e; he was of stronger build than the man
from the Tyuonyi. A kilt of deer-hide was his only dress. His hair was
wound around his skull like a turban. As ornaments the stranger wore a
necklace of panther claws. A bow and some arrows were lying on the
wolf's skin beside him.[6]

Without a word Tyope squatted down near the fire, facing the other
Indian. It had turned cold, and both men held their hands up to the
flame. The former glanced at the latter furtively from time to time, but
neither uttered a word. The fire was beginning to decline; its light
grew faint. At last the other Indian said,--

"When will the Koshare go into the round house?"

"As soon as the moon gives light," Tyope carelessly replied.

"How many are there of you?"

"Why do you want to know this?" inquired the man from the Rito, in a
husky voice.

His companion chuckled again and said nothing. He had put an imprudent
question. He turned away carelessly, placed more wood on the fire, and
poked the embers. Tyope looked up at the sky, and thus the vivid,
scornful glance the other threw on his figure escaped him.

So far the conversation had been carried on in the Queres language; now
the stranger suddenly spoke in another dialect and in a more imperious
tone.

"Art thou afraid of the Dinne?"

"Why should I be afraid of them?" responded Tyope in his native tongue.

"Speak the tongue of the Dinne," the other sternly commanded, and a
flash burst from beneath his eyebrows, almost as savage as that of a
wolf. "Thou hast courted the people of my tribe. They have not sought
after thee. Thou knowest their language. Speak it, therefore, and then
we shall see." He straightened himself, displaying a youthful figure
full of strength and elasticity.

Tyope took this change of manner very composedly. He answered quietly in
the same dialect,--

"If thou wilt, Nacaytzusle, I can speak like thy people also. It is true
I came for them, but what I wanted"--he emphasized the word--"was as
much for their benefit as my own. Thou, first of all, wast to gain by my
scheme." His eyes closed, and the glance became as sharp as that of a
rattlesnake.

Nacaytzusle poked the embers with a dry stick as if thinking over the
speech of the other. Then he asked,--

"Thou sayest thou hast wanted. Wantest thou no more?"

"Not so much as hitherto," Tyope stated positively.

"What shall it be now?" inquired the Dinne.

"I will speak to thee so as to be understood," explaine