s a man of Ni-am-be," said Jose. "He has been outcast for a
reason. He lives alone, and the fear of the alone is growing in him,
for he is old! He was one of the men who made medicine to forget where
the sign of the Sun Father hides in the earth. But the medicine was
not good medicine."

"He does not forget?"

"He made a vow to the sky to forget, but the sky did not listen and
take the vow. He does not forget."

"And he will show the place?"

"It may be he will show the place. He asks me if it is a good life to
live with your people, also if you would take him away when you go."

"Oh--ho!--he fears what would happen if he was left behind after
telling--he fears they would kill him?"

"Not so much of the to kill is he afraid. He was a medicine man. He
knows what the other medicine men could do. He would wish for the to
die many times and they would not let death come near to his cave in
the rock."

"By their magic?" asked Don Ruy.

"By their magic, Excellency. Of all the head men is he afraid, but of
Tahn-te the Po-Ahtun-ho who has the sight of the dark is he much
afraid."

"The sight of the dark?"

"It is so, some men are born into the world with it. They know the
thought of the other man,--they see the hidden things. Tahn-te has the
strong medicine and the eyes to see. He is much afraid of Tahn-te the
Ruler."

"You see the power of these necromancers with their satanic arts?"
said Padre Vicente. "We must make it plain to these people that such
fear is to be driven out only by the true church and the power of its
saints."

"If we wait for the gold until we teach them all that, the profit of
this journey will be to our heirs and not to ourselves," decided Don
Ruy. "Pay the renegade for the secret he should have forgotten, take
him along with us, and convert him at your leisure. In all good time,
and with a larger guard of men, you can come for the further
conversion of the tribe."

"There is wisdom in what you say," replied the padre, "for converts
here will mean a waiting game. But once let us take to Mexico the
golden proof of the wealth in this province and there will be eager
troops and churchmen in plenty to cross the deserts and defend the
faith. But for that devil-possessed Po-Ahtun-ho the road to success
would be shorter."

"It is not good luck to say things against the man of strong magic,"
stated Jose. "Ka-yemo, the war capitan would like if Tahn-te had
never come from the land of the Hopit