They didn't want him back, of course,
and if he'd been able to manage it, they'd have put him in another
canoe and shoved him out into the river again. But still, they didn't
elect another chief in his place. Other tribes thought that was
curious, and wondered about it a lot, but finally they came to the
conclusion that the beech grove people were afraid a new chief might
turn out to be a bad Indian, too, and wear iron shoes like Vendonah.
But they were wrong, because the real reason was that the tribe had
led such an exciting life under Vendonah that they couldn't settle
down to anything tamer. He was awful, but he always kept things
happening--terrible things, of course. They bated him, but they
weren't able to discover any other warrior that they wanted to make
chief in his place. I suppose it was a little like drinking a glass
of too strong wine and then trying to take the taste out of your mouth
with barley water. They couldn't help feeling that way."
"I see," said Eugene. "So that's why they named the place 'They-
Couldn't-Help-It'!"
"It must have been.
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