History of California | Page 9

replied his brother,
impatiently.
"What if Chinigchinich should be angry with us? He does not like to
have children in the ceremony of the offering," said Payuchi.
"I will give him my humming-bird skin, and you shall give him your
mountain quail head; then he will be pleased with us," answered Nopal.
"All right," said the boy; "I do not like very well to part with that quail
head, but perhaps it is a good thing to do."
Creeping softly from the jacal, the boys crouched in the shade of a
willow bush and watched the men by the camp fire.
"They are standing up. They are just going," said Payuchi, "and every
one has something in his hand. Father has two bows; I wonder why."
"I think he is going to make an offering of the new bow to

Chinigchinich," answered Nopal. "I thought he was going to keep it and
give me his old one," he added, with some disappointment.
"What are they offering for?" asked the young brother.
"For rain," said Nopal. "See, they are going now." In single file the men
walked swiftly away, stepping so softly that not a twig cracked.
After a little the boys followed, slipping from bush to bush that they
might not be discovered. They had walked about a mile, when they
came to thicker woods with bigger trees and saw a light ahead of them.
Nopal laid his hand on his brother to stop him. Peeping through a
scrub-oak bush, they looked down into a little glade arched over with
great live oaks. In the middle of the opening they saw, by the light of a
low fire, a small cone-shaped hut. Beside it stood a gigantic figure
painted and adorned with shells, feathers, rattlesnake skins, and
necklaces of bone.
"Come back," whispered Payuchi, his teeth chattering with fear. "It is
Chinigchinich himself; he will see us, and we shall die."
"No," answered Nopal, "it is only Nihie, the medicine man. He looks so
tall because of his headdress. It is made of framework of dried tules
covered with feathers and fish bladders. I saw it one day in his jacal,
and it is as tall as I am. That jacal beside him is the vanquech [temple],
and I think there is something awful there. You see if there isn't. Hush,
now! Squat down. Here they come."
In a procession the men came into the opening, and, stalking solemnly
by, each cast down at the door of the temple an offering of some object
which he prized. Cuchuma gave a bone knife which he greatly valued,
and a handsome new bow. Sholoc gave a speckled green stone olla
from Santa Catalina and a small string of money; but these were chiefs'
offerings. The other gifts were simpler--shells, acorn meal, baskets,
birds' skins, but always something for which the owner cared.
At last the medicine man, satisfied with the things offered which
became his own when the ceremony was over, stooped and drew forth

the sacred emblem from the temple. It was not even an idol, only a
fetich composed of a sack made from the skin of a coyote, the head
carefully preserved and stuffed, while the body was dressed smooth of
hair and adorned with hanging shells and tufts of birds' feathers. A
bundle of arrows protruded from the open mouth, giving it a fierce
appearance. While Nihie held it up, the men circled round once again,
this time more rapidly, and as they passed the medicine man, each gave
a spring into the air, shooting an arrow upward with all his force. When
the last man had disappeared under the trees, Nihie replaced the skin in
the temple, put out the fire, and, singing a kind of chant, he led the men
back to their jacals. The boys stood up. Payuchi shivered and drew a
long breath.
"We must get away now; Nihie will be back soon to get the offerings,"
said Nopal.
"But first we must offer our gifts, or Chinigchinich will be angry," said
Payuchi.
"Come on, then," said the brother; so, stealing softly down the hillside,
the boys cast their offerings on the pile in front of the hut and ran away,
taking a roundabout path home, that they might not meet the medicine
man returning.
"We must hurry to get in the jacal before father," said Nopal, suddenly.
"I didn't think of that. Run, Payuchi, run faster." But they were in time
after all, and were stretched out on their mats some minutes before their
father and Sholoc came in.
Macana's first duty in the morning was to attend to the baby, whose
wide-open black eyes gave the only sign that it was awake. She
unfastened it from the basket and unwrapped it, rubbing the little