Saturday, Ajie and I had overslept and didn’t get breakfast before we left for the dance competition. When we were finally there and were walking through the vendor area, we stopped at one of the vendors that sells beaded jewelry and pottery, but they happened to have a hair-pipe bone choker with silver for sale. We bought it and took it to Mr. Yazzie. And we found out from him that Kilchii Nez had made part of it. Ajie and I went back to the vendor that we’d purchased the choker from and found that they had a wooden box that they had gotten at an estate sale.

What was in this box?

It looked like what was in the box was tools used by a silversmith. There was also a cloth bag in the box, and it looked like it contained tools that a silversmith would use to make various marks on silver pieces. As we looked at the contents of the cloth bag, I handed one to Ajie to look at, and as she did, she asked, “Kai, is this what I think it is?”

I had one small tool in my hand, but took the tool that Ajie had from her, looked at it, and asked, “What did you think it was?”

“I thought that it might be the maker’s marking tool.”

“I don’t think it is. I haven’t seen anything in this bag that might be a maker’s marking tool.”

“What’s this maker’s marking tool?”, the woman asked.

“No one knows where Kilchii Nez’s things went when he passed. And we’ve been looking for them. And a maker’s marking tool is what a silversmith uses to mark his work. Here, let me show you.”

I took off my Concho belt and showed the man and woman the maker’s mark on one of the Conchos.

“That’s interesting.”, the woman said. “So that tool isn’t in there. What about the other stuff in the box?”

“I haven’t seen the marking tool. And I’m not sure of the other things. But, since it had that choker in it with Kilchii’s mark on it, they may be some of Kilchii's tools.”

“What’s it worth?”

“I don’t know. It probably only has sentimental value to his family. And there probably isn’t much value otherwise. Would you be willing to sell it?”

“You’re part of his family aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What would you pay for the box and it’s contents?”

I looked in the box, picked somethings up and looked at them. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. I looked at Ajie. She just shrugged her shoulders. Then I said, “I’d be willing to give you twenty-five dollars for the box and its contents.”

She thought for a minute, then said, “Fifty.”

I looked at Ajie again, and she said, “It’s your call.”

I thought for a minute, then said, “Thirty-five.”

The woman came back with, “Forty.”

I looked at the box again, then said, “Okay, I’ll do forty.”

“Okay. It’s yours.”

As we shook hands, I said, “Thank you. Can you write us a sales slip?”

She gave me a sales slip, and I gave her two twenty dollar bills. I placed the cloth bag back into the box and closed the lid. We said goodnight to the vendors and started walking towards the parking lot. As we walked past where Mr. Yazzie’s stall was, we saw that he was gone. And I said to Ajie, “Looks like we may need to go to Taos on the way home tomorrow.”

“I don’t believe that you paid forty dollars for that box.”, Ajie said.

“Sorry. But something called me to it.”

“It did?”

“Yes, besides I noticed Kilchii's mark on some of the tools.”

“You did!?”

I smiled, and said, “Yes.”

When we got to the car, my uncle said, “It’s about time you two. I was about ready to come looking for you.”

“Sorry.”, I said. “But I have something to show you.”

As I showed my aunt and uncle the box, and I told them the story of talking with the vendor where we had purchased the choker. Then I said, “I noticed Kilchii's mark on some of the tools.”

“Really?”, my aunt said.

“Yes.”

“Show me.”

I picked up a small hammer, pointed to the mark, and said, “Right here.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“I know. But the maker’s marking tool wasn’t in here.”

“That’s a shame.”

“I thought that we might stop and see Mr. Yazzie on the way home tomorrow.”

As we drove back to the resort, I realized that we hadn’t had dinner, and I said, “We missed dinner.”

“We didn’t.”, Uncle Paul said. “We grabbed something with Dibe, her parents, and the Etsittys.”

“Don’t worry, kids.”, Aunt Ruth said. “I’ll fix you something when we get back to the house.”

