This was just as Tyope wanted.  He disliked the idea of passing a day concealed under cliffs and crags where a torrid sun shone, and where there was water only in the river beneath and at a great depth.  But he wanted to be sure of what Those Above intended, so he asked again,—­

“Yaya Chayan, do the Shiuana”—­he emphasized the term—­“say that we should go to the west?”

“The spirits say that we should go where there is shade and water!  Let us go to the mountains; there we shall find both.”

“They are right!” Tyope exclaimed.  “I believe it is better to stay there until the sun has risen.  I will send word to the men to turn to the left, and we will sleep in the shade of the trees until the time comes to advance.”

“You are right, brother,” the Chayan assented; “do as you have said.”

The two men had lagged behind the others during this conversation.  Tyope imitated the cry of an owl.  Soon several warriors came up to him.  He directed them to go to the front, to the right, and to the left, and give orders that all should move to the westward a short distance, far enough to reach high timber.  Then all should halt and prepare to pass the night.  He himself moved a short distance only in that direction, in company with the shaman, and selected a spot where the mesa was covered with the usual underbrush and where taller trees already began to appear.  Here he lay down to rest with eyes wide open, ready for any emergency.  Not far away the medicine-man found a secluded spot where he sat down without fire, occasionally touching the drum and reciting his prayers and incantations.  They were the same as those which the shaman of the Tehuas was directing to Those Above at the same time and not far from him, but in a different tongue, for the success of his people and the destruction of those for whom the Hishtanyi Chayan was praying.

The decision of Tyope to penetrate into the forest to the west brought the Queres into the very position which the Tehuas desired.  The scouts of the latter had obeyed punctually and diligently the orders which they had received, following step by step the advancing foe and reporting to headquarters any notable move.  They possessed the immense advantage of knowing every movement the Queres made from the very beginning, and were thus able to observe them unseen.  As soon as Tyope had concentrated his forces on the northern brink of the Canada Ancha, the main body of the Tehuas receded slightly to the west.  As soon as the Queres began to ascend in that direction, the retrograde movement of the others continued in the centre; whereas the left wing spread out, and the right slightly advanced to the east along the brink of the ravine.  The scouts were called in with all haste and reinforced, especially the body that faced the Queres in the north.  At the time Tyope lay down to rest, his forces were surrounded everywhere except on the east.  Everything was ready for the Tehuas to begin their attack upon the unsuspecting foe at daybreak.