CHAPTER XI.
The four days at the expiration of which the council was to take placewere drawing to a close, for it was the night of the fourth, that onwhich the uuityam was to meet. It was a beautiful night; the full moonshone down into the gorge in its greatest splendour, and only along thecliffs was it possible to walk in the shadow. The air was cool andbalmy; not a breeze stirred; and the population of the Rito seemed toenjoy the luminous, still, and refreshing hours that followed upon awarm and busy day. Laughter, singing, shouting, came from the roofs andthe vicinity of the houses, as well as from the caves and theirapproaches. The people felt happy; few if any suspected that a momentousquestion agitated the minds of some of their number.
Two men were walking along the cliffs toward the group of cave-dwellingswhich the Prairie-wolf clan inhabited. They hugged the rocks so closelythat most of the time their figures disappeared in the inky shadows ofprojecting or beetling cliffs and pillars. One of these men asked in alow tone,--
"Are you going to the uuityam?"
"I am," replied the other.
The words were spoken in a tone sufficiently loud to enable any oneacquainted with the inhabitants of the Tyuonyi to recognize in the firstspeaker Tyame Tihua, the delegate or councilman from the Eagle clan, inthe other, our old friend Topanashka. After exchanging these few wordsboth continued their walk in silence.
The round chamber in which the meetings of the tribal council wereusually held exists to-day as a semicircular indentation in the cliffs,the rudely arched ceiling of which is still covered with a thick coatingof soot. The front wall has crumbled long ago. At the time we speak ofit was entire, and the apartment formed a nearly circular hall of morethan usual size, with a low entrance in front and two small air-holes oneach side of the doorway.
As the two men approached the place, they noticed that a number ofothers were already congregated in front of it, but that no light issuedfrom the interior. It was a sign that the council was not yet assembled,and especially that the religious chiefs had not made their appearance.Those who were present assumed any posture imaginable, provided it gavethem comfort. They talked and conversed about very unimportant matters,and laughed and joked. There was no division into separate groups,foreshadowing the drift of opinions and of interests; for no lobbyingwas going on. Every one seemed to be as free and easy as in his own homeor in the estufa among his companions, and the greatest apparent harmonyprevailed. One man only had retired to a rocky recess where he sat alooffrom the others in the darkest shadow of the already shadowy spot. Itwas the old chief of the Delight Makers, the Koshare Naua.
When the last two comers reached the group and offered the usualgreeting, the conversation--in which the delegate from Tzitz hanutsh, ashort, stout man, and his colleague from Oshatsh had been the loudestparticipants--came to a sudden stop. The subject of the discussion wasnot a reason for its abrupt breaking off, for it was merely theall-absorbing topic as to whether two summers ago it had rained asearly as this year. It was out of respect for the maseua, out ofdeference to his presence, that the other clan representatives becamesilent, all except one. That one was Tyope, who continued the subject,as if he intended to display greater independence than the rest.Nevertheless, as no one paid attention to his speech, he felt at lastconstrained to drop into silence. Not for a long time, however, for asif he wished to atone for his lack of civility he called out toTopanashka,--
"You are late, sa nashtio!"
"Early enough yet, satyumishe," replied the old man quietly, and Tyameremarked,--
"Shyuamo dwells nearer to the uuityam than we. The Turquoise men haveeverything close at hand,--the tapop, the place, everything, andeverybody. All we have is the maseua," he added laughing, "and he isvery old."
The laughter became general, and Tyope said in a tone of flattery,--
"Our nashtio is old, but he is still stronger than you, Tyame. He isalso wiser than all of us together. Our father is very strong, runs likea deer, and his eye is that of an eagle."
There was something like irony in this speech, but Topanashka took nonotice of it. He was looking for the tapop, a difficult task in thedarkness, where a number of men are grouped in all kinds of postures.Finally he inquired,--
"Where is Hoshkanyi?"
"Not here," came a reply from several voices.
"And the yaya?"
"Tza yaya," was the negative answer.
"Then we are not too late," said the war-chief, turning to Tyame. He satdown among the rest, and the talk went on as before his arrival.
At last the governor came. He offered a short greeting and received acareless reply. Then he crawled into the cave, and his assistantfollowed him. Soon a rustling noise was heard inside, a grating likethat of a drill followed, and everybody outside became silent. The tapopwas starting the council-fire, and he used for the purpose thatvenerable implement of primitive times, the fire-drill. It was a sacredperformance, therefore the sudden silence of all within hearing of theprocess. Little by little a glimmer of light illuminated the entrance ofthe cave; the fire had started, which was a favourable omen. Now theconversation might be resumed, but nobody entered the room. The fire wasburning, and its light shone vividly through doorway and port-holes, andthe men outside were beginning to move and to yawn, and some had evenfallen asleep, but no one gave a sign of impatience. Stillnessprevailed; it was so late that all noise and bustle had ceased, and therippling and rushing of the brook alone pervaded the night.
Several more men approached from various directions; their steps werealmost inaudible, and when they reached the company each invariablyuttered a hoarse "guatzena, sa uishe." One by one the new-comers glidedinto the estufa, until six of them had entered. Then a metallic soundwas heard within, as if two plates of very hard material were beatenagainst each other. All rose at once; those who had fallen asleep wereshaken and pulled until they woke; and one after another filed into thechamber, Topanashka being the last. The metallic sound produced by twoplates of basalt had been the call to council.
