Say also had heard of the fasts and penitence to which some of the officers of the tribe had submitted; and she rightly surmised that the accusation against Shotaye, and against herself perhaps, had at last been made, and was the cause of such unusual proceedings.  But Shotaye had judged her well when she decided upon not troubling Say with a visit.  It was unnecessary, for Say took everything calmly and with perfect composure.  The positive assurance of Shotaye that she was safe, and still more the words of her father to the same effect, had completely reassured the woman.  She looked forward to coming events with anxious curiosity rather than with apprehension.  Still as her husband unexpectedly entered her dwelling, she could not resist the temptation to sound him, and to find out, if possible, what he thought about affairs.  While kneading the corn-cakes she therefore asked, in a quiet, cool manner,—­

“Hachshtze, do you know that the nashtio are fasting?”

“All of them?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, going on with her work, “and yet I know this much,—­that sa nashtio does not fast.  He ate with us and is going about as usual.”

“What may it all mean?” he inquired of her.

She shrugged her shoulders, and asked,—­

“Does Tyope do penance?”

In view of the intimate relations existing between Tyope and Zashue this was a very natural question, and yet it stung Zashue.  He interpreted it as a covert thrust.  But as he bethought himself of the charges which Hayoue had uttered against the delegate from Shyuamo, a whole series of ideas rose within him so suddenly, and so far from pleasant or comforting to himself, that he forgot the conversation and inclined his head in thought.

Say Koitza was too much absorbed by her work to notice the change in her husband’s manner at once.  After a few moments of silence she reiterated her question.  Zashue appeared to wake up; he started, saying,—­

“I don’t know; but why do you ask this?”

The woman realized that her inquiry might have been imprudent, but with great assurance explained,—­

“Because he is nashtio, and a great one at that.  Shyuamo is a strong hanutsh, and what it wants will be done.  It alone can do more than Tzitz and Tanyi together.”

The quick, bold, apparently unpremeditated reply relieved Zashue of an undefined feeling of suspicion that had arisen within him.  During his moment of thoughtfulness he had been led from the accusations of Hayoue against Tyope unconsciously to the accusation which Tyope had launched before against Shotaye and his own wife.  Quick as lightning it flashed upon his mind that that accusation had perhaps been formulated again, and this time officially before the council.  And if Say were innocent, as he still believed, why did she inquire about him who was the originator of it?  He did not attribute her query to a guilty conscience, for the Indian has but a very dim notion about human