Navajo Long Walk (2 page)

“Just don't go farther than you have to. Don't go trying to show how brave you are,” Wise One said. “And take Small Burro with you.”

Kee nodded his head and forced a little smile. Then as he and Hasba came out of the hogan to begin the day's work, Gray Dog jumped up from under a juniper tree, bounded to Kee for a good morning pat, then raced ahead to the corral. Kee and Hasba let down the poles across the corral gate, and sheep and goats poured out to be herded across the mesa to the water hole.

Hasba let down the poles across the burro's corral and clicked her tongue at Small Burro. “Come along, lazy one,” she shouted.

The donkey made no move. Soon Wise One was at the gate clicking her tongue. Small Burro was up and running to nuzzle Wise One's shoulder. “How can he tell your clicking from mine, Grandmother?” Hasba asked.

Wise One laughed. “I have been talking to him that way since the day he was born. He knows he is mine.” She scratched his ears and said, “Go along with you now.” Small Burro trotted after the sheep.

During the long days of herding, the children had to find their own fun. In the late afternoon a goat walked past where Kee was watching the sheep. He knew this goat was a bit mean if teased. Yet he stood up and pushed the goat just to see what it would do. Lowering its head, the goat wheeled in anger. Kee ran. Seeing the goat chasing Kee, Hasba ran toward the goat. It stopped chasing Kee and ran toward her. She jumped aside, the goat ran past, then quickly turned and chased the pair of them.

The children tried to run to Small Burro. If they could mount the donkey, the goat would leave them alone. But the goat was smart, and kept between the children and the donkey. So they ran toward the hogan. Soon they reached a low hill with rock outcroppings. They crawled into a hole in the rocks. The goat climbed up to the opening and tried to bite the children's feet, which were sticking out. Yelling and kicking, Kee tried to make the goat go away.

At the sound of a horse's hoofs, the goat left and Kee and Hasba crawled out of the hole. A white man in a blue uniform riding a beautiful horse laughed down at them.

Kee had never seen a United States soldier, yet he knew the man was one because Strong Man had told him how the soldiers dressed. He was afraid more soldiers would be nearby. A soldier would not come into Navajo country alone. The Diné, as Navajos called themselves, were enemies of the soldiers.

The soldier pointed to the goat running in the distance.
The children just stared at him until he rode away, still laughing.

Hasba began to cry. Kee said, “Do not be afraid. If we see more soldiers we will take Grandmother and some sheep and go to our cave in the canyon. We will hide there, and if the soldiers come, we will roll rocks down on them.”

Kee did not feel as brave as he sounded, but he wanted to make Hasba less afraid.

Faithful Gray Dog had herded the sheep toward the hogan. Kee was happy to see that Small Burro had followed. Grandmother would never forgive him if something happened to her pet. Kee mounted the donkey and helped Hasba up behind him. He hurried the sheep.

Grandmother was waiting by the corral. “Did you see a soldier?” she asked. “He came to the hogan. He is looking for Strong Man, I think.”

Kee wondered how Wise One could know the soldier was looking for his father. She could not understand white man's language.

The good smell of mutton stew greeted them when they entered the hogan. As Wise One knelt near the fire pit to dish it up, she said, “How I hope your father can find Gentle Woman on this raid and bring her back. Then he must stop fighting and raiding. All the Diné must. If we keep it up, we shall be dragged down the white man's road and only coyotes will live on the land.”

Kee thought his grandmother was not wise to say such things. He could hardly wait until he was big enough to join the raids. How else could they get “that by which men live?” Other tribes stole horses from the Navajos. Should they be cowards and not try to steal some in return?

Sleep would not come to Kee that night. He lay watching shadows on the wall made by moonlight shining through the smoke hole. Suddenly, he heard the sound of hoofbeats. He sat up in alarm, his heart pounding so hard it felt as if it would break his ribs. The horse must be bringing a soldier who would kill them or try to take them prisoner.

When Wise One heard the hoofbeats, she was up as swiftly as an eagle dives. She was lighting a torch at the fire pit when the door blanket was thrust aside and Kee's father rushed in.

Talking fast, Strong Man said, “The white soldiers think they are going to drive us to a place they call Fort Sumner. We will not go there! Gather the things you need but be quick. We must be gone from here before sun-bearer lights the sky. We will take some of our sheep and go back to our place in the canyon. Up there in the high country where we grazed our sheep all summer, it will be harder for the soldiers to find us. We should not have returned to our hogan so early.”

Wise One went to the corral to fetch Small Burro to load him. Small Burro sighed, grunted, snorted, brayed, and in all the ways he knew, complained about having his rest disturbed. Wise One clicked her tongue, patted him, and let him know that she was sorry for him.

The sheep also complained with loud bleating as Kee hurried six of them out of the corral, along with a nanny goat Wise One wanted to take so they would have milk.

“What will become of the sheep we leave here?” Kee asked his father.

