He looked at me with a signal in his eye; and the five chiefs
looked at me civilly enough, but kind of pointed; and the people
looked at me and craned and jostled. I remembered the folks that
watched my house, and how the pastor had jumped in his pulpit at
the bare sight of me; and the whole business seemed so out of the
way that I rose and followed Case. The crowd opened again to let
us through, but wider than before, the children on the skirts
running and singing out, and as we two white men walked away they
all stood and watched us.

"And now," said I, "what is all this about?"

"The truth is I can't rightly make it out myself. They have a down
on you," says Case.

"Taboo a man because they have a down on him!" I cried. "I never
heard the like."

"It's worse than that, you see," said Case. "You ain't tabooed - I
told you that couldn't be. The people won't go near you,
Wiltshire, and there's where it is."

"They won't go near me? What do you mean by that? Why won't they
go near me?" I cried.

Case hesitated. "Seems they're frightened," says he, in a low,
voice.

I stopped dead short. "Frightened?" I repeated. "Are you gone