"Never!" exclaimed Say. "How could I speak to one whose mother is a sand-viper, and whose father a carrion crow?"
"Is that all?"
"You know," Say cried, "how mean Tyope is! If my child goes to see his child, is it not easy for the young serpent to ask this and that of my son? Then she will go and tell the old sand-viper, her mother, who will whisper it to Tyope himself. Don"t you see it, sister?"
The argument was forcible, and Shotaye felt the truth of it. The other proceeded,--
"Okoya may have been going with the girl for a long while; and I knew nothing of it. Have you found out, sister,"--she leaned forward and looked at her guest with a very earnest expression,--"how the Koshare have learned about the owl"s feathers in my house?"
The other shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
"Neither have I," continued Say; "but might not Okoya--" The hand of her friend closed her lips.
"Hush!" cried the medicine-woman, imperatively; "speak not, believe not, think not, such a thing! Okoya is good; I, too, know the boy. He will never do what you suspect."
But Say was too excited to listen to her. She drew Shotaye"s hand away from her mouth and exclaimed,--
"Remember that it is but a short time that the Koshare have known about the feathers."
"And remember, you, that Okoya is of your own blood!"
"He is young, and the makatza has great power over him, for he likes her. When Zashue"--her voice trembled and she turned her face away with a suppressed sigh--"came to me and I went to him, he often told me things about your people,--things that your hanutsh would not have liked, had they known that I knew of them."
"Hush! I tell you again. Hush, koitza!" the other commanded. "Hush! or I will never listen to you any more. You loathe your own flesh, the very entrails that have given birth to the mot[=a]tza! I tell you again, Okoya is good. He is far better than his father! Thus much I know, and know it well." She looked hard at the wife of Zashue, while her lips disdainfully curled. Say cast her eyes to the ground; she did not care to learn about her husband"s outside affairs.
It was very still in the dark room. Even the rain was scarcely heard; and from the ceiling it dripped in one place only,--the very spot where the owl"s feathers had lain buried. It seemed as if the waters from heaven were eager to a.s.sist in obliterating every trace of the fatal tuft. Shotaye turned away from her friend indignantly; the mere thought of a mother accusing her child, and such a son as Okoya, was revolting to her. Say hung her head and pouted; and yet she felt that Shotaye was right, after all. And then it was so gratifying to hear from Shotaye"s own lips how good her son was.
"Sanaya," she asked after a while, timidly, "tell me for what you came."
"No," the other curtly answered.
Say started. "Be not angry with me," she pleaded. "I do not mean anything wrong."
"And yet you slander your best child."
Say Koitza began to sob.
Shotaye continued, angrily,--
"You may well weep! Whoever speaks ill of his own blood, as you do, ought to be sad and shed tears forever. Listen to me, koitza. Okoya is good; he will not betray anybody, and least of all his mother. And hear my words,--Mitsha also is good; as good as her father is bad, as wise as her mother is foolish. Even if Okoya had found the feathers, and had told makatza of it, she would keep it to herself, and the secret would lie buried within her heart as deep as if it rested beneath the nethermost rock on which the Tetilla stands. And in the end let me tell you,"--she raised her head defiantly and her eyes flashed,--"if Okoya likes the girl and she wants him, they are sure to come together. You cannot prevent it; neither can Tyope, the tapop, the Hotshanyi,--not even the whole tribe! Those on high hold the paths of our lives; they alone can do and undo, make and unmake."
Say wept no more. She was convinced, and lifted her eyes again.
"Mother,"--it was Shyuote"s voice which called into the outer room from the court-yard,--"mother, come out and look at the fine rainbow." With this he dashed into the inner door and stood there, the very incarnation of dirt. He had been playing at Delight Makers in the mud-puddles outside with some of his comrades, and was covered with splashes of mud from head to foot. Say bounded from her seat and pushed back the forward youngster.
"Who is with you, sanaya?" he inquired, while retreating.
"n.o.body, you water-mole! I want to be alone. I have no time to look at your rainbow. Get away!" and she hustled him outside and quickly returned to the kitchen.