When we were back at my aunt and uncles house, Ajie and I took the box to our room. We then went out on the patio, and my uncle had a small fire burning. When Aunt Ruth joined us, she brought Ajie and me some food. Then we sat on the patio talking until late, then turned in.

Sunday morning, just as Ajie and I started helping Aunt Ruth make the frybread breakfast tacos, the Etsitty's arrived. And as Uncle Paul let them in, Vickie said, “What smells so good?”

“Frybread breakfast tacos.”, my uncle said.

Vickie asked, “Can I help?”

“No.”, Aunt Ruth said. “You’re guests. Have a seat at the table, and we'll have everything done in a few minutes.”

While Ajie and I made the frybread, Uncle Paul cooked the bacon and eggs, and Aunt Ruth made the rest of the fixings. Aunt Ruth put together cut up potatoes, queso fresco cheese, sour cream, beans, and hot sauce. And once Ajie and I had finished the frybread, we put everything together. Aunt Ruth put her prepared topping on the six frybreads that Ajie and I had made. Then we added two slices of bacon and a fried egg on top of each one.

We set them on the table, then sat down to a wonderful breakfast. And the Etsitty's couldn’t say enough good things. And Ajie and I promised to teach them how to make them. And I added, “Chief Tom, we’re going to get you back to your Navajo roots yet.”

We also told the Etsitty's about finding the box and what we thought we’d found in it. They were excited for us. After we’d finished eating, Ajie and I excused ourselves to go and pack. I decided to stay as Kai. It just felt right.

As I carried the box through the kitchen on the way to the car, my aunt and uncle were talking with the Etsitty's like they were old friends.

“That is an old box, Kai.”, Chief Tom said.

“Yes, it is.”, I replied as I set the box down. Then I slid the top back and showed the Etsitty's the tools that were inside.

And I added, “I hope Mr. Yazzie can tell us something about what’s in it.”

“If anyone can, he can.”, my uncle said.

A short time later we were saying, “Hágoónee'” (see you later), to each other. And Ajie and I were on our way to Taos.

Less than an hour later we were pulling up in front of Mr. Yazzie’s shop. I know it’s Sunday, but it’s also tourist season, so most of the shops were open on Sundays.

As I got the wooden box out of the trunk, Ajie pulled the camera bag out of the backseat. Then as we walked into the shop, Mr. Yazzie looked up at us, saw the box, and asked, “What do you two have now?”

“I think you’ll be very interested in what’s in here.”, I replied.

“Don’t set it on the glass countertop. Bring it back here and put it on my workbench.”

Mr. Yazzie cleared a spot off on his workbench, and I set the box down. Then we told him the story of finding the box, but not what we'd found in it.

He asked, “So, why did you bring it here?”

“I think that you’ll be interested in what’s in it.”, I replied.

“So show me.”

I slid the lid off, and said, “I think that these are Kilchii's tools.”

“Let me see.”

First I handed him the cloth bag, and he carefully looked at each piece that was in the bag. Then he carefully took each piece out of the box, looked it over, and set it on his workbench. After he’d looked at a few things, he said, “Kai. Ajie. I think that you have something special here.”

“Oh.”, Ajie and I said together.

“Yes, it appears that these are the tools Kilchii used. They’re older than mine. If you look closely, you’ll either see his initials or his maker’s mark on each one.”

“I noticed that.”, I said. “I tried not to get excited in front of the vendors. I figured that if they knew what this was that the price of the box would go up.”

Mr. Yazzie continued through the box carefully looking at each piece. He stopped at one and gave it a good look, then said, “This one has a maker’s mark, but it’s not Kilchii’s mark. But I think it’s the other maker’s mark that we saw on that choker. Do you have the choker with you?”

As Ajie said, “Yes.” She went into the camera bag, took out the new choker, and handed it to Mr. Yazzie.

