“My father was War Captain of the Tee-wahn,” said Pablo proudly, “and he taught me the ways of men, and the sacred stories of the Old. But one gave him the evil eye, and he was slain by the Cumanche in war. My mother was a True Believer, and soon she went after him, to make his house good in Shee-p’ah-poón. So there is left only my grandfather, who is cacique, and my uncle. And with my uncle I live, for we are both of the Eagle clan.”
“It is well! But now it is to stay here for a time; for in this place is mighty power of the Olds. But if thou wilt hunt for us, that Deer-Maiden may eat well while I fast and talk with Those Above, then we will go with thee to Shee-eh-huíb-bak; for my people are no more and my child is lonely to be with the people of her mother. But show me the wahr with which thou huntest, for perhaps the witches have blinded it.”
Pablo fished out the little stone image, which he had never shown to man before, and T’bó-deh inhaled from its lips.
“It is so!” he said angrily; and prying out the turquoise heart he showed the hunter that from beneath it the sacred meal was gone, and in its place a tiny black feather. “It is no wonder that thy hunting was ill,” he cried, “for the witches have changed the heart of Keem-eé-deh! But I will give thee a strong wahr that none can kill,” and breaking the polluted image with a rock, he covered the fragments with a cloth and chanted a sacred song. In a moment the cloth moved, and the wizard drew from under it a bright new Keem-eé-deh, carved from the sunlight-stone, the yellow topaz, and bound to its side was an arrow-head of transparent emerald. Its heart was turquoise and its eyes red garnets.
“Take it, son, and fear not,” said the aged conjurer, “for it is stronger than the ghosts. But now go and hunt, for there is no more meat.”
When Pablo toiled up the hill of ruins at sundown a noble antelope was balanced upon his shoulders and a fat wild turkey dangled from his belt. He threw them down proudly, and was paid with a shy glance from the eyes that now lived in his heart, and the old man said:
“The new wahr is good! And thou art a hunter like Keem-eé-deh himself. Verily there will be no lack of meat in thy house.” But at this the maiden ran away with a red face, and Pablo’s heart was glad.
For three days they were there while the old man made medicine; and every day Pablo brought back much game. And every day his eyes grew deeper and those of the maiden drooped lower. On the fourth day they started, the three, to the northeast; and with three journeys they came to Shee-eh-huíb-bak. There Pablo brought the strangers to his grandfather, the cacique; and when old Desidério knew that this was the great wizard, the last of the Hoo-máh-no, he was very glad, and gave him of the common lands, that his home should be always there.
When the people of Shee-eh-huíb-bak were making clean for the Noche Buena, Pablo came to the cacique, and said: “Tata, there is another year, and I am tired to be alone.”
“But canst thou keep a wife?”