Kitt Peak by Al Sarrantonio

the Keeper of the Smoke, is not here," the voice said. "He has gone to the Council of the Tribes, as you commanded." The voice trembled. "He has gone to make the war bond you wished."
    So! This was what the eagle had wanted, and it had come true.
    "We hope you are pleased," the trembling voice continued. The eagle could now make out the bowed head of Leaping Deer, one of the council members of the Tohono O'otam.
    The eagle waited silently.
    Leaping Deer turned to the group of wailing women behind him and drew a slight figure out. It was a young girl, no more than twelve or thirteen. She stood shaking, eyes wide, staring at the eagle.
    "Great bird," Leaping Deer said, "I pray to you. This is my daughter, who has been chosen to be with you." The man's trembling voice broke. "I beseech you! Do not take her. Your wishes have been granted. Have you not promised that the sacrifices will end when you have what you want? Soon you will have it!"
    When the eagle was silent, Leaping Deer shouted, "She is all I have! Do not take her from me, I will do your bidding for a thousand days and a thousand more!"
    The eagle fluttered its wings, let them fall. The wailing women wailed louder, moved back, leaving Leaping Deer and his daughter alone.
    "No!" Leaping Deer shouted, as the eagle raised its wings to strike. The council member drew his shaking daughter to him, turned, and began to make his way hurriedly down the mountain path after the old women.
    The eagle rose over Leaping Deer and his daughter, and dropped upon them.
    "No!" Leaping Deer said again.
    But already the eagle's claws were upon the two of them, and the night was filled with their cries.

Chapter Fourteen
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    As Thomas had expected, he and Lincoln were met with animosity at the Ranger Copper Mine. The company was a veritable little town, with more provisions than the Tohono O'otam reservation they had visited. There was a sea of tents, made of tall strong canvas, staked in precise rows. A larger tent looked like a portable mess hall. There were semi-permanent structures, wooden buildings on stilts that looked as though they had been brought in, then set down. Horse-drawn wagons were everywhere; there was a railroad track down the center of the encampment with a small steamer engine pulling ore cars toward the mouth of the mine, at the foot of the mountain in the near distance. Thomas heard other mechanical sounds, and was surprised to see a horseless carriage chug by, its loudly tapping engine amazingly pulling a light cart.
    Lincoln stared at the horseless carriage in amazement, then shook his head. "I've read about those, Lieutenant, but I've got to say, after seeing one, I don't think it'll come to much."
    "Oh? Why not, Trooper?"
    Reeves pointed. "Just look at it! Can hardly pull its own weight!"
    "You couldn't be more wrong," Thomas said. "In a few years, that horse under your hind end will be used for nothing but recreation. What you're seeing is just the start of a new age."
    "Well, I don't know" Reeves began. "You boys want something?" a harsh voice said behind them.
    They stopped their horse, reined around to face a large, hard-looking man with a clipboard in one hand, and a hat pushed back on his head.
    "We're looking for the foreman," Thomas said.
    "You can talk to me."
    "Are you the foreman?" Thomas asked mildly.
    The man's face reddened, and he took a step forward. "I'm not used to being talked to that way by a nig— "
    "That's enough, Frawley," another voice said. The new man approached, smiling. Like Frawley, he was cleanly dressed and had a hat pushed back on his head. But he was small, thin, with wire-rimmed glasses.
    He looked up at Thomas and Lincoln, studying them. The smile stayed, but looked as though it might dissolve at any time. "I'm Mates. You come about a job?"
    "No," Thomas said. He handed down his letter of introduction from Marshal Murphy.
    The thin foreman studied the note for a moment, then frowned. He handed the piece of paper back up to