I
find rest and peace with our mother at Shipapu."

Her father also had risen, he clutched his cotton garment as if a sudden
chill went through his body. Without a word he turned and went off
dejected, stooping, with a heavy sigh.

The woman dropped to the floor beside the hearth with a plaintive moan.
She drew her hair over her face, weep she could not. The embers on the
hearth glowed again, casting a dull light over the chamber.

Say Koitza, as this wretched woman was called, was the only child of him
with whom she had just had this dismal interview. His name was
Topanashka Tihua, and he was maseua, or head-war-chief, of the tribe. In
times of peace the maseua is subordinate to the tapop, or civil
governor, and as often as the latter communicates to him any decision of
the tribal council he is bound to execute it. Otherwise the maseua is
really a superior functionary, for he stands in direct relation to the
religious powers of which we shall hereafter speak, and these in reality
guide and command through oracles and prophetic utterances. In war the
maseua has supreme command, and the civil chief and the diviners, or
medicine-men, must obey him implicitly as soon as any campaign is
started.

Topanashka was a man of great physical vigour notwithstanding his age.
He was highly respected for his skill and bravery, and for his stern
rectitude and obedience to strict duty. He feared nothing except the
supernatural powers of evil. There is nothing the Indian fears, nay
hates, so much as sorcery. Topanashka could scarcely believe that his
daughter had tampered with magic by causing the dark-coloured corn to
speak, and keeping owl's feathers in her possession. Still, if such were
really the case, he knew of no other course to pursue but to execute the
penalty which according to Indian ideas she deserved, and which the
leading men of the tribe composing its council would undoubtedly mete
out to her,--death; a cruel, terrible death. But she was his only child,
and ere he placed faith in the suspicion communicated to him in secret
by one of the shamans in the tribe, he wanted to satisfy himself from
her own behaviour whether it was true or not. To his deepest sorrow Say
Koitza's behaviour seemed to prove that she was not falsely accused. It
was a terrible blow to the old man, who for the first time in his life
rose from a task bewildered and hopeless. Duty was to him paramount, and
yet he could not utterly stifle the longing