards in width. A base 
 was placed in the center of this game field, a mark on 
 the ground, or a flat stone answering the purpose. About 
 ten yards both to the north and to the south of this 
 
 AN APACHE SONG 
 A T 
 
 (ftr^-H r- 
 
 L] 1 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 -i 1 i 
 
 ^K ^ 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 H -J 
 
 tf 7 
 
 V- ? 
 
 
 
 
 -J- 
 
 Nah e zhosh - she 
 
 day 
 
 - yah Nah 
 
 e zhosh- she 
 
 r\ A ' 
 
 A 
 
 
 . 
 
 T 
 
 A t 
 
 If ff 
 
 i ri 
 
 3 
 
 1 ~~i 
 
 "1 
 
 R 
 
 /L i i ! a 
 
 K 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 "-i > 
 
 $HH S 
 
 J-3 4- 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 -i i- 
 
 day - yah Nah zhosh-she day - yah - a day yah 
 
 Dutch-che-hay be-nah e zhosh-che day - yah e hay - nay. 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 This is the Apache Pole Game Song. Its English equivalent is: 
 "Let us play the Pole Game; 
 Let us play the Pole Game ; 
 Let us play the Pole Game; 
 Let us all go up above to Dutchehay's 
 to play the Pole Game." 
 
 base, three hay ridges, three yards long, were placed 
 a foot or so apart, with a trough between the center one 
 and each of the outer ones. Then with a small hoop in 
 the right hand on which there were eleven peculiar mark 
 ings and across which in the diameter-line there was a 
 transverse buckskin cord beaded with one hundred and 
 one beads, the leader rolled it from the base so that it 
 would enter one of the troughs and would consequently 
 lose its speed there and fall over on its side. As it was 
 started to roll, two Indians, belonging to the same side
 
 DON DIEGO 215 
 
 as the Indian who had rolled the hoop, started from some 
 twenty paces back of the base from the direction the 
 hoop was rolling. Each took a pole twenty feet in 
 length ; and, grasping it in the middle and swinging it 
 from right to left over his shoulder, ran to the base and 
 dexteriously hurled his pole after the rolling hoop; so 
 that it slid under the latter as it was ceasing its motion, 
 so that when the former's motion ceased, its heavy end 
 was beneath the hoop. This pole at the heavy end also 
 had eight peculiar markings on it. The other pole like 
 wise ceased its motion beneath the hoop. Then came 
 the counting of the points. 
 
 All points on each pole that fell on or within the rim 
 of the hoop were counted as were all the points on the 
 hoop-rim, and all the beads on the transverse cord which 
 fell within the edges of either pole. The points being 
 counted, the players again proceeded to the base and 
 played again as before. One hundred throws consti 
 tuted a game. 
 
 As she thus saw Kilpe playing, Geetlu's mind naturally 
 turned to her Pueblo husband and the pleasant home of 
 her childhood days where a man married a woman be 
 cause he loved her, possibly not to the same degree that 
 a white man loves his life partner but because he loved 
 her nevertheless; and now she was an Apache slave. 
 Would she ever see that home again and her longed-for 
 Don Diego? 
 
 That fall she gave birth to a little girl, and for the 
 first time in Apache land she felt happy. Now she had 
 someone to care for that would appreciate it; but the 
 fates had decreed otherwise. The little one was sickly and 
 cried at night. It annoyed her husband to hear it cry;
 
 2l6 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 o 
 
 Irt 
 
 DIAGRAM OF POLE STICKS AND POLE HOOP 
 Fig. i. Pole Stick. The grooves b, c, d, g, h; the spaces e, f, i, and the 
 
 point a are points used in the game. 
 Fig. 2. The Pole Hoop, etc. The spaces 1-4 and 6-n and the groove 5 are 
 
 the points on the hoop used in the game.
 
 DON DIEGO 217 
 
 and instead of trying to soothe it as a civilized man 
 would, he ordered Geetlu to strangle it, as was the 
 Apache custom to destroy " cry-babies." But Geetlu 
 would do no such thing. Finally one night it cried and 
 woke him. Enraged, he tore it from her bosom and beat 
 it to death in her presence. 
 
 With a sad heart, she gathered in the crop that fall. 
 She had plenty for the winter and to spare. The day 
 she finished gathering the crop, she carefully buried the 
 ripe corn and then with a sigh sat down for a moment's 
 rest. As she was sitting there, several women ap 
 proached her, each having her carrying basket swing 
 ing at the back. As they neared her, the formost woman 
 accosted her and said : " We have come to get your 
 husband's corn. He staked the entire gathered crop on 
 a pole game this afternoon and lost the game. Our hus 
 bands have sent us to get the property, with orders from 
 Kilpe for you to help us get it. Where is it? Get to 
 work, here, you Coyote; we are in a hurry." 
 
 " You can't have my corn. I raised it and it belongs 
 to me," bitterly spoke up Geetlu. No doubt she remem 
 bered that among the Pueblos, the stored crop belonged 
 to the wife or women of the house. 
 
 " We have orders to get it," joined in another woman. 
 
 " You can't have an ear of my corn," angrily spoke 
 up Geetlu as she arose and seized a knife. " It's mine 
 and you cannot have it." 
 
 At that instant Kilpe himself came up; and, hearing 
 Geetlu, proceeded to beat her into insensibility, caring 
 not in the least if he killed her. When she regained con 
 sciousness again, the fruits of her hard labors had been 
 removed and she was alone in her tepee.
 
 2 i8 DON DIEGO 
 
 Three or four days or perhaps ten days passed. 
 Geetlu did not know or care how many, for she cried 
 and cried the hours away. Finally one day Kilpe came 
 and ordered her to carry water and help make Indian 
 whisky. She went as bidden. Tus after tus of water 
 she carried, as did the other women. The corn had al 
 ready been sprouted under their deer hide beds, or in 
 bags on some south sloping hillside. The sprouted 
 product had already been mashed on the Apache grind 
 ing slabs and the product put in the hollowed-out wooden 
 trays and root-bark of a species of lignum-vitse, bark of 
 the sassafras tree, the leaves and roots of several peren 
 nial plants, including the roots and leaves of the tobacco 
 weed had been added to make it ferment and give flavor 
 to it. Then to give it the intoxicating principal, loco 
 weed was added in the proportion known to be needed 
 to produce the desired effect; so that the happy hunting 
 ground would come to the drinker for a time. The 
 water was then added and the whole heated to the boil 
 ing point by the throwing into the tray of red hot rocks. 
 When it had boiled a few minutes, it was let cool, then 
 strained and the malt remashed. This mashed product 
 and the now white-colored liquid was put back into the 
 vats and reheated and perennial herbs added again; the 
 whole is called tul-le-pie (white water) by the Apaches. 
 After it was heated, it was cooled then let stand and fer 
 ment, about twelve 'hours being sufficient. Then the 
 drinking began. With gourds they sat around the vats 
 and drank. Men, women, and children, even babies ; this 
 is the only luxury that an Apache will share equally with 
 his wife and will partake of at the same time. All were 
 drinking but Geetlu. She had returned to her tepee and
 
 219 
 
 sat within it sobbing: her crop, her home, her baby was 
 gone. She sobbed and sobbed. 
 
 INDIAN WHISKEY SONG 
 
 Tul - pi a - shlah- u da - ya Tul - pi a - shlah-u 
 
 ^ 
 
 da - ya Tul - pi a - shlah - u da - ya u - 
 
 75T K 
 
 3 
 
 
 =* = 
 
 i i | 
 
 H h 
 
 F~K" ~~l 
 
 SPP 
 
 
 y=^= 
 
 ^3 *= 
 
 & 
 
 -J gt 
 
 ' j jH 
 
 da - ya D6m -wah yog - ga - she tag - ge 
 r-0- r r rV , , r- 
 
 - 6 
 
 A 
 
 S~d= 
 
 - 
 
 -1 
 
 3 
 
 _.., . . 
 
 r~*~ 
 
 l 
 
 ' 
 
 
 - I 
 
 Tul - pi a - shlah - u 
 
 da - ya e nah i 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 As she was thus crying out her grief, she heard quite 
 a commotion in the vicinity of the whisky drinking but 
 thought nothing about it, except that an extra amount of 
 the " white water " had been made at this time and that 
 likely all would be boisterously drunk. But for some un- 
 thought-of reason, she went to the door of the wigwam 
 and peered out. There she saw all the Indians congre 
 gated around the foot of a low tree which had had the 
 top branches removed. She wiped the tears from her 
 eyes and looked again. She could now distinctly see 
 Kilpe standing on the lower branches of the tree and, 
 from the motions of his hands, she could see that he was
 
 220 DON DIEGO 
 
 making a speech to them. She turned to go back into 
 her house when a roaring shout caused her to turn back 
 again. In that momentarily short space of time all had 
 changed on the little knoll. Kilpe had left the tree ; and 
 the screeching, howling crowd were scattering, running 
 in all directions. It was at the beginning of dusk. She 
 waited a few moments to see what it all meant. Then 
 she saw the whole population that could walk carrying 
 wood to a place not far from the tepee. " Oh," she re 
 marked to herself as she returned within the hovel she 
 called home, " they are going to have a corn-husking 
 dance." 
 
 She squatted on the floor and began to cry again. 
 Suddenly, she heard a step towards her. She raised her 
 head; and, by the light of the low fire in her tepee, she 
 saw that it was Bedessendaha and that she was also cry 
 ing. " What is it, sister," she said, as Bedessendaha put 
 her arms about her and kissed her. 
 
 Bedessendaha looked about to see that no one was in 
 hearing, then exclaimed : " That brute, Kilpe ! To 
 night all drunk ! He tell the people ' You no good ! You 
 cry all the time ! You witch ! ' This wood ! This 
 big fire! Tonight you burn at yonder tree! Go, my 
 sister! Go away from this place! It is dark now and 
 they are not watching you at this moment. Go ! ( Yog- 
 go-she-un) go!" 
 
 Geetlu knew that her companion was telling the truth. 
 At the same instant her attention was attracted by Kilpe's 
 coarse voice on the knoll without telling the death-men 
 to go and get his coyote wife and to tie her safely and 
 firmly to the tree where they were to burn her. 
 
 The darkness swallowed her up and she fled up the
 
 DON DIEGO 221 
 
 East Fork of White River toward the snow-clad peaks of 
 Mounts Ord and Thomas of the White Mountains be 
 yond which she knew was the Pueblo country, how far 
 beyond, of course, she did not know. She had not been 
 gone long when she knew by the whoops in the valley 
 behind her that she had been missed and was pursued by 
 at least a considerable portion of the band to which her 
 husband belonged. Harder and faster she ran; but she 
 could tell that the pursuers were gaining on her. Once 
 she fell down and sprained her ankle badly ; but, on get 
 ting to her feet, was able to run on again under the ex 
 citement. She now heard running footsteps near her, so 
 plunged into the river and swam to its north bank. She 
 was then several miles east of the present Fort Apache. 
 She heard the runners, several of them, plunge into the 
 water after her and heard them whoop the terrifying 
 whoop, as they resumed the pursuit after gaining the 
 north bank; though the pursued thought that less people 
 were following her than formerly. These, however, were 
 gaining on her. 
 
 She was a Pueblo and had climbed walls from her child 
 hood; the Apaches were not cliff climbers. Her own 
 home was on the mesa at the forks of the Jemez River, 
 as we have seen ; and the walls of this mesa she had 
 scaled many a time on hairbreadth niches and shelf- 
 spaces. So she decided to scale the walls that shut in 
 the valley here and thus get out of the canon and run 
 her chances of escaping under cover of the dense wood, 
 one thousand feet above her. To the wall she ran and 
 at once began to scale it. The ascent was exceedingly 
 hazardous and difficult; but she succeeded in getting 
 foot- and hand-holds even in the darkness. Climbing to
 
 222 DON DIEGO 
 
 a spot some two hundred feet above the valley, she 
 paused a moment to get her breath. She was at once ap 
 prised of the fact that someone else was also scaling 
 the wall. She caught her breath and then continued 
 her climbing. Crevices and little edges of rock were 
 now the only holds she could get ; but her courage failed 
 her not. On she climbed. Many voices could now be 
 heard beneath her; but she did not hear them. Her 
 head was turned upward, as her hands fumbled the rock 
 wall to find a holding place. At this moment the moon 
 rose over the distant mesa; and she could see that at 
 a considerable distance above her there jutted out from 
 the face of the cliff a natural shelf about two lengths of 
 a man in width and possibly twice as long. With super 
 human strength and with infinite carefulness and ac 
 curacy of movement, she still struggled upward, as if it 
 were against fate. In the moonlight she could be dis 
 tinctly seen; and was now a target for a score of arch 
 ers. But she was three hundred feet above the valley 
 and night aiding, she was practically out of their reach. 
 However, several arrows whizzed by her and bounded 
 from the wall to the valley again. But on she climbed, 
 till she was immediately beneath the shelf. Could she 
 ever get on it? And even then could she go any 
 further? Could she get from it to the top of the mesa 
 hundreds of feet above? Her strength was almost gone. 
 She thought to drop herself into the valley and end it 
 all. She swung one hand and one foot into space pre 
 paratory to making the final plunge. A moment she 
 stood between the two eternities, as she prayed to her 
 gods ; then it would be all over. She was just shutting 
 her eyes for the final leap, when her eye detected an-
 
 DON DIEGO 223 
 
 other hand-hold beyond the edge of the shelf. At the 
 same instant she heard the climber below her shouting 
 that he could not climb further. She was safe if she 
 could gain the shelf. This gave her courage. She 
 made two shifts along the rock face. Then she discov 
 ered a place on which she could elevate herself a little at 
 a time till at last she was on a level with the upper sur 
 face of the platform. Then by shelfing back, she gained 
 it and stood once more master of the situation. 
 
 Just as she gained the platform, she heard a shriek 
 and then a dull, falling sound. Her pursuer had fallen 
 to the valley. She stood a moment on the edge of her 
 rock table and listened. Then a shower of arrows drove 
 her from her position to the face of the perpendicular 
 wall at her back. But this was not safe, as the arrows 
 were so pitched that they fell and endangered her life. 
 She took a step or two backward and one to the left 
 from her former position. Here she found that a tun 
 nel ran back into the cliff. Picking up a stick that was 
 lying on the platform, evidently having fallen from the 
 mesa above, she began to tap on the floor of the tunnel 
 and to proceed inward. Slowly she moved forward, till 
 she knew that she was out of reach of the arrows of 
 her pursuers. Then to be sure to be safe she went a 
 considerable distance further, as the opening in the rock- 
 wall seemed to be continuous. She proceeded till she 
 could no longer hear the voices in the distance. Then 
 she sat with her back against the wall; and, being ex 
 hausted and believing she was safe in her hiding place, 
 she soon fell asleep. 
 
 How long she slept she knew not. She awoke, rubbed 
 her eyes, and sat upright. At first she could not decide
 
 224 ON DIEGO 
 
 where she was or how she got there. At last it all came 
 to her like a horrid nightmare. She was in some cave 
 and it was darker than the darkest dungeon. Which 
 way had she entered it and where did the cave lead to? 
 She could not answer any of these questions. She had 
 not thought of anything but saving her life from im 
 mediate danger when she entered the shaft ; and she had 
 neglected to lay the stick she carried in the direction 
 from which she had come. She was lost. And, as is 
 usually the case with a lost person, she went the wrong 
 way when she tried to find the entrance. 
 
 Driven by hunger and thirst, she arose, thumped the 
 wall with her stick and proceeded onward, she knew not 
 whither. Back and back into the cliff she traveled, pass 
 ing through passages and corridors and a net-work sys 
 tem of rooms, crawling through places through which 
 she could hardly squeeze her body and then passing 
 through large rooms. A couple of times she came to 
 offsets and each time fell and hurt herself badly. Not 
 withstanding this, she kept up hope and kept continually 
 on the move. At last overcome with fatigue, she fell 
 exhausted to the rock-floor. For a long while she lay 
 there motionless. So hungry was she that she could 
 hardly keep from gnawing her fingers; and her raging 
 thirst W'as consuming her. 
 
 Suddenly a thought struck her. In her mania 
 dress was a " spinning stick " which she used in start 
 ing fires, and in her hand was a dry stick of wood. 
 She would make a light and see if she could discover 
 the way out of the place. She broke the stick and care 
 fully collected the splinters and slivers. Then by the 
 drilling process, she soon had some live-coals in the bor-
 
 DON DIEGO 225 
 
 ings. Then she blew on these till she had a blaze started. 
 Having obtained the desired light, she arose and looked 
 about her a moment, then shrieked, and swooned. 
 
 There around her huddled together on the cold damp 
 floor of stone, as if for mutual protection and sympathy, 
 lay the ghastly skeletons of hundreds of cliff-dwellers, 
 petrified by their exposure during the passing ages. A 
 short distance apart from them lay the frame of their 
 medicine man, leaning against the wall opposite the en 
 trance to the room, his skull resting on his breastbone 
 just as he had died. 
 
 The lone woman lay as motionless as the dead around 
 her. The fire burned out; and darkest darkness once 
 more ruled in the chamber of the dead.
 
 THE scene again changed. The sun was going 
 down the western slope of the heavens. The 
 Jemez were in the act of completing the perform 
 ances of a gala day. Just as the people were thus busily 
 engaged, a shout from the tower filled everyone with 
 consternation. Could an enemy be approaching? In a 
 moment Don Diego was on the tower. There could be 
 no mistake about it. The scout in the vicinity of Mount 
 Negro was sending up rings of smoke in quick succes 
 sion. The enemy was making a rapid march. Could it 
 be that the Santa Annas under Ojeda were on the war 
 path? Toward Jemez the rings of smoke moved. The 
 enemy was, indeed, marching up the valley. The ex 
 citement grew more and more intense as a runner, nude 
 with the exception of a breech-cloth, crossed the adobe 
 flat just north of " Red Rock " and headed toward 
 Jemez at a full run. Scouts went out to meet him, but 
 he heeded them not. On he came and climbed the trail 
 and entered the plaza. " Don Diego," he breathlessly 
 called. " Don Diego ! " he repeated. 
 
 " Here I am," shouted the war-captain, as he and a 
 few of his braves gathered around the panting runner. 
 
 " They are coming," exclaimed the messenger. 
 
 " Who comes ? Are the Santa Annas on the war 
 path ? " anxiously asked all in a breath. 
 
 " No, brothers ! " he excitedly cried as he gave a shud- 
 
 226
 
 DON DIEGO 227 
 
 der that shook his whole frame, " the Spaniards are com 
 ing, an army of them. The Santa Annas fled the valley 
 at their approach this morning. They are marching this 
 way. By the time the great orb of day has made one 
 more journey over the mountains at his going down, they 
 
 A Drawing of the Sun on "Red Rock," one mile north of the present 
 village of Jemez. It also represents the "Spider Woman." 
 
 will have captured Zia and will be marching against this 
 place." 
 
 "Be they men or demons, more than one sun will 
 shine on this place before it is taken," broke in Don 
 Diego, as he closed his mouth like a vise, and looked with 
 determined gaze upon those around him.
 
 228 DON DIEGO 
 
 At this juncture, emissaries arrived from Zia and be 
 sought aid from the Jemez. This was readily granted; 
 and signal after signal in rings of smoke from the 
 estufa roof at once proclaimed the news to the Zia vil 
 lages that the Jemez braves to a man would join the 
 painted ranks. At about the same time, a scout arrived 
 with the news that the white men had camped at the 
 southern point of the lower peninsula of black, basaltic 
 lava which here extends through the vast expanse of 
 sand in a semicircle from Mount Negro to the place 
 where the water of the river sinks below the whitened, 
 alkali, crust-covered surface. " They have put their 
 horses out to graze," he continued ; " and are cooking 
 and feasting and preparing to sleep for the night." 
 
 " It is done," spoke up the war chief, as he turned to 
 the Zia messengers and said : " Go at once to Zia and 
 tell my brother and his warriors that we will meet them 
 at midnight in the flat south of ' Red Rock ' opposite 
 their village." Then turning to the warriors around 
 him, he added : " The enemy has gone into camp. Be 
 fore daylight to-morrow they will be ours." 
 
 As soon as the Zia scouts had left for home, by dif 
 ferent routes, Don Diego sounded the big drum, assem 
 bled the braves, and marched out of the village at their 
 head to join the allies at the appointed time and place. 
 As they were thus departing, the women, who had 
 formed in a long line on either side of the entrance to 
 the village, wished them the favor of the gods, saying 
 to them : " May you return conquerers of all you see 
 and may the scalps of all the pale- faces you engage in. 
 battle be trophies in the house of the gods in this place." 
 
 Not a brave uttered a word ; but, in true Indian style,
 
 DON DIEGO 229 
 
 marched down the trail between the double line of women 
 and girls, all feigning not to notice them at all. But 
 they did, nevertheless. Don Diego noticed that one face 
 was missing. On down the trail they passed and on out 
 onto the flat valley-regions, as the sun priest and his aids 
 and the war medicine men sprinkled them with sacred 
 corn pollen and meal and invoked the blessings of the 
 gods upon them. 
 
 Arriving at the " flat " about opposite the place where 
 the modern village of San Y Sidro is situated they found 
 the allies waiting for them, though it was not yet the 
 midnight hour. A low fire was at once kindled so that 
 all might warm; the nights are always cold in that re 
 gion. Then the pipe of Peace and Friendship was 
 passed around to each and every individual, as all tried 
 their bows and greased, warmed, and straightened their 
 arrows. After they had thus busied themselves for 
 about an hour, Don Diego laid his plans before them in 
 these words : " We will go immediately to the white 
 men's camp and fall upon them while they are sleeping. 
 My brother," pointing to the Zia war chief, " will divide 
 his men in two sections. With one of these he will at 
 tack the enemy on the side of the setting sun. With 
 the other he will capture the horses they ride, scalp the 
 men in charge of them and then make an assault on the 
 camp on the side of the Seven Stars. My chief lieuten 
 ant will close in on them from the side of the sun at 
 noon. With the remaining division I will cut off their 
 retreat toward the morning star. We will slip upon them 
 like the silver-tailed fox upon his prey and kill them 
 every one. The time has come when we must do the 
 bidding of the gods. Let us be moving."
 
 230 DON DIEGO 
 
 To shift to the Spanish side: After Governor Oter- 
 min's second return to the vicinity of El Paso, the 
 Spaniards made no more entradas into the northern 
 country for many years. They, however, never gave up 
 the idea of reconquering it. Finally by order of the 
 King of Spain, Don Pedro Reneros de Pasada [Posaoa] 
 marched against the apostate Pueblos. On reaching the 
 Rio Grande, the little army under him found the lower- 
 middle valley deserted, so on northward they continued 
 their march. Reaching the mouth of the Jemez river, 
 they turned up it. The first village in their line of 
 march was Santa Anna. This village surrendered to 
 them, after most of the inhabitants had fled the place. 
 Here Pasada separated his force into two sections. One 
 division with two pieces of artillery remained at the vil 
 lage to take a needed rest and to make some necessary 
 repairs. The other division, accompanied by several 
 Cochiti scouts, resumed the entrada, taking with them 
 their cannon and a large quantity of ammunition. 
 
 Jubilant and even hilarious over their past success 
 and future prospects, the latter division rode slowly up 
 the valley for hours through interminable sagebrush and 
 dwarfed cedar, over dunes of drifting sand, black lava, 
 and adobe clay, or over the dry, sandy, alkali-whitened 
 bed of the river itself, beneath the intolerable burning 
 glare of the blazing sun of that region. Not a living 
 thing met their gaze, except an occasional bird which 
 usually squawked or chirped as it flew out of their 
 course, till they had reached the black promontory of 
 Si-yoU'kwaw, the site of modern Zia. Then the atten 
 tion of all was suddenly attracted by the yelp, yelp of a 
 .silver-tailed fox. In a moment the cause of its yelping
 
 DON DIEGO 231 
 
 was determined. A hotly pursued rabbit bounded from 
 the brush just in front of the advancing column. The 
 fox was right on the rabbit's heels. His mouth was open 
 and, with every jump, it seemed, would seize the pur 
 sued animal. A cavalier made to kill the fox, which 
 was so eager in the chase as to see nothing except its 
 prey ; but Pasada stayed his hand and said : " Let's see 
 the unequal contest to a finish." 
 
 " As sure as I am a Spaniard," exclaimed a cavalry 
 man who had just then come up, " I believe the rabbit 
 will win out! " 
 
 " By the Holy Mary," emphatically spoke up an. offi 
 cer, " I'll wager my day's earnings that the fox catches 
 the rabbit!" 
 
 "It's a go," quickly rejoined another officer; "I'll 
 bet two days' wages that the fox does not catch the rab 
 bit." 
 
 A level quarter stretch of river bottom was before the 
 chased and pursuer. On they ran, slower and slower 
 they got, harder they panted: yet neither gained on the 
 other. Every time the fox jumped with open mouth to 
 seize the rabbit, it was just out of his reach. Slower 
 and slower they got. One could have walked faster 
 than they ran. The cavaliers, excited, followed. Time 
 and again they staked money on the outcome. Nearer 
 and nearer they approached the opposite bank of the 
 river. 
 
 " By the Virgin Mary," exclaimed Pasada, " that chase 
 is a presage of our contest with the Zias and Jemez." 
 
 " Which, general, represents the Indians and which 
 us ? " asked an aid. 
 
 " The fox represents us," answered Pasada.
 
 232 DON DIEGO 
 
 Just at that moment the rabbit gained the wood and 
 disappeared from view for a few minutes. It was next 
 seen recrossing the river bed while the fox was still 
 searching the thicket for it. At that instant a Spanish 
 soldier raised his gun, and, before the officers could stop 
 him, deliberately killed the unsuccessful animal. 
 
 As the staked property was being turned over to the 
 winners, an aid turned to the general and asked : 
 " Which represents us, the fox or the rabbit? " 
 
 All had been so excited in the chase that they did not 
 notice a reddish-brown, copper-colored Indian glide 
 across the river bed some distance in front of them. 
 Neither did they notice the rings of smoke ascending 
 from the vicinity of Mount Negro. 
 
