By and by they grew tired and stopped dancing.
Heema had gone down to the brook, for he was tired of watching the dance.
“Come, Heema,” called Docas. “We must take around the acorn porridge now. The people are hungry.”
After the porridge had been served, the men stepped out again into the circle, while the women sat on the ground outside and looked on. Yeeta had a big rattle in his hand, and each of the other men had a reed.
Yeeta stood in the centre and shook his rattle. The other men blew on their reeds, and began jumping toward the right. The dance went on for a little while, and then suddenly Yeeta stopped shaking the rattle. The men, who were watching him, stopped dancing and blowing their reeds at the same time.
“Good,” said Docas, who was standing near. “No one got caught that time.”
Yeeta again began shaking his rattle, and the dance went on once more. This time he had been shaking the rattle for a long while, when suddenly he stopped a second time.
“Look at them! Look at them! Half the men were not looking at him, and they are still dancing,” shouted Docas, and he laughed and pointed his finger at the dancers who were caught. The other boys laughed too, and the careless men looked foolish.
And so the dance went on for days, until they had eaten all the food they had with them. As they went home, Docas said to Heema, “I wish next autumn were here so that the acorns would be ripe again, and it would be time for another acorn dance.”