strolled down
the valley, his mind was deeply agitated. It seemed clear to him that a
grave question had been propounded at the council, and it could only
have originated through some deviltry on the part of the evil spirits of
the Turquoise clan, Tyope and the old Naua. This made him very angry,
and he vowed within himself that when the time came he would take a very
active part in the proceedings.

He would rather have commenced the fray at once by slaughtering Tyope
and his accomplice; but then, it was not altogether the thing to do.
Neither would it do to go about and inquire at random. Nothing was left
to him but to have patience and wait.

Waiting, however, did not interfere with his disposition to talk. With a
nature as outspoken as that of Hayoue, it was impossible to wait without
saying something to somebody about it. But to whom? At home he could not
speak, for there was Zashue, and he was never impartial when any one of
the Koshare was concerned. Okoya would be far preferable, and he
determined upon looking him up. His nephew was not in the big house, and
Hayoue went out to the corn-patches. The Indian goes to his field
frequently, not in order to work, but simply to lounge, to seek company,
or to watch the growing crops. Okoya was in his father's plot, sitting
comfortably among the corn; but it was not the plantation that occupied
his thoughts, they were with Mitsha; and he pondered over what she had
told him the night before, and how he might succeed in making her his
beyond cavil. Looking up accidentally he discerned the form of his uncle
coming toward him, and his face brightened. He motioned Hayoue to come,
and this time Hayoue was eager to meet Okoya.

The uncle wore a gloomy face, and the nephew noticed it at once. But he
thought that if his friend intended to confide in him he would do so
spontaneously. He had not long to wait. Hayoue sat down alongside of him
and began,--

"Do you know where sa umo is,--the maseua?"

"He is at home, I think. At least he was there when I went away."

"Is he doing penance?"

Okoya stared at Hayoue in astonishment.

"No, he ate with us. Why should he fast?"

"Do you know," Hayoue continued to inquire, "that the nashtio of Tzitz
and the nashtio of Tyame are fasting?"

"I did not, but I know that the Hishtanyi Chayan is at work."

Hayoue extended his neck and pricked up his ears. "What," said he, "the
yaya also?"

"Indeed, the Cuirana Naua also. Did not yo