 Arriving at Si-you-kwaw, water was found running in 
 the river. But it was most too salty to drink. A search 
 for potable water was ordered and in a short time a 
 spring of clear, sparkling, fresh water was found in a 
 small ravine just northwest of the promontory. Here 
 all quenched their thirst. Then being both tired and 
 hungry, they staked their horses out to graze and pre 
 pared the midday meal, or rather an afternoon lunch, as 
 it was then an hour and a half past the meridian hour. 
 When prepared, this lunch consisted of broiled venison 
 and tortillas, a sort of stiff pancake which the Spanish- 
 Americans bake on a flat rock over the fire. 
 
 After they had dined, they lounged about for some 
 time on the adobe flat into which the valley opens and 
 told stories of adventure and boasted of the power of 
 Spain and of how easy they would conquer the remain 
 ing Indians of the valley. 
 
 As the conversations were thus going on, Sotero de
 
 DON DIEGO 233 
 
 Vaca, an aid who had been taking no part in the infor 
 mal talk, turned to another aid and remarked : " Sefior 
 Sandaval, will General Pasada report any stubborn re 
 sistance of the Indians of this valley to the King of 
 Spain, should they oppose us ? " 
 
 " No, my friend Senor Vaca," answered Sandaval, 
 " the general's report will read : ' We have visited the 
 villages of Santa Anna, Zia, and Jemez and converted 
 the Indians to Christianity. They are your subjects and 
 send greeting to you : " Long live the King of Spain." 
 Their treasures are yours.' Whatever will be the op 
 position of the Indians of this valley to our progress 
 there will never be a mention on the records of any con 
 flict disastrous to us. It would mar our good record." 
 
 " By the Holy Virgin," said Vaca after a minute's 
 pause and reflection, " those fellows may boast all they 
 please, but for me I am getting tired of this business. Is 
 it always to be war and lonely marches with us and no 
 homes and nothing but honor? I am getting tired of 
 this business," he repeated as he stretched himself. 
 
 After the men had sat in silence a moment, Sandaval 
 looked at Vaca and said : " To change the subject, they 
 tell me that the Jemez war-captain is a fighter. Have 
 the scouts mentioned it to you ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Vaca, " they told the general in my 
 presence that Don Diego, I believe that is what they call 
 him, was as swift as a deer and that he fought like a 
 mountain lion. They furthermore stated that his fame 
 was known to all the Indian tribes round about. The 
 scouts seem to think that the Zias who number thou 
 sands will surrender without resistance, but that the 
 Jemez, a much smaller tribe, will have to be conquered.
 
 234 DON DIEGO 
 
 So we will probably have the opportunity to meet him 
 face to face; but, gracious me, he and his warriors will 
 not last long before our cannon and guns." 
 
 " We will occupy Zia this evening, then that Jemez 
 affair will be a breakfast job," confidently joined in an 
 other Spaniard who had been listening to Vaca and San- 
 daval's conversation. 
 
 At that instant, a sign from the priest that a wounded 
 comrade was dying drew the attention of all. A mo 
 ment later, at the bidding of the padre, the cavaliers all 
 passed one after another before the improvised stretcher 
 and took a last look at the departing one. As they thus 
 passed, some, though hardened by years of military 
 service, shed tears over the loss of their friend and col 
 league in war. Many praised him for his courage and 
 good works. Others said : " God's will be done. May 
 God bless you. Good-by, my comrade." 
 
 As soon as life had left the body, a grave was quickly 
 dug and the veteran of many years, the owner of many 
 scars obtained in building up the power and glory of 
 Spain, was buried according to the rites of the Catholic 
 Church and the honors of war of the time. 
 
 In this last act, lined up in front of the grave with 
 faces turned toward the afternoon sun, with sword and 
 spears at their sides and with highly polished armor; 
 armor and shields polished so as to strike awe and terror 
 among the Indians. As they thus stood, they leveled 
 their heavy matchlock guns across the " rest " a kind 
 of forked stick or staff, and holding the lighted fuse in 
 their hands, waited the signal to fire the salute. It came 
 when the priest took a handful of dirt and sprinkled it 
 over the filled grave, saying : " Dust thou art and to
 
 DON DIEGO 235 
 
 dust thou shalt return," etc. An eye looked down each 
 gun barrel. A burning fuse was touched to the powder 
 on the " pan." The implements of destruction belched 
 forth fire and smoke toward the declining sun and spoke 
 in thundering tones to the hills and mesas. 
 
 Returning from the burial, all anxiously waited the 
 orders of the chief officer to advance. Although it was 
 then three hours past noon, Zia was but eleven miles 
 away; and if the simple-hearted Indians should surren 
 der, thought the soldiers, they would be well fed and 
 well quartered that night. And if the aborigines could 
 not be deceived and made believe that they were on a 
 friendly mission, well, they still had time to reduce the 
 place before dark. Then all the Indians had would be 
 theirs ; and, consequently, they would be better quartered 
 and better fed than ever. Should the resistance be a 
 stubborn one, they could at least surround the place that 
 night. The cannon would do the rest in the morning. 
 But to the surprise of all, General Pasada was found to 
 be averse to any further movement that day. Said he: 
 
 " We have taken possession of one place to-day. We 
 are all tired. We have plenty of provision, such as it is. 
 Here is good drinking water for us and an abundance 
 of grass for our horses. We will stay here in camp to 
 night. We will camp on the promontory there. It is 
 better for us to stay here. Yonder ridge separates us 
 from Jemez, and Zia is out of sight around that point. 
 Not an Indian of either of these villages knows of our 
 approach. We will rest here to-night. In the early 
 morning when the Zia men are in the fields at work, we 
 will take the pueblo by surprise and enter its plaza in 
 peace or at the edge of the sword. To the natives the
 
 236 DON DIEGO 
 
 end will be the same, no difference how we enter it. 
 Take the cannon and baggage to the top of the little 
 mesa-peninsula and make camp." 
 
 The camping ground, as planned, was a small square. 
 A large vesicular lava bowlder, weighing a hundred tons, 
 was made its northeast corner; and the bowlders of the 
 plat [Si-you-kwaw to this day is covered with round 
 bowlders] were piled upon the line on all four sides, as a 
 breastwork. When the camping area was cleared, can 
 nons were placed in the corners of the square. Tents 
 were then pitched, wood was carried to cook with 
 Beds, with saddles for pillows, were made of cedar, pine, 
 and pifion twigs, over which a blanket or robe was 
 spread. Pickets were put out in the four cardinal di 
 rections to protect the camp. The horses were, also, 
 hobbled out to graze. 
 
 The camp preparations being completed, the men took 
 off their armor, stacked all their arms except their 
 swords, which they kept at their sides. They then pre 
 pared to busy themselves at cards. This they did till sun 
 set. Then at the bidding of the padre, all gathered 
 around a cross, which had been erected in the center of 
 the camp, and prayed that the work they were undertak 
 ing would be a success, that the Indians of the valley 
 would again become loyal subjects of the King of Spain 
 and would all be reconverted to Christianity. 
 
 At the close of the devotional service they returned 
 to their respective quarters to prepare the evening meal. 
 This was soon ready and all squatted around a common 
 table, a table having the bare earth for a tablecloth; 
 and all reached and helped themselves to the things be 
 fore them.
 
 DON DIEGO 237 
 
 As soon as the meal was eaten the men retired to 
 their respective tents and in a few minutes all, except 
 the pickets, were resting in sleep. A quiet had settled 
 over the camp like the calm which precedes the storm. 
 
 On the Spaniards slept. The fires burned out one by 
 one till only the central fire remained and only a few 
 coals in it showed signs of life. The silent full moon 
 began its western decline. The cold wind from the 
 Jemez mountains reached the fullness of its power and 
 whistled through the trees and shrubbery of the mesa and 
 howled over the sandy wastes of the valley. 
 
 For hours all was still save the shrill whistle of the 
 wind. Then the dismal yelp of a coyote was heard in 
 the dry ravine which washes Si-you^kwaw on the east. 
 Later the hideous hoot of an owl broke the quiet of the 
 river valley to the south. While a turkey gobbled in 
 the pifion-red cedar brushwood to the north. The 
 coyote in the ravine then yelped a second time and was 
 answered by a coyote in the vicinity west of the camp. 
 A quiet then settled over the place for some minutes. 
 Then the owl of the valley gave a weird hoot much 
 nearer the camp than before. The coyotes again yelped 
 and the turkeys gobbled. Their positions were evi 
 dently changing. As was indicated by the yelps and 
 gobbles they were all moving toward one central point 
 and that point was the Spanish camp. A quiet again 
 reigned for a short time. Then a coyote yelped in the 
 midst of the camp. 
 
 Instantly the clash came. The coyotes, owls, and 
 gobblers of a moment before rushed upon the camp from 
 every bush, tree, and bowlder as shrieking, howling, 
 whooping Indians with the fury of demons. They leaped
 
 238 DON DIEGO 
 
 over the unprotected breastwork. They captured the 
 stack of arms and took possession of the central fire. 
 They killed the unsuspecting Spaniards in their beds. 
 They fought hand to hand with unarmored men as them 
 selves. They took scalp after scalp. The camp was 
 totally in their power. Only a few minutes more and 
 the bloody work would be complete. 
 
 Suddenly the scene changed. The armored pickets 
 who had let the supposed owls, coyotes, and turkeys pass 
 them unchallenged made a bold dash to rescue their com 
 rades. They cleared the breastwork in front of them, 
 cut their way with their swords to the stack of arms and 
 hewed down the Indians in charge of them. Then with 
 the aid of a few other Spaniards who had succeeded in 
 obtaining their arms and armor, they had begun to clear 
 the camp when a surging wave of savages overwhelmed 
 them. Don Diego and his division of braves, who had 
 been held in reserve, entered the arena of combat. 
 Though naked, they faced the armor-protected men. 
 Scores of them went down before the keen-bladed sword, 
 yet they desperately fought on. Their arrows and their 
 tomahawks were of no avail, but their numbers were. 
 So thickly did they gather around the swordsmen that 
 the latter could not use their deadly weapons. The con 
 test became a wrestling fight, in which the Indians were 
 evidently winning. They wrenched the swords from 
 their antagonists. They seized them by the helmet, 
 arms, and legs, or around their bodies, and pulled them to 
 the ground. They crushed them to death with cobble 
 stones and heavy Indian war clubs or dispatched them 
 with the tomahawk through the joints of the harness. 
 Once more had the Indians gained the ascendency and
 
 DON DIEGO 239 
 
 the camp was at their mercy. But only for a moment 
 was it so; then the tide was reversed. 
 
 With firebrand in hand Pasada rushed unnoticed past 
 the contending multitude and ignited the fuse of one of 
 the loaded cannons, then to another, and then to a third. 
 Instantly the discharges came. The tongues of fire and 
 smoke leaped forth, the ground trembled, and the deep 
 detonations shook the air. The effect among the Indian 
 ranks was appalling. Instantly the Spaniards took ad 
 vantage of the opportunity. They made a dash for the 
 stack of arms, recaptured them, clothed themselves in 
 armor, seized their guns, lighted their fuses from the 
 central fire and commenced shooting at random among 
 the charging Indians. Time with the Spaniards was 
 precious. The cannons at Santa Anna had answered 
 the signals of distress fired by General Pasada. Could 
 they hold out one hour, succor would be at hand. The 
 cannoneers hurriedly reloaded the cannons. With a 
 lighted fuse, one of their number started to ignite the 
 powder. He reached the cannon near the big bowlder. 
 He bent to touch off the deadly weapon. His time had 
 come. Thud went a war club and he was dead at Don 
 Diego's feet. With a quick movement, Don Diego then 
 seized the firebrand, and leaping over the piles of dead 
 and dying, fired the tents before the Spaniards noticed 
 that the burning fuse had changed hands. 
 
 In a moment all was enveloped in flames. The pine, 
 red cedar, and pifion twigs of which the beds were made 
 added to the conflagration. Even the needles of the 
 pifions and the standing cedars took fire. And the bags 
 of powder which the Spaniards had brought with them 
 exploded. For a moment all was confusion. Then
 
 240 DON DIEGO 
 
 both Don Diego and Pasada were heard calling their 
 men to action. It was an awful moment for each. Had 
 either any warriors to call to action! A few minutes 
 told the story. A mere handful was the remaining 
 Spaniards ; a hundred, the Indians right at hand. 
 
 Everywhere Pasada seemed present. Courageously, 
 he shouted to his cavaliers : " In the name of the Virgin 
 Mary, fight for your lives, fight for the king of Spain, 
 fight for the God of heaven. Fight! Though less than 
 our adversaries in numbers, we are more than they in 
 might. Charge upon them. Cut them down with your 
 swords. Our comrades are coming to our rescue. The 
 cannons at Santa Anna have so declared it. In the name 
 of the Holy Mary, fight. God is on our side; fight in 
 his name." 
 
 In like manner Don Diego seemed to be everywhere. 
 " In the name of those above," he called to his braves, 
 " fight for your lives, for your wives and children. 
 Fight for our house of worship. Fight for our gods. 
 Fight like men, not as squaws. We have killed the 
 enemy, nearly all. Verify my statements with your 
 eyes. You have put them to death with your own hands. 
 At hand we are ten times more than they and the Zia 
 war-captain with one division of our men is momentarily 
 expected. Fight that the victory will be complete. 
 Fight that when your father comes on the wings of the 
 morning, he may look down on us triumphant. Fight 
 that the sun will own us as his children. In the name 
 of all the gods of our fathers charge upon the enemies. 
 The scalps of these men are yours: take them that with 
 to-day's sun you may hang them as trophies in the houses 
 of our gods. Those above are for us: fight in their
 
 DON DIEGO 241 
 
 strength. Fight that the great Pest-ya-sode may own 
 us as his brothers. Rush upon the enemy. Drag them 
 to the ground. Crush them to death with cobble stones 
 and the deadly war club. Your father is coming. The 
 first rays of the morning herald his approach. Scalp the 
 last enemy before the great father looks down upon us 
 from the holy mountains at his rising." 
 
 The medecine man began to beat his drum behind the 
 big bowlder. The braves leaped forward like mountain 
 lions upon their prey. The mortal conflict was on again. 
 Twice a Spaniard started with lighted fuse to fire the 
 cannons, twice the flaming implement was snatched from 
 his hand. A third time he started, reached the cannon 
 by the big bowlder and ignited it, just as Don Diego's 
 club brought him to the ground. The cannon discharge 
 came. Several Indians were killed. The remainder 
 wavered for an instant only. The Jemez war-captain 
 rallied them in the name of those above. In a moment 
 they were fighting more courageously than before. Pa- 
 sada and his now few remaining men, driven to the last 
 extremity, made a bold dash for their horses, hoping, 
 now that it was daylight, to escape from the Indians in 
 flight. Leaving their dead and dying behind, over the 
 breastworks they leaped and down the precipitous west 
 ern side of the mesa they ran, slid, or tumbled. Reach 
 ing the " flat " by the spring, they, hotly pursued, were 
 making their greatest possible speed, when, quick as a 
 flash of lightning, consternation filled the hearts of them 
 all. 
 
 The neighing of steeds and the horrifying noise made 
 by horses in the throes of death on the battle-field told 
 them too plainly that the helpless animals, helpless be-
 
 242 DON DIEGO 
 
 cause hobbled or staked, had fallen into the hands of the 
 Indians and were being slaughtered by them. Hardly 
 had the Spaniards time to think before the butchery of 
 the horses was completed. 
 
 At once the Zia braves rushed from the slaughter of 
 horses to the slaughter of men. As they gave the hide 
 ous, terrifying Zia war whoop, they closed, in the Spanish 
 front. 
 
 " All is lost! " shouted Pasada to his comrades. "If 
 we must die, let's die like men. If we must die, may 
 these children of the sun have plenty of evidence that 
 we have lived." 
 
 Scarcely were the words uttered, when the savages 
 assailed them from all sides. For a few minutes the 
 swords were busy. For a few moments the exclama 
 tions: "Per Dios! By the Holy Mary!" "By the 
 Mother of Jesus ! " " In the name of the Holy Virgin ! " 
 and the prayer, " Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus, pray for 
 us," filled the air. Then all was still, save the yelps of 
 the victorious Indians. 
 
 Pasada was still alive, but his cavaliers were all dead 
 and scalped. The Indians surged around him like the 
 stormy waves round a rock at sea. He was withed to a 
 pifion tree. Around him a great quantity of wood was 
 quickly piled, as the warriors leaped into the air, swung 
 their tomahawks, gashed the tree on all sides of him, 
 and yelled the blood-curdling yell of the war dance. Don 
 Diego ignited the wood. Then after brandishing his In 
 dian hatchet in the captain's face for a few minutes, he 
 hurled the weapon with all his strength so that it just 
 missed the prisoner's head and stuck in the tree above it. 
 Quickly the smoke enveloped the helpless man and the
 
 DON DIEGO 243 
 
 tongues of flame began to leap up in his face. A puff 
 of smoke strangled him. Getting his breath, he was 
 startled by the command : " Per Dios, Charge, comrades, 
 charge. In the name of the Mother of Jesus, charge." 
 It was General Otero's voice. 
 
 Around the southwest point of Si-you-kwaw galloped 
 one hundred armored horses and men. A moment Pa- 
 sada thought he was dreaming. On charged the invin 
 cible Spaniards. The Zia war-captain was killed, Don 
 Diego was taken prisoner, and Pasada was snatched 
 from a most horrible death. But the end of the battle 
 was not yet come. The desperate Indians fought to res 
 cue their war-captain. Not an inch did the Spaniards 
 gain but it was at once retaken. Time and again was 
 the ground fought over. Horses' legs were broken. 
 Riders were dragged from their saddles. Hurled cobble 
 stones broke their shields. The war club crushed their 
 armor. From front and rear and from every side the 
 Indians closed in on them. 
 
 Knowing that Don Diego was the soul and heart of 
 his people and believing that he was the cause of the 
 terrible onslaughts, Pasada ordered him on the penalty 
 of being burned at the stake to command his warriors 
 to stop fighting and to become submissive subjects of the 
 King of Spain. 
 
 Bound hand and foot, Don Diego was carried to the 
 front where the fiercest contest was being waged. The 
 Indians ceased fighting. The Spaniards waited the cap 
 tive to speak. A breathless silence took possession of all, 
 as Don Diego lifted his chained hands to heaven. A 
 moment he paused. Then as he took a firm look at the 
 rising sun, he began to address the braves;
 
 244 DON DIEGO 
 
 " My brothers, the white war-captain bids me com 
 mand you to lay down your arms and become subjects 
 to his people. This he has ordered me to do, upon the 
 penalty of my life. But what is my life compared to the 
 lives and liberties of my people. Your brother flinches 
 not. His heart is not the heart of a squaw, but that of a 
 warrior. These men can kill him, but the great Pest- 
 ya-sode will give him his reward. In the name of those 
 above fight till the Great Father calls you to his man 
 sions in the sun." 
 
 The horrible war whoop told that the expedient had 
 failed. Forward rushed the infuriated savages. Don 
 Diego was rescued and the guards in charge of him were 
 either killed or taken prisoners. The Indians shrieked 
 and danced for joy. The old medicine man beat the 
 drum more vigorously than before. At once Don Di 
 ego made himself felt again everywhere. Harder and 
 harder and fiercer and fiercer the braves fought. They 
 worsted the Spaniards on every side. At last the latter 
 wavered, then fled. 
 
 The Spanish record of this entrada reads : " On Oc 
 tober 8, 1687 (or 1688, according to some authors), Don 
 Pedro Reneros de Pasada fought the Queres, burned tents 
 at Zia, and captured ten people who were later sold as 
 slaves to work in the mines in northwestern Mexico. 
 He then abandoned the region." (Bancroft's History, 
 vol. on Arizona and New Mexico.) 
 
 But Zia was doomed. 
 
 For a short time after this battle the valley had peace. 
 Then the Spaniards came again. They reached the 
 valley in 1689. Under Jironza de Cruzat, who had suc 
 ceeded Pasada, they attacked and destroyed Santa Anna,
 
 DON DIEGO 245 
 
 the Santa Annas under Ojeda fleeing to Zia. Cruzat did 
 not sleep. He pursued the fleeing refugees and in a des 
 perate battle defeated the combined forces of Zia and 
 Santa Anna at the former's village, set fire to the huts, 
 killed 600 aborigines, captured seventy prisoners, who, 
 with the exception of a few old men, were burned or 
 shot or both. Many other natives allowed themselves to 
 be burned to death in their homes rather than submit. 
 
 The Zias had intended to seek the Jemez for aid in this 
 battle ; but Ojeda, being an enemy of the Jemez war-cap 
 tain, opposed the measure, saying that Don Diego was 
 a treacherous Indian and more to be feared than the 
 Spaniards. Don Diego knew not this. On hearing the 
 cannon and seeing the signals of smoke from Mount 
 Negro, he quickly gathered his braves and marched down 
 the valley. He sought to aid his neighbors to stay the 
 northern march of the pale-faces, if possible. Zia, how 
 ever, was taken before he could reach the place; and the 
 Spaniards were busily engaged in gathering in the spoils. 
 Not knowing that a new foe was at hand, they were sur 
 prised and routed in the early twilight and, finally after 
 a fierce contest, were compelled to abandon the country. 
 The Jemez now were masters of the valley.* 
 
 * Author's license. Some authors state that this battle was 
 fought near Santa Anna. This refers to the battle of Si-you-kwaw, 
 as here named.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE lone woman in the cave regained consciousness. 
 She sat up. Where was she? She fumbled the 
 floor about her. Her hand touched the yet hot ashes. 
 She remembered it all then. She had seen dead people. 
 Was she not in the land of the shades! She felt of her 
 fingers and her body to see if she was still a living be 
 ing. She breathed on her hands. She even hallooed, 
 but the reverberating sound affrighted her. She rose to 
 her feet in terror, but sat down quickly again : for where 
 would she go. She meditated a few minutes. Her hand 
 accidently touched the hot ashes again. She would 
 make another fire, she at once decided. She gathered 
 some more splints. She blew her breath gently on the 
 ashes as she stirred them till finally one single live coal 
 was found. This she kept under constant breath-pres 
 sure till she had carefully piled the splints on it and had 
 caused it to blaze and ignite them. On these she then 
 placed two or three small slivers. Then she buried her 
 face in her hands. Shuddering and her teeth chatter 
 ing, she finally opened her eyes ; but her attention was at 
 once attracted from the ghastly forms at her feet to a 
 chisled mark on the wall. She looked at it. She knew 
 it. It was the lodge sign of the Pueblo order she had 
 once been a member of. It was always placed opposite 
 the entrance to the hall. She had the clue. She knew 
 
 the direction she should go. 
 
 246
 
 DON DIEGO 247 
 
 She gathered up the pieces of the stick she had broken 
 and which had not yet been burned. The larger sticks 
 she split into finer ones by means of an Indian hatchet 
 head which she found lying upon the floor. A few of 
 these she ignited and, carrying the rest with her in her 
 dress skirt, she started for the entrance. Forward she 
 moved as rapidly as she could, not to extinguish her 
 torch by the movement. As the sticks burned, she added 
 another from her scanty lot, making each one burn as 
 long as possible. She had burned half of the sticks, 
 when she came to a small pool of water in one of the 
 rooms through which she was passing. Laying down 
 the torch, she quenched her thirst from the cool waters. 
 As she was drinking, the torch ceased to blaze; and on 
 resuming her journey, she had to blow her breath on the 
 few live coals quite a little before a blaze could be pro 
 duced again. She felt stronger now that her thirst was 
 quenched and walked more briskly. She had gone quite 
 a distance, when her eye suddenly discovered fresh ashes 
 on the floor. She was going the wrong way again. 
 She was going back into the far recesses of the cave 
 a second time. She turned about and retraced her steps 
 to the pool of water. She then was reassured and hur 
 riedly passed on from room to room. She took the last 
 stick from her dress skirt and added it to the two sticks 
 still blazing in her hands. She hurried on. The sticks 
 burned down to mere stubs. She held them between 
 thumb and finger till only the points were left and they 
 had scorched her fingers. She dropped them to the 
 adamant floor. Her heart was in a tremulous agitation 
 lest in the darkness she would lose her way again, when, 
 oh, exultation! Light appeared in front of her; and,
 
 248 DON DIEGO 
 
 with a few quick steps, she found herself once more on 
 the platform overlooking the valley. 
 
 The scene had wholly changed. Not a sound could be 
 heard in the canon depths, not a person could be seen, as 
 she stood there in the full light of the rising sun and 
 prayed to it, her god and her preserver. The valley had 
 been vacated and she was safe to do what she liked for 
 the present, so far as the vigilance of man was concerned. 
 Immediately, she began to search the cliff to see if there 
 was any possible way by which she could climb to the 
 top of the mesa from the cliff shelf; but discovered none. 
 She then began to scan the rock wall to find the best 
 place of descent. After making up her mind which of 
 two possible routes was the better, she climbed and 
 shelfed it down and down till she found herself once 
 more on the valley floor. 
 
 She had drawn a long breath of relief, when a groan 
 attracted her attention. She went to the spot where she 
 had heard the exclamation of pain and there in a chink 
 in the rock was an Indian lying in a semi-conscious con 
 dition. She looked at him a moment. Then as she 
 herself was hungry almost unto death, she went to a 
 near-by field and, after searching about for a few minutes, 
 she found a stray ear of corn that had been accidentally 
 left at the husking time. This she eagerly ate, and con 
 tinued her search for food, till she had gathered an arm 
 load of corn. She also found a cast-away gourd-dip 
 per. 
 
