Moo.NEY] THE REMOVED TOWNHOUSES 335 



birds flics up suddenly as if t'rig^iiteued it is Ih'cuusc, Do'tsatil is cliasiiiir 

 tiu'iii. He is luiseliicvousand somctimos liidcsaii airow troin (lie l)ird 

 hunt(>r, wlio may iiaxc sliot it otV into a jx'rfcctly clear space, hut looks 

 and looks witiiout tiiidiny it. Tiien the iiuntcr says. "De'tsata. you 

 ha\'e my ari'nw. and if you don't j^ive it up Til sciaicli you." and when 

 he looks aijain hv tinds it. 



There is one, spirit tiiat "oes about at uiyht witii a ii>;lit. The ( 'hei-o- 

 kee call it Af.nl'-di/iye'gl, "The Fire-carrier." and they are all afiiiidof 

 it, because they think it dano'crous, althoui>h thi>v do not know nuich 

 about it. They do not even know exactly what it looks like, because 

 they are afraid to stop when they see it. It may be a witch instead 

 of a spirit. Wafl'ord's mother saw the '"Fire-carrier" once when she 

 was a young woman, as she was coming home at night fi'om a trading 

 post in South Carolina. It seemed to be following her from beiiind. 

 and she was frightened and whipped up her horse until she got away 

 from it and never saw it again. 



79. THE REMOVED TOWNHOUSES 



Long ago, long before the C'herokee were driven from their iiomes 

 in 1838, the people on Valley river and Hiwassee heard voices of invis- 

 ible spirits in the air calling and warning them of wars and misfor- 

 tunes which the future held in store, and inviting them to come and 

 live with the Nunne'hi, the Immortals, in their homes under the moun- 

 tains and under the waters. For days the voices hung in the aii-, and 

 the people listened until they hinird the spirits say, "If you would 

 live with us, gather everyone in your townhouses and fast then' for 

 seven days, and no one must raise a shout or a warwhoop in all that 

 time. Do this and we shall com(> and you will see us and we shall 

 take you to live with us." 



The people were afraid of the evils that were to come, and they 

 knew that the Inunortals of the mountains and tli(> waters were happy 

 forever, so the}' counciled in their townhouses and decided to go with 

 them. Those of Anisgaya'yi town came nW together into their town- 

 house and prayed and fasted for six days. On the seventh day there 

 was a sound fi-oni the distant mountains, and it came nearer and grew 

 louder until a roai' of thunder was all about the townhouse and they 

 felt the ground shake under them. Now they were frightened, and 

 despite the warning some of them screamed out. 'i'he Nunne'hi, who 

 had already lifted uj) the townhouse with its mound to cai'ry it away, 

 were stai'tled by the cry and let a part of it fall to the earth, where 

 now we see the mound of Se tsi. Thej' steadied themselves again and 

 bore the rest of the townhouse, with all the p(>ople in it, to the top 

 of Tsvida'ye lufi'yi (Lone peak), near the head of C'heowa, where we 

 can still see it, changed long ago to solid rock, but the people are 

 invisil)le and inunortal. 