The interior of the estufa was as brightly illuminated as a small firecould make it, the smoke of which found egress through the door and thetwo air-holes, or rose to the low ceiling, where it floated like agrayish cloud. The air was heavy and stifling, and the odour of burningpitch proceeded from the pine wood with which the flames were fed in thecentre of the room. Close to the fire the tapop had squatted, with threeaged men by his side in the same posture. All three wore short, blackwraps with red stripes. We recognize in one of these men, who sit withhumble, downcast looks, the chief penitent, or Hotshanyi; the other twoare his assistants, the shaykatze and the uishtyaka. In their immediateneighbourhood sat three others, whose hair also was turning gray; butthey sat upright and looked around with freedom and assurance. Theirdress had nothing particular or distinctive about it, but each carriedon his head feathers of a certain kind. One, with a tall, spare figure,an intelligent face, and dark complexion, wore behind each ear one blueand one yellow feather. He was the Hishtanyi Chayan, the principalmedicine-man of the tribe. Next to him was the Shkuy Chayan, or greatshaman for the hunt, equally tall, slender, and with a thin face andquick, unsteady glance. The third, or Shikama Chayan, was an individualof ordinary looks and coarse features, who was decorated by a singleupright feather. The leaders of the societies of the Koshare and Cuiranahad squatted among the central group, while a projection that ran aroundthe whole room served as a bench, or settee, for the representatives ofthe clans.
This arrangement corresponded closely to the degree of importance of thevarious officers, or rather to their assumed proximity to the higherpowers under whose protection the tribe believed itself to be placed.The tapop, as chairman of the meeting, occupied the middle, togetherwith the principal religious functionaries,--the yaya, or mothers of thetribe. On the outer circumference were placed the nashtio, or fathers,the delegates of the clans. The Koshare Naua and his colleague of theCuirana held an intermediate position. Topanashka, as military head,and the assistant gover
nor, who had neither voice nor vote, sat besidethe entrance, guarding it. A lieutenant of the maseua crouched outsideto prevent the approach of eavesdroppers.
As soon as the rustling noise occasioned by so many people taking theirseats in a small room had subsided, the Hishtanyi Chayan again seizedthe two basalt plates and caused them to ring. When the metallic soundwas heard, everybody became very quiet; and not one of the twenty-threemen that composed the meeting moved. All maintained the deepest silence,fastening their eyes on the ground. The shaman scattered sacred meal tothe six regions, then he raised his eyes to the ceiling, and finallyturned to the three caciques with the formal greeting, "Guatzena, yaya!"then to the others, with "Guatzena, nashtio!"
Raising both hands upward, he pronounced the following prayer:--
"Raua P[=a]yatyama our father, Sanatyaya our mother, Maseua, Oyoy[=a]u[=a]! You all, the Shiuana all, the Kopishtai all,--all, raua! Hear what we shall speak, witness all our deeds. Make wise the heart, cunning the ear, bright the eyes, and strong the arm. Give us wisdom and goodness, that our hearts may listen ere we say 'yes,' 'no,' or 'perhaps.' Assist your children, help the Zaashtesh, that they may remain united among themselves, wise, far-seeing, and strong. We call upon you, the Shiuana, the kopishtai; whisper to us good thoughts and guide us to the right. To you, P[=a]yatyama, Sanatyaya, Maseua,--to all of you we pray. Raua, raua! Ho-[=a], ho-[=a], raua!"
Again the speaker scattered yellow meal in front of the principalpenitent, who only bowed in a dignified manner in response. Theremainder of the assembly uttered an affirmative "[=A], [=a]," and oneafter the other rose and deposited sacrificial meal before the cacique.When each of them had resumed his seat, the Hishtanyi Chayan turned tothe tapop and looked inquiringly.
Hoshkanyi Tihua assumed an air of solemn importance, for he was to playa prominent role. He glanced around the circle pompously; but when hiseye caught the cold gaze of Topanashka he felt almost a chill, andshrank to natural and more modest proportions. He looked quickly in thedirection where Tyope was sitting; but the delegate from Shyuamo hanutshheld his face covered with both hands, and did not notice the pleadinglook of the little governor. So the latter began in an unsteady tone,--
"Hotshanyi, shaykatze, uishtyaka, and you, the mothers of the tribe,hear me! Hear me also, you who are our fathers,"--his voice grewstronger; he was recovering assurance. "I have called you together tolisten to what I say." He crowed the last words rather than spoke them.
"My brother, the nashtio of Shyuamo hanutsh," continued he, "has spokento me and said,"--he stopped and shot a glance of inquiry over towardTyope, but Tyope failed to note it,--"satyumishe has said, 'Tapop, myhanutsh is numerous and has many children, but only very little maize;the mot[=a]tza and the makatza are many, but of beans there are few, andthe field we are tilling is small.'" Hoshkanyi Tihua was manifestlypleased with his own eloquence, for he again looked around the room formarks of admiration. Only the icy look of Topanashka met his gaze, andhe proceeded more modestly,--
"My brother from Shyuamo then said to me, 'See here, nashtio Tapop,there are the people from Tzitz; they are the least in numbers on theTyuonyi, and yet they have as much ground as we; and they raised as muchmaize and even more beans, for they are higher up than we, and get morewater than we. Now, therefore, call them together, all the yaya and thefathers, and say to them, "Shyuamo hanutsh demands from Tzitz hanutshthat it should share its field with us, for where there are two mouthsof Shyuamo there is only one of Tzitz; but when Tzitz raises one ear ofcorn, Shyuamo grows not more than one."'"
He had spoken, and drew a heavy sigh of relief. The most profoundsilence reigned. Tyope remained with his head bowed and his face coveredwith both hands. Topanashka sat rigidly immovable, his cold piercinggaze fastened on the tapop. The representative of the Water clan made avery wry face and looked at the fire.
