the Queres, for it was they who, ere proceeding to hostile demonstrations, should have called on the Tehuas for explanation.  Had the two tribes been on friendly terms, it might have been different; but there existed a breach between them already, and if the Queres chose to still further widen it, the Tehuas felt ready for any emergency.  It was resolved to prepare for war at once, to call to arms the entire male population, send ahead the necessary spies, and thus prepared, to wait.  With this the matter went into the hands of the great medicine-man and the head war-chief.  The former was almost an equivalent to the Hishtanyi Chayan among the Queres, the latter the exact equivalent of the maseua.

The castle-like rock of the Puye, along whose base the numerous cave-dwellings are burrowed out of a very friable and almost snow-white tufa, is situated about ten miles west of the Rio Grande, and not two miles south of the picturesque canon of Santa Clara.  The cliff is over one half mile long, and it dominates the mesa on which it stands.  For many miles there are groves of timber surrounding the foot of the high and rugged slope that leads up to the cave-dwellings.  While the Queres at the Rito dwelt at the bottom of a secluded gorge, the Tehuas occupied a picturesque citadel rising from a high and level plateau.  Northeast of the Puye, and separated from it by the canon of Santa Clara, there rises a similar rock, equally bold and striking, and higher still, but not as extensive.  This is called by the Tehuas, Shu Finne.  Its lower rim is also perforated by cave-dwellings, and these were inhabited by a portion of the same tribe.  During the night runners were sent to the Shu Finne, calling upon its people for assistance; and videttes were placed on the mountains and on the little mesa capping the cliff.  The Tehuas were more numerous than the Queres of the Rito, and might well wait calmly and with dignity until the latter either sought to negotiate or broke out in unjustifiable warfare.

The five days which, as the tuyo had correctly inferred, would be spent by the people of the Tyuonyi in mourning and in warlike preparations, passed; and no messenger of peace came to the Tehuas.  The Queres remained in perfect confidence that those whom they intended to surprise were in absolute ignorance of any evil intentions on their part.  But when the night of the fifth day had shrouded the landscape in purple darkness, Tehua warriors began to stream down the slopes from the cliff and its cave-dwellings.  The deepest silence was observed, instructions having been given beforehand, and the bands of armed men moved noiselessly forward.  The plan was not to await the attack at home, but to advance into the more timbered country south of the barren mesa where the cliff rises, and to surprise the enemy on their approach.  From reports of spies it was known that no Queres were as yet scouring the heights north of the Rito; and the Tehuas, moving swiftly, were able to place themselves