Mr. Yazzie compared the maker’s marks on the choker to the one on the tool, and said, “As I thought, they’re the same. I sure wish I knew who this mark belonged to.”

“Maybe Ahiga Biakeddy will know.”, I said. “We’ll probably be able to show it to him on Monday after Ajie’s afternoon class.”

“Please let me know what he says.”

Mr. Yazzie kept going through the contents of the box until he had looked at everything. Then I asked, “What do you think?”

“Kids, you have a real treasure here.”

“Any idea what it might be worth?”

“Like with Kilchii’s work, since these tools can’t be replaced, they’re priceless. What did you pay for this?”

“Forty dollars.”

“You did amazingly well.”

“What do we do with it?”

“Keep it. Lock it away. Put it on display in your home. Sell it to a big collector. Donate or loan it to a museum that displays old silversmith’s tools. But, first I’d get it appraised.”

“Mr. Tsinajinnie?”

“He would be the best.”

“Thank you, Mr. Yazzie.”

“No. Thank you for allowing me to see all of this.”

Then Mr. Yazzie looked at the box again and frowned. And, I asked, “Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure. But this box doesn’t appear to be as deep on the inside as it appears to be by looking at the outside.”

“What do you mean?”

Mr. Yazzie got a yardstick, measured the outside, and said, “The outside measures twelve inches deep.”

Then he measured the inside, and said, “And it only measures nine inches on the inside. There’s three inches missing. It should be no more than an inch to allow for the thickness of the bottom. I think that there’s a false bottom to this box.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“To hide things. Let’s see if we can open it.”

Mr. Yazzie started looking around the inside of the box, then he turned the box over and started looking at the bottom. He then said, “Both the inside bottom piece and the bottom appear to fit perfectly, and I can’t see any way of opening it.”

Ajie started looking at it, and after a minute she asked, “Is this a nail?”

“Where?”, Mr. Yazzie asked.

As she pointed to what looked like a nail about four inches in from one end, she said, “Here. And there’s another one about the same distance from the other end. Plus there’s one directly opposite each of them on the other side. And I don’t see any other nails.”

“Hmm. Interesting. Let me try something.”

Mr. Yazzie went and found a long thin nail, and used it to push on one of the nails, and it pushed in, and what appeared to be a nail on the opposite side of the box pushed out.

We looked at each other, and I said, “Clever. And leave it to a real girl to find it.”

Mr. Yazzie then used the nail to push in on the nail on the opposite end of the box, and the same thing happened.

Then he pulled on the nail that had been pushed out, and it pulled out. But it wasn’t a nail, but a rod that went all the way through the box. Mr. Yazzie said, “Very clever.”

Then he pulled the other rod out. And I asked, “Now what?”

“We just need to figure out how to get the bottom out.”

Both Mr. Yazzie and I looked at it for a minute, then Ajie said, “Let's look inside again.”

We turned the box back over and looked inside. And Ajie pointed, and said, “Isn’t that a small hole at that end.”

Mr. Yazzie looked, and said, “Yes.”

Then he turned the box on its side and used one of the rods to push through the hole, and the bottom moved out so that I could get a hold of it. I pulled on the bottom, and it came entirely out into my hands. Some things wrapped in cloth fell out on to the floor with a thud. Then something hit the floor with a metallic clink, and whatever it was rolled under the workbench.

I stooped down and picked up the two cloth wrapped packages. They were tied shut with string. And I set them on the workbench.

Then I knelt on the floor and felt around under the workbench. I felt something, but it wasn’t round. I pulled it from under the bench, looked at it, and handed it to Mr. Yazzie. He took it, and said, “I wondered where that got to.”

“What is it?”, I asked.

“It’s a tool for shaping silver.”

I felt around some more under the bench, felt something round, fished it out, and handed it to Mr. Yazzie. Then I stood up. Mr. Yazzie looked at what I’d handed him. Then he looked at me, smiled, and said, “Kai. You’ve found it.”

