“Let it be what it may, I tell you this much, brother:  be careful, and now especially.  Speak to nobody of what I have told you; and should you go to see Mitsha, keep your ears open and your mouth shut.  I cannot find anybody to speak to except you and the maseua, but our father I dare not ask, for when the others are fasting Topanashka’s lips are closed until the time comes to act.  Meanwhile, brother, we must wait.  I am going back to the katityam, for it is not good to run about and pry.  Nobody knows anything but the yaya and the nashtio, and these do not speak to us.”  With these words he rose and left Okoya alone.

Much as the latter was attached to his father’s brother, he was still glad to see him go.  The sinister hints which Hayoue had dropped were as good as incomprehensible to him.  That the Zaashtesh could be damaged through some of its own people he could not conceive; still he believed it, for Hayoue had said so and it must be true.  But it was equally true that Okoya’s thoughts were with his own affairs exclusively, and his uncle’s talk affected him mainly on that score.  It increased his already uneasy feelings.  The fear that Mitsha would be given him only on condition that he became Koshare was now stronger than ever, and his prospects appeared still further complicated in the light of Hayoue’s disclosures.  Nevertheless, nothing was absolutely certain so far; and he could not precipitate matters.  In his case, too, there was nothing left but to wait.

The shower, which was sending floods of moisture into the valleys farther south, only grazed the Rito, sending a short and light rain upon its growing crops.  It surprised Zashue upon his return to the big house, and drove him to shelter at his own, that is, his wife’s home.  He did not really care to go there, for since the time when he and Tyope had searched the rooms, Zashue had kept rather away from his spouse.

He did not suspect her any longer; but the very conviction on his part that she was innocent, and that consequently he had wronged her, kept him away from her presence.  The weaker a man is, the less he likes to acknowledge guilt.  He feels ashamed of himself, but will not acknowledge it.  The Indian in this respect is as tough as other people, if not tougher.  To beg pardon for an offence committed is to him a very difficult task.  He is a child, and children rarely make atonement unless compelled.  They conceal their guilt, and so does the Indian.  If he has wronged any one, the redman persists in acting as if nothing had happened, or he pouts, or avoids the party offended.  Zashue did not pout, but he avoided his wife’s dwelling as much as possible, and felt embarrassed when there, or as had been the case a few days ago, when the matter of Okoya’s wooing was discussed, he availed himself of the first pretext to take leave.  To-day it was different; he had to go there for shelter.  Say received him in her usual way, almost without a word, but with a look that was at once friendly, searching, and unsteady.  It was dark in the inner room, and Zashue failed to notice his wife’s glance.