IT WAS A LOVELY NIGHT.
It was a lovely night and they thought they would go behind the houses and play awhile. The boys were running along, thinking of how they never again would be afraid of the water spirit, when, they all stopped short. For a moment they were so frightened, they could scarcely move. What do you think they saw? There, coming out of a doorway, straight ahead of them, was one of those terrible water spirits their mothers had been telling them about. It was coming right after them, shaking a rattle. I tell you those boys ran!
ONE OF THOSE TERRIBLE WATER SPIRITS
Several very much frightened boys reached their homes, and, after that, they were very glad to go to bed when it was time, for they never again wanted to be chased by another water spirit.
But I will tell you a secret. There are no water spirits; and these small Indian boys were surprised by a pueblo man who had seen them steal away from their homes and had decided to frighten them. So he dressed up to look like the Indians' pictures of a terrible water spirit from the Rio Grande river, and ran after the boys.