Comanche Dawn (26 page)

He glanced again at Horseback and tried to imagine what the stranger was thinking of this place. The other
Noomah
riders had stopped beside him, and they were all staring in silence at the sight of the
Tiwa
town.

“Where are the doors to the lodges?” Horseback asked.

“We climb up the ladders from the outside, then go down into the lodges through holes on top. That is why each level is smaller than the level under it, so there is room for the entrance holes.”

“They go in through the smoke hole,” Shaggy Hump said, and the
Noomah
searchers proved that they too could laugh at strangers with strange ways.

Just then, a woman emerged from one of the holes on the second level of the pueblo across the river. She walked a few steps and disappeared into another hole.

“I see now,” Horseback said. “It is like a village of prairie dogs.”

Speaks Twice chuckled, but did not translate for his fellow hunters, whom he thought might be offended. “When our enemies attack, we pull up the ladders around the lower level. We are safe inside. We have much food and water hidden there. You see many ladders around the village now. That is how I know all is well with my home place.”

“What has happened to the ground between the river and the lodges?” Horseback asked.

“That is where we grow the corn and beans,” Speaks Twice explained. “And the squash.”

“How do your people make the ground look like a herd of buffalo has crossed over it?”

“We use sticks.” Speaks Twice made a digging motion with his hands.

“In my country we use sticks to dig for yampa roots.”

“It is the same with us, only we dig to plant seeds, not to get roots. Then, we pull all the grass away from the plants we grow, so the grass will not grow over them and weaken them.”

Many smoke trails rose from the chimneys, making Speaks Twice anxious to get home and eat something other than buffalo meat. “We should ride across to the village now,” he said.

“Yes. We will need time to raise our lodge. I do not wish to sleep inside your village. It is strange to me. My lodge is round, like a sacred circle. Your village is not round.”

“It is straight,” Speaks Twice answered. “Straight is good.”

As Horseback started riding slowly down into the breaks of the big river, he took his bow from his quiver. Wrapping one leg around the bow, he bent the elm wood enough to get the loose end of the buffalo sinew bow string around the other tip of the bow.

“There are no
Inday
warriors at my village,” Speaks Twice said. “Why must you string your bow?”

“Your warriors will be ready for us. We must be ready for them, as well. We come in peace, but we are always ready to fight.”

“Why do you say my warriors will be ready for you, my friend?”

“I know that you sent a runner ahead from the hunting camp, where we met, to this village you call Tachichichi. Echo found the runner's tracks away from our own trail.”

Speaks Twice kicked at a dog that was veering out of single file. “The runner was only sent to prepare our people for your arrival. We will have a feast in your honor and cook many things you have not had before. Have you ever eaten a squash?”

“No,” Horseback answered. “What manner of animal is that?”

Speaks Twice translated Horseback's remark to his fellow hunters, and they all burst out in laughter.

26

Arriving at the north
bank of the River of Arrowheads, the
Noomah
warriors stopped to shoot their arrows, one at a time, across to the south bank. The river was wide, but each warrior's arrow made a group so tight that he might collect them with no more than a few steps taken among them.

“Why do you send your arrows before you?” Speaks Twice asked.

“That river looks deep in the middle. We do not wish to get the feathers on the shaft wet, for water makes them no good.”

Once they had crossed and gathered their arrows, the
Noomah
searchers turned their horses loose to graze. The animals were tired and hungry, and would not wander far from the grass in the valley. Horseback let his mare drag a rope to make her easier to catch.

Speaks Twice showed the visitors through a narrow strip of ground winding between the two largest pueblos, like a pass through a small canyon. The sun was low in the western sky, and the passage was all in shadow. Horseback had unstrung his bow. The friendly reception and the good smells of cooking food had convinced him that the
Tiwa
runner had been sent ahead only to have the feast prepared. He ran his hand lightly over the mud-plastered wall as he walked.

Leading the way up one of the ladders, Speaks Twice ascended to the first level of the pueblo, stopping to smile down at the cautious way the
Noomahs
climbed up behind him. Reaching the roof, Horseback rushed to the corner and looked over the place where he had left the horses. Seeing them grazing, he turned back to Speaks Twice, and the tour continued.

The
Tiwa
host ushered the visitors down another ladder, through one of the small holes at their feet, and into one of the rooms. The strangers felt the walls, looked suspiciously into dark corners. Horseback seemed concerned about the heavy timbers over his head. They went back out into daylight and ascended to the second, then the third level of the pueblo.

“Your people have made your lodges like a hill,” Horseback said. “Does this not anger the spirits? It is only for the Great Spirit to make hills.”

Speaks Twice only laughed. “Our spirits are not angry, my friend. We make our lodges to honor the Spirit World.”

“The lodges of the
Noomah
make a circle. It is like the circle of the seasons. Like the sun, the moon. Like the place where the ground touches the sky all the way around Mother Earth. It is a good way to live.”

Speaks Twice placed his hand on an adobe wall. “My lodge is warm and quiet when the winter winds sound like a wolf,” he replied. “It is cool and dark when the heat of summer makes the grass die and curl. Its walls stand strong against the war points and muskets of the Wolf People. Our straight lodges fit together better than round lodges. That is why they are straight. The spirits make many straight things, like the pine trees in the mountains, and the stars that fly across the sky. I know that straight is good.” The
Tiwa
translator punctuated his spoken words with severe gestures of the hand talk.

Horseback was looking far out over the plains, turning slowly to take in everything from this high vantage atop the pueblo. “My lodge drags behind my pony.” Before Speaks Twice could respond, he scrambled down the ladder.

