At last wood dove took fire, but the Nébăks brothers were so near that he hid in the bushes. He thought: “Now they will kill me, and then people will never have fire.” It made him feel lonesome; and he cried, not loud, but down in his throat.
The Nébăks heard his cry, and said: “We can never overtake these people; that cry is far off. We can’t get fire back, but the people who have stolen it will have us with them always. We will stay in their country; we won’t go back to our old place; we will scatter and live everywhere in the world.”
Till that time the Nébăks brothers had lived by themselves, and had never troubled people. After fire was stolen, they [[54]]were everywhere in the world. People had fire, but they had sickness too.
Wus-Kumush saw this race, but he didn’t help, for at the council, when he told the people what would happen, they wouldn’t listen to his words. They liked the words of Wus better.
Now Wus called a second council of all the people in the world, and when they came he said: “What else shall we do for the people who are coming? I think we should steal fire from the brothers who live in the west, at the edge of the world. I can go there and get it.”
“Kāhkaas, Súbbas’ servant, will see you,” said the people; “you will never get there.”
“Oh, I can get there,” said Wus. “I will kill the ten brothers and come back. It will not be hard.”
“What will you do when you get to the house? No person has ever been there.”
“Don’t kill all the brothers,” said Wus-Kumush. “If you do it will be dark here. There will never be any light again. It will always be night.”
“You will freeze to death,” said some of the people. “There is deep snow along that trail.”