Page 251 - TheHopiIndians

MESA POLK OF HOPILAND 243

were productive of no results. Though the senora
might have done worae, who will blame hert Dur
ing the years that passed one might think that Wupa
would have forgotten his wife on the Rio Grande,
but it was always the dream of his life to bring her
to him at Walpi. It was pathetic to hear his schemes
and to see the way in which he treasured letters from
her written in the scrawl of the town scribe and ad
dressed to Sefior Don Jose Padilla, which is Wupa's
high-sounding Castilian name. His constancy seemed
admirable, for he did not take an Indian wife, granting
that he could have secured one of the Hopi belles for
spouse.
Still, with all this care Wnpa was light-hearted,
caroled with abandon Mexican or Hopi songs, or in
toned solemn church music. Though a much-traveled
man, he remained at his native place, the mainstay of
his old mother who sold him aforetime, his father long
since having traveled to the underworld. Hopi-Mex-
ican, Pagan-Christian, he still occupies a somewhat
anomalous position among his people, who have con
sistently hated the proud proselyting Spaniards dur
ing the more than two hundred years since they threw
the "long gowns" from the rocky mesa.
About the camp "Wupa was very useful. Mounted
on his agile burro, a sight well worth seeing, he
brought the mail from Keam's Canyon. He collected
wood and water, indulging in many a song and ex
clamation. The cook especially seemed to him a fit