it.

CHIEF

Dare not! Simwa must hear of this, but not on his wedding day.
To-morrow we will take counsel. I would I might have a word with
Padahoon.

TAVWOTS

He is there on the _barranca_; I will call him. Oh--ee, Padahoon!

PADAHOON

(_Appearing on the barranca._) What now? (_Ironically._) Can not the
Arrow-Maker so much as take a wife without calling all the tribes to
witness? (_Coming down the barranca, noting their gravity._) What has
happened? Is the Council called?

CHIEF

For to-morrow. In the mean time there is this. (_Handing up the
arrow._)

PADAHOON

(_Standing halfway down the bank as he examines it._) An arrow of
Tecuya. Blood? Blood of Sagharawite?

TAVWOTS

Of Winnedumah.

PADAHOON

(_Blazing forth._) By the Bear that fathered us! It is likely to
prove an open wound in the honor of Sagharawite. Not ten sleeps have
passed since the last of our fighting men returned from the killing
of our blood brothers, and already we have a witness to our folly!
The Tecuyas are three to one of us.

PAMAQUASH

But the luck of Simwa is more than three times that of Tecuya.

PADAHOON

The fortunes of Simwa! What are they but the accidents of time and
weather. A landslip on the trail, a rainstorm that wetted their
bowstrings and left ours dry. The damp has slacked your wits, Rain
Wind, that you are not able to distinguish between the Arrow-Maker
and his luck.

CHIEF

The witness of the gods in his favor.

PADAHOON

The gods are not always so attentive. Where was the luck of the
Arrow-Maker that it has not saved us from this? (_Shaking the arrow
as he descends._) Show me something which we owe to Simwa if you
would have me trust in him.

CHIEF

I will show you the pit of your own heart, Padahoon, and the adder
that bites at the root of it. You are jealous of the fame and the
office of Simwa, but you shall not sink your venom in the minds of
the Fighting Men.

PADAHOON

I would I could sting them to understand that if Tecuya comes against
us, they will not trust so much to luck as to war craft.

CHIEF

Understand yourself that whatever comes of this business of Tecuya,
Simwa is still war leader. You are too old a man, Padahoon, to be
told that whoever lessens the credit of the war leader saps at the
strength of Sagharawite.

PADAHOON

Aye, I am an old man and in my dotage when I seek to set years of
good faith and experience against the fortunate