The tapop had yet to perform one duty ere discussion could begin. Heturned to the Hotshanyi and addressed him,--
"Sa umo, you and your brethren the shaykatze and the uishtyaka, Iaddress; what do you say to what Shyuamo is asking? Speak, yaya; we areyour children; we listen. You are old and wise, we are young and weak."
The old cacique raised his dim eyes to the speaker and replied in ahoarse voice,--
"I thank you, sa uishe,--I thank you for myself and for my brethren herethat you have put this question to us. But"--the voice grew more steadyand strong--"you know that it is our duty to pray, to fast, and towatch, that peace may rule among the Zaashtesh and that nothing maydisturb it. We cannot listen to anything that calls forth two kinds ofwords, and that may bring strife,"--he emphasized strongly the latterword; "we cannot therefore remain. May the Shiuana enlighten yourhearts. We shall pray that they will counsel you to do good only."
The old Hotshanyi rose and went toward the doorway. His form was bent,his step faltering. His two associates followed. Not one of thosepresent dared to look at them. None of them noticed the deeply,mournfully significant glance which the cacique, while he crept throughthe door, exchanged with Topanashka.
The address which the governor had directed to the official penitentswas a mere formality, but a formality that could not be dispensed with.It was an act of courtesy toward those who in the tribe as well as inthe council represented the higher powers. But as these powers areconceived as being good, it is not allowed to speak in their presence ofanything that might, in the remotest manner even, bear evil consequencessuch as disunion and strife. Therefore the caciques, as soon as they hadbeen informed of the subject, could not stay at the meeting, but had toretire.
This happens at every discussion of a similar nature, and theirdeparture was merely in the ordinary routine of business. Nobody feltshocked or even surprised at it. But everybody, on the other hand,noticed the reply given by the aged Hotshanyi, felt it like some dreadwarning,--the foreboding of some momentous question of danger to thepeople. An uneasy feeling crept over many of the assistants who werenot, like Tyope and the Koshare Naua, in the secrets of the case. Afterthe departure of the caciques, therefore, the same dead silenceprevailed as before.
The tapop broke the silence by turning officially to the principalshaman and asking him,--
"Sa umo yaya, what do you hold concerning the demand of our childrenfrom Shyuamo?"
The Chayan raised his face, his eyes sparkled. He gave his reply in apositive tone,--
"I hold it is well, provided Tzitz hanutsh is satisfied." He bent hishead again in token that he had said as much as he cared to say for thepresent.
Hoshkanyi Tihua then interrogated the Shkuy Chayan, who very pointedlyanswered,--
"It is good."
His colleague, the Shikama Chayan, remained non-committal, saying,--
"It may be good, it may not be good; I do not know. My hanutsh isShutzuna,"--he cast a rapid glance to where the delegate of thePrairie-wolf people was sitting,--"and we have enough land forourselves."
The governor now addressed the same question successively to the KoshareNaua and to the leader of the Cuirana. The dim eyes of the former beganto gleam; his shrivelled features assumed a hideous, wolfish expressionas he spoke in a voice trembling yet clear,--
"It is well. Our brethren deserve what they demand. If the crops ripen,my children from Shyuamo are those who pray and fast most of all. Myhanutsh alone counts more Koshare than all the others together. If theyget more land they will fast and pray so much the more, and this they donot for themselves only, but for the benefit of all who dwell on theTyuonyi."
The Cuirana Naua, on the other hand, gave a confused and unsatisfactoryreply. In his opinion it would be well if both clans could agree.
It was next the turn of the clan delegates to be called up. They werethose most directly interested, but until now they had, out of deferencefor their religious leaders, maintained an absolutely passive attitude.After the Cuirana Naua had spoken, however, many raised their faces,changed their positions; some looked at the tapop with an air ofexpectancy,
others glanced around, still others seemed to denote bytheir demeanour that they were anxious and eager to speak. Tyope andTopanashka, alone, did not change their attitudes. The former remainedwith his head bent and his face covered with both hands; the latter, whohappened almost directly to face Tyope, with head erect and anexpression of calm watchfulness on his features.
It was of course impossible to foretell the general feeling among themembers of the council in regard to the demands of the Turquoise people.The Shkuy Chayan and the Koshare Naua had declared themselves favourableto their pretensions, but on the other hand the Hishtanyi Chayan--andhis word had greater weight than their speeches--had made a verysignificant suggestion by reminding the governor in his reply that thematter did not properly come before the tribal council, but should besettled between the two clans directly interested. Hoshkanyi Tihuashould have taken the hint; but Hoshkanyi Tihua had not the slightesttact; and besides, as a member of the clan Shyuamo, he felt too muchinterested in the matter not to be eager to press it at once, howeverimprudent and out of place such action might be. He was, moreover,utterly unconscious of the fact that he was nothing but a tool whichboth Tyope and the Naua wielded to further their perfidious designs.
The tapop therefore called upon the delegate of the Sun clan to speak.He dwelt not far from the Turquoise people, and he expressed himselfstrongly in their favour.
"It is true," said he, "and I know it to be so, that my friends ofShyuamo are hungry. I know it, and it is true also, that the Waterpeople have too much ground. It is right, therefore, for Shyuamo to askfor a share of what they have in excess. How much it shall be, they mustsettle among themselves."
