The Flute of the Gods Part 19

Jose showed them his wife, who was greeted with joy, and all proceeded to the court of the village, where, at the house of the governor, they were given cooked corn of the feast, then rolls of bread, and stew of deer meat.

Jose told of his days as a slave until he was traded into the land of Padre Vicente, and of the great desire of Padre Vicente to bring him back in some lucky year to his people, and also to see with his own eyes the fine land of the Te-huas. He added also that the padre had been very kind, and that he was near to the white G.o.d of the men of iron, and strong in medicine of the spirit world.

"We already know that the medicine of the men of iron is strong medicine--and that their G.o.ds listen," said the governor.

"Also Tahn-te the Po-Ahtun-ho makes it seen that the mountain G.o.d of this land, and the young G.o.d of the Castilian land, were maybe brothers,"--said Po-tzah watching closely the faces of the strangers.

"Only your G.o.d made talking leaves--and our G.o.d gave us only the sunshine to see things for ourselves."

"Where is this man who tells you that books are made and that false G.o.ds are brothers to the true?" inquired Padre Vicente.

"It is the Po-Ahtun-ho," said Jose before Yahn could speak. "In Castilian he would be called Cacique. The word in Maya for that ruler is the same word as in Te-hua. It is a very old word. It is the head of the highest order of the Spirit Things. It is what you call maybe Pope. There are many priests, and many medicine men in each village.

There is only one Cacique at one time."

"Which of these men may it be?" inquired Padre Vicente. Yahn it was who answered.

"The Cacique of Povi-whah is not seen by every stranger who walks by the river," she said, and smiled scornfully. "He has come out of the mountain from the dance to the greatest of G.o.ds, and after that dance it is not easy to talk to earth people!"

"But--when people come from the far lands of a strange king--"

"That is the business of the governor and of the war capitan," stated Yahn. "He who is named Cacique in this land has not to do with strangers in the valley. His mind is with the Spirit Things. These are the heads of the village of Povi-whah--here also is the governor of Kah-po. They will listen, and learn from your words, and answer you."

"I know words," stated Ka-yemo looking at Don Ruy and the priest. "I can say words--I teach it her,"--and he motioned to Yahn, who had dwarfed them all with quick wit and glib speech. "Woman not need in council. I--captain of war can make talk."

"Is not the damsel enlisted as official interpreter for one of us?"

queried Don Ruy. "I hold it best that the bond be understood lest the beauty be sent beyond reach--and some of our best men squander time on her trail! Since you, good father, have Jose,--I will lay claim to this Cleopatra who calls herself by another name,--a fire brand should be kept within vision. Your pardon, Eminence--and you to the head of the council in all else!"

The padre directed his conversation to Ka-yemo, while the secretary set down the claiming of Yahn as the first official act in council of His Excellency Don Ruy de Sandoval.

At the scratching of the quill, his excellency looked over the shoulder of the lad, and read the words, and smiled with his eyes, while his lips muttered dire threats--even to discharging him from office if the records were kept in a manner detrimental.

"Detrimental to whom, my lord?" asked the lad, who saw well the restrained smile. "Your 'Dona Bradamante' of the scarf is not to set eyes on these serious pages,--and the Don Diego will certainly exact that I keep record of how near our company falls in the wake of the Capitan Coronado's--their troubles began about a wife--thus it is well to keep count of fair favorites--and this one who tells you plainly she is no wife, looks promising. Helena of Trois might have had no more charms to her discredit!"

Don Ruy said no more, for he saw that Yahn was straining her ears to catch at their meaning, and they were all losing the words of council.

It appeared plain that all the chief men were quite willing that the Po-Ahtun-ho should meet the men of iron as was the padre's wish--but that no one could command it.

"Through what power is one man more supreme than others?--Yet you say you have no king!"

"No--no king. The Governor is made so each year by the men in council--only one year--then another man--the Governor gets no corn in trade for his time,--and no other thing, but honor, if he is good!

Tahn-te has talked to us in council of kings,--thus we know what a king does. We have no king."

"But while a man is the governor does he not rule all the people?"

"No--it is not so. He works for the people. He has a right hand man, and a left hand man to talk with of all things. But when it is a big thing of trouble or of need, at that time the council is called, and each man speaks, and in the end each man put a black bean or a white bean in a jar to say for him 'yes' or to say for him 'no.' That is how the law is made in all the villages of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-ge valley.

There is no king!"

"We are of a surety in a new world if rulers work only for honor--and get not any of that unless they are good!" decided Don Ruy. "Make record of that novelty, Chico--our worthy Maestro Diego will find no equal of that rule in all Europe!"

"It is well for civilization that it is so!" decided Juan Gonzalvo.

"Who is to advance the arts and knightly orders except there be Courts of Pontiff and of Royalty?"

"And the royalty would be a weak stomached lot if they gained not even extra corn for all their sceptre waving, and royal nods;--eh? But what of this Po-Ahtun-ho--this man who is not king--yet who is supreme?"

