Eckert gnawed the dainty meat off a slender _ulami_ bone and tried to appear casual in his questioning. "I am sure he was, Nayova. I am sure, too, that you were as kind to him as you have been to Templin and myself. My Government is grateful to you for that." Nayova seemed pleased. "We tried to do as well for _menshar_ Pendleton as we could. While he was here, he had the house that you have now and we saw that he was supplied with food and all other necessities." Eckert had a sudden clammy feeling which quickly passed away. What Nayova had said was something he'd make sure Templin never heard about. He wiped his mouth on a broad, flat leaf that had been provided and took another sip of the wine. "We were shocked to find out that _menshar_ Pendleton had killed himself. We knew him quite well and we could not bring ourselves to believe he had done such a thing." Nayova's gaze slid away from him. "Perhaps it was the will of the Great One," he said vaguely. He didn't seem anxious to talk about it. Eckert stared bleakly at his wine glass and tried to put the pieces of information together. They probably had a taboo about self-destruction which would make it difficult to talk about. That would make it even harder for him to find out by direct questioning. A native fife trilled shrilly and a group of young men and women walked into the room. The circle broke to let them through and they came and knelt before Nayova. When he clapped his hands sharply, they retreated to the center of the circle and began the slow motions of a native dance. The sound of the fife softened and died and the slow monotonous beat of drums took its place. The beat slowly increased and so did the rhythm of the dancers. The small fires at the corners of the hut were allowed to dwindle and the center of the circle became filled with the motions of shadows intermixed with the swift, sure movements of glistening limbs. Eckert felt his eyebrows crawl upward. Apparently the dance was the Tunpeshan version of the _rites de passage_. He glanced across the circle at Templin. Templin's face--what he could see of it by the flickering light--was brick red. A voice spoke in his ear. "It is hard for us to imagine anybody doing what _menshar_ Pendleton did. It is ..." and he used a native word that Eckert translated as being roughly equivalent to "_obscene_." The dancers at the center of the circle finally bowed out with small garlands of flowers on their heads that signified their reaching adulthood. Acrobats then took the stage and went through a dizzying routine, and they in turn were succeeded by a native singer. They were all excellent, Eckert thought. If anything, they were too good. The bowl of _pelache_ nuts made its way around again and Nayova leaned over to speak to him. "If there is any possibility that I can help you while you are here, _menshar_ Eckert, you have but to ask."