Everybody did not appear to be satisfied with this; but when the tapopsummoned the representative of the Bear clan to give his opinion, thespeech of the latter was not only stronger, it was even offensive to theWater people. He accused them of having done wrong in not sharing theirfields with the clan of the Turquoise some time before, since it was theduty of those who had too much to divide with those who were poorer. Hesaid that it was wrong on the part of Tzitz to have remained silent whenthey knew how much Shyuamo did for the tribe, while at the same timethey had not enough for their own existence. He charged the tapop, inthe name of the council, with delinquency in not having required theWater people to share their superabundance with those of the Turquoise.The delegate of Kohaio was not only aggressive in his speech, but hismanner of delivering it was brusque and violent, and created quite astir; and many of the members cast glances at him which were not of afriendly nature.
It was now the turn of the delegate of the Water people; and muchdepended upon what he would say, for he was, besides the members fromShyuamo, the party most interested in the proceedings. Kauaitshe, as hewas called, was not, unfortunately, the man for the situation. Short andclumsy in figure, extremely good-natured and correspondingly slow inthought and action, he was intellectually heavy and dull. When thedemand upon his clan was first formulated, he listened to it like onewhom it does not concern, and only gradually came to the conception thatthe matter was after all of prime importance to him and to those whoseinterests he had been selected to defend. Kauaitshe was thunderstruckupon arriving at full comprehension; he was bewildered, and would muchrather have run away from the council. But that was impossible. He heardthe men speak one by one, and--what to him caused most anxiety--he sawthe moment approaching when he also would be called upon; and theprospect filled him with dismay. What should he say! What could he say!The injustice intended toward his constituents, the necessity ofundertaking a task for which he felt himself incapable, terrified himat first and soon drove him to utter despair; and as all weak and lazynatures, when they see themselves driven to the wall, become frenzied,Kauaitshe, when the tapop turned to him, exploded like a loaded weapon,venting his wrath upon the governor instead of calmly discussing thematter itself. He saw in the governor not only a member of the clanwhose plans were detrimental to the interests of his kinsmen, butchiefly the instrument by means of which he was placed in the presentdifficult position. His face turned dark, then yellow. His eyes glowedlike embers. Bounding from his seat, he advanced toward the chairman andhissed,--
"I have heard. Yes,"--his voice became louder,--"I have heard enough.Enough!" he screamed. "You want to take from us what is ours! You wantto rob us, to steal from my people in order that your people may prosperand we may suffer! That is what you want," and he shook his clenchedfist in the face of the tapop. The latter started up like an irateturkey, and screamed,--
"You lie! what we want from you is right! You are only a few people, andyou are lazy; whereas we are many and thrifty; you are a liar!"
"Hush! hush!" sounded the voice of the principal shaman, between theshouts and screams of the disputing parties.
"No! no!" shrieked Kauaitshe, "I will not hush. I will speak! I willtell these friends--"
"Water-mole!" yelled the tapop in response; and both the Koshare Nauaand Tyope cried at once,--
"We are Shyuamo, not shuatyam." Their voices sounded like thethreatening snarls of wild beasts.
"Hush! hush!" the Hishtanyi Chayan now sternly commanded. Rising, hegrasped the little governor by the shoulder, pulled him back to hisplace on the floor, and warningly raised his hand toward Kauaitshe,whose mouth one of his colleagues had already closed by force.
"If you hope for light from Those Above," the medicine-man warned thedelegate from Tzitz, "you must not name in their presence the powers ofdarkness." To the tapop he said,--
"Do your duty, but do it as it ought to be done!"
Kauaitshe reeled back to his place, where he sat down in sullen silence.It happened to him as it always does to any one who loses his temper atthe wrong time and in the wrong place; after the flurry is over, theyfind that they have wasted all their energies, and remain henceforthincapable of any effort. The delegate of the Water people was _hors ducombat_ for the remainder of the evening.
The incident had made an impression on the assembly. Nearly everybodyshared more or less in the excitement. Now that quiet was restored,apparent calmness seemed to prevail in their minds again. The men staredas motionless as before; but their faces were dark, and many an eyedisplayed a spark of passionate fire. Topanashka had not moved duringthe quarrel, and Tyope hid his face in his hands as before.
Hoshkanyi's voice still trembled as he called upon the representative ofTanyi hanutsh. The latter replied,--
"There is more land yet at the Tyuonyi; let Shyuamo increase theirground from some waste tract."
"There is no room for it," growled the Koshare Naua.
"I say there is," defiantly retorted the other.
The delegate of the Prairie-wolf people was not only of the same opinionas his predecessor, he even mentioned a tract of waste land that layeast of the cultivated plots, from which Shyuamo might take what theyneeded. The speaker of Tzina hanutsh, however, was of an adverseopinion. He remarked that it was always better for a smaller clan todivide their ground with a more powerful one, as in that case largercrops would be raised. As matters stood, he added, only a portion of theland belonging to the Water people was tilled. This the member fromHuashpa denied, and reminded him that the Hishtanyi Chayan had suggestedthat the whole matter should be settled by the two clans privately. Boththe Cuirana Naua and Tyame, the delegate of the Eagle clan, could notrefrain from expressing their approval in an audible manner by thecustomary "[=A]-[=a]," and the Shikama Chayan slightly nodded assent.
It was already late, but nobody thought of the hour. On such occasionsthe Indian can sit up whole nights without ever thinking of rest. Notonly was everybody interested, but the excitement, although barelyvisible on the surface, was rapidly growing; and personal ill-feelingand spite cropped out more and more.