“Found what?”, I asked.

“Kilchii's maker’s marking tool.”

“What!?”

Mr. Yazzie handed me the tool, I looked at it, and couldn’t believe what I was holding in my hands. It was the maker’s marking tool. I said, “Why was it in that hidden compartment?”

“To protect it.”, Mr. Yazzie said. “It took the three of us to find it.”

Ajie was looking over my shoulder, and said, “I guess it was worth the forty dollars.”

“That’s what you paid for this?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “For the box and it’s contents.

“You did well.”

“Yes. I think we did.”

“What’s in the two packages?”, Ajie asked.

“Open them and find out.”, Mr. Yazzie said.

I untied and unwrapped one of the packages. There were coins in it. Mr. Yazzie started looking through them. Then he said, “There are a dozen or so coins here, two of them are 1850 gold dollar pieces. And the rest of them are American silver dollars, and they are all pre-1880.”

“Why would Kilchii have these?”, I asked.

“Before 1890, when they passed a law that made it illegal to deface U.S. coins, Navajo silversmiths used U.S. silver coins to make their jewelry. After that, they used Mexican pesos. Now we can get sterling silver in bars, sheets, and wire.

“I suspect that he had these coins on hand when they passed the law, and he just kept them in a safe place.”

Then I unwrapped the second package. The first thing that we saw was a pair of earrings. They were silver rounds about the size of a dime and had a fancy design on them. Each of the silver rounds had three small feathers hanging from it. To me, the feathers appeared to be made of gold.

Mr. Yazzie picked up one of the earrings and gave it a close look, then said, “As I thought when I first saw them, silver and gold. And they are Kilchii’s work. His mark is hand engraved on the back.”

There were three other silver pieces wrapped up in the cloth. All three were Concho designs, with turquoise, like you’d see on a belt. Two were identical. Mr. Yazzie looked at them and said that they were also Kilchii's work.

Ajie asked, “Why would he hide such beautiful work?”

“It might be some of his very first work, and he wanted to keep it for himself.”, Mr. Yazzie said. “Kai, did you say that you paid forty dollars for the box?”

“We paid fifty dollars for the choker and forty for the box and contents.”

“You did very well.”

“Thank you, Mr. Yazzie.”, I said. “I guess there are two things that we need to do. See if we can figure out who the strange maker’s mark belongs to and have all of this appraised by Mr. Tsinajinnie.”

“And please let me know what you find out.”

As I was wrapping everything up and placing it back in the box, Mr. Yazzie gave me a cloth to wrap the maker’s marking tool in, and I placed that in the camera bag with the two wrapped packages. When I wrapped up the earrings and Conchos, I had intentionally left out one of the duplicate Concho pieces. And Mr. Yazzie said, “Kai, you forgot one of the Concho’s.”

“No, I didn’t forget it.”, I replied.

“Yes, you did.”

As I picked up the Concho and handed it to Mr. Yazzie, I said, “No, this is yours. It’s a gift to you from Ajie and me for everything that you’ve done for us.”

“Kai, no. I can’t accept this. It’s worth too much.”

“Mr. Yazzie, the knowledge that you’ve shared with us is worth much more than what the Concho is worth.”

“Kai. Ajie. I can’t say no to you two. You have given me something that will remind me of our friendship. Thank you very much.”

“No. Thank you, Mr. Yazzie, for sharing all of your knowledge with us.”

We said so long to Mr. Yazzie and headed to Albuquerque. On the way back, Amy said, “Honey, what you did by giving that Concho to Mr. Yazzie was very sweet. And, I’m sorry that I got short with you when you bought that box. But I thought that you were paying too much for a box full of junk.”

“It’s all right.”, I said. “I know it was a lot of money for something we weren’t sure about, but just getting the maker’s tool was worth that.”

“You’re right.”

“You konw, something drew me to that vendor's stall when we bought the choker. I knew that there was something special there, and I thought it was just the choker.”

