by Jacob Nelson
A few hours into the repeating vigil Kit fell asleep.
The fourth morning found the brave turned north. Again the Morning Prayer ritual was done and again he was given a sweat bath. This time they chanted a prayer they called the Hail way, which Kit was told was for those who had been damaged by water. However, as the patient was still unconscious the following morning took on a slightly different sphere.
For the next four days the brave lay facing north. Each morning started with a song of exorcism followed by a great sand painting. Each day he continued to go in and out of fever. Kit began to be very afraid that he would not recover.
Finally, on the ninth day the medicine woman tried two dances. The first they called the Dance of the Naakhaí and the second the Dance of the Atsálei.
It is on the ninth night, in the dance of the Atsálei, that the famous song, known as the House made of Dawn, occurs. This represents the culmination of the rite, the healing of the "one sung over." At the end of this ninth night, the "one sung over" inhales the "breath of dawn" and must certainly be cured!
However the morning of the tenth day arrived and the patient was just as feverish as before.
“Enough!” said the old chief to the medicine woman. “It is now the Wind Walker’s turn.”
The medicine woman spat at the two of them and quickly stormed out of the hogan.
Once she was gone, Miya slipped a piece of black shale into Kit’s hand and urged him to place it into the patient’s mouth.
“O Great Chief,” Kit approached, as Miya translated, “would you be willing to now allow the Wind Walker to help your son become less hot?”
“Do whatever is necessary if it may grant me the Great Spirit’s blessing,” he replied.
She nodded to Kit and he slipped the piece of petroleum shale between the youth’s lips. The natural acetaminophen shortly reduced the youth’s fever. He did not wake, but the difference in his breathing and temperature was apparent.
The chief stood amazed.
The next few hours were somewhat frantic ones for Kit and Miya. Caribo just explored while the others worked. Thankfully, Miya was well prepared. As they had traveled throughout the various ecological regions, she had collected plants and fungi that she found to have curative properties or medicinal use. Her bag was filled with these wonders and she put many of them to use at this time.
However, as she was to use some of her many supplies, the medicine woman tried to stop her, “She is using plants that do not come from this sacred ground!” she declared.
Kit hastily tried to console the old chief. Having Miya translate, he explained, “True that the plants that we are giving to the patient are not from here, but rather from the land of the gods, where higher medicine resides.”
The chief consented and the medicine woman again left in fury. Compresses were made to cover the many wounds that had not wholly healed and more shale was applied a number of hours later. That night, as the patient was cared for by Miya and Kit, the fever broke, and he weakly opened his eyes, asking for water.
The Great Chief was immediately by his side, as Miya used Kit’s supple leather belt to soak up water to be squeezed into the mouth of the brave. The camp was woken and all celebrated with the exception of one.
The brave shortly fell asleep again, but by the middle of the next morning he was awake and though feeble, he was on the mend.
“You have saved my son, oh great Wind Walker!” the chief said with tears of gratitude in his eyes. “Whatever you ask of me I will do for you.”
“I ask nothing of you but your blessing as we travel from here, for now we must leave,” Kit replied to him, via Miya.
“Now I know of a surety that you are more than a man, for no man can resist the offers of the world. I will hold your mount sacred and safe as a part of your remembrance. The mount of the Wind Walker,” he stated.
“Kit Walker’s table,” supplied Caribo, shortening the name that Miya gave him. “I should have known that you’d get the place somehow.”
The chief continued, looking quizzically at the trio, not understanding the banter between them. “I pray that you tell me where you are going, oh Wind Walker.”
“Tell him east, Miya,” said Caribo. “I found a river that way that looks promising.”
“That’s what he will want to know,” added Kit, realizing that the chief would like the words to come from his mouth. Miya translated.
The old chief replied.
“He wants to know how we will be traveling. Whether in an instant by air, or longer by land.”
“Tell him that we will follow the land for a short time, and then we will wish to stand upon logs to stay on top of the water,” said Kit forming an idea in his head. Miya complied.
“He says that he has been told the river to the east empties into a great water further to the east. He also says that he would volunteer his men to help us, if they are allowed to see this feat of standing upon logs upon the water.”
“Perfect,” replied Kit. “Thank him for the offer and accept it. Looks like we have a raft to build my friends!”
Chapter 9
Caribo led the party due east. The braves had never left their area of the four peaks and so were surprised to find the trio leaving the comfort of the Navajo lands.
As they followed the San Juan River, Caribo took them on a short excursion north, to show them a larger mesa he had found on his earlier excursions alone.
When Caribo motioned to the braves that they were considering climbing the larger mesa east of them, the braves asked to wait while Caribo led the other two on up.
Thus it was that only the three of them climbed the mesa. This mesa was much greener than those in the land of the Navajo, being covered in trees and plants, and Kit called it Mesa Verde in reference to its greenery; as Mesa Verde translates to Green Table.
