,
yet a cloud such as accompanies us everywhere, marring our perfect
happiness whenever we fancy we have attained it. Mitsha had said to him,
while they were alone,--

"If you were only Koshare, the sanaya would give me to you."

Okoya thereupon imagined that without Hannay's consent he could never
obtain the maiden. On the other hand, the idea of joining the Delight
Makers did not at all suit him. He feared in that case the opposition of
his mother. After he had returned to the estufa and lain down among the
other boys, who were mostly asleep, he revolved the matter in his mind
for a long time without arriving at any conclusion whatever. Had he been
less sincere and less attached to his mother, such scruples would hardly
have troubled him; had he owned more experience he would have known that
his apprehensions were groundless, and that Hannay could not, if she
wished, prevent him from becoming Mitsha's husband.

CHAPTER XIII.

When, at the close of the eventful meeting of the council at which the
accusation against Shotaye and Say Koitza had fallen like a thunderbolt
upon the minds of all present, the principal shamans warned the members
of that council to keep strict silence and to fast or pray, that
reminder was not to be understood as imposing on them the obligation of
rigid penitence. Secrecy alone was obligatory; it remained optional with
each how far he would carry his contrition. The three caciques, however,
and the chief medicine-men had to retire and begin rigorous penitential
ceremonies. Therefore the Hishtanyi Chayan had said that he was going to
speak to the leading penitents at once.

Some of the fathers of the tribe, however, took the matter so much to
heart that they obeyed the injunction of the great medicine-men
literally, and took to sackcloth and ashes as soon as they reached home.
Their motives were extremely laudable, but their action was by no means
wise. They lost sight of what the shaman had strongly insisted upon;
namely, that none of them should, by displaying particular sadness or by
dropping mysterious hints, attract attention, and thus lead the people
to surmise or suspect something of grave import. The shaman knew the
human heart well, at least the hearts of his tribe; but with all his
well-intended shrewdness he overlooked the fact that the very
recommendations he gave had fallen on too fertile ground, and
consequently worked more harm than good. For the majority of the
coun