“It turned out to be a lot more than that. Didn’t it?”

“Yes, more than I ever thought it would.”

“That false bottom was very interesting.”

“Yes, I’m glad Mr. Yazzie spotted it.”

When we were home and having lunch, Amy said, “We should take pictures of that box and everything in it.”

“Got any film?”

“Of course.”

“Where do you want to do this?”

“I wish we had a table and chairs on the patio. But we could do it on the kitchen table.”

“We’ll look into getting something for the patio. I’ll get the things out of the safe and the box, and we can do it on the kitchen table.”

A short time later we’d finished taking the pictures, and put everything away. Then Amy suggested going for a walk along the river before dinner. We changed into our hiking things and headed to the river. We walked north from where we parked, and since it was a Sunday, there were many people out walking, and our bench was in use. So we continued walking north to the next bench, and it was unoccupied, so we sat and cuddled together.

As we sat there, Amy said, “You know this is my last week of classes?”

“Oh, that’s right.”, I replied. “Then we have three weeks until Fall quarter starts.”

“Right. I’ve got to meet with Vickie and see what I’m teaching and what I can do for my Masters.”

“I thought you’d already talked to her about your Master’s thesis?”

“I just tossed out an idea, but we haven’t talked about it yet. I’m going to try and meet with Vickie later this week, maybe Friday morning. I’ve got to find out about the hospital too.”

“Yeah. I’ve got to meet with my advisor too. And also find out who I’m going to be doing research with.”

“That would be a good thing.”

“Maybe I’ll try to meet with my advisor on Friday morning too. What do you want to do between quarters? We have three weeks.”

Just then our feathered friends circled overhead, and then landed in a dead tree on the island. We looked at each other for about ten minutes, then one of the Eagles took off and headed north. A short time later the other one started after the first one. Amy and I got up and started walking back towards the car.

As we walked, Amy said, “Go home.”

“Huh?”, I replied.

“Go home for a little while. You did ask me what I wanted to do between quarters.”

“We could do that.”

“I think that I’d need to be back here the week before classes start. They probably do an orientation day for new nursing students and they’d probably want me here for that.”

“I don’t see a problem.”

We fixed an easy dinner, Amy studied a bit for her Monday classes, then we sat and read before going to bed.

Monday was almost a regular day for us. But before I walked with Amy to her morning class, she called Dr. Etsitty's office and got an appointment for Friday morning at nine. Then after I’d walked her to class, I went to the library and read. We met for lunch, and then I walked Amy to her afternoon class. Then instead of going back to the library, I went to the Graduate School and was able to make an appointment with my advisor for Friday morning, also at nine. Maybe I’ll meet the researcher that I’ll be working with.

Then I went to the apartment and pulled out what we were going to take to show Uncle Paul’s cousin, Ahiga Biakeddy, out of the safe. Along with the wood box and tools, we were taking the new choker that I’d bought Amy at the dance competition, Kilchii’s maker’s marking tool, the silver and gold coins, the two Conchos, and silver and gold earrings. Only the maker’s marking tool, the choker, the silver and gold coins, and the three Concho went into the camera bag.

Then, instead of walking over to campus to pick up Amy, I put the wood box in the trunk of the car, and the camera bag behind the front seat. Then I drove over and parked in front of her classroom building. I only had to wait a few minutes before she came out and jumped in the car. We shared a kiss and headed to Old Town.

We parked in a public parking lot, and as we got out of the car, Amy said, “Cousin Ahiga has never met Tom.”

“I know. He’ll be surprised.”

Amy grabbed the camera bag, I grabbed the wood box, and we started walking towards Cousin Ahiga’s shop. As we walked in, he and two customers were the only ones in the shop. And I sensed that Ahiga was a little nervous about something. So, I loudly said, “Yá’át’ééh, Hazeedi Ahiga.” (It is good, Cousin Ahiga.)

