Whoever knows the character of the Pueblos will appreciate the joke I
had perpetrated upon myself. Many towns in New Mexico are inhabited by
these Indians--towns which stood on their present sites when Coronado
entered the country in 1541. They form an excellent part of the
population, being temperate, frugal, and industrious. They dress in
Indian style, and when at war paint and disfigure themselves like any
other of the red peoples, so that a green soldier would see no
difference between them and the wilder tribes.

The Pueblos explained that they were in pursuit of a band of Navajos
who had stolen some of their cattle the previous night. When they
first saw Cordova they attempted to approach him to inquire if he had
seen any Navajo "signs."

My appearance and warlike demonstrations they could not account for,
not knowing there was a camp of soldiers in the valley. When I put
the questions, Apache? Ute? Navajo? the chief thought I was asking him
if he was in pursuit of a party of one of those tribes. Being in
pursuit of Navajos, he answered yes to that name.

A week after my captives had returned to their homes in Santo Domingo,
at the close of a long and fruitless search for their lost stock, a
gentleman and his servant, mounted on broncos and leading a pack-mule,
rode up to my cabin late in the afternoon. He introduced himself as a
government Indian agent for the Navajos, and handed me a letter from
the department commander. It stated that the bearer was on his way to
the Indian pueblo of Jemez, to prevent the massacre of a number of
Navajo women, children, and old men who had sought asylum there, and
authorized me to furnish him with all the aid in my power.