But I did not connect either Jay or Guy with Hoske Nehol Gode. Who
would? There is little hope of making an accurate census of the nomadic
Navajo; and whenever one does succeed, he will have the joy of
recording three to five names for each adult. The Navajo, in speaking
of or to one another, do not use given names. Too many of their titles
mean infirmities or weaknesses. Some of their names are not delicate;
and by this I mean that they are coarse enough to offend Navajo. One
learns in talking with them through interpreters, to say “this man,” or
“that man,” and to leave the name of him alone. Many of them establish
their identity by relationship. Instead of saying “I am the Man with
the Broken Nose,” he may call himself “Curly-Hair’s Brother-in-Law.”
And therefore, when an official goes looking for an obscure member of
the tribe, seeking him under his real name, he is apt to meet and talk
with Curly-Hair’s Brother-in-Law, or Victor Hugo, if the man has been
to school and had a literary teacher, to learn finally that
Curly-Hair’s relative by marriage, the brilliant French poet, and the
Man with the Broken Nose, are all one and the same person. This game of
hare and hounds is often humorous, unless it chances to be dangerous.
Now it also happened that I was preparing a number of cases for
presenting to the Federal Court. Trips from the remote desert to court
are troublesome and expensive, so one likes to assemble them in batches
and thus clear the docket. I was gathering Hopi and Navajo witnesses,
and chanced to need as one the wife of “the Ghost.” How was I to know
that the Ghost’s wife was a sister of the returned student? This woman
knew something of the robbery. I did not connect the two incidents. And
I did not know that there was still another sister, practically a twin
in appearance of the one wanted. That morning I learned that the
apparition’s better half was weaving a blanket down the cañon. The
Ghost’s wife didn’t want to go to court, and assured me that the person
I needed would be found at the camp where the returned student had met
with her beating. By going there I could kill two birds with one
stone—procure the wife of the Ghost, and the sister of the student who
had suffered also. I did wound two birds, all right; for at that camp I
encountered both Guy and Hoske Nehol Gode.
If I have not confused matters, it will be recalled that I wanted Guy
for burglary, and Hoske Nehol Gode for assaulting two women. Now Guy
and Hoske Nehol Gode were one and the same person. Guy did not know
that I suspected him of looting the trader’s store, but he perfectly
well knew that I might be looking for him to answer the assault-charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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