enturers to the land of false dreams.

It was bad, however, that the strangers had not lost themselves in the
prairies, or were not killed by the fierce tribes of the north:--it
was bad that they came back to the villages of the P[=o]-s[=o]n-ge
river.

Then the boy told of the final despair of the conquerors, and their
disheartened retreat to the land of the south. For two years they had
terrorized the people of the land--worse enemies than the Navahu or
the Comanche or the Apache fighter, then when they had made ruins
where towns and gardens had been, they said it was all of no use since
the yellow metal was not found in the ground.

"Did the wise men of iron not know that where the yellow metal is in
the earth, that there is ever the symbol of the Sun Father, and that
it must be a thing sacred and a hidden place for prayer?"

"They did not know that:--no man told them."

K[=a]-ye-fah, the ancient Ruler blew smoke from his pipe to the four
ways, and spoke.

"Yet among the men they burned to ashes in the village square were
many who could have told them that, and three who could have told them
where such prayer places were hidden! It is well, my children, that
they did die, and not tell that which the Sun Father has hidden for
his own people:--it is well!"

"It is well!" echoed the others of the council.

"We all die when the day or the night comes,"--continued the old man.
"It is well that we die in bravery for the sake of the others who have
to live and walk the earth path. It is well that we have strong hearts
to think about. One day I shall go in the ground with my fathers; I am
old, and the trail has been long, and in my old days the sunlight has
been covered for me."

Tahn-te did not know what he meant, but the other men bent their heads
in sympathy.

"It is twice four moons since my child K[=a]-ye-povi was carried away
in the darkness when we fought the Navahu in the hunting grounds to
the west,"--he continued. "No one has found her--no trader has brought
her back. When a woman, she will not know her own people, or our own
speech. I think of that, and grow weak. Our people have never been
slaves--yet she will be a slave for our enemy the Navahu! So it is
that I grow old more quick, and the time may come soon to sleep on our
Mother--the Earth."

"We wish that it comes not soon," said the governor, and the others
signified their assent.

"Thanks, thanks that you wish it. I do not speak of it to give