 As she was thus gathering food and satisfying her 
 hunger, she kept thinking of the Indian in the niche. He 
 undoubtedly was the brave who had fallen from the wall 
 the night they sought to take her life away ; and, believ-
 
 DON DIEGO 249 
 
 ing him dead, they had cast him into the place where he 
 now lay and then left. She was alone with the supposed 
 dead but he was still alive. She felt sleepy after satis 
 fying her appetite; but before she would allow her eyes 
 to close, she must go and see what she could do for the 
 suffering one and also look after her own safety. Should 
 she yet fall into the hands of Kilpe, her life would be 
 wrenched from her in the most horrible manner that that 
 heartless husband could conjure up. She rilled the cup 
 with water and, going down into the sepulcher, lifted 
 the groaning man's head and gave him a sip from the 
 cup and then another and another till he wished no more. 
 Then she built a fire and parched some corn. This she 
 crushed to powder between two rocks, and, making a 
 gruel out of it, gave it to him to eat. With great diffi 
 culty, she then lifted him out of the place and carried 
 him to a little sheltered nook. Here she made him a bed 
 of cornhusks and grass and builded a little shelter-pro 
 tection, also lighted a fire close by him in the hurriedly 
 erected wigwam. These things being done, she then 
 rubbed him and worked with him till far into the night 
 following, though she knew it was he who had tried to 
 scale the walls to capture her for the purpose of burn 
 ing her at the stake that fateful night; but he was drunk 
 then. At last, he opened his eyes and looked about in 
 telligently. Suddenly he shuddered and shrieked when 
 he got a glimpse of the feminine face that was bending 
 over him. 
 
 " O my gods," he groaned, " why torment me in the 
 land of the dead. I was drunk. I did not know what I 
 was doing. Do not torment me. Take this woman's 
 face from me. Had I have been sober, I would not
 
 250 DON DIEGO 
 
 have wanted to help burn her. O my gods, have mercy 
 and not torment me more." 
 
 Geetlu talked to him and told him that he was not in 
 the land of .the departed spirits, but living and that she 
 was alive and unhurt. She further told him that she had 
 escaped being burned and that he had fallen and got 
 terribly hurt, but she thought he would recover. After 
 a time he began to recall the incidents the night of the 
 big tulipie-drunk, one by one. He wanted to talk on to 
 her, but she told him it would be best for him to keep 
 quiet. She then gave him some more food, after which 
 both were soon fast asleep. 
 
 Morning came and after Geetlu had prepared break 
 fast, having succeeded in killing a " fool hen " and a 
 rabbit in the early dawn, she sat down and gave the in 
 valid his breakfast, sitting by him and giving him morsel 
 after morsel as he eagerly ate as much as she thought he 
 ought to have. He said nothing while he ate and noth 
 ing till after she had eaten her own breakfast. Hav 
 ing finished her meal, she came and sat on the ground 
 close by his couch. He looked at her and said : " You 
 are Geetlu. I tried to kill you. Now you save my life. 
 Bad man I am. You good woman." 
 
 " Don't talk about it," said Geetlu, as she waved her 
 hand for him to drop the unpleasant subject. " I must 
 leave you this morning," she continued. " I must leave 
 this valley and this land. I have gathered you wood 
 and corn and you may also have this meat. I will leave 
 these things in your reach. I have also found an old 
 tus. This I have filled with water and will place it in 
 your reach too. No, no use (he had been about to ad 
 dress her again), I cannot stay here. I must climb over
 
 DON DIEGO 251 
 
 yonder mountains to my home beyond them. To stay 
 here is death. My cruel husband, Kilpe, will use every 
 means at his command to carry out his heinous designs. 
 He shall not burn me " 
 
 The sick man, who was known as Noskelzhohn, in a 
 great effort, here interrupted her : " You could never 
 get over yonder mountain. This river is ' boxed/ and 
 the mesas are crossed and transversely crossed by a maze 
 of steep canons. Furthermore, at this time of year you 
 would freeze to death." 
 
 " But Kilpe," rejoined Geetlu. 
 
 " Kilpe, your husband," continued Noskelzhohn, 
 " Kilpe will never burn you or harm a hair of your head. 
 Kilpe is dead. He drowned in the river. I saw him 
 drown with my own eyes. Yes, he is dead, and you are 
 a free woman." 
 
 Geetlu jumped up and down and yelled. For the first 
 time in many years she felt real joy take possession of 
 her inmost soul. 
 
 Her exclamations were answered by Indians in the 
 distance; and before she had time to conceal herself, the 
 little wigwam was filled with people. But instead of try 
 ing to seize her, as she expected, they stood about her 
 and stared, with open mouth. Then without saying a 
 word they left the tepee. Without, they were heard to 
 have a prolonged talk among themselves. For a long 
 time they talked, while Geetlu quaked with fear within 
 the Indian hut and peered out for some possible egress 
 of escape. Finally, one of the Indians came back into 
 the wigwam and went and felt of N/oskelzhohn and also 
 conversed with him to make sure that he was alive and 
 that they had not every one of them seen dead people
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 (ghosts). He then returned to the people without the 
 wigwam. 
 
 Another prolonged talk followed. Then all returned 
 to the tepee. The leader placed his hand on Geetlu's 
 head, as she shuddered. But he assured her by the look 
 on his face that he meant not to seize her. " My sis 
 ter," he commenced, " this our brother was dead and we 
 buried him according to our customs and our women 
 have been mourning his death at morning, noon, and night 
 for four days now. And here, you have brought him 
 back to life. You are a great medicine woman, the 
 greatest of our tribe. We welcome you as our sister 
 and medicine woman. You climbed up that rock wall 
 like a squirrel and disappeared as though swallowed up 
 in the abyss above ; then you come back and restore our 
 brother to life after he had been dead and buried. You 
 are the great medicine woman. We welcome you." 
 
 " But, my brother," broke in Geetlu, " I must leave 
 this place. Kilpe's people will kill me, will burn me." 
 
 " Leave that to us, sister. This man here is my 
 brother, this man whom you have brought back to life. 
 We have already sent a messenger to purchase you from 
 his (Kilpe's) relatives. We will pay the price. You are 
 now free from them and you may live with us as our 
 sister. My brother is unmarried. If you choose, you 
 may be his wife; but you may do as you choose. We 
 will tell no one of your whereabouts till we have turned 
 over the property for you. So you may consider your 
 self safe. We leave this provision with you and leave 
 you here with our brother till we come again. Our sister 
 here will also remain to aid you." 
 
 Two days passed and they returned and Geetlu was
 
 DON DIEGO 253 
 
 wholly free so far as Kilpe's relatives were concerned; 
 but, of course, yet a prisoner, as she very well knew. 
 Three days later, she was again at the camp at the forks 
 of the river, the wife of Noskelzhohn. She was wel 
 comed as a wonderful woman: even Kilpe's relatives 
 were not bitter against her. Bedessendaha came running 
 to meet her, as she arrived ; and, taking her in her arms, 
 exclaimed : " One day all wished to kill you. To-day 
 you are big medicine woman. We all welcome you." 
 
 Geetlu could hardly believe her senses. She could 
 hardly realize that she was the person whom all were 
 lauding. She did not know what they meant by calling 
 her a medicine woman until one day when she was called 
 upon to " doctor " a little girl. On being summoned, 
 she at first refused to go, stating that she was still tired 
 from her trip and, furthermore, knew nothing about heal 
 ing the sick. But a refusal would not be accepted: be 
 sides the clan to which the little girl belonged, pledged 
 her more corn than she had raised altogether if she would 
 effect a cure. Finally she told them that she would go; 
 but that she wished no pay for it; she would go for the 
 benefit of her fellows and not for pay. 
 
 She went and performed over the patient in a sort 
 of crude massage ; also gave her herb tea to drink : and 
 in a few days she had completely recovered. 
 
 Soon after this, a dance was given in honor of the 
 medicine woman, as Geetlu was then called. It was a 
 social affair, like those where the unmarried squaws 
 choose their husbands. The Indian whisky was made 
 and the wood carried for a central fire; all dances with 
 the Apaches are held at night. As dusk began to claim 
 the land, the populace gathered and squatted on the bare
 
 254 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 ground in a large circle around the central blaze of the 
 fire which had now been started. The chanters also 
 gathered and squatted themselves in a bunch within the 
 circle to the northwest of the now huge burning heap. 
 A captured Mexican pot with a rawhide stretched over 
 its open face served as a drum; a willow stick with the 
 beating end bent and tied into a circular loop, served as 
 a drumstick. The leading medicine man, the chief of 
 ceremonies of the night, placed his elbows on his knees 
 and his face between his hands, and began to chant : " ya 
 a a a a ya," to which all the other chanters joined in 
 before the chorus was reached. 
 
 MEDICINE SONG 
 
 Yah ah a ah a ah, yah ah a ah a., ah, yah ah a ah 
 
 a ah a ah, yah be-kud-de yid ah she yo e hay nah. 
 
 As the dance began, Geetlu, the queen of the occasion, 
 the woman of the hour, walked forward within the circle 
 from the northeast horizon mark. She was dressed in 
 her best attire of buckskin skirt and overlapping loose 
 waist of the same material, all fringed and painted and 
 beaded. In her right hand she carried a medicine danc 
 ing stick, some four feet in length, on which was carved 
 the likeness of the god of pleasure who is supposed to live 
 and dance around Chromo Butte of the Apache moun 
 tains. After she had walked forward to the fire, she
 
 DON DIEGO 255 
 
 began a light tripping dance in a straight line in first a 
 backward and then a forward movement to the time of 
 the music, the " sweep " covering practically a radius 
 of the inclosed circle. After she had danced back and 
 forth a few times, she was joined by other women to 
 the number of five or seven. Other groups then formed 
 till the whole circle was filled with dancers, all facing 
 the central fire and lightly tripping backward and for 
 ward. The music ceased, to be resumed in a moment. 
 New sets were formed, to use our modern terms. Each 
 unmarried woman (only single women are supposed to 
 dance in the dancing groups, though men may dance 
 even if they have a dozen wives) then went to the chant 
 ing group and the group of men squatted on the ground 
 on the circumferential margin of the circle and picked 
 out the partners with whom they wished to dance, some 
 times being refused and compelled to dance a set alone, 
 as a brownish-red blush covered the face. The chosen 
 one faced his partner, a group of women faced a group 
 of men, and all tripped backward and forward as the 
 women had formerly done ; the men, of course, were trip 
 ping backward when the women were tripping forward, 
 and vice versa; none touching hands as in civilized dances. 
 Thus they danced one set through. The men then re 
 tired and the women chose partners again. Geetlu did 
 not choose a partner ; she had the medicine cane to dance 
 with. Thus they danced throughout the whole night, 
 with the exception that towards morning the married 
 women, who cared to, joined separately in a clog-dance, 
 clown movement, thus furnishing amusement and mer 
 riment. As the sun rose over the White Mountains, 
 all took one more drink of Indian whisky and re-
 
 256 DON DIEGO 
 
 tired, the men taking the women, with whom they had 
 danced, home with them to be their wives if they wished 
 them and had the necessary property to buy them of their 
 parents or guardians. 
 
 A few days after the dance, Noskelzhohn and his wife 
 set out for their new home at Cibicu, some forty miles 
 northwest of the present Fort Apache: he was a Cibicu 
 Indian and had land there. They left the forks of the 
 river and went northwestward through the Kelley Butte 
 gap and passed Sugar Loaf Butte. At the foot of the 
 latter by a spring of clear water which gushes out of a 
 limestone ledge, they then camped for the night. The 
 next morning they resumed their journey, following 
 roughly the line of the present trail. Reaching Carrixo 
 creek canon, they descended into it, quenched their thirst 
 from some slightly alkaline water that had collected in 
 pools here and there on the dry bed. They then began 
 to climb the westward canon wall over the broken lava. 
 Geetlu gave out and her husband took her pack; they 
 were carrying their household utensils with them. On, 
 up, they climbed to a height of some five hundred feet 
 in vertical sections, then up a long incline still over broken 
 lava for several miles. Reaching the summit of the first 
 bench, they paused a moment. In this interval, Nos 
 kelzhohn took a tiny sack from some part of his clothing, 
 and, emptying some yellow, cat-tail-flag pollen from it 
 into his hand, sprinkled a crude stone altar with the 
 sacred dust, after which he scattered some of the dust 
 toward the four winds, as his lips moved in prayer. 
 Having sprinkled the dust of the gods, he put the sack 
 back into its place and then broke a twig from a near-by 
 tree. This he placed on the altar and over it he placed
 
 DON DIEGO 257 
 
 a small shingle rock. Geetlu, out of curiosity, asked 
 him what he was doing. He answered her that he was 
 thanking his gods that the miserable hill had been 
 climbed (if the reader ever goes over it he will not won 
 der why the Indian was thankful). 
 
 After they had rested a few minutes, they resumed 
 their journey on westward, now over a level bench cov 
 ered with dwarf cedar and pinon and an occasional 
 juniper. For some miles they traveled thus. Then they 
 traveled over a slight ridge into a little gulch where 
 there was some fresh water. Here they stopped and ate 
 lunch. After the lunch, they again started on their jour 
 ney, now on quite an upward incline. For hours, they 
 climbed over lime and sandstone terraces of a former, 
 widely eroded valley. Finally they came to an almost 
 straight up and down bench several feet in height directly 
 in front of them. This they shelfed in zigzag style till 
 they reached the summit. They were then on the top of 
 the Cibicu Mountains, among the fir and pine trees of the 
 Mogollon forest. Along this they traveled for a con 
 siderable distance till at last the western margin was 
 reached and beyond them at their feet, it seemed, 
 stretched out the broad Cibicu valley, but yet miles away. 
 Here they camped for the night. The next day they 
 descended the mountains to the valley and to their 
 home. 
 
 They were welcomely received in the valley and Geetlu 
 enjoyed her new home very much. Her husband also 
 was always good to her, as were her neighbors. In ad 
 dition, she held the place of honor as being a medicine 
 woman and she was kept continually busy looking after 
 the sick.
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 In the early part of the summer at Cibicu, she went 
 with some women over the mesas to the westward to 
 gather mescal. For many miles they passed through 
 open timber where the ground is clothed in a carpet of 
 grass. After they had traveled some miles, they came to 
 a pueblo ruins inclosed in a wall and all overgrown with 
 giant trees. They passed this ruined village and on over 
 a ridge into another valley, thence northwestward to the 
 head of the valley past miles of tavertine deposits to the 
 Grasshopper Springs' region. Here they quenched their 
 thirst and rested for the night. 
 
 The next day they resumed their trip, now westward 
 and a little southward. They had traveled only a few 
 miles on the Grasshopper Springs' bench, when they came 
 to another pueblo ruin, built directly across a small val 
 ley so that the village-wall formed a dam to the stream 
 that flowed there. From the reservoir thus formed, 
 much land had been sometime under irrigation, as was 
 shown by the ditches and the cleared area. Indications 
 were also there to show that the village had been long 
 inhabited before it was overwhelmed, as the graveyard 
 was large (covering more than five acres of ground). 
 As Geetlu inspected these ruins, she thought of her far 
 away pueblo home. After looking around the ruins for 
 a considerable time, they proceeded onward. 
 
 On the edge of the grassy region, they came to the 
 broken area, a rough, rugged country forming the Oak 
 creek-Canon creek divide. From the summit of this 
 they descended over sandstone ledges for many miles in 
 a rather gentle decline. Then they came to a yellowish, 
 marble-like limestone filled with ocean shells of the far 
 away Devonian time. After leaving this formation, they
 
 DON DIEGO 259 
 
 passed over the Old Red sandstone series and out far 
 ther, onto the vitreous Tonto sandstone area, crossing 
 canons and ascending places steeper than an ordinary 
 house roof, as they roamed about looking for mescal 
 tubers. 
 
 As they were thus searching this broken region, Geet- 
 lu's eye caught sight of the Canon creek cliff houses, 
 built on a protected shelf in a secluded place far up in a 
 narrow little valley, that though now destitute of water, 
 must once have had water running through it in quan 
 tities even sufficient for irrigation; corn cobs and a 
 kind of rye have been found in the granaries there. 
 Geetlu went to the houses, looked them through, ex 
 amined some of the broken pieces of pottery, then with 
 a sigh turned and left the place. In a little while she 
 joined the other women and all proceeded about their 
 task, as some laughed about her visiting the houses of 
 the long ago. 
 
 They gathered their mescal tubers and roasted them 
 that night. Then the next day they started home, ar 
 riving there the second day following. As soon as rested 
 Geetlu went to irrigating her cornfield. As she was 
 spreading the water, a splash indicated that a mountain 
 trout had mistook the ditch for the main channel of the 
 stream and had stranded in the open field. She picked 
 it up and put it in a secure place till she had finished the 
 irrigating. After finishing it, she took the fish and went 
 to her wigwam. 
 
 After resting a few minutes she then cleaned the fish 
 and roasted it among the live coals of the fire. When it 
 was cooked, she sat it before her husband for his even 
 ing meal; but he would not touch it, saying: "We
 
 260 DON DIEGO 
 
 Apaches do not eat fish." One of the medicine men of 
 the tribe was also there and he, too, refused to eat of 
 the fish. Geetlu was curious. Turning to the medicine 
 man she said : " Brother, I am a Pueblo and we eat 
 fish. Do tell me why you will not eat them. Is there 
 anything wrong in eating them ? " 
 
 The old man straightened his bent frame and said : 
 " No, we do not eat fish. They are the spirits of wicked 
 women. Do you see the spots on them? Once, a long 
 time ago all our people got an ' awful sick.' They were 
 hot. They were burning up with fever. The medicine 
 men took them all down by the river's brink and there they 
 gave the sick a sweat bath, the hot steam bath of puri 
 fication. This they all took. Then emerging from the 
 bath-tepee, they plunged themselves into the invigora 
 ting waters of the river, only to come out on the bank 
 and die. All died who were sick. The people were en 
 raged against the medicine men. They thought they had 
 killed the ' sick ' intentionally. They rose as one man 
 to annihilate them all, when the dead people began to 
 turn spotted just like the fish in the river. The explana 
 tion was simple. The bad spirits of the fish had entered 
 the people who had bathed and had killed them all. 
 From that day to this no Apache has eaten fish " [and 
 but few of them have ever bathed]. 
 
 The aged man resumed his stooped posture again ; but 
 Geetlu had more questions to ask him. Turning so as 
 to face him, she said : " Brother, I see, I see your rea 
 sons." She paused a moment, then continued : " I wish 
 to ask you some more questions about things which I 
 have seen in your country, if it will not be too much for 
 you to answer them for me."
 
 DON DIEGO 261 
 
 " Go on," commanded the medicine man. " I will tell 
 you about anything I know about." 
 
 " Well," resumed Geetlu, more confidently, " in many 
 places in your country there are ruined villages. There 
 are three in this valley, one at the Grasshopper Springs, 
 a walled village over here in the timber of the southwest, 
 and many more scattered here and there. Who are those 
 people and what became of them? I would like to ask." 
 
 The old man frowned and spat in the fire in contempt. 
 Then he turned a piercing eye upon the questioner and 
 said : " We do not wish to talk about that people. 
 They overran this country many, many suns ago and, 
 overpowering our people, made slaves of them all. For 
 many, many years, our people were their slaves and did 
 all their work for them. They had a big Chief who 
 lived under the noonday sun. Once upon a time, this 
 big Chief had a great war in his southland home; and 
 being hard pressed, he sent officers throughout his realms 
 calling his warriors to his capital to help repel the foe. 
 After they had departed, our people rose against the 
 women and children and old men and massacred them all 
 and destroyed their places of habitation as you have seen 
 them. Since that time we have been the slaves of no 
 race of men. N,o, we do not like to talk about these 
 people." Again he spat in the fire in contempt, then be 
 came silent. 
 
 Geetlu wished more information about things which 
 she had seen, so continued her questioning : " Brother," 
 she began again, " you know I was once lost in the cliff 
 cave toward the mountains of snow. When we were 
 over toward Oak creek gathering mescal, I also saw 
 many cliff houses. I would like to know who the people
 
 262 DON DIEGO 
 
 were who lived in these places and what became of 
 them." 
 
 " It is a long story," he began, talking more freely than 
 previously. " It was a long, long time ago when these 
 people lived here. There were little folk. There were 
 two tribes of them. One of them lived in the canon 
 of the White Mountain River, as one approaches the sun 
 at his rising. They had a village in the valley; also a 
 cave village. The other tribe lived in the Oak creek- 
 Canon creek cliff houses that you have seen and still far 
 ther westward along the high east escarpment of the 
 Sierra Ancha. For many, many summers these people 
 lived at peace and cultivated their little valley fields and 
 hunted and killed the game in the forests and feasted 
 with each other on special occasions. 
 
 " Finally, after many years, a White Mountain cliff 
 dweller desired to take for his wife a daughter of the 
 Oak creek chief; but her people would not permit the 
 marriage. The White Mountain man, whose name was 
 Elondazen, offered to buy his prospective wife; but after 
 a great deal of negotiation, the Oak creek ' principals ' 
 rejected the proposed purchase, and Elondazen and his 
 relatives returned home sad and dejected. 
 
 " Arriving at their home, a meeting of the ' principals ' 
 of the place was called ; and, after considerable consulta 
 tion, it was decided to obtain the maiden, Gumwapa 
 (Salt), of the Oak creek people by stealth. So accord 
 ing to a prearranged plan, many White Mountain braves 
 went and concealed themselves in the hills adjacent to 
 Canon and Oak creeks. It was in the mescal gathering 
 season. The women of the Oak creek village all went 
 into the hills to collect mescal tubers. Gumwapa ac-
 
 DON DIEGO 263 
 
 companied the other women. All were busy, when Gum- 
 wapa suddenly found herself being carried away in the 
 arms of her lover Elondazen. She did not object much 
 to going with him. And the women who were there 
 tried not to help release her; but all fled to the village. 
 " With pent-up fury, the Oak creek people pursued 
 Elondazen and his warriors and the captured girl. They 
 thought to rescue the latter, but were unsuccessful. Over 
 the hills and through the timber and across canons and 
 creeks they chased the fleeing White Mountain people 
 to their village home on White Mountain river. There 
 in the valley a great battle was fought in which the Oak 
 creek people were routed and driven from the valley to 
 the region of Cedar creek and Sugar Loaf Butte. Here 
 night came on and the fighting ceased. Morning, how 
 ever, brought a change of movement. In the night the 
 Oak creek people had been reenforced by the Sierra 
 Ancha cliff dwellers; and at daybreak, the combined 
 forces fell upon the confident victors of the day before 
 and put them to flight. Throughout that whole day then 
 there was a running battle among the hills and ridges, 
 dikes and buttes of the Kelley Butte country. Even the 
 coming of night did not cause the slaughter to cease. 
 But under cover of the darkness, the White Mountain 
 people, though hard pressed, were able to retreat up the 
 valley to their village home. Here behind its walls they 
 made a determined stand; but after a seven days' con 
 tinual conflict, they were defeated again and a breach 
 was made in the outer wall toward the rear of the village. 
 The night following, a pitched battle was fought in the 
 plaza between the contending braves. While the unequal 
 contest was going on, the women fled with their belong-
 
 264 DON DIEGO 
 
 ings to the cliff cave; many had already gone there be 
 fore the village was besieged. While the battle was be 
 ing waged at its fiercest, Gumwapa was placed on the 
 roof through a hatchway of one of the houses by the en 
 raged women of the place. Her hands were tied. A 
 lone woman appeared on the roof with her. It was the 
 White Mountain girl whom Elondazen had jilted when 
 he had taken the Oak creek woman. The enraged girl 
 had more than revenge stored up in her determination. 
 She stabbed the helpless girl to death and then hurled 
 her from the roof into the midst of her brothers and fel 
 low countrymen, exclaiming as she did so : ' Take your 
 sister Salt. She has caused us trouble enough already.' 
 " The morning following found the village wholly in 
 possession of the Oak creek braves; all of the White 
 Mountain people that had escaped death or capture had 
 fled to the cave. But the people from the west were not 
 yet satisfied. They would yet have revenge for the mur 
 der of Gumwapa. So they pursued the fleeing enemy 
 to their cave fort; and there at its entrance another 
 pitched battle was fought for many days. Though the 
 White Mountain folk were defeated in this battle also, 
 the contest was so near equal that the Oak creek braves 
 could not force the entrance and capture the cave village. 
 Having exhausted their strength, they retreated a safe 
 distance from the cave entrance and there sat down to be 
 siege the place till the inmates would be forced by starva 
 tion to surrender. For a long time they continued the 
 siege, but unsuccessful. And worse still, each morning 
 at sunrise the head chief of the cave people would come 
 out on the little platform at the cave entrance and taunt 
 the Oak creek enemy, saying : ' Starve yourselves.
 
 DON DIEGO 265 
 
 Kill your own people since you wish to kill someone. 
 We are safe here. You cannot get into this cave. Our 
 gods would strike you dead should you enter it. No, 
 we will not surrender. We have provision enough 
 stored within to last us many years, also a spring of fresh, 
 clear water gushes forth in one of the rooms. Go starve 
 yourselves. If you wish to kill human beings, kill your 
 selves : then you will not offend any gods but your own.' 
 
 " The Oak creek people, however, would not give up 
 their quest. They were bent upon having revenge. At 
 last they called a meeting of their chief advisors; and, 
 after many hours of deliberation, a new plan of proce 
 dure was decided upon. 
 
 " Under cover of the darkness, that night, they 
 swarmed up over the ledge and captured the cave en 
 trance, killing the pickets on guard in it or driving them, 
 back within the narrow hall-way. Then the assailants 
 brought up great quantities of resin and pitch wood 
 and piled it high up about the hole in the cliff. Then 
 they kindled a huge fire and never suffered it to abate 
 its fury. For days and days they kept it burning; and 
 the fire gleamed brightly by night and by day against 
 the side of the vast rock face. A continuous, strong south 
 wind also aided the assailants: the cliff extends north 
 ward along a huge fissure in the earth's crust, and the 
 wind blew the choking smoke to the innermost recesses 
 of the cavern. Death was certain to the imprisoned 
 hoards. Hurriedly they collected in their chamber of 
 worship and there perished while at prayer. At length, 
 the revenging army retired, leaving a blackened hall-way 
 and a giant pile of ashes on the ledge." 
 
 Geetlu started to thank the aged man for his kindness
 
 266 DON DIEGO 
 
 in narrating these things to her, when he arose and left 
 the wigwam. 
 
