The more Topanashka thought over it, the more he felt convinced that he was right.

And the stronger his convictions the more he saw that the plans of the two fiends, Tyope and the Naua, were likely to succeed.

They were bad men, they were dangerous men; but they certainly had a pair of very subtle minds.
Was it possible to defeat their object?
Other men, differently constituted from Topanashka, might have come to the conclusion that it was best to leave the Rito with their people at once, without any further wrangling, and make room peaceably.

To this he could never consent.

None of his relatives or their friends should be sacrificed to the intrigues of the Turquoise people.