The ice was broken; henceforth she could explain herself in her own tongue, and inform the Tehuas of everything that was so important to them, so momentous to her.

But her first impression, on hearing her tongue spoken by one who was certainly not of her stock, was almost one of fright.

People who spoke more than one language were excessively rare at those times; and those who happened to learn the speech of another tribe kept it secret, as Tyope, for instance, concealed his knowledge of the Navajo language from the people of the Rito.

The knowledge of more than one tongue was a suspicious and therefore a dangerous gift.

The man who now conversed with Shotaye in the Queres dialect was not a native of the Puye.