eager to speak. Tyope and
Topanashka, alone, did not change their attitudes. The former remained
with his head bent and his face covered with both hands; the latter, who
happened almost directly to face Tyope, with head erect and an
expression of calm watchfulness on his features.

It was of course impossible to foretell the general feeling among the
members of the council in regard to the demands of the Turquoise people.
The Shkuy Chayan and the Koshare Naua had declared themselves favourable
to their pretensions, but on the other hand the Hishtanyi Chayan--and
his word had greater weight than their speeches--had made a very
significant suggestion by reminding the governor in his reply that the
matter did not properly come before the tribal council, but should be
settled between the two clans directly interested. Hoshkanyi Tihua
should have taken the hint; but Hoshkanyi Tihua had not the slightest
tact; and besides, as a member of the clan Shyuamo, he felt too much
interested in the matter not to be eager to press it at once, however
imprudent and out of place such action might be. He was, moreover,
utterly unconscious of the fact that he was nothing but a tool which
both Tyope and the Naua wielded to further their perfidious designs.

The tapop therefore called upon the delegate of the Sun clan to speak.
He dwelt not far from the Turquoise people, and he expressed himself
strongly in their favour.

"It is true," said he, "and I know it to be so, that my friends of
Shyuamo are hungry. I know it, and it is true also, that the Water
people have too much ground. It is right, therefore, for Shyuamo to ask
for a share of what they have in excess. How much it shall be, they must
settle among themselves."

Everybody did not appear to be satisfied with this; but when the tapop
summoned the representative of the Bear clan to give his opinion, the
speech of the latter was not only stronger, it was even offensive to the
Water people. He accused them of having done wrong in not sharing their
fields with the clan of the Turquoise some time before, since it was the
duty of those who had too much to divide with those who were poorer. He
said that it was wrong on the part of Tzitz to have remained silent when
they knew how much Shyuamo did for the tribe, while at the same time
they had not enough for their own existence. He charged the tapop, in
the name of the council, with delinquency in not having required the
Water people to