 The second night following the above incident, Geetlu 
 had been out to see a patient; and, returning just at day 
 break, found her husband very much downcast in spirit. 
 He was sitting by the fire sprinkling cat-tail-flag pollen to 
 the four winds. He never noticed her when she re 
 turned, but kept on sprinkling the pollen. She spoke to 
 him and he stared at her wildly. " What is wrong, Nos- 
 kelzhohn," she quickly asked, as she went to him and put 
 her hands on his head. 
 
 Still staring wildly, he spoke to her : " Oh, Geetlu, 
 before the frost comes me die. Me alone in tepee. Owl 
 come and light on wigwam and hoot and call me to go 
 with him to the dead land. Leaves yet on the trees, me 
 die. Me leave good Geetlu. I ask my people to let you 
 go to your village home. Me die." 
 
 " But don't talk that way, Noskelzhohn. I want you 
 to live long. We will go together to my home. I will 
 explain all to them and they will be good to you." 
 
 " Me die, good Geetlu. Me die. I know," he broke in. 
 
 Geetlu dropped the subject and went about her morn 
 ing work. When she had breakfast ready, she set it 
 before him; but he refused to eat and still sat and stared 
 and talked about that he was going to die. Geetlu be 
 came alarmed and at once called a consultation of the 
 medical fraternity : her husband was already very sick. 
 That night began a series of medicine performances to 
 restore his health and normal state of mind. 
 
 During the day Geetlu gave him root tea to drink; 
 but he grew gradually worse. As dusk began to cover
 
 DON DIEGO 267 
 
 the land, drums were brought to the tepee, and a little 
 later the medicine men arrived. Then the medicine sing 
 ing began. The patient was placed on a pallet to the 
 east of the central fire in the wigwam. The chief med 
 icine man of the evening squatted at the head of this 
 bed with his face looking toward the east (Geetlu could 
 not act as doctor as one of her own family was the suf 
 ferer). Immediately around the medicine man were 
 seated other members of the " medicine " fraternity ; 
 while around the room were seated as many Indians as 
 could conveniently find squatting space in the hovel. In 
 addition, many more were seated on the ground with 
 out the Indian house in front of the entrance to it. 
 
 When all was ready, the old medicine man spat into 
 the fire, then began to sing: 
 
 " Raws' ah tun'-nee yah' osh kah' 
 Raws' ah tun'-nee yah' osh kah' 
 Raws' ah tun'-nee yah' osh kah' 
 Raws' ah tun'-nee yah' osk kee' yah'. 
 Yah' dethith'-be-zhe' 
 PaiY-ris* kee-kay ed-dee-teen' 
 Tsof un-tzhon'-nee 
 Bair' in-dah' klee'-dal-ash' 
 Yah' ed-dee-teen' oo' bair tzhon'-nee 
 Nod'-o-tash' yo' e' hay' nay." 
 
 The drum began to measure off the time; and soon all 
 within as well as those without the tepee were singing 
 the " sick " away. This song was repeated ten times. 
 Then several other songs were sung, after which the 
 singing ceased for a few minutes.
 
 268 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 No. i. J - 240. 
 A 
 
 MEDICINE SONGS OF THE APACHES 
 
 A A A A A A 
 
 T 
 
 1 
 
 :x 
 
 ^ 
 
 -IT- 
 
 -* 
 
 O ne o ne 6 n6 6 ng ha yah i a 
 
 No. 2. , = 240. 
 
 -K- 
 
 j_Hff ^ 
 
 s 
 
 ha na* Yi an-ne o 6 yi an-ne o 6 
 
 * " Ha na" which ends many of C-4's songs, means, " We're not afraid." 
 
 A A A A A 
 
 No. 3. ,1=240. 
 
 y& an-ne o o hS ha na 
 
 H6 yo ya ha yah i 
 
 No. 4. J= 240. 
 
 P 
 
 he yo o ha 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ha na 
 
 A A A A A A 
 
 c * > _^. 
 
 -fS-- 
 
 Ha yo 
 
 NO. S , J = 2 4 0. 
 
 4--4 
 
 CX -4Q- -^9- i^j (^ f^- f^ 
 ^ 
 
 i ya ya i ya y6 ha y& T ha na 
 
 I ya o a 
 
 A A A A A A 
 
 
 =f==f 
 
 yaoayaoayaoayao a I I a 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 As soon as the singing ceased, the chief of ceremonies 
 took a wooden snake out of the ashes, by some trick he 
 had concealed it while the singing was going on. Tak-
 
 DON DIEGO 269 
 
 ing the crude carving in his left hand, he blew a breath 
 in prayer on it, then sprinkled it with the sacred pollen 
 of the cat-tail-flag, after which he sprinkled a pinch of 
 the same dust toward each of the semi-cardinal points. 
 He then placed the lower surface of this effigy of med 
 icine on the afflicted parts of the patient in each of the 
 " four wind " directions, praying all the while to his gods 
 and sprinkling the patient with the sacred dust. This 
 being completed, the snake was burned and the singing 
 resumed. 
 
 For another hour or more they sang, with air foul 
 and noise deafening. Then another breathing spell was 
 taken. At this time the medicine man produced a 
 wooden frog. This he performed with as he had with 
 the snake, after which it was likewise burned. The sing 
 ing was again resumed. 
 
 For a long time the singing was kept up. Then the 
 medicine men produced five hoops. These were each some 
 two and one-half feet in diameter; and all, when set side 
 by side, were painted so as crudely to imitate the colors 
 of the rainbow, which the hoops were supposed to rep 
 resent : the Apaches believe that the rainbow is a complete 
 circle surrounding the whole heavens, extending to the 
 " sun's home " in the " straight-down-below." These 
 hoops he blew his breath on as he had on the snake and 
 frog. Then sprinkled them with the sacred dust, after 
 which he placed them singly on the afflicted parts of the 
 patient, then all together. After he had finished this 
 process, he blew a hissing breath 6n them to drive away 
 the collected " sick." He then gave a hoop each to five 
 of his associates and directed them to carry them quite a 
 distance from the wigwam and there bury them or safely
 
 270 DON DIEGO 
 
 conceal them, four of the carriers to go one toward each 
 of the semi-cardinal directions, the fifth to proceed 
 toward the sun at noon. 
 
 After the hoop-carriers had departed, the medicine 
 man spat in the fire several times, then resumed the sing 
 ing as before. This singing was continued till the com 
 ing of the morning star. Then a medicine god, some 
 two feet in height, a crude likeness to a human being, all 
 feathered and painted, was produced. This the medicine 
 man used as he had formerly used the snake and the frog, 
 except that he placed it four times over each of the vital 
 points of the body as well as the part where the " sick " 
 seemed to be. This being done, he gave the medicine 
 god to an associate and told him to carry it to the top 
 of the ridge toward the east and there conceal it under 
 one of the altars. 
 
 As soon as the god-carrier had left, the singing was 
 again resumed; and, in addition, those without the tepee 
 danced a backward and forward dance, as they also sang 
 till the surrounding woods gave back the sound. At sun 
 up all went to their respective homes. But the patient 
 had grown worse throughout the night. 
 
 Nothing was done during the day, but to give the sick 
 one a sweat bath, to play the Medicine Game, and to 
 make preparations for the night performances to follow. 
 
 The Medicine Game was played for the benefit of the 
 patient. The chief medicine man played to drive " sick " 
 away. An Indian, as the representative of " sick," 
 played against him. This is the usual way the game is 
 played. If the medicine man wins, it is believed that 
 the sick one will get well; if the representative of evil 
 gains the victory, he will die. The representative of the
 
 g 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 S 
 
 " 
 
 *
 
 DON DIEGO 271 
 
 good spirits so plays the game that if he believes the pa 
 tient will die he loses, and if he believes he will get well 
 he wins; he must keep up his reputation as a medicine 
 man. 
 
 In many respects this game resembles the " Setdilth 
 Game," previously described. The tally counts are forty 
 in number, as in that game; but pebbles instead of cob 
 bles are used. Furthermore, instead of being picked up 
 on the spot, as the cobble stones are, each family carries 
 a " set " with them wherever they go. Like the set- 
 dllth tallies, when used in playing they are arranged in 
 a circle; but in groups of fives instead of tens. A wide 
 space on opposite sides of the circle, designated " water," 
 separates the four west groups from the four east 
 groups. As in the setdilth game a center or bouncing 
 rock is used. Also as in that game bouncing sticks are 
 used, but the number is four instead of three. The 
 sticks also are very different. The setdilth sticks are 
 about a foot in length, are the halves of green willows, 
 and are thick and heavy. The medicine sticks are two 
 feet in length, and dry, seasoned material, are usually 
 carved yucca lath, and are light and thin. Besides be 
 ing variously carved, three of them have one face each 
 painted red; the other face unpainted, or painted white. 
 The other stick has one face painted black, the other 
 green. As in the setdilth game these sticks are struck 
 edgewise on the bouncing rock, and are then let fall as 
 chance may direct. In this game, as in the setdilth 
 game, small sticks are placed between the last rock tally 
 and the next pebble in the direction the player is moving 
 his tally stick to mark the number of points he has 
 gained. Unlike the setdilth game, forty-one points in-
 
 272 DON DIEGO 
 
 stead of forty constitute a game-count ; the players begin 
 at the south wide space and in order to get a game they 
 must cross the same space on the return to at least one 
 count on the other side. The winner of the game-count 
 keeps on playing, retaining the extra counts he has 
 gained; his opponent begins anew. He, however, does 
 not lose any game-counts previously gained in the game. 
 The game is occasionally played to pass the time away. 
 When played for that purpose four persons usually play, 
 two playing as partners. The rules of the game are 
 these : 
 
 1. The opponents in the game face each other, both 
 start from the south wide space, and move their counting 
 sticks around the stone circle in opposite directions, each 
 playing as his turn comes. 
 
 2. Should the counts of two opponents be such that 
 their counting sticks would occupy the same space, the 
 one who played last takes up his opponent's counting 
 stick and throws it back to the starting point. Its owner 
 must begin the game anew, as all the points he has pre 
 viously made are lost. 
 
 3. Should the counts of any player be such as to place 
 his counting stick in either of the wide spaces, designated 
 " water," he loses all the points he has made, his count 
 ing stick is thrown back to the starting place, and he 
 must begin again. 
 
 4. The rules for counting the points, decided by the 
 face of the sticks that are up after they have fallen (the 
 faces according to color are designated white, red, green, 
 or black), are as follows: 
 
 A. Two white plus one red plus one black, two 
 points.
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 273 
 
 Game field of the Apache Medicine Game, showing the "pebble- 
 circle" and the counting sticks in place. The two wide spaces 
 are designated "water." Should the tallies be such as to place 
 a tally-stick in either of these spaces, the player loses all the 
 points he has made in that game-count and, consequently, must 
 begin the count again. The game sticks, as they have fallen, 
 count the thrower 65 points.
 
 274 DON DIEGO 
 
 B. Three red plus one black and all the sticks par 
 allel, 5 points. 
 
 C. Three white plus one green, 10 points. 
 
 D. Three red plus one green, 13 points. 
 
 E. Three white plus one black, 13 points. 
 
 F. Three red plus one black, 20 points. 
 
 G. Three red, one crossing the other two, plus one 
 black, 26 points. 
 
 H. Three white plus one black laying across the 
 others, 39 points. 
 
 I. Three red, one crossing the other two, plus one 
 black crossing two red ones (in this game each cross 
 counts 13 points), 52 points. 
 
 J. One hundred and sixty- four continuous points, or 
 four game-counts constitute a game. 
 
 In the game in question the medicine man played to 
 lose and lost, because it was his opinion that the sick man 
 would die. 
 
 Sundown ushered in a new performance. A fire was 
 builded near the tepee of the sick, and he was carried to 
 it. Close by him then collected the medicine fraternity 
 and chanters; while around all in a great circle danced 
 the assembled populace. Within the circle danced 
 clown-acting, painted Indians, each carrying a carved 
 staff. These staffs were all made from trees that had 
 been struck by lightning; wood from such trees is sup 
 posed to have some curative charm. Some of the staffs 
 were mere canes, painted white and streaked with imita 
 tion, zigzag-lightning lines; some were cane-like with 
 fan-shaped, rib-like heads : some were flat and wide and 
 rib-like and peculiarly carved and painted; others were 
 crude effigies of gods and men. In addition to these
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 275 
 
 staff-medicine sticks being painted in symbolic designs, 
 the drums to be used were also painted in the figures of 
 the gods. 
 
 MEDICINE SONGS OF THE APACHES 
 No. 6. J = 24o. Repeat four times. 
 
 d 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 yu 
 
 to 
 
 hi 
 
 yu 
 
 A A A A 
 
 \ist, indandjrd, ending)! fth, ending. 
 
 ' A A A A A A A 
 
 ~-^= 
 
 
 -&- -&- -&- -& -&- 
 
 to yu to ya i a na i a n6 & 
 
 No. 7. J 240. 
 
 Repeat twice. 
 
 AAAA AAAA 
 
 Ba chan na 5 o in ne a i a na 
 
 A AAAA AAAA 
 
 /TV j - 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 j 1 1 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 * 1 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 No. 8. J = 240. 
 
 A A 
 
 Repeat twice. 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 Ba-tin-ni 55 ha na a i a na 
 
 A A AAAA 
 
 J J 
 
 ^ J i 
 
 - r*j I 
 
 J. ^ J 
 
 Ba - tin - in o o ha na 
 
 i a ne
 
 276 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 No. g. ^=240. 
 
 Repeat twice. Repeat three times. 
 
 A AAAAAA 
 
 P-H 4 
 
 
 Hi - yu da-y& da an na 665 ne hi a 
 
 ,A A AAAA AAAAAA 
 
 
 hi - yu da - ya da &n ni & i he ng 
 
 No. io. .-=240. 
 A 
 
 Repeat twice. 
 
 i= 
 
 Jl { I J ' J I I i | f-J 
 
 Ya nas se san d& ya ng 6 6 ne he e nah & 
 
 No. ii. ^ = 240. Repeat twice. 
 
 ** i i 
 
 -e- ~^/ -s- ' -&- 
 
 Ha yan i yo ha yan i yo ha yan i yo 
 
 A A D. c. A A 
 
 ==*=* 
 
 K~l j 
 
 h=^ 
 
 -ft 
 
 u 
 
 -K-| 1 
 
 p-j- - 
 
 ha yan i i i a ha & 
 
 No. u. J=4o. Repeat 2 or 5 times. 
 
 A A 
 
 ha na 
 
 t j 7^ 
 
 f= 
 
 
 o nan na 6 & he e na I 
 
 No. 13. J=J4o. Repeat twice. 
 
 ^ A A A 
 
 >. C. <a/<:#. 
 
 A 
 
 
 hanayu ha & ha na yu u ha n& i a ne &
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 No. 14. Ji- 240. 
 
 a ya a sha ya ya be-hud-de ye i she yu e ha na 
 j 240. 
 
 No. 15. she a 
 No. 16. Ta a 
 No. 17. A klo-o 
 
 She a 
 Ta a 
 A klo-6 
 
 ^_- v~- 
 
 a ya-a she a she she hud-de ye a she yu a ha na 
 
 a ya-a ta a y& ka tod de kla a she yu a ha na 
 
 a ya-a a a ya 6 tod de kla a she yu a ha na 
 
 Repeat 3 times. 
 
 A A 
 
 ^ 
 
 -&- -&- -&- -&- -<9- 
 
 E ya i yu hg yu hg yu he yd. I a he y& 
 
 An na on na 
 
 No. 20. --- 140. 
 Repeat $ times. 
 
 -6*- -&--&- -&- -<2- -&- -&- -fii- -<- 
 
 a na yu a ha yu a a na yu a ha yti a he e na
 
 278 DON 
 
 NO. 21. J=240. 
 
 DIEGO 
 
 Repeat 3 limes. 
 
 A A 
 
 1 m *^ 1 ! & 
 
 
 
 -_ 
 
 l^ff "^ 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 ' \ ' \ 
 
 ll/"l\ v| tf ] 
 
 
 ) ' 
 
 \ 
 
 I\J.L/ ~r ^ \ 
 
 
 
 <A \ II 
 
 o ka ne ya a 6 ne 
 
 No. 22. 240. Repeat 3 times. 
 
 * A A A A 
 
 1 y A \ \ 1 
 
 ya he ha na 
 
 Repeal 3 times. 
 
 A 
 
 yr 2 K I IK r 1 
 
 r^afe 
 
 -1 
 
 -_j TT- j r 
 
 r _/ ^-~&- -<* vj*- 
 
 Ha ya na ni e 6 6 ha yo 
 
 No. 23. .' = 240. 
 
 ha ya I a i ya 
 
 A A A A 
 
 I _r o r 
 
 
 
 
 1 ^i ff* _ J 
 
 1 "1 
 
 
 11 
 
 )f(V\ A \ \ \ \ \ -] ~j 
 
 1 _] 4. 
 
 1 
 
 ^ ^1 H 
 
 yon na yon na yon na yo na yon na yo ni 
 
 No. 24. .1240. 
 
 he e na i 
 
 1 i* ' 
 
 
 
 
 J\ * . ] fc^ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 i n 
 
 j 
 
 J 
 
 IVjy "~ g j j I J j 
 
 j 
 
 
 - 
 
 ha ya I he y5 
 
 6 ha ya i he yo 6 
 
 Repeat j times. 
 A A 
 
 I/ _l 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 ^flv i 1 J 4 H 
 
 _ 1 :. 
 
 r~~ 
 
 -H -!*- 
 
 VNL/ W 
 
 
 
 i j 
 
 >---- *x 
 
 
 -<9- "N-f -^~ 
 
 ha ya I., he y5 
 
 ha a na a 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 The musicians chanted the hours away. The medicine 
 man spat in the fire. The circular dancers crow-hopped 
 around the circle to the left. And the clown-actors 
 danced a foot-scraping, backward and forward move 
 ment around the central fire, the musicians, and the sick 
 one, shifting continually to the right as they thus danced. 
 This was varied throughout the entire night only by each 
 clown-actor pausing a moment, when he had advanced 
 in his turn to the presence of the patient. Over him he 
 then bent and prayed and sprinkled the sacred pollen,
 
 THE GUNELPREYA MEDICINE DISK OF THE APACHES.
 
 DON DIEGO 279 
 
 while he placed his wand on the afflicted parts in each 
 of the semi-cardinal directions. Having collected the 
 " sick " on the medicine staff, he raised it to a level with 
 his face; and, holding it so as to point to the north 
 eastern heavens, he blew a hissing breath over it to send 
 the " sick " to its home in the far northeastern moun 
 tains. Then with a shriek he resumed his dancing, while 
 a fellow clown-actor took his place at collecting the 
 " sick." Morning brought this peculiar dance to its con 
 clusion; but left the patient in a rapidly declining con 
 dition. 
 
 Noskelzhohn was suffering from a disease of the 
 brain, as a result of the fall he had received at the cliff 
 cave. His end was evidently near. Realizing that the 
 death stage was approaching, the medicine men decided 
 to use the Gunelpieya Disk performances and the Med 
 icine Ghost dance to eradicate the disease. This remedy 
 is the last medical resort known to the Apache Indians. 
 They believe that it will either cure the patient; or, if 
 he dies, will prepare him for the happy feasting land: 
 the gods can either make the sick well or take them to 
 themselves. It, with the other performances previously 
 described, belong to the faith cure side of the Apache 
 medical practice, in all of which hypnotism plays an im 
 portant part. The Gunelpieya Disk performances are 
 daytime ceremonies; the Medicine Ghost dance is always 
 performed at night. The former always precedes the 
 latter. 
 
 The patient's precarious condition necessitated imme 
 diate action. 
 
 In a sheltered sunny spot, they leveled off a space some 
 thirty feet in diameter. This they inclosed in a " wick-
 
 280 DON DIEGO 
 
 eyup " fence. Within the inclosure they drew a med 
 icine disk some sixteen feet in diameter. This disk 
 they decorated in concentric rings with several sets of 
 symbols of their gods : the sun and lightnings and med 
 icine blocks ; rainbows, land, deer, man, and bird ; rabbits 
 and elk; water and frogs; and gods, or Gunelpieya, the 
 latter represented by figures of men. These they painted 
 in various colors, the coloring material being prepared 
 as follows : The green was ground up leaves ; the red, 
 ground up sandstone; the black, powdered charcoal; the 
 yellowish-white, ground up limestone; the blackish-blue, 
 a mixture of powdered limestone and charcoal. The 
 dividing lines between the circular spaces were rainbows. 
 
 The disk being completed, the Gunelpieya ceremonies 
 began. An aged woman came into the inclosure, walked 
 to the center of the disk, and sprinkled it with cat-tail-flag 
 pollen. Then she walked around each concentric circle 
 and sprinkled it in like manner, as she continually prayed 
 to her gods. Having completed her sprinkling and having 
 scattered " hottenden " [pollen] toward the four winds, 
 she took a gourd cup partly filled with water and, begin 
 ning with the outer rainbow circle, the outer figure drawn, 
 she walked around each concentric circle and concentric 
 space from the rim of the disk to its center, stooping be 
 fore each sacred object to gather a pinch of dust from it. 
 This dust she put in the cup she carried in her hand. 
 Having completed her dust gathering, she prayed and 
 sprinkled pollen to her gods a moment ; then set the cup 
 down on the sun figure in the center of the disk and took 
 her departure. 
 
 As soon as the aged woman had gone, they carried 
 Noskelzhohn into, the inclosure; then around each con-
 
 DON DIEGO 281 
 
 centirc circle from the outer rim of the disk to its center, 
 placing him, finally, on the sun drawing with face turned 
 toward the evening sun. At this juncture the musicians, 
 who had seated themselves in the inclosure without the 
 disk, began to chant : " Kaws' ah tun'-nee yah' osh' 
 kahV etc. 
 
 Just as the monotonous music had attracted the atten 
 tion of all, a ghost dancer, called " Cheden " by the In 
 dians, came from a timbered district along the creek. He 
 was nude with the exception of dancing skirt, moccasins 
 and hat; the latter was a square-shouldered ghost hat. 
 This hat had for a support-piece a bow-shaped withe 
 which passed, in yoke- fashion, from the crown of the head 
 to beneath the chin, where the ends were tied together 
 with sinew to keep the hat in place. The withe had a soft 
 buckskin mask stretched over it loosely. To this yoke 
 at the top was fastened a transverse-bar of yucca wood 
 from which several upright, lath-like pieces projected on 
 which there were peculiarly carved cross pieces and 
 painted zigzag red lines, representing lightning. To 
 make the ghost figure more grotesque, the dancer's body 
 was painted in various colors. A drawing of the sun 
 with notched rays in red and yellow decorated his breast, 
 a ghost god his back, and the red bolt lightning his arms, 
 the streaks running up the arms. He held an Indian 
 knife in one hand and a lightning-painted, yucca wand 
 in the other. He approached the Gunelpieya enclosure, 
 entered it, and danced around for a considerable time 
 without the disk. He then entered the first rainbow ring 
 and walked around it from the east, turning continually 
 to the right and edging in toward the center of the disk 
 as he thus walked from ring to ring and from space to
 
 282 DON DIEGO 
 
 space till he reached the patient, approaching him from 
 the rear. He then laid down his knife and wand and 
 dipped his hands into the muddy water in the cup. He 
 then rubbed the sick one's head with the muddied hands. 
 When he had done this he lifted his hands skyward and 
 sent the evil spirit " sick " away by blowing a hissing 
 breath through them. In like manner he placed his 
 hands on the man's back, on his breast, and on his arms. 
 Having completed his task and sent " sick " away, he 
 galloped off into the distant wood. 
 
 When the ghost dancer had gone, the chief medicine 
 man took the cup and rubbed the man in the same man 
 ner as the " Cheden " had done before him, except that 
 he daubed him almost all over with the mud, praying 
 continually as he did so. This being done, he held the 
 muddied cup against the patient's breast over the heart 
 for a considerable time, as another member of the med 
 icine fraternity sprinkled both the doctor and the sick 
 one with the sacred pollen and prayed to the gods of med 
 icine. They then carried the sick man from the enclo 
 sure. Then each one who cared took some of the dust 
 of the gods, that is, gathered a pinch of dust from each 
 of the symbolic figures. This being done, the disk was 
 obliterated. It must be made, used, and destroyed in a 
 day. In this performance, the muddied water of the 
 dust of the gods was rubbed on the patient as prayer- 
 medicine. All the gods of the universe were represented 
 in the disk, and on the mercy of these they threw the 
 sick one. The Gunelpieya ceremonies were thus brought 
 to a close. The next scenes were those of the ghost 
 dance. 
 
 At about ten o'clock that night a huge bonfire was
 
 DIEGO 
 
 283 
 
 kindled in a level open area, around which practically all 
 the Indians gathered. Two drummers seated themselves 
 on the ground a little to the west of the big fire and be 
 gan to beat the Indian " tomtoms." As soon as the dull 
 drum beats were heard all who desired to sing joined the 
 drummers and began to chant: 
 
 " To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd' -o-tash' 
 
 To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd' -o-tash' 
 
 To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd'-o-tash' 
 
 To'-kwah tzhoo'-nah nahd' -o-toosh' -she ah' i' a' nah' 
 ah' 
 
 To'-kwah tzhoo' nah nahd'-o-toosh'-she ah' i' a' 
 nah' i'." 
 
 APACHE MEDICINE SONG 
 
 To-kwah zhu-ne nad-do ta-a-ish To-kwah zhu-ne nad-do ta-a-ish. 
 
