90 THE BIG CANOE

almost followed. But the chief, Maada’s father, could
not allow the honor of his tribe to be blackened by
an insult to invited guests. Shame would follow his
name and that of his tribe forever if such a thing
happened. With his own hands he disarmed the
furious shaman, while his sub-chiefs, at his command,
disarmed the shaman’s followers. Then all the peo-
ple were invited to a council in his lodge.

Hours of debate followed. The shaman, the chief,
and the killer of the bear, all had many followers.
Maada sat by her mother’s side and listened, hearing
but faintly the words of the angry debaters, her
thoughts concerned mainly with the escape of her
friend, the white slave, who must already be well out
at sea on his way back to his own people, thanks to
the fog and Shim the Foolish One.

The debate continued all that night, for both tribes
were stubborn and angry, as well as frightened by the
thought of the evil spirits that had been released by
the arrow of the killer. Not until after the shamans,
with their ceremonies and incantations, had caught
many of the spirits with their spirit-catchers and
placed them back in the body of the dead bear, did
the people quiet down. Powerful was the magic of
the wily shamans. They could do anything!

During all these hours Maada sat there, expecting
every moment to hear the guard announce that the
prisoner had escaped. It did not seem possible that his
absence had not been discovered. Yet the guard, for