Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, vol 7 | Page 6

their
intent, it is thwarted by the rapidity of the current. A few among them
have guns, that they discharge with slight effect at the troops, who
stand wondering on the shore. The soldiers forbear to fire, and watch,
with something like dread, the descent of the raft as it passes into the
current, and, with many a turn and pitch, whirls on faster and faster.
The death-song rises triumphant above the lash of the waves and that
distant but awful booming that is to be heard in the canon. Every red
man has his face turned toward the foe with a look of defiance, and the
tones of the death-chant have in them something of mockery no less
than hate and vaunting.
The raft is now between the jaws of rock that yawn so hungrily.
Beyond and below are vast walls, shelving toward the floor of the gulf
a thousand feet beneath--their brilliant colors shining in the sun of
morning that sheds as peaceful a light on wood and hill as if there were
no such thing as brother hunting brother in this free land of ours. The
raft is galloping through the foam like a racehorse, and, hardened as the
soldiers are, they cannot repress a shudder as they see the fate that the
savages have chosen for themselves. Now the brink is reached. The raft
tips toward the gulf, and with a cry of triumph the red men are launched
over the cataract, into the bellowing chasm, where the mists weep
forever on the rocks and mosses.

THE BROAD HOUSE
Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently
coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good preservation
and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling god, came
on earth he strayed into this canon, and, finding the Moquis a
prosperous people, he envied them and resolved to win their property.
To do that he laid off a race-track at the bottom of the ravine and
challenged them to meet him there in games of chance and strength and
skill. They accepted his challenge, and, as he could turn luck to his own
side, he soon won not their property alone, but their women and
children, and, finally, some of the men themselves.
In his greed he had acquired more than he wanted, and as the captives
were a burden to him he offered to make a partial restoration if the
people would build this house for him. They did so and he gave up
some of the men and women. The other gods looked with disapproval
on this performance, however, and they agreed to give the wind god
power to defeat him, for, now that he had secured his house, he had
gone to gambling again. The wind god, in disguise as a Moqui, issued a
challenge, and the animals agreed to help him.
When the contest in tree-pulling took place the wind god pulled up a
large tree while Noqoilpi was unable to stir a smaller one. That was
because the beavers had cut the roots of the larger. In the ball contest
Noqoilpi drove the ball nearly to the bounds, but the wind god sent his
far beyond, for wrapped loosely in it was a bird that freed itself before
touching the ground and flew away. In brief, Noqoilpi was beaten at
every point and the remaining captives left him, with jeers, and
returned to their people.
The gambler cursed and raged until the wind god seized him, fitted him
to a bow, like an arrow, and shot him into the sky. He flew far out of
sight, and presently came to the long row of stone houses where the
man lives who carries the moon. He pitied the gambler and made new
animals and people for him and let him down to the earth in old Mexico,
the moon people becoming Mexicans. He returned to his old haunts and
came northward, building towns along the Rio Grande until he had
passed the site of Santa Fe, when his people urged him to go back, and
after his return they made him their god--Nakai Cigini.

THE DEATH WALTZ
Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post
at Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where
any of the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies
at the post was a certain gay young woman, the sister-in-law of a
captain, who enjoyed the variety and spice of adventure to be found
there, and enjoyed, too, the homage that the young officers paid to her,
for women who could be loved or liked were not many in that wild
country. A young lieutenant proved especially susceptible to