gh somewhat flat and broad, created a
favourable impression at first; upon closer scrutiny, however, the eyes
modified that impression. They were small, and their look piercing
rather than bright. His costume was limited to a tattered breech-clout of
buckskin. A collar of small white shells encircled the neck, and from
this necklace dangled a triangular piece of alabaster, flat, and with a
carving on it suggesting the shape of a dragon-fly. His hair streamed
loose over the left ear, where there was fastened to the black coarse
strands a tuft of grayish down.

This individual eyed Okoya in silence for a moment, as if inspecting his
person; then he inquired,--

"Where do you come from?"

The young fellow looked up and replied,--

"From below," pointing to the lower end of the gorge.

"What did you hunt?" the other continued, glancing at the bow and arrows
of the boy.

"Tzina;" and with perceptible embarrassment Okoya added, "but I killed
nothing."

The man seemed not to heed the humiliation which this confession
entailed, and asked,--

"Have you seen tracks of the mountain-sheep down yonder?"

"Not one; but I saw at a distance on the slope two bears very large and
strong."

The other shook his head.

"Then there are no mountain sheep toward that end of the Tyuonyi," he
said, waving his left hand toward the southeast, "thank you, boy," at
the same time extending his right to the youth. Okoya grasped it, and
breathed on the outside of the hand. Then he said, "hoa umo," and turned
and sauntered back to where his little brother was still squatting and
pouting, morose and silent.

The man had also turned around, bent down, and gone on weeding the corn.
Withal he did not lose sight of the boys; on the contrary, an occasional
stealthy glance from his half-closed eyes shot over where they met.

Shyuote rose from the ground. His eyes were dry, but he glanced at his
brother with misgivings as well as with curiosity. The latter felt a
sudden pang upon beholding the childish features. The short
interruption, though annoying at first, had diverted him from gloomy
thoughts. Now, everything came back to his mind with renewed force,--the
same anguish, the feeling of utter helplessness in case of impending
danger, indignation at what he believed to have been base treason on the
part of his mother,--all this rushed upon him with fearful force, and he
stood again motionless, a picture of wild perplexity. His face betokened