The Flute of the Gods Part 20

"It is as Tahn-te told us of the priests of the white G.o.d--they are wise in their thoughts," said the old man who had insisted there was no king in Povi-whah, or any Te-hua village--"all Tahn-te has told us were true words."

"He told us also," said the man from Kah-po--"that the men of iron were not friends to trust."

"They were other men of iron, not these. These men Tahn-te has not yet seen."

The Padre gave no hint that he knew enough of Te-hua words to catch the meaning of their discourse. So long as might be, he would keep that secret,--much might depend upon it.

The name Tahn-te met him at every turn--this was the mysterious Ruler--the hidden Cacique or Po-Ahtun-ho--the one chief who gave them no greeting.

"Ask for me what the name means--the name Tahn-te," he said.

Jose pointed to a ray of sunlight streaming through the shelter of the vine trellis.

"It means that."

"And for what cause is a man called Light of the Sun?"

Jose did not know, but when asked, the ancient man spoke.

"For many reasons, Those Above put the thought of the Sun in the heart of the mother of Tahn-te. Sunlight he was to Povi-whah--you shall see!"

A little boy was carrying on his head a flat basket or tray of reeds, and on it were rolls of bread, and small melons for the feast; at a few words he set down the tray, and darted around a corner--it was a day big in history for him. He was doing the work of his sister who had been sent to the hills--but for this day the work of a girl was great work--it took him so close to the men of iron that his hand could have touched one of them--if his courage had not failed!

He came back with a jar of shining black pottery, and placed it beside the old man, who thrust his hand within and drew out a handful of peaches, dried in the summer sun of a year before.

"This fruit is gathered with prayer each year from the first tree planted by the Summer People in this land," he said. "To Tahn-te was given by the G.o.ds, the trees, and the seeds of the trees. Since the time when Po-se-yemo walked on earth, and brought seeds, no new seeds have been born from blossoms here in the land of Te-hua people. When the G.o.ds send a man, they also send a Sign. The sign of Tahn-te was the Flute of the G.o.ds, the trees of this fruit, and another fruit;--also a grain of which food is made. It is a good grain. For all of this we make prayers each year when the fruit is gathered, and when the grain is planted, and for all of this we see why the name of the Sun has been given to Tahn-te. The old men of the Hopi desert say he was born of the falling rain and the light of the moon. We do not know, but his mother knew, and she is wise--and she named him as a child of the Sky would be named."

The Castilians listened with little enough belief in the G.o.d-given Cacique. The peaches and the grain had, without doubt, been brought by Coronado. Juan Gonzalvo said as much, and Yahn told it eagerly to the council, but the old men shook their heads.

The trees were a year old from the seed when Tahn-te carried them on his back from the heart of the desert, and Capitan Coronado had not yet seen the villages of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-ge, called by him the Rio Grande.

"Then:--" said Padre Vicente--"it is because he found new seeds that he is above the cares of the daily life? I can bring many strange seeds from the gardens of Europe or Africa. For that would I be a son of the moon and the stars?"

"May be so,--" said the old man,--"and maybe so the G.o.ds would not need a son on that day." He inhaled the fragrant smoke and went on to make clear to these people of outlands some little gleam of the mysteries circling holy things,--"You must be born in a good year--and a good time in that year--the trail of the visitors of the sky must be climbing up--up!"

"The trail of the visitors in the sky?" The Padre looked with quickness into the bronze faces.

"He means the planets--the wandering stars," said Chico. "The Mexican tribes also watch them when a child is born. A G.o.d lives in each one--so they think!"

"Necromantic fancies devised by the Evil one!" stated the priest and crossed himself to ostracise such powers of the demon from the circle.

The rest devoutedly imitated him, and the Te-hua men watched with interest the men of iron making their "medicine" against the celestial bodies on the descending trail.--That slight automatic gesture in unison proved even a sort of bond between them and the dusky old orator;--he could plainly see that the signs in the heavens were earnestly regarded by the white strangers. That showed they were wise to read the true things; for that he could tell them more.