At first, he looked at us with a puzzled looked, and then he got a smile on his face. Then he said, “Yá’át’ééh, Kai dóó Ajie. I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”

The other two people quickly left the shop, and Cousin Ahiga said, “I’m glad you two came in when you did. Those two were up to no good, and I’m here by myself.”

“With what you have here you shouldn’t ever be alone.”, I said.

“I know. It doesn’t happen often that there's only one of us here, and Yas will be back soon.”

“Good. We’ll stay until he comes back.”

“Kai, I didn’t recognize you right away. But then I recognized Ajie and remembering that Kai was really a boy. And, I figured that you were him.

“Why am I so lucky to have you visit today?”

I went on to tell Cousin Ahiga about our finds at the dance competition, and he was amazed. Then I set the box on his workbench and opened it. Cousin Ahiga was surprised at the tools and carefully look at each one.

Then I took the choker out of the camera bag and showed it to him. He thought that it was an excellent piece. Then I showed him the maker’s mark on the round silver piece, and said, “Sike Yazzie has never seen that maker’s mark before. And we’re wondering if you have? Also, notice that the maker’s marks on the other silver pieces belong to Kilchii Nez.”

Cousin Ahiga looked over the piece very carefully, and said, “This is interesting. Seeing two different maker’s marks on one piece. It could be that whoever this other silversmith was, he was training Kilchii.”

“That’s what Mr. Yazzie thought. Now let me show you something else that was in this box.”

I took the maker’s marking tool out of the camera bag, unwrapped it, and handed it to Cousin Ahiga. He looked at it, looked at me, and said, “This was in the box too!?”

“Yes.”

“What a find!”

“Oh, there’s more.”

“More?”

“This box has a false bottom. It’s where the marking tool was and there were some other things with it.”

“Things?”

I reached into the camera bag and took out the two cloth wrapped packages. I set them on his workbench and unwrapped them. Just then Yas, Cousin Ahiga partner in the shop, walked in. Cousin Ahiga looked at him, and said, “Yas, lock the door, and come over here and have a look at this.”

When Yas had locked the door and hung the closed sign, he joined us, and we went over everything that we’d told Cousin Ahiga. Then we filled them in on what was in the two wrapped packages.

After we had finished going over everything, Yas said, “This is a great find you two. I would say that there is an excellent chance that the two Conchos and the earrings were some of the earliest of Kilchii’s work. And the choker was even earlier. Probably when he was learning to become a silversmith, and he made it with whoever was training him.”

“That leads us back to the second reason that we’re here.”, I said.

“And what’s that?”, Cousin Ahiga asked.

“Who trained Kilchii?”

“Good question.”

“You’ve both seen the second maker’s mark that’s on the choker. Who’s is it?”

Cousin Ahiga picked up the choker and looked at the maker’s marks again. Then he said, “One is Kilchii’s. The other one, as I said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Let me look through my notebook and see if something matches.”

Cousin Ahiga started looking through his notebook of maker’s marks. Every once in a while he’d stop, take a close look at the book and the choker, shake his head, and keep looking. Finally, he said, “I don’t see anything that matches. There were a couple that were close, but no matches. I want to take a picture and a rubbing of that mark if that’s okay.”

“That’ll be fine.”, I said.

When he finished, and as we were packing everything up, Cousin Ahiga told Yas about the two guys. And Yas said, “You know there’s a pistol under the counter.”

“You know I don’t like guns.”, Cousin Ahiga said.

“You, an ex-Marine, don’t like guns.”

“I guess it’s because I’ve seen what they can do.”

We finished packing everything up, and as we were walking out of the shop, I said, “Cousin Ahiga, you be careful. And, we’ll stop in later and see if you found anything.”

Cousin Ahiga said, “Give me a couple of weeks.”

“Sounds good. Hágoónee'.”

“Hágoónee', Kai dóó Ajie.” (So long, Kai and Ajie.)