This query was interpreted by Jose, and after talk and deliberation one of the oldest men made answer.

"The Po-Ahtun is an order very ancient. When the earth was yet soft, and the rocks wet, and the first people were taught words by the mocking bird,--in that time of our Ancient Fathers, G.o.ds spoke to men--and in that time the order of Po-Ahtun was made. It was made that men could work together on earth for spirit good. When the Mountain G.o.d, Po-se-yemo, lived as a man on the earth,--he was the chief priest of the Po-Ahtun order. Po-Ahtun means 'The Ruler of Things from the Beginning.' Many men belong to the Po-Ahtun, and learn the prayers, and the songs of the prayers. When the Po-Ahtun-ho walks no more on the earth--and his spirit goes on the twilight trail to Those Above, at that time the brothers of the order name the man who is to be Ruler--and he rules also until he dies.

"Then it seems your Cacique is really a king. You but call him by a different name."

"No--it is not so. Tahn-te has told the men of Povi-whah what a king is. We have no king. A king fights with knife, and with spear, and he, in his own village, punishes the one who does evil, and orders what men work on the water ca.n.a.l for the fields:--and what men make new a broken wall, or what men clean the court which is the property of all.

The king and his men say how all these things then must be done. With the people of Povi-whah the governor does these works and orders them done, and has the man whipped if the work he does is bad work. The chief of war does work as do other men, until the Navahu and the Yutahs have to be driven away;--then it is his work to fight them--he is a warrior, but he does king work in war. These are the men who do king work. But we have no king."

"By our Lady!--'tis a nice distinction," said Don Ruy as the old man ceased, and the men of Te-hua nodded their appreciation of the old man's statement. "Save your quill scratching, Chico--until you are in camp. Their eyes show little favor for the work."

The secretary obediently thrust in his pouch ink horn and quill, and clearly Don Ruy was right, for the bronze faces brightened, and their eyes regarded the young man with approval--the magic of that black water might prove potent and forbidding--never before had it been seen in council.

Padre Vicente had given a cigarro to each man, and while the ancient speaker rested, and Jose interpreted, all smoked the wonderful smoke from the south, and Chico took occasion to say low to Don Ruy:

"Of all this there is little to make record that is new. Tribes of Mexico have such rules of life. The legends of our people say they came ages ago out of the far North. These are maybe but the children of their brothers who the records say stopped on the way to plant corn, or to hunt, or to rest from travel."

"Records?--Where are such records?" asked Don Ruy derisively,--"in the royal archives of some mud hut?"

The eyes of Chico flashed fire for one instant; the amazed Spaniard was scarce certain of the anger in the secretary's face when it changed, and the boy shrugged his shoulders and lit a cigarro.

"It is true, Excellency, that if any Tescucan ma.n.u.scripts are yet entire, it can be only because some pagan Indian his risked death and torture to hide them in mud hut or cave in the hills. The first holy archbishop of Mexico made bonfires of Indian books because the beauty of them showed plainly they were the work of Satan. Without doubt the act earned the bishop an extra jewel for his heavenly crown!"

"Chico! If you pursue such fancies with determination you may end by being a logician and going to h.e.l.l!" remarked Don Ruy. "I fear you lack a true Christian spirit, my son. But the records?"

"Only stone carved ones are still visible in the land of Anhuac,"

returned the boy. "The good padres say that they deal with the studies of the stars and planets, and other such speculation invented by Satanic power. When I wanted to know about them I was told that my soul was in danger of the pit."

"And that frightened you?"

"Very much, Excellency:--hence my running away."

Don Ruy was put to it to know whether or not the boy spoke truth. But his odd freaks of thought had many times the effect of an April sunlight on a day of storm. There was no way of calculating what the next moment would bring--but the unexpected was at least a diversion.

The smoking of the men was half over before Padre Vicente again asked Jose to state that the way of life of the Te-hua people was a thing of interest to the great king whom the Castilians served, and it would please him much to hear more of the Te-hua ruler who was Cacique.

But the old man was silent. He had talked much, he said.

"He thinks--" said Yahn with quick divination,--"that he would like to know of the strangers who are made welcome here:--and why they come far into a country not their own."

"We come because we have heard fair things of these people," was the reply. "Our G.o.d tells us all men are brothers on the earth--we come to find new brothers."

"And if the Navahu come in the night--or the Yutah come many and strong for the corn--whose brother would your G.o.d tell you to be at that time?" asked the governor of Kah-po, a tall shrewd faced old man who had not spoken heretofore. Chico showed his teeth in a quickly suppressed smile.

"Our G.o.d would tell us," said Padre Vicente with slowness and duly impressive speech--"that our brothers must be the men who are friends with us."

"That is good," agreed the man from Kah-po, and the others said also it was good. Brothers who wore iron coats would be good brothers to have in the time of a war.