"The maid who was mother to Tahn-te is named The Woman of the Twilight. When little, the spirit of her broke in two--and she went into the Land of Twilight. Her parents could not believe that she would no more walk on the earth. They went to the Po-Ahtun--they sealed her to that order--so it was, and the medicine prayer of the Po-Ahtun brought back the breath to her. But when a spirit goes to the Land of the Twilight, it does not come back at once--not all at once!

The G.o.ds are strong and can do things. When they want to take her again and teach her hidden things--they take her! One Star visitor in the sky took her when she became woman, and hid her behind all the hills until her child moved,--then, in the far desert where the Sun Father is the great G.o.d, there in that place she was laid on the sands beside a well that the child be earth child like other men. That is how it was, and she knows why the earth child was called the child of the Great Star, and of the Sky."

Yahn listened eagerly--and with sulky frown--Neither she or Ka-yemo had ever before heard this account of the Woman of the Twilight and her son. The magic of it made her feel sullenly helpless. This then was the reason why no face smiled in scorn when Tahn-te would come sometimes from mesa, or canon, bearing his mother in his arms as one would bear a little child:--all the elders knew she had been seeking the trail to the Land of Twilight where long ago she had found a G.o.d, and lost herself.

"And this woman tells to wise men a fable like this--and is given their faith?" asked Padre Vicente, while Juan Gonzalvo muttered that the savages had stolen the truth of the Mother of G.o.d, and should be made pay dear in good time, for the sacrilege!

"The mouth of the woman was sealed," stated the narrator. "But the wise men of the desert sent men to tell the Te-hua people of the magic of the woman. And the years and the work of her son made good the stories of the Hopi men."

"We have here no mere juggling pretender," remarked Padre Vicente--"a Cacique whose mother establishes family connection with the stars in the sky, could in truth have papal power among these heathen! With all their wise looks, and careful speech, these old men are not the influence we have to win for progress in this land:--this man who would place the false G.o.ds above the true G.o.d is the man to be won."

"Or to be conquered!" said Juan Gonzalvo whose wonder was that the priest had patience with their maudlin tales of village officers, or brats born of magic and the moon,--"If I might speak--Eminence?"

"Speak--my son."

"These people have sent their women away, and have told your reverence only of their own things of pride. Of their real king they give us no sight. In the New Spain of the South these under-men would be given few presents of value, and not so much of your gracious time."

He spoke rapidly with a wary eye on the interpreters,--only Jose could follow the swifter speech.

"Capitan Gonzalvo gives the word of a soldier, Padre," remarked Don Ruy, "and it may be a true word. Why not give the gifts, and let us see somewhat of the feast from which we have won these dignitaries?"

Padre Vicente was agreed, and spoke a few words to Jose who departed with his wife for the camp. The priest gave tobacco, and while the old men smoked the new medicine, he talked to Ka-yemo of the one religion, and the one G.o.d, and that the great new G.o.d gave the command to his priests to go into the far lands and carry the light of the faith to his children who live in darkness.

Ka-yemo interpreted, and the old men nodded their heads as if to say that was all good--but it was not told for the first time, and Don Ruy could have sworn he saw the governor of Kah-po smile at another man--as one who would question whether they should be considered as children. Don Ruy did not know that one man of Kah-po had been among the two hundred human torches making the night bright at Tiguex by order of advocates of that same new and holy G.o.d.

The summers and winters since that time had not made it all forgotten in the land of the great river. To the Indian mind in general, it was plain to be seen that the strong G.o.d of the men of iron required that many victims be made sacrifice at one time. The G.o.ds of the Te-hua people asked but one sacrifice at one time, and the knife of flint was very sharp, and found quickly the heart, and the spirit self was sent quickly and with prayers over the trail of the dusk to the Light beyond the light.

