The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1888-11-30
A PUEBLO FEAST.
A CRUEL ABORIGINAL PICNIC
IN NEW NENICO.



nave so many feasts that there is hardly
any season OF the year when one need
wait long TO enjoy an aboriginal picnic.
And such a day in Pueblo town is not
soon TO be forgotten. Its exact dupli-
Fate will not lie found elsewhere in The
world, nor ANYTHING approaching it else
where in the nited states. :. IS the
most picturesque affair ia America.
We have Just finished celebrating .he
+ feast OF san Juan in Aeonia, says cor
respondent OF the San Francisco Car0ai-
H. When first the gray sky in the
east turned TO opal on Sunday morning
[ all AcOma vas awake. At eight o'clock
the streets were alive. Strong faced,
athletic meu, modest and comely women.
erect as queens aud with breadth and
depth of chest simply superb, were At
every corner.
\ little after noon the leisurely crowd
began to drift slowly over to the north
street. the narrowest but smoothest of
all Where a cross street comes in,
half hundred of the leading old men Of
the pueblo squatted upon the rocks,
while around hung clusters Of children.
The surrounding housetops were per
feet kaleidoscope of gorgeous color and
cleaning silver. The solemn faced
aqua il, with CAV. green drum OF
rawhide slung at his side, glanced
around him in q self-suflicient way. and
began TO belabor the protesting instru-
ment with two aldermanic dIumsticks.
Directly group of boys Of six to fifteen
years coated themselves with a film of
white clay from big unaja- Then the
smaller youngsters repaired to the upper
end Of the street and stood there in a
huddle.
The drummer gave a vicious thump
upon his drum head. and called out u
iisiOinted order. Two BOYS sprang from
the ground and came flying down the
street, 1.-the and agile as young antelopes.
The smaller was bent on winning. His
long black HAIR fioated out behind; his
dark eyes shone like stars, and his club
by legs fairly twinkled along the gray
rocky floor. The large boy ran TO win,
too, but he was more iniirm Of purpose.
The housetop crowds caught his eyes,
and the encouraging shouts OF the men
tickied him. lie led easily to within
til rty yard, Of the winning pest, and
thei., In a beautiful squirt, the little fel-
low fairly sailed to the fore and won by
a yard, amid loud applause.
Before the brealhless boy could sink
upon a little bed of soft, white sand, the
drummer had yelled again, and another
pair OF biped meteors came flashing down
the track. And so it went till each
couple of fifty boys had run the 800 yard
course twice.
Meanwhile two very important look
ing fellows with the soberest faces in the
world had brought forth two slender,
strong poles of about eighteen feet in
length and tied to each, near the top,
the end Of atwenty-foot horsehair lariat.
One of them then produced loudly OBJ
iecting rooster, tied his feet togei her
with a bucksSin thong and fastened the
thong TO loop in the middle Of the pen
dant lariat
The two standard bearers then grasped
each his pole and drew it toward hum till
the intervening lariat was taut. The IN
fortunate rooster then dangled headlong
at a height Of about ten feet from the
ground. The previous racers now fell
into line little way down the St Get,
of grown up boys and men dropped in
behind in the 0. der OF their altitude.
housing his drum from its sleepy
grunting to hoarse rattle the alg a il
shouted The signal for the sport TO be
gin. In mechanical unanimity the long
Droesss; oa-tbere were IN il iUy persons
fangln9 IN neignI from SIX ieet two
inches IN the rear q two feet six inches
in front with that peculiar hop-stamp,
hop-stamp so familiar to all who have
seen any sort of an aboriginal dance,
moved forward with deliberate precis on,
passing between the poles and under the
chic en- in single tile. Zach runner had !
a little branch Of chaparO, and as he |
passed under the Tapping chanticleer he |
would leap high in he air, with clear
treble .eeyoopw with a simultaneous |
wild swipe with his stick at the rooster,
VIII CHI by able ducking eyaded most of
these offers.
Still in line, the runners now rested a
moment. The pole holders stepped each
a step inward, so that the rooster hung
several feet neas er the ground. Again
the drummer sigualed, and again the
began. suddenly tall, nicely
butt fellow made a superhuman lunge
into the air and caught the rooster by the
neck before the guards could swing it
lloit. With single powerful thrust of
bis arm he broke the buckskin thong,
and with a wild yell broke from the
line aud was oil like deer swinging
he astounded bird triumphantly above
ais head
The whole pack was at his heels in an
instant, aud, am the excited shrieks
If the spe tators, the chase swept down
he street and around the corner Of the
houses. Ouud and round the house
hey ran, the pursued doubling and turn
NJ like jackrabbit to elude the wild
graus Of his pursuers. When at Ia the
pace began to tell even on
lis deep lungs, he whirled and brought
he chicken down with a resounding
hump upon the bare shoulders of the
oremost Of the field.
The youth thus challenged seized the
IoPhy and flew ahead with it, the crowd |
GLOWING him as before. For nearly half
n hour tins remarkable running con-
inued, all At i've minute gait or les,
he rooster changing hands five times
leanwhile.
Then the runners came to a dead stop
a the wide spot in front of the open
lace, and the one who held the rooster,
lrning to the nearest Of his companions, ;
egan to assault him with the rooster
nth great vehemence The young man
hus belabored grappIed with his assail-
nd hard struggle ensued, the attacked
arty finally getting hold Of one leg of
he now thoroughly demoralized chicken.
violent braring apart, a sharp schuriie,
nd the chicken was torn in two. Loud
'ere the cries Of ''Putz- putt eesh, ~
5 the two now rushed upon two others {
nd began walloping them with the sun {
cred side Of the chicken. q
Time after time the bleeding flesh was
,rcibly subdivided by the excited CON
.-tants, and with each new piece the 1
lumber of fighters was aupueuted Same I