Navajo Long Walk

by Armstrong, Nancy M.

  Kee watched as Gentle Woman took Wise One into her arms and tried to comfort her, saying, “Little Mother, this is a dark night for the Diné. But morning will come and we will return to our homes. I know the spirits are not pleased when we travel farther. But it is not our fault; we are being forced to disobey them.”

  “The Navajo spirits have abandoned us, I think,” Kee said.

  Gentle Woman turned toward him. “My son, such a feeling can bring only unhappiness. We must keep songs of beauty and bravery in our hearts. Even though the time seems so very long, we must believe our misery will come to an end.”

  Kee knew misery for him would never end until he learned what had happened to his father.

  As the Navajos and soldiers continued toward the Rio Grande the country became flat and drab. Walking should have become easier, but many had sore feet from the chafing of torn and worn-out moccasins. Kee and Hasba put what was left of their moccasins into a buckskin bag on Small Burro’s back and walked barefooted.

  On a warm spring afternoon, the people saw cotton-wood trees lining the west bank of a large river. They shouted to each other with joy, and pushed forward to reach the shore of the Rio Grande. Spring runoff had begun and the river was wide and deep. Kee stopped high on the bank and stared in amazement. Gray Dog dashed past him and ran into the water, wading out belly deep to cool himself and lap water to quench his thirst. Kee and Hasba both dropped the things they were carrying and dashed forward. How good the cool water felt as they waded in the shallow edge of the river with the other children. Women came to the shore and Kee saw their smiles as they filled their cooking pots and water jars.

  Although sun-bearer was a long way from completing his journey across the sky, orders came for heads of families to come to the supply wagons for rations and to make camp for the night.

  Kee stood in their camp and looked across the river. “I never knew there was a river so big,” he told Hasba. “It must be very deep. We could never cross it. I hope we follow it so we will be near the shore all the rest of the way.”

  Chapter Ten

  Crossing the Rio Grande

  Gray Dog nuzzled Kee into wakefulness before bugle call the next morning. It was barely light enough to see. A cold wind had arrived with the dawn. Already there was a great commotion among the animals and people. Oxen were being harnessed to wagons and lined up along the bank facing the river. Word was sent around that old people and small children would ride across in the wagons. Many of the wagons were nearly empty; supplies were low and would be replenished at Albuquerque.

  Panic spread through the camp. Navajos did not know how to swim. Being at the mercy of soldiers with guns and whips, the people had no choice but to get across somehow.

  Kee felt sick with fear. His mother said to him, “You are the man of our family. Take your grandmother to one of the wagons and find her a place to ride across while I pack our belongings.”

  “No, no,” said Wise One, “I will go across on Small Burro’s back. He will not go into the water without me to urge him. I must see he gets across.”

  “Kee or I could perhaps get him across,” Gentle Woman replied.

  Hasba began to cry. “How will I get my lamb across? She will drown and so will I.”

  “You had better worry about the children and our things. Let me take care of Small Burro,” Wise One said. “He will only be able to carry me across.”

  “You are right, Little Mother,” Gentle Woman said as she knelt to roll the cooking pot and water jar inside their sheepskins.

  Kee helped her tie them into a tight bundle, and together they carried the bundle. Hasba carried her lamb. Wise One led Small Burro. Gray Dog followed closely.

  They joined the crowd of Navajos walking toward the river. Grown-ups were talking loudly about the injustice of making the Diné cross a wide river when they did not know how to swim. Frightened children cried, babies screamed, sheep bleated, horses snorted and neighed, and soldiers cracked whips and shouted angrily.

  A few wagons had already reached the other side. More were starting into the river. A sweaty soldier, who was whipping a team of oxen to force them into the water, stopped long enough to grab Hasba and her lamb. He tossed them into the back of the wagon on top of other screaming children. Then he forced some young boys standing nearby to hang on to the tailboard of the wagon.