 A A 
 
 -C 
 
 K 
 
 3T- 
 
 To kwah zhu-ne nad-do toosh she a i a na a I 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 After the singing had been going on for a consider 
 able time, the sick man, whom they had been rubbing 
 with scorching pinon and juniper twigs for hours to 
 keep life in the body, was carried and placed on a deer 
 skin to the east of the fire. On this he reclined, waiting 
 for those who were to perform over him. At last they 
 came, the ghost dancers. There were five of them, four 
 medicine dancers and a clown. The former were " Ched-
 
 284 DON DIEGO 
 
 ens " and were attired like the " Cheden " above de 
 scribed with the exception that the hats of two of them 
 had the lath crest-pieces arranged in fan shape so as to 
 resemble the spread tail of a turkey, which it was in 
 tended to represent. The clown was attired, painted 
 and daubed similarly to the ghost dancers, the crest of 
 his hat, however, was neither square shouldered nor 
 fan-shaped; but instead the lath extended out as horns 
 from each side, a cross cresting the hat. Besides the 
 difference in the hat, he also had a belt of pine twigs 
 around his waist and a very large bunch of fir twigs 
 at his back. The ghost dancers carried lightning- 
 painted, lath wands in each hand; the clown carried a 
 " thunder stick " in one hand and a three-pronged stick 
 in the other. The " thunder stick " was a piece of lath 
 suspended on a string. The string being twisted, the 
 whirling of the stick above the head gave a sound " all 
 the same thunder," to use the Indian expression. The 
 three-pronged stick resembled the trident of the fabled 
 Neptune. The clown thus attired and equipped looked 
 much like the pictures of Satan. 
 
 These medicine actors approached the congregated 
 people from the southwest, encircled them in a great 
 circle, made circle after circle, each time edging in toward 
 the central fire. As they thus approached they kept put 
 ting their heads near to the ground as if smelling for 
 something, then gobbling and strutting like a turkey and 
 waving their hands and wands like a bird flaps its wings 
 when in the act of rising to fly. 
 
 Just as the medicine actors were in the act of ap 
 proaching the sick man, he raised himself to a sitting 
 position and beckoned his only brother present to come
 
 DON DIEGO 285 
 
 to his side. He had been raving mad all day, but now 
 he was in his right mind. His brother came to him and 
 leaned over him to hear what he had to say. He said, 
 as his hands shook and his voice trembled: "Brother, 
 when I am dead, take Geetlu to her own people. It is 
 my dying wish." Another convulsion seized him and he 
 died. 
 
 The " Chedens " snatched their masks from their 
 heads and hurled them into the great fire. The medicine 
 men destroyed their drums. The hills resounded with 
 the awful shrieks of the relatives and friends mourn 
 ing his unprepared death. With the coming of the sun, 
 they wrapped him in his best blanket and buried him un 
 der a juniper tree on the east margin of the valley. 
 Then for thirty days at morning, noon, and night they 
 bewailed his death. 
 
 The period of mourning being completed, Geetlu and 
 her deceased husband's relatives began to prepare for the 
 long journey to the country of the Pueblos. The rela 
 tives were not afraid to go with Geetlu. They would 
 keep aloof from all the villages till Jemez was reached. 
 There they would be safe, as she would explain all to her 
 people. They journeyed northeastward by the shortest 
 cut to Carrixo creek from Cibicu, then on northeast. 
 Reaching a point some five miles west of the present 
 Cooley's ranch and twenty-five miles a little to the west 
 of north from the present Indian agency at Whiteriver, 
 Geetlu climbed to the top of a volcanic neck to take a 
 last look at the country. 
 
 As she reached its summit and looked about her, in 
 the immediate foreground were grassy, forest covered 
 mesas, crossed and barred with a maze of deep, almost
 
 2 86 DON DIEGO 
 
 impassable canons, cut from one thousand to twenty-five 
 hundred feet in the palaeozoic and Archaean rocks. 
 There were terraces, precipitous cliffs, lava capped 
 mesas, hog-backs, palisade buttes, and " mauvaises 
 terres " ; while volcanic necks in the form of buttes dotted 
 the region. To take a more extended view : to the south 
 she could see the Gila range and to the west the moun 
 tains beyond the Verda river. To the north she could 
 look across the valley of the Little Colorado to the moun 
 tains beyond the Indian village of Moqui, a distance of 
 more than one hundred miles. To the eastward loomed 
 up the continental divide many miles beyond the snow 
 caps of Mounts Ord and Thomas of the White Moun 
 tains. While to the southwestward she could look be 
 yond the Plateau region, even beyond the Apache and 
 Final Mountains to the region of the " lost mountains " 
 of the Gila desert. On each side everything was bathed 
 in the most delicate tints and everything lay deathlike in 
 the peculiar, intangible afternoon haze of the region 
 which seemed to magnify distant details rather than sub 
 due them. The wonderful monotony seemed uninclos- 
 able in a horizon and she imagined the scene to continue 
 always the same and without end. But her mind was 
 on the country beyond the White Mountains. 
 
 Descending to the mesa, they resumed their journey. 
 They crossed the timbered region and the Petrified For 
 est section and proceeded onward. In due course of 
 time Mount Cabezon loomed up in sight and a day later 
 they camped in a little amphitheater-area surrounded on 
 all sides with red walls of granite and Jura-trias sand 
 stone, except at the south where it opens into Salt river 
 valley. Here they rested and bathed themselves in the
 
 DON DIEGO 287 
 
 warm medicinal spring water that gushed forth from 
 the rock walls. They were at the foot of the Nacimiento 
 Range of the Jemez Mountains. 
 
 The next morning they climbed over the red walls 
 northwestward, soon leaving out of sight the amphithea 
 ter and its forty medicinal springs, its carbon dioxide 
 gases, and its tavertine deposits. In two hours they were 
 in Jack Rabbit valley and in another hour they were in 
 sight of Jemez. Geetlu sprinkled sacred pollen to her 
 gods and prayed, as she wept for joy. On they jour 
 neyed. It was later than the middle of the afternoon 
 when they arrived in the valley proper. Geetlu had no 
 ticed that the people of the village were having a gala 
 day when she was yet miles away, as the house roofs 
 were crowded with women and children. Reaching the 
 river, she could hear the measured drum beat of the war 
 dance. She then remembered the deep rumbling de 
 tonations toward Zia the day before which she then took 
 for distant thunder, but which she now realized was can 
 nonading. The Spaniards (only white people had can 
 non) had been routed and her people were celebrating the 
 event. 
 
 The approach of the little band had been noticed from 
 the watch tower. The watchman had reported that it 
 was a band of Apaches; but that the leader was a female 
 and, though dressed like an Apache squaw, she walked 
 like a Pueblo woman. 
 
 Don Diego and a few braves went out to meet them, 
 though there appeared to be no danger in their coming, 
 as they fearlessly walked straight toward the village in 
 the bright light of the afternoon sun. He met them 
 just as Geetlu had waded the river to the village bank.
 
 288 DON DIEGO 
 
 He recognized her at once and exclaimed : " My wife, 
 my wife Geetlu," and greeted her according to the In 
 dian custom, though contrary to usage at that moment, 
 as he was in war paint. 
 
 That night the fires burned brighter in Jemez than 
 they had burned for many a day ; and two people were 
 happier. Though Zia had been captured, the Spaniards 
 had been driven from the region; Ojeda was a prisoner 
 in the Spanish camp; and Don Diego had his wife again 
 and her Apache friends were comfortably quartered in 
 the village. 
 
 But the worst was yet to come.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE destruction of Zia and the massacre of its peo 
 ple by the Spaniards disheartened the Queres. At 
 the same time Ojeda decided he would rather be in the 
 employ of the Spaniards as their ally than a slave in 
 the mines. Furthermore, his enemy, Don Diego, was the 
 power in the Jemez valley and by joining the white peo 
 ple, he would have revenge on this Jemez chief. So he 
 told the guards that he wished to speak with the Gov 
 ernor of El Paso, under whose jurisdiction he was held 
 waiting his turn to be sent to the mines. 
 
 When advised concerning the Santa Anna chief's 
 wishes, the governor replied : " Certainly, bring Bar- 
 tolome Ojeda before me. I wish, too, to converse with 
 him." 
 
 Soon they were in conference, the governor to gain 
 back the lost province, Ojeda to have imaginary revenge. 
 After some hours of deliberation, Ojeda pledged himself 
 that he would cause the Pueblos, San Juan, Picuries, San 
 Felipe, Cochiti, Santo Domingo, Santa Anna, and what 
 was left of Zia, to return to the banner of Spain, stat 
 ing that the Indians were willing to make terms. 
 
 According to the compact, Ojeda was freed and in a 
 few weeks was among the Pueblo villages; and by his 
 persuasive speeches soon had gained all he had set out 
 to do. He was a big chief again ; and the Spaniards had 
 Indian allies to fight their battles.
 
 290 DON DIEGO 
 
 The plan of procedure was communicated to the King 
 of Spain and at once approved. The king even suggested 
 in 1691 that Zia might be a better capital site than Santa 
 Fe. Furthermore, in that same year, that he might have 
 a strong man to undertake the reconquering of the Pueblo 
 country, he made Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce 
 de Leon governor of El Paso and the northern province. 
 
 As soon as appointed, Vargas took charge of the af 
 fairs at El Paso and after spending considerable time in 
 preparation, set forth to invade the northern country. 
 Arriving at Santa Fe, he surrounded the city and took it 
 without a battle September i3th, 1692; the Tanos were 
 at first defiant, but finally were persuaded to surrender. 
 
 The Zias and some of the Santa Annas had together 
 built a new village on the Red mesa west of the present 
 Jemez village ; and the Jemez, Santo Domingo and a few 
 Apaches (Geetlu's friends) were fortified on the other 
 mesa at the forks of the river, their village being called 
 Astialakwa. The Zias, influenced by Ojeda, readily 
 submitted ; but the Jemez were hostile. Learning, how 
 ever, that the Spaniards were without their families and 
 were transients, they finally submitted October 26, 1692. 
 
 From Jemez, Vargas journeyed from village to vil 
 lage, receiving the submission of the people and baptizing 
 them back into the Christian faith, also obtaining the 
 release of the white captives throughout the region. 
 Having passed through the whole country treated as a 
 guest, he returned to El Paso December 2oth of the same 
 year. To him the entire entrada had been more like a 
 dream or an extended summer vacation. He did not un 
 derstand the hypocrisy of the Indian. 
 
 Elated over the success of the first entrada, Governor
 
 DON DIEGO 291 
 
 Vargas set out northward again from El Paso October 
 I3th, 1693, with seventy families (800 persons), one 
 hundred soldiers, and seventeen friars under Padre 
 Salvador de San Antonio. On December i6th, under 
 Oiiate's original banner, he made a triumphal entry into 
 Santa Fe. But the Indians were sullen. The San 
 Felipe, Santa Anna, the Zia and the Pecos were reported 
 friendly; but the Tanos, who held Santa Fe, were very 
 sullen. 
 
 Soon after Governor Vargas took possession of the 
 city, a levy of corn was made on the Tanos ; but they did 
 not furnish it. They also refused to bring timbers to 
 rebuild San Miguel's chapel, offering an estufa for re 
 ligious services instead. At about this time, the Picuries 
 and other Pueblos schemed to scatter the Spanish force, 
 pretending that they wanted missionaries; but the ruse 
 failed. About December 2oth, as a result of a petition 
 of the white people, who were living in tents without the 
 walled city twenty-two children having died on ac 
 count of exposure, Governor Vargas ordered the Tanos 
 to vacate the Casas Reales and dwellings of the villa to 
 the rightful owners (Santa Fe had been built by the 
 Spaniards, their slaves, of course, doing the work). 
 He also further ordered that the Tanos return to their 
 old pueblo of Galisteo. This brought matters to a crisis. 
 December 28th, the Tanos closed the plaza and prepared 
 for defense. They were given a day to surrender, at 
 the expiration of which they shouted insults to the Span 
 iards, saying that El Demonio (the Devil) could do 
 more for them than God or Maria, that the Christians 
 would be defeated, reduced to servitude, and finally 
 killed.
 
 292 DON DIEGO 
 
 Prayer and sacrament having been given, Governor 
 Vargas immediately rushed his men in two divisions upon 
 the capital. The conflict lasted all day. The plaza gate 
 was burned, the new estufa burned. At this juncture 
 the Tehua reinforcements appeared ; but the cavalry kept 
 them at bay. The next morning the besieged surren 
 dered, their Indian governor had hanged himself. Sev 
 enty warriors were captured. These with their war cap 
 tain Antonio Bolsas were exhorted, baptized, and then 
 shot. This was on December 3Oth, 1693. In this con 
 flict, in addition to capturing the city, the Spaniards 
 gained much corn, which at this time was very much 
 needed. 
 
 As soon as comfortably housed in Santa Fe, Governor 
 Vargas turned his attention to the hostile Tehuas. Their 
 stronghold was San Ildefonso. Here had gathered the 
 Tesuque and Nambe together with the Pujuawue, Cuy- 
 amanque, Santa Clara, and Jacona (all Tehuas), and 
 (the Tanos) San Cristobal, and San Lazaro. Upon the 
 approach of the Spaniards, these Indians pretended that 
 they wished to make peace; but it was a delay to gain 
 time for a union with the Jemez, Picuries, Taos. Some 
 Indians favored surrender; but these were few in num 
 ber, because the Indians knew of the shooting of the 
 seventy braves at Santa Fe after they had surrendered. 
 Aid was also sought by the Indians from Acoma, Zufii, 
 and Moqui, also from the Apaches. Consequently no 
 terms could be made with them. Meanwhile the Span 
 ish live stock suffered. The Spaniards also raided and 
 captured corn and other food-stuffs, whereupon the In 
 dians destroyed all they could not take with them. 
 
 Tiring of fruitless negotiation, an assault was made on
 
 DON DIEGO 293 
 
 the place March 4th, 1694. Two cannons were burst and 
 the two columns of attackers, fifty men each, were re 
 pulsed in a fight of five hours. Fifteen Indians were 
 killed and twenty Spaniards wounded on the side of the 
 Spaniards. Governor Vargas repeated the assault March 
 nth and was defeated again. The next night the In 
 dians came down and attacked the Spanish camp, but 
 were repulsed. On the I9th, the siege was abandoned 
 and the governor returned to Santa Fe, having recovered 
 a hundred horses and mules, killed thirty Indians and 
 stolen much corn. But the war was to go on. 
 
 As an ally of Ojeda, Governor Vargas aided the Santa 
 Annas in defeating the Cochitis at Cieneguilla, their new 
 pueblo, April i2th. The battle lasted till the I7th, when 
 the allies defeated the Cochitis, capturing and shooting 
 seventeen warriors, killed seven warriors in the battle 
 and captured three hundred and forty-two women and 
 children, seventy horses, and nine hundred sheep. But 
 most of the captives were freed by a raid of the Indians 
 the next day. Later the Cochitis were ordered by their 
 conquerers to return to their old home, to burn their 
 newly made village. This they did. 
 
 Soon after the defeat of the Cochitis, another assault 
 was made on San Ildefonso ; but with no success, except 
 recapturing forty-eight horses that the Indians had 
 taken the day before in a raid on the horse camp of the 
 Spaniards. On the same date, the Queres sent in five 
 Jemez prisoners, two of whom were shot. 
 
 June 3Oth, Governor Vargas marched to Cuyamanque, 
 north of Santa Fe, killing eleven Tehuas. From there 
 he marched on to Picuri and then to Taos, both of which 
 he found abandoned. At Taos crosses had been left to
 
 294 DON DIEGO 
 
 protect the property : the Indians had supposed that 
 the white people would not destroy anything protected 
 by the cross. The Indians were found in the vicinity 
 of the latter place ; but the Pecos governor, Juan Ye, the 
 interpreter, could not induce them to surrender. 
 
 It became evident to Governor Vargas that a change 
 of procedure must be made. Only Cochiti had been 
 conquered outside of the confines of Santa Fe. Further 
 more, everywhere, where he encountered the hostile 
 forces, they were either aided by the Jemez or would 
 hold out against the Spanish forces till the Jemez and 
 their allies would appear and the campaign would have 
 to be abandoned. A conference with Ojeda was had. 
 At it an entire new plan of operation was decided upon. 
 The Spaniards and the allied Indians under Ojeda were 
 to go to their respective homes. Then on a given night 
 they were all to march simultaneously up the Jemez 
 valley from Old Santa Anna and there overwhelm the 
 Jemez and the disaffected Santa Annas and Zias on 
 Mesa Colorado (the Red Mesa) before aid could reach 
 them from the neighboring villages. It was a hazard 
 ous undertaking, but the subjugation of the country de 
 pended upon it. 
 
 According to the prearranged plan, Governor Vargas 
 with one hundred and twenty Spaniards, well equipped 
 with cannon and other arms of war of the time, joined 
 the Queres under Ojeda and began the march up the 
 valley toward Jemez the night of July iQth. The Ne\v 
 Zia village on Mesa Colorado was the first hostile vil 
 lage in their line of march. This they decided to cap 
 ture, if the natives could not be induced to surrender 
 without a battle. Then they would proceed on up the
 
 DON DIEGO 295 
 
 valley and capture the " village on Mesa Don Diego," 
 as the Spaniards called the mesa and fortified Jemez vil 
 lage of Astialakwa, the key to the Jemez region and the 
 Pueblo country. Profiting by the experience of former 
 Spanish armies when dealing with the Jemez and their 
 allies, Vargas decided not to sleep, if possible, till the 
 places were in his possession. Up the valley they pro 
 ceeded, not to a picnic, they all knew. 
 
 The approach of the Spaniards was signaled to both 
 Jemez and Zia early the morning of the 2oth. The 
 Jemez braves at once joined the Zias. They ascended 
 the trail leading to the top of the mesa on which the Zia 
 pueblo was situated and began immediately to fortify 
 the place. They destroyed or blocked all the trails but 
 one. They piled heaps of stone and of wood on the 
 edge of the mesa at every possible place of approach. 
 They filled all their water jars with water. They built 
 a thick wall across the entrance of their horseshoe- 
 shaped village. They piled rocks on top of the breast 
 work tier of buildings and the watch tower at the en 
 trance to the plaza. They placed ladders against the 
 wall on the outside at places where they could easily be 
 hoisted to the roofs of the seven- or eight-story houses 
 and placed within the public dancing area. They then 
 descended to the valley, and, concealing themselves be 
 hind trees and bowlders and in ravines and crevices in 
 the adobe clay valley-bench, they waited the onset of the 
 enemy. This soon came. 
 
 The sun had made half his journey to the meridian, 
 the usual morning calm had reached its culmination, a 
 light breeze had begun to blow from the southwest, little 
 sand-whirls had begun to chase each other across the
 
 296 DON DIEGO 
 
 desolate waste of the valley, and the daily " thunder- 
 gust "of the season had begun to gather on the moun 
 tain tops to the north, when Vargas and his men com 
 menced crossing the river where San Y Sidro is now 
 located. Soon the Spaniards were galloping over the 
 adobe flat within a mile of the first coveted prize. Be 
 fore them the Zia village loomed up a continuous line 
 of adobe-chinked, red, sandstone houses built five hun 
 dred feet above the level of the valley on a practically 
 isolated, triangular bit of mesa with base on the river 
 valley side. The village before them was four hundred 
 and fifty feet in length and three hundred and fifty feet 
 in width. The mesa was margined with defensive walls. 
 The mesa and the roofs of the houses swarmed with life. 
 Against the dull background the sun blazed down on a 
 moving kaleidoscopic mass. The town was alive with 
 natives, who proved to be women. They were running 
 to and fro. All were busily engaged in adding rocks to 
 the piles on the edge of the mesa. 
 
 Believing that the Indians were all on the mesa and 
 that the sooner the cavaliers scaled its walls the less it 
 would be fortified, the Spaniards, not waiting for the 
 Indian allies to come up, eagerly leaned forward in their 
 stirrups and spurred their horses into a faster rate of 
 speed. The distance between them and village lessened 
 to one hundred and sixty rods. Faster and faster they 
 rode. Before them not a living thing showed itself 
 to view in the valley, except some sun-parched sagebrush 
 and an occasional dwarf cedar or pinon tree. Before 
 them the valley seemed smooth and unbroken, when all 
 of a sudden a maze of deep, narrow, cross ravines ap 
 peared just in front of them. The momentum carried
 
 DON DIEGO 297 
 
 the foremost of the riders to the very brink of these 
 gulches, the momentum of the cavalry in the rear 
 crowded those in front into the gullies. The opportune 
 moment for the Indians concealed in these very ravines 
 had come. With a whoop they fell upon the floundering 
 enemy. The war club did its work well. Sixteen 
 horses were dispatched ; ten Spaniards were killed ; four 
 teen were wounded; and Vargas barely escaped being 
 captured. Only with the coming of the cannons and the 
 Indian allies were the invaders able to dislodge the 
 aborigines. Routed, the Jemez and Zias had retreated 
 across the adobe flat and were ascending the trail to the 
 village when the mounted knights, heading the ravines, 
 made a desperate effort to cut off their retreat. The 
 sharp edged sword and the flint-point studded war club 
 clashed. The trail in its lower part was captured; but 
 the Indians retreated quickly northward and ascended 
 the long, white, Tertiary lake-bench which here extends 
 out as an arm from the red mesa toward the river. Then 
 shelfing it back to the trail which was being kept open in 
 its upper part by their comrades, they scrambled up it, 
 blocked it behind them and entered the village in safety. 
 The valley being cleared, the Spaniards immediately 
 attempted to take the village by storm. With great dif 
 ficulty they had the Queres drag the cannons to the top 
 01 the white bench, but to take them further was impossi 
 ble on account of the precipitous walls of the mesa 
 proper. An attempt to use them also proved futile: 
 the walls were too high. The cavaliers dismounting, 
 they and their Indian allies then began to scale the walls. 
 The latter had no weapons that they could use at long 
 range, so they climbed up the almost perpendicular front
 
 298 DON DIEGO 
 
 of the mesa as fast as they could drag themselves over the 
 incumbent bowlders or shelf it from place to place along 
 the rock face. To get to the top was their only show: 
 there they could do their deadly work in a hand to hand 
 contest. The former advanced with fire in hand and 
 shield in front. At regular intervals they halted, leveled 
 their heavy muskets across the " rests " and fired. Then, 
 though arrows fell upon them like hail from a storm 
 cloud, on they advanced. They had crossed the old lake 
 terrace and had begun to shelf it along the mesa side 
 before the Indian " artillery " was brought into action. 
 Then instead of arrows raining harmlessly down upon 
 them, tons of rock showered down. No cannonading of 
 that period could have been more sweeping in its effect. 
 But the assailants, bent upon taking the place at all haz 
 ards, dauntlessly kept on climbing as they dodged the 
 flying missiles or hugged the walls so closely that they 
 bounced over them. They reached the trail over which 
 the Indians had ascended and began to clear it. En 
 thusiastically they worked. In a few minutes the vil 
 lage would be theirs, and the glory would be to the Holy 
 Mary and to the King of Spain. But it had yet to be 
 taken. Don Diego was in command of the forces above 
 them, and before they could scale the walls, the last In 
 dian device would be resorted to. For some time the 
 piles of logs had been sending up smoke and flame toward 
 the abode of those above. The logs were all on fire, and 
 the sagacious war chief failed not to use them at this 
 juncture. Over the mesa's edge the busy hands hurled 
 them. Down they came upon the climbing foe. Boil 
 ing water, ponderous stones, live coals and red hot rock 
 all showered upon them at the same time. No living
 
 DON DIEGO 299 
 
 thing could weather such a storm. The enemy broke 
 and fled. Again and again Vargas rallied his men, and 
 as often they were repulsed. Completely defeated, the 
 general at last withdrew to the valley. Then, on seeing 
 that his forces had been greatly reduced, he began, with 
 out delay, to retreat towards the Rio Grande. Fearing 
 that the now whooping, shrieking, victorious Indians 
 would pursue them, the retreat became a stampede: the 
 cannons were abandoned; the baggage was cast to the 
 four winds; and the wounded were left to be scalped. 
 
 The Jemez and Zias immediately entered the valley. 
 They destroyed the cannon carriages, piled the baggage 
 in a great heap and ignited it. They scalped and then 
 cremated the dead and dying enemies. Then around the 
 funeral pyre they danced the scalp dance. But their joy 
 was soon changed to anxiety and dread. The rings of 
 smoke ascending from Mount Negro told as plainly as 
 words that another Spanish army was approaching; that 
 is, that reinforcements were coming. 
 
 At once Don Diego began to strengthen the defenses 
 of the triangular plateau. Greater piles of rock were 
 piled on its edge. The heaps of wood were replenished, 
 and the water jars refilled. The trails were more thor 
 oughly blocked, and every precaution possible was taken 
 to prevent the enemy from gaining access to the pueblo. 
 
 While the Indians were thus engaged, the two Span 
 ish divisions met. The reinforcements were on their 
 way to Santa Fe, when, on arriving at Santa Anna, 
 they learned from a wounded cavalier that a fierce bat 
 tle between the Jemez and Zias and the Spanish allies 
 was in progress farther up the river. The cannonading 
 in the distance confirming the report, they made haste
 
 300 DON DIEGO 
 
 toward the scene of action. As they advanced, the can 
 nonading became fiercer and fiercer; then suddenly 
 lulled. Expecting to see their comrades victors, they 
 were not a little surprised to come face to face with them 
 in full retreat in stampede order. On meeting the re 
 cruits, the retreating column, after a short conference, 
 faced about; and all marched to avenge the slaughter of 
 their countrymen. 
 
 Knowing from his disastrous experience that it would 
 be useless to attempt to take the village from the valley 
 side alone, Vargas divided his now combined little army 
 into two divisions. One section he placed under the 
 charge of his brother, Don Eusebio de Vargas. This 
 division he sent to the front of the pueblo along the same 
 route over which he and his soldiers had marched in the 
 previous case. With the other section and the newly 
 arrived artillery he then set out to get a position in the 
 rear. The task before him was a difficult one. 
 
 In crossing the Jemez River south of the present site 
 of San Y Sidro, a quicksand area was encountered. Six 
 horses were lost and one cannon had to be abandoned 
 for a time. At the climbing of the San Y Sidro mesa, 
 as it is now called, the cannons were dragged with great 
 difficulty to the top of the old lake-bench, then up the 
 sixty degree mesa-slope which is the reverse of the strata. 
 At last the desired location was reached at the north 
 edge of the mesa. This overlooked the village from the 
 rear, but was separated from it by a deep, narrow 
 canyada. The distance across the chasm, however, was 
 not so great but that the field pieces could reach every 
 part of the mesa opposite with their iron messages. 
 
