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In a procession the men came into the opening, and, stalking solemnly by, each cast down at the door of the temple an offering of some object which he prized. Cuchuma gave a bone knife which he greatly valued, and a handsome new bow. Sholoc gave a speckled green stone olla from Santa Catalina and a small string of money; but these were chiefs' offerings.
Sholoc and his party had stopped to rearrange their loads, so the children overtook them at the head of the trail leading to their home. "Below them was a valley dotted with live oaks, and along the banks of the stream that ran through it was a thick growth of alders, sycamores, and willows. At the foot of the trail, near the water, was a cluster of what looked like low, round straw stacks.
"Here, Nopal," said Sholoc to his oldest nephew, a lad of fifteen, "I will give you a piece of the antler and you can grind it down and make yourself a hunting knife. It is time you ceased to play and became a hunter. I had killed much game when I was your age." "Will you give me some of the brains that I may finish tanning a deerskin?
Almost at the same moment they let fly their shafts. Three elk leaped into the air. One tumbled over in a somersault which broke one of its antlers, and then lay dead, shot through the heart by Sholoc. Another took a few leaps, but a second arrow brought it to its knees.
The labors of an Indian mother ceased only while she slept. "Come, Payuchi," said Gesnip, "let us go down to the river and get tules." "All right," replied the boy, readily. "Sholoc is going down too. He is going to show the men how to make log canoes like his instead of the tule canoes our people use. But I like the tule canoes, because I can use my feet for paddles."
The Indians who had gone after the elk had skinned and cut them up where they lay, as they were so large that the burden had to be distributed among a number of carriers. Macana found Sholoc busy portioning out parts of the elk. As he had a fine seal-skin suit himself, he gladly gave her the skin of the deer which he had shot. "Isn't that a big one?" said Payuchi.
I have been waiting to finish it until I could get some brains, but it has been a long time since any one has brought in big game," said Macana. "Yes," answered Sholoc, "you shall have them. Payuchi, hand me my elk-horn ax so that I can split open the head, and you can take the brains to the jacal." Soon not a piece of meat, a bit of skin, tendon, or bone, was left.
On their heads they placed ollas, or water jars, of serpentine from quarries which may be seen in Santa Catalina to-day, the marks of the tools of workmen of, that time still in the rocks. There were also strings of bits of abalone shell which had been punctured and then polished, and these Sholoc hung around his neck. "Uncle," exclaimed Gesnip, touching one of these strings, "how much money!
Payuchi, Gesnip, Cleeta, and their little four-year-old brother, Nakin, gathered about the basket, helping themselves with abalone shells, the small holes of which their mother had plugged with wood. "Isn't father going to have some first?" asked Payuchi, before they began the meal. "Not this time; he will eat with Sholoc and the men when the fish are ready," replied his mother.
They were covered with a thatching of grass that, when dry, made them look like straw stacks. "Sholoc stepped to the-edge of the bluff and gave a long, quavering cry which could be heard far in the still evening air. Instantly out of the group of jacals came a crowd of men and boys, who gave answering cries."
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