yells of the victors sounded in the
pinyons towards the hills. Beyond all the other horsemen he rode, and
saw far above in the scrubby growth, the enemy seeking footholds where
the four-footed animals could not follow. Then, when Ka-yemo had
called the names of the trailers who were to follow the enemy beyond
the summit, Tahn-te the Po-Athun-ho turned back and chanted the prayer
of a prophet to whom the god had sent true dreams.

The Castilians watched him as he came; so proudly did he carry himself
that the men swore an army of such horsemen would win half the battle
by merely showing themselves, and the old men of Te-hua knew as they
looked on him, and as they counted the slain and wounded, that Tahn-te
had indeed been given the gift of the god-sight to save the women of
the valley.

Juan Gonzalvo swore ugly oaths at sight of the horse of Don Ruy. Since
the pagan had taken it as his own, it was plain to be seen that some
woeful thing had chanced to his excellency.

But to their many questions Tahn-te led them to the arroyo where Don
Ruy was indeed wounded, and where a pale secretary was carrying water
in his hat to bathe his excellency's head, and his excellency let it
be done, and exchanged a long look of silence with Tahn-te, who
understood.

The ankle of Don Ruy had a twist making it of no use to stand upon.
The Po-Ahtun-ho made a gesture to Chico to hold the horse while he,
with a soldier to help, put it straight with a dextrous wrench, and
the secretary several paces away, turned white at the pain of it.

Then was his excellency helped again to his saddle, and the men from
Mexico marvelled at the surgery of the pagan priest who killed and
flayed one man to mend another with.

CHAPTER XIX

THE APACHE DEATH TRAP

When the runners carried the word to the river that the vision of
Tahn-te had been a true vision, the padre and Don Diego stared at each
other incredulous. It was a thing not to be believed by a Christian.
Yet the runners said that many Navahu scalps and two dead Te-hua men
witnessed the truth of it, and the men of iron had proven indeed
brothers in the time of battle. The governor made thanks to Don Ruy,
who was wounded, and his Excellency had sent the secretary back to
camp with Ysobel since there was not anything new to record. The
Te-hua men would dance the scalp dance when they came to the village,
and two clans mourned for men left dead on the mesa meadows.

The padre regretted th