“Quiet that talk!” Timpoochee barked at this brother.
“We will have no more talk of “when I am leader.’ No one has been selected Ugvwiyuhi to follow Yufala. It’s foolish for you to talk that way.”
“From where you sit it is foolish, brother,” shot back Cornstalk. “It interferes with your own designs. And those of others.”
Cornstalk glared at Raven Wing.
“No one has any designs except to learn what is intended for the future of our people,” Timpoochee retorted. “Why must you always make trouble for yourself and others by your foolish and narrow ways?”
The argument was interrupted by a low, rumbling noise in the distance, well away from the town but loud and building. The council house suddenly shook violently.
The students looked at each other, surprise and fear gripped them all.
The rumble grew louder. The earth shook again.
The noise came from the west, toward Long Man.
Yufala burst into the council house as the noise became deafening and the ground shook so ferociously Timpoochee could barely keep his balance.
“Run for cover!” screamed a voice from outside, high up a tree. “Animals!”