desert tribes: a tall well-shaped
form; a head and face of much beauty and character, with a pair of eyes
that, at first glance, betrayed a close relation to the woman lying
on the bed. They were of the same size, color and brilliance; but the
tense, powerful expression that was seen in those of the aged woman,
here was softened to a mild, yet piercing glance, which had, at the same
time, a touch of sadness. She appeared to be not more than twenty-five
years old, although her face, in spite of its gentle, youthful
expression, showed the traces of more than her full quota of hardships;
for the life of the desert Indian is never an easy one at the best, and
here had been a greater struggle for existence than is usual among
the aborigines. As she crouched by the doorway, she seemed almost as
lifeless as the old Indian woman on the bed, her gaze fixed absently on
the extended view of plain and mountain stretching out before her, the
only sign of life being the slow, even rise and fall of her bosom with
each succeeding breath. Her dress was similar to that of the other
woman, but was shorter, reaching only to the knees.

This young Indian was the granddaughter of the older woman. On the death
of her parents (her father's following that of her mother, the daughter
of the aged Indian, after an interval of a few months), when she was
little more than an infant, her grandmother had taken sole charge of
her, treating her, as she became older, with the closest intimacy, more
as a sister than a grandchild; and notwithstanding the diversity in age,
this, feeling was reciprocated on the part of the child.

It was after her father's death, but before she herself was old enough
to see more than the surface of action, that her grandmother took up her
abode in the lone hut on the brow of the hill, apart from the rest of
the tribe of which she was a member, with the child her only companion.
At first, the little girl noticed not the difference between their mode
of living and that of the rest of the tribe, all the other members of
which lived together, surrounding the spring of water, their life and
mainstay; but very quickly, as the child grew older, she saw, only too
plainly, that her grandmother was looked upon as different from the
others: and the Indian regards all those of his kin, no matter how near,
who display any peculiar form of mentality, either with reverence, as
something of the divine, or with cruel hatred, when he believes