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POWER DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM RELIABILITY
Practical Methods
and Applications

Ali A. Chowdhury
Don O. Koval

IEEE Press
POWER DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM RELIABILITY
BOOKS IN THE IEEE PRESS SERIES ON POWER ENGINEERING

Principles of Electric Machines with Power Electronic Applications, Second Edition

M. E. El-Hawary
Pulse Width Modulation for Power Converters: Principles and Practice
D. Grahame Holmes and Thomas Lipo
Analysis of Electric Machinery and Drive Systems, Second Edition
Paul C. Krause, Oleg Wasynczuk, and Scott D. Sudhoff
Risk Assessment for Power Systems: Models, Methods, and Applications
Wenyuan Li
Optimization Principles: Practical Applications to the Operations of Markets of the Electric
Power Industry
Narayan S. Rau
Electric Economics: Regulation and Deregulation
Geoffrey Rothwell and Tomas Gomez
Electric Power Systems: Analysis and Control
Fabio Saccomanno
Electrical Insulation for Rotating Machines: Design, Evaluation, Aging, Testing,
and Repair
Greg Stone, Edward A. Boulter, Ian Culbert, and Hussein Dhirani
Signal Processing of Power Quality Disturbances
Math H. J. Bollen and Irene Y. H. Gu
Instantaneous Power Theory and Applications to Power Conditioning
Hirofumi Akagi, Edson H. Watanabe and Mauricio Aredes
Maintaining Mission Critical Systems in a 24/7 Environment
Peter M. Curtis
Elements of Tidal-Electric Engineering
Robert H. Clark
Handbook of Large Turbo-Generator Operation and Maintenance, Second Edition
Geoff Klempner and Isidor Kerszenbaum
Introduction to Electrical Power Systems
Mohamed E. El-Hawary
Modeling and Control of Fuel Cells: Distributed Generation Applications
M. Hashem Nehrir and Caisheng Wang
Power Distribution System Reliability: Practical Methods and Applications
Ali A. Chowdhury and Don O. Koval
POWER DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM RELIABILITY
Practical Methods
and Applications

Ali A. Chowdhury
Don O. Koval

IEEE Press
 IEEE Press
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854

IEEE Press Editorial Board

Lajos Hanzo, Editor in Chief

R. Abari T. Chen O. Malik

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A. Chatterjee B. M. Hammerli W. Reeve

Kenneth Moore, Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)

Jeanne Audino, Project Editor

Technical Reviewers
Ward Jewell, Wichita State University
Fred Vaneldik, University of Alberta

Copyright  2009 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
Published simultaneously in Canada

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 To my wife Razia, daughter Fariha, late parents Hesamuddin Ahmed and
Mahfuza Khatun, late elder brother Ali Hyder, and late older sister Chemon
Ara Chowdhury

—Ali A. Chowdhury

To my wife Vivian, my mother Katherine, and late father Peter Koval

—Don. O. Koval
 CONTENTS

Preface xix

1 OUTLINE OF THE BOOK 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Reliability Assessment of Power Systems 2
1.2.1 Generation System Reliability Assessment 2
1.2.2 Transmission System Reliability Assessment 3
1.2.3 Distribution System Reliability Assessment 4
1.3 Organization of the Chapters 5
1.4 Conclusions 10
References 11

2 FUNDAMENTALS OF PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS 13

2.1 Concept of Frequency 13
2.1.1 Introduction 13
2.1.2 Concept of Class 15
2.1.3 Frequency Graphs 15
2.1.4 Cumulative Frequency Distribution Model 15
2.2 Important Parameters of Frequency Distribution 15
2.2.1 Mean 16
2.2.2 Median 16
2.2.3 Mode 16
2.2.4 Standard Deviation 16
2.2.5 Variance 17
2.3 Theory of Probability 17
2.3.1 Concept 17
2.3.2 Probability Laws and Theorems 18
2.4 Probability Distribution Model 19
2.4.1 Random Variable 19
2.4.2 Probability Density Function 20
viii CONTENTS

2.4.3 Parameters of Probability Distributions 21

2.4.4 The Binomial Distribution 22
2.4.5 The Poisson Distribution 25
2.4.6 The Exponential Distribution 26
2.4.7 The Normal Distribution 27
2.5 Sampling Theory 29
2.5.1 Concepts of Population and Sample 29
2.5.2 Random Sampling Model 29
2.5.3 Sampling Distributions 29
2.5.4 Concept of Confidence Limit 32
2.5.5 Estimation of Population Statistic 32
2.5.6 Computation of Sample Size 34
2.6 Statistical Decision Making 36
2.6.1 Procedure of Decision Making 37
2.6.2 Types of Error 37
2.6.3 Control of Errors 42
2.7 Conclusions 42
References 42

3 RELIABILITY PRINCIPLES 45
3.1 Failure Rate Model 45
3.1.1 Concept and Model 45
3.1.2 Concept of Bathtub Curve 46
3.2 Concept of Reliability of Population 47
3.2.1 Theory of First Principles 47
3.2.2 Reliability Model 50
3.2.3 The Poisson Probability Distribution 52
3.2.4 Reliability of Equal Time Steps 53
3.3 Mean Time to Failures 54
3.4 Reliability of Complex Systems 55
3.4.1 Series Systems 55
3.4.2 Parallel Systems 56
3.4.3 Partially Redundant Systems 58
3.4.4 Bayes’ Theorem 60
3.5 Standby System Modeling 62
3.5.1 Background 62
3.5.2 Spares for One Unit 62
3.5.3 Spares for Multiple Interchangeable Units 63
CONTENTS ix

3.6 Concepts of Availability and Dependability 65

3.6.1 Mean Time to Repair 65
3.6.2 Availability Model 66
3.6.3 Markov Model 66
3.6.4 Concept of Dependability 67
3.6.5 Design Considerations 68
3.7 Reliability Measurement 68
3.7.1 Concept 68
3.7.2 Accuracy of Observed Data 69
3.7.3 Confidence Limit of Failure Rate 69
3.7.4 Chi-Square Distribution 70
3.8 Conclusions 77
References 77

4 APPLICATIONS OF SIMPLE RELIABILITY MODELS 79

4.1 Equipment Failure Mechanism 79
4.1.1 Introduction 79
4.1.2 Utilization of Forced Outage Statistics 80
4.1.3 Failure Rate Computation 80
4.2 Availability of Equipment 81
4.2.1 Availability Considerations and Requirements 81
4.2.2 Availability Model 82
4.2.3 Long-Run Availability 83
4.3 Oil Circuit Recloser (OCR) Maintenance Issues 85
4.3.1 Introduction 85
4.3.2 Study Methods 85
4.4 Distribution Pole Maintenance Practices 86
4.5 Procedures for Ground Testing 87
4.5.1 Concept 87
4.5.2 Statistical Methods For Ground Testing 87
4.6 Insulators Maintenance 87
4.6.1 Background 87
4.6.2 Inspection Program for Insulators 87
4.6.3 Voltage Surges On Lines 88
4.6.4 Critical Flashover 89
4.6.5 Number of Insulators in a String 91
4.7 Customer Service Outages 93
4.7.1 Background 93
x CONTENTS

4.7.2 Popular Distribution Reliability Indices 93

4.7.3 Reliability Criteria 94
4.7.4 Cost of Interruption Concept 95
4.8 Conclusions 95
References 96

5 ENGINEERING ECONOMICS 97
5.1 Introduction 97
5.2 Concept of Interest and Equivalent 98
5.3 Common Terms 98
5.4 Formulas for Computing Interest 98
5.5 Annual Cost 101
5.5.1 Concept of Annual Cost 101
5.5.2 Alternatives with Different Life Times 102
5.6 Present Value (PV) Concept 103
5.7 Theory of Rate of Return 105
5.8 Cost–Benefit Analysis Approach 106
5.9 Financial Risk Assessment 107
5.9.1 Basic Concept 107
5.9.2 Principles 107
5.9.3 Concept of Risk Aversion 108
5.10 Conclusions 108
References 109

6 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX NETWORK

CONFIGURATIONS 111
6.1 Introduction 111
6.2 State Enumeration Methodologies 112
6.2.1 Basic Assumptions: Criteria for System Success—Power is
Delivered to All Loads 112
6.3 Network Reduction Methods 115
6.3.1 Path Enumeration Methods: Minimum Tie Set 116
6.3.2 Path Enumeration Methods: Minimum Cut Set 121
6.4 Bayes’ Theorem in Reliability 129
6.5 Construction of Fault Tree Diagram 139
6.5.1 Basic Rules for Combining the Probability of Independent
Input Failure Events to Evaluate the Probability
of a Single-Output Failure Event 140
CONTENTS xi

6.6 The Application of Conditional Probability Theory to System

Operating Configurations 146
6.7 Conclusions 151
References 151

7 DESIGNING RELIABILITY INTO INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL

POWER SYSTEMS 153
7.1 Introduction 153
7.2 Example 1: Simple Radial Distribution System 154
7.2.1 Description of a Simple Radial System 155
7.2.2 Results: Simple Radial System Example 1 155
7.2.3 Conclusions: Simple Radial System Example 1 155
7.3 Example 2: Reliability Analysis of a Primary Selective
System to the 13.8 kV Utility Supply 156
7.3.1 Description: Primary Selective System to the 13.8 kV
Utility Supply 157
7.3.2 Results: A Primary Selective System to the 13.8 kV
Utility Supply 158
7.3.3 Conclusions: Primary Selective System to 13.8 kV
Utility Supply 159
7.4 Example 3: A Primary Selective System to the Load Side of
a 13.8 kV Circuit Breaker 161
7.4.1 Description of a Primary Selective System to the Load
Side of a 13.8 kV Circuit Breaker 161
7.4.2 Results: Primary Selective System to Load Side of 13.8 kV
Circuit Breaker 162
7.4.3 Conclusions: A Primary Selective System to the Load Side
of a 13.8 kV Circuit Breaker 163
7.5 Example 4: Primary Selective System to the Primary
of the Transformer 163
7.5.1 Description of a Primary Selective System to the Primary
of the Transformer 163
7.5.2 Results: A Primary Selective System to the Primary
of the Transformer 164
7.5.3 Conclusions: Primary Selective system to Primary
of Transformer 164
7.6 Example 5: A Secondary Selective System 164
7.6.1 Description of a Secondary Selective System 164
7.6.2 Results: A Secondary Selective System 165
7.6.3 Conclusions: A Secondary Selective System 165
xii CONTENTS

7.7 Example 6: A Simple Radial System with Spares 166

7.7.1 Description of a Simple Radial System with Spares 166
7.7.2 Results: A Simple Radial System with Spares 167
7.7.3 Conclusions: Simple Radial System with Spares 167
7.8 Example 7: A Simple Radial System with Cogeneration 168
7.8.1 Description of a Simple Radial System with Cogeneration 168
7.8.2 Results: Simple Radial System with Cogeneration 168
7.8.3 Conclusions: A Simple Radial System with Cogeneration 169
7.9 Reliability Evaluation of Miscellaneous System Configurations 170
7.10 Conclusions 188
References 188

8 ZONE BRANCH RELIABILITY METHODOLOGY 191

8.1 Introduction 191
8.2 Zone Branch Concepts 192
8.3 Industrial System Study 196
8.4 Application of Zone Branch Methodology: Case Studies 201
8.4.1 Case 1: Design “A”—Simple Radial Substation Configuration 202
8.4.2 Case 2: Design “B”—Dual Supply Radial—Single Bus 208
8.4.3 Case 3: Design “C”—Dual Supply Radial with Tiebreaker 215
8.4.4 Case 4: Design “D”—Dual Supply Loop with Tiebreaker 219
8.4.5 Case 5: Design “E”—Dual Supply Primary Selective 225
8.4.6 Case 6: Design “F”—Double Bus/Double Breaker Radial 232
8.4.7 Case 7: Design “G”—Double Bus/Double Breaker Loop 235
8.4.8 Case 8: Design “H”—Double Bus/Breaker Primary Selective 242
8.5 Conclusions 251
References 252

9 EQUIPMENT OUTAGE STATISTICS 255

9.1 Introduction 255
9.2 Interruption Data Collection Scheme 256
9.3 Typical Distribution Equipment Outage Statistics 259
9.4 Conclusions 265
References 265

10 HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT 267

10.1 Introduction 267
10.2 Automatic Outage Management System 268
10.2.1 Definitions of Terms and Performance Indices 269
CONTENTS xiii

10.2.2 Customer-Oriented Indices 269

10.2.3 Classification of Interruption as to Causes 270
10.3 Historical Assessment 271
10.3.1 A Utility Corporate Level Analysis 272
10.3.2 Utility Region-Level Analysis 279
10.4 Crew Center-Level Analysis 282
10.5 Development of a Composite Index for Reliability Performance
Analysis at the Circuit Level 282
10.6 Conclusions 283
References 283

11 DETERMINISTIC CRITERIA 285

11.1 Introduction 285
11.2 Current Distribution Planning and Design Criteria 286
11.2.1 Outage Data Collection and Reporting 287
11.2.2 Reliability Indices 287
11.2.3 Targets for Customer Service Reliability 288
11.2.4 Examples of Distribution Reliability Standards in a
Deregulated Market 288
11.3 Reliability Cost Versus Reliability Benefit Trade-Offs
in Distribution System Planning 290
11.4 Alternative Feed Requirements for Overhead Distribution Systems 293
11.5 Examples of Deterministic Planning Guidelines for Alternative
Feed Requirements 294
11.5.1 Reliability of Supply to 25 kV Buses 294
11.5.2 Reliability of Supply to Towns/Cities 295
11.5.3 Reliability of Supply to Large Users and Industrial
Customers 295
11.6 Value-Based Alternative Feeder Requirements Planning 295
11.6.1 Customer Interruption Cost Data 297
11.6.2 An Illustrative Example for Justification of an Alternate
Feed to a Major City 298
11.7 Conclusions 299
References 299

12 IMPORTANT FACTORS RELATED TO DISTRIBUTION

STANDARDS 301
12.1 Introduction 301
12.2 Relevant Issues and Factors in Establishing Distribution
Reliability Standards 304
xiv CONTENTS

12.2.1 Data Pool 305

12.2.2 Definitions of Terms 307
12.2.3 System Characteristics 308
12.2.4 Outage Data Collection Systems 308
12.3 Performance Indices at Different System Levels of a Utility 309
12.4 Performance Indices for Different Utility Types 314
12.5 Conclusions 314
References 315

13 STANDARDS FOR REREGULATED DISTRIBUTION UTILITY 317

13.1 Introduction 317
13.2 Cost of Service Regulation versus Performance-Based
Regulation 318
13.3 A Reward/Penalty Structure in the Performance-Based Rates 319
13.4 Historical SAIFI and SAIDI Data and their Distributions 322
13.5 Computation of System Risks Based on Historical
Reliability Indices 323
13.6 Cause Contributions to SAIFI and SAIDI Indices 329
13.7 Conclusions 334
References 335

14 CUSTOMER INTERRUPTION COST MODELS FOR LOAD POINT

RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT 337
14.1 Introduction 337
14.2 Customer Interruption Cost 338
14.3 Series and Parallel System Model Equations 339
14.4 Dedicated Distribution Radial Feeder Configuration 340
14.5 Distribution Radial Feeder Configuration Serving
Multiple Customers 341
14.6 Distribution Radial Feeder Configuration Serving Multiple
Customers with Manual Sectionalizing 342
14.7 Distribution Radial Feeder Configuration Serving Multiple
Customers with Automatic Sectionalizing 345
14.8 Distribution System Looped Radial Feeders 347
14.8.1 Operating Procedures 347
14.8.2 Feeder Characteristics: Looped Radial Feeders—Manual
Sectionalizing 347
14.9 Conclusions 355
References 355
CONTENTS xv

15 VALUE-BASED PREDICTIVE RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT 357

15.1 Introduction 357
15.2 Value-Based Reliability Planning 358
15.3 Distribution System Configuration Characteristics 360
15.4 Case Studies 362
15.5 Illustrative Example System Problem and Its Reliability
Calculations 368
15.5.1 Operating Procedures 369
15.6 Conclusions 373
References 374

16 ISOLATION AND RESTORATION PROCEDURES 375

16.1 Introduction 375
16.2 Distribution System Characteristics 378
16.2.1 Distribution Load Transfer Characteristics 379
16.2.2 Operating Procedures: Line Section Outages 380
16.2.3 Feeder Circuit Reliability Data 380
16.2.4 Cost of Load Point Interruptions 381
16.3 Case Studies 381
16.3.1 Case Study 1 381
16.3.2 Case Study 2 384
16.3.3 Case Study 3 388
16.4 Major Substation Outages 389
16.5 Summary of Load Point Interruption Costs 391
16.6 Conclusions 392
References 393

17 MESHED DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM RELIABILITY 395

17.1 Introduction 395
17.2 Value-Based Reliability Assessment in a Deregulated Environment 396
17.3 The Characteristics of the Illustrative Urban Distribution System 397
17.4 Discussion of Results 400
17.5 Feeder and Transformer Loading Levels 401
17.6 Bus and Feeder Tie Analysis 402
17.6.1 Tie Costs and Descriptions 402
17.7 Maintenance 403
17.7.1 Single Transformer 403
17.7.2 Conductor Sizing 403
xvi CONTENTS

17.8 Feeders with Nonfused (Lateral) Three-Phase Branches 404

17.9 Feeder Tie Placement 404
17.10 Finding Optimum Section Length 406
17.10.1 Definition of Terms 407
17.11 Feeder and Transformer Loading 408
17.12 Feeder Tie Cost Calculation 409
17.13 Effects of Tie Maintenance 410
17.14 Additional Ties for Feeders with Three-Phase Branches 411
17.14.1 Definition of Terms 412
17.15 Conclusions 413
References 413

18 RADIAL FEEDER RECONFIGURATION ANALYSIS 415

18.1 Introduction 415
18.2 Predictive Feeder Reliability Analysis 416
18.3 Reliability Data and Assumptions 418
18.4 Reliability Assessment for an Illustrative Distribution Feeder 419
18.4.1 Base Case Circuit Description 419
18.4.2 Circuit Tie 47-2 419
18.4.3 Circuit Tie 46-1 420
18.4.4 Circuit Tie 43-2 421
18.4.5 Circuit Tie 102-3 421
18.4.6 Base Case Reliability 421
18.5 Alternative Improvement Options Analysis 422
18.5.1 Incremental Improvement Alternative 1: Add Distribution
Automation Switch 422
18.5.2 Incremental Improvement Alternative 2: Add
Sectionalizing Switch 423
18.5.3 Incremental Alternative 3: Relocate Recloser 255 424
18.5.4 Incremental Improvement Alternative 4:
Place 2 New Switches 425
18.6 Summary of the Illustrative Feeder Reliability Performance
Improvement Alternatives 425
18.7 Conclusions 426
References 426

19 DISTRIBUTED GENERATION 427

19.1 Introduction 427
19.2 Problem Definition 428
CONTENTS xvii

19.3 Illustrative Distribution System Configuration Characteristics 430

19.4 Reliability Assessment Model 432
19.4.1 Reliability Indices 433
19.4.2 Reliability Data 433
19.5 Discussion of Results 433
19.5.1 Equivalent Distributed Generation Reinforcement
Alternative 434
19.6 Conclusions 438
References 438

20 MODELS FOR SPARE EQUIPMENT 441

20.1 Introduction 441
20.2 Development of Probabilistic Models for Determining
Optimal Number of Transformer Spares 442
20.2.1 Reliability Criterion Model for Determining the Optimal
Number of Transformer Spares 442
20.2.2 Mean Time Between Failures (MTBFu) Criterion Model
for Determining the Optimal Number of Transformer Spares 443
20.2.3 Determination of Optimal Transformer Spares Based
on the Model of Statistical Economics 444
20.3 Optimal Transformer Spares for Illustrative 72 kV Distribution
Transformer Systems 445
20.3.1 Determination of Optimal Transformer Spares Based
on the Minimum Reliability Criterion 446
20.3.2 Determination of Optimal Transformer Spares Based
on the Minimum MTBFu Criterion 447
20.3.3 Determination of Optimal Transformer Spares Based
on the Criterion of Statistical Economics 448
20.4 Conclusions 450
References 451

21 VOLTAGE SAGS AND SURGES AT INDUSTRIAL

AND COMMERCIAL SITES 453
21.1 Introduction 453
21.2 ANSI/IEEE Standard 446—IEEE Orange Book 454
21.2.1 Typical Range for Input Power Quality and Load
Parameters of Major Computer Manufacturers 454
21.2.2 Typical Design Goals of Power Conscious Computer
Manufacturers (Often Called the CBEMA Curve) 454
21.3 IEEE Standard 493-2007—IEEE Gold Book 455
21.3.1 Background 455
xviii CONTENTS

21.3.2 Case Study: Radial Distribution System 459

21.4 Frequency of Voltage Sags 461
21.4.1 Industrial Customer Group 462
21.4.2 Commercial Customer Group 463
21.5 Example Voltage Sag Problem: Voltage Sag Analysis
of Utility and Industrial Distribution Systems 464
21.5.1 Utility Distribution Systems 464
21.5.2 Industrial Distribution System 470
21.6 Frequency and Duration of Voltage Sags and Surges at
Industrial Sites: Canadian National Power Quality Survey 472
21.6.1 Background 472
21.6.2 Voltage Sags and Surges (Time of Day) 473
21.6.3 Voltage Sags and Surges (Day of Week) 475
21.6.4 Frequency of Disturbances Monitored on Primary
and Secondary Sides of Industrial Sites 478
21.7 Scatter Plots of Voltage Sag Levels as a Function of Duration 479
21.8 Scatter Plots of Voltage Surge Levels as a Function of Duration 479
21.9 Primary and Secondary Voltage Sages Statistical Characteristics 480
21.10 Primary and Secondary Voltage Surges Statistical Characteristics 481
21.11 Conclusions 486
References 486

SELECTED PROBLEMS AND ANSWERS 489

Problem Set for Chapters 2 and 3 489
Answers to Problem Set for Chapters 2 and 3 493
Problem Set for Chapter 4 494
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 4 496
Problem Set for Chapter 5 497
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 5 497
Problem Set for Chapter 6 498
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 6 504
Problem Set for Chapter 7 505
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 7 509
Problem Set for Chapter 8 510
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 8 512
Problem Set for Chapter 21 512
Answers to Problem Set for Chapter 21 516

Index 519
 PREFACE

Historically, the attention to distribution reliability planning was proportional to the

operating voltage of utilities and the primary focus was on generation and transmission
reliability studies. It has, however, been reported in the technical literature that
approximately 80% of the customer interruptions occur due to the problems in the
distribution system. Under the new era of deregulation of power utilities, the focus has
shifted to distribution systems to economically provide a reliable service. There are not
many textbooks in the world dealing with topics in power distribution reliability planning
and operation. We found that many of the theoretical examples presented in the literature
were not representative of actual distribution systems. These anomalies raise the question
of their credibility in modeling these systems. There are reliability programs for
calculating customer reliability indices. The details and the assumptions, however,
made in some of these computer programs are not revealed. We found in many cases the
results of these programs were incorrect. The basic intention of this book is to provide the
theory and detailed longhand calculations and their assumptions with many examples
that are required in planning and operating distribution system reliably (i.e., reliability
cost versus reliability worth) and to validate the results generated by commercial
computer programs.
This book evolved from many practical reliability problems and reports written
by us while working for various utilities (e.g., Alberta Power Ltd, BC Hydro, SaskPower,
and MidAmerican Energy Company) in North America over the past 40 years.
Some of the book materials evolved from the content of the reliability courses taught
by Dr. Don Koval at the University of Alberta. The book has been written for senior-level
undergraduate and graduate-level power engineering students, as well as practicing
engineers in the electric power utility industry. It can serve as a complete textbook for
either a one-semester or two-semester course.
It is impossible to cover all aspects of distribution system reliability in a single book.
The book attempts to include the most important topics of fundamentals of probability
and statistics, reliability principles, applications of simple reliability models, engineer-
ing economics, reliability analysis of complex network configurations, designing
reliability into industrial and commercial power systems, application of zone
branch reliability methodology, equipment outage statistics, historical assessment,
deterministic planning criteria, important factors related to distribution standards,
standards for re-regulated distribution utility, customer interruption cost models for
load point reliability assessment, value-based predictive reliability assessment,
isolation and restoration procedures, meshed distribution system layout, radial feeder
xx PREFACE

reconfiguration analysis, distributed generation, models for spare equipment, and

voltage sags and surges at industrial and commercial sites that are routinely dealt by
distribution engineers in planning, operating and designing distribution systems. The
special feature of this book is that many of the numerical examples are based on actual
utility data and are presented throughout all chapters in an easy-to-understand manner.
Selected problem sets with answers are provided at the end of the book to enable the
reader to Review and self-test the material in many of the chapters of the book. The
problems range from straightforward applications, similar to the examples in the text, to
quite challenging problems requiring insight and refined problem-solving skills. We
strongly believe that the book will prove very useful to power distribution engineers in
their daily engineering functions of planning, operating, designing, and maintaining
distribution systems.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to Dr. Fred VanEldik, professor emeritus, University of Alberta for his
editing skills and valuable suggestions in the writing of this book. We are most grateful to
numerous colleagues and friends: Yakout Mansour, president and CEO of California
Independent System Operator; John Propst, Brent Hughes, and Peter Hill of BC Hydro;
Charles Heising, an independent consultant; Doug Hollands of SaskPower; Dr. Roy
Billinton of the University of Saskatchewan; Dr. James McCalley of the Iowa State
University; Dr. Ward Jewell of the Wichita State University; Dr. S.S. Venkata of the
University of Washington; Dr. Anil Pahwa of the Kansas State University; Dr. Chanan
Singh of the Texas A&M University; Dr. Armando M. Leite Da Silva of Universidade
Federal de Itajubá; Dr. Gomaa Hamoud of Hydro One; Dr. Damir Novosel, Dr. Richard
Brown, James Burke, and H. Lee Willis of Quanta Technology; James Averweg, Richard
Polesky, Tom Mielnik, Brian Shell, Dan Custer, James Hettrick, and James Mack of
MidAmerican Energy; R.M. Godfrey of SNC LAVALIN; Cheryl Warren of National
Grid; C.V. Chung of Seattle City Light; John Vitagliano of Canadian Electricity
Association; Pat O'Donnell, independent consultant; J.P. Ratusz, Andy Swenky, Angie
Kirkwood, and Lance Barker of EPCOR; Tony Palladino and Murray Golden of Atco
Electric; Ibrahim Ali Khan of IK Power Systems Solutions; Roger Bergeron of IREQ; Dr.
Turan Gonen of Sacramento State; Bill Braun of Owens Corning; Robert Arno of EYP
Mission Critical Facilities, Inc.; Ariel Malanot of ABB, Switzerland; David Mildenberger
of AltaLink, Laverne Stetson of University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Glenn Staines of
Stantec; Lou Heimer and Michele Ransum of Public Works and Government Services
Canada; Darcy Braun of ETAP; Dr. Costas Vournas of the National Technical University,
Athens; Professor George E. Lasker, president of IIAS; Dr. Mohamed Hamza, president
of IASTED; and the members of the Gold Book Working Group (IEEE Standard
493-2007) for their keen interest and invaluable suggestions over the many years. We
express our kindest appreciations and gratitude to Dr. Mohammed E. El-Hawary, series
editor; Jeanne Audino, project editor; and Steve Welch, acquisitions editor of IEEE Press
for their constant encouragement and deep interest in our manuscript.
PREFACE xxi

We are particularly grateful to all the undergraduate and graduate students in the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta for their
valuable suggestions, research works, and validation of many of the reliability concepts
over the years. Particular thanks go to Cameron Chung, Cindy Zhang, Joseph Dong,
Tahir Siddique, Imran Khan, Catalin Statineanu, Jack Zheng, Jianguo Qiu, Mihaela
Ciulei, Haizhen Wang, Kai Yao, Bin Shen, Meina Xiao, Xiaodong Liu, Ming Wu, Vikas
Gautam, Zhengzhao Lu, Shrinivasa Binnamangale, Aman Gill, Sukhjeet Toor, Fatima
Ghousia, Delia Cinca, Faraz Akhtar, Tushar Chaitanya, and many other undergraduate
and graduate students. Our sincere thanks go to Pamela McCready of California
Independent System Operator for meticulously proofreading the entire manuscript.
Finally, our deepest appreciations go to our wives and family for their limitless
patience and understanding while we were working on this book.

ALI A. CHOWDHURY
DON O. KOVAL

Folsom, California
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,
March 2009
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 CHAPTER XIX
RUN TO GROUND

Bending low, now creeping on all fours, now running with his body
doubled to his knees, diverging to right or left as projections in the
Lava Beds seemed to offer a favourable screen, but ever and always
making for the front, the solitary man pressed on, his rifle grasped
sometimes in the left hand, sometimes in the right, as the need for
using one hand or the other in his advance arose. Twice he stopped
to recover breath, while pushing his way onward, and cautiously
twisted his head around to see what had become of his Pueblo
friends; but they were invisible. Their skill in keeping under cover at
least was undeniable. On he went again, till finally he reached the
brow of the great rise in the lava bed from which Miguel had
reconnoitred the Navajo camp. Past this he tried to get without
exposing himself unduly, but thrice he failed to find cover, and
retreated again to look for a better spot. The fourth time he found a
hollow in the lava with a rise on the right of it that promised him
some shelter, and flat on his face in this he wormed himself slowly
along, the eager bulldog flattening himself against the rock by his
side. Often had he crawled like this beside his master to get a
chance at a deer. But it was more dangerous game than deer that
they were stalking now. Having gained some twenty yards by this
creep, Stevens slowly raised his head to get a view of the new
ground that he knew should become visible in front of him from
here. He caught sight of a little green oasis amid the lava beyond, of
a band of ponies grazing in it, and of figures seated in a group on
the far side; and, by Heaven! amid the figures his quick eye detected
the flutter of a pink muslin which he had often seen Manuelita wear.
"Great Scot!" he ejaculated, "she's found. There she is." He raised
himself a little higher to get a better view, and take in the details of
the hostile camp, when suddenly a jet of smoke came out of the lava
scarce a hundred yards away, the sharp snap of a rifle was heard,
and a bullet clapped loudly on the rock close to his head. The
Navajos were not taken by surprise.
The Navajos had spotted the Pueblo scouts; they took their
appearance as a signal for fight, and now they were ready to give
them or anyone with them a warm reception. This bullet was their
first greeting.
The lead, splashing off the rock, spattered sharply on Stephens's
cheek. Instinctively he threw up his right hand and passed it over
the side of his face, but the splashes did not even draw blood, and
his eye was happily uninjured. In a moment he raised his rifle to
shoot back, but before he could get a bead the gleam of the rifle-
barrel from which the shot had come, and the head of the Indian
that had aimed it disappeared. "Dropped down to reload," said the
frontiersman to himself. "He's a goodish shot, that Navajo son of a
gun; that was a close call."
Lowering his head under cover, he decided to try a trick. Opening a
recess in the butt of his Winchester, he drew out four little iron rods
which, when screwed together, made a cleaning-rod about thirty
inches in length. Then he took off his hat, put the end of the
cleaning-rod inside it, and slowly hoisted it into view a yard or so
away to the right of where he had looked over before. He lay on his
left side and elbow, with his Winchester in his left hand, and the
right arm extended raising the hat. Snap went the sharp report of a
rifle again; there was a hole through the hat; dropping the rod
instantly he seized his rifle with both hands and raised himself for a
quick shot. But there was nothing visible worth shooting at. Once
more the quick dissolving puff of smoke and the gleam of a rifle-
barrel disappearing were all that he got a glimpse of. His little ruse
had failed, and he was clearly discomfited, while a loud whoop of
derision rang out from the rocks; it was the Navajo equivalent for
"Sold again!" It was echoed from another quarter, and from another,
by wild unearthly yells.
"Aha, white man," those yells seemed to say, "we've caught you
now! How do you feel now? This is our country and not yours; aha!
it is our home, and it shall be your grave; the vulture and the coyote
know the Navajo war-whoop, and they are hurrying to pick your
bones. Aha, aha!"
The solitary man felt his heartstrings quiver at the cruel sounds, but
he kept his eyes glued to the place where the puffs of smoke had
come from; the next time that devilish redskin put up his head to
fire he would try who could draw a bead the quicker.
At this moment he was startled by a loud, coarse voice, quite close
to him apparently, but coming from an unseen speaker. The words
were Spanish. "Es tu, Sooshiuamo?"—"Is it you, Sooshiuamo?" The
voice was the unmistakable voice of Mahletonkwa, with its thick,
guttural tones.
Stephens hesitated a moment. Should he break silence and answer?
He had neither fired a shot nor uttered a sound so far. But he had
been discovered, for all that, and was there any further use in trying
to conceal his exact position? He decided to answer.
"Si, soy," he called out in a loud voice. "Yes, that's who I am. Is that
you there, Mahletonkwa?" But he did not turn his eyes in the
direction of the unseen voice that had addressed him; he kept them
fastened on the distant spot where he expected the rifle-barrel to
reappear. Nor did he judge amiss. The hidden marksman, who
thought that the American's gaze would be turned in the direction of
the voice in answer to which he had spoken, put up his rifle for a
third shot at him. Quick as lightning Stephens brought the
Winchester to his shoulder; but even now he did not pull the trigger,
for as his rifle came up the Indian's head went down again, and
again those wild derisive whoops rang out, and again the voice of
the unseen man, concealed so close to him, addressed him in
Spanish.
"What are you doing here, Sooshiuamo? and what do you want?"
Was the voice nearer than before? Was this only a trick of the
Navajos to get him off his guard? Stephens mistrusted that it was
so; but he coolly made reply. "Why do your men shoot at me,
Mahletonkwa? I want to talk to you. I want that Mexican girl, the
Señorita Sanchez, whom you have carried off." He would see if they
were open to an offer.
"Who is with you?" asked the voice of Mahletonkwa. "Who are those
behind you? Where are the soldiers?"
Stephens determined to try to run a bluff.
"They're coming," said he confidently. "Don't you delude yourself.
We've got force enough to take her back. You'd better surrender her
quietly at once."
"Pooh!" answered Mahletonkwa tauntingly, "you've got no soldiers.
The storekeeper burnt the letter you sent to the general, I know."
This was a blow to Stephens, and the moment he heard the Indian
say it, he recognised the probability of its truth. Backus must have
played traitor, and, what was more, he must have told the Navajos
that he had done so. This Indian could never have invented such a
story himself.
"Suppose he did," returned Stephens, determined to keep up his
bluff; "that doesn't prevent me meeting Captain Pfeiffer and a troop
of cavalry on the road and bringing them along." He raised his voice
so that all those Indians who were within earshot might hear him.
"If you dare hurt one hair of the señorita's head, you will every one
of you be shot or hanged. You mark me."
While he was speaking the Navajo who had fired at him twice
already put up his head for a third shot, but he bobbed it down
quicker than before as the ready Winchester came up to the
American's cheek.
The prospector lowered his piece once more instead of letting fly; he
was determined not to throw away his first shot. He had plenty of
cartridges, but he knew that to risk beginning with a miss would only
embolden his enemies, and he meant to strike terror from the start.
The red Indian is as brave as the next man, but he objects to getting
killed if he can help it, and he will carefully avoid exposing himself to
the aim of a dead-shot. These Navajos had all seen Stephens drive
the nail.
Stephens's verbal threat, however, only provoked Mahletonkwa's
derision. "Pooh!" he retorted jeeringly, "where are your friends now?
It is getting time for them to come and save you. You'll see, though,
they can't do it. We'll show you what we are. We are Tinné; we are
men." The word Tinné means "men" in the Navajo language. They
call themselves "the men" par excellence.
"Chin-music's cheap," rejoined Stephens, taunting him back. "Say,
have you forgotten your time on the Pecos at Bosque Redondo
already? You felt like 'men' there, didn't you, when you were
grubbing for roots and catching grasshoppers and lizards to eat like
a lot of dirty Diggers?"
"Hah!" replied the Indian indignantly, "I never saw Bosque Redondo.
All the soldiers you could get couldn't take me where I didn't choose
to go. I don't take orders from any agent or any general. Nobody
ever commands me." There spoke the soul of the true son of the
desert. Personal liberty was to him as the breath of his nostrils.
Nevertheless, beneath his boastful assertions Stephens thought he
detected an undertone that might indicate a willingness to treat, and
he slightly altered his own tone.
"Mahletonkwa, you're playing the fool. Why don't you bring the girl
back quietly?"
"Well, if you want her," answered the Navajo, "why don't you come
out of your hole and talk business?"
"Yes, and get shot by treachery for my pains!" answered Stephens
indignantly. "I haven't attacked you. Your men began; they've shot
at me twice without warning."
"Well," said the Navajo, "you tell your men, if you have any, that
they are not to shoot, and I'll tell mine not to shoot, and then you
and I can talk together. I'm willing to treat."
An idea struck Stephens; he had already insinuated that he had
Captain Pfeiffer—a name of terror to the Navajoes and Apaches—at
his back; he would keep up that pretence, at least for a time. He
turned and shouted aloud in English at the pitch of his voice, "O
Captain Pfeiffer! O Captain Pfeiffer! Keep your soldiers back. Don't
let them fire a shot." He paused, and then continued shouting again,
but this time in Spanish, "O Captain of the Indian scouts," he would
not give away the Santiago cacique in any wise by calling him by
name, "let your scouts keep their posts and watch, but let them not
fire a shot. Let them wait till I return. Peace talk."
The four Pueblo Indians heard him, and understood, and from their
hiding-places they shouted back in assent.
"You see," cried he to his wily foe, "my men are warned. Do you
send your men back to your camp, and come out and meet me in
the open, eye to eye."
"No treachery?" said the Indian.
"No treachery," answered the white man.
The Navajo called to his companions, and presently Stephens had
glimpses here and there of stealthy forms slinking through the Lava
Beds back in the direction of the oasis where their horses were
grazing.
"Now you come out," called Mahletonkwa to the American.
"Come forward then, you, too," said Stephens.
"You first," returned the savage.
Stephens decided to take the risk and set the example. Grasping his
rifle in his left hand, he held it across his body, while he raised his
open right hand above his head in sign of amity, as he rose to his
full height. Not twenty yards away, across the ridge of rock that had
covered him on his right hand, he caught sight of Mahletonkwa's
copper-coloured visage, with the watchful dark eyes fastened on
him, as they peered through a loophole-like fissure in the lava,
where he was crouching.
Stephens, his head a little thrown back, his breast expanded, braced
himself to receive, and to return if he could, the treacherous bullet
he more than half expected.
"Stand up there you, Mahletonkwa, like me." He spoke proudly. "Be
a man; stand up."
Very watchfully, both hands grasping his gun at the ready, the Indian
rose to his feet. He looked like a fierce, cunning wolf hesitating
whether to snap or to turn tail.
With right hand still extended, Stephens moved step by step towards
his enemy, Faro keeping close to his heels. Not for a moment did the
white man remove his eye from the Indian, alert to detect the first
motion towards raising the gun, as he felt for his footing on the
rough lava blocks, careful not to look down lest an unfair advantage
should be taken of him. At five yards off he halted. The fissured rock
behind which Mahletonkwa had been crouching was now all that
separated them.
"Is there not peace between us?" exclaimed Stephens. "What do you
fear? Why does your gun point my way?"
"Is not your gun in your hand, too?" returned the Indian. "Put it
down and I will put mine down."
Stephens lowered his right hand, and bending his knees slowly he
sank his body near enough to the ground to lay his Winchester at his
feet, but he never took his eyes off the Indian, and his fingers still
encircled the barrel and the small part of the stock.
"Down with yours too, Mahletonkwa," he said quietly.
The Indian placed his piece at his feet, hesitated a moment, and
then removed his hands from it and sat up, resting himself on his
heels. Stephens likewise took his hands from his weapon and sat on
a rock. Mutual confidence had advanced so far, although each was
still intensely suspicious of the other.
"Now, tell me," said Stephens, "what did you carry off the girl for?"
"To get our pay for our dead brother," returned the red man.
"You did wrong then. You should have complained to the agent at
Fort Defiance if you thought you had a claim to compensation. You
should not have done an act of war by carrying her off."
"Huh! Was it not you who tried to send for the soldiers when we
came to claim compensation?"
"Certainly I sent for them. You refused a reasonable offer, and you
threatened to kill my Mexican friends instead. That was why I sent
for them."
"It was you who caused the Mexicans to refuse compensation. They
would have paid up and settled with us if it had not been for you."
"No, not so. It was you who asked a ridiculous price. I urged
Nepomuceno Sanchez to make terms with you. But not at your price.
You asked for the dead man's weight in silver, pretty near. I don't
believe you know how much a thousand dollars is; I don't believe
you could count it."
"Yes I could," said the Indian sulkily; "it's a back-load for a man to
carry a day's journey."
Stephens figured on the weight, as stated by the Indian, for a
moment. "Well, I've got to admit you do seem to know something
about it, after all," he answered; "your figures come out about right.
And, as I said before, it was a perfectly absurd amount to ask. And
then, to make it worse, instead of trying to make terms, you commit
an outrage of this kind by carrying off an innocent girl by violence."
"She has not been ill-treated," said the Indian; "she has not been
subject to violence while we have had her. We have taken good care
of her." He spoke very earnestly and with marked emphasis.
"That's your story," returned Stephens; "I only hope it's true. It'll be
better for you if it is. But anyways there's no denying the fact that
she's been brutally dragged from her home."
"That's nothing much," said the Indian briefly; "she's not been ill-
treated"; and he explained clearly enough what he meant by ill-
treatment. Stephens understood him, and shuddered to think of that
poor girl having lain for two days and nights completely at the mercy
of this savage. But he remembered Madam Whailahay, and the
cacique's wonderful account of the power of that superstition over
the Tinné. It might prove to be true, as Mahletonkwa asserted, that
the captive had been spared the worst. And the Navajo really did
seem to have a notion of coming to terms. But on what basis were
they to deal? How far could they trust each other? That was the
crucial question.
"Look here now, Mahletonkwa," said he, "you take me straight to
where she is, and let me talk to her quietly; and you give me your
solemn promise that you won't try to make me prisoner, but will let
me return to my own men unharmed, and I'll see what I can do to
make peace for you." He had a special object in making this speech;
it was to test the truth of the Indian's words. If the Navajo refused
the permission for him to see her, he would be discrediting his own
assertion that the girl was not seriously harmed; moreover, though
Stephens had small faith in the Indian's honour, and was by no
means unprepared to find that the promise, if given, was given only
to entrap him, he nevertheless thought it politic thus to require it,
that by making such a show of confidence on his own part in
Mahletonkwa's honour he might beget a corresponding return of
confidence from the other.
The Navajo pondered a moment on the proposition. "Yes," he said
presently, looking up, his distrustful eyes, still full of suspicion,
resting doubtfully on Stephens. "Promise, you, that your men stay
where they are, and do nothing against us, and I'll take you to her."
"I'll do that much," answered the American; "so then it's a bargain."
"It's a bargain," returned the red man; the confidence shown in him
was producing its effect.
"That's all right then," said Stephens cheerfully, rising to his feet and
leaving his Winchester still on the ground. He was not one whit less
on the alert than before, but his cue now was to betray no distrust.
For the first time since their meeting he took his eyes off
Mahletonkwa and looked back to where he had left his Pueblo
friends, who had remained all this time as invisible as ever, waiting
on the event with the inexhaustible patience of their race.
"Hullo!" he called back, "you scouts, stay there where you are till I
come back again. I am going to the camp of the Navajos to see
about settling things."
As before, the Pueblos acknowledged his message from afar with a
wild answering shout of assent.
He turned round, picked up his Winchester in a quiet,
undemonstrative manner, and threw it into the hollow of his arm.
"Go ahead, Mahletonkwa," said he, "you heard what I said. They will
keep still till I return. Let's go to your camp, you and me."
The redskin likewise stood up with his weapon in his hand. "I've got
to give some orders, too," he said, and he began to speak in his own
tongue. Much to Stephens's surprise he was answered at once from
a few yards off. The head of a concealed Navajo suddenly appeared
from a fissure near at hand. Stephens instantly recognised him as
the Notalinkwa whom Don Nepomuceno had said was as big a villain
as the other. He rapidly calculated in his mind what this might mean.
It was, in a measure, evidence that the Navajo chief had not been
intending to keep faith. At any rate, this was proof positive that he
had only made a pretence of sending his men away while he met
Stephens alone; and yet during their colloquy he had kept this
confederate posted within a few yards of him the whole time. "It's all
right," said Mahletonkwa, in answer to the look of surprise apparent
on Stephens's face; "no treachery, no lies. I leave Notalinkwa here to
watch for us that your men don't advance. Come along. It's all
right."
That Mahletonkwa should leave a sentinel now seemed natural
enough, and Stephens decided promptly to acquiesce. He was in for
it now, and he must play the game boldly, and with unhesitating
steps he followed the Navajo chief over the rugged lava to the camp
where the prisoner was held.
The camp lay in a narrow sunken meadow, of a few acres in extent,
bordered on either side by the black, forbidding wall of the lava bed.
An unknown cause had here divided the lava stream for some
hundreds of yards, leaving the space between unravaged by the
desolating flow. And in the little oasis thus shut off the grass grew
rich and green, looking tenfold brighter from its contrast with the
blackened wilderness around.
"What a perfect place for stock-thieves to hide in," thought Stephens
as he beheld it. "Of course these Navajos know every hidden recess
like this in the country." His eyes eagerly scanned the scene for the
form that was the object of his search. Close under the rocks, on the
far side, was the group of which he had already caught a glimpse
from the point where he had had his colloquy with the Indian chief.
Yes, it was indeed her dress he had discerned. There she was, sitting
on the ground amid the saddles and horse furniture, the Navajo
guards standing watchfully about in the space between him and her
as he and Mahletonkwa approached. Guns were visible in the hands
of most of them, but some carried only bows. He took note that the
latter were strung, and that besides the bow two or three arrows
were held ready in the fingers of the left hand.
But though his swift, wary glance took in every detail, it was to the
face of the captive girl that his eyes were most anxiously directed.
As he approached she sprang to her feet, and with a cry of
recognition ran forward to meet him. Some of the Indians put out
their hands as if to restrain her, but at a sign from Mahletonkwa they
refrained. His outstretched hand met hers in a vigorous clasp.
"You have come," she cried in broken tones, "you have come at last.
And my father,—is he safe?"
"Yes, he's safe," said the American, "and so are you."
 CHAPTER XX
THE WOLF'S LAIR

