The Washington herald., 1915-10-03
He Also Serves
NO 9.


sometimes a. e. i. o. and u. but generally rs.
Is. and is. -
High Jacks ethnology gets the upper hand
of his rum for minute. and he investigates the
inscription.
- 'Hunky.' says he. this is statue of Toto
paxl. one of the most powerful gods of the
ancient Aztecs.
Glad to know him. says !. but in his pres
ent condition he reminds me of the joke Shake
speare got off on Julius Caesar. We might say
about your friend:
".Imperious whats-his-name. dead and turned to
No to write call him the phone.
'Hunky. says High Jack Stakeholder. look
ing at me funny. do you believe in reincarna-
tion?'
1t sounds to me- says |, like either clean
up of the slaughter-houses or new kind of
Boston pink. | don't know
81 believe says he. that am the reincar-
nation of Tlotopaxl My researches have con-
vinced me that the Cherokees, of all the North
American tribes. can boast of the straightest
descent from the proud Aztec race. That
says he, was a favorite theory of mine and
Florence Blue Feathers. And she-what if
she-!'
High Jack grabs my arm and walls his eyes
at me. Just then he looked more like his
eminent co-Indian murderer. Crazy Horse
Well says |. what if she, what if she,
what if she9 You're drunk saysI. 'Imperson-
ating idols and believing in-what was it9-re-
carnalization9 Let's have drink says l. Its
as spooky here as Brooklyn arti6cial-lmb fac
tory at midnight with the gas turned down.
Just then heard somebody coming, and
dragged High Jack into the bedless bedcham-
Der. There was peep-holes bored through the
wall, so we could see the whole front part of
the temple. Major Bing told me afteward that
the ancient priests in charge used to rubber
through them at the congregation.
In few minutes an old Indian woman
came in With big oval earthen dish full of
grub. She set it on square block of stone in
front of the craven image. and laid down and
walloped her face on the floor few times. and
then took walk for herself.
High Jack and me was hungry. so we came
out and looked it over. There was goat steaks
and fried rice cakes, and plantains and cas-
sava. and broiled land crabs and mangoes-
nothing like what you get at Chubb's.
I'VE ate hearty-and had another round of
rum.
1t must be old Tecumseh's- whatever
you call him birthday. says |. Or do they
feed him every day2 thought gods only
drank vanilla on Mount Catawampus.'
Then some more native parties in short
kimonos that showed their aboriginees punct-
ured the near-horizon, and me and High had
to skip back into Father Axletree's private
ooudoir. They came by ones. twos. and
threes. and left all sorts of oferings-there
was enough grub for Bingham's nine gods of
war. with plenty left over for the Peace Con-
ference at The Hague. They brought jars of
honey. and punches of bananas. and bottles of
wine, and stacks of tortas. and beautiful
shawls worth 500 apiece that the Indian wom-
en- weave of kind of vegetable fiber like silk.
All of EN- got down and wriggled on the floor
in front of that hard-6nish god. and then
sneaked off throug the, woods again.
81 wonder who gets this rake-of2' remarks
High Jack.
Oh. says |, there's priests or deputy Idols
or committee of disarrangements somewhere
in the woods on the job. Wherever you find
god you'll find somebody waiting to take charge
of the burnt offerings.
And then we took another swig of rum and
walked out to the parlor front door to cool off.
for it was as hot inside as a summer camp on
the Palisades.
And while we stood there in the breeze we
looks down the path and sees young lady ap-
preaching the blasted ruin. She was barefoot
ed and had on white robe. and carried a
wreath of white flowers in her hand When she
got nearer we saw she had long blue feather
stuck through her black hair. And when she
got nearer still me and High Jack Stakeholder
grabbed each other to keep from tumbling
down on the floor; for the girls face was as
much like Florence Blue Feathers as his was
~ I