“To wish for Paradise takes no more of breath,”––suggested Don Ruy, “and if it is beneath the dignity of any else, perhaps I could speak––or Chico here.”
But the latter silently disclaimed gift of logic or oratory,––in fact the turn of things was not toward 186 gaity. Don Diego was shocked at everything said. Gonzalvo and the padre were plainly furious, yet bound to silence. Only Don Ruy could still smile. To him it was a game good as a bull fight––and much more novel.
“I shall speak, though it be a task I elsewhere evade,” he said, and looked at the Cacique––a solitary nude bronze body amidst all the gay trappings of the assembly. “Señor, it is not women we seek––though a few of us might make room for a pretty one! It is true that the men in armor would help guard your fields, for they have heard that you are the Children of the Sun as were certain people of the south. In the south the sun sent a sign to his children––it was gold set in the ledges of the rock, or the gravel of the stream. If these people of the Rio Grande del Norte can show these signs that they be given as proof to our king––then men in armor of steel will come many as bees on the blossom and guard your land that your corn and your women be ever safe from the wild Indians who make devastation.”
Tahn-té repeated this to the Te-hua men without comment of his own, and the dark faces were watched by the Castilians. They could see no eagerness––only a little wonder––and from some a shrug or smile,––but––not from any of them anger or fierce looks!
The padre drew a quiet breath of content and leaned back––the game was at least even. The Navahu had been bad for two years––very bad! The appeal of Don Ruy might prove the right thing, and the simple thing. It would take time, for the Indian mind was slow;––the quickness of the naked sorcerer proved nothing otherwise, for every god-fearing 187 man could see that he was more than mortal in satanic strength. Against this one man alone must the battle for the Trinity be fought!
Together did the Te-hua men of council speak much––and to Ka-yemo they turned more than once and asked of the Tiguex days of the other Christian men. But between the devil of the padre and his symbols and the deep sea of the eyes of Tahn-té, not much was to be remembered by a man, and he could only say that his stay in the south was not long––that he was only a boy, and without the understanding of things done and seen.
“I have spoken,”––said Tahn-té when the older men turned to him for council as to the wisdom of throwing away so powerful a friend as the men of iron. Some were concerned lest they should turn away and offer help to their enemies!
In the land of the Yutah the yellow stones were found in the stream––also in the heart of the Navahu desert. No people used these stones because they were sacred to the sun, and strong for prayer, but––it was well to think what would happen if the men of iron were brothers to the Navahu!
“Never more could we sleep under our own roof––or plant corn in our own fields,” said the man from Te-tzo-ge,––“our daughters would be wives to the Navahu and mothers of Navahu, and the grass would grow over the walls we have builded.”
They smoked in silence over this thought, for it was a dark thought––and it could come true!