The Delight Makers eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 557 pages of information about The Delight Makers.

The Delight Makers eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 557 pages of information about The Delight Makers.

“Teanyi!” Then he added, “Cayamo,” and inquired, “Shotaye?”

He was the looked-for and longed-for delegate; and when the sun stood at its height, the two were travelling toward the Puye together.

Shotaye attempted to convey the idea to her companion that the Queres were upon the point of moving upon the Tehuas in force.  Her excited gesticulations and broken sentences only succeeded in making him believe that she was herself the object of lively pursuit by a considerable number of men.  Therefore when the pair reached the isolated, castle-like rock called Puye, which dominates the country far around, and along the base of which the dwellings of the Tehuas were excavated in friable white pumice-stone, in the same manner as are those of the Rito, Teanyi left her standing before the entrance to his own cave-home, went in, and called his wife to take care of the new-comer while he ran to the tuyo, as the governor is called among the Tehuas.  The wife of Teanyi had not been informed of the nature of Shotaye’s call, and as she took her into her quarters she eyed her curiously and suspiciously, for it was probably the first time she had seen a human being that spoke a language different from her own.  She gave her no food, but waited her husband’s return.  Shotaye, on her side, cast the quick glance of her lively eyes at everything.  From time to time she attempted a word of conversation; she smiled and gesticulated, but the only response was a shaking of the head and facial expressions that denoted suspicion rather than friendship.

Teanyi had informed the tuyo that he had met a woman from the Rito de los Frijoles and had taken her to his home, or rather to that of his wife; that the woman was gesticulating in an unintelligible manner; and that all he could surmise was that there might be Queres approaching the Puye with hostile intentions.  He said nothing about Cayamo and his relations toward Shotaye, for Cayamo had enjoined absolute secrecy.

The governor of the Tehuas was a different man from the pompous little tapop of the Queres.  The latter would at once have called the council and done everything to surround the event and his own person with as much noise as possible.  Not so the tuyo of the Puye.  He only said, “I will go with you,” and went to the room of Teanyi’s wife to see Shotaye and investigate for himself.

The gesticulations began again, and the woman used every effort to make herself understood.  The governor did his best to understand her, but no progress was made toward comprehension.  She even followed Cayamo’s precedent in drawing a line on the floor from north to south, designating the southern end as Tupoge, the northern end as Puye, for thus much she had kept in memory.  Then she pointed out on that line the spot where Topanashka had been killed, and said, “Uan save,” and made the gesture-sign for killing.  Lastly she tried to convey the idea that the Queres were in arms against the Tehuas.

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The Delight Makers from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.