he young men of the warrior's tribe to gather at his home on
a certain day, prepared for war, if they wished to enter a contest he
would then propose. The girls being coveted prizes, a goodly number of
warriors, painted and dressed in full war regalia, assembled on the
appointed day, among them being two old, white-haired brothers, of an
alien tribe, who had recently come to live near the Navaho people. The
young chief protested at the presence of the old men, declaring that they
would only sacrifice their lives in the first combat, for they could have
no possible hope of success. The two persisted, however, and were allowed
to remain in the van.

Four-days journey from the Navaho country was a village of the Aya Kinne{~COMBINING BREVE~},
Have Holes For Houses, enemies from early times. They also prided
themselves on having two very beautiful girls, upon whom many admiring
young men of the tribe bestowed valuable presents of turquoise, shell
beads, and other jewels. One of these wondrous beauties wore her hair
plaited always with rich strings of turquoise; the other with strings of
white shell.

"To the two men," said the vaunting young Navaho, "who will fight their
way to the homes of these boasted beauties and bring to me their
jewel-plaited scalps, will I give my sisters."

The band started, each man eager and hopeful, and on the fourth night
bivouacked in sight of the cliffs under which the hated Aya Kinne{~COMBINING BREVE~} had
their homes. At daybreak on the following morning they made their attack
on the pueblo, but the villagers, ever alert and well prepared for an
onslaught, offered desperate resistance, every man fighting bravely for
his life and his family. All day long the contest raged; arrow, lance, and
stone hammer dealing death on every hand. As nightfall shrouded the
combatants in darkness, the invaders, depleted in rank, slunk back to
their camp on the hill, where they found the two gray-haired brothers,
each bearing a jewelled scalp as his trophy.

When the Navaho chief learned that the old men were the victors, he raged
with anger, condemning his tribesmen and vowing that his sisters should
never become the wives of unknown aliens, and accordingly declared a new
contest. The man who would win a beautiful wife must hit the blade of a
yucca plant with an arrow at forty paces. The long, narrow blade was hung
in the bark of a tree and the contest commenced. The younger men shot
first. One by one they