Toby thus furnishes great amusement to sojourners at Walpi and also
leaves the suspicion in the minds of most that he is a trifle "light
in the upper story."
Another character is "Tom Sawyer," a Paiute Indian who lives with the
Peaceful People at the East Mesa. As handsome as a Japanese grotesque
mask and almost as taciturn, his gravity seems to have telescoped his
squat figure and multiplied the wrinkles in his face, half hidden by
his lank, grizzled hair. Keen, shrewd eyes has he and very evasive.
Tom, however, is not "bad" in the Arizona sense, nor will his make-up
allow him to be altogether good. He is, therefore, a man, for which
this sketch is to be congratulated. While Tom's early history may
never be known to the world, his step in leaving the Paiute for the
Hopi is very much in his favor. Here he fell naturally in his place as
serf to Chakwaina, of whom something has already been said.
Tom became washerman for the Fewkes expedition while the party
sojourned at Walpi. Percy, who prides himself on his faultless
"American," held the position in former years, but having gotten a few
dollars ahead, felt above work at this time. It must be said that Tom
is an excellent laundryman. The idiosyncrasies of wayworn civilized
garb do not stump him; in fact, he is "ol' clo'es man" for the whole
East Mesa. His many quests for discarded garments to Winslow,
Holbrook, and other points on the railroad are always successful. The
people of Winslow affirm that wearing apparel often disappears from
clotheslines and other exposed situations coincidently with the visits
of Hopi, who clear the town of rags as the winds do of loose paper.
When the physician of the place lost a pair of overshoes which were
reposing on the back kitchen steps, he remembered too late that a Hopi
had gone down the alley sometime before. The disappearance of the
overshoes can scarcely arouse as much wonder as their presence and
utility in arid, dusty Winslow. No doubt Tom has caused many of these
mysterious disappearances and the spoils borne northward on his
patient burros have promoted a dressed-up feeling among the Hopi
braves.
It has not yet been found out whether Tom gave an exhibition of
artistic lying or was telling the truth about the following matter.
Tom was starting on one of his periodical clothes raids to Winslow,
and he was asked to bring back a can of plaster. About a week later
Tom returned with the following laconic tale, "Snake bite burro, burro
die; me take can back, give to man."
At the time it was thought that Tom had overloaded his burro with old
clothes and had invented the story. There is much to be said on Indian
invention. If Tom is living he is still an active citizen of Hopiland.
XI
THE ANCIENT PEOPLE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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