falling rock or the crackling of a dead branch would be a dead give-away. This was not to happen to “the little strong people.” [Illustration: COURTESY MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO CEREMONIAL CAVE] [Illustration: COURTESY MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO KIVA IN CEREMONIAL CAVE] [Illustration: Raising the ladders] In 1540 the Spanish explorers passed the Keres province and moved northward, it would appear, near the present site of San Juan Pueblo. The entire Indian population fled to the mountains, as you will recall, where they said they had four very strong villages. It is entirely possible that some of these people from the north pushed deep into the mountain country and on to the Valley of the Frijoles where the Spanish could not go on horseback. It was a Hidden Valley. If this had been true, if these northern people had moved into Tyuonyi with their kith and kin and had told about how the Spanish stormed pueblos and shot cannon at other Indians and readily conquered the inhabitants, “the little strong people” might have had incentive to fortify their Puwige against the undesirable attentions of the conquerors. Or it might have been some visitor from the Valley of the Rio Grande who told about depredations at Tiguex. But would a Keres warn a Tewa? We must not overlook the fact that it would have been possible for friendly relations to have existed between the rival groups of people at the time of the Spanish Conquest. They could have lived close together and traded pottery and other articles back and forth. One might go so far as to say that they could have lived at Tyuonyi together a few years prior to its abandonment. But taking all these things into consideration it was likely the Keres whom the Tewas fortified themselves against, and from whom they had probably experienced hostile visits. So they fortified their Puwige and drew up their ladders to the roof-tops in defiance. And the people in the cliffs also drew up their ladders.