The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-12-02
The Original
Nature Faker
coDyrlsn.. rAs grans 4. A.un.sy c0mDsny.
By RANDOLPH HAYES

6y nfNNCOEFFl r1Nt Ed
Ten miles from Albuquerque the
land rises up, as by reclamation.
! They call it now Mount Taylor In
those days they called it the Mount
of the Swimming Plain Around the
base of it was ordinarily good days
| journey from sun-up to sun-up.
For many generations the races of
the southwest were annually run
around the base of Mount Taylor.
These were determined twice year;
the horse races in the fall, the foot
races in the spring.
A man runs better in the spring,
1 for the sap then joints his muscles.
| AS. for a horse, he runs well at any
time, unless fed toe much. Naturally
! it was the spring that brought the
greatest crowds to the base OF the
Mount of the Swimming Plain, alias
Taylor The Nayajos, being nearest,
usually arrived first on the ground;
then came the Nez Perces, then the
! FLUTES, then the Yaquis, and finally,
! the Mokis.
On its own ground, each tribe ran
| off the elimination contests, so that
at the mountain a champion stood
forth for each, one man for a tribe
| Thus tribes, not single runners, con-
tested in the finals Tribe glory. not
personal esteem, was at stake.
AS generation succeeded generation.
the glory passed fro1n tribe to tribes
rather impartially. Perhaps the
| MoMs were, in strict analysis bet
ter runners as whole, than any Of
the others, but they had to travel Sc
far-up from what is now Mexico
that their champion did not win
oftener than was good for tribal
self-esteem.
Circumscribing Mount Taylor. az
said before, was ordinarily sun-uD
to sun-up proposition. In the fail the
horses did it usually while daylight
lasted They would start out before
the disk of the worlds benefacIor an
peared on the horizon and nearly al
ways crossed the line before twilight
had dwindled into dark.
In the spring it was usually mid
night before the winner dashed Into
the presence of the assembled tribes,
1 ragged and gaunt-visaged under
torchlight.
There came a decade when the
Mokis lost year after year. with de-
pressing regularity BY turns the
| 'Navajos, the Nez Perces, and then
! the Plutes produced champions %
distance the best from Molsiland. al
! though Indian connoisseurs were free
to admit that. under even conditions
the Mokis were perhaps the best rum
ners in the southwest.
At last, after the tenth successive
defeat, the Moh chiefs assembled in
solemn council. The situation was
desperate Tribal honor was at stake.
Something must be done.
They determined not to migrate
down into Mexico that year They
would stay right on the ground, ac-
climate themselves and produce a
| champion who would show his heels
the following spring to all COMPETE
tors. Legend has it that such is the
original cause of the Mokis settling
north of what is now the border Of
Mexico.
The next spring showed the wis
dom OF this modern method of train
ing for the great event The Moki
champion came in five hours ahead OF
his nearest competitor, painting
Navajo. More than that astound-
ingl miraculoussk- last gray
shadow of twilight was still on the
ground as he hurled himself, sweaty
and beady-eyed, across the line He
/ had run as well as a horsel Never
before in the history of the Mount
of the Swimming Plain had such q
feat been accomplished.
The next year the MoH did the
same thing, and little better There
| were lavender and lilac ard mauve
/ still in the sky as he came across,
winner. The third year gold and
crimson stretched the horizon as he
captured the prize. The foarth year
the disk of the great golden sun itself
was still visible as he painted in, vic
toricus
No horse had ever done SO well.
The Moki was the acknowledged king
Of all runners past and present.
Legend presented no memory to vie
with this glorious actually. The god
man, the perfect athlete. a Moki pre-
destined for the happy hunting
grounds had arrived!
And year BY year the prestige Of
the Nayajos fell for the Moks had
encamped on their territory The
Plutes and the Nez Perces could
withdraw to their own countries and
console themselves, from spring to
spring. but not the Navajos. They
were compelled to share their ancient
lands with the victorious Mobis. They
drifted from baffled rage to sullen
despair, from despair to meditated
revenge from meditation to deter
mination.
impromptu Gush Of Sympathy