Okoya's interlocutor was a man of strong build, apparently in the
forties. His features, although somewhat flat and broad, created a
favourable impression at first; upon closer scrutiny, however, the eyes
modified that impression. They were small, and their look piercing
rather than bright. His costume was limited to a tattered breech-clout of
buckskin. A collar of small white shells encircled the neck, and from
this necklace dangled a triangular piece of alabaster, flat, and with a
carving on it suggesting the shape of a dragon-fly. His hair streamed
loose over the left ear, where there was fastened to the black coarse
strands a tuft of grayish down.

This individual eyed Okoya in silence for a moment, as if inspecting his
person; then he inquired,--

"Where do you come from?"

The young fellow looked up and replied,--

"From below," pointing to the lower end of the gorge.

"What did you hunt?" the other continued, glancing at the bow and arrows
of the boy.

"Tzina;" and with perceptible embarrassment Okoya added, "but I killed
nothing."

The man seemed not to heed the humiliation which this confession
entailed, and asked,--

"Have you seen tracks of the mountain-sheep down yonder?"