cavalcade stopped to watch and then applaud. To see Esteban dance was to see the earth smile.
Always when Cabeza spoke of his adventures in the north, he referred in some manner to the look of the land in which an incident had occurred, and it was during such a narration that he happened to use a phrase which determined the character of Garcilaco's subsequent life.
'Senor Cabeza, you speak of the land, but when you do, you describe many different lands,' and the explorer laughed: 'You're an observant little fellow. I enjoy traveling with you.' He said that, yes, he did speak of many different lands; that was the glory of up there.
'Along the coast where I first stayed, there were beautiful sand
dunes and marshes filled with birds. Inland, a waving sea of grass with rarely a tree. Farther to the west where we gathered nuts, rolling crests and clusters of oak more beautiful than any I saw in Spain. Then hills, cut through with little rivers, and after them the vast empty plains, flat as tables and sometimes void even of cactus. Finally more hills, the mountains and the desert.'
He closed his eyes, as if he were praying. 'I can see it all, lad. The years were cruel, of that there can be no doubt, but they were also glorious, and if you ever find a chance to go up there,' and here came the words that fired the boy's imagination, 'you too will see the land of many lands.'
As soon as Garcilaco heard that happy phrase, 'the land of many lands,' he was captured by the lure of the north. The Pacific Ocean was forgotten; anyone could build himself a ship and sail on it, Garcilaco thought, but the challenge of those limitless plains, the ferocious winds, the grandeur of an earth that seemed infinite in its variations—these wonders he wanted to see. From this day on he entertained only one vision: to visit that land of many lands.
When Cabeza resumed his narrative about their travels far to the west (into New Mexico, but not as far north as Santa Fe), he said: "One night while we three white men talked idly with some of Esteban's women, one of them used a phrase which caught my attention: "Fifteen days to the north, the Seven Cities. My mother saw them when she was a girl." That night I could not sleep, because even as a child I had heard vague talk about holy men who had fled Spain and built the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. I knew no more of the legend except that these cities held much gold. So very quietly, using signs and the few words we had, I began asking Indian men about the Seven Cities, and they confirmed what the woman had said: "Yes, yes! That one, he saw the Cities." The Indian thus indicated said he had not actually been to the Cities, but he knew a man who had, and this man had spoken of them with awe: "Very big. One, two, three, four, up, up to the sky."
i asked if he meant that one level of the house stood upon the other, as in Spain, and the man said eagerly: "Yes! My friend said so. Up to the sky!" whereupon I asked if there had been great wealth there, and this question the Indian did not comprehend, for I carried nothing with which to illustrate what I meant, but the Indian liked us so much that he wanted to please, so he talked with his friends, and even though he did not understand my words, he nodded vigorously: "Yes, just as you say."
' "And what is the name of these Seven Cities?" I asked, but the man did not know, nor did anyone, but I believed there was a chance that I had found those cities of sacred legend.' As Cabeza
uttered these provocative words he fell silent, and it was then that Garcilaco enlarged his dream to include the finding of those cities clothed in gold.
When Cabeza next talked with Garcilaco he was serious and almost mystical: 'When it happened, after those years of slavery and wandering and storms, it excited us almost to the point of frenzy. One morning Castillo saw, on the neck of an Indian, a little buckle from a swordbelt, and in it was sewed a horseshoe nail. We took it
Always when Cabeza spoke of his adventures in the north, he referred in some manner to the look of the land in which an incident had occurred, and it was during such a narration that he happened to use a phrase which determined the character of Garcilaco's subsequent life.
'Senor Cabeza, you speak of the land, but when you do, you describe many different lands,' and the explorer laughed: 'You're an observant little fellow. I enjoy traveling with you.' He said that, yes, he did speak of many different lands; that was the glory of up there.
'Along the coast where I first stayed, there were beautiful sand
dunes and marshes filled with birds. Inland, a waving sea of grass with rarely a tree. Farther to the west where we gathered nuts, rolling crests and clusters of oak more beautiful than any I saw in Spain. Then hills, cut through with little rivers, and after them the vast empty plains, flat as tables and sometimes void even of cactus. Finally more hills, the mountains and the desert.'
He closed his eyes, as if he were praying. 'I can see it all, lad. The years were cruel, of that there can be no doubt, but they were also glorious, and if you ever find a chance to go up there,' and here came the words that fired the boy's imagination, 'you too will see the land of many lands.'
As soon as Garcilaco heard that happy phrase, 'the land of many lands,' he was captured by the lure of the north. The Pacific Ocean was forgotten; anyone could build himself a ship and sail on it, Garcilaco thought, but the challenge of those limitless plains, the ferocious winds, the grandeur of an earth that seemed infinite in its variations—these wonders he wanted to see. From this day on he entertained only one vision: to visit that land of many lands.
When Cabeza resumed his narrative about their travels far to the west (into New Mexico, but not as far north as Santa Fe), he said: "One night while we three white men talked idly with some of Esteban's women, one of them used a phrase which caught my attention: "Fifteen days to the north, the Seven Cities. My mother saw them when she was a girl." That night I could not sleep, because even as a child I had heard vague talk about holy men who had fled Spain and built the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. I knew no more of the legend except that these cities held much gold. So very quietly, using signs and the few words we had, I began asking Indian men about the Seven Cities, and they confirmed what the woman had said: "Yes, yes! That one, he saw the Cities." The Indian thus indicated said he had not actually been to the Cities, but he knew a man who had, and this man had spoken of them with awe: "Very big. One, two, three, four, up, up to the sky."
i asked if he meant that one level of the house stood upon the other, as in Spain, and the man said eagerly: "Yes! My friend said so. Up to the sky!" whereupon I asked if there had been great wealth there, and this question the Indian did not comprehend, for I carried nothing with which to illustrate what I meant, but the Indian liked us so much that he wanted to please, so he talked with his friends, and even though he did not understand my words, he nodded vigorously: "Yes, just as you say."
' "And what is the name of these Seven Cities?" I asked, but the man did not know, nor did anyone, but I believed there was a chance that I had found those cities of sacred legend.' As Cabeza
uttered these provocative words he fell silent, and it was then that Garcilaco enlarged his dream to include the finding of those cities clothed in gold.
When Cabeza next talked with Garcilaco he was serious and almost mystical: 'When it happened, after those years of slavery and wandering and storms, it excited us almost to the point of frenzy. One morning Castillo saw, on the neck of an Indian, a little buckle from a swordbelt, and in it was sewed a horseshoe nail. We took it
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