“I will come at night to take them to the water hole and let them graze. Gray Dog can stay. He will keep the coyotes away.”

“Father, please let us take Gray Dog to watch the sheep in the canyon. We have only a brush fence there. He will keep them inside for us.” Kee was thinking more about his dog's welfare than the sheep.

After a short silence, Strong Man said, “My son, your dog can go with you.”

Kee headed the sheep and the goat in the direction of the canyon. Gray Dog would keep them moving together. Strong Man lifted Wise One up on Swift Runner as easily as if she had been an eagle feather, and swung Hasba up behind her. With Wise One holding the lead rope, Small Burro walked beside Swift Runner, coaxed along by the clicking of Grandmother's tongue.

Kee and his father followed on foot. Strong Man said, “I am sorry there is no horse for you yet. We did not go raiding. We met some Navajos camping close to Fort Defiance who told us the United States government has ordered all raiding to stop. All Navajos are ordered to surrender at Fort Defiance. Those Navajos who had surrendered to save their herds, wanted us to do the same. But we will never surrender.”

Wise One moaned. “The day will come, my son, when we must learn to live in peace.”

Strong Man laughed. “We will disappear as we always have. The soldiers will soon get tired of searching for-Navajos.
We will go on raiding and will grow rich from the spoils of our enemies.”

Kee soon found it impossible to keep up with his father's long strides. Strong Man waited for him. “Up on the horse you go. We can travel faster if you ride.” He lifted Kee up in front of Wise One. Hasba was already asleep with her head resting against her grandmother's back.

Sun-bearer was beginning to light the sky when Strong Man's family reached the bottom of the trail leading from the mesa to the canyon. Gray Dog growled and stopped the sheep. Strong Man signaled Wise One to stop the horse and donkey. Kee could hear the rustle of leaves in the grove of cottonwood trees they had entered, and the water in the small stream nearby. He felt sure Gray Dog could hear more.

Two Navajos stepped from behind a tree. “Ai,” Strong Man gasped. “You gave me a fright.”

The men laughed. One said, “Had you been of an enemy tribe or a white man, we would have given you more than a fright. We allow only Navajos to enter the canyon. Many have come tonight.”

The family went on. Red sandstone walls grew higher on each side. Other Indians, gathering corn and peaches at the garden patches, exchanged a few words with them. At their own garden, Kee and Hasba picked and ate peaches from low branches while Wise One gathered a few ears of corn. Strong Man grew impatient. “Come, let us hurry along to our cave.”

They did not stop at the brush hogan beside their garden. They went on across the stream and climbed up the side of the canyon to the cave hidden between two tall red rocks.

At the foot of the cave, Kee helped Wise One unload Small Burro. Grandmother told the donkey what a fine fellow he was to be so much help. When everything was on the ground, Small Burro rubbed his head against Wise One's shoulder as if to tell her all was forgiven. Then he trotted off to rest in the shade of some cotton-wood trees.

The sun was overhead, and the coolness of the cave felt wonderful after the climb over the rocks to reach it. In a small room at the back of the cave, useful things were already stored: dry wood, dried corn, and piñon nuts from last year's crop.

Wise One made a fire in the pit, and soon they enjoyed a meal of corn meal. Then they curled up on sheepskins and slept the day away.

Darkness arrived early in the canyon. Strong Man left on Swift Runner to care for the sheep on the mesa. Wise One and Hasba rode Small Burro and Kee walked beside them to the garden where they picked corn, beans, and peaches. They could not carry much, but Wise One said, “We will come every night until we have enough for the winter.”

The next day while they shelled beans, stripped corn, cut peaches, and placed them on hot rocks to dry outside the cave, Kee wondered why his father had not returned before dawn.

That night, with Small Burro already loaded to leave the garden, Kee heard horses' hoofs stepping up the canyon trail. Grabbing Wise One and Hasba, he pulled them into shadows cast by the brush hogan. When the horse and rider came close the family was relieved to see Strong Man, who was startled to see them step out from the shadows. Hasba and Kee rode back to the cave with their father, following Wise One on Small Burro.

It was easy to tell that Strong Man was upset. As soon
as they were in the cave, Wise One lit a torch from the fire pit and asked him, “What dreadful thing has happened?”

With great bitterness he said, “The sheep have been driven away from the mesa. Not only ours, but herds all over Navajoland. Corn crops have been burned. The soldiers do not aim to kill Navajos but to kill our crops, drive away our animals, and starve us into surrendering. We are to be taken to this place called Fort Sumner. What right has the white man to tell us where and how we shall live?”

Wise One sat down beside the fire pit, her head in her hands. For a short time it was quiet in the cave, then Hasba began to cry. Wise One gently cradled her in her arms. Rocking from side to side she said, “We are the Diné. Our ancestors lived in this land for hundreds of years. The white man cannot know how much we love our home of red rocks and gray desert within the circle of the four sacred mountains. It is ours. No good can come of driving us out.”