The Runaway Papoose/Chapter 10

There were many people riding on the trails that led to the big mesa, and to Nah-tee and Moyo it was a very exciting thing to be going the same way with such a happy crowd; for everyone seemed to be happy, and there was much laughing and singing and telling of jokes. There were big wagons with canvas tops to them filled with women and children who smiled and waved their hands to Nah-tee and Moyo, and there were many men and boys on ponies, and others riding on burros, and some, the ones who came from near-by places, were walking. Many brought with them little goats, and ​there were very many dogs, too—friendly dogs and dogs who barked and were not friendly—and some children held chickens in their hands.

Bigger and bigger grew Nah-tee’s eyes as they came closer to that great mesa, and happier and happier beat her heart.

“I think—like Tashi said—that all the people in the whole world are coming to this place,” she cried to Moyo. “And my mother and father will be here. Make the pony to go fast, Moyo, I think I cannot wait!” And Moyo kicked Niki with his heels and went so fast that the children in the wagons called out to him and little boys slapped their own ponies and tried to go as fast as he was going, and old men called out that it was a race and got out of the way for him to pass. And then a boy who was near the mesa waved his arms and made his own pony come close to Moyo, and he called out:

“Hi, boy! My pony can go faster than your pony—will you have a race with me?” But when Moyo saw the face of the other boy he gave a pull to Niki and made him almost stop.

“Loki!” he cried. “How I am glad that you are here.”

“Hi!” cried Loki again, and pulled his own pony ​down to go slow as Niki was going. “It is Moyo,” he said then. “I did not think to see you in this place, and so I did not know it was you.”

“And I did not think to see you here,” said Moyo. “When you were with your sheep away out there,” and he waved his arm back toward the desert, “I thought always that you stayed in that place. I did not know you came to the mesa.”

“My hogan is close to the mesa,” said Loki. “I only went to the far places to get good pasture for my sheep. And do you come here to see the dance?”

“Oh, no!” said Moyo, and he grew very excited at once and told Loki all about Nah-tee and how she was looking for her mother and father and her people, and Nah-tee spoke eagerly, too, and told of the time she had run away, and the strange men who fought her father, and Loki listened with eyes that grew very big and dark with interest and thought.

“That is a strange thing,” he said when they had finished. “I think never have I heard a stranger thing than that, and we must tell it all to Lampayo. I myself will take you to his house so that you can tell him.”

“Yes, Lampayo was the one,” said Nah-tee. “The old man of the cliff said to go to Lampayo—and ​something more than words I must give to him,” and she felt thoughtfully the lumpy place in the front of her dress where the little buckskin bag was. But suddenly, as he was looking at her, a queer change came into the eyes of Loki, and he pulled his pony to a stop.

“Now I remember a thing!” he cried. “Not until this very minute did I remember it!”

“What is that?” asked Nah-tee in a voice of surprise, and Moyo, too, looked at him wonderingly.

“It was that very time,” cried Loki, “the day that you ran down the wash. I was out there in the desert with my sheep (only one day have I been back here to this place)—I remember that day! I knew that there was a camp of people on the other side of the wash from where I was. I saw them come and make a shelter place, and they made a great deal of noise, and I thought I would go to another place with my sheep; but the grass was good there and I waited to see if they would go away, and when it was morning they put the packs back on the backs of the horses and I could see that they would go in a very little while; and then more men rode up on horses and they said words in loud voices, and the people of the camp place went away, and the others, too, rode away, and ​I was glad to have it quiet again. But after a while two men came riding across the wash with worry looks on their faces, and they asked if a little girl had come that way———”

“It was for me they looked!” cried Nah-tee.

“Yes, it must have been for you—and I told them that I had not seen you, for that was true. I do not know how you could run down that wash and not anybody see you, but it must have been that way. The two men were very sorry, and they rode up and down the wash and all around for a very long time; and they looked and called out loud—but I think it was in their thought that the other men who came had taken you away, and after a while they rode away very slowly.”

“But where did they ride?” cried Nah-tee. “That is the thing that I want to know. Did you see the trail that they went?”

“No,” answered Loki slowly, “I did not see that. You know how there are hills and rocks and trees in that country and I could not see more than a little way on the other side of that wash; and besides, a boy came on a horse, and he told me I was to come back to the mesa quickly, and he would follow with the sheep, and I did not see the two men or any of the ​others again. But one of the men who came to chase the camp people away, I saw him, when he came at the first, and I think”—Loki stopped and a little frown came on his face—“somewhere I have seen that man—right at this time I cannot think where. But maybe, if we can find him, he can say where your people have gone.”

“I think they have come to this very mesa,” said Nah-tee. “See how everybody is here—and if they are here I will surely find them,” and she looked eagerly into every face that she saw, but not yet did one familiar face seem to be anywhere.

“We will go to Lampayo,” said Loki then. “He will know what to do, and if the old man of the cliff has told you to do that, we will go quickly now. And I have a friend on the mesa who will give you a home place until you find your mother. My friend is very nice, and to-morrow you shall see how she will be in a dance—in a very big dance—and we will be there to watch her. I have told her how I shall be there. And we will put our horses in the corral of Chi-weé and walk up the trail.”

Mah-pee-ti was coming down the trail as they started up, and he stopped in front of them to say a teasing word, as almost always he liked to do—always ​there was a twinkle in his eyes, and in the words that he said.

“There is no dance of the sheep up there,” he said to Loki. “Why do you come to the top of the mesa?”

