you
like." The boy said, "I will stand one hundred paces distant from you
and you may have four shots at me with your bow and arrows, provided
that you will then exchange places with me and give me four shots."
"Good," said the dragon. "Stand up."

[Illustration: DRESSED AS IN DAYS OF OLD]

Then the dragon took his bow, which was made of a large pine tree. He
took four arrows from his quiver; they were made of young pine tree
saplings, and each arrow was twenty feet in length. He took deliberate
aim, but just as the arrow left the bow the boy made a peculiar sound
and leaped into the air. Immediately the arrow was shivered into a
thousand splinters, and the boy was seen standing on the top of a bright
rainbow over the spot where the dragon's aim had been directed. Soon the
rainbow was gone and the boy was standing on the ground again. Four
times this was repeated, then the boy said, "Dragon, stand here; it is
my time to shoot." The dragon said, "All right; your little arrows
cannot pierce my first coat of horn, and I have three other coats--shoot
away." The boy shot an arrow, striking the dragon just over the heart,
and one coat of the great horny scales fell to the ground. The next shot
another coat, and then another, and the dragon's heart was exposed.
Then the dragon trembled, but could not move. Before the fourth arrow
was shot the boy said, "Uncle, you are dumb with fear; you have not
moved; come here or the dragon will fall on you." His uncle ran toward
him. Then he sped the fourth arrow with true aim, and it pierced the
dragon's heart. With a tremendous roar the dragon rolled down the
mountain side--down four precipices into a canon below.

Immediately storm clouds swept the mountains, lightning flashed, thunder
rolled, and the rain poured. When the rainstorm had passed, far down in
the canon below, they could see fragments of the huge body of the dragon
lying among the rocks, and the bones of this dragon may still be found
there.

This boy's name was Apache. Usen[2] taught him how to prepare herbs for
medicine, how to hunt, and how to fight. He was the first chief of the
Indians and wore the eagle's feathers as the sign of justice, wisdom,
and power. To him, and to his people, as they were created, Usen gave
homes in the land of the west.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Chapter IV.

[2] Usen is the Apache word for God. It is used here because it implies
the attributes of deity that are held in their primitive rel