They found signs of a lot of wildlife on the mesa. Mule deer were a common sight, as were wild turkeys. The trees sheltered squirrels, while the prints of skunks, and the occasional black bear where found as well. There was also a wide variety of birds in the mesa and within the canyons; including warblers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, jays, hawks, chickadees, titmice, and other species. More than once the trio spotted hawks, golden eagles, and peregrine falcons, which could be seen on the rim of the mesa along the valley.
Characterized by semi-arid climate, moderately high altitude, and pinion-juniper forests; Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine and sagebrush were found quite common there including an abundance of Gambel oak.
From the top of the mesa they could see all around them. On one side was a large ravine, and it was there that Caribo pointed out the small natural stone buildings that were set into the far Cliffside. The men decided to climb down the ravine and up the other side to check them out; but to their surprise they found an even larger ruin right under their feet, set into their side of the cliff.
The ruin wasn’t exceptionally difficult to get to, but they had to be careful, looking for footholds which were found carved into the rock face on both sides of the ruin.
The ruin resembled some sort of palace, with an overhanging cliff above and a sheer drop below. Multistoried dwellings filled the cliff-rock alcoves that rose 2,000 feet above the valley floor. Remarkably preserved, the cliff dwellings clustered together within the side of the canyon. The city was spread out over a space of many yards and Caribo and Kit found the place had over 150 individual rooms and they counted as many as 23 kivas (rooms for religious rituals). One kiva, in the center of the ruin, was at a point where the entire structure was partitioned by a series of walls with no doorways or other access portals. The walls of that kiva were plastered with one color on one side and a different color on the opposing side. As they stood there among the ruins, they called down Miya, to participate in their incredible discovery. Miya shortly joined them.
Sandstone, mortar and wooden beams seemed to be the three primary construction materials for the cliff dwellings. The mortar between the
blocks was a mixture of local soil, water and ash. Fitted in the mortar were tiny pieces of stone called "chinking." Chinking stones filled the gaps within the mortar and added structural stability to the walls.
The people who had built the palace had decorated many of the surface walls with earthen plasters of pink, brown, red, yellow, or white… the first things that had eroded with time. Clay pots and earth-ware were still there in various rooms, evidence that the people that lived there had abruptly left. The whole scene was such that it left the trio in awe, yet wondering about the fate of such a people.
They spent half a day just exploring the ruins, never making it to the other side.
As they noted the passing of the day, they decided it was smarter to return to their escort. Working their way around and back down the mesa, they eventually returned to where the braves were waiting and having spent the night in the shadow of the mesa, convinced them to return down the San Juan River before continuing east with them.
The Rocky Mountain cordillera extends southward with the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo ranges in the north and several other ranges stretching southward. With its source in those northern mountains, the Rio Grande River wends its way southward and its valley provides a riparian highway of green across the otherwise arid upland plateaus until eventually depositing its waters into the Caribbean.
It was into those mountains that Caribo led the group to the headwaters of the San Juan River, over to the South Fork of the Rio Grande. Again, wildlife was plentiful and varied. Not just with deer and wild turkeys, but other mammals as well, including coyote, gray fox, mountain lion, black bear, elk, marmot, and porcupine. But the greatest animal that they came across during this long trek was the American bison. The animal was so large that it was impossible to look upon it without respect. Unlike the other animals they came across, Kit was unwilling to try to take it down with his simple pistols. However, the Navajo braves showed him their hunting skills as they dropped the large animal with their spears.
They arrived late in the day and having built a good fire to help them with the cold of the mountains as well as to ward off any beasts, they passed the night, well fed on Cutthroat trout, bison and venison.
The next day Kit awoke with a clear idea of what he wanted. He grabbed a blackened stick from the fire pit, and using the side of a large rock as his paper, he drew out the plans for the raft that he wished to be built.
The raft was to be built following a design that came to him in dream.
He had the men chop down and lay out seven logs, with a one-foot diameter, with the undersides of the ends cut away so that the logs had a slight upward tilt on both ends. The seven logs were laid out with the longest one in the middle at 10 feet, and the shorter ones on the outside ending in 7 feet. On top of these logs, six more logs were fastened. The bottom seven logs were fastened together as one raft and the upper six fastened together as another raft. Then the two groups were fastened together as a whole, the one raft on top of the other.
For cordage, the Navajo sliced long strips from the buffalo hide, making a thick leather rope that only tightened and became stronger the wetter it became. Finally, Kit had a rudder made. When Kit had the first rudder made and attached, Caribo inspected it with much curiosity.
“And what is that thing for, my friend,” Caribo asked Kit.
“To keep the raft straight. We will steer with it,” Kit clarified.
“And what if the raft spins around?” asked Caribo in response.
Kit considered it and had another rudder made.
“There,” he proudly displayed to Caribo a few hours later. “One for each end. Now it won’t matter which way the raft spins, I can still take control of it and steer it straight.”
“I see,” said Caribo. “And what if one breaks on a rock as we pass over it?”
Kit sighed and sent Caribo away to hunt down dinner.
Later that day, a third rudder was finished that was strapped on to the center of the raft in case one of the other two broke. The rudders were also modified to be able to be tilted and secured into the raft in case of low-lying rocks.
