Part 15 (1/2)

And the people marched on in the order of their villages; and a member of one village, a woman, was taken sick, and her fellow-villagers stayed with her to take care of her, and the rest of the army marched on, leaving this village behind. And these remained with her till she died, and buried her, and then journeyed on till they overtook the others.

And as they traveled a pestilence broke out, a sickness which spread thru all the villages and delayed them. But a doctor told them to kill a doe and have a big dance, the dance that is called ”Tramping Down the Sickness,” that the sick might get well. And they did this and all their sick ones recovered.

THE FIRST SONG OF EE-EE-TOY'S ARMY

The White Earth I come to and sing; Where many war-bonnets are shaking with the wind; There we come together to dance and to sing.

THE DOCTOR'S SONG TO THE HUNTERS

Sahn-a-mahl! [5]

Haymohl give me the necklace!

Sooadack Ceeavawt give me the turquoise ear-rings!

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE VAHAHKKEES

(The Pima plural of vah-ahk-kee is vahp-ahk-kee, but I have made all plurals English, as more understandable.)

And after this they were not sick any more, and they came to the Gila Country, to Ee-ee-toy's land, the Land of the Vahahkkees, and here they divided themselves into four parties, of which one went south; but the doctors united them all by ”The Light,” so that they would know about each other in case there was a battle in which any needed a.s.sistance.

And as they came into this country the people there were stirred up with alarm, and the great doctor who lived at Casa Blanca, whose name was Tcheu-tchick-a-dah-tai Seeven, sent his son to Stcheuadack Seeven, at Casa Grande, to enquire if there were any prophecies that he knew of about the coming of this great invading army.

So the boy went, but just before he got there he heard a frog, a big one, which Stcheuadack Seeven kept for a pet and to a.s.sist him in his work as a doctor, and when the boy heard the frog he was frightened, and ran back, and when his father asked what he had learned, he said: ”Nothing, I heard a noise there that frightened me, so I ran home again.”

And his father said: ”That is nothing to be afraid of, that is only the voice of his pet, his frog,” and he sent the boy once more.

So the boy went again, and came to Stcheuadack Seeven who asked him what his father had sent him for, and the boy replied that his father wanted to know if there were any prophecies about the coming of this enemy, and how he felt about it every evening.

When the boy returned his father asked him what Stcheuadack Seeven knew, and how he felt, and the boy said: ”He does not know anything. He says he sits out every night, and hears the different animals, and enjoys their pleasant voices, and in the morning he enjoys hearing the sweet songs of the birds, and he always feels good, and does not fear anything.”

So his father said: ”I am well satisfied that I will not be the first to see this thing happen. It will be Stcheuadack Seeven who will first see it, and it will not be ten days before it will occur.”

And in a few days Ee-ee-toy's army came to the village of Stcheuadack Seeven and killed all the people there.

And Geeaduck Seeven, who lived at Awawtk.u.m Vahahkkee, told his people to flee: and many did so and ran to the mountains and other places, but the others who did not run away came to Geeaduck Seeven's house, and he told them to come in there.

And the enemy came, and they fought, but it was not easy for Ee-ee-toy's warriors to fight the men of Geeaduck Seeven, because they were nearly all inside, but his men managed to set fire to the house, and so destroyed it, and killed all who were therein.

Then Ee-ee-toy's men marched on, north, to where Cheof-hahvo Seeven, or Long Dipper Chief, lived, and as they marched along they sang about the places they were conquering, and they sang of the beads that they expected to get at this village, the beads called sah-vaht-kih, and there was an old woman among them who said: ”When you get those beads, I want them.” And so when they had conquered that vahahkkee they gave the beads to her.

And they went from there to the home of Dthas Seeven, who had a cane-cactus fence about his place, and Ee-ee-toy's men heard of this, and sang about it as they went along. And they took this place and killed Dthas Seeven.