Suddenly the barking sounded much nearer, and Tyope moved toward the place whence the sound issued, brushing past the shrubs.  Reaching a clear space, he saw before him the form of a big wolf.  The animal was standing immovable, his tail drooping, his head horizontal.

“Are you alone?” Tyope whispered.  The apparition or beast, whatever it might be, seemed not to excite the least apprehension.  The wolf bent its head in reply without uttering a sound.

“Where are the Dinne?” Tyope continued.

A hollow chuckle seemed to proceed from the skull of the animal; it turned and disappeared in the darkness, but a rustling of boughs and creaking of branches made known the direction.  Tyope followed.

The wolf moved swiftly.  From time to time its husky barkings were heard; and the Indian from the Rito, guided by these signals, followed as rapidly as possible.  At last he saw the outlines of a juniper-bush against a faint glow.  Behind it sounded the crackling of freshly ignited brushwood, and soon a light spread over the surrounding neighbourhood.  Stepping into the illuminated circle Tyope stood before a man squatting by the fire.

The man was heaping wood on the fire which he had just started.  By his side lay the skin of a large wolf.  He seemed not to notice Tyope, although his face was directed toward him, for his eyes disappeared below projecting brows, so projecting that only now and then a sudden flash, quick as lightning, broke out from beneath their shadow.  His form indicated strength and endurance; he was of stronger build than the man from the Tyuonyi.  A kilt of deer-hide was his only dress.  His hair was wound around his skull like a turban.  As ornaments the stranger wore a necklace of panther claws.  A bow and some arrows were lying on the wolf’s skin beside him.[6]

Without a word Tyope squatted down near the fire, facing the other Indian.  It had turned cold, and both men held their hands up to the flame.  The former glanced at the latter furtively from time to time, but neither uttered a word.  The fire was beginning to decline; its light grew faint.  At last the other Indian said,—­

“When will the Koshare go into the round house?”

“As soon as the moon gives light,” Tyope carelessly replied.

“How many are there of you?”

“Why do you want to know this?” inquired the man from the Rito, in a husky voice.

His companion chuckled again and said nothing.  He had put an imprudent question.  He turned away carelessly, placed more wood on the fire, and poked the embers.  Tyope looked up at the sky, and thus the vivid, scornful glance the other threw on his figure escaped him.

So far the conversation had been carried on in the Queres language; now the stranger suddenly spoke in another dialect and in a more imperious tone.

“Art thou afraid of the Dinne?”

“Why should I be afraid of them?” responded Tyope in his native tongue.