*   *   *

After the feast of buffalo meat, corn gruel, roasted squash, and beans, Speaks Twice was roused from his room in the pueblo by the voice of the village caller. The news he heard reaching faintly through the entrance hole in the ceiling made him spring suddenly from his soft robe, where he had lain down for some sleep. A band of
Inday
warriors was coming to camp and trade at Tachichichi.

By the time he rushed up the ladder, the
Inday
were almost upon the south walls of the village. He counted. There were six mounted warriors. Fifteen more warriors on foot walked behind the mounted men. The women numbered twenty-four. Old people and children came along behind. A long line of dogs dragged the short poles and hides of the red-and-white
Inday
lodges. For some reason Speaks Twice did not understand, the
Inday
used horses only for riding. They did not let their horses drag their lodges as did the
Yutas
and the
Noomah.

He looked up to the third level of the pueblo, above his own lodge on the second level, and saw Whirlpool, the war chief of Tachichichi, standing with two of the elders on the roof.

“Go speak to them,” Whirlwind said to Speaks Twice. “Choose your words well.”

Rushing to the north wall, the translator saw the
Noomah
warriors languishing near their single lodge. The size of this lodge had surprised Speaks Twice when he saw it raised yesterday. It was much larger than the red-and-white
Inday
lodges pulled by dogs, and larger even than the
Yuta
lodges he had seen, yet Horseback claimed it was a rather small one. It was good that the
Noomah
were staying close to their lodge, still unaware of the approach of their ancient enemy from the opposite side of the pueblo. Hoping he could keep the two parties from violence, Speaks Twice climbed quickly down the ladder to have a talk with the
Inday.

By the time he reached the top of the ladder that led to the ground, the
Noomah
horses had caught scent of the new
lnday
arrivals and stampeded up the river, as if they knew the ancient enemy of their masters had arrived. Horseback and his riders went to catch them. Horseback's mare dragged a rope, making her easy to catch. She was well trained and had not run away with the others. Horseback caught her and rode hard to get around the other ponies, while Speaks Twice went to remind the
Inday
that Tachichichi was a place of truce among all nations.

He did not know much of the language of the
Inday
yet, but the leader of the band was a chief called Battle Scar who communicated well with the hand talk.

Speaks Twice signed: “Welcome, my friends. I invite you to raise your lodges here, on the south side of my village, where the sun warms the village walls like the warmth of my heart for my good friends.”

Battle Scar raised a hand in greeting. He smiled, changing the shape of the scar on his cheek which had given him his name. He pointed up the river. “Who are those people who catch the horses?”

Speaks Twice thought better of naming the visitors Snake People, for the
Inday
might remember them by that name. “Horse People,” he signed. “They come in peace from the north.”

“As we come in peace, my friend.” Battle Scar made his scar bend with a treacherous smile. “We bring captive children of the Wolf People to trade.”

Speaks Twice had expected this, for Battle Scar's band made many slave raids. There had always existed some trade in captive women and children across the plains. The
Inday
raided the Wolf People to take captives to sell to the
Tiwa
—and to the Metal Men. The Wolf People, in turn, raided
Inday
camps, and sometimes the villages of the
Tiwa
and other straight-lodge dwellers, taking their women and children far east to sell to other white soldiers who were always at war with the Metal Men. These other whites were called Flower Men, for the sign they carried on their banner. Even the
Yutas
traded in a few slaves from other nations.

It was useful to have some Wolf People captives in Tachichichi. Some would be adopted into the
Tiwa
nation and grow old in the pueblo. When Metal Men came to demand that some of the Tiwas return to the old pueblos of the south to work in the shops and fields, Wolf People slaves could often be passed off as
Tiwa,
satisfying the Metal Men for a while, for few of the Metal Men could distinguish among all the many peoples of the plains.

Speaks Twice signed his approval. “We have much corn and iron things from the Metal Men. The elders will trade with you when the new sun rises.”

The Inday chief seemed pleased. “We will take our horses to water.”

Speaks Twice turned toward the pueblo, then stopped, turned back to Battle Scar, as if an afterthought had just occurred to him. “The Horse People camping on the north side of our village have many enemies. They may be seeking revenge on the Wolf People. A wise owner of slaves will keep his Wolf People captives away from the Horse People, for the Horse People may want to kill them. Their hearts are full of hate for their enemies. They will leave soon, and your people will not have to worry about them bothering your slaves.”

Speaks Twice turned quickly away. He hoped he had not overstated the warning, which would only make the
Inday
curious. As far as he knew, everything he had said to Battle Scar was true. None of Horseback's searchers had spoken of the Wolf People, but Speaks Twice thought it possible they could be bitter enemies, since the Snake People—whom he had now named the Horse People—claimed no allies. He had not lied. He only wished to keep the two peoples apart until he could get rid of the
Noomah.

That night, Speaks Twice was summoned to the underground kiva by Whirlpool. Because he was skilled at speaking many languages and making the signs of the hand talk, Speaks Twice had often appeared before the elders in the kiva. This time, however, he was more nervous than usual. Though he had not been in charge of the hunting party that had found the Horse People, it was Speaks Twice who had talked to them and invited them to Tachichichi. Should anything go wrong, his reputation would suffer.

After purifying themselves with smoke and praying, the elders asked Speaks Twice to stand and tell all he had learned of the Horse People. The young translator spoke well. He spoke honestly, expressing his worries about violence between
Noomah
and
Inday.
After he spoke, Whirlpool thought for a long time. The kiva remained silent. Finally, the chief of Tachichichi spoke:

“Young warrior, you have spoken with a good heart. You have done as you should have done. These Horse People would have come to Tachichichi even if you had not invited them. Now, you have brought them in friendship. They will remember.

“I have had dreams of these people coming. You have only done as the spirits would have you do. Now, here is what I want you to do next, as the spirits have shown me in my dreams and visions: