The Navajo Gambler

The year was 1883, and a young Navajo was on his way to Prescott looking for the scoundrel who had murdered Sani, his childhood mentor. As he rode down the trail, he remembered the events that led to the death of his friend. But, because of the horrific nature of those events, they had been hidden from his memory for many years.This story is about a young Navajo and his life in the wild, wild west during the mid to late 1800s. The places and most of the events in the story are real, but the characters and their adventures are fiction. The story follows the young Navajo's life experiences with the white man (some good and some bad). It starts on the Bosque Redondo Indian reservation in New Mexico, and it continues to Navajo Native land near Window Rock, Arizona. It takes you across the Arizona Territory on the Beale Wagon road and down Arizona's Overland Trail. It also makes visits to the old western towns of Flagstaff, Prescott, Bisbee, Tombstone, Charleston, Tucson, and Holbrook Arizona. And finally, it takes you to the legendary Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix.The young Navajo, Noqoilpi, was named after the mythical gambling-god in the creation or migration legend of the Navajo. The legend about this mythical character was told to Washington Mathews, a surgeon for the U. S. Army, while he was assigned to Fort Wingate near Gallop, New Mexico in the late 1800s. Dr. Mathews is known for his studies of the Native American people, especially the Navajo.The boy was born on the Bosque Redondo Reservation in New Mexico during the mid-1860s. His father was the son of the great Navajo chief, Manuelito. His mother was the most beautiful woman of all the Navajo people. His father and mother were among the thousands of Navajos who, in 1864, were led from their native lands by Kit Carson to Bosque Redondo. This journey is known as the Long Walk of the Navajo. Disease, crop failure and generally poor conditions resulted in the failure of the reservation; and in 1868, the government allowed the Navajo people to return to their native lands. In that year, the boy's father and mother along with a small clan of Navajos moved back to their native land near Window Rock, Arizona. There, the boy lived his early years learning the Navajo ways.The boy developed slowly, and other children in the village his age crawled and walked before he did. Both parents tried to help in their son's development, but he was still far behind the others. His father finally gave up and began to ignore his child. The boy tried hard to impress his father, but it was no use. So, the boy was taught about the Navajo ways by his mother and two wise tribal elders. As time progressed, his mother learned that her boy had a special gift, and the village celebrated his newly discovered aptitude. As it turned out, the boy needed this unique talent to fulfill the prophecy made by a wise village elder.For much of the boy's life, he was unaware of his childhood years in the Navajo Nation. During those years, he experienced a tragic event that should have ended his life; but guided by the Diyin Dine'e (Navajo Holy People), his life continued. When the boy reached manhood, he realized that he had been saved to avenge the atrocities of five heinous villains and traveled throughout the Arizona Territory to this end.Many of the places in the story exist today. Traces of the Beale Wagon Road, that was once frequented by settlers moving west, are still visible in the Kaibab National Forest near Williams, Arizona. JD's Cabin, built in the mid 1870s, can also be found in the Kaibab Forest. The Palace Saloon in Prescott has been restored and is currently operating on Prescott's historic whiskey row. In Tombstone, the old courthouse and Crystal Palace Saloon are also doing business today. The Bucket of Blood Saloon in Holbrook still exists, but its windows are boarded, and its adobe brick walls are deteriorating.