ved into the best society.

"About the time we were ready to strike west, Ista, that was my girl,
told me that there would have to be a new ceremonial. She took my going
in good part, for there was nothing more I could do. They were sensible
enough to know that man was only an instrument in the great game as they
understood it. Ista had led me out to a quiet place to put me next. I
remember that vividly because of a little thing that happened that
doesn't mean anything. I often wonder why resultless things sometimes
stick in the mind. We were sitting at the base of a tall tree and there
was a certain bush close by with bright red berries when they were
unripe. They look good to eat. But when they ripened, they grew fat and
juicy, the size of a grape, and of a liverish color. I thought that one
of them had fallen on my left forearm and went to flick it off. Instead
of being that, the thing burst into a blood splotch as soon as I hit it.
That was the first time I had been bitten by one of those bugs. They are
about the size of a sheep tick when empty, but they get on you and suck
and suck, till they are full of your blood and size of a grape. Queer
things, but ugly. Ista laughed as you would laugh if you saw a nigger
afraid of a harmless snake. It's queer that it should be considered a
joke when one fears something that another does not.

"But that has nothing to do with the story. What has, is that Ista
wanted to tell me about the ceremonial. She did not believe in it at
all. Privately, she was a kind of atheist among her people, but kept her
opinions to herself. You must not think that because you see, hear or
read of savage rites, that all the savages believe in those things. No
sir. There is as much disbelief amongst them as with us. Perhaps more.
They think things out. I might say that in a way they think more than
the average civilized man. You see, a civilized child thinks for itself
up until it is six or seven or so, and then the schools get hold of it,
and from then on, it's tradition and believing what it's told to
believe. That goes on through school life. Then at work, the man who
would dare to vary on his own account is not wanted. So independent
thought is not possible there. Work finished, it's the evening paper and
editorial opinions. So really, man does not get much of a chance to
think straight at any time. I guess if he did, the whole scheme would
fall to pieces. That's why I say civilized man does not