 As soon as the cannons were got into position, the
 
 DON DIEGO 301 
 
 bombardment began. Simultaneously an assault was 
 made both at the front of the mesa and also from the 
 rear under cover of the cannonading. The rocks, burn 
 ing logs, and boiling water repulsed the attack at the 
 front, but the assault by the chasm in the rear was on 
 the point of being a success before Don Diego could 
 spare braves from the front to check it. The Spanish 
 allies were actually gaining the mesa on the side which 
 the Jemez and Zias had always considered unapproach 
 able. Rushing to the exposed section, the war-captain 
 and his courageous warriors promptly dispatched the 
 pale-faces and Indians who had scaled the walls. Then 
 they commenced using the Indian " artillery " on the cav 
 aliers who were scrambling up the walls or were in the 
 chasm below. A dozen mounted Spaniards had de 
 scended to the chasm from its upper part. The gulch 
 being so narrow, these became a fair target. As the 
 horses were headed down stream and the hurling of the 
 rocks was more in the rear than in front, the animals 
 frantically rushed forward. The shrieks and whoops of 
 the Indians and the flying missiles goaded them on. 
 Down the slope they ran, slipped or slid at a break-neck 
 speed, came to the falls where the red mesa meets the 
 softer Tertiary, jumped headlong and fell, both horses 
 and riders a shapeless mass in the gulf below. But the 
 cannonading was effective from the very beginning. The 
 first discharge knocked an oval adobe oven from the roof 
 of a seven-story house, killing a woman and three chil 
 dren with the flying debris. Soon puncture after punc 
 ture was made in the horseshoe-shaped village wall. 
 At length breaches were made in it. Then the houses 
 began to tumble down one by one. The whole village
 
 302 DON DIEGO 
 
 was soon reduced to a mass of ruins, as it is this day, 
 and the piles of the dead and dying covered the triangu 
 lar mesa from base to point. Night only put an end to 
 the horrible slaughter. 
 
 The work of the day had been appalling in its effects. 
 One Spanish army had been nearly blotted out of ex 
 istence, while annihilation had almost faced another. 
 The village of Zia had been reduced to a shapeless mass, 
 and of the thousands of Zias who had looked in the face 
 of the god of day in the early morning, according to the 
 Spanish records, so few lived to see the sun set behind the 
 red ridge to the west that the Zia tribe could, in truth, 
 have been said to exist in name only ; the tribe to-day num 
 bers one hundred and seventeen souls. But notwithstand 
 ing the utter desolation of the mesa, Ojeda and his allies 
 were repulsed in an attempt to capture it in the late twi 
 light of that fateful day. 
 
 Having put to death all the wounded natives to pre 
 vent their falling into the enemies' hands, Don Diego 
 and the remnant of his braves and the few remaining 
 Zias fled under cover of the darkness to Jemez. At 
 dawn the next morning, the Spaniards took possession 
 of the village, twenty-four hours before a place inhab 
 ited by living, moving, happy beings, now a place of utter 
 desolation. 
 
 According to the Jemez custom that a returning war 
 party never enters their own village directly but halts at 
 some distance from it and sends messengers to advise 
 the people of its approach, Don Diego, on arriving at the 
 foot of the Jemez mesa, sent a runner to inform the 
 village that the war party was approaching. Then he 
 and his men waited. Soon the chief sun priest, accom-
 
 DON DIEGO 303 
 
 panied by the runner, approached the silent little band. 
 He went straight to the war-captain, grasped his hand, 
 breathed on it in blessing, lifted it up with both hands 
 toward the goddess of night, dropped it, clasped the 
 man in his arms a moment, breathed on him and said : 
 " Brother, what have you achieved and how have you 
 fared?" 
 
 In a tone of intense sorrow Don Diego answered him : 
 " Those above have not been good to us. Of those who 
 went out with me, but few have returned. And what 
 is still worse, though we reduced one pale- face army to 
 nothing and another almost to the same point, a third, 
 as you have seen, has destroyed Zia, and will be march 
 ing to take our village by assault by the time the sun 
 lifts his face above the mountains at his rising. We 
 must prepare to defend this place at once. To-morrow 
 will be too late. It must be done to-night." 
 
 After reflecting a moment upon the condition of af 
 fairs and what was best to be done, the Indian high priest 
 said : " It is contrary to our customs for a band of 
 braves to enter our pueblo at once upon returning from 
 a military expedition. From the time of its arrival till 
 the sun has reached the same point in the heavens the 
 next day, the warriors wait at some distance from the 
 village, where they are provided with the necessaries of 
 life. Afterwards they are conducted to the public 
 square. But in this case necessity demands that you 
 enter immediately. I will go and present the situation 
 before the gods and will prepare for your coming as 
 quickly as possible. When you hear the big drum, pro 
 ceed to climb the trail. We will be waiting to receive 
 you at the entrance of the public dancing area."
 
 304 DON DIEGO 
 
 In a few minutes the drum sounded from the top of 
 the sun house. In dreary silence the war party began 
 to move upward. Not a shout, not a whoop was uttered ; 
 not a scalp was waved on high in triumph, though they 
 had more than a hundred. Silently onward they pro 
 ceeded. On entering the plaza, they found the populace 
 lined up in double column to meet them practically as 
 they had left them the day before, but now not so hopeful 
 as then. They had seen Zia destroyed and knew that the 
 worst was to come. Sad and silent they stood until 
 Don Diego, with his few remaining braves, followed by 
 the Zia refugees, commenced marching down between the 
 separated columns, as the sun priest and his aids sprin 
 kled them with sacred meal and corn pollen and blowed 
 their breath on them in prayer. Then a plaintive wail 
 broke forth among the Jemez women. The Zia women 
 took it up. It was the beginning of the ceremonies of 
 the dead. 
 
 As the blood-stained warriors moved forward and the 
 great number of the missing became more and more evi 
 dent, the wail was more and more intensified. The 
 women wept, screamed, rolled in the dust of the street, 
 shredded their clothes, tore their hair, and gashed them 
 selves with rude stone knives and bone awls. Then in 
 their savage way they rushed from house to house; took 
 the clothes, weapons, looms of the deceased, for every 
 house was represented by the dead, and burned them so 
 that as flame, smoke, and steam the things of the de 
 parted might accompany them through the air in their 
 four days' journey to the happy hunting ground. 
 
 As soon as the property was destroyed, the women, 
 aided by the medicine men, drew on the adobe floor in
 
 THE MORNING STAR SECTION 
 
 1. Clouds. 
 
 2. Bolt Lightning that does not strike the ground. 
 
 3. The Red Snake or Indian Devil. 
 
 4. The Flash Lightning or God of Flowers. 
 
 5. The Blue Snake, the God of Rain. 
 
 6. The Morning Star.
 
 IV. THE EVENING STAR SECTION IN ONE OF THE ESTUFAS AT JEMEZ, N. M. 
 
 1. Clouds. 
 
 2. Bolt Lightning that does not strike the ground. 
 
 3. The Red Snake or Indian Devil. 
 
 4. The Flash Lightning or God of Flowers. 
 
 5. The Blue Snake, the God of Rain. 
 
 6. The Evening Star, the God of the Evening. Jointly with its brother, 
 the Morning Star, it possesses the attributes of Truth and Filial Love. Its 
 Indian name is Homa Wangho.
 
 DON DIEGO 305 
 
 the living room of each dwelling a large sun-circle with 
 four projecting darts of protection, one extending in 
 each of the four cardinal directions. Within this circle 
 they then placed a small, crudely carved wooden effigy of 
 the dead one. Over this they threw a new piece of cloth. 
 Then on one side of this effigy they placed a new earthen 
 jar rilled with water; on the other side, a basket of eata 
 bles. These things they furnished so that neither thirst 
 nor hunger should cause the traveling spirit to suffer. 
 Furthermore, as the road the soul has to travel is long, 
 dangerous, and beset by evil spirits lying in wait to cap 
 ture the defunct or to hamper his ultimate felicity, they 
 laid beside the image a small war club and a bow and 
 some arrows within the representative circle of the god 
 of day to protect the deceased from harm in his transit. 
 Moreover, to render the journey safe beyond doubt, they 
 drew without the circle the footprints of the great Pest- 
 ya-sode, the " road runner " who protects the souls in 
 their journey to the abode of the good dead. As soon 
 as these things were done, the women gathered in a circle 
 around the image and the drawings and wept, sobbed, 
 screamed, yelled, howled, whined, danced, sprinkled sa 
 cred corn meal and pollen toward the abode of those on 
 high, and prayed loudly to the gods for the safe journey 
 of the departed soul and its arrival in the land of bliss. 
 
 While the women and the medicine men were engaged 
 in the ceremonies of the dead, Don Diego and his as 
 sistants were also busy. They called out a part of the 
 reserves and sent them to the front. These the war- 
 captain ordered to lie in wait for the enemy at a point 
 where " Red Rock " flat wedges in at the north, just, 
 south of the present Mexican village of Canon. With
 
 306 DON DIEGO 
 
 the remaining braves he piled rocks and wood on the 
 edge of the mesa and along the trail to be used as Indian 
 " artillery " in defensive warfare. As soon as the de 
 fensive operations were well under way, Don Diego 
 then ordered the old men, boys and girls and the women, 
 who were not otherwise engaged, to carry water. This 
 they did till the containing vessels of every sort and the 
 cisterns of the village were filled to the brim. Then he 
 sent the populace to gather in all the crops which had 
 matured, also all the valuables from Patokwa, the vil 
 lage on the lower mesa. Soon long lines of baskets could 
 be seen passing to and fro from the valley to the mesa- 
 village. All were as busy as a nest of ants that had just 
 been disturbed. A siege was being prepared for, should 
 it come to that. 
 
 The sun came up. The big drum on the estufa 
 sounded the call to arms. The Spaniards were seen to 
 resume their march up the river. The cavalry and a few 
 foot soldiers occupied the van. The artillery had to go 
 back down the mesa as it had come by way of San Y 
 Sidro and was, of course, several hours in the rear. 
 Profiting by their previous experience, the advancing 
 column took every precaution possible to prevent a sur 
 prise. They not only picked their way slowly, but sent 
 out scouts to feel for the enemy on both flanks and in 
 front. Slowly but steadily onward they moved. 
 
 The sun rose over the southern wing of the Cochiti 
 range as in the previous centuries and looked down into 
 the valley now quiet but soon to be in the throes of a 
 mortal conflict. He cast his red rays against the eastern 
 walls of the Zia mesa and these were reflected back to 
 the gray hills east of the river. He shone down upon the
 
 DON DIEGO 307 
 
 Zia mesa, the day before a place of habitation, now a 
 desolate waste. Scarcely had he been above the horizon 
 an hour when the clash in the valley came. 
 
 Reaching the place in the flat-floored valley where 
 the red point east of the river extends out to meet the 
 white Tertiary on the opposite side of the stream, the 
 Spaniards found the Indians marshaled in battle array 
 to meet them. The warriors were painted in the medi 
 cine colors of their respective clans. They were decked 
 with feathers. Nearly all wore rawhide coats for pro 
 tection ; nearly all carried shields ; and all were well 
 armed for savages. The shields were of rawhide, of 
 quilted cloth, of wood or of tortoise shells. To make 
 them more proof against the enemies' missiles, all were 
 painted in medicine colors ; and for the same purpose, all 
 were decorated in symbolic designs, the sun symbol usu 
 ally occupying a conspicuous position. Then to render 
 each shield impenetrable, beyond doubt, a red painted 
 piece of buckskin rimmed its face from which about 
 forty tail feathers of the eagle suspended as medicine. 
 The arms were war clubs, heavy two-handed wooden 
 swords, slings, darts, Indian hatchets, bows and arrows. 
 In the center of the multitude of warriors stood the medi 
 cine man. He was slowly beating the rude drum, while 
 he and eleven assistants were chanting a prayer to those 
 above. Finishing the chant, the medicine chief and his 
 associates sprinkled each brave with the sacred yellow 
 pollen, breathed on him in blessing, and commanded him 
 in the name of the gods to fight till the last enemy's scalp 
 was taken, and the mutilated body was given to the 
 wolves. 
 
 Meanwhile the Spaniards had approached dangerously
 
 3o8 DON DIEGO 
 
 near. The large Indian drum gave a heavy muffled 
 sound; and the natives fell upon the invaders, as they 
 whooped : " Aoo, aoo, aoo, aoo, aoo." The cavalry 
 at first wavered, then rallied. The foremost braves went 
 down before the sword and gun. Through and through 
 the crowded mass of savages the cavaliers rode as death 
 followed in their train. But unsupported by the artil 
 lery and the allied Queres having been routed in the first 
 onslaught, their efforts in the long run were of no avail : 
 hundreds of the Jemez were ready to rush over the 
 bodies of their fallen comrades to engage the enemy. 
 The savages fought hand to hand with men armored 
 with more efficient weapons than their own; but what 
 they lacked in arms they made up in courage and in num 
 bers. They crushed the shields and armor of their ad 
 versaries with the heavy war club. They broke the 
 horses' legs. They dragged the riders from their sad 
 dles and crushed them to death with bowlders or with 
 the mutilating club. It was the battle of Si-you-kwaw 
 over again, but with a different set of actors for the most 
 part; the actors of that terrible engagement had passed 
 over, in the main, to the great beyond. 
 
 The Spaniards again wavered. They feigned a re 
 treat. The Indians eagerly followed. The Spaniards 
 then quickly faced about, cut their way through the Indian 
 front, and, leaving the braves behind, rode furiously 
 toward the mesa of the village, believing that by captur 
 ing the pueblo the Indians would be more easily forced 
 to make terms. But the Jemez, who had practiced from 
 year to year to win the laurels of the harvest and snake 
 races, followed close upon their heels, and, before half 
 the distance to the village was covered, they began to
 
 DON DIEGO 309 
 
 gain upon them. And as the grade toward the village 
 became greater, they came up with them and even com 
 menced placing themselves in their front. Spurring 
 their horses on, the Spaniards gained a second time on 
 the Indians, but for a moment only did they profit by 
 this gain. Don Diego and a division of fresh braves 
 blocked their front. The sword and the war club clashed 
 again. The cavaliers were routed and fled disorderly 
 down the valley, hotly pursued by Don Diego and his 
 warriors. 
 
 Suddenly the Jemez came face to face with the Queres 
 under Ojeda, who had rallied them in the rear for a final 
 stand. At the same moment the Spanish cannon arrived 
 on the scene of action. The field pieces were at once 
 turned upon the charging hordes, and in a few minutes 
 the front was cleared. Then the advance toward the 
 village was again resumed. The forward movement, 
 however, was not a pleasure trip. The moment the can 
 nons were coupled to the timber to be moved, the Indians 
 would rush upon the Spaniards in full force; and, as 
 soon as the field pieces were brought into action, they 
 would get out of reach of the flying slugs, retiring with 
 the same swiftness that they had attacked; their motion 
 back and forth resembled the rolling sea, whose waves 
 are driven back by the' wind. To prevent these on 
 slaughts, Vargas at last took this plan: one cannon was 
 to keep meting out death to the enemy while other field 
 pieces and the cavalry advanced under cover of the fire, 
 until an advantageous position was gained by another 
 cannon. This one then opened fire, and the other field 
 pieces were rapidly moved forward. Thus did the 
 Spaniards proceed, taking every inch by force, till the
 
 3 io DON DIEGO 
 
 very mesa was reached, on which the coveted goal was 
 situated. But they had not succeeded in reaching it till 
 all the matured crops had been gathered and stored on 
 the roofs of the houses and not until water enough had 
 been stored in the cisterns to last the inhabitants for 
 months. 
 
 Driving the Indians up the trail, Vargas immediately 
 tried to take the place ; but the stone " artillery " hurled 
 from a great height repulsed his allied forces again and 
 again. He then attempted to place the cannons on the 
 site overlooking the village, as he had done at Zia; but 
 no such a place in range of " Mesa Don Diego " could be 
 found. He then made a determined effort again to 
 rush the trail and take the place, but this attack was dis 
 astrous. One- fourth of the allies engaged in it per 
 ished and another fourth were so wounded that they 
 were of no further use in the campaign. After this fail 
 ure, it became evident that the stronghold could be 
 reduced only by a siege. So at dusk the much disap 
 pointed allies sat down around the mesa to let thirst and 
 hunger or an unguarded moment do what they could 
 not do with arms.* 
 
 That night, her husband being in a measure victorious, 
 Geetlu sprinkled the sacred meal before each of the gods 
 and on each of the altars in the front room of the house. 
 A little later she began to prepare the ceremonial tri 
 umphal meal for her lord and war chief, when he could 
 wash off his war paint and be with her again. She se 
 lected some fresh venison and laid it in a place for safe 
 keeping for the special use. She then shelled some corn, 
 parched it in a willow basket by mixing live coals with 
 
 * Author's license.
 
 DON DIEGO 311 
 
 the corn as she stirred it and shook the basket simul 
 taneously. She then crushed the corn on the grinding 
 slabs, as she sang a praise song to those above. She 
 thought only of her present happiness, happiness which 
 was soon to vanish like a mist before the morning sun. 
 On she ground the corn; first on the crushing slab, then 
 on a finer grained slab, and finally on a very fine grained 
 one till the meal was as fine as the finest flour. In 
 this work the slabs used were placed before her much 
 like a washboard stands before a woman when washing 
 clothes, and in her hand she gripped a stone hand-piece 
 which she rubbed up and down on the respective slab's 
 face. 
 
 When the grinding was completed, she made the meal 
 into mush, stirring it with two small sticks as it cooked. 
 When done, she let it cool for a considerable time. She 
 then built a fire under a large flat rock in her " paper- 
 bread " kitchen; and as soon as the rock was sufficiently 
 hot, she commenced to make " paper " corn bread. In 
 doing this she took the mush and made it into a thin 
 paste by adding water to it. With her bare hands she 
 then spread it on the flat rock in layers as thin as writing 
 paper. When one layer was baked she took it off, laid 
 it out flat, and put on another. To facilitate the baking, 
 she placed a baked sheet over the unbaked one for a mo 
 ment to hold the heat in. This bread making she con 
 tinued till her " paper " loaf was about two and one- 
 half inches thick. She then took the " volume " and 
 wrapped it in some buckskin and placed it in a large 
 earthen jar where it would keep fresh till the time came 
 for it to be eaten. 
 
 Having completed the feast as far as she could till
 
 312 DON DIEGO 
 
 Don Diego himself was present, she then set out to make 
 the customary rounds of the village to pay her respects 
 to the dead in the ceremonies of the dead. Into each 
 house she went, seated herself among the mourners a 
 moment, yelled, wept, and shrieked as did the others. 
 It was the fashion and the Indian as her white sister 
 might as well be out of the world as out of fashion. 
 Then to the next house and so on she went till she had 
 made the circuit of the village. 
 
 Reaching her mother's residence she sat down a few 
 minutes. She had no brothers to be killed by the white 
 enemy; and her father had long since been laid to rest 
 in the shade of the pifions. All was still in the house. 
 She was all by herself. Her mother was one of the of 
 ficial mourners of the place and must needs be absent 
 most of the time. All alone she sat for a considerable 
 time. Then the din of the new style of battle attracted 
 her attention. 
 
 Hearing that Don Diego had sent messengers to San 
 Ildefonso and other villages for help, Vargas and Ojeda 
 decided to make another assault on the place. Accord 
 ing to the plan, they suddenly massed all their strength 
 in a great effort to capture the northwest trail ; the only 
 other trail was blocked. A most desperate conflict en 
 sued. It was the uproar of this battle which Geetlu 
 heard. 
 
 Leaving the house, she went to the edge of the mesa 
 on the contested side and looked on the murderous con 
 flict in the flat, hundreds of feet below. Around her stood 
 a great many of the Jemez women. All about her were 
 much frightened, but she looked on the scene as if 
 it were a dream. The cannonading startled her at times,
 
 DON DIEGO 313 
 
 it is true, but that was all. She had been having day 
 dreams of late and this was a continuation of them, 
 she thought. Not until Vargas and his men were actu 
 ally in the act of carrying the village by capturing the 
 trail did the thing become a reality to her. She saw her 
 hero rallying his men to defend the only place of ap 
 proach. She could distinctly hear his voice above the 
 roar, calling his braves to stand firm. But notwith 
 standing the efforts of his men, she could see that the 
 allies were steadily gaining ground. Only a few min 
 utes more and the fate of the place would be sealed for 
 that day at least. The women in company with her 
 fled ; but she anxiously waited the result. 
 
 "Hang ahtung" (come here quick), shouted Don 
 Diego to his men. Intuitively Geetlu moved toward the 
 rushing hordes. A huge stone, weighing several tons, 
 was being pried from the edge of the mesa. " Hang " 
 (heave ho), shouted Don Diego. "Hang," shouted the 
 war-captain again. The rock began to roll. "Hang!" 
 The rock stood as if in suspense a moment; then with a 
 crash like a clap of thunder it rolled into the valley down 
 'the line of the Spanish advance. The allies in its path 
 were no more. Governor Vargas himself barely es 
 caped being crushed, his brother Eusebio snatching him 
 from the bowlder's path just in time to save him. The 
 Spaniards were defeated. Instantly the victorious war 
 whoop filled the air, and the big drum on the estufa 
 gave forth the heavy, loud sound of triumph. The can 
 non in the valley below also gave forth a parting, re 
 vengeful discharge. Then the allies fled. 
 
 Geetlu, animated with joy, turned to join the other 
 women at the village. The discharges from the big
 
 3H DON DIEGO 
 
 guns struck the upper stratum in her immediate vicinity. 
 A piece of flying debris struck her. The next moment 
 she felt herself falling; then all was blank. 
 
 After the excitement had subsided, all the Indians, 
 except some detachments that were left to guard the 
 trail, returned to the village. It was still night. Few, 
 however, were overtaken with sleep. At any moment 
 the enemy might renew the assault. Besides that, many 
 of the Indians had started on that day on their long pil 
 grimage to the abode of the good Indian dead. Conse 
 quently, the howling for the departed and the prepara 
 tions for the last ceremonies over the dead, employed 
 most of the people. 
 
 Geetlu was absent from her home; but her mother, 
 believing that her daughter was engaged in some of the 
 night exercises, troubled herself not the least about her 
 absence. Not until Don Diego inquired about his wife's 
 whereabouts did the mother become anxious about her 
 daughter. At once both she and Don Diego set out to 
 inquire for her ; but she was nowhere to be found. The 
 only information that could be obtained concerning her 
 at all was that she had been seen standing on the edge 
 of the mesa just a little while before the big stone was 
 rolled down the trail. That was all. 
 
 Don Diego went to the spot where she was said to have 
 been standing, and to his horror he found that the rocks 
 had been shattered by a cannon ball. This was all he 
 could find. There was not the least thing to show that 
 a human being had ever been there. Going to the trail, 
 he descended it, believing, more from intuition than from 
 indications, that the one he was seeking had fallen over 
 the cliff. Entering the flat country at the foot of the
 
 DON DIEGO 315 
 
 trail, he got down on the ground and crawled about like a 
 snake, looking in every direction for an enemy, but saw 
 none. The Spaniards had retreated a considerable dis 
 tance before pitching camp. Their pickets, however, 
 were close to the mesa, though Don Diego failed to ob 
 serve any of them. Believing he had an open field, he 
 stood upright and walked along the edge of the cliff 
 where his wife had been seen last. The mesa walls were 
 not quite so steep here as at most places. Furthermore, 
 several pifion trees grew one above another on the pro 
 jecting benches. Someone had fallen through these 
 trees. It had been a woman. A moccasin and a panya, 
 the apron which the Pueblo squaw wears suspended at 
 the back, were there. Don Diego eagerly picked them up 
 and was trying to identify them in the moonlight when 
 " whang " went the musket of a picket. The cavalier 
 missed his target. Flat to the ground fell the Indian. 
 Instantly his bow was drawn. The arrow went home to 
 its mark. A man fell heavily to the ground. With a 
 whoop, the warrior sprang upon him, jumped upon his 
 breast, encircled the hair with a deep cut, wrenched the 
 bleeding scalp from the head, and, before the comrades 
 of the dead man could appear upon the scene, he was half 
 way up the trail. 
 
 Reaching the village, Don Diego went direct to the 
 house of Geetlu's mother and presented his findings. 
 The mother identified the panya at once as that of 
 her daughter. Then believing her dead on account of 
 the clotted blood on the Indian apron, she sent up the 
 death w r ail. Soon the relatives and friends joined in the 
 ceremonies, and all howled the mournful coyote howl 
 for hours together.
 
 316 DON DIEGO 
 
 Don Diego, however, had hopes that Geetlu was alive. 
 Had she been dead, he would certainly have found her 
 corpse. She was undoubtedly wandering in the flat or 
 had fallen into the hands of the enemy. But as the 
 white man and his allies had the land beyond the mesa, 
 no one dare venture to look for her further that night. 
 The fates would have to take care of her. 
 
 The night passed and the second day of the mourning 
 for the dead dawned. The sun rose with a smoke- 
 wreathed face which caused the Indians much alarm. 
 Nothing of importance, however, occurred throughout 
 the day, except the continual shrieking and howling for 
 the dead. The Spaniards were busy burying their dead 
 and had neither time nor inclination to renew the assault 
 upon the place. 
 
 The sun rose again and rode majestically to the op 
 posite horizon and disappeared. Yet nothing of military 
 importance occurred, except that Don Diego commenced 
 re-strengthening the defenses of the pueblo, and Vargas 
 commenced making cannon carriages to replace those that 
 had been destroyed by the Indians in front of Zia. 
 
 Nothing up to this time had been heard of Geetlu, 
 though searches had been made for her. Just at sunset, 
 however, on this third day an Indian woman appeared 
 in front of the headquarters of the allies and with the 
 obsidian slab she carried at her breast, she reflected rays 
 of light to the village. The woman was Geetlu. The 
 signal was read and quickly answered. When the moon 
 reached the meridian, she would slip out of Ojeda's tent, 
 for she was a prisoner in his camp, crawl past the guards 
 and make her way across the flat to the trail leading to 
 the mesa. Don Diego answered back by means of an-
 
 DON DIEGO 317 
 
 other piece of volcanic glass that he and his warriors 
 would be in the valley to meet her. 
 