  Hasba screamed for her mother. Gentle Woman could do nothing to quiet her fears. The oxen were already dragging the wagon into shallow water. When it hit deeper water, the oxen had to swim and the wagon twisted and turned in the current. At times, the boys hanging on to the tailboard were completely under water. Watching, Kee felt sure he would die of fright if that happened to him.

  Eagle Feather came running through the crowd. “Bring Gray Dog and help me start my sheep across. They are afraid of the soldiers and their whips.”

  Kee did not answer nor take his eyes off the wagon that was now being pulled up on the opposite shore. Gentle Woman nudged him, “Go with Eagle Feather,” she said. “His sheep are used to Gray Dog. He will be able to get them into the river.”

  Gray Dog, with the help of the boys, had no trouble keeping Eagle Feather’s small herd separated from other sheep and goats. When they reached the river, Kee could see Gray Dog was anxious to get into the water. He ranged back and forth forcing the sheep closer and closer to the river’s edge. Suddenly he rushed the animal at the head of the group. It floundered into the water, and the others followed. Gray Dog ran to the back of the herd to see that none went astray. When the last sheep entered the river, he barked with joy while splashing into the water himself.

  Kee watched anxiously. Could his dog swim where the current was swift? Twice he lost sight of Gray Dog’s bobbing head as he swam close to the sheep. Time seemed long before the first sheep dragged itself up the muddy edge of the opposite bank followed by the others, and Gray Dog shaking himself vigorously.

  Both boys let out a breath. “The sheep are safe,” said Eagle Feather.

  “Gray Dog did it,” Kee said proudly. Then he hurried back to the place upstream where he had left his mother and grandmother. He could not find them. Many people and animals were milling around on the opposite shore. Fires had already been started to dry the clothes and blankets of cold, shivering Indians. He was looking at the wagons and animals crossing the river to see if could find them when a soldier grabbed him. He took Kee to a horse that was just stepping into the mud on the bank. Two Navajo women, holding babies in cradle boards, were on its back. The soldier placed Kee’s two hands around the horse’s tail and squeezed them to show he must hang on tightly. Then he slapped the horse hard on the flank. The horse jumped. Kee was dragged across the mud into the river. Gasping, coughing, and spitting whenever he was tossed above water by the swimming horse, Kee clutched the tail with all his strength. Up and down, under and above the water, he was tossed until the horse once more felt ground under its hoofs. As Kee was dragged through shallow water into mud, he let go, collapsing on the muddy bank. Gray Dog ran to him and began licking mud from his face. Then a Navajo man stepped into the mud and carried him to the nearest fire.

  Gentle Woman and Hasba, still holding her lamb, found Kee at the fire. He smiled at them. “How did you get across, Mother? Where is Grandmother?”

  “I was lucky,” Mother replied. “I came across on horseback and held our bundle, so our things are safe. I’m afraid Wise One is still on the other side. She was trying to coax Small Burro into the stream when a soldier motioned for me to mount the horse and guide it across. I hated to leave her, but I dared not refuse the soldier.”

  Kee jumped to his feet, scanning the river and opposite shore. The group waiting to cross was no longer large. But he couldn’t see Wise One or the donkey. Gentle Woman said, “I will inquire among the people here for her. You watch the river.”

  Kee screamed, “Look! There she is! He ran downstream along the bank, followed by Gray Dog. He had seen Small Burro’s long ears and struggling h
ead. The little animal was caught in the swift part of the current and was being carried downstream with Wise One clinging desperately around his neck. Kee could not run as fast as the stream was carrying them. Oh, if only he could swim. The Navajo men could only watch his helplessness.

  Tears blinded him as he ran. He bumped into a soldier who was unyoking a team of oxen. He pulled on the soldier’s coat and pointed to the river. “Help me! It’s my grandmother.”

  The soldier looked where the excited boy was pointing. He saw Wise One bobbing up and down on Small Burro. The animal was fast losing his valiant struggle against the current.

