'If you leave us, we also shall be enfeebled and dispersed,' his family answered him.
'"Sparkling Ice" will remain after me;—he is not my son, but my comrade!'
The grief of Seltichan's family on hearing this made the old man hesitate as he looked at them.
Meanwhile the excitement prevailing in the assembly increased, and strange rumours were whispered abroad. Somehow it came about that the members of Seltichan's family became more and more isolated from the rest, and were greeted with silence when they approached. Miore and some of the other young men were not disconcerted by this, however, and continued to mix freely with the crowd.
In the evening they all dispersed, but the excitement did not die down, and was only transferred to the tents and the camp fires. People sat talking in low voices until late into the night, alarmed when they saw anything unusual. Several even sharpened their spears. 'A man like that does not die without something happening,' they said.
On the third day they all came fully armed. Many of the young warriors brought their spears with them, and stood leaning on them outside the circle. The deliberations did not begin, but the excited whispers which passed round the crowd showed the passionate, though restrained, feeling. All eyes were continually turned towards Seltichan, who was sitting splendidly dressed among his sorrowing family, he alone calm and cheerful.
'Shall we allow the old man to cheat us?' whispered several.
'Shall we allow the old man to cheat us?' asked the Kniaź, going from one to the other.
'Well, and what then?' they asked him at one meeting. 'Perhaps you think it will be easier to get hold of the daughter when the old man is not there? You need not expect it; "Sparkling Ice" will never give her to you. He has not forgotten that little affair.'
'What affair? May all my reindeer die, and may I stay in one place to the end of my life, like a Russian in a wooden house, if that is true,' swore the Kniaź. 'Oltungaba is not a man of that sort!'