“Why not?”
“Nobody ever go down there.”
“Well, somebody’s got to be the first to go.”
“Rapids down there no boat can pass.”
“The white man came up to the Indians when they were sick last fall. If he can come up I can go down.”
“He got plenty strong medicine.”
Stonor laughed. “Well, I venture to say that my medicine is as strong as his—in the rapids.”
Ahchoogah raised a whole cloud of objections. “Plenty white-face bear down there. Big as a horse. Kill man while he sleeps. Wolf down there. Run in packs as many as all the Kakisas. Him starving this year.”
“Women’s talk!” said Stonor contemptuously.
“You get carry over those falls. Behind those falls is a great pile of white bones. It is the bones of all the men and beasts that were carried over in the past. Those falls have no voice to warn you above. The water slip over so smooth and soft you not know there is any falls till you go over.”