when as representative of the clan Shyuamo he asked the tapop to
call together the council for a matter wherein the Turquoise people were
interested, had artfully told him that as one of their number it would
be better if the maseua would issue the call. He knew very well that
this was an innovation; but the deceiver made it apparent that if
Topanashka should yield, and commit the desired misstep, the blame would
of course fall upon the war-chief, and the civil chief would profit by
the other's mistake, and would gain in the opinion of the people at the
expense of the maseua.

But Tyope, cunning as he was, had underrated the firmness and
perspicacity of Topanashka as much as he had overrated the abilities of
Hoshkanyi. As soon as the latter saw the rigidity of his colleague in a
matter of duty, he felt completely at sea; he lost sight of everything
that Tyope had recommended, tumbled from one mistake to another, and
finally exposed himself to grave suspicions. As the popular saying is,
he let the cat out of the bag, and made an absolute, miserable fiasco.
All this he saw clearly, and he cursed Tyope, and cursed himself for
having become his tool. More than that, he trembled when he thought of
what Tyope would say, and also what his own energetic wife would call
him, and even perhaps do to him, if he went home. For Koay was sure to
exact a full report of what had occurred; and to save himself, nothing
remained but to tell her lies. This he finally determined upon. But to
Tyope he could not lie; to Tyope he must tell the truth; and then?
Hoshkanyi Tihua wended his way home wrapped in thoughts of a very
unsatisfactory nature.

While the governor of the Queres was thus agitated by unpleasant
forebodings, the mind of the war-chief was not less occupied by gloomy
thoughts. Of all the leading men of the tribe, Topanashka saw perhaps
most clearly the sinister machinations of some of the Turquoise people.
Still he had not discovered, and could not even surmise, the real object
of their intrigues. Of an intention to divide the tribe he had no idea.
Personal ambition, greed, and thirst for influence was all he could
think of; and he felt sure that they would not prevail, for to personal
ambition the tribal system afforded little, if any, opportunity. It was
manifest however from what Hoshkanyi had involuntarily divulged, that
the clan Shyuamo intended to press some claim against the small Water
clan, which besides was so distantl