re certain people of the south. In the
south the sun sent a sign to his children--it was gold set in the
ledges of the rock, or the gravel of the stream. If these people of
the Rio Grande del Norte can show these signs that they be given as
proof to our king--then men in armor of steel will come many as bees
on the blossom and guard your land that your corn and your women be
ever safe from the wild Indians who make devastation."

Tahn-te repeated this to the Te-hua men without comment of his own,
and the dark faces were watched by the Castilians. They could see
no eagerness--only a little wonder--and from some a shrug or
smile,--but--not from any of them anger or fierce looks!

The padre drew a quiet breath of content and leaned back--the game was
at least even. The Navahu had been bad for two years--very bad! The
appeal of Don Ruy might prove the right thing, and the simple thing.
It would take time, for the Indian mind was slow;--the quickness of
the naked sorcerer proved nothing otherwise, for every god-fearing
man could see that he was more than mortal in satanic strength.
Against this one man alone must the battle for the Trinity be fought!

Together did the Te-hua men of council speak much--and to Ka-yemo they
turned more than once and asked of the Tiguex days of the other
Christian men. But between the devil of the padre and his symbols and
the deep sea of the eyes of Tahn-te, not much was to be remembered by
a man, and he could only say that his stay in the south was not
long--that he was only a boy, and without the understanding of things
done and seen.

"I have spoken,"--said Tahn-te when the older men turned to him for
council as to the wisdom of throwing away so powerful a friend as the
men of iron. Some were concerned lest they should turn away and offer
help to their enemies!

In the land of the Yutah the yellow stones were found in the
stream--also in the heart of the Navahu desert. No people used these
stones because they were sacred to the sun, and strong for prayer,
but--it was well to think what would happen if the men of iron were
brothers to the Navahu!

"Never more could we sleep under our own roof--or plant corn in our
own fields," said the man from Te-tzo-ge,--"our daughters would be
wives to the Navahu and mothers of Navahu, and the grass would grow
over the walls we have builded."

They smoked in silence over this thought, for it was a dark
thought--and it could come true!

"We could