Ka-yemo alone seemed enchained by the words of the priest, as he heard again the words and phrases belonging to that time of which he still dreamed in the night, and awoke startled and alert.

Yahn watched him with a little frown. She did not know that the strongest power ever impressed on his boyish mind, had been the power of the white conquerors. He had through the years grown away from its influence, but at sight of the robe, and the cord, and the shiny black beads, it all came back. He felt the honor of the fact that the priest of that strong G.o.d was looking at, and talking only to him:--Ka-yemo!

His pride made his eyes kindle and he was very handsome. Don Ruy wondered why Yahn, his own official interpreter, looked at him sideways with disapproval.

Jose returned with his hands full of the gifts for which he had been sent. There was one for each of the men in the group, and the people of the village pressed close around the door to see them given away.

Then Padre Vicente stood up and offered to the governor of Povi-whah a rosary like his own, but of brown beads.

"They tell me that to you requests are made as prayers are made, and that from you they are given again to the Cacique for decision. We present our request and our gift. Tell him the gift is one kings have been graciously pleased to wear, and that our request is that he meet us at an early hour, that we may speak in kindness of many things."

"Tahn-te--you call Cacique--is not yet speaking with people out of his order," said Phen-tza, the governor. "But this can go, and the message can go, and on another day Tahn-te may ask you to go in his door."

Then there were clasping of hands, and friendly smiles and the visitors were free to go or wander about the village, and watch the greetings of Jose and the comrades of his boyhood. His wife Ysobel was caressed and admired by the ancient women of the tribe, and a garland of flowers placed on her head. At sun rise in the morning she was to present herself at the door of her new relatives for the baptism of adoption, and then she would be given also a Te-hua name.

Padre Vicente and the Castilians were offered an empty abode outside the wall. Despite the scowls of the Ka-yemo Yahn delighted to linger close as might be to Juan Gonzalvo while they all walked to inspect it. Then the Castilian camp with its wondrous animals was to be visited by the governor and other Te-hua men, and great good feeling prevailed. The wise ecclesiastical head of the cavalcade had asked nothing but gracious thoughts, and the gifts he brought had been good gifts.

Don Ruy with the secretary, let who might judge of the new camp, while he wandered in some surprise past the door ways decked with feast day garlands--and above certain ones were pendent bits of turquoise as if for ceremonial marking of some order or some clan, and instead of the blanket or arras there were long reeds strung, and at the end of each string a beaten twist of copper twinkling like bells when stirred by any one entering or leaving the dwelling.

The dwelling of the dove cotes had a tiny inside verandah, and one of the curious robes woven of twisted rabbit skins was laid over a beam.

Great meal jars stood along the wall, and beside them were four melons, four full grained heads of the bearded wheat, also four peaches and four pears. They were arranged on a great tray of woven reeds, and placed without the doorway to the right. The careful arrangement gave all significance of an offering of the first fruits on an alter. All the other homes had feasting and laughter and the sound of gaity and much life; at every other door many smiling faces of old women and children met them, and the rolls of feast bread were offered, or bowls of cooked corn. But here all was silence, only the doves fluttering above gave life to the place. The reeds at the entrance hung straight and still. This entrance faced the south, but there was another towards the east and the river. The mysterious island of stone called the Mesa of the Hearts, loomed dark across the water and a beaten path led from that east door to the water's edge.

Don Ruy could see from the bank that a canoe was there made from a log hollowed by careful burnings.

The silent corner where the doves fluttered, held his attention and he returned to it. Chico it was who stepped close to the rabbit skin robe, and saw beside the melons, the ears of wheat, and the yet green, unripe fruit of the pears and the peaches.

The dried peaches in the jar shown them by the old Te-hua man had not given either of them a second thought, but the two fruits grown from trees, and the bearded wheat of the Mediterranean arranged in the basket with the care given a sacred offering, was a different matter.

Don Ruy noted the staring eyes and parted lips of the boy, and silently stepped nearer at a gesture.