Beyond the straight and lofty pine trunks a whitish glare soon appeared.
Brilliant sunlight broke through the tree-tops, and played around the
dark needles, turning them into a brighter, lighter, emerald green. A
background of yellow and cream-coloured rocks, visible now through
openings in the shrubbery, showed that the boys were approaching a clear
space.

Here the elder one suddenly stopped, turned to his brother, looked
straight at him, and asked,--

"Shyuote, what have you heard about the Koshare?"

Instead of answering the child looked down, indifferent and silent, as
if he had not heard the query.

"What have you heard, boy?" continued the other.

Shyuote shrugged his shoulders. He had no inclination to reply.

"Why don't you answer?" Okoya persisted.

His brother looked up, cast a furtive glance at the interlocutor, then
stared vacantly, but with head erect, before him. His eyes were glassy
and without any expression.

[Illustration: The east end of the Cañon of the Tyuonyi]

Whenever the Indian does not wish to speak on any subject, whatever it
be, no power on earth can compel him to break silence. Okoya, as an
Indian, felt rather than understood this; and the child's refusal to