"You'll be all right now," said Stephens; "you've nothing to fear." He

deliberately assumed a security he was far from feeling, but it was
part of the game he must play. Her little hand still lay in his; it was
the first time it had ever done so; it seemed as if the firm pressure
of his strong fingers must reassure this poor terrified young thing,
the wild leaping of whose pulses he could feel. Her breast heaved
convulsively as she strove to control her sobs; the great tear-drops
gathered under her eyelids and ran down her cheeks.
"Great God!" he said, "that you should have suffered like this! But
don't be afraid; we'll get you out of this all right." His voice sounded
in his own ears strained and unnatural. He was trying his best to
play his part by appearing cheerful and consolatory, while at that
very same moment the strongest feeling in him was a burning, fierce
desire to pump lead into the gang of savages who had made this
tender creature suffer this agony of terror. And but for her presence
he might have done it there and then. To preserve her, however, it
was above all things necessary to temporise; and to preserve her
must be his first thought. He must hear her own story and consult
with her on his next move; but to do that he must talk in Spanish,
which Mahletonkwa understood. What a pity she did not speak
English, but that could not be helped. How could he manage to take
her out of earshot.
"Oh, where is my father? where is Andrés?" she sobbed, in a passion
of fear for the possible fate of her own people. "I heard two shots,
and then I heard no more. Were they there?"
"Oh, they're all right," said the American heartily, in the very
cheerfullest tones he could muster. "Don't you fret, señorita," and he
patted reassuring the little hand he held in his, loosing his grip of his
rifle to do so and squeezing the trusty weapon against his body with
his elbow. "It was only me out there that they were shooting at; no
harm done. Your father and brother are all right." Nevertheless this
repetition by her of her anxious inquiries brought a disturbing idea
into his head. Had she any special reason for thinking that her father
and her brother were wounded or slain? Could the cacique's
conjecture have been true, and had the Mexicans overtaken
Mahletonkwa's band on the Mesa del Verendo and fought with them
there and been beaten off? He longed to ask her about this, but he
did not like to do so within hearing of the Navajos. Still, he reflected,
Mahletonkwa would hardly have met him so boldly if there was fresh
blood on his hands. Ah, but he might have done that to lure him into
this trap; and now, behold, here he was in the wolf's lair! Thoughts
raced through his mind like lightning. Then he spoke.
"Mahletonkwa, I suppose you make no objection to her coming with
me now?"
"Not go," was the somewhat ominous reply; "stay here; sit down;
talk."
"But I want to talk to her by herself," he said; "I suppose you won't
object, then, if we go to the middle of the meadow and sit down
there?"
"Not go," repeated the Indian deliberately; "yes, you can go and sit
in there if you like," and he pointed to the overhanging side of the
lava bed, close to which was the camp.
"He means the cave there where the water is," quickly interposed
the girl, who was by this time recovering the control of her voice,
though her breast still heaved convulsively.
"All right, then, certainly, let's come on there; that'll do as well," said
the American with assumed ease. Still keeping her hand in his, he
turned in the direction indicated, and made a move as if to start.
The other Navajos rapidly exchanged some sentences in their own
language.
"You must leave your rifle if you go in there," said Mahletonkwa,
turning to Stephens again after listening to what they said.
"No," replied he, "certainly not. I'm no prisoner. No treachery,
Mahletonkwa." He slung himself round and faced the chief, placing
himself directly in front of the captive girl, as if assuming possession
of her.
"No treachery," re-echoed the Indian promptly, "only"—he hesitated
to say what was in his mind, but Manuelita divined it instantly.
"Their water is in the cave in a great rock-hole," she said, "and he
fears you will take cover in there and then shoot at him from
thence."
"No, I won't, Mahletonkwa," said Stephens at once; "I won't do that,
and I hadn't ever even thought of such a thing. It was your own
suggestion that I should go there. I had rather go out in the middle
of the meadow where I proposed first; there's no cover out in the
meadow."
"No, not there," said Mahletonkwa; "better you go on into the cave";
and following his direction they went forward together hand in hand.
Right in under the lava bed there was visible a wide, overarching
cavity extending some twenty or thirty feet back and at the far end
of this lay a deep natural rock-cistern full of clear dark water. It was
a hidden well.
"This is their spring," said the girl, pointing to it. "These Navajos
know every secret water-spring in the country."
The extraordinary quickness with which she had mastered her
feelings, and now the perfectly natural tone in which she spoke, and
the straightforward way in which she referred to her captors, greatly
relieved the American's anxiety; had she suffered at their hands
what his knowledge of the nature of Indians had led him to dread, it
seemed to him that she could not have spoken of them in this
unembarrassed style. She had raised her eyes to his as she uttered
the words, and though they were still wet with the tears that she
had shed, their glance was frank and open; there was no trace in
her mien of the dull despair of irreparable wrong he remembered in
the victim of the Sioux. His relief was shown by the reassured
expression in his own eyes as he returned her glance, and said
lightly;
"Oh yes, of course they must know them all; why, they're simply
bound to know this whole country just like a book. They'd never be
able to fly around in it, keeping themselves out of sight in the way
they do, if they didn't."
The pair seated themselves on the rock forming the lip of the
cistern. They were here out of earshot of the Indians if they did not
speak loud.
"Now tell me, señorita," he began in a low voice, "how you were
carried off."
She blushed and looked down. "I hardly know how to say it," she
said, "it was all so quick. I had got up and gone across the patio,
thinking it was near daybreak—you know there was no moon—and
never dreaming of the possibility of any danger inside the house,
when I was seized from behind, and gagged and bound in a
moment; and then they threw a riata round me and lifted me to the
top of the house, and down the outside on to a pony's back, and I
was hurried off I knew not where. Oh, it was dreadful! I was gagged
so that I could not even cry out, and I did not know where they
were taking me or what would become of me. Oh, I was terribly
frightened!" She paused, quite overcome for the moment by the
recollection.
Stephens felt a passion of pity sweep through his whole being at the
thought of the helpless plight of this lovely girl in the hands of
enemies—such enemies! "Yes," he said soothingly, taking her hand
again in his—they had unclasped hands as they sat down; "don't be
afraid; you're all right now; but go on and tell me about it."
"There isn't anything to tell," she answered with a little half-laugh
that was almost hysterical. "They held me on a horse, and we rode
and we rode and we rode, till I was so tired that I thought I should
have fainted; but," said she proudly, "I didn't faint. Then, when the
daylight came, I was blindfolded with a rag—pah!"—she added with
a little moue of disgust—"such a dirty rag!—I don't like these
Indians,—they're not at all clean people."
Stephens could not help smiling to himself at this bit of petulance. If
she had nothing worse to complain of than their lack of soap and
water they could afford to smile a little now, he and she both.
"Yes," he assented with amused gravity, "they do show a most
reprehensible neglect of the washtub. In fact, I don't suppose
there's such a thing as a proper washboard in the whole Navajo
nation."
Their eyes met again, and they both laughed, he of set purpose to
raise her spirits, she because she could not help it. The awful
tension of her captivity, a tension that had never ceased for a
moment, not even in her fitful and broken snatches of sleep, was
relaxed at last. In the presence of this brave man who had come to
rescue her, confidence returned, and now the reaction of feeling was
so strong that, had she let herself go, she could have laughed as
wildly as a maniac. But her spirit was unbroken, and she held herself
in.
"So, then, with that rag over your eyes you had no sort of idea
where you were being taken to?" he said interrogatively.
"No," she answered; "how could I? Except, indeed, for the sun on
my neck sometimes; that made me think we were going north or
west a good deal,—at least it seemed as if we were."
"Exactly so; you were quite right," he said encouragingly; thinking to
himself as he said so that she must have been a real plucky girl to
have kept her head cool enough to allow her to observe things with
so much accuracy. "Yes," he repeated, "that was exactly your course
at first, between north and west. And about your food? What did
you do? Had you anything to eat?"
"Nothing but raw dried meat," she answered, her pretty upper lip
curving with disgust, "and it was so hard. My mouth aches with the
pain of eating it. These savages don't know how to cook it properly;
they chew it raw as they go along, generally; or if they stop and
camp and make a fire, they have nothing to cook it in; they don't
boil it or fry it; they don't always even pound it with a stone to make
it soften, but just throw it on the coals till it is scorched, and then
eat it so, all blackened and burned. Savages!" and again she made a
face to express her contempt for their very rudimentary ideas of
cookery. Once more their eyes met, and they both laughed again.
"I am afraid," said he with grave apology, "that I have been careless,
too. I haven't brought along anything nice for you to eat. In fact, I
have nothing but dried meat myself, not even a scrap of tortilla left,
to say nothing of candy; I wish I'd only thought of it when I was
starting, but the fact is, I came off in a hurry."
"Yes," she cried in a repentant voice, "and I've been talking about
myself the whole time. Did you come with my father? Do you know
where he is? How did you find us?"
"The Pueblo Indians knew of this place," he answered; "they led me
here." He looked cautiously over his shoulder as he spoke, to see if
there was any Navajo near trying to play the eavesdropper on them.
"Your father and Don Andrés had set out with a strong party of
Mexicans before me. They started within an hour after it was known
that you were gone. But your father sent word of it all to me up at
the pueblo, and I got some of the Indians to join me and started
out, too. But we didn't come the same way as Don Andrés's party;
we picked up the trail off towards the Ojo Escondido. You see, my
Indians believed that the Navajos certainly were making for this
place, and, in short, they led me straight here, and that's how we
seem to have got in ahead of Don Andrés."
"How clever of them to guess the hiding-place!" said she. "And now,
shall we go home quite quick? Perhaps we might meet my father
and my brother on the way."
"I've no doubt that'll be all right now," he said confidently; "I must
just fix up things with Mahletonkwa first." He paused; there was a
question he could not put to her direct, and yet before treating
further with the Indian he wished to feel absolutely certain whether
he should deal with him as one guilty of unpardonable wrong or not.
He tapped the butt of his revolver significantly with his right hand,
looked her full in the face for a moment, and then with an abrupt
movement he rose to his feet and turned away from her; his right
hand half drew the revolver from its holster, and made a gesture as
if to offer it to her behind his back, but his eyes were fixed on the
group outside the cave. "Now, señorita," he said, "before I go to
speak with him, tell me one thing: are you content to live? Are you
content to go back in peace to your people? Or else—I guess you
can understand me—here's my revolver for you; you can make an
end with that, and I'll go out to those savages, and then, I swear by
the wrath of God, you shall be revenged on some of them, anyhow,
before I drop."
"But why?" cried she with a little shudder of surprise at him, so
unexpected to her was this suggestion. "They haven't done anything
bad to me. I don't want anyone to be killed. They are very ignorant,
uncivilised folk, but they treated me as well as they knew. I'm sorry
if I complained about the dried meat they gave me. Don't begin
fighting with them, please,—not on my account. I thought you had
made peace. I want to go home."
He turned and looked at her. The naïve simplicity of her language
reassured him completely. "All right, señorita," he said, "I'll see that
you get safe home. I'll go and arrange with Mahletonkwa now. I'm
glad they treated you as well as they knew how. But say," he added,
stooping over her and drawing the pistol completely out, "wouldn't
you like me to leave this with you, just in case of accidents? There's
always a sort of feeling of comfort in having a six-shooter handy."
"No, no," said she, making a movement with her hands as if to push
the unaccustomed object away from her, "I've never had one in my
life to use. I shouldn't know what to do with it at all."
Half reluctantly he returned it to its case, thinking what a difference
there was between a girl like this and the average Western ranch-
woman. American girls who lived on the frontier could shoot; they
were more like men in that way; they were, comparatively speaking,
independent; whereas this pretty creature depended solely upon him
to protect her; so much the more reason, then, he argued with
himself, for being cautious and diplomatic in his dealings with the
Navajos now.
"Well then, señorita," he said, "you'd better stay here a few minutes
longer while I go back and speak to Mahletonkwa. I guess it won't
take us long to fix things."
He took her hand in his and held it for a moment. It lay there in his
firm clasp with a confidingness that thrilled through him; the
sensation came on him as a new discovery. "Why, this was what
hands were meant for, to clasp each other." The ten long years of
the unnatural divorce from womankind in which he had lived seemed
to roll away as a dream. He had forgotten what a girl's hand was
like; a quick impulse came on him to raise it to his lips, to clasp her
in his arms and console her, only to be as quickly checked again. It
would not be the fair thing; here she was relying entirely upon him
for protection; it was for him to guard her, and to do no more.
Anything else must wait—must wait till she was once more in safety,
completely mistress of herself again. But the flood of new ideas for
the future sped through his mind with lightning rapidity. In moments
of danger and excitement the wheels of thought turn at a rate that
seems incredible afterwards.
For one last, long minute he stood there, his hand locked in hers,
looking into the deep, dark wells of her eyes. Of what joy had not
his desolate past robbed him? Oh, why had he been blind to his
chances all this winter, when he might have looked in her eyes like
this any day; now he had found what made life worth living—and
found it, perhaps, too late! Was it too late? He would see about that.
With a final pressure of her gentle fingers, each one of which he
seemed to feel separately pressing his in response, he turned away
and strode out of the cave towards the group of Navajos in the
meadow.
And who shall say what were the girl's feelings, left thus alone in the
cave while her fate was being decided by the men sitting out there
in the sun? Hope lifted her heart high,—hope after despair, like the
blue sky after a thunderstorm, unimaginably bright, the hope of
recovered freedom, of return to the longed-for hearth, of the
embraces of her father and the dear ones at home. But there were
fears too: after all, might not her deliverer fail yet? he had reached
her,—could he rescue her? would he, single-handed, be able to
prevail over these savages? Was there nothing she might do, weak
woman as she was, to help him? Instinctively her fingers felt within
her dress for the beads she wore, and fast flowed her prayers for his
success; when she paused and looked anxiously out she saw him
seated on the ground, the rifle in his lap, the Indians in their own
style squatting round, and all faces grave with serious debate. It was
her fate they were discussing, but it was his, too. In the intense
sunlight she could mark the hard-set lines of his face; he was
stubborn with the Indians about something or other; they wanted
something he would not give? Why would he not give it. "Oh, give
way to them," she could have cried to him. "Do let them have it—do.
Only make peace, and let us return together"; peace, peace, peace,
that was what she yearned for, peace and freedom! But she spoke
no word, she knew that she must leave it to him, and once more she
fell to her prayers.
 CHAPTER XXI
DRIVING A BARGAIN

