around them seemed to shake with their thunderous roar of assent.

'Hey-YAH! Hey-YAH! Hey-YAH!!" In the evening of the same day,

Cadillac knelt at the door of Mr Snow's hut and asked permission to

enter. Mr Snow told him to come on in. They sat cross-legged, facing

each other, on the mat of buffalo-skin. Mr Snow filled his pipe with

rainbow grass, lit it from his flame-pot, puffed contentedly then

passed it to Cadillac. They had shared his pipe for a year now. The

rainbow grass gave the things of the world colours that Cadillac had

not seen before. Sometimes he saw pictures of a world that was not of

the Plainfolk.

Perhaps it was the sunset islands; perhaps another world beyond the

roof of the sky - like the dream world he entered when his body

slept.

Often, when he drew the smoke from the rainbow grass into his body, his

mind seemed to burst out of his head and float among the stars. When

that happened, there was a timeless moment of great joy when he seemed

to understand all things.

'Speak." Mr Snow's voice came from a long way away.

Like a call from a clan-brother floating on the air from the other side

of a valley.

'I would run with the Bears in the battle with the iron snake,' said

Cadillac.

'Are you out of your mind?" said Mr Snow.

Cadillac giggled at the question. 'The grass gives my head wings but I

speak from the heart. I would fight at the side of my

clan-brothers."

Mr Snow waved the smoke away from his face and shook his head

vigorously. 'No way, my son. The Sky Voices forbid it."

'But I have chewed bone,' cried Cadillac. 'My brothers have accepted

me as a warrior. I have a pole with two heads outside my pad ' '- and

Motor-Head has let you wear his hat,' concluded Mr Snow. 'Why do you

waste breath telling me things that even the hills know. Was your fire

song not sung loudly enough?"

'I was not boasting, Wise One. By talking of these things I hoped to

persuade you to -' 'o to ignore the Sky Voices?" interjected Mr

Snow.

He took the offered pipe and drew smoke into his chest. 'Not content

with breaking your oath, you seek my help to break it a second time!

Did not Clearwater remind you? Why do you now make me waste my breath

- forcing me to speak to you as if you were like the others with

nothing between their ears? Their heads have no pockets to hold the

past. Words trickle through the holes in their minds like water

through their fingers. But you -' He stabbed the bowl of the pipe

towards Cadillac's heart, '- you are a wordsmith! Your brain is not a

lump of buffalo cheese to be spooned out of your skull before it is

stuck on the pole of some roving bonehead! It is a jewel - to be

treasured, to be guarded night and day!" 'You use strange words,' said

Cadillac. 'Jewel, treasured o what do these things mean?"

'They are words from the Old Time,' replied Mr Snow.

'Jewels were stones dug from the earth and fashioned by those with the

High Craft. They were small, like eyes, and glittered as if filled

with the light of stars. Others were filled with red, green and blue

fire. Men and women of the Old Time loved them greatly and longed to

possess them for they were things of great beauty. They carried them

tied round their necks and round their fingers. It was a sign of great

standing."

Cadillac gave a perplexed frown. 'They had standing because they

carried stones?"

Mr Snow shrugged. 'They had many strange customs then." He paused and

stared reflectively at the firelight flickering in the hollowed

stone.

'Clearwater is a jewel that you must treasure."

Cadillac considered this, then nodded slowly. 'I think I get the

picture. Will you tell me more words from the Old Time?"

'Some other day,' said Mr Snow. 'First you must show greater regard

for the needs of the clan and less to your own."

'Your words bring me down,' said Cadillac.

Mr Snow smiled. 'There is a saying that comes from the Old Time - "It

is hard to fly with eagles when you work with turkeys"." He drew on

the pipe, closing his eyes as he swallowed the smoke. When he opened

them, he saw the uncomprehending look on Cadillac's face. 'Forget it,'

he said, offering the pipe to Cadillac. 'Let's hit the sky."

.The next day, M