while he evidently
thought that at home the necessities of costume might be dispensed with,
he had not abandoned the luxuries of ornamentation. He wore on his naked
body a necklace of wolves' teeth, ear pendants of black and green
stones, and wristbands of red leather. The latter he carried in order to
relieve his heart, still heavy under the severe blow that he had
experienced through the death of his father.

The tapop was also at work. By means of the well-known fire-drill he was
attempting to perforate a diminutive shell disk and thus transform it
into the shell bead so essential to the Indian. So intent was he upon
this arduous task that he failed to notice the coming of Topanashka; and
the latter stood beside him for a little while, an impassive observer.
At last Hoshkanyi Tihua looked up, and the visitor said to him,--

"Umo, you have sent for me and I have come. But if you are engaged, or
have no time now, I do not mind returning again."

There was a decided irony in the manner in which the old man uttered
these words, and Hoskanyi felt it. He rose quickly, gathered a few
robes, and spread them on the ground. In short he was as pleasant and
accommodating, all at once, as he and his wife had been careless in the
beginning. Topanashka settled down on the hides, and in the meantime the
woman also entered the room and quite unceremoniously squatted beside
the men. Hoshkanyi said to her,--

"We have to talk together, the maseua and I." He fastened on his spouse
a look timid and imploring; it was plain that he did not venture to send
her out directly,--that he was afraid of her. Koay looked at him
carelessly, and said in a very cool manner,--

"I want to hear that talk."

"But I will not allow it," interposed Topanashka; and his cold, piercing
eye rested on the woman's face. She cast hers to the ground, and he
proceeded,--

"As long as you are here, the tapop and I cannot speak."

She lifted her head angrily, with the manifest intention of rebelling,
but as soon as her eyes met the cold, determined glance of the
war-chief, she felt a chill, rose, and left the room. Hoshkanyi Tihua
drew a sigh of relief; he was grateful to his visitor for having so
summarily despatched his formidable spouse. Then he said,--

"Umo, I have sent for you because a speech has been spoken here in this
house, which belongs to my mother. That speech may be good and it may
not be good, and I cared not to tell my thoughts until I had s