  Kee started to run again. The soldier threw off his coat as his long strides covered the ground to the river. Swimming with strong, swift strokes he caught the floundering donkey. Snatching Wise One from the burro’s back, he swam ashore holding her in one arm. Kee ran to the spot where the soldier was carrying his grandmother out of the river. He wished he knew the white man’s word for thank you. He would never again think all soldiers were bad.

  The moment the soldier set Wise One on her feet she started to run along the bank calling, “Small Burro! Small Burro!”

  Kee ran after his little grandmother. She finally dropped to the ground completely exhausted. Kee sat beside her. Putting his arms around her, he held her thin, wet shivering body and tried to comfort her. She burst into hard sobs. “Small Burro was old like me. He did not have enough strength.”

  Gray Dog licked tears from her face. Kee patted her cheek ever so gently. It was the first time in all his life he had seen his grandmother cry.

  Sorrow was in many hearts as Navajos hunted lost children, old people, and animals that had been carried downstream by the current. Some sheep and goats were washed ashore and slowly made their way back to camp. Wise One watched, waited, and wished, but Small Burro was never seen again.

  Rations were meager that night as many supplies were soaked. But the Indians were very happy to learn that they would leave this hated place in the morning and travel north to the town of Albuquerque where they would rest and replenish supplies before going on to Fort Sumner.

  Chapter Eleven

  A Restful Stopover

  The next morning, Wise One was so stiff and sore she could scarcely help Gentle Woman tie up their bundles. Kee hoped he could find her a ride. As he and Gray Dog were looking for Eagle Feather to help him with his sheep, he passed the soldier who had rescued his grandmother from the river. The soldier was loading supplies into the back of a wagon. Kee stopped, wondering how he could ask the soldier for a ride for Wise One.

  Before he could try, the man smiled and asked him a question in English.

  Kee shrugged his shoulders and stared at the soldier. The man made a swimming motion, then made the outline of a small person with his cupped hands. Next he sat on the tail gate of the wagon. Kee felt sure the soldier was telling him his grandmother could ride. He nodded and smiled. Pointing back to the camp, Kee tried to say with gestures that he would go for Wise One and bring her back. The soldier nodded and motioned for him to go.

  At first, Wise One refused to go to the wagon. “No, child. I can walk and help carry our things. Hasba will need help with her lamb when it gets too tired to walk with the ewe.”

  Hasba said quickly, “Grandmother, if you ride you can hold my lamb when she is tired.”

  “Little Mother,” Gentle Woman said, “When you are not holding the lamb, you can hold the bundle. If you ride, you will make it easier for all of us.”

  Wise One held out her hand to Kee. Gentle Woman watched them go, then said to Hasba, “Your grandmother will do anything that will help one of us.”

  The road to Albuquerque was only a rutted trail made by oxcarts along the eastern bank of the Rio Grande. Clouds of choking dust were soon stirred up by the marchers feet.

  Upon reaching Albuquerque, the soldiers herded the families into a large corral by the river where all could camp together. Kee’s swollen feet were bleeding, but he limped all over the corral looking for his grandmother. Suddenly, loud bells startled him. A Navajo told him the bells meant ration time. Kee worked his way through the crowd gathered around a supply wagon. He was thrilled when finally he reached the wagon and saw Wise One helping the soldiers hand out big loaves of bread.

  Kee took a loaf of the bread back to camp. He was certain he had never tasted anything better. “Where did they make the bread?” he asked when Wise One came back to their camp.

  “A Navajo who speaks some English told me that soldiers were sent to town before we got here to buy it. He said that Mexican women baked it in huge outdoor clay ovens.”

  Wise One went on and told them of other things she had heard while riding with the old ones in the wagon. “They say that we will stay many days in this camp. The soldiers will give us sheepskins to make new moccasins. The wagons will be filled with enough food to last until we reach Bosque Redondo, which is a land of plenty. There, we will be given hogans and herds of sheep and some horses of our own, and we will also have land of our own to plant.”