 The moon passed the meridian; but no woman ap 
 peared in the valley. Don Diego became impatient. An 
 hour or more passed. The war chief could wait no 
 longer. It would soon be daylight and then it would 
 be too late. Leaving his men, he crawled from tree to 
 tree, from bowlder to bowlder till he reached the tent 
 before which he had seen Geetlu the evening before. 
 In the doorway of the tent he found a sentinel stationed. 
 For some time he was puzzled what to do under the cir 
 cumstances. Should he fail and fall into Ojeda's hands, 
 death was his doom. The first thing of importance was 
 to ascertain that his wife was in the inclosure. The next 
 thing, should she be there, was to get her safely away 
 and with the least possible noise, so as to avoid arousing 
 the allied camp. The first task was easily accomplished. 
 Don Diego whistled a low " Bob-white," and, after wait 
 ing time enough to avoid suspicion, Geetlu answered, 
 " White." To rescue the woman was the next thing. 
 Slipping up behind the half-asleep, unsuspecting guard, 
 Don Diego sprang upon him, stabbed him to the heart, 
 covered his mouth with a firm hand to keep him from 
 giving the alarm and held him to the ground till death 
 claimed him. He then picked the woman up in his arms 
 and ran toward the trail, only regretting that he had 
 not had a chance to kill Ojeda instead of the innocent 
 guard. He passed half the distance unnoticed. Then 
 an outstanding picket fired. The bullet came near doing 
 its work. It cut the skin on the lower side of each arm 
 and scorched the skin across his breast. He staggered a 
 moment, then ran on with his load. The gun cracked
 
 3i8 DON DIEGO 
 
 again; but on account of the increased distance, the bul 
 let had spent its force before reaching its victim. On 
 Don Diego ran. Soon the allies were pursuing him in 
 hot haste; but before they could overtake him, he reached 
 the trail in safety. A skirmish between the Jemez and 
 the Spaniards followed. The latter, however, not 
 knowing the strength of the enemy, soon retreated to 
 their tents. 
 
 " Tell me where you have been and what has hap 
 pened to you, my dear one," said Don Diego, as soon as 
 the welcoming home was over. 
 
 " Well," replied Geetlu, " I was standing on the edge 
 of the mesa when the big rock crushed the white-earth 
 men to death. Soon afterwards I heard a crash. Then 
 I felt sick and began to fall. When I came to my senses, 
 an Indian was holding my head in his lap. As soon as 
 he saw that I showed signs of life, he ordered me taken 
 to his headquarters. It was Ojeda himself. He had 
 recognized me, and when I regained consciousness, he 
 called me by my own name, Geetlu, saying: 'Now I 
 have my wife; at last I have my Geetlu, and I defy Don 
 Diego and the whole world to take her from me.' This 
 did not give me much satisfaction. Soon the man came 
 and started with me. Seeing that I was being carried 
 away from my people, I slipped off my panya and 
 one moccasin that should these things be found you would 
 know that I was still alive and would probably know 
 the direction in which I had been taken. Arriving at 
 the camp I was well taken care of. A white medicine 
 man dressed my wounds, which seemed to be only 
 scratches and bruises. Then I was given something to 
 eat. Throughout my stay, everyone was good to me.
 
 DON DIEGO 319 
 
 The white general seemed to take a great liking to me; 
 and, through an interpreter, he even told me that on the 
 day he captured the village he would make me officially 
 the wife of Ojeda. To this I answered nothing. But, 
 oh, I hope these pale- faces and their allies will never get 
 possession of our home. Don Diego, I love you and you 
 only can I love. I watched for an opportunity to let 
 you know that I was alive and would do all I could to 
 make my escape. The opportunity came last evening, 
 as you know. My plans to escape failed, however. 
 Ojeda observed me signaling. So believing that I was 
 going to try to escape, he put a guard over me. This 
 man you killed when rescuing me. But, my dear, I am 
 tired. Let me sleep." 
 
 On account of his successful entering of the allied 
 camp, Don Diego decided to make a sortie yet that same 
 night. Descending the trail with all the braves he could 
 conveniently marshal at short notice without causing 
 too much noise, he fell upon the enemy just as the morn 
 ing star began to rise. As they moved forward to the 
 attack, the sentinel, stationed halfway between the foot 
 of the trail and the general's tent, fired the alarm. In 
 the direction from which the alarm had come loud yells 
 at once arose. The pickets at the foot of the trail had 
 either been killed or captured, and the Jemez were in 
 the act of rushing upon the camp. Immediately the can 
 nons were brought into action, but the fighting was soon 
 at quarters too close for them to be effective. The bat 
 tle was a hand to hand battle from the onset; and can 
 nons could not be turned on the assailants without kill 
 ing those assailed as well. Every rock, tree, and bush 
 had a red man behind it. The crude war implements
 
 320 DON DIEGO 
 
 of savages clashed with the war implements of the civ 
 ilized man. Many of the allies were killed in their beds. 
 The camp was taken and burned. Success danced in the 
 eye of the Indian and gave his heart a quickened beat. 
 At this juncture a handful of cavalry under Eusebio de 
 Vargas fell upon the Jemez from the rear. These men 
 had been stationed as a guard over the grazing horses 
 and had not been in the fight up to this time. Through 
 the crowded mass of savages they rode, hewing them 
 down on all sides, till their comrades had time to rally. 
 For a few minutes then the Spaniards were flushed with 
 success. The camp was cleared. The cannons that had 
 been captured in the first onslaught were retaken and 
 put into deadly action. The attacking Indians, bewil 
 dered and dismayed, were finally routed and began to 
 retreat. But on reaching the trail they found that a 
 detachment of the allies under Vargas himself had gained 
 possession of it. Their escape by it was cut off, for they 
 were unable to dislodge the possessors. Turning about 
 they again fell upon the main body of the enemy. If 
 they had to die they would die as braves. The enemy 
 closed in on them on all sides. Their annihilation seemed 
 certain. Only a few minutes more and grim visaged war 
 would accomplish its work completely. 
 
 Just as the terrible slaughter was progressing, the 
 Jemez war whoop was heard in the rear of the Spanish 
 lines. In a moment the battle was on in another quarter. 
 After leading the first division to the attack, Don Diego 
 had returned to the village, called another division of 
 warriors and with it had descended the trail leading 
 northeast from the village and had gained his fighting
 
 DON DIEGO 321 
 
 position by a march down San Diego Canon. His de 
 lay, due to the difficulty in rebuilding the destroyed trail, 
 had spoiled his plans. But notwithstanding that, both 
 he and his men were eager to join battle. The gods 
 had commanded them to fight and fight they would. 
 Furiously they fell upon the allied foe. They crippled 
 the horses. They dragged the cavaliers from their sad 
 dles. They killed the cannoneers at their posts. They 
 routed Ojeda and the Queres under him. They wholly 
 destroyed the enemy's right wing. They released their 
 surrounded comrades. They cleared the trail. Then 
 the tide of battle turned. The Spanish left wing and 
 center closed in on the Jemez and Eusebio de Vargas, 
 assuming the command for a time, massed the cannons 
 so as to bear directly on them. The swordsmen cut 
 them down on every side ; the muskets played havoc with 
 their lines ; the field pieces mowed them down by scores. 
 The more efficient weapons triumphed and the Jemez 
 sullenly scrambled up the trail to the village where the 
 allies dare not yet follow. 
 
 As soon as the braves reached the village after the de 
 feat, they began to inflict punishment upon themselves 
 with knives and awls to appease the wrath of the gods. 
 The women rushed about the place as mad. They tore 
 their scanty clothes from their bodies, pulled their hair 
 out, beat themselves with sticks and rocks, pricked them 
 selves with cactus and cut their flesh with broken pieces 
 of pottery for the dead just killed in battle. The med 
 icine men and the professional mourners instituted the 
 ceremonies of the dead with their accompanying wail 
 ing and howling. And the sun priests retired to the
 
 322 DON DIEGO 
 
 estufas to pray and fast before the gods and to consult 
 them why the warriors had been so overwhelmingly de 
 feated. 
 
 While the sortie was being brought to its disastrous 
 end, the fourth day of the ceremonies over the dead that 
 had fallen in battle at the taking of Zia had dawned. 
 That afternoon the men, annually appointed for the pur 
 pose, went from house to house of the deceased, oblit 
 erated the sun drawings encircling the effigies of the 
 dead, carried the effigies, baskets of eatables, water jars, 
 and everything that pertained to the departed to the edge 
 of the mesa on the side of the declining sun and hurled 
 them to the valley below. Over them they then sprin 
 kled sacred meal for a moment. This completed the 
 ceremonies. The journeying souls had reached the land 
 of bliss. The ceremonies for the dead, killed at Canon 
 and in front of Jemez, were to terminate in the same man 
 ner later. 
 
 That evening the chief sun priest and his aids entered 
 the plaza from the sun houses and in sonorous tones or 
 dered the medicine men, the " funny men " and the men 
 of the Column Plaza Dancing Society to go to the cen 
 tal estufa at once. 
 
 Soon all were within the house of the gods as ordered. 
 All squatted in groups facing the north, except the sun 
 priest who occupied the position against the north wall 
 between the two rainbow symbols, with face turned 
 toward the south. The first group immediately in front 
 of the priest was the chief penitents, the next group the 
 " funny men," and the last group the column dancers. 
 For some time after all had assembled, they sat in breath 
 less silence, as is the custom in an Indian council meet-
 
 DON DIEGO 323 
 
 ing. Then the chief man of ceremonies arose, prayed 
 long, loud, and earnestly to the gods and scattered yellow 
 pollen and meal over all within the house. Finishing 
 his praying and sprinkling, he turned to his visible au 
 ditors and said : 
 
 " A dire calamity has befallen our tribe. We have 
 sinned a great sin against the gods, and for it they have 
 taken vengeance on us. Our evil doings are the cause 
 of our misfortunes. Someone has turned witch, and 
 used owl feathers and caused black corn to answer their 
 questions. Practice of this sort always brings destruc 
 tion to the tribe. Drouth, pestilence, and defeat in war 
 are always caused by it. The gods always are angered 
 on account of it and always punish the tribe that tolerates 
 it. Only the conviction and execution of the perpetra 
 tors will pacify them. 
 
 " When I was a little boy the whole tribe sickened in 
 one day and many died. The medicine men did all they 
 could to drive the ' sick ' away. They prayed and sprin 
 kled sacred meal over the sick ones and mortified them 
 selves in every way, but the dying of our people still con 
 tinued to increase. The gods were consulted and it was 
 decided that some witch was the cause of the great mor 
 tality. The priests and medicine men searched the 
 houses of the village and in two of them they found owl 
 feathers tied up in a bundle with black corn. They put 
 to death the offenders. At once the dying of the people 
 from the disease ceased. 
 
 " The year after I became chief sun priest, from the 
 coming of the leaves till the corn was in tassel, it did 
 not rain neither in the valley nor on the mountains which 
 furnish water to our river. For days and days the
 
 324 DON DIEGO 
 
 ' funny men ' prayed and did penance, but it was of no 
 use. The rain came not. The corn planted was about 
 to be wholly destroyed. That some evil doer in the tribe 
 was the cause of the drouth became the opinion of the 
 chief men. Owl feathers were found in one house, and 
 the possessor, a haggard old woman, was executed. 
 That very day it rained till the river was so filled with 
 water that its roar could be heard for miles. 
 
 " Two years ago, as you all know, our army was de 
 feated by the Navajos, and the victors marched to take 
 this place. Severe fighting occurred in the valley near 
 here for many days in which our braves were worsted all 
 the time. In the estufa we prayed continually, but not a 
 prayer was answered. I called the ' principals ' together, 
 and we made search for the one among us who was de 
 feating our \varriors by his witchcraft. This time I my 
 self found black corn wrapped up with owl feathers, 
 buried beneath the hearth in one of the houses. The ex 
 ecution of the sorcerer brought success to our arms. 
 The next day our enemies were routed and driven from 
 this valley. 
 
 " As in the cases mentioned, some witch is the cause 
 of our present calamity. In the name of those above, 
 if you know of anyone who has owl feathers in his 
 possession or who talks to black corn, do your duty 
 and accuse him before this assembly that he may receive 
 his just punishment that the wrath of the deities against 
 this place may be appeased. Speak what you know, that 
 the Great Spirit may hear and reward you. Speak that 
 our homes, our tribe, and our religion may be saved from 
 annihilation." Thus saying, he seated himself and 
 waited for the others to speak.
 
 DON DIEGO 325 
 
 A dismal and awful stillness ensued for some min 
 utes. The old chief of the sun worshiping then arose 
 again and said : " Will you not speak when the 
 gods command you? I will call upon you in the 
 order of your positions beginning with those nearest 
 me." 
 
 He had called upon half of those present before he re 
 ceived anything but a negative to his inquiries. Then 
 an Indian by the name of Dwashing admitted that he 
 knew of two women who had owl feathers and made 
 black corn talk. 
 
 " Who are they? " anxiously broke in the chief priest, 
 as the eyes of all turned eagerly toward the one who 
 was addressing them. 
 
 " Lapieyah and Kinnewagga," bluntly answered Dwash 
 ing. He continued. " I saw Kinnewagga gather the 
 feathers beneath a flowering currant bush at the foot of 
 a big fir tree on the edge of the Soda Dam on the side 
 of the going down of the sun. Afterwards, I saw her 
 and Lapieyah cause the black corn to tell them things. 
 This was in their house just before the spring dance. I 
 also saw that they had owl feathers along with the 
 corn." 
 
 " Go to the door, Don Diego, and prevent anyone from 
 leaving here," interruptingly broke in the priest. Then 
 turning to Dwashing, he said: " Proceed." 
 
 Dwashing continued : " I also saw these two women 
 use prayer sticks feathered with owl feathers. They 
 placed two in each of the petrified-wood altars on the 
 mesa. It was the day before the battle in front of the 
 Zia mesa. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I 
 was captured by the white-faced men the next morning
 
 326 DON DIEGO 
 
 and only escaped from them this morning. Here are 
 the prayer sticks," handing them to the priest. 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Very well, I will question the others present." 
 
 One by one he called upon the remaining representa 
 tives of the tribe till he had interrogated each one pres 
 ent, receiving in each case a negative answer. He then 
 stood upright with his back against the center post along 
 the north wall, prayed a half audible prayer a moment 
 and sprinkled the sacred meal toward the symbols of the 
 gods. Finishing his prayer, he said : " It is well. The 
 will of the gods be done." Then turning toward the en 
 trance to the edifice he gave the following command: 
 " Don Diego, you and twelve braves go and search the 
 house of Kinnewagga and Lapieyah and bring the sor 
 ceresses here as quickly as possible. We will await your 
 return." 
 
 Cautiously Don Diego proceeded to the house of the 
 suspects, crawled up to it and peeped in through the cir 
 cular porthole-like window. There was a light in the 
 room. The women were busy at something near the low 
 fire which furnished the light. They were taking corn 
 and owl feathers from their hiding place beneath the 
 hearth. After Kinnewagga had collected the corn and 
 feathers in her lap, she sprinkled them with the pollen of 
 the cat-tail-flag and began to pray to them : " O instru 
 ment of the black art, O gods of the world of fogs and 
 storms, O gods of all that is evil, hear me and answer 
 my prayer. Before to-morrow's sun shall rise, smite 
 Don Diego " 
 
 A stir without cut the prayer short. Don Diego and
 
 DON DIEGO 327 
 
 his men all heard the prayer and had seen the black corn 
 and owl feathers. There was a scramble up the ladder 
 and in a minute thirteen men stood in the living-room 
 of the house. The women were there, but the feathers 
 and the corn were no where to be seen. The room was 
 searched, but they could not be found. Had they burned 
 them? An examination of the ashes showed that they 
 had not. The floor and walls were then pounded to see 
 if the evil things had been concealed there, but with no 
 better success. An accidental glance at Kinnewagga, 
 however, revealed the feathers. She had them concealed 
 in her bosom, and one of the feathers was not completely 
 within the folds of her black dress. 
 
 The women were immediately seized and dragged be 
 fore the assembly. They had been caught in the act of 
 holding communication with the evil ones. Consequently 
 no mercy was shown them. They were convicted by the 
 " principals " and taken at once from the estufa and 
 stoned to death. 
 
 While Jemez was thus engaged in convicting and ex 
 ecuting its witches, things were fast approaching a crisis 
 in the Spanish camp. The last morsel of food had been 
 eaten and the ammunition had got so low that but few of 
 the cavaliers had more than powder and ball enough 
 to shoot ten times; while the Jemez seemed to be able 
 to hold out indefinitely. A scout had also brought the 
 news that the Tehuas were marching over the mountains 
 from San Ildefonso to relieve the place. To such 
 straits were they reduced that, at dusk, Senores Otero 
 and Baca went to the general and, on their knees, begged 
 him to abandon the siege. But fearing the disgrace and 
 the loss of prestige which would inevitably follow, he
 
 328 DON DIEGO 
 
 would not yield to them. " This place must be captured," 
 was his firm and only reply. 
 
 Later in the evening the same two aids came to him 
 again and besought him in the name of the Virgin Mary 
 to abandon the place. Said they : " We have no food 
 at hand; we are weakened in numbers; and our powder 
 and ball is almost gone. If we stay here the combined 
 savage hordes will fall upon us and kill us all. We be 
 seech you, leave this place while it is yet possible to do 
 so. Before to-morrow morning we are likely to be all 
 massacred. A union of the allied hostile forces means 
 disaster to us. Let us get as far from this place as we 
 can under cover of the darkness." 
 
 " It would be a disgrace to ourselves, to our king and 
 to our religion to retreat from this place," Governor 
 Vargas angrily responded. " No," he continued, " we 
 will capture this place and take these barbarians with us 
 as slaves when we go." 
 
 " The Jemez are now signaling those who are scaling 
 yonder mountains to succor them," interrupted Senor 
 Otero. "If you will not go with us we will go without 
 you." 
 
 " Neither you nor any of the cavaliers shall leave this 
 place without my permission," defiantly retorted the offi 
 cer as he laid his hand on his sword. " This night we 
 will take this place. I have wanted a cloudy night to 
 screen our movements and to-night we have it. This 
 fog makes it pitch dark here in the valley. Now to 
 carry out my plans is all that is needed. Take a division 
 of men and move all the cannons to a location south of 
 the mesa as near to it as possible. Then as soon as you 
 have all of them in position commence firing them toward
 
 DON DIEGO 329 
 
 the mesa and keep firing them till I command you to 
 stop. Yell and make as much noise as you can, also. 
 Do everything you can to draw the besieged to that side. 
 At the proper moment my brother Eusebio will capture 
 the trail with the remaining troops. To-night the village 
 is ours." 
 
 While the above orders were being given, the sor 
 ceresses were being put to death in the village. The 
 bloody work having been completed, the drum again 
 sounded the call to arms, and the weird preparation for 
 battle was begun. Aid was coming; and, jointly, they 
 would surprise the camp of the Queres and Spaniards at 
 dawn. But the plans of the war chief were not given 
 time to mature. Before the warriors were half painted, 
 the boom, boom of the cannons and the terrible yelling 
 and hallooing to the south of the village in near proximity 
 to the mesa wall caused consternation throughout the 
 whole pueblo. Though the mesa walls are hundreds of 
 feet in perpendicular height on that side, the Jemez, not 
 knowing what the white man was capable of doing and 
 expecting that he might be able to accomplish most any 
 thing, rushed thither to repel the feigned assault. This 
 was what Vargas wanted. In the excitement the guards 
 abandoned the trail, and Eiusebio and his armored men 
 rushed it and captured the village. 
 
 A horrible scene followed. Unarmored and taken 
 by surprise, the braves were mercilessly butchered by the 
 invaders. The populace became panic-stricken and for 
 the most part, rushed from the pueblo to the edge of the 
 mesa where they leaped, a few to escape to the Navajo 
 country, but the greater number to instant death. Of 
 those who remained in the village, the sword claimed
 
 330 DON DIEGO 
 
 many. Seventy braves were killed and three hundred 
 and seventy-one were taken prisoners. The village was 
 sacked and burned, and three hundred fanegas of corn 
 were captured. This was July 24, 1694 (some writers 
 give 1693). 
 
 Consternation filled the hearts of all the prisoners. 
 Other rebels had been shot or burned. Would that be 
 their fate? Huddled together at Canon and guarded by 
 their Indian enemies, they were most miserable. Don 
 Diego had been captured and was confined with his com 
 rades awaiting the pleasure of the commanding officer. 
 His wife had been bound by Ojeda and carried to Santa 
 Anna. Of all the Indians he was the one most miserable. 
 The others might be freed, but his fate was sealed. A 
 thought suddenly entered his mind. " I am doomed, but 
 possibly I can save my comrades." A group of the 
 Jemez had gathered close around him. He lifted his 
 head from the drooped position it had had since the de 
 struction of his home and looked them all in the face. 
 " My brothers," he began to say to them, " I have done 
 all I could to save our home, as you all have, but the 
 gods are against us. Now the only thing left is to save 
 ourselves if we can. My brothers," he repeated after a 
 moment's pause, " go and tell the white chief that I have 
 been the cause of all this trouble, peradventure he will 
 spare you your lives." 
 
 It took considerable argument to get the braves to ac 
 cede to such a thing. Finally, however, as a last re 
 sort, a delegation called upon Governor Vargas and ex 
 plained the cause of the resistance of the Jemez to the 
 Spanish rule, as had been planned. They made their 
 statements so plausible, that Vargas agreed to free all the
 
 DON DIEGO 331 
 
 braves in time, on the following conditions: (i) that 
 they would immediately bring chief Don Diego to his 
 tent bound for execution: (2) that they would promise 
 to build a new village on the old site in the valley; (3) 
 that they would aid in the wars when needed, he to keep 
 their women and children as hostages till after the cap 
 ture of San Ildefonso. 
 
 Don Diego was immediately brought before the gen 
 eral and condemned to be shot. As soon as sentenced, 
 he was taken a short distance from the tent and made to 
 stand, while the musketeers prepared their guns for the 
 final act. All leveled their guns over the respective 
 " rests " and with burning fuse in hand waited the fatal 
 signal from Vargas. Just at that moment, the good 
 padre who was accompanying the army rushed up to the 
 general and on his knees begged him in the name of the 
 Holy Mary to spare the life of the man who dared de 
 fend his home. At this moment the Indians also mur 
 mured against the execution of their chief. So the sen 
 tence was changed to ten years as a slave in the mines 
 of Nueva Vizcaya. That day he was started on the long 
 journey to that penal region of old Mexico. 
 
 The next day Governor Vargas recovered the remains 
 of the martyred padre, Juan De Jesus, and on the fol 
 lowing day set out on the return to Santa Fe. Arriving 
 there, he buried the martyr with appropriate ceremonies, 
 August u, as had been the good priest's dying request.* 
 
 * The above account of the capture of Jemez is based on the 
 the Indian and Mexican folklore stories of the region. Below is 
 an abridged account of the capture of this village after Ban 
 croft's History, Volume on Arizona and New Mexico, pages 210 to 
 211 : 
 
 On July 21, 1694, with one hundred and twenty men, Governor 
 Vargas joined the Queres under Ojeda of Santa Anna in an attack
 
 332 DON DIEGO 
 
 But the war went on. September 4th, Governor Var 
 gas, aided by one hundred and fifty Queres and Jemez, 
 assaulted San Ildefonso, but was defeated, leaving eleven 
 Spaniards dead on the field. Again on October 5th, the 
 allies attacked the place, marched up the slope to the 
 very village, but were put to flight. Vargas then cut off 
 the supplies of the pueblo, destroyed the cornfields, and 
 allowed the allies to dance the scalp dance over a fallen 
 Tehua right in the open in sight of the besieged. Several 
 times the Tehuas descended and engaged in a desperate 
 conflict, but each time were repulsed. At last, on the 
 
 on Jemez on the mesa at the forks of the river [the Mesa Don 
 Diego of the Spanish records]. While en route the Zia Mesa 
 [the Mesa Colorado of the Spanish records] was taken [a part 
 of the Zias, however, were with the Santa Annas under Ojeda a 
 part of the Zias had rebuilt their old village and moved to it, 
 these were with Ojeda.] In taking Zia five men were killed. 
 [Some records say it was the Jemez who attacked Mesa Colorado 
 and that they were defeated.] Then on July 24 Vargas, with the 
 Santa Anna and Zia allies, took the Jemez Mesa by storm, ac 
 cording to the Archives at Santa Fe. The battle was one of the 
 fiercest fought. The Zias and Santa Annas did much in securing 
 the place. Here Don Eusebio de Vargas, brother of the Governor, 
 distinguished himself. The Jemez lost eighty-one killed, three 
 hundred and seventy-one prisoners; the village was sacked and 
 burned; three hundred fanegas of corn was captured. The Jemez 
 Governor, Chief Diego was surrendered; first condemned to be 
 shot ; then, upon the intercession of the padre who was accompany 
 ing the army, he was sent as a convict to the mines of Nueva 
 Vizcaya : the Indians surrendered him, it is stated, saying that he 
 had been the cause of the trouble. The prisoners, in part, were 
 allowed to go back to Jemez and build on the old site, if they would 
 promise to aid in the wars when needed. [Their wives and chil 
 dren, however, were not given back to them till after the capture of 
 San Ildefonso, September 13, 1694.] 
 
 After the capture of Jemez Governor Vargas recovered the mor 
 tal remains of the martyred padre, Juan de Jesus, and on August 
 nth following he interred them at Santa Fe.
 
 DON DIEGO 333 
 
 8th, the besieged sued for peace. Peace and pardon was 
 granted them on condition that they would return to 
 their respective pueblos. 
 
 After this battle and the surrender of the Tehuas, the 
 Jemez, having aided the Spaniards, were given back their 
 women and children, the Jemez missionary interceding 
 for them. This was September I3th, 1694. 
 
 But the Pueblos seemed to be practically unconquer 
 able. No sooner would the Spanish army leave one lo 
 cality than an uprising would there occur. 
 
