友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
热门书库 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

thillerman.theblessingway-第14章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



o been wired securely shut。 McKee remembered this clearly because of the time it had taken him to unfasten the wires。 If Yazzie had carelessly left the gate insecurely fastened the night the wolf got in; why would he have bothered to fasten it so securely after the damage was done?
 McKee drove slowly along the hard…packed canyon floor。 The cloud he had noticed earlier had built higher now and there had been a shower somewhere。 The breeze was cool and smelled of wet pine。 In places the going was slow and rocky。 Here the canyon walls closed in; sheer smooth cliffs which funneled the water of the occasional flash floods into a narrow torrent。 But generally the road was smooth and the canyon bottom broadened to a hundred yards or more。 The runoff stream here required only a small portion of the canyon floor。 Its bed wandered between tumbled hills of rocky debris and there were grass and even a few cottonwoods。 Here the sandstone had been softer and more readily destroyed by wind and water。 It was in places like these that the Anasazis had built on the talus slopes and high under the overhanging shelter of the canyon walls the cliff houses which gave the canyon its name。 McKee passed three of these stone ruins on his way to the campsite without giving them more than a glance。 He was; by then; thoroughly disgusted with himself for his oversight at the sheep pens…carelessness which meant he would have to return to the Yazzie hogans and find out exactly how the coyotes had gotten in。 He was so immersed in this problem that it was not until he turned his truck up the slope to the campsite that he noticed Canfield's camper truck was gone。
 McKee switched off the ignition and sat silently a moment。 The exhaust noise echoed up and down the canyon and then died; leaving an utter stillness。 The butane campstove was unlit; McKee noticed; and there was no sign that Canfield had started cooking supper; although it was his turn for the chore。
 〃Where in the devil could he have gone?〃 McKee said aloud。 He was inside the tent when he saw the note; a sheet of typing paper on the folding table weighted by a turquoise frog…Canfield's proof against witches。
 Bergen…
 A Navajo dragged himself up here with a leg all swollen up with snakebite。 I'm taking him to Teec Nos Pas。 Be back tomorrow morning。
 John
 McKee reread the note and stared at the signature; Dr。 J。 R。 Canfield's first name was Jeremy; not John。
 
 Chapter 10
 
 Sandoval squatted beside the sand painting and told Charley Tsosie to put his knees on the knees of the Corn Beetle。 He showed him how to lean forward with one hand on each hand of the figure。 When Tsosie was just right; Sandoval began singing the part about how the corn beetles called out to tell the Changing Woman that her Hero Twins; the Monster Slayer and the Water Child; were ing home again safely。 His voice rose in pitch on the 〃lo…lo…loo〃 cry of the beetle; and then fell as he chanted the part about the Hero Twins visiting the sun; and slaughtering the monster Ye…i。 It was stifling in the hogan and Tsosie's bare back was glistening with sweat。 Even his loin cloth was discolored with it。 That was good。 The enemy was ing out。 And now Sandoval was ready for the next part。 He sprinkled a pinch of corn pollen on Tsosie's shoulders and had him stand up and step off the sand painting…carefully so that the pattern wouldn't be disturbed。
 Sandoval felt good about the painting。 He hadn't done an Enemy Way since just after the foreign war when the young men had e back from the Marines。 He was afraid he might have forgotten how to do it。 But it had worked out just right。 The arroyo sand he had poured out on the hogan floor for the base was a little darker than he liked but he had known it was going to work all right when he poured out the colored sand to make the Encircling Guardian。 He had made it in a square as his father had taught him; with the east side open to keep from trapping in any of the Holy People。 The Guardian's head was at the north end; with his two arms inward; and his feet were at the south end。 His body was four alternating lines of red and yellow sand; and at the opening Sandoval had drawn the elaborate figure of Thunder; wearing the three crooked arrows in his headdress and carrying the crooked arrows under his wings。
 〃Put Thunder there when you sing for a witching;〃 his father had told him。 〃His lightning kills the witches。〃
 Sandoval repaired the Corn Beetle deftly; sifting colored sand through his fingers to reform the lines where Tsosie's hands and knees had pressed。 He added a tiny sprinkle of black sand to the single feather in the headdress of Big Fly。
 Sandoval stood up then and looked into the pot where he had brewed the medicine。 The water was still steaming and the juniper leaves he had mixed into it had turned the solution milky。 It looked about right but Sandoval thought it would have been better if he had had a waterproof basket so it could have been done the old way。 The People are losing too many of the old ways; Sandoval thought; and he thought it again when he had to tell Tsosie how to sit on the feet of Big Fly; and even had to remind him to face the east。 When Sandoval was a boy learning the ways from his father; his father had not had to tell people how to sit。 They knew。
 Sandoval sang then the chant of the Big Fly; and how he had e to The People to tell them that Black God and the warriors were returning victorious from their war against the Taos Pueblo and how the two girls had been sent by the people to carry food to the war band。 This was the last chant before the vomiting and Sandoval was glad of that。 It was the second day of the Enemy Way。 His voice was hoarse and he was tired and there was still much to be done; much ritual to be pleted before this man was free of the witch trouble。 His daughter had been right and he should have listened to her。 He was eighty…one (or eighty…two by the white man's way of counting) and loaded with too many years to conduct a three…day Sing like an Enemy Way。
 Sandoval dipped the ceremonial gourd into the pot; filling it with the hot; milky fluid; and handed the gourd to Tsosie。
 〃Drink all of it;〃 he ordered; thinking you shouldn't have to tell a man that。 And; while Tsosie drank; he sang the last two chants。 He refilled the gourd and handed it to Agnes Tsosie and then to the two sons。 Let the others get their own; Sandoval thought; and he ducked past the double curtains hung over the hogan doorway to see if the time was right。
 Outside the air was cool; almost cold after the closeness of the hogan。 The eastern horizon was turning from red to yellow and Sandoval saw it was about the right time。 He pulled back the curtains and called to Tsosie。
 〃Go out there behind the brush shelter;〃 he ordered; 〃and remember that to make it right you want to vomit out the witching just as you can see the top rim of the sun ing up。〃 When Tsosie came past the curtain; Sandoval handed him a chicken feather。
 〃Just when the sun is first ing up;〃 Sandoval reminded him。 〃If the medicine isn't working; stick that feather down your throat。〃
 Sandoval sat on the ground and leaned back on the wall of the hogan; relishing the coolness。 He
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!