And why was this debate between the American and the Navajos so
stubborn and tedious?
When two shrewd men are each determined to drive the best
bargain he can, and neither trusts the other, the diplomacy between
a frontiersman and a redskin may be as lengthy as if it were
between rival ambassadors of contending empires. In their secret
hearts both Stephens and Mahletonkwa were anxious to come to an
understanding, but each thought it politic to simulate comparative
indifference, and not to give any advantage to his opponent by
betraying undue eagerness.
Stephens demanded at the outset the immediate restoration of the
captive to her father, safe and sound. Granted that, he was willing to
promise fair compensation for the Navajo who had been slain, and
amnesty for the subsequent outrage of carrying off the girl; and also
he was ready in person to guarantee these terms. He could offer no
less, much as he longed to see her abductors punished, because it
was obvious that, as long as they were not secure from retaliation,
they would prefer to keep possession of her to the last possible
moment, and take their punishment fighting.
To this first demand Mahletonkwa signified his willingness to agree,
but only on conditions. Stephens's offer was an amnesty and fair
compensation. That was precisely what he wanted. Fair
compensation, plus an amnesty. But the question arose, what was
fair compensation? and here for a time they split. Stephens
maintained that Don Nepomuceno's offer of a hundred and twenty-
five dollars cash, was fair. Mahletonkwa would not hear of it. His
dead brother was worth a great deal more than that. He had asked
a thousand dollars for him, and a thousand dollars he intended to
have. Apart from that he had no use for the captive.
"Pay the bill, and take the girl," that was the sum and substance of
his argument; "and if her father won't pay, will you?"
Right here the American saw it was essential to make a stand. If he
weakly yielded to this preposterous claim, Mahletonkwa would be
sure to conclude that he was scared into acquiescence and could
have no soldiers or Indian scouts in any force to back him up. That
being so, most likely the Navajo would raise his terms, and ask
perhaps double, treble, quadruple,—anything he pleased in short,—
till the whole affair became a farce! No, Mahletonkwa's thousand-
dollar demand was almost certainly a bluff. Then why shouldn't he
try a bluff, too?
"I can't do it, Mahletonkwa," said he with an air of finality, but
speaking more in sorrow than in anger, as one who sees good
business slipping through his fingers. "I'd like to come to terms first-
rate, but I can't meet you there. You're too stiff in your figures. It's
not a deal."
He thought of the girl sitting there all alone in the cave, and his
kindly heart longed to say, "What's a thousand dollars, more or less?
Hang it all, here, take it! or rather, take my word for it, and let's be
off home." But prudence whispered, No.
Mahletonkwa calmly repeated his demand. He, too, thought it wisest
to play the part of the close-fisted trader, and show no hurry to
make a bargain.
"Well, look here then, Mahletonkwa and Navajos all," said the
American, appealing directly to the cupidity of the followers as well
as of the chief. "It's a big thing I've offered you on my own hook
already in this matter of the amnesty. It's a big thing for me to say
I'll stand between you and Uncle Sam" (he did not say Uncle Sam,
but the Great Father at Washington); "but I stick by that, and I'll do
it. And I've offered you payment for the dead man, same as Don
Nepomuceno, a hundred and twenty-five dollars; and you say it aint
enough. Now, I can't meet you the whole way, but I'll raise my offer
a bit, and you can take it or leave it. It's my last word." He rose to
the level of the part he was playing, and threw himself into it with all
the sincerity he was master of. "You see that rifle"—he pointed to
the long, heavy, muzzle-loading hunter's rifle that lay beside
Mahletonkwa's right knee—"well, I'll give you the weight of that rifle
in silver dollars. Me, looking as I do, I'll see that you get them.
There's my word upon it. This is my personal offer to compensate
you for your dead brother. You shall have silver dollars enough to
weigh down that rifle on the scales. I don't know how many that'll
take, but it's bound to be a right big pile. Now understand me, you
chaps, we'll take a balance, a fair and square balance, and put the
rifle in one scale and pour silver dollars into the other till the rifle
kicks the beam. Sabe?"
The sons of the desert looked one at another, and curious excited
sounds came from their lips, and significant gestures were made.
Some of them had actually seen scales used to weigh out the rations
at Fort Defiance, and they quite understood what they were for, and
made the thing clear to the less instructed among them. The
American saw that his offer had created an impression, and he did
his best to rub it in.
"You'll find it pay you to accept, Mahletonkwa," he said. "You'll be
able to fix things in grand style with all that silver. Here, let's have a
look at that rifle of yours, and let me heft it." He put out his hand
cautiously—no objection was offered; he laid it on the piece—still no
objection; he raised the rifle slowly on both palms, dandling it, as it
were, up and down. "Why, it's a real heavy gun. It don't weigh less
than twelve or thirteen pounds, I reckon. I tell you that'll come to no
end of a lot of silver; all silver dollars, mind you; and it'll take
hundreds of them, you bet, to weigh down this gun." He turned his
eyes from one to the other of the redskins, and they seemed to
understand him as he laid it down again beside the chief.
It was clear that his way of putting it had a great effect on the
Navajos. To tell the truth, most of Mahletonkwa's followers had by
this time begun to tire of their recent escapade. They had sallied out
from their own country under his leadership, at the summons of
Ankitona, the headman of their clan, to obtain the redress for the
death of a member of their clan called for by their peculiar religion.
But so far they had not taken much by their move. They had not as
yet got any compensation; they had carried off a Mexican girl; and
now they were beginning to feel that in doing so they had decidedly
risked putting their heads in a noose. They began to believe they
were in danger of being surrounded by United States soldiers, here
in the Lava Beds, and were likely to have an extremely unpleasant
time of it ere long unless they succeeded in escaping to a new
hiding-place. The cool confidence shown by this solitary man coming
forward so boldly to treat with them convinced them that he must
have a strong force behind him. And now he was making an offer of
a complete amnesty, plus a heap of silver dollars. First one and then
another began to urge Mahletonkwa to close the bargain. He was a
chief, of course, and upon him, as such, rested the responsibility of
making decisions; but a Navajo chief is practically very much in the
hands of his followers. When actually under fire they may obey him
well enough, but when it comes to questions of policy, if the greater
number are dissatisfied with his schemes or his methods, they
simply leave him, and he finds himself deserted. He has no power to
coerce them. Call this anarchy, if you will, or call it liberty, it is at all
events the very opposite of despotism. No Navajo chief can play the
despot; and Mahletonkwa, conscious that his authority was slipping
from him, acceded to the terms, which indeed gave him nearly all he
wanted.
"Bueno, Sooshiuamo", said he, using Stephens's Indian name in a
friendly way, "I accept your offer, and there shall be peace between
us. But you must agree to stay with us when we come out from the
Lava Beds, and you must go with us all the way to San Remo for the
money, and you must prevent any trouble with the soldiers or with
the Mexicans if they try to hurt us. You promise that?"
"Yes," said Stephens slowly, weighing every word of the Indian's
speech, "I'll promise that. I'll see you safe to the settlement and pay
you the money with my own hands. And if we meet any Americans
or Mexicans who are after you, I'll explain that it is peace, and they
are not to attack. I'll guarantee that much."
"Then," said the Indian, "it is peace between us; peace is made and
sure."
"Peace it is," said Stephens, rising; "and now by your leave I'll go
and tell the señorita, and then go and tell my men."
He hurried back to the cave where he had left her, and found her on
her knees. He had laughed at the orisons offered up by the Santiago
people before blasting the acequia; he did not laugh at hers.
She sprang up at his approach.
"We've fixed it all right," he said, "so don't you fret, señorita. I was
real sorry to have to keep you so long in suspense, but I couldn't
