Strong Hand twined his left hand in her long black hair and dragged her after him until the trees had closed behind them both.
When One Eye had done laughing, for the whole scene had seemed very humorous to him, he gathered together his treasures and hid them in the cave.
“I now have,” he said, “the clubs, the net, the strongest among three for a son-in-law, and also the picture bone. I am, therefore, the richest man in the tribe, save only Moon Face, and than him there is none richer in all the forest.”
When One Eye thought about the clubs his eye flashed and he clinched his hands. When he thought about the net he scratched his stomach—either with hand or foot. But when he thought about the picture bone, the reason went out of his eye, and it became strange and plaintive.
And as for Maku, it was not long before she followed her husband like a dog, whimpering and laughing when he spoke to her, craving his caresses and enjoying his blows.
CHAPTER III
THE BLASTED TREE AND THE BLUE-JAY
No man was very sore because he had been beaten and robbed. Fish Catch being dead, he particularly hated Strong Hand and wanted Strong Hand’s blood. But he was afraid to go and take it, and so he dwelt in his cave and plotted mischief.