Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/249

234 il4 A laSN-MIliB! FOOT-BACEi. ing the pith from caneS; again there were one-stringr bass viols. The idea was conceived by drawing a rawhide over the taut bow-string, and every Indian was able to produce time by the aid of an arrow used like a fiddle-bow and the bow for the fiddle. But like fire crackers now used, on that day of days, every boy had a home-made "hummer or bull roarer," which every youngster kept going and with it shouting:. ^'Nfi nim naau, na niaa naau, Wa wa na dana dia , Wa wia, na dana dia, llanisa na, Nanisa na.' .. ■ TRANSLATION. " ' "My children, my children, I am about to hum,- I am about to hum, % ' My children, my children. So the day is a veritable 4th of July celef>!%tion for racket, if for nothing else. But the first «venfe of the day is called early, which is the ten-mile foot- race. As this was considered the most severe test, of the day's sport, it has been concluded to get it over with before the sun is too far in the zenith* Therefore, the contestants are coming to the scratch; ^preparatory to thes start, which is arranged at the fir- ing of Ooronado's dag. A two and a half mile course ■has been carefully prepared by levelling up the buf- ifalo holes, cutting any overgrown grass, as the time is expected to be a record-breaker. Now the thirty- , three men are lined up ready for the signal: it is to be Itt standing start, not a "twig" start, as will be ez- .plained in another tnatch. Off they go! some like a