grily; he was amazed.

He resumed his walk, or rather his cautious, gliding gait, his head bent
forward, all his faculties strained to see, to hear, and to detect.
Frequently he would stop, hide himself, and listen. All was quiet around
him, for even the crows kept silent or were heard in the distance only.

The glare of the sunlight was less vivid, the afternoon was on the wane.
The late hour was not alone the cause of the diminution of light; the
sun was shrouded by heavy masses of clouds. With the waning daylight it
grew cooler, a faint breeze being wafted over from the Rio Grande.

The old man rightly supposed that he was approaching the trail again and
would soon strike it. The canon near which he had surprised Shotaye and
her ally lay some distance in his rear and to the right, for the old
trail crosses it at its upper end, and the canon bends to the north.
Topanashka intended to reach this upper terminus. He expected in case
other Tehuas should be about, that they would be hidden in that
vicinity. He wanted to strike the path first, and survey it, if from a
distance only, then keep on again in a line parallel to its course until
it crossed the ravine. Afterward he would go back to the Tyuonyi, if
possible, with the sandal as corroborative evidence.

He almost chided himself now for not having picked up the foot-gear. The
more he reflected, the more he became convinced that his suspicions
about some ambush having been prepared by means of the sandal were
groundless. The crows especially seemed to be a sure sign of it. That
bird is very bold, but also very sly; and had a warrior or any human
being been in concealment, would never have selected his vicinity for a
place of comfortable rest. Had they not flown away as soon as he
approached their roosting-place? And yet he moved very slowly and
noiselessly.

But why did the crows so persistently follow him? What signified their
restlessness, their loud and repeated cries? It boded nothing good. The
black pursuivants either foretold or intended evil. Were they real
crows?

The Indian is so imbued with the notion of sorcery that any animal that
behaves unusually appears to him either as a human being changed into an
animal, or some spirit which has assumed the form for a purpose. That
purpose is either good or bad. Owls, crows, and turkey-buzzards, also
the coyote, are regarded as forms assumed by evil spirits, or by men
under the influence of evil charms. The more