“Well,” thought Trim, “he hasn’t withdrawn his army yet, but I’ve made some progress; he isn’t threatening any longer, but on the other hand he seems to be advising me.
“I wonder if he fears that his army won’t obey him?”
After a moment of reflection, Trim said to the interpreter:
“Tell him that it is very important for the white traveler to go on to the west; it would be impossible for him to turn back, even if by going on he should go to certain death.
“Ask him if he knows any reason why the white traveler should be afraid to go on.”
After this had been translated to the elder there was another long speech.
“He says,” translated the interpreter, “that he thinks the white traveler is not like other travelers.”
“He believes that you are going to see a man, and he is very certain that that man will make trouble for you.”
“What does he care about that?” exclaimed[Pg 12] Trim, wonderingly. “What business is it of his whether I get into trouble beyond his country or not?”
“From what he says,” responded the interpreter, “I think he means that he has some kind of an arrangement with the Narugas for stopping an expedition like this.”