t out to hunt wild
turkeys in the arroyos, or deep gullies around their homes.
At night the foxes found a warm place in some house that had been
deserted, perhaps because the opening had grown too large and the sand
had drifted in, or perhaps because it was not sheltered enough from the
snow in winter. The boys would climb to their own houses.
In those days, the men and boys had to watch from high places to warn
the people of the approach of any of their enemies, because the NAVAJO
and APACHE Indians troubled the PUEBLO Indians a great deal in olden
times.
As long as the watchers could see no enemy, the women used to carry
water from the river--which was quite far away--gather wood and till
little patches of ground, but as soon as the enemy came down upon them,
they looked for water in wells dug into the rock to hold the rain when
it fell. This water was always saved for cases of this kind.
[Illustration: SOMETIMES THEY WENT OUT TO HUNT WILD TURKEYS.]
[Illustration]
THE BURRO RACE.
TOM-O-PING was a little PUEBLO Indian boy and one day his father said
to him, "TOM-O-PING take my big black burro over to the canon to
feed." TOM-O-PING didn't say, "wait a minute" to his father, but
jumped right on his burro.
As he was going through the pueblo, he met his three companions,
A-GO-YA, TO-A and BO-PING. TOM-O-PING did not like to go alone, so
he asked two of his little friends to jump on behind him while the third
ran along as best he could, and they would all get their own burros and
have a race. The boys did not have to be asked twice, so they jumped on
behind TOM-O-PING and then, as they were anxious to get to racing,
they all tried to hurry the poor old burro along by kicking him in the
ribs while BO-PING'S dog barked at his heels. Mr. Burro was tired and
wouldn't endure that long: so in a moment he was standing on his
fore-legs and the three boys were turning somersaults over his head,
while the dog was kicked high in the air. The boys jumped upon his back
again and this time were more patient, so they finally reached the canon
where the donkeys were feeding in safety.
[Illustration: WHILE BO-PING'S DOG BARKED AT HIS HEELS.]
The three waited for their friend to come and then each boy caught his
own little animal, and as TO-A was the eldest boy he gave the signal
to start. ONE! TWO!! THREE!!! and off they went over fields and prairie,
down the old trail and through the sage brush, shouting and l
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