Tyope rose slowly from his seat.  He looked around quietly; there was a sardonic smile on his lips.  His eyes almost closed; he spoke in a muffled voice, slowly and very distinctly.  He was evidently master of his subject, and a natural orator.

“Yaya, nashtio, Tapop, I have heard what you have all said, and it is well, for it is well for each one of you to have spoken his thoughts, in order that the people be pleased and delight come into their hearts.  For there are many of us, the fathers of the tribe, and each one has his own thoughts; and thoughts are like faces, never two alike.  For this reason did I speak to our father the tapop that he should call in the uuityam, in order that all might hear and that nobody could say afterward,—­’Shyuamo hanutsh has taken from Tzitz hanutsh what belonged to the Water people, and behold we knew nothing about it!’ Shyuamo hanutsh”—­he raised his voice and glanced around with flashing eyes—­“has many people; Shyuamo is strong!  But the men of the Turquoise are just!  They go about in daylight and speak loudly, and are not like the water that roars at night and drops into silence as soon as oshatsh brightens the world.”  After this fling at the delegate of the Water clan, Tyope paused a moment; he seemed to wait for a reply, but none came, the explanation of his action in carrying the matter before the council appearing to satisfy all.  “Shyuamo hanutsh,” he proceeded, “is great in numbers but weak in strength, for its people have no food for themselves, and what they raise is barely enough for their koitza, their makatza, and the little ones.  They themselves must starve,” he cried, “in order that other clans may increase through the children which my men beget with their daughters!”

The most profound silence followed these words.  The speaker paused again and looked around as if challenging an answer.  He felt very sure of his point.

“We have worked, worked as hard as any one on the Tyuonyi, but our numbers have grown faster than our crops.  Go and look at the field of Shyuamo and you will see how many are the corn-plants, and how large the ears of corn, but the field is too small!  We have not more land than the Turkey people, and not as much as the Water clan!  When during last summer no rain fell, notwithstanding all our fasting, prayer, and sacrifice, when yamunyi dried up and kaname shrivelled, Tzitz hanutsh still had enough to eat, and its men grew fat!” This hint at the stout representative of the Water clan created great hilarity.  Her representative growled,—­

“You are not lean either.”

Without noticing this interruption, Tyope proceeded,—­