Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Part 18

And the war-party went by near where Tawtsitka (Sacaton) now is, around the mountain Chirt-kih, and west of the Sah-kote-kih, (Superst.i.tion) mountains, and there they found tracks of the Apaches, and paused, and the boy, Pahtahnk.u.m, told them to wait there while he went forward and found where the Apaches were.

And Toehahvs said: "I will go with you, so we can help each other and be company, and you will feel that you have some strength, and I will feel the same."

So Pahtahnk.u.m and Toehahvs went out on their scout, and went up an arroyo, or washout valley, In the mountains, and in making a turn came suddenly upon some Apache children playing in the sand, and the children saw them and ran up the valley to where the Apache houses were. And the two scouts stood and looked at each other and said: "What shall we do now! for if we go back the people will blame us for letting the Apaches see us first."

And Pahtahnk.u.m said: "You go back and step in my tracks, and I will turn into a crow and fly up on this rock." And this was done, and when the Apaches came they could see only the coyote tracks, and they said: "There are no human tracks here. It must have been a coyote the children saw," and they went back home. And then Pahtahnk.u.m flew to where Toehahvs was, and came down and took his human shape again.

And the band had been anxious about them, because they were gone so long, and had followed their tracks, and now came near, and when Pahtahnk.u.m saw them, instead of going back to them, he and Toehahvs turned and ran toward the Apaches, and all the band rushed after them, and they took the Apache village by surprise, and conquered and killed all the men, and then killed all the women, and scalped them all.

And because Pahtahnk.u.m had been so brave, and had killed many, the people brought all the scalps to him, and all the baskets, and bows and arrows, and other things they had taken, and laid them around him; and then they all stood around him in circles, the oldest in the middle next to the boy, and the others, in the order of their age, in circles outside. [7] And then Pahtahnk.u.m began to yell, he was so rejoiced, and he threw the scalps of the Apaches up into the air, and then, after them, the other things, the bows and arrows, and all things captured, because he wanted to make a cloud; for when an Apache is killed it will rain.

And while this was happening, his mother was rejoicing at home, knowing all that was happening to her boy.

So the people took everything the Apaches had, and a good many children as captives, and they returned by the same road, and before they got home they sent a messenger ahead.

And when they got home they presented all the property taken, and all the weapons and all the captives to the mother of Pahtahnk.u.m.

Now when the neighbors of those Apaches heard of this they formed a big war-party, and followed Pahtahnk.u.m's trail, but when they came to the place called Taht-a-mumee-lay-kote they stopped, because they did not know where to find water, and so they turned back, tho from there they could see the mountains where Pahtahnk.u.m lived.

And after Pahtahnk.u.m had gone thru the prescribed purifications, and the war-dances and rejoicing proper to the occasion, he again formed a war-party, and again took the trail after the Apaches, only this time he went to the other end of the Superst.i.tion Mts. And there they saw the lights at night on a peak, where the Apaches lived, and went up there and killed them, except the children, whom they took for captives.

And then they went down into an open place in the desert, and there placing Pahtahnk.u.m and Toehahvs in the center, they again formed the circles, with the older ones nearest the middle, and again brought all their trophies to Pahtahnk.u.m and Toehahvs, who threw them up with rejoicing, as before.

And again the Apaches formed a war-party, and pursued them; and again they, when they came to the low mountains south west of where Tawtsitka now is, were frightened, as they looked over the desert, and said: "This country is unknown to us, and we do not want to die of thirst,"

and again they abandoned the pursuit, and returned home. And because the place where they made fires was found, these mountains are called Aw-up Chert-taw to this day.

And again everything was given to Koelhahah, as before.

