, and
he folded his arms to stand with the somber pride of a chieftain while
his dark, inscrutable eyes were riveted upon Shefford. At that moment
he seemed magnificent. How infinitely more he seemed than just a common
Indian who had chanced to befriend a white man! The difference was
obscure to Shefford. But he felt that it was there in the Navajo's
mind. Nas Ta Bega's strange look was not to be interpreted. Presently he
turned and passed from the room.

"By George!" cried Withers, suddenly, and he pounded his knee with his
fist. "I'd forgotten."

"What?" ejaculated Shefford.

"Why, that Indian understood every word we said. He knows English. He's
educated. Well, if this doesn't beat me.... Let me tell you about Nas Ta
Bega."

Withers appeared to be recalling something half forgotten.

"Years ago, in fifty-seven, I think, Kit Carson with his soldiers chased
the Navajo tribes and rounded them up to be put on reservations. But he
failed to catch all the members of one tribe. They escaped up into wild
canyon like the Sagi. The descendants of these fugitives live there now
and are the finest Indians on earth--the finest because unspoiled by the
white man. Well, as I got the story, years after Carson's round-up one
of his soldiers guided some interested travelers in here. When they
left they took an Indian boy with them to educate. From what I know of
Navajos I'm inclined to think the boy was taken against his parents'
wish. Anyway, he was taken. That boy was Nas Ta Bega. The story goes
that he was educated somewhere. Years afterward, and perhaps not long
before I came in here, he returned to his people. There have been
missionaries and other interested fools who have given Indians a white
man's education. In all the instances I know of, these educated Indians
returned to their tribes, repudiating the white man's knowledge, habits,
life, and religion. I have heard that Nas Ta Bega came back, laid down
the white man's clothes along with the education, and never again showed
that he had known either.

"You have just seen how strangely he acted. It's almost certain he heard
our conversation. Well, it doesn't matter. He won't tell. He can hardly
be made to use an English word. Besides, he's a noble red man, if there
ever was one. He has been a friend in need to me. If you stay long out
here you'll learn something from the Indians. Nas Ta Bega has befriended
you, too, it seems. I thought he showed unusual interest in you.