clear and distinct.

Much water ran in the bed of the river at the mouth of the Bocas, and
there was no hope of finding any tracks there.

The men staggered up and down, and at last Zashue stood still, bent
over, and appeared to examine something. Then he called aloud,--

"Come over here!" With this he raised something from the ground. Hayoue
went over to him, and both looked at the object carefully. It was a
piece of cloth made of cotton dyed black, of the size of a hand, torn
off but recently, and soiled by mud and moisture. Hayoue nodded; the
find pleased him.

"That is from our women," said he.

"The women from the Puyatye," Zashue said doubtingly, "wear skirts like
our koitza."

"It is so, but the women from Hashyuko do not go so far from their homes
now. Nothing is ripe,--neither cactus, figs, nor yucca fruit. What
should they come out here for? When do our women ever go so far from the
Zaashtesh?"

"Shotaye used to go farther," objected the elder.

"Shotaye," Hayoue muttered, "Shotaye was--you know what she was! There
is none like her in the world. What she may be doing in case she is
alive, nobody can tell."

"I wish I knew her to be with Say Koitza now," Zashue sighed.

"Shotaye is dead," his brother asserted. "But I believe that this rag is
from our people, and you were right in coming hither. Look!" pointing to
the entrance of the Bocas, "they came through there and from the west.
Even if we find no trace of them I still believe that they went to
Hashyuko and that we shall find them there. Let us go ere it is too
late!"

The last words were uttered in such a positive tone that Zashue yielded,
and followed his brother, who since their discovery again moved with
vigorous strides. Since the last evening neither of them had eaten
anything, and their meal then had been scanty enough. The discovery had
infused new strength into their exhausted bodies, and the brothers
walked on, side by side, as if they were well fed and thoroughly rested.
Zashue still remained in doubt; he would rather have made further
researches. He knew from the talk of old men that the Tanos inhabited
villages farther south, and it was possible that the fugitives, afraid
of the dispositions of the Puyatye that lived closer to the Tehuas, had
avoided them in order to take refuge at a greater distance from the
people of the Puye. But above all, Zashue felt strong misgivings in
regard to the reception which he and his brother, both