well help it. I'll explain all that to you later. But peace is made, and
we're going back to San Remo together, you and me, along with the
Navajos, and we'll start right away. But I've got to go over to where
I left my party yonder in the Lave Beds, and explain the whole
arrangement to them. Otherwise there might be considerable of a
fuss. Now, don't you fret," he took her hand again to reassure her,
"you'll be all right, and I won't be gone many minutes. You're sure,
now, you won't get scared?"
"If you say you will come back," she answered, "I know you will
come back, and I will try to be brave till you do."
With one glad pressure of her hand and one more long look into her
eyes he turned away and left her. She watched his active steps as he
hastened across the oasis and sprang up the broken lava rocks
beyond. On the summit he turned and looked back in her direction,
and waved his hand as a signal to her that all was well. Five minutes
later he bounded down into the grassy opening where his mare was
feeding with the four horses of the Pueblos. The cacique and the
three others ran to meet him.
"How have you succeeded?" exclaimed the cacique. "Who was that
shooting? Have you shot any of them?"
"Not me," replied Stephens. "I've been making peace, I have. I
found Mahletonkwa had just as lief trade as fight, and a bit more so.
'Ditto,' says I to that, and just talked peace talk to him, and we
made things square. Cacique, you were plumb right about
Whailahay; they haven't harmed the girl. I've fixed it up with them
about compensation for their dear departed, and we 're all going
back to San Remo together, to take her home and get the silver for
them. See?"
The cacique looked rather disconcerted. "I don't want to join
company with these Navajos out here," he said decidedly.
"Oh, I didn't mean you," rejoined the American; "I quite understand
that you might feel a delicacy in obtruding yourself on them out here
in No-man's-land. They might have heard of that little affair of the
seven Navajos in the sweat-house, eh? and this might seem a good
time and place to pay off old scores?" His spirits had gone up with a
bound, and he found it impossible not to chaff the cacique a little.
"No, Cacique; you brought me here upon their trail just like a smell-
dog, as I wanted you to do, and I've managed the rest of the
business myself. Now, what I want you to do is to take their back
trail and meet Don Nepomuceno and his party—they're sure to have
found it again by now and to be following it up—and you tell them
how I've fixed things, and say the señorita's all right and we'll meet
them in San Remo. Stop, I'll write it down here on a scrap of paper
and you can take it to them; that'll be best." He produced a pencil
and a small note-book, tore out a leaf and hastily wrote on it his
message to the Mexican. "There, Cacique," said he handing it to
him, "give that to Don Nepomuceno when you see him, and tell him
the whole show. I'd like to have you wait and meet us at San Remo
if you get back there before us. Hasta luego."
He gathered up the riata of the mare, and started to pick his way
with her through the Lava Beds to the oasis where the Navajos were
camped, while the Pueblos speedily made themselves scarce in the
opposite direction.
By the time Stephens reached the camp the Navajos had collected
their scanty equipment and bound it on their saddles; they all took a
long drink of pure, cool water from the hidden "tinaja" or rock-
cistern, and, leading their animals, made the best of their way over
the Lava Beds to the open country. Stephens explained to
Mahletonkwa before starting that he had arranged for his party to
return to San Remo by the route they came.
"Bueno," said Mahletonkwa shortly, "and we will go by another. I
know many trails through the sierra; there is one that I like well, and
I will take you by it."
"Right you are," said Stephens, "that suits me. Lead on." His object
now was to avoid any chance of a collision between the Navajos and
Mexicans till they should meet at San Remo.
Manuelita walked beside him as they followed the winding and
difficult trail taken, by the Navajos through the Lava Beds, but as
soon as they emerged from them and found themselves on the
smooth ground beyond, he spread a blanket over the saddle to
make it easy for her, and insisted on her riding Morgana while he ran
alongside.
After a while the leading Indians came to a halt, and were seen to
be examining the ground intently. When Stephens and the girl came
up to them he found that they had cut their own trail made by
themselves the previous day. But there were more hoof-marks in it
now than those of the eleven ponies, and they were busily studying
the newer signs. Stephens looked at them, too; they were
undoubtedly the tracks of the pursuing party under Don
Nepomuceno; it was hard to say just how many of them there were,
as they were confused with those of the Indians, and the Mexican
horses being barefooted, like the Indian ponies, it was impossible to
distinguish them. But there were more than a dozen at least, and
not one of them wore shoes.
"No soldiers in this party," said Mahletonkwa, looking up at Stephens
suspiciously. United States army horses are always shod, as he well
knew.
"Certainly not," answered the American unhesitatingly. "These are
not the tracks of my party. I never was over this piece of ground
before. My scouts cut your trail farther on."
"You had the Santiago scouts with you?" said the Navajo; "I was
sure of that when you came to the Lava Beds so quick. Which of
them did you have?—the cacique?" His dark eyes snapped as he
mentioned him. "Miguel, perhaps, that tall, slim one with the scar on
his cheek?" He knew a good deal about the Santiago folk; after the
submission of the Navajos had ended the long wars, there had been
some intercourse between the former enemies.
Stephens thought it better not to give any names. "Oh, I got some
good trailers," he said easily; "but there are other Pueblos besides
Santiago, and there are trailers in all of them. Cochiti has men who
are first-class on reading signs."
"I know you had that Santiago cacique," said Mahletonkwa
cunningly.
"Then if you think so, you'd better ask him to tell you about it when
we get back to the settlement," rejoined the American.
They entered the sierra a little before nightfall, and were soon
involved in a difficult and tortuous way amidst pine-crowned crags
and precipices. Sometimes their horses' feet clattered upon shady
slopes of débris; at times they trod softly upon a padded carpet of
fir-needles. They were traversing a little cañon just after sunset,
when, nearly two hundred yards away on the opposite side, the
forms of a herd of deer were silhouetted against the fading sky.
Instinctively Stephens threw up his rifle to his shoulder; he got a
bead as well as he could, though it was too dark to pick the exact
spot on the animal's side as he pressed the trigger, and at the sharp
report the band of dark forms disappeared as if by magic, but the
loud "thud" of the bullet proclaimed that one of them had been
struck. Instantly he and three of the Navajo young men dashed on
foot across the little gorge and scaled the opposite steep, Faro
leading the way. The bulldog nosed around for a moment where the
deer had been, and as the climbers emerged on top they heard him
give one joyful yelp as he darted forward on the scent; two minutes
later they heard his triumphant bark, and when they got up to the
spot they found him over the dead carcass of a yearling buck, shot
through the lungs. It had run some five hundred yards before it
dropped, and the bulldog coming up had seized it by the throat and
finished the business.
The Indians were loud in praise of the dog, as their knives rapidly
and skilfully dressed and cut up the game, while Stephens looked on
and rewarded his pet with the tit-bits. All three of the Navajos spoke
Spanish well enough for him to understand them as they praised the
dog, but when they turned over the deer, and found the place where
the conical bullet had come out on the other side, they changed
from Spanish into Navajo, and significant laughter followed as they
pointed out to one another the two holes, and then pointed to
Stephens's rifle. Suddenly it flashed across him that they had got a
joke on about something, and that it was not a thing new to him.
Their manner made him think instantly of the day when he drove the
nail, and Mahletonkwa pointed to his Winchester and told the funny
story—funny, that is to say, for the Navajos—about the murder of
the prospector. Though he understood no word of what they said,
their gestures were too full of meaning for him to mistake them.
"I say," said he abruptly, but with seeming carelessness, "aint this
the place that Mahletonkwa told that story about? About the man
who was shot with his own rifle, you know?"
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