But Shyuote, not satisfied with his mother"s statement, rushed to the port-hole to see for himself. This Shotaye had expected; and as soon as his dirty face darkened the opening, it received a splash of muddy rain-water that caused the boy to desist from further prying.
After Say had resumed her seat by the hearth, Shotaye bent toward her and whispered,--
"Mark me, the Shiuana are with us; the rainbow stands in the skies.
Those Above know that what I speak to you is the truth." Okoya"s mother nodded; she was fully convinced.
The cave-dweller took up the former subject again.
"Do not misunderstand me, sister," she said; "I do not say that it is well that Okoya should go to the house of the girl"s mother. There is danger in it. But your son is careful and wise, and Mitsha is good, as good as our mother on high. Therefore don"t cross his path; let him go as he pleases; and if Mitsha should come to you, be kind to her, for she deserves it. All this, however,"--the tone of her voice changed suddenly,--"is not what I came to see you for. What I have to tell you concerns me and you alone. Keep it precious, as precious as the green stone hidden in the heart of the yaya; and whatever may happen, be silent about it, as silent as the mountain. Keep your lips closed against everybody until the time comes when we must speak."
Say nodded eagerly, and Shotaye was fully satisfied with the mute pledge, for she knew that the woman dared not betray her.
"Believe me," she continued, "your life is safe. You will not, you cannot, be harmed."
Say Koitza looked at her in surprise; she could not realize the truth of these hopeful tidings.
"They found nothing in your house," resumed the other, "because, I presume, you removed the feathers in time, and in this you were wise. If Tyope says that he saw you holding owl"s feathers in your hands, and you have not kept them, who can speak against you at the council? Rest a.s.sured of one thing. Tyope is at the bottom of all our troubles, and unless he or somebody else watched you while you buried the hapi at the foot of the beams on which the Koshare go up to their cave, n.o.body will believe him when he rises against you. Are you sure," she added, "that n.o.body saw you?"
"They were all up there, so Zashue himself told me."
"Tyope, also?"
"Tyope," Say replied with animation,--"I saw Tyope. He was outside, clinging to the rock on high like a squirrel to a tree. But he could not see me."
"Then, child, you are safe; let them do as they please."
"But if he comes and says, "I saw Say and Shotaye with black corn, and owl"s feathers on it; and I heard them ask of the evil corn to speak to them"?"
"Then everybody will say, "Shotaye is a witch, Say only her tool; we must punish Shotaye, she must be killed," and that will be the end of it."
She brought her face so close to that of her friend that the latter, while unable to see her features, clearly felt her breath. The last words of the medicine-woman shocked Say. She stood toward Shotaye almost in the relation of a helpless child, and the thought of seeing her friend exposed to death produced a feeling of dismay and sadness.
"But, sanaya," she asked, "how can they harm you and let me go free? Am I not as guilty as you? What you did, was it not for me, for my good?
Why may I not go along if they send you to our mother at Shipapu?"
"Hush, sa uishe," the other retorted. "Do not speak thus. I have led you to do things which those on high do not like, so I alone must suffer.
Nevertheless"--she laid her hand on the other"s lap--"rest easy; I shall not die."
In her simplicity, Say, when Shotaye mentioned the probability of her suffering capital punishment, had not thought of her children and of the consequences that would arise in case she herself were to share that fate. She felt greatly relieved upon hearing the cave-woman speak so hopefully of her own case, for she bethought herself of those whom she would leave motherless. But her curiosity was raised to the highest pitch. Eager and anxious to learn upon what grounds Shotaye based her a.s.surance of safety, Say nestled close to her side in order not to lose a syllable of the talk. It was necessary, for Shotaye proceeded in a slow solemn whisper,--
"Sister, I shall be accused and you will be accused also. If you are brought before the council, and they ask you about our doings, deny everything, say no to everything, except when the black corn is spoken of. That you may confess. They will inquire of you why we used the evil cobs. Answer, and mark well my words, that you did not understand what I was doing, that you only did what I told you to do. Lay all the blame on me."
"But it is not true," the little woman objected.
"Never mind, provided you go free."
"They, then, will kill you!" Say cried.