ed the other, very positively. "Behold,
satyumishe, we have searched everywhere we could, have followed every
trail we could follow. Nearly all the tracks were those of our people,
of that I am sure, and how far have we not gone after them? Ten days at
least we were in the mountains on the tracks of the Moshome Dinne. We
fought them and took ahtzeta. At last we learned that many of our women
and children had been taken by those shuatyam and that we never any more
could obtain them, also that Okoya was probably not still alive. Then we
went south and saw tracks,--small tracks of children, larger ones of
women, and a few that were those of men. We went toward Cuame until we
could not see the tracks because it had rained, and the rain had washed
them away. To go farther was useless, for whither should we go?"

"There are other Zaashtesh farther down the Rio Grande, so the Naua told
me," replied Zashue; "but these dwell far, far away,"--he waved his hand
to the south,--"where it is very warm and where there are a great many
Moshome."

"Those are too far off," Hayoue said, shaking his head; "our people did
not go so far without resting. We must have overtaken them, for we
rested not."

The elder brother nodded; he was fully conscious that they had never
rested on the journey. He felt it now.

"Therefore, brother," Hayoue went on, "I believe that those whom we look
for are there," pointing to the east. "In the Sierra del Valle are only
those whom the Moshome have captured; the others must have turned back
along the river, crossing it to go to the Puyatye; for there are no
Moshome over here, and if the Puyatye speak like the Tehuas, their
hearts are different and more like ours. I think we should go to the
Zaashtesh yonder, at the foot of the big kote where the snow is hanging.
If we do not find them there, then I think we should go farther, as far
as where the buffaloes are feeding. There are villages there, too, I
have been told, and there our people will be. If we once know which of
them are alive and free, we shall also know those who are among the
Moshome, and can see what to do for them."

"It strikes me," Zashue still objected, "that if the koitza and the
little ones were on this side of the river we must have seen their
tracks."

"But it rains, brother," Hayoue replied, looking up at the sky. "The
Shiuana send us rain every night and often during the day, and it washes
away the footprints. Besides, we have merel