Tyame having expressed himself in favour of the opinion of the delegatefrom Huashpa hanutsh, the tapop could not refrain from going out of theordinary routine in order to slight him, and to give the floor to themember from Hiits Hanyi. This flattered the popul
ar delegate, and heaccordingly spoke so strongly in favour of the claim presented byShyuamo that at the close of his speech several voices at once gruntedassent. Both parties were growing decidedly bitter.
Tyame noticed the intended slight; so when Hoshkanyi called him up heopened his talk with the remark,--
"One can see that you are Shyuamo."
"That is what I am," the little fellow bragged.
"But you are tapop also," Tyame objected.
"Why do you speak thus? Are you angry that you could not be used for theplace?" venomously inquired the governor.
The Hishtanyi Chayan, or Chief Medicine Man]
"If I were in your place," retorted the Eagle, "I should do as iscustomary, and call upon each one in turn."
"You have time enough left to speak against Shyuamo," said the chief ofthe Delight Makers in a wicked manner.
"That I shall do, most assuredly," exclaimed Tyame. "I am against givingShyuamo any more ground than they have at present. You have enough foryourselves, for your women, and for all your children. Do more work inthe field and do less penance; be shyayak rather than Koshare!" He roseand turned toward Tyope. "Your woman belongs to our hanutsh, and I knowthat it is not you who feed her; and so you are, all of you. You livefrom other people's crops!"
Tyope looked up, and his eyes flashed; but in a quiet tone heanswered,--
"Your woman is Shyuamo; you know best how it is." The other continuedwith growing passion,--
"And when your wife was from Tzitz everybody knew that it was not youwho supported her, but that she maintained you!"
Loud murmurs arose, and the Shkuy Chayan called Tyame to order, so thatTyope did not have time for a reply to this insulting insinuation.
Of all the clans represented three had yet to express their views. Thesewere the clans of Yakka, of the Panther, and Shyuamo. The delegate ofthe Corn people was no friend of Tyame's, therefore he spoke directlyagainst what the Eagle had intimated. He emphasized how detrimental itmight become for a small cluster to own too much tillable land while alarge and important clan was suffering for the lack of vegetable food.With notable shrewdness, he exposed to the meeting the danger for thewhole tribe in case one of its principal components should begin todecrease in numbers. He wound up by saying,--
"The strong hanutsh are those who maintain the tribe, for they are thosewho give us the most people that do penance for the welfare of all, bethey Koshare or Cuirana. They also have the greatest number of warriorsand hunters. If they have nothing to eat, they cannot watch, pray, andfast in honour of Those Above! So the Shiuana and the Kopishtai becomedissatisfied with us, and withdraw their protection from their children;and we become lost through suffering those to starve who are mostuseful." But he omitted altogether the important fact that there wasstill waste land in the gorge, and that it was far preferable to redeemsuch tracts than to create dissension.
Still it must be acknowledged that the clearing of timbered expanses,such as those on the eastern end of the valley mostly were, opposedgreat difficulties to the Indian. At the time when the Rito was settled,the native had only stone implements. To cut down trees, to clear brusheven, was a tedious and protracted undertaking when it had to beperformed with stone axes and hatchets. Fire was the most effectiveagent, but fire in such proximity to the dwellings was a dangerousservant. On the western end there was no tillable land beyond thepatches of the Water clan. Still, if there had been any disposition onthe part of Shyuamo to be reasonable, they would have remained satisfiedwith extending their field slowly and gradually toward the east; butneither Tyope nor the Naua really wanted more land; what they desiredwas strife, disunion, an irremediable breach in the tribe.
The Panther clan, whose representative had to speak now, was a clusterwhich belonged neither to the larger nor to the smaller groups.Occupying, as was the case, a section of the big house, the Pantherpeople were consequently near neighbours of Tanyi, and they sympathizedgenerally with the latter. Their delegate, however, was Koshare, and heleaned not so much toward the Turquoise as toward what seemed to be thedesire of the leading Delight Makers,--the Naua and Tyope. He thereforeexpressed himself bluntly in favour of Tzitz hanutsh giving up a certainquantity of land to the clan Shyuamo, without stating his opinion orsuggesting in the least how it ought to be done.
Every member of the council, Tyope and Topanashka excepted, had spoken.The majority of votes seemed in favour of the claim represented, but itis not plurality of votes which decides, but unanimity of opinion andconviction; and finally and in the last instance, the utterances ofthose who speak in the name of the powers above. The shamans had giventheir opinions, the Shkuy was manifestly favourable to Shyuamo, but hiscolleague, the Hishtanyi Chayan, had spoken in a manner that restrictedthe point at issue to a discussion among the clans directly interested.The Histanyi Chayan was a personage of great authority, and many ofthose who were on the side of the Turquoise people thought his word tobe law in the end. They had shown themselves friendly toward theirbrethren of Shyuamo, willing, however, to abide by what the closingdiscussion would bring to light. That discussion was yet to commence,and the opening was to be the speech of Tyope himself. Much stress alsowas laid upon what Topanashka would say, for he too was to take part.Some had their misgivings concerning the real object of the move whichevery one felt certain Tyope and the Koshare Naua had set on foot; andwhen the tapop summoned Tyope to speak at last, there was something likea subdued flutter among the audience. Many turned their heads in thedirection of the speaker, others displayed in their features the marksof unusual attention.
Tyope rose slowly from his seat. He looked around quietly; there was asardonic smile on his lips. His eyes almost closed; he spoke in amuffled voice, slowly and very distinctly. He was evidently master ofhis subject, and a natural orator.
