The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-09-24
LOST TO RERALlLLO.


day the Navajo rode up the valley toward
San Il6efonso He was chatting with
the monks in the garden Of the old Salt
pointe house on the road TO TusuGue. and
the child, astray in the low walled gar
den, was watching the goldfish in 8 pond
| Then came the Nayajos struggling along
the dusky road that lies along the upper
valley of the Pecos. There were hun
bred Of them in gaudy blankets and
feathers, with herds of ponies and laden
| 5urros, wagons filed with farm imple-
ments and grain-a sort OF triumphal pro-
| eession of the aborigine who has come 10
prefer the peaceful art Of seven-up TO
the bloody game Of knife and rife.
For, be it known, these semi-annual in
cursions OF the bold Navajos into the
land of the Pueblos, those hOuse-dweiling
blockheads Of the foothills, is 4 sort OF
primitive skat congress, in which the
WHY, pony-riding, blanket-weaving
usually contrive TO skin" the piodding
Pueblo out OF his last dollar.
A Navajo is bigger thief than a
| Pueblo, and when the cavalcade Of IN
dams had vanished into the cloud of dust
that rose behind and settled over it ike
yellow vel the little son of DR.. Sha-
fer had vanished with it.
The doctor was wild with fear and
anger when he missed the boy At
breakueck speed he FASTENED back to
Santa Fe, and before dark Pat Garrette,
the sheriff, and twenty men were riding
into the hills with weapons and warrants
enough to capture or stay the whole
/ band. The cOnquering Navajos had tar
ried but briefly at Tusuque. With added
spells of shoTels. rakes and hoes they
were already two hours on the ride TO
Ildefonso. There the posse caught up
with them just as the sun flashed its
first signal across Old Badly, and before
the first hand had been well dealt. Gar
rett and his men, with the doctor leading
them, searched every tepee and wagon,
pTied open boxes and cross-questioned ev-
cry buck in the band, but there was not
a trace nor a word about the boy.
That night the white men followed them
north to Taos. and the next night 20
Quita, in the hope that some clew to the
mystery would appear. But when the
route lay in toward Albuquerque, GaTret
sent a messenger thither, aud at sun-up
the fourth day out a hundred posseIen
! surrounded the Navajos and marched
them into town. They were corralled in
the stockade back of the hospital, and
then, Ike sure enough civilized savages,
they sent for a lawyer.
We'll, what did they do with the
boy?" Carrot asked the lawyer as ne
came out Of the corral counting his fee.
'Snakefoot lost him TO a Bernalillo In
dian in a game Of seven-up at Tusuque
the same night they stole him .
Miguelly Baque's farm lies food high
upon the banks OF the Rio Grande. above
Bernalnlo. where the Spanish grapevines
flourish and the wine flows red and ot-r-
Gus as Faiernian. He is a good Indian,
a rich Indian, and there are nails in his
walls and glass in the windows Of his
adobe Alone with his squaw, he had
titled and toiled in the valley till the one
unpurchasable wish Of their desolate
hearts was for a boy. But not even an
Indian viii sell his papoose. and Miguel
would not steal.
Therefore there was Joy in the Baque
adobe when he rode back from the vii
/ lage on the Pecos with a man child on
the saddle before him and ten tethered
Navajo ponies leading. For two days the
brown wife was a mother, and the winds
that blew across the ranges and whirred
among the vines about her door had in
them the old music OF long forgotten
cradle songs Miguel, young again.
would sit for hours coaxing the little
white boy 10 MUNICH the purple grapes,
or hold him on the pony till laughter that
fell upon their ears like rain upon the
desert made their gray old hearts both
green and gay Two days that were
worth the combined century of their 81
lent lives. two days when every bird sang
an unheard of anthem and the whole
2
haired boy. They streaked his fair face
with the Juice of nuts and slept upon
his door sill at night, and every hoof-
beat that smote the distant trail came
like a threat TO these two scared Indians.
Garrett and his men whirled through
the sagebrush opposite their house on the
morning Of the third day.
Miguel. we've come for the boy
shouted the sheriff, as he drew rein at
the gate.
The Indians face was gray with the
agony of that summons, but he said not
word The woman came out. and with
wet eyes stared at-the horsemen as one
by one they dismounted, her brown hands
trembling and her ugly face quiVering
with worthless misery.
They found the child in the garden
playing with a horned toad. clad in glar
ing fannels OF blue and red, with band
aged legs and beaded moccasins upon his
feet. A chain of turquoise was about his
neck, and in his blonde curls were twist
ed green and yellow feathers of the
parOquet.
Miguel and the woman standing silently
( in the doorway watched him as he spied
his father and sprang upon his neck with
shouts Of delight The doctor carried his
transformed son out through the house.
and as he passed the cid Pueblo, a knot
ted black hand touched his arm.
Your bOyy whispered Miguel
yes, my boy" and DR.. Shafer set
the child down and thrust his hand into
his pocket for his purse. He slipped out
two golden eagles, and handing them to-
ward the Indian. said: "One for you and
one for the squaw"
But the old fellow shook his head sadly
and said
Come
He led the good doctor and the boy
and all the party back into his vineyard,
the wife sinking after them Ike an
expectant shade. and standing on a little
hillock waved his long arm around.
All vineyard. Spanish Mission vine.
hundred barrels. some old, some Young.
all ponies and Blankets give you for
bow Eh2"
But the white man laughed ana rode
away with the little boy. and Miguel and
his woman sat silent III the shade till the
world was dumb again and the hoy and
the sun were both gone behind the
nountains.-John H Raftery, in Syracuse
Telegram.
Rain on the Roof.
When the humid shadows hover
over all the starry spheres,
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps IN rainy tears.
What bliss To press the pillow