For the Indians are not like
white men: they have no gold; they are not rich and poor; all are
alike. One roof covers them from the rain and sun. All have
weapons which they make; all kill birds in the forest and catch
fish in the rivers; and the women cook the meat and all eat from
one pot. And with the Indians I will be an Indian, and hunt in
the forest and eat with them and drink with them.' Then I left my
country and came here, and lived with you, Runi, and was well
treated. And now, why did I go away? This I have now to tell
you. After I had been here a certain time I went over there to
the forest. You wished me not to go, because of an evil thing, a
daughter of the Didi, that lived there; but I feared nothing and
went. There I met an old man, who talked to me in the white
man's language. He had travelled and seen much, and told me one
strange thing. On a mountain at Riolama he told me that he had
seen a great lump of gold, as much as a man could carry. And
when I heard this I said: 'With the gold I could return to my
country, and buy weapons for myself and all my people and go to
war with my enemy and deprive him of all his possessions and
serve him as he served me.
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