And once more, after the purification, Pahtahnk.u.m formed a war-party; and this time they went to the east, and there again found Apaches at the place called Oy-yee-duck, or The Field, because there the Apaches had cultivated fields, and here they fought the Apaches, and defeated them; but they had hard work to kill one Apache, who was very brave, and who kept his wife before him and his child behind him, and as the Papagoes did not want to kill these they could not get at the man. But finally Pahtahnk.u.m killed a man near him, and some one else killed the woman, and then Pahtahnk.u.m killed this man and took the little boy captive.

And again they went out to an open place, and formed the circles, and rejoiced as before.

And a party of Apaches pursued them again and again were discouraged, and turned back at the red bluff to the eastward, where they dug a well, which place is still called Taw-toe-sum Vah-vee-uh, or the Apache's Well.

And again, in due time, a war-party was formed, and this time it went far east, and there was found a single hunter of the Apaches, and this man they killed and cut up and mutilated as had been done with Pahtahnk.u.m's father, putting his flesh out as if to jerk it. And they went south-east from there and again found a single hunter; and him they scalped and placed his scalp like a hat on a giant-cactus, for which reason the place is still called Waw-num, which means a hat.

And Pahtahnk.u.m walked behind, for he was very sad, thinking of his father.

And then Pahtahnk.u.m returned home, having revenged his father, and this was the last of his wars.

And once more the Apaches followed him, but stopped at a place near the Superst.i.tion Mts. where, as there had been rain and the ground was wet, they stopped to clean a field, See-qua-usk, or the Clearing, but they gave it up and returned, not even planting the crop.

And his mother made a large olla, and a small flat piece of pottery, like the plates tortillas are baked on. And she put all the Apache hair in the olla, and placed the flat plate on top to cover it with greasewood gum to seal it up tight. And then she went and found a cave, and by her power called a wind and a cloud that circled it round.

And then she returned to her people, and, placing the olla on her head, led them to the cave, and said. "I will leave this olla here, and then when I have need of wind, or of rain, I can form them by throwing these up, and so I shall be independent."

And after this Pahtahnk.u.m was taken ill, and the people said it was because he had not properly purified himself.

And he went to the tall mountain east of Tucson, and from there to other mountains, seeking the cool air, but he got no better, and at last he came to the Maricopa Mts., and died there, and his grave is there yet.

And his mother died at her home.

THE SONG OF KOELHAHAH ABOUT HER SON

My poor child, there will be great things happen you!

And there will be great news all over the world because of my boy.

The news will go in all directions.

NOTES ON THE STORY OF PAHTAHNk.u.m

In this, in the smoking at the war-council, appears a curious superst.i.tion concerning the effect of a man's smoking upon his unborn child.

Another superst.i.tion appears in the idea that the killing of an Apache and throwing up of his accoutrements or scalp would cause rain.

I have a boy's bow and arrows just like those described in this story, bought of a Pima child.

War arrows were a yard long, with three feathers instead of two, and tipped with flint or, later, with iron. But even a wooden arrow would kill a deer.

Bows were made from Osage orange, cat-claw, or o-a-pot; or, better still, from a tree called gaw-hee. Arrows from arrow-weeds. The Apache arrows were made of cane.

The Pimas were formerly famous for archery, and the shooting of bird on the wing, and of jack rabbits at full run while the archer was pursuing on horseback, were favorite feats.

The Apache well: I am told the old Arizona Indian wells were not walled up, and the sides were at such a slant that the women could walk down to the water and back with their ollas on their heads.

Wells are now obtained without great difficulty, but the water is salty and often alkaline and none too cool.

STORIES OF THE FOURTH NIGHT

THE STORY OF THE GAMBLER'S WAR

And after this, for a long time, there was peace toward the Apaches, but it happened, once, that two brothers of the country went to gamble with the Awup, playing the game called waw-pah-tee in which the gamblers guess in which piece of cane a little ball is hidden.

And one of the brothers, after losing all his goods, bet his brother and lost him, and then bet the different parts of his own body, leaving his heart to the last, and finally wagered his heart against all his previous bets, saying it was worth more than they, and hoping so to recover all, but he lost that also.