cordially hated by all their tribe! They dared not to display their fear
and horror before the men, who were quite awake, though feigning sleep,
but each read the other's feelings at a glance. Where were they? Where had
they been? Had they merely dreamed of meeting two handsome, well-clad
strangers in the night? Slowly their memories came back--the last shooting
contest, the preparation for the dance, the songs and feasting, the
enchanting perfumed breezes, and their quest--they remembered now. But how
this change in their companions? They were strangers, and unquestionably
magicians who could transform themselves or work spells on others! With
this thought the desire for vengeance increased with every pulse-beat.

[Illustration: _Haschebaad_ - Navaho]

_Haschebaad_ - Navaho

_From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis_

In Navaho mythology there are numerous references to benevolent female
deities, who are personated in medicine rites by men wearing masks, as
shown in this plate. Haschebaad may be translated "female deity," or
"goddess."

The day wore on before the women had a chance to talk together apart from
their husbands, when they agreed that they would return to their home and
tell their brother of the evil worked upon them by the old men, whom they
would then soon see killed; but the Little Whirlwind whispered to them,
"Return not to your home; anger fills the hearts of all your people, and
it is you who would be killed with clubs and stones." Thwarted in this
plan, they determined to leave and search for a distant tribe of which
they had once heard, that lived in peace, and had never led the life of
marauders. There, surely, they might receive food and shelter and freedom
from the sorcery of their husbands. Each would take a separate course upon
starting, to meet at a wooded mountain in the east.

All went well throughout the day; the old men rested and made ready for
the journey to their home-land, on which they planned to start at
daybreak. That night the women did not sleep. When their husbands became
wrapt in slumber, they quietly crawled out from their furs, snatched a
little food, and glided into the moonlight. They had been gone but a short
time when one of the old men arose to stir the fire, and in deep surprise
noted the absence of the women. He called his brother, and the two held a
hurried cons