As The
Merriment Increased The Old Woman Looked Increasingly Angry And
Restless, And At Last Rated Them Sharply, As I Have Heard Since,
Telling Them That If They Spoke Another Word She Should Tell Their
Husbands That They Had Been Talking To Strangers.
After this not
another word was spoken, and Noma, who is an industrious housewife,
boiled some millet into a mash for a mid-day lunch.
During the
afternoon a very handsome young Aino, with a washed, richly-
coloured skin and fine clear eyes, came up from the coast, where he
had been working at the fishing. He saluted the old woman and
Benri's wife on entering, and presented the former with a gourd of
sake, bringing a greedy light into her eyes as she took a long
draught, after which, saluting me, he threw himself down in the
place of honour by the fire, with the easy grace of a staghound, a
savage all over. His name is Pipichari, and he is the chief's
adopted son. He had cut his foot badly with a root, and asked me
to cure it, and I stipulated that it should be bathed for some time
in warm water before anything more was done, after which I bandaged
it with lint. He said "he did not like me to touch his foot, it
was not clean enough, my hands were too white," etc.; but when I
had dressed it, and the pain was much relieved, he bowed very low
and then kissed my hand!
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