Not say that the quass was good were insult; to spit forth upon the
ground were worse than insult. And this very thing did he do. He was
known for a chief over the Sticks of the Yukon, and further naught was
known of him. "As I say, it was an insult. But mark this, O Hair-Face:
it was an insult, not to Niblack the feast-giver, but to the man
chiefest of rank who sat among those of the circle. And that man was
Ligoun. There was no sound. All eyes were upon him to see what he might
do. He made no movement. His withered lips trembled not into speech; nor
did a nostril quiver, nor an eyelid droop. But I saw that he looked wan
and gray, as I have seen old men look of bitter mornings when famine
pressed, and the women wailed and the children whimpered, and there was
no meat nor sign of meat. And as the old men looked, so looked Ligoun.
"There was no sound. It were as a circle of the dead, but that each
chief felt beneath his blanket to make sure, and that each chief glanced
to his neighbor, right and left, with a measuring eye. I was a
stripling; the things I had seen were few; yet I knew it to be the
moment one meets but once in all a lifetime. “The Stick rose up, with
every eye upon him, and crossed the room till he stood before Ligoun.
”‘I am Opitsah, the Knife,’ he said. "But Ligoun said naught, nor looked
at him, but gazed unblinking at the ground. "‘You are Ligoun,’ Opitsah
said. ‘You have killed many men. I am still alive.’ "And still Ligoun
said naught, though he made the sign to me and with my strength arose
and stood upright on his two feet. He was as an old pine, naked and
gray, but still a-shoulder to the frost and storm. His eyes were
unblinking, and as he had not heard Opitsah, so it seemed he did not see
him. "And Opitsah was mad with anger, and danced stiff-legged before
him, as men do when they wish to give another shame. And Opitsah sang a
song of his own greatness and the greatness of his people, filled with
bad words for the Chilcats and for Ligoun. And as he danced and sang,
Opitsah threw off his blanket and w