“I come to see Lampayo,” said Loki. “We have a very big thing to say to Lampayo.”

“Ah,” said Mah-pee-ti, and his face grew serious at once. “Lampayo is in kiva—did you not know that? Not anyone can see Lampayo until the dance to-morrow, and after that not until the big ceremony that he talks about. He has given word that he will not talk with anyone at all until then.”

“But this is a big thing,” insisted Loki. “This is a thing he will want to know.”

“And I have brought him a something,” said Nah-tee eagerly. “From a very long way I have brought it.”

“Maybe you could tell to Su-hú-bi that thing,” said Mah-pee-ti. “If it is a so big thing Su-hú-bi has big ears and can listen.”

“I do not like Su-hú-bi,” said Loki. “Maybe he has big ears, but his eyes are little like a pig’s, and I do not like the words he says.”

“Not anyone likes Su-hú-bi,” said Mah-pee-ti, ​“but before very long he will be the chief one in this pueblo, when Lampayo has gone. Me, I think he is evil inside of his heart, but I must say very quietly a thing like that—maybe even the rocks will hear. But if you cannot tell that thing to Lampayo, Su-hú-bi is the one who is next to him in power.”

“Have you seen any strange people in this place?” asked Nah-tee suddenly.

“Ai-ee,” said Mah-pee-ti, and the twinkle came back in his eyes. “Look how I see you—you are strange, and this boy, too—not ever have I see him before.”

“But more strange people,” said Nah-tee, “a whole campful of them—this many!” and she held up the fingers of both hands. “Maybe more than that.”

“All the mesa is covered with strange ones,” said the old man. “But yes,” he said then, as if a new thought had come to him, “there is a camp of strange ones down there,” and he made a motion around the corner of the mesa down in the desert. “This very morning I saw them—maybe they are the ones you ask about.”

“Maybe so,” said Loki quickly. “Let us go and see before we go up the trail,” and a light came into the ​eyes of Nah-tee, and they turned and walked quickly down into the edge of the desert again.

Here it was very different than it had been out on the trail. Here were little camps and groups of people, and already it looked as if a town had planted itself at the foot of the mesa. There were camp fires with bubbling pots on them, and many little shelter places, and big wagons and horses and goats and burros, and men and women and children, with baskets of food and little cakes to sell, and all were dressed in the very best clothes that they owned. On their faces were their very best smiles, and Nah-tee and Moyo and Loki smiled, too, at all the happy confusion and noise about them. For always Nah-tee thought surely where there were so very many people she would find her own mother and father. But an ache place came into her heart and made her eyes feel queer after they had looked and looked, through all the camp places there were there, and had not found them.

The very strangest part of all was that the camp place that Mah-pee-ti had told them about was deserted—not anyone at all was there! Many people had seen the camp place there, they told Nah-tee and Loki, but very early that morning it had been moved ​away, and they did not know where it had gone. The people in it had been very quiet and had not had words for anyone, and they had not gone away all at once, so that others would see, but very softly, one by one, and without noise, so that no one would notice.

“Maybe it was not your people at all,” said Loki. “I think all this time your people are up there on the mesa top,” but in his heart he was not so sure of that. Strangers who came together almost always made a camp place at the foot of the mesa and would go up to the top only when it was time for the dance.

“And that is when we will find them!” he cried suddenly—“when it is time for the dance. Everyone comes then to the top of the mesa—and they will come—you shall see, Nah-tee, how they will come!” And Nah-tee tried hard to believe the words that he said, and she tried to shut out of her mind the fear thoughts that wanted to come—that tried to say so very many things that she would not believe. A very fat woman who was bending over a camp fire looked up at that very minute and saw the look that was in the face of Nah-tee, and she put down in a great hurry the stick that was in her hand, and she came over and put her arms around the little girl and began to croon over her.

​“Where is thy mother, little one?” she asked tenderly, and all the story came tumbling out of the shaking little lips, and the big tears made dark spots on the dress of the woman, and Loki and Moyo told quickly the words that Nah-tee could not tell for the queer shaking that was in her, and more and more the woman patted her on the head and on the trembling little back.

“It is hunger that you have,” she said then, finally. “There—hush, little one. To-morrow we will find your mother, but very surely we will find her—but now, what do you think is in that pot?—A stew of rabbit meat—and there is enough for all. Come—sit here on this blanket and we will have a feast that is good for a thing like this!” And Nah-tee sat down on the blanket, and other little children came and sat down, too, and looked at Nah-tee with such a wonder in their big eyes that a giggle feeling came inside her, to see them. And with the first little giggle she felt better—much better. After all, no dreadful thing had happened. She knew very well that she would find her mother—a feeling inside told her that—and to-morrow was the big dance—and here was the mesa with all the new things to see! And now, this very minute—right under her nose—were a rabbit ​stew, and seed cakes—the woman put one into her hand. And Loki and Moyo were watching the woman fill little pottery cups with the stew, and their eyes were big and happy. No, this was not a bad time—and already Nah-tee began to wonder that the tears had come so quickly to her eyes—and to-morrow———

“Look,” cried Loki, “almost it is to-morrow—see how the sun is going down!”

“But I do not want it to come too quick!” said Moyo, and he smacked his lips. “Right now I want the time to move slow—rabbit stew is a thing that I like!” And the woman smiled broadly as she handed him a bowl filled to the very top—and after that no one spoke for a long while.