When Caribo returned from hunting, all he said was, “I like the rudders. It’s a good design, my friend.” Kit smiled a large toothy smile.
Finally, the raft was finished. The effect was that it resembled a boat from the side view. It sported a small shelter of buffalo hide that had been arranged on top to shelter them from weather and leather hoops had been added to give them something to hold onto in case of strong current or steep falls.
By that time, the chief and his son were able to make the trek out to see them off. The raft was slowly moved into place by rolling it onto another log that worked as a pivot point under the craft. Having slid the edge over the bank, the weight of the craft pulled the rest of the raft into the water. True to Kit’s word, the chief was able to see the trio stand on the logs that floated upon the water. As a final gesture, Kit helped the chief and his son onto the raft. Having ‘stood on the water’, they were anxious to get back to dry land.
There they presented Kit with a final goodbye present: a leather belt to replace the one that he had used to treat the Chief’s son, with a triangle buckle and a skulls head in the center that matched the skull on his ring.
In gratitude of the chief’s work, Kit positioned the new belt in the place of where the old one resided.
“Now I will know when you return,” the old chief said to Kit via Miya. “Let this belt be a symbol of the fight against evil that you have sworn to do, o Wind Walker.”
Kit was without words but Miya had the common sense to thank the chief profusely. Gathering his men, the chief and the braves prepared to return.
The Rio Grande has been known by many names over time and in different parts of its course. Since the river’s discovery among European explorers it has carried the following names: Río de Nuestra Señora, River of May, Río de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, the Río Guadalquivir, Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte, Río del Norte, Río Turbio, Río de San Buenaventura del Norte, Río Ganapetuan, Río Caudaloso, and at other earlier times as Río del Norte y de Nuevo México. The Pueblo Indians simply called it Posoge, which meant "big river." Kit called it likewise, translating the word ‘Big’ for the word ‘Grand’.
The Rio Grande is the twenty-second longest river in the world and the fifth longest in North America. The river flows a total of 1,876 miles.
For Kit, Miya, and Caribo it just looked like one more step into adventure.
Holding up the crossed swords, Kit called out a goodbye to his friends, in what was taken as a promise to return.
Then with a swift downward thrust of his right espada, he severed the leather band that held the raft into place. They were off.
Chapter 10
Kit immediately found that he had a hard time trying to keep his raft in line. The water flowed fast through a broad lava-rock plain. The water wasn’t too rough or too swift, but for this first run it was enough to make the three of them take note on how the craft handled.
They found themselves fighting rocks rising out of the stream and erratic winds; and, as they continued down the river, found themselves surrounded by steep canyon walls. Above them prairie falcons and golden eagles soared. As Kit became used to the movements of the river, he turned the rudder over to Caribo, who later gratefully turned it over to Miya, who could steer so well that it seemed she must have been born in such a craft!
As they became accustomed to the rolling of the craft, they were able to take note of their surroundings. Visible signs of wildlife were all around them, from antelope, to elk, deer, squirrels, raccoons and numerous other animals. There was no real spot to camp, so they continued on through the noon day.
At the end of the first 24 mile run, they found a flat area to rest for a time. Caribo nearly kissed the ground, being so thankfully for the solid earth again. Kit laughed as Caribo attempted to explain the difference between the relatively smooth ocean and larg
e river travel in a canoe versus the uncontrolled and erratic rafting ride they just experienced. Somewhat frustrated at his friend’s determination to continue navigating the unholy craft, he set out on foot to scout the river further down, while Kit fished for trout. When he returned, Caribo looked grim.
“The water is very rough. Very rough. I do not know if we will be able to float it.”
“What about waterfalls?” asked Kit.
“Nothing too big, but the water is very hard,” replied Caribo.
Kit pondered the problem while they ate. Finally he stood and said, “Unless we abandon the raft now, we need to go on. But I won’t make you ride with me. Who wishes to walk? Who wishes to ride?”
“I will ride with you,” Miya immediately responded, causing Kit to grin.
Caribo looked up from the ground that he appeared to be studying. “I will ride with you too, friend, but be forewarned… the river is rough. Very rough.”
The area of the “very rough water” as Caribo described it followed steep canyons. That short and fast section of the river segment became one continuous rapid once the water flow hit the 2,000 cubic feet per second mark. In their case the water was well over the 2,000cfs mark. Caribo had reason for concern.
The trio set off again on their raft. As the raft entered the water, the force of the flow gradually steered them to the center of the run.
“Everyone grab hold of your lines!” yelled Kit over the sound of the rapids; while he tried to stand near the back of the boat with the rudder in hand.
Caribo and Miya each snaked a free hand through the loops of buffalo hide that Kit had installed for just such an emergency.
The rocking motion of the craft became almost a constant motion, and luckily the flow of the water was high and strong enough that the craft never dropped into a keeper sieve, a sieve of rocks that the water rushes past, that will hang up a craft or impede its forward flow.
Yet the blessing of having a high strong flow also presented its own problems. Kit found that the craft was very difficult to control and the constant bump and roll of the craft coupled with the white water crashing across his feet made the raft slippery and his footing unsure.
