u know it? You are a nice
Cuirana."

The uncle shook his head.

"That is bad, very bad indeed," muttered he. Okoya was perplexed. At
last his curiosity overcame all diffidence and he asked,--

"What is it, satyumishe nashtio? Do you know of anything evil?"

Hayoue looked at him and said,--

"Okoya, you and I are alike. When your heart is heavy you come to me and
say, 'My heart is sad; help me to make it light again;' and when I feel
sorrow I go to you and tell you of it. When you came to me up
there"--he pointed to the west--"it was dark in your heart. To-day it is
night in mine."

The speech both astonished and pleased the boy. He felt pride in the
elder's confidence, but was too modest to express it. So he merely
replied,--

"Nashtio, I am very young, and you are much wiser than I. How can I
speak so that your heart may be relieved? You know how I must speak, and
when you tell me I will try and do it."

He gazed into Hayoue's features with a timid, doubting look; he could
hardly conceive that his uncle really needed advice from him.

It was Hayoue's turn to sigh to-day. Slowly he said,--

"Last night the uuityam was together, and to-day the yaya and the
nashtio are fasting."

Okoya innocently asked,--

"Why do they fast?"

"That is just what I want to know," Hayoue impatiently exclaimed, "but
surely it bodes nothing good."

"Why should the wise men want something that is evil?" said the other,
in surprise.

"You are young, mot[=a]tza, you are like a child, else you would not ask
such a question. The wise men are doing penance, not because they intend
harm, but in order to prevent the people from being harmed. Do you
understand me now?"

It began to dawn on Okoya's mind; still he had not fully grasped his
uncle's meaning.

"Who is going to do evil things to us? Are there Moshome about?"

Hayoue was struck by the remark. He had not thought of this possibility.
It might be that the older men had learned something of the approach or
presence of Navajos. A few moments of reflection, however, convinced
him of the utter improbability of the suggestion. If there were danger
of this the warriors, to whom he belonged,--that is, the special group
of war magicians,--would have been the first to be informed of it; and
they would all be now in the estufa preparing themselves for duty, and
the maseua first of all. Instead of it the old man was up and about as
usual. No, it could not be; and he accordingly sa