Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/52

Rh clothes, had precious stones, etc. These accords were further verified by other Indians, and, more particularly, the negro forwarded a, second cross as high as a man, which denoted everything desirable. Tie friar in following the colored pathfinder discovered erected along the road several large crosses which were emblems of success, both spiritual and material. As the holy man got nearer to the seven cities, the accounts given him were still more wonderful, and a native of Cibola assured him of the truth of all be heard. But when Father Marcos readied a point in Apache county, Arizona, he for the first time learned of Stephen's death. It was conveyed to him by a young man who had been with the negro. He was the son of an Indian chief who told how anxious the Negro had been to be the first to reach one of the seven cities; how he forwarded the friendly Indians ahead with notice of his approach to the chief of the place and in token of his position and authority sent a gourd to which was attached a few strings of rattles and two plumes, one of which was white and the other red." The old chronicler revealed the fact that these baubles were medicine men's talismen and the Blackamore had learned their importance from De Vaca, but it did not awe the inhabitants to such an extent as usual, for, when presented to the chief of the Pueblo, he threw it on the ground and told the messenger bearing the gourd, rattles, etc., to inform the stranger that when he reached the city he would find out what sort of men lived there, and instead of being permitted to enter the place, he and his party would all be put to death. But the Barbary