The ancient Hopis buried their dead in a sitting posture on a woven
grass mat, with an olla, and frequently a bone dagger, beside them. In
the clean, dry air of the uplands of Arizona the process of decay is
slow. Sundown, unaware of this, hardly anticipated that which
confronted him as the match flamed blue and flared up, lighting the
interior of the cave with instant brilliance. About six feet from
where he crouched was the dried and shriveled figure of a Hopi chief,
propped against the wall of the cave. Beside the figure stood the
painted olla untarnished by age. The dead Indian's head was bowed upon
his breast, and his skeleton arms, parchment-skinned and rigid, were
crossed upon his knees.
Sundown scrambled for the circle of daylight above him. "Gee Gosh!" he
panted, as he got to his feet outside the cave. "It was him!" He
clambered over the circle of stones and backed away, eyeing the
entrance as though he expected to see the Hopi emerge at any moment.
He crouched behind a boulder, his pulses racing. He was keyed to a
high tension of expectancy. In fact, he was in a decidedly receptive
mood for that which immediately happened. He noticed that his horse, a
hundred yards or so up the valley, was circling the cedar and pulling
back on the reins. He wondered what was the matter with him. The
horse was usually a well-behaved animal. The explanation came rapidly.
Sundown saw the horse back and tear loose from the cedar; saw him whirl
and charge down the valley snorting. "Guess he seen one, too!" said
Sundown making no effort to check the frightened animal. Almost
immediately came the long-drawn bell of a dog following a hot scent.
Sundown turned from watching his vanishing steed and saw a huge
timber-wolf leap from a thicket. Behind the wolf came Chance, neck
outstretched, and flanks working at top speed. The wolf dodged a
boulder, flashing around it with no apparent loss of ground. Chance
rose over the boulder as though borne on the wind. The wolf turned and
snapped at him. Sundown decided instantly that the sepulcher of the
dead Hopi was preferable to the proximity of the live wolf, and he made
for the cave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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