Free The Grey Pilgrim by J.M. Hayes Page A

among her people. Such elders achieve their status through the acquisition of knowledge. Apparently, each elder concentrates on knowledge of a very specific sort. This seems most peculiar, but the Whites are a puzzling people and we need to know more about them. This woman wishes to become an expert among her kind on the
Tohono O’odham
. She desires to gain that knowledge by living with the People and observing us. She does not wish to learn from those who live near and among White Men. She wishes to find a remote village, one which maintains the traditional ways. She will bring many valuable gifts to whoever will accept her—blankets, cloth, tools, and much more. Such things might be considered ample recompense for her support during the time she would live among them, but I am told it is her intention to work alongside the women and, so much as is possible for an outsider, live and contribute as would any member of the village.
    “Burns, perhaps because of our ineptitude at the art of trading, thinks we may be the sort of village she would like to study. He has offered to tell her about us and see if she might come to us if we will have her. Our cousins who work for Burns say she has visited with them and, though they found her strange, she seemed kind and sympathetic. She speaks our language. They believe she would be harmless and entertaining to the village that accepts her.
    “I believe we should ask her to come live with us.” The council immediately erupted with exclamations of amazement and denial. Jujul ignored them and, after regaining their attention, calmly explained it was necessary to learn something of the White Man’s ways, and it was unlikely they would find a better opportunity. There seemed little chance this was a ruse. The Anglos put too much value on their women to risk one as part of some wild scheme to catch a renegade village. Her purpose was almost certainly legitimate. And, if she should discover who they were, there was little, other than their location, she might learn which could be a danger. But, oh, what they might learn from her!
    Pedro Round-Frog argued that the Whites possessed too much magic. “We cannot take the chance that she may use it to tell her people where to find us,” he said. Some of his friends nodded at his wisdom.
    “Then we shall be certain she does not know,” Jujul told them. “The party we send to bring her here can do so by a long, circuitous path. Our new home lies on the west slope of a range which hides the sacred mountain from view. If we make at least part of her journey on a cloudy night when she can see neither stars nor landmarks she will not know exactly where she has been taken.”
    That brought Round-Frog and his followers to the Chief’s side, but Rat Skin still held out, and he spoke for two others. He rocked back on his bony haunches and grasped his arms around his knees as he spoke. Whether it was done out of emotion or to keep his thin old body warm, Jujul could not tell.
    “Their magic is just too powerful,” he whined. “She may still have ways to know where she is. She may still have ways to far-talk to her people and bring them down on us.” It was a frightening thought. They all knew the Whites were capable of amazing exploits. Jujul noticed a wavering among those who had come to side with him.
    “Yes,” he agreed. “It is true, the White Men have great powers. But their powers are in the things they make. They have no personal magic. The things they do that seem fabulous to us are always done with the aid of some tool. Perhaps there is magic in their tools, but I do not think so. We use many of these tools—rifles, knives, skillets, axes. What magic do they have? None. They are only tools. The woman offers gifts as part of the bargain she would make with the village that takes her. If she is a spy, and I doubt that she is, it is among those things she would hide the tools to use against us. We can still take her in and learn from