The herald., 1895-09-08
THE MOQUI SENTENCE TO DEATH

dark eyes across the valley to the snow
capped peaks of the San Francisco range,
which rose like clouds and rested III tne
blue. Then her gaze was very wist1ul;
but when she saw l had follOWeu Her
| glance toward the mountains sho would
i, quickly drop her eyes and resume her
work.
"A dozen times day I wanted to
make love to her, but | knew little OF the
Moqui language and spoke That padly.
II could only sit fascinated, watching
her at work, until | would be seized with
desire to touch her, but never knew
now to BEGIN | knew none of their love
words, so could only try to look my
longing-women are so shy until art
teaches them ia hide their feelings. With
a boidsr woman of my own skin l could
have solved the situation in short order.
had watched See-cho-mah for several
days, when one afternoon she stopped
her weaving and began grinding corn on
| her metate. Suddenly she ceased grind
| Ing, TOOK a quick breath and with lowered
eyes caught up a handful OF flour and
| dashed it in my face. [ did not then
know what that meant. but the act
seemed playful-almost affectionate-so |
| caught and kissed her.
| 'That night they held a bale at the
estufa. Such dance you never saw. The
women and all the tribe were admitted;
| the men came masked and clad in skins.
| Some wore hIdeous goggles cut from
| gourds, others masqueraded as antelopes.
| elks and bears. walking on all fours and
| initiating their gaits. The musicians
| sat in the angles of the room, dimly
tom-toms, sawed gouId t0dles and played
on flutes whose ends. immersed in water
held IN the alias. bubble strange sounds
in initial on OF beasts and birds.
in the the half-lighted room this wild
menagerie paraded for some minutes to
| fhn tr1 fau or Hrna
were lighted, bark wicks were inserted
into earthen Jars filled with fat illuml-
mated and filled with shadows the OPP
pressive room, and the dance began.
Women and children chanted to the
monotonous beat of :the tom-toms and
| the movement of uancing feet. Placed
before the musicians in the angles of the
room were jars filled with fiery tiswin,
| fermented from corn. SquawS with bags
of goat skins replen,shed the jars with
| liquor and masqueradeis passing then
| immersed their muZZles in them. as ami
mails do when drinking from brook. AS
), the tiswin took hold of the dancers the
pace of the dance increased and men
| wearing horns locked themselves in COM
bat, stimulating the fights of the forest.
| Toward midnight the stupor of drink
held some in sleep, but the movements
| of others were made only more furious.
! Those who succu m bed to intoxication
were dragged from the middle of the room
| and piled against the sheep robes beyond
| the dancers circles. When a man was
| vanquisheI in horned duel his squaw
! was taken from HIM and led to seat by
| the victor. Many wore head dresses of
tassels and girdles strung from ears OF
| corn and the dried grains were ratified in
| ollas rand in gourds. The object OF this
corn dance was to invoke ram, which for
months had not fallen, though this was
spring time. Toward morning, wearied
~ no aIr xad To 10 ma
| exit. / glanced toward See-cho- mah and
| my look was strong enough to lead her;
/ she followed me through the smoke, up
the ladder and out into the plaza.
| Together we walked around the in
closure, against whose eastern wall the
| descending moon sent flood of light. On
the face of the building above us See-cho-
nah pointed to some paintings and tried
| to translate them. They we're OF ami
mails and plants done in colors, but prs
scented without cndars or 'et sha9
these hieroglyphic groupings commemor-
| ated the defeat of the Apaches when they
stormsd the bluffs of Oraibe. Then to-
| gether we elm bed to the topmost terrace,
| and saw the full moon smile behind the
| rim rock OF the Mogolops. e
| Three days. Spassed and in spite OF the
| fiesta no rain bad fallen and the corn lay
| parching on the ground. The people of the
| village spent that evening on the terrace
| for the estufa was closed to the pubic
and the old man of the tribe met the gov
ernor, Hualpee, there in coupcil.
| when the moon rose l sought See
| cho-mah but did not find her. | search
| ed through all the terraces, walking many
| times around the plaza she was not among
| the women of the tribe. Then | went
down the steep trail which led to the
springs under the bluff. She was not at
theEsprings. so | returned by the other
trail which led upward to the opposite
side of the plaza. As | gained the sum-
nit glanced over the sfat mud roof of
the estufa and saw solitary female fig
ure lying near the hatchway. 1t was See
cho- nah and she motioned me to silence.
For twenty minutes | stood, watching
her in the moolight. Then she rose
quickly and coming to me said in the
hurried language OF their signs that |
was to die. Their medicine men had told
thescouncl that strange devil was hid
would not come so long as he Ioamed
free. See-cho-mah knew where. they
would find thu devil Together we de.
scended the cobble trail that led past the
sheep folds into the valley. where my
horse was grazing with a band of broncos
and coulu not catch him. Her pinto
pony was grazing with the band. She
called out to her and cut my saddle horse
out of the herd. sr
"Then she cut strips from her blanket,
which fashioned into a briGle. She babe
me make haste, and l beUokned her to
follow for moment she faitered, then
refused to come, saying they would miss
me sooner if she went along, chat must
fly: -. T., .,o ooo,,,,o u
headed for the rim rock that lay a long
days journey westward beyond the val
ley. All night travelled and until even
ing the next day. camping on the crest of
the rim rock with the pine forest that
Fort Verde, spread out 1000 feet below.
| had come without food, and was too
weak to make the descent that day, SO
| lay down to sleep.
81 awakened a Moqui captive. They
bound me hand and foot. The jury had
already tried my case at the estufa, and
now my captors proceeded to execute its
sentence. They selected two scrubby
juniper bushes that grew some ten feet
apart en- this rocky cliff and laid me on
the ground between them. Then they
dashed rawhide riatas to my wrists and
ankles, making the free ends fast to the
juniper bushes SO that l was extended
between them, for the ropes were drawn
so taut that 1 could scarcely roll over on
the ground where l lay. Next they
brought rattlesnakc, long as carbine.
and secured him by the Moose of long
rawhide thong passed over his tail. Then
they drove picket some yards from
where | lay and tied the thong to it, so
that the snake could move about in a Cir
Gle, and left us.
Where l lay ! could watch the move
ments of the snake. At first the rattler
seemed frightened and crawled from me
TAI, tho 1pnuth NJ bia lorlat When no faIt