would come when they would find, too late, that they had taken to
their bosom a worse devil than themselves.

CHAPTER XIX
My arrival at the village created some excitement; but I was

plainly no longer regarded as a friend or one of the family.
Runi was absent, and I looked forward to his return with no

little apprehension; he would doubtless decide my fate. Kua-ko
was also away. The others sat or stood about the great room,

staring at me in silence. I took no notice, but merely asked for
food, then for my hammock, which I hung up in the old place, and

lying down I fell into a doze. Runi made his appearance at dusk.
I rose and greeted him, but he spoke no word and, until he went

to his hammock, sat in sullen silence, ignoring my presence.
On the following day the crisis came. We were once more gathered

in the room--all but Kua-ko and another of the men, who had not
yet returned from some expedition--and for the space of half an

hour not a word was spoken by anyone. Something was expected;
even the children were strangely still, and whenever one of the

pet birds strayed in at the open door, uttering a little
plaintive note, it was chased out again, but without a sound. At

length Runi straightened himself on his seat and fixed his eyes
on me; then cleared his throat and began a long harangue,

delivered in the loud, monotonous singsong which I knew so well
and which meant that the occasion was an important one. And as

is usual in such efforts, the same thought and expressions were
used again and again, and yet again, with dull, angry insistence.

The orator of Guayana to be impressive must be long, however
little he may have to say. Strange as it may seem, I listened

critically to him, not without a feeling of scorn at his lower
intelligence. But I was easier in my mind now. From the very

fact of his addressing such a speech to me I was convinced that
he wished not to take my life, and would not do so if I could

clear myself of the suspicion of treachery.
I was a white man, he said, they were Indians; nevertheless they

had treated me well. They had fed me and sheltered me. They had
done a great deal for me: they had taught me the use of the

zabatana, and had promised to make one for me, asking for nothing
in return. They had also promised me a wife. How had I treated

them? I had deserted them, going away secretly to a distance,
leaving them in doubt as to my intentions. How could they tell

why I had gone, and where? They had an enemy. Managa was his
name; he and his people hated them; I knew that he wished them

evil; I knew where to find him, for they had told me. That was
what they thought when I suddenly left them. Now I returned to

them, saying that I had been to Riolama. He knew where Riolama
was, although he had never been there: it was so far. Why did I

go to Riolama? It was a bad place. There were Indians there, a
few; but they were not good Indians like those of Parahuari, and

would kill a white man. HAD I gone there? Why had I gone there?
He finished at last, and it was my turn to speak, but he had

given me plenty of time, and my reply was ready. "I have heard
you," I said. "Your words are good words. They are the words of

a friend. 'I am the white man's friend,' you say; 'is he my
friend? He went away secretly, saying no word; why did he go

without speaking to his friend who had treated him well? Has he
been to my enemy Managa? Perhaps he is a friend of my enemy?

Where has he been?' I must now answer these things, saying true
words to my friend. You are an Indian, I am a white man. You do

not know all the white man's thoughts. These are the things I
wish to tell you. In the white man's country are two kinds of

men. There are the rich men, who have all that a man can
desire--houses made of stone, full of fine things, fine clothes,

fine weapons, fine ornaments; and they have horses, cattle,
sheep, dogs--everything they desire. Because they have gold, for

with gold the white man buys everything. The other kind of white
men are the poor, who have no gold and cannot buy or have

anything: they must work hard for the rich man for the little
food he gives them, and a rag to cover their nakedness; and if he

gives them shelter they have it; if not they must lie down in the
rain out of doors. In my own country, a hundred days from here,

I was the son of a great chief, who had much gold, and when he
died it was all mine, and I was rich. But I had an enemy, one

worse than Managa, for he was rich and had many people. And in a
war his people overcame mine, and he took my gold, and all I

possessed, making me poor. The Indian kills his enemy, but the
white man takes his gold, and that is worse than death. Then I

said: 'I have been a rich man and now I am poor, and must work
like a dog for some rich man, for the sake of the little food he

will throw me at the end of each day. No, I cannot do it! I
will go away and live with the Indians, so that those who have

seen me a rich man shall never see me working like a dog for a
master, and cry out and mock at me. For the Indians are not like

white men: they have no gold; they are not rich and poor; all are
alike. One roof covers them from the rain and sun. All have

weapons which they make; all kill birds in the forest and catch
fish in the rivers; and the women cook the meat and all eat from

one pot. And with the Indians I will be an Indian, and hunt in
the forest and eat with them and drink with them.' Then I left my

country and came here, and lived with you, Runi, and was well
treated. And now, why did I go away? This I have now to tell

you. After I had been here a certain time I went over there to
the forest. You wished me not to go, because of an evil thing, a

daughter of the Didi, that lived there; but I feared nothing and
went. There I met an old man, who talked to me in the white

man's language. He had travelled and seen much, and told me one
strange thing. On a mountain at Riolama he told me that he had

seen a great lump of gold, as much as a man could carry. And
when I heard this I said: 'With the gold I could return to my

country, and buy weapons for myself and all my people and go to
war with my enemy and deprive him of all his possessions and

serve him as he served me.' I asked the old man to take me to
Riolama; and when he had consented I went away from here without

saying a word, so as not to be prevented. It is far to Riolama,
and I had no weapons; but I feared nothing. I said: 'If I must

fight I must fight, and if I must be killed I must be killed.'
But when I got to Riolama I found no gold. There was only a

yellow stone which the old man had mistaken for gold. It was
yellow, like gold, but it would buy nothing. Therefore I came

back to Parahuari again, to my friend; and if he is angry with me
still because I went away without informing him, let him say: 'Go

and seek elsewhere for a new friend, for I am your friend no
longer."'

I concluded thus boldly because I did not wish him to know that I
had suspected him of harbouring any sinister designs, or that I

looked on our quarrel as a very serious one. When I had finished
speaking he emitted a sound which expressed neither approval nor

disapproval, but only the fact that he had heard me. But I was
satisfied. His expression had undergone a favourable change; it

was less grim. After a while he remarked, with a peculiar
twitching of the mouth which might have developed into a smile:

"The white man will do much to get gold. You walked twenty days
to see a yellow stone that would buy nothing." It was fortunate

that he took this view of the case, which was flattering to his
Indian nature, and perhaps touched his sense of the ludicrous.