“What shall we give?” he muttered.  “We are poor, we have nothing.  Why should we give anything for that which does not help the others?  It will help us, but only us and nobody else.  We give nothing because we have nothing,” he hissed at last, and looked at Tyope as if urging him to be firm and not to promise anything under any circumstances.  Tyope remained mute; the words of the maseua appeared to leave him unmoved.  But Tyame, the man of the Eagles, became incensed at this refusal on the part of the Turquoise people.  He shouted to the Koshare Naua,—­

“What! you will give nothing?  Why are you Koshare, then?  Why are you their chief?  Do you never receive anything for what you do?  You are wealthy, you have green stones, red jewels from the water; you have and you get from the people everything that is precious and makes the heart glad.  You alone have more precious things than all the rest of us together!”

“It is not true!” exclaimed Tyope.

“We are poor!” screeched the Koshare Naua.

Kauaitshe now interfered; he had recovered from his stupor and yelled, “You have much, you are wealthy!” Turning against Tyope he shouted to him,—­

“Why should we, before all the others, give you the soil that you want?  Why should we, before all the others, give it to you for nothing?  You are thieves, you are Moshome, shutzuna, tiatiu!  No!” He stamped his foot on the ground.  “No! we will give you nothing, nothing at all, even if you give us everything that the Koshare have schemed and stolen from the people!”

The commanding voice of the Hishtanyi sounded through the tumult,—­“Hush!  Hush!” but it was of no avail; passions were aroused, and both sides were embittered in the highest degree.

The delegate from Tanyi jumped up, yelling, “Why do you want the ground from Tzitz alone?  Why not our field also;” and he placed himself defiantly in front of Tyope.

The member from Huashpa cried,—­

“Are the Water people perhaps to blame for the drought of last year?”

“They are!” screamed the Koshare Naua, rising; “Tapop, I want to speak; make order!”

“Silence!” ordered the little governor, but nobody paid any attention.

“Satyumishe Maseua,” now shouted the principal shaman, “keep order, the nashtio Koshare wants to speak!”

The tall man rose calmly; he went toward the cluster of wrangling men and grasped Kauaitshe by the shoulder.

“Be quiet,” he ordered.

Nobody withstood his determined mien.  All became silent.  Topanashka leaned back against the wall, his gaze fixed on the Koshare.  Everybody was in suspense, in expectation of what the Naua might say.  He coughed, and began addressing the leading shaman,—­

“Yaya Hishtanyi, you hear that the Water people refuse to give us the land that we so much need.  They ask of us that we should give them all we have for a small part of theirs.  The mot[=a]tza from the hanutsh Huashpa has asked whether Tzitz hanutsh is perhaps the cause that the crops failed last year.  I say it is the cause of it!”