"Yaya, nashtio, Tapop, I have heard what you have all said, and it iswell, for it is well for each one of you to have spoken his thoughts, inorder that the people be pleased and delight come into their hearts. Forthere are many of us, the fathers of the tribe, and each one has his ownthoughts; and thoughts are like faces, never two alike. For this reasondid I speak to our father the tapop that he should call in the uuityam,in order that all might hear and that nobody could sayafterward,--'Shyuamo hanutsh has taken from Tzitz hanutsh what belongedto the Water people, and behold we knew nothing about it!' Shyuamohanutsh"--he raised his voice and glanced around with flashingeyes--"has many people; Shyuamo is strong! But the men of the Turquoiseare just! They go about in daylight and speak loudly, and are not likethe water that roars at night and drops into silence as soon as oshatshbrightens the world." After this fling at the delegate of the Waterclan, Tyope paused a moment; he seemed to wait for a reply, but nonecame, the explanation of his action in carrying the matter before thecouncil appearing to satisfy all. "Shyuamo hanutsh," he proceeded, "isgreat in numbers but weak in strength, for its people have no food forthemselves, and what they raise is barely enough for their koitza, theirmakatza, and the little ones. They themselves must starve," he cried,"in order that other clans may increase through the children which mymen beget with their daughters!"
The most profound silence followed these words. The speaker paused againand looked around as if challenging an answer. He felt very sure of hispoint.
"We have worked, worked as hard as any one on the Tyuonyi, but ournumbers have grown faster than our crops. Go and look at the field ofShyuamo and you will see how many are the corn-plants, and how large theears of corn, but the field is too small! We have not more land than theTurkey people, and not as much as the Water clan! When during lastsummer no rain fell, notwithstanding all our fasting, prayer, andsacrifice, when yamunyi dried up and kaname shrivelled, Tzitz hanutshstill had enough to eat, and its men grew fat!" This hint at the stoutrepresentative of the Water clan created great hilarity. Herrepresentative growled,--
"You are not lean either."
Without noticing this interruption, Tyope proceeded,--
"Its women and its
children are well! But we, at the lower end of thecliffs,"--he extended his arm to the east,--"starve in order that yourdaughters and the little ones whom we have begotten to the other clansshall not perish. We had no more than food enough to pray for, to fastfor, in order that the Shiuana might not let our brethren be lost." Herethe Koshare Naua, as well as the representative of the Panther clan,uttered an audible "[=A]-[=a];" and even the Shkuy Chayan nodded. "Howmany Koshare are there in Tzitz hanutsh? How many in Tanyi? How many inTyame who would sacrifice themselves for the ripening of fruit? How manyin Huashpa? Shyuamo alone has as many Delight Makers as the remainder ofthe Zaashtesh. One single clan as many as eleven others together!And"--he drew himself up to his full height and fastened on the delegateof the Water clan a glance of strange fierceness, as he cried--"whileyour Koshare feed themselves well between the fasts, ours starve toregain strength after they have watched, prayed, and starved!"
This explosion of bitter reproach was again followed by deep silence.Tyope was indeed a fascinating speaker. The maseua and the HishtanyiChayan were the only ones whom his oratorical talent could not leadastray. He proceeded in a quieter tone,--
"We need more land. Some of our fathers have suggested that we shouldextend our territory to the eastward and open the soil there. They meanwell; but there is not enough, and the pines are too near. Shall we goas far as Cuapa, where there is enough soil, or where the kauaushdescends to the painted cave? Shall we go and live where the Moshomewould surround us and howl about like hungry wolves? No! Ere we do thiswe have thought to say to our brethren, 'Tzitz has more land than itneeds; Tzitz is our brother; and we will ask them, "Satyumishe, give ussome of that of which you have too much, so that we may not be lost."'But not to the Water people alone did we wish to speak; no, to all ofyou, to the yaya nashtio and the tapop, that you all may know it andassist us in our need. For rather than starve we shall leave the Tyuonyiand look for another place. And then," he concluded, "you will becomeweak and we shall be weak; and the Moshome, the Tehuas, and the Puyatyewill be stronger than the Queres, for we shall be divided!"
He resumed his seat in token that his speech was ended. From all sidessounded the affirmative grunt "[=A]-[=a]-[=a];" the Shkuy Chayan and theCuirana Naua even nodded. Tyope had spoken very well.
Hoshkanyi Tihua was delighted with the talk of his clan-brother.Forgetful of his position as chairman he looked around the circleproudly, as if to say, "He can do it better than any one of you." Thestillness that followed was suddenly broken by the voice of theHishtanyi Chayan, who called out in a dry, business-like manner,--
"Our brother Tyope has spoken well, and all the others have spoken astheir hearts directed them to speak; but my brother"--he emphasized the_my_--"the maseua has not yet said what he thinks. My brother is verywise. Let him open his heart to us."
There was a slight commotion among the assembled parties. The speech ofTyope had so monopolized their attention that none of them had thoughtof the maseua. Now they were reminded of his presence through theprincipal medicine-man himself, and that reminder acted like a reproach.The eyes of all, Tyope and the Koshare Naua excepted, turned toward thedoorway, where Topanashka was quietly sitting. The two men from Shyuamoaffected to pay no further attention to what was going on.
Topanashka Tihua remained sitting. He directed his sharp, keen glance tothe Hishtanyi Chayan, as if to him alone he condescended to speak. Thenhe said,--
"I believe as you do, nashtio yaya, but I also believe as you, Tyope,have spoken." So great was the surprise caused by this that Tyope liftedhis face and looked at the old man in blank astonishment. Kauaitshestared at Topanashka like one suddenly aroused by a wondrous piece ofnews.
"Tyope is right," continued the maseua; "Shyuamo has not soil enough. Heis also right in saying that there is not room enough on the Tyuonyi formaking new plantations."
