The colors used by Cather in this chapter emphasize the dark Indian customs. Black measles are the cause of the trip. Black clouds force Latour to stay overnight in Pecos. The wind out of the black cloud is described as a message of a remote, black past. The population of the pueblo is dwindling. Jacinto's baby is dying. The bleak depiction of the pueblo is contrasted with the final image of the chapter@ — the church among the ruins, which "still braved the storm and let in the starlight."
The old, superstitious ways of the Indians are dying with the tribes. The Church and modernity@ — as well as the legends of the white man about the Indians@ — are replacing them.
