THE BASKET MAKER 



this warring of rifles and bowstrings, this 

 influx of overlording whites, had made 

 game wilder and hunters fearful of being 

 hunted. You can surmise also, for it was 

 a crude time and the land was raw, that the 

 women became in turn the game of the 

 conquerors. 



There used to be in the Little Antelope 

 a she dog, stray or outcast, that had a lit- 

 ter in some forsaken lair, and ranged and 

 foraged for them, slinking savage and 

 afraid, remembering and mistrusting hu- 

 mankind, wistful, lean, and sufBcient for 

 her young. I have thought Seyavi might 

 have had days like that, and have had per- 

 fect leave to think, since she will not talk 

 of it. Paiutes have the art of reducing 

 life to its lowest ebb and yet saving it alive 

 on grasshoppers, lizards, and strange herbs; 

 and that time must have left no shift un- 

 i66 