"[=A]-[=a]," the delegate from the Turquoise interjected.
"It is true our brethren are suffering for want of land whereon to growtheir corn. It is equally true that Tzitz hanutsh has more land than itneeds, and it is well that Shyuamo should ask for what it wants and notleave the Zaashtesh forever. Tyope has well spoken."
Nothing can describe the effect of this speech. Even the chief of theDelight Makers smiled approvingly a hideous, satanic grin of pleasure.He felt like loving the speaker; that is, provided the schemer had beencapable of liking anybody but himself. The eyes of Tyope sparkled withgrim delight. Kauaitshe and Tyame hung their heads, and reckonedthemselves lost forever. The maseua continued, still addressing theprincipal shaman,--
"But you are right also, nashtio yaya, when you say that it is Tzitzhanutsh who shall decide whether or not it wishes to part with some ofits fields for the benefit of the Turquoise people." Both Tyope and theKoshare Naua grew very serious at these words. "We cannot compel theWater people to give up any of their soil."
"No," the Shikama Chayan audibly whispered.
"But if Shyuamo hanutsh says to Tzitz hanutsh, 'We will give you suchand such things that are precious to you if you give us the land,' anddoes it,--then I am in favour of compelling Tzitz hanutsh to give it;for it is better thus than that the tribe should be divided and eachpart go adrift. These are my thoughts, sa nashtio yaya."
The Hishtanyi Chayan actively nodded assent, and all around the circleapproving grunts were heard. The old man's speech satisfied the majorityof the council, with the sole exception of those who represented theclan Shyuamo; it was now their turn to become excited, and the Kosharewas the first one to display his dissatisfaction.
"What shall we give?" he muttered. "We are poor, we have nothing. Whyshould we give anything for that which does not help the others? It willhelp us, but only us and nobody else. We give nothing because we havenothing," he hissed at last, and looked at Tyope as if urging him to befirm and not to promise anything under any circumstances. Tyope remainedmute; the words of the maseua appeared to leave him unmoved. But Tyame,the man of the Eagles, became incensed at this refusal on the part ofthe Turquoise people. He shouted to the Koshare Naua,--
"What! you will give nothing? Why are you Koshare, then? Why are youtheir chief? Do you never receive anything for what you do? You arewealthy, you have green stones, red jewels from the water; you have andyou get from the people everything that is precious and makes the heartglad. You alone have more precious things than all the rest of ustogether!"
"It is not true!" exclaimed Tyope.
"We are poor!" screeched the Koshare Naua.
Kauaitshe now interfered; he had recovered from his stupor and yelled,"You have much, you are wealthy!" Turning against Tyope he shouted tohim,--
"Why should we, before all the others, give you the soil that you want?Why should we, before all the others, give it to you for nothing? Youare thieves, you are Moshome, shutzuna, tiatiu! No!" He stamped his footon the ground. "No! we will give you nothing, nothing at all, even ifyou give us everything that the Koshare have schemed and stolen from thepeople!"
The commanding voice of the Hishtanyi sounded through thetumult,--"Hush! Hush!" but it was of no avail; passions were aroused,and both sides were embittered in the highest degree.
The delegate from Tanyi jumped up, yelling, "Why do you want the groundfrom Tzitz alone? Why not our field also;" and he placed himselfdefiantly in front of Tyope.
The member from Huashpa cried,--
"Are the Water people perhaps to blame for the drought of last year?"
"They are!" screamed the Koshare Naua, rising; "Tapop, I want to speak;make order!"
"Silence!" ordered the little governor, but nobody paid any attention.
"Satyumishe Maseua," now shouted the principal shaman, "keep order, thenashtio Koshare wants to speak!"
The tall man rose calmly; he went toward the cluster of wrangling menand grasped Kauaitshe by the shoulder.
"Be quiet," he ordered.
Nobody withstood his determined mien. All became silent. Topanashkaleaned back against the wall, his gaze fixed on the Koshare.
Everybodywas in suspense, in expectation of what the Naua might say. He coughed,and began addressing the leading shaman,--
"Yaya Hishtanyi, you hear that the Water people refuse to give us theland that we so much need. They ask of us that we should give them allwe have for a small part of theirs. The mot[=a]tza from the hanutshHuashpa has asked whether Tzitz hanutsh is perhaps the cause that thecrops failed last year. I say it is the cause of it!"
"How so?" cried Tyame.
"Through Shotaye, their sister," replied the old man, slowly.
It was not silence alone that followed this utterance. A stillnessensued so sudden, so dismal, and so awful that it seemed worse than agrave. Every face grew sinister, every one felt that some dreadrevelation was coming. Tyope held his head erect, watching the face ofthe old maseua. Topanashka's features had not moved; he was looking atthe Koshare Naua with an air of utter unconcern. The Hishtanyi Chayan,on the contrary, raised his head; and the expression of his featuresbecame sharp, like those of an anxious inquisitor. In the eye of theShkuy Chayan a sinister glow appeared. He also had raised his head andbent the upper part of his body forward. The Shikama Chayan assumed adark, threatening look. The name of Shotaye had aroused dark suspicionsamong the medicine-men. Their chief now asked slowly, measuredly,--
"You accuse a woman of having done harm to the tribe?" Henceforward heand his two colleagues were the pivots around which the furtherproceedings were to revolve. The tapop was forgotten; nobody paidattention to him any longer.
"I do; I say that Shotaye, the woman belonging to Tzitz hanutsh, hascarried destruction to the tribe."
