"Okoya, you and I are alike. When your heart is heavy you come to me and say, 'My heart is sad; help me to make it light again;' and when I feel sorrow I go to you and tell you of it. When you came to me up there"—he pointed to the west—"it was dark in your heart. To-day it is night in mine."
The speech both astonished and pleased the boy. He felt pride in the elder's confidence, but was too modest to express it. So he merely replied,—
"Nashtio, I am very young, and you are much wiser than I. How can I speak so that your heart may be relieved? You know how I must speak, and when you tell me I will try and do it."
He gazed into Hayoue's features with a timid, doubting look; he could hardly conceive that his uncle really needed advice from him.
It was Hayoue's turn to sigh to-day. Slowly he said,—
"Last night the uuityam was together, and to-day the yaya and the nashtio are fasting."
Okoya innocently asked,—
"Why do they fast?"
"That is just what I want to know," Hayoue impatiently exclaimed, "but surely it bodes nothing good."
"Why should the wise men want something that is evil?" said the other, in surprise.