her shark's tooth.

Her Daddy went on drawing, and his hand shook with excitement. He went
on till he had drawn this. (13.)

[Illustration: 13]

'Don't look up, Taffy,' he said. 'Try if you can make out what that
means in the Tegumai language. If you can, we've found the Secret.'

'Snake--pole--broken-egg--carp-tail and carp-mouth,' said Taffy.
'_Shu-ya._ Sky-water (rain).' Just then a drop fell on her hand, for the
day had clouded over. 'Why, Daddy, it's raining. Was _that_ what you
meant to tell me?'

'Of course,' said her Daddy. 'And I told it you without saying a word,
didn't I?'

'Well, I _think_ I would have known it in a minute, but that raindrop
made me quite sure. I'll always remember now. _Shu-ya_ means rain or "it
is going to rain." Why, Daddy!' She got up and danced round him. 'S'pose
you went out before I was awake, and drawed _shu-ya_ in the smoke on the
wall, I'd know it was going to rain and I'd take my beaver-skin hood.
Wouldn't Mummy be surprised!'

Tegumai got up and danced. (Daddies didn't mind doing those things in
those days.) 'More than that! More than that!' he said. 'S'pose I wanted
to tell you it wasn't going to rain much and you must come down to the
river, what would we draw? Say the words in Tegumai-talk first.'

'_Shu-ya-las, ya maru._ (Sky-water ending. River come to.) _What_ a lot
of new sounds! _I_ don't see how we can draw them.'

'But I do--but I do!' said Tegumai. 'Just attend a minute, Taffy, and we
won't do any more to-day. We've got _shu-ya_ all right, haven't we? but
this _las_ is a teaser. _La-la-la!'_ and he waved his shark-tooth.

'There's the hissy-snake at the end and the carp-mouth before the
snake--_as-as-as_. We only want _la-la_,' said Taffy.

'I know it, but we have to make la-la. And we're the first people in all
the world who've ever tried to do it, Taffimai!'

'Well,' said Taffy, yawning, for she was rather tired. '_Las_ means
breaking or finishing as well as ending, doesn't it?'

'So it does,' said Tegumai. '_Yo-las_ means that there's no water in the
tank for Mummy to cook with--just when I'm going hunting, too.'

'And _shi-las_ means that your spear is broken. If I'd only thought of
_that_ instead of drawing silly beaver pictures for the Stranger!'

'_La! La! La!_' said Tegumai, waving his stick and frowning. 'Oh
bother!'

'I could have drawn _shi_ quite easily,' Taffy went on. 'Then I'd have
drawn your spear all broken--this way!' And she drew.