It was said that the enamored damsel had made
preparations to elope with the gallant Navajo chief, but was betrayed
by the telltale barking of the dogs, great numbers of which infest
all Indian villages. The old doctor accused the Navajos of espionage
and had them taken by surprise and imprisoned in an underground foul
den. Then met the chiefs of the tribe in their estufa, or secret
meeting place, to pass judgment on the culprits. The old medicine
chief smoked himself into a trance in order to receive special
instructions from the great Spirit regarding the degree of punishment
to be inflicted on the unlucky Navajos. After sleeping several hours,
he awoke and announced that he had dreamed the Navajos were to be
clubbed to death. After sunrise the next morning these poor Indians
met their doom in the public square of the village unflinchingly in
the presence of the whole population.
They were placed in a row, facing the sun, about ten feet apart. A
Zuni executioner, armed with a war club, was stationed in front of
each victim, and another one, armed likewise, stood behind him. A war
chief raised his arms and yelled, and forty clubs were raised in air.
Then the great war drum, or tombe, boomed out the knell of death.
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