"In what way?"
"In preventing the rain from falling in season."
"And she has succeeded!" ejaculated Tyope, in a low voice,--so low thatit was not heard by all.
The Shkuy Chayan continued the interrogatory. Nobody else uttered aword; not even the Hishtanyi spoke for the present. The latter dislikedthe woman as much as any of his colleagues; but he mistrusted heraccusers as well, and preferred, after having taken the initiatorysteps, to remain an attentive listener and observer, leaving it to hisassociates to proceed with the case. The Shkuy, on the other hand, waseager to develop matters; he had been secretly informed some time ago ofwhat was known concerning the witchcraft proceedings of Shotaye, and hehated the woman more bitterly than any of his colleagues did; and as thecharge was the preventing of rain-fall, it very directly affected hisown functions,--not more than those of the Hishtanyi, who is ex-officiorain-maker, but quite as much.
For drought not only affects the crops; it exerts quite as baneful aninfluence upon game; and game, as food for man, is under the specialcare of the Shkuy Chayan. He is the great medicine-man of the hunt.Drought artificially produced, as the Indian is convinced it can bethrough witchcraft, is one of the greatest calamities that can bebrought upon a tribe. As a crime, it is worse than murder, for it is anattempt at wholesale though slow extermination. The sorcerer or thewitch who deliberately attempts to prevent rain-fall becomes the objectof intense hatred on the part of all. The whole cluster of men assembledfelt the gravity of the charge. Horror-stricken, they sat in mutesilence, awaiting the result of the investigation which the Shkuy Chayanproceeded to carry on.
"How do you know that the aniehna"--he emphasized the untranslatableword of insult, and his voice trembled with passion--"has worked suchevil to the people?" The query was directed to the Koshare Naua. Thelatter turned to Tyope, saying,--
"Speak, satyumishe nashtio." He squatted again.
The eyes of all, Topanashka's excepted, who did not for a moment diverthis gaze from the chief of the Delight Makers, were fixed on Tyope. Herose and dryly said,--
"I saw when Shotaye Koitza and Say Koitza, the daughter of our fatherthe maseua,"--everybody now looked at the war-chief in astonishment,dismay, or sorrow; but he remained completely impassive,--"who lives inthe abodes of Tanyi hanutsh, caused the black corn to answer theirquestions. And there were owl's feathers along with the corn. It wasnight, and I could not hear what they said. It was in the beginning ofwinter; not last winter, but the winter before."
"Is that all?" inquired the Hishtanyi Chayan in turn. It displeased himto hear that Tyope had been eavesdropping in the dark,--the man had nobusiness in the big house at night.
"I know also," continued Tyope, "that Shotaye gathered the feathersherself on the kauash toward the south."
"Did you see her?"
"Yes," boldly asserted Tyope. He lied, for he dared not tell the truth;namely, that the young Navajo was his informant.
"Is that all?" queried the Hishtanyi again.
"After we, the Koshare, had prayed and done penance in our own kaaptsh Iat one time went back to the timbers on which we climb up to the cave.At their foot, below the rocks, I found this!"
He drew from beneath his wrap a little bundle, and handed it to theshaman, who examined it closely and gave it to his colleagues, whosubjected the object to an equally thorough investigation. Those sittingalong the wall bent forward curiously, until at last the bundle wasturned over to them also. So it went from hand to hand, each one passingit to the next with sighs and marks of thorough disgust. The bundle wascomposed of owl's feathers tied to a flake of black obsidian.
"I found a second one," quietly said Tyope, pulling forth a similarbunch. Now the council gave demonstrations not only of amazement but ofviolent indignation; the shamans and Topanashka alone remained calm.Both bunches were given to the tapop, who placed them on the floorbefore him.
The Hishtanyi Chayan inquired further,--
"Where did you find the feathers? Say it once more."
"At the foot of the rocks, where we ascend to our estufa oncross-timbers."
"Did you see who put them there?"
"No."
"When do you think they were placed there?"
"While the Koshare were at work in the estufa."
"Do you know more?"
"Nothing more." Tyope sat down, and the interrogatory was over.
It was as still as a grave in the dingy, ill-lighted chamber. No onedared even to look up, for the matter was in the hands of the yaya, andthey were still thinking over it. The demands of Shyuamo hanutsh werecompletely forgotten. The owl's feathers had monopolized the attentionand the thoughts of every one in the room.
At last the Hishtanyi Chayan rose. He threw a glance at his colleagues,who understood it, and rose also. Then the great medicine-man spoke in ahollow tone,--
"We will go now. We shall speak to our father the Hotshanyi, that he mayhelp us to consult Those Above. Four days hence we shall know what theShiuana think, and on the night following"--he turned to the tapop--"wewill tell you here what to do. In the meantime,"--he uttered these wordslike a solemn warning,--"hush! let none of you exchange one word on whatwe have heard or seen to-night. Let none of you say at home, 'I know ofsomething evil,' or to a friend, 'bad things are going on in the tribe.'Be silent, so that no one suspect the least thing, and that the sentenceof the Shiuana be not interfered with. Nasha!" he concluded, and wenttoward the exit. Ere leaving the room, however, he turned once more,adding,--
"And you go also. Each one for himself and alone. Let no one of youutter words, but all of you pray and do penance, keep open your ears,wide awake your eye, and closed your lips."
With this the shamans filed out, one after the other. Their muffledsteps were heard for a moment as they grated on the bare rock. One byone the other members of the council left the chamber in silence, eachwending his way homeward with gloomy thoughts. Dismal anticipations anddread apprehension filled the hearts of every one.