  Gentle Woman shook her head. “Let us not believe these stories until we are herding the sheep given us. So many promises the white man has made have not been kept.”

  Wise One reached out and patted Gentle Woman’s hand. “I know, I know. But it makes us happy to dream of such things.”

  “Anyway, we have one small lamb to start our herd,” Hasba said.

  “And a beautiful little creature she is, too,” Wise One replied.

  Kee hoped that some of the dreams would come true. He felt good now, resting his tired feet in the corral the Navajos named “The Place of the Bells.”

  Days of rest and better rations refreshed the Navajos. They started toward the Pecos River with more hope. Riding in a bumpy wagon with other old people was easier for Wise One than walking. She always found her family when camp was made at night. So did Kee and Gray Dog. He did not want to stay with Eagle Feather and his sheep at night.

  Soon the land became endlessly flat. One day Eagle Feather said to Kee, “I do not like this country. There are no mountains, no mesas, and there is no color in the land. Day after day everything looks the same. We do not seem to be going anywhere. We might as well be standing still.”

  “Well, you should not expect any place to be as beautiful as Navajoland,” Kee replied.

  At fifteen miles a day, the column took many days to reach the valley of the Pecos River where at last, they saw the adobe buildings of Fort Sumner. The United States flag waved from a tall pole on the parade grounds. The river, narrow compared with the Rio Grande, ran past the fort. Cottonwood trees and salt cedar grew on both banks of the river. These trees had caused the Spaniards to name the place Bosque Redondo, “Round Grove.” The Navajos had reached the end of the long walk.

  Chapter Twelve

  Arrival at Fort Sumner

  An officer and six soldiers rode out from the fort to meet the Navajos and give instructions to the men leading the column.

  The magnificent gray horse the officer was riding took all of Kee’s attention. The horse’s gait thrilled him. Never had he seen a horse move with such grace and ease. When the officer reined to a stop, the horse stood motionless as the rock spires of Navajoland. Kee worked his way through the crowd to get as close to the horse as he dared. This was the kind of horse he had always dreamed of having. He turned away. He knew he was dreaming impossible dreams. But he would never forget this horse. He would remember and go on dreaming of someday owning such a horse. There could be no greater happiness.

  The tired travelers were herded toward a large adobe-walled corral. The corral had been built as a gathering place where the Indians could be counted and given ration tickets. A man stood on the top of the wall to count them as they walked through the opening. Soldiers with bayonets stood on each side of the gate to hurry them along. Kee saw the frightened looks on the faces of his family and he tried to look brave, to make them feel secure. But he felt more like a frightened chi
ld than a protector.

  The man ahead of them called out to Long Earrings as they passed him, “Why are we being forced into this corral? Are we to be penned up like sheep?”

  “Don’t worry,” Long Earrings called back. “This is the only way the army can learn how many Indians they must feed and supply with tools. When we are all counted, they will let us camp outside the corral.”

  As the people went back through the gate, each family told a soldier the father’s name. Long Earrings translated it and another soldier wrote it down and gave the family a ration ticket. When Gentle Woman received hers, Long Earrings told her, “Be sure you take good care of it. You have to have it with you when you go to the fort to receive food.”

  As they walked past the adobe barracks built for the soldiers, Kee asked his grandmother, “Where are the hogans you said would be built for us?”

  Wise One shrugged her shoulders. “I think there is a mistake, child. I have looked up and down as we walked here, but I see nothing.”

  “Perhaps that is good,” Kee said. “Maybe they will not keep us in this ugly place for a long time.”

  Now they would have to find a place to camp, just as they had while traveling. No shelter of any kind had been provided for the Navajos. Strong Man’s family walked about a quarter of a mile downstream and a short distance away from the river to set up camp. It was an unhappy time for everyone.

  Kee walked to the river and brought back a bucket of water for drinking. When his mother tasted it she spit it out and made a face. “We can’t drink that; it’s bitter.”

  “About as bitter as being held prisoners and ordered around by white soldiers,” Wise One answered.