 A famine having occurred and the padres and soldiers 
 having been redistributed on account of the scarcity of 
 food, the Jemez, Taos, Picuries, Tehuas, Queres of Co- 
 chiti, and Santo Domingo rose in arms and killed five 
 priests and twenty-one Spaniards, June 4th, 1696. The 
 Zias, Pecos, Tesque, San Felipe, Santa Anna remained 
 faithful to the Spaniards. 
 
 As a result of the uprising, Vargas marched to Zia 
 the first of August to attack the Jemez, but abandoned 
 the expedition without going farther, saying that he had 
 to distribute some two hundred head of cattle that had 
 just arrived at Santa Fe. August 5th, following, he 
 made an unsuccessful assault on Acoma, captured five 
 Indians, one a chief. The latter he freed, begging him 
 to persuade the people to surrender, but they would not 
 do so. He then shot the other captives, ravaged the 
 fields, and returned. Returning home he then sent Ad 
 jutant Juan Ruiz against Jemez, but the expedition seems 
 to have been unsuccessful. 
 
 Later that same fall, the governor in person attacked 
 the Taos in a canon not far from their village. After a 
 few skirmishes the Indians surrendered. Thence he
 
 334 DON DIEGO 
 
 marched against the other northern Pueblos. The Pic- 
 uries and Tehuas feigned peace to save their cornfields. 
 Vargas discovered their plans and attacked them October 
 26th, capturing eighty-four women and children, who 
 became slaves of the Spaniards at Santa Fe. Rather 
 than submit, most of the other Pueblos fled to the moun 
 tains, where over two thousand perished and as many 
 more joined the wild tribes. 
 
 Returning home after this expedition, Vargas found 
 that he himself was in trouble. Many charges had been 
 made against him at the court of the Viceroy of Mexico. 
 After considerable parleying, Pedro Rodriguez Cubero 
 succeeded to the governorship, and Vargas was sent to 
 Mexico in chains and later, it is said, to Spain. At 
 any rate, he carried his case to the King of Spain and 
 finally proved his innocence of all the charges, becoming 
 governor again in August, 1703. 
 
 As soon as he became the official head of the northern 
 province again, he found the Indians as hostile as ever; 
 they had not been subdued by his successor. As soon as 
 arrangements could be made, he set out to attack the 
 Apaches on the San Dia Mountains, who were making 
 raids on the settlements along the Rio Grancle. Becom 
 ing sick en route, he died at Bernalillo, April 4th, 1704. 
 
 His successor proceeded with the task of bringing the 
 whole country under subjugation. As would be expected, 
 he soon found himself face to face with the unyielding 
 Jemez. This was in 1705. The Jemez aided by the 
 Apaches had returned to Mesa Don Diego and re- forti 
 fied it. Then they were in the valley at Canon ready to 
 rush upon the approaching enemy. The battles of Zia 
 and Jemez were to be fought over again. The slaughter
 
 DON DIEGO 335 
 
 of those terrible times was to be repeated. The Span 
 ish general gave the order to charge. The war whoop 
 resounded. But the slaying hand of the destroying 
 angel was stayed.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 DON DIEGO, with halter around his neck, was led 
 by a man on horseback down the Jemez valley past 
 the present village of Zia and now Old Village of Santa 
 Anna. As he was being jerked through the latter village, 
 he heard a voice he knew. Just faintly he heard it. It 
 was Geetlu's voice. She was saying, " May the gods take 
 care of you, Don Diego" [Te-wa^pah-oo, Don Diego]. 
 He turned to look in the direction the voice had come, 
 but was jerked onward and saw no more. 
 
 On they journeyed. At last they reached the mines of 
 Nueva Vizcaya, and Don Diego entered upon his toils as 
 a prisoner-slave. As such he was biddable and did his 
 work well and faithfully. Furthermore, the good padre 
 interceding for his life before the Spanish Governor had 
 had its effect upon his character. The good father had 
 given him some prayer beads before his departure to the 
 penal settlement and these he prized very highly; and 
 when not occupied in his duties as a slave, he sat and 
 " counted them " by the hour. The guards noticed this, 
 but it was their business to grind as much labor out of a 
 convict as possible. Consequently they did not even at 
 tempt to explain the meaning of the beads to the poor 
 savage. Days, weeks, months came and went. Finally 
 Don Diego asked what day would be Sunday ; the prison 
 ers worked every day, Sundays, feast days, and all. He 
 was told that it would be in three more days. " My 
 
 336
 
 DON DIEGO 337 
 
 brother," he then said, " may I not go to your church 
 on that day ? " The keepers laughed sneeringly and said 
 nothing. 
 
 Finally one day, luckily, the padre of this penal district 
 made a visiting tour through the mines. Don Diego was 
 working on what is commonly called " the dump " in 
 mining regions. As the priest approached him, he 
 stopped his work and making the cross bowed to him, 
 calling him father. This called the priest's attention to 
 the prisoner. He stepped aside and addressed him 
 kindly. In response Don Diego stepped forward and 
 kissed his hand. Then the priest passed on and the 
 prisoner resumed his work. 
 
 After the day's labor was completed and Don Diego 
 had lain down to rest a few minutes as he " counted his 
 beads," the beads of the white God as he termed them, he 
 was not a little surprised when one of the guards ap 
 peared at the entrance of his thatched hovel and told him 
 the padre wished him to go to his house as he wished to 
 talk to him. 
 
 He arose quickly and dragging and carrying his chains, 
 finally reached the flat- roofed mansion. There he was 
 caused to squat himself on the floor of a well furnished 
 room, where he had to wait a considerable time for the 
 arrival of the priest; he was occupied at some other of 
 ficial business at the time. At last that person entered 
 the room and in a short time the prisoner was at confes 
 sion. The padre listened attentively to the story of his 
 life and especially his final declaration, that he had done 
 what he thought was right and that, if it was wrong, he 
 did not know it. He had defended his home to the last. 
 Now he was willing to serve the white man's God, as it
 
 338 DON DIEGO 
 
 was stronger than the Indian gods; and that he wished 
 to attend mass and learn more about the white man's 
 religion. 
 
 After being at confession, Don Diego was returned to 
 the hovel and the next day went to work in his chains as 
 usual. For several days he worked again as before. 
 Finally one morning one of the guards appeared at his 
 hovel with a hammer and chisel. Entering he remarked 
 sarcastically : " It's a shame. I suppose you will cause 
 us lots of trouble for this and likely kill somebody and 
 make feed for the wolves yourself; but I am ordered to 
 release these shackles, and the good father requests you 
 to attend mass. To-day is Sunday. I suppose it will 
 take all the bloodhounds we have to find you by to-mor 
 row. ' But here goes.' ' So saying, he set to work and 
 soon had cut the iron bands that clasped each leg, and the 
 prisoner was free. 
 
 The happiest man at mass that day was the Jemez 
 slave; and after mass when he had returned to his 
 thatched hut, he sat and sang the hours away. The next 
 morning he was at his post of duty as usual and even 
 worked better than before. For some time, however, 
 the guards kept close watch on him lest he should run 
 off; but were, at length, convinced that he had no such 
 intentions. So then they made him a trusty about the 
 place. Meanwhile he visited the priest as often as he 
 could and had him explain the different things about the 
 white man's religion and the goodness of God. At last 
 the priest took such a liking to him that he had him trans 
 ferred from the mine to his charge, using him as a serv 
 ant. This position suited Don Diego very much and he
 
 DON DIEGO 339 
 
 worked hard to retain it. But even better things were in 
 store for him. The priest finally made him one of the 
 aids in the church service. 
 
 At last he had served out his sentence and with the 
 blessings of the good padre, he set out for the home of 
 his people, going not by the then Spanish route, but by 
 the Indian route northward, somewhat the same as Co- 
 ronado had gone. 
 
 After traveling toward the North Star several days, he 
 came to that great ruin the Casa Grande the Red 
 House of the Indians on the Gila. Thence he entered 
 the broken region by Globe, with its blue, gray, red, and 
 black rocks. Then onward he went northward over the 
 Apache mountains by Chromo (Haystack) Butte to Salt 
 River. This he swam near where Chief Lupe's camp 
 is now situated. From there he passed northeastward a 
 little past the " black butte " and over the granites and 
 schists at the mouth of Canon creek. He had been sev 
 eral days in the Apache country and as he could talk the 
 language of the natives of the region he was treated as 
 a friend and guest by them. There was an Indian en 
 campment then near the mouth of the creek and here 
 he rested a day. While here he took a canoe and went 
 across Salt river a little above the encampment and ex 
 amined the salt crystals that glisten in the evening sun 
 where the saline waters seep out of the sandstone and 
 shales of the Old Red Sandstone walls of the canon. 
 The next day with a guide, he set out on his further 
 journey. Their course was northward up Canon creek 
 over its rough, narrow, inner valley, over rocks from 
 Tertiary to Archseon in age, over rocks as hard and
 
 340 DON DIEGO 
 
 brittle as glass to fine blue shale and loose Tertiary ma 
 terial. That evening they reached the flat now known 
 as John Dazen's camp. Here, across the creek from 
 Mount Chiddeschee, they rested and slept. Morning 
 came and they now resumed their journey, now northeast 
 ward, climbing over the vitreous Tonto sandstone and the 
 Devonian shell-bed areas and on up the Plateau walls 
 to the flats of the Grasshopper Springs country. Night 
 found them on the Cibicu creek, guests of the chief of 
 the tribe that occupied the valley. A feast of corn was 
 set before them. After the meal, a deerskin was spread 
 on the ground and Don Diego, being tired, soon found 
 himself fast asleep. 
 
 Don Diego had not slept long, when a disturbing 
 dream awoke him. Rising on his elbow, he listened a 
 moment ; then remarked to his host : " What means 
 that drum beat I hear ? " 
 
 " Oh," replied the one addressed, " a medicine dance 
 is in session. The medicine woman of our tribe is 
 about to die ; and the medicine people are performing the 
 final medicinal ceremonies over her. In the performance 
 they will either cure her or prepare her to meet her gods. 
 We are all going to it. Would you like to go with us ? " 
 
 Don Diego and the chief's family had scarcely joined 
 the group of squatting people encircling the great fire, 
 the sick one, and the chanters, when the medicine ghost 
 dancers appeared the first time in the night ceremonies; 
 the Gunelpieya ceremonies had been performed the after 
 noon previous. The ghost dancers entered the sick one's 
 presence and, acting as though surprised, they danced 
 backwards and forwards for several yards to the music 
 of the chant:
 
 DON DIEGO 341 
 
 " Kahs'-ah-tun' nee yah' ash kah' 
 Kahs'-ah-tun' nee yah' ash kah' 
 Kahs'-ah-tun' nee yah' ash kah' 
 Kahs'-ah-tun' nee yah' ash kee' yah'." 
 
 Then they approached again only to make a retro 
 grade movement as before. This they did seven times in 
 succession. Then they approached and strutted around 
 the little spot where the sick woman lay, the clown go 
 ing through every grimace known to his fraternity. 
 After encircling the patient once, they pranced a moment 
 while " grandma " sprinkled the sacred pollen upon them, 
 blowing her breath on each one in blessing as she sprin 
 kled him. This completed scene one of this act and the 
 men of the gods cantered off into the darkness to go 
 through their religious incantations to overcome " sick." 
 
 The ghost dancers returned and formed in column 
 facing the west, the sick one being changed so that she 
 faced them. They danced up to her feet and then re 
 trograded in a backward movement to the spot where 
 they had first formed the column, gobbling and strutting 
 and waving their hands in imitation of a flying bird. 
 This they repeated several times. Then the foremost 
 dancer, as he made pose after pose imitating, in a manner, 
 the actions of a mother quail when protecting her young, 
 left the column and danced to the feet of the dying 
 woman. He reached her presence, strutted around her, 
 laid the crossed wands on her he carried one in each 
 hand, blew his breath on them, danced backwards about 
 fifteen feet with medicine wands still crossed, parted 
 the wands with a sweeping vigorous movement of the 
 hands in opposite directions, thus sending the evil spirits
 
 342 DON DIEGO 
 
 not into the swine but to the four winds. He returned 
 to the patient, placed the wands on her breast, then 
 danced backwards and scattered the evil ones as before. 
 He then placed the crossed wands upon her head, and 
 lastly upon her back, each time performing as above. 
 His work being completed, he galloped off into obscurity 
 to appear in the next scene. 
 
 The other medicine dancers in succession went through 
 practically the same performance as the first dancer did. 
 Then came the clown. His performance, in addition 
 to his cutting capers and making grimaces, was about the 
 same as that of those who preceded him, except that he 
 did not strut and gobble like a turkey. His acting com 
 pleted part one of this scene. 
 
 There were three other parts to this scene, all three of 
 which were acted out similarly to the one just described 
 with the exception that the position taken by the actors 
 was different. In part two the sick one faced the north 
 east, the dancing column the southwest ; in part three she 
 faced the northwest, the column the southeast; and in 
 part four she faced the southwest, the dancing column 
 the northeast. Part four completed this scene and the 
 medicine actors passed into the outer darkness. 
 
 The next ten scenes were similar to the one just de 
 scribed, except that when the lookers-on went to sleep 
 the Satanic majesty, the clown, woke them up with his 
 trident and made them dance, there being one hundred 
 and fifty sleepy ones dancing at one time. 
 
 Just as the eleventh scene was culminating, the sick 
 woman became semi-conscious ; she had been unconscious 
 throughout the whole performance. Raising herself to a 
 sitting position, she began to address those around her not
 
 DON DIEGO 343 
 
 in the Apache language but in that of the Jemez. Hear 
 ing his native speech used, Don Diego intuitively stepped 
 quickly forward to the presence of the patient; and lo! 
 it was Geetlu. As he approached, she opened her eyes 
 and looked wildly about her. " Nio," she exclaimed, " go 
 away, Death. I will not die. I must not die till I see 
 my husband, Don Diego. I ran away from that cruel 
 Ojeda of Santa Anna with Bedessendaha to this place 
 and to my friends. That was long ago. No, I will not 
 die. Give me back my husband. He is coming to say 
 a last farewell to me. I saw him in a vision. He is com 
 ing. He will be here to-night. No, I will not die till 
 I see him and tell him that I love him and hate Ojeda." 
 
 He took her in his arms and soothingly addressed 
 her : " I am your husband. I am Don Diego. I am 
 free and I love you. My dear Geetlu, I love you." 
 
 Her eyes became calmer. She looked at him. She 
 stroked his hair with her hand. She breathed on her 
 hand and rubbed his face with it. Then she exclaimed: 
 " My husband, my own Don Diego, peace to you and 
 may the gods take care of you. I go to my long home. 
 Good-by, my Don Die ." 
 
 She again lapsed into unconsciousness. This was just 
 as day began to dawn. Immediately the twelfth and 
 last scene of the night performance began. The med 
 icine dancers appeared, were sprinkled with the sacred 
 cat-tail-flag pollen, and began to perform over the sick 
 one as in the previous scenes with the exception that they 
 used medicine hoops instead of wands. These hoops 
 were five in number and were painted to represent the 
 rainbow. Besides being painted, each hoop had five 
 eagle feathers suspended from it.
 
 344 DON DIEGO 
 
 When this scene began the lookers-on all took one more 
 drink of Indian whisky (they had been drinking it all 
 night), formed around the central fire in a great circle, 
 and danced around it from right to left, the women in 
 one half of the circle, the men in the other. The old 
 women danced backward and forward on either side 
 of the fire and acted out clown-performances within the 
 outer dancing circle; and the members of the medicine 
 fraternity sprinkled the sacred dust and prayed inces 
 santly to the gods. More and more vigorous became the 
 dance. Everyone joined it. The sound of the peculiar 
 drums, now beat with greater accent, the loud chanting 
 and deafening shouts of the dancers filled the surround 
 ing country with ear-grating sounds. The excitement 
 reached a high tension. The sick one became semi-con 
 scious again. She made one supreme effort to rise and 
 join in the dance; but she had not sufficient strength. 
 They lifted her to a standing position, they sprinkled 
 her with the sacred dust, they rubbed her back and her 
 chest with scorching fir twigs, they supported her in a 
 dancing position. She made one more heroic effort to 
 dance and become well. Greater and greater grew the 
 excitement. The chief medicine man prayed louder, the 
 shrieks and shouts of the dancers became deafening. 
 The crisis came. In the excitement, under the influence 
 of the hypnotic spell, the sick one forgot her ailments. 
 She danced. She took a medicine hoop in each hand. 
 She lifted them high above her head. She leaped. She 
 crow-hopped. She posed. She strutted around the 
 great fire like a turkey. She called the gods by name. 
 She shrieked, swooned and died. 
 
 Words cannot describe the scene that followed. The
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 345 
 
 men wept, the women wailed with the hideous coyote 
 yelping wail so characteristic of the Apaches. They 
 pulled their hair out by handfuls, they rent their apparel 
 and destroyed their property at hand. Then made a 
 rush to see the corpse. They trampled over each other, 
 and it was with difficulty that they were kept from crowd 
 ing one another into the great fire. They carried her to 
 the nearest wigwam; stripped, washed, and dressed her; 
 beaded her with all the beads of the clan; put wristlets 
 upon wristlets on her wrists ; rolled her in her best robe ; 
 took her and her medicine accouterments to the moun 
 tain side and buried them beneath a pinon tree. Then 
 they returned and destroyed everything which belonged 
 to her, both animate and inanimate, together with her 
 tepee, that the things that were hers on earth might be 
 with her in the spirit of the land of bliss. Then for 
 thirty days the women wailed and mourned for her at 
 
 NO. I. J -- 2.|0. 
 
 A 
 
 MEDICINE GIRLS' SONGS 
 Repeat twice. 
 
 Hi -yu Ian - o ti - i - ish hi - yu Ian - 5 tu shi ya ah 
 
 
 a na i h! - yu Ian - 5 tu shi ya ah a na ah 
 
 No. 2. J=i44. 
 
 A A 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 A 
 
 
 r O 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^\ P^ 
 
 1 
 
 E 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 \* 
 
 I/T\ /I 1 Pi 
 
 fc. . 
 
 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 S 
 
 ^ 
 
 VsV 5 i * ' 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 tj -^i- " -4- 
 
 J- 
 
 '-J- 
 
 * 
 
 -J- 
 
 -J- 
 
 7 
 
 -J- 
 
 
 Hi yan 
 
 -nah 
 
 yan 
 
 - uah 
 
 6 
 
 he 
 
 hi 
 
 ya 
 
 
 Music 
 
 transcribed 
 
 by J. P. Herring
 
 J= 340. 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 APACHE MEDICINE SONG 
 
 W3=ri 
 
 -1 1 r 
 
 _ :i ,_i 
 
 
 .J .4 
 
 F 
 
 =J=d=0=fc 
 
 E ya a ha y& a ha yu a ha ya a ha 
 
 a ha. a a 5. a 
 
 6 an ne who & 
 A 
 
 fc=r^ri 
 ^ * a 
 
 
 6 an n5 who a 5 an 
 A 
 
 who a 
 
 A A 
 
 V-*~| I K i- Kl fO Nl Jg- ^K5=S5=A^ 
 
 **?F3^-f^=-2 
 
 5 an n5 hi i a 
 
 a a 
 
 ha nil a 
 
 is K- 
 
 ~fK- 
 
 an 
 
 ni 
 
 an 
 
 nS 
 
 ne 
 
 :3^E 
 
 an ne u ne u u ne 5 ha a 
 
 Music transcribed by J. P. Herring. 
 
 morning, noon, and night. Thus were the ceremonies 
 performed over the medicine woman brought to a close. 
 After the days of mourning were over, Don Diego re 
 sumed his journey. His Apache friends accompanied 
 him to the edge of the " wilderness." From there he 
 went on alone. He passed through Zun\ and on past
 
 DON DIEGO 347 
 
 El Morro and finally Cabezon and began to ascend the 
 foothills of the western wing of the Jemez Mountains. 
 Reaching Jackrabbit valley in the early morning, he 
 climbed the first point overlooking the Jemez country. 
 He scanned the valley closely. The village there was 
 abandoned and in the far southeastern view toward San 
 Y Sidro, he could see a division of Spanish cavalry ap 
 proaching. Turning to the northeast, he saw the mesa 
 that was named for him swarming with life. It evi 
 dently had been re fortified and war preparations were 
 then actually going on. A battle was about to begin. 
 Don Diego hurried onward. Could he be of any serv 
 ice to his people? He heard the big drum sound as in 
 the days of yore. He saw the warriors file down the 
 tortuous trail. Was he dreaming? He pulled his hair 
 to be sure that he was awake. The things he saw were 
 real. He hurried on, as he rapidly planned in his mind 
 what he should do. But what would he do? He saw 
 the braves station themselves in the ravines and pre 
 pare to lie in wait for the approaching foe. He also 
 saw the cavalry approaching at a rapid pace. He reached 
 the edge of the table-land foothills. He descended to the 
 valley and waded the river. With gray locks streaming 
 in the breeze, for he was an old man now, he rushed be 
 tween the approaching hostile lines, now only a few hun 
 dred feet apart. With uplifted cross, he walked be 
 tween the lines. " I am Don Diego," he shouted to the 
 Jemez braves. " I was war-captain of your fathers. 
 We fought and lost all. My brothers, it is useless to 
 make war on the pale- faces. They are like the south 
 west wind: more and more of them come every day. 
 They are like the flies: the more of them one kills the
 
 348 
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 Altar and Sand Painting of the Knife Society of the Jemez.
 
 DON DIEGO 
 
 349 
 
 Altar and Sand Painting of the Grant Society, Jemez, New 
 Mexico. On the sand painting were placed stone gods 
 of the bear and cougar, effigies of human beings, the skins 
 of the left front legs of bears killed in the sacred hunts, 
 bunches of feathers, and bowls of corn pollen and sacred 
 meal.
 
 350 DON DIEGO 
 
 more comes. The country of their fathers is running 
 over with people and they will always come more and 
 more. My brothers, our gods teach right doing, so does 
 the white man's God. Their Jesus is our Pest-ya-sode. 
 They are one and the same. In the name of all the gods 
 of our fathers, I beg you to cease fighting and be brothers 
 of the white people if they will be brothers to you. Give 
 me till the sun has passed the Zia mesa to talk with the 
 white chief." 
 
 Awed by the miraculous appearance of their former 
 chief and great warrior, the lines of braves halted a mo 
 ment. 
 
 Turning quickly, Don Diego faced about and walked 
 quickly toward the Spanish allies. With uplifted cross 
 he approached them. The general ordered his men to 
 halt. An Indian ally went out to meet the envoy. They 
 met. The ally was Ojeda. " My God," he said, as he 
 neared the Jemez chief, " it is Don Diego." 
 
 " Yes, Ojeda, I am Don Diego," greeting him as a 
 friend according to the Indian custom. " We are on 
 the same level now. I forgive you all. I beg you to go 
 to the white chief and tell him to rest his arms till I 
 can talk to my people. Tell him I wish the Jemez to be 
 brothers to the white people and fight them no more, 
 and the white people to be our brothers also. I will talk 
 to him when the sun stands over yonder red point [the 
 Zia mesa]." Thus saying, he returned to his people and 
 Ojeda to the Spanish lines. 
 
 As soon as Ojeda reported to the commandant the 
 Jemez message, that officer asked : " Do you not think 
 that these Indians are laying a trap for us ? " 
 
 To this question Ojeda replied that he did not think
 
 DON DIEGO 351 
 
 so, as the man he had talked with was Don Diego and 
 he knew him to be a man of his word, though they had 
 always disagreed. 
 
 " Don Diego ! " spoke up the commandant, " you don't 
 mean to say that that war-captain that caused us so much 
 trouble and that was captured and sent to the mines is 
 here on the fighting line now ? " 
 
 " I certainly do. And he is the hardest man to fight 
 that your people have ever met in this region. If he 
 offers peaceable terms, they had better be accepted. I 
 do not know how he got here unless he dropped from 
 the clouds, but he is here." 
 
 In less than an hour Don Diego was seen approaching 
 again with uplifted cross. Ojeda and the general went 
 out to meet him. He greeted the general as a brother 
 and begged him in the name of the Virgin Mary to ac 
 cept the terms he would propose to settle the difficulty 
 that had caused the uprising. The terms, proposed, were 
 so reasonable that they were readily accepted; and that 
 night the enemies camped together as brothers. Ojeda 
 and Don Diego even enjoyed the same quarters and 
 talked over the happenings of the long ago. 
 
 The next day was Sunday and the Spanish allies and 
 the Jemez, led by Don Diego, went to mass at the mission 
 church in the valley where the priest accompanying the 
 army held services. After the religious services were 
 completed, Don Diego arose and explained the meaning 
 of the ceremony and interpreted the good sayings of the 
 padre in his remarks. 
 
 On leaving the place the next day, the Spaniards left 
 Don Diego both as governor and acting spiritual adviser 
 of the Jemez people, which position he held to the day of
 
 352 DON DIEGO 
 
 his death, but devoting most of his time to his priestly 
 office, holding mass at the church, looking after the sick, 
 and attending to the confessions of the people. 
 
 One day when holding mass he fell to the floor while 
 kneeling before the altar; and when they went to him, 
 he was dead. The next day his remains were carried 
 to Mesa Don Diego and interred in a grave dug in the 
 floor of the estufa in the village of his fathers, amid both 
 Catholic and Indian ceremonies. The afternoon of that 
 same day, Indians let themselves down by ropes over the 
 east wall of the mesa opposite his grave and there over 
 looking the Rio San Diego, they chiseled in the rock wall 
 a large likeness of their departed chief and religious ad 
 visor, which figure can be seen to-day. And even now 
 the Jemez like to tell the legends around their hearth- 
 fires of this Jemez brother who was an acting Catholic 
 priest. And furthermore, they confound him with the 
 canonized Saint San Diego and in their Patron Saint 
 feast to that saint on the i2th of November each year, 
 they throw their bread, melons, and other eatables sky 
 ward to be trampled under foot in prayer to their former 
 governor and priest, Don Diego. 
 
 THE END
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 TLJC- I IMIWC-PCJJTV I inn r*it 
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hllgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which It was borrowed. 
 
 ...REC'DLO-UM- 
 QLOCT17
 
 PS 
 
 5555 Reagan- 
 R22d Don Diego. 
 
 A 001 247 548 9
 
 BIT]