Christian fiction; Clergy -- Fiction; Historical fiction; New Mexico -- Fiction
Though he was ten years younger than Father Latour, Eusabio was one of
the most influential men among the Navajo people, and one of the richest
in sheep and horses. In Santa Fé and Albuquerque he was respected for
his intelligence and authority, and admired for his fine presence. He
was extremely tall, even for a Navajo, with a face like a Roman
general's of Republican times. He always dressed very elegantly in
velvet and buckskin rich with bead and quill embroidery, belted with
silver, and wore a blanket of the finest wool and design. His arms,
under the loose sleeves of his shirt, were covered with silver
bracelets, and on his breast hung very old necklaces of wampum and
turquoise and coral--Mediterranean coral, that had been left in the
Navajo country by Coronado's captains when they passed through it on
their way to discover the Hopi villages and the Grand Canyon.
Eusabio lived, with his relatives and dependents, in a group of hogans
on the Colorado Chiquito; to the west and south and north his kinsmen
herded his great flocks.
Father Latour and Jacinto arrived at the cluster of booth-like cabins
during a high sand-storm, which circled about them and their mules like
snow in a blizzard and all but obliterated the landscape. The Navajo
came out of his house and took possession of Angelica by her bridle-bit.
At first he did not open his lips, merely stood holding Father Latour's
very fine white hand in his very fine dark one, and looked into his face
with a message of sorrow and resignation in his deep-set, eagle eyes. A
wave of feeling passed over his bronze features as he said slowly:
"My friend has come."
That was all, but it was everything; welcome, confidence, appreciation.
For his lodging the Bishop was given a solitary hogan, a little apart
from the settlement. Eusabio quickly furnished it with his best skins
and blankets, and told his guest that he must tarry a few days there and
recover from his fatigue. His mules were tired, the Indian said, the
Padre himself looked weary, and the way to Santa Fé was long.
The Bishop thanked him and said he would stay three days; that he had
need for reflection. His mind had been taken up with practical matters
ever since he left home. This seemed a spot where a man might get his
thoughts together. The river, a considerable stream at this time of the
year, wound among mounds and dunes of loose sand which whirled through
the air all day in the boisterous spring winds. The sand banked up
against the hogan the Bishop occupied, and filtered through chinks in
the walls, which were made of saplings plastered with clay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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