The winter following proved to be mild and dry.  Say recovered slowly.  Shotaye kept aloof after the conjuration, for a long time at least.  All of a sudden she made her appearance at the home of her convalescent friend.  It was in order to remind her that the first step was only a preliminary, and that it could not effect a radical cure.  All that had been achieved was to prove that an evil charm existed, and that the Koshare were the wrongdoers.  It remained now to remove the spell by breaking the charm.  This, she represented, had to be attempted when the Koshare were in their greatest power, and could only be effected by means of the owl’s feathers.  By burying these feathers near the place where the Delight Makers used to assemble, Shotaye asserted that not only would the disease be eliminated forever, but the guilty one be punished according to the measure of his crime.

Say would not listen to any such proposals.  She saw no necessity for going any further in forbidden tracks.  Now that her health was restored, why should she attempt to harm a cluster of men to which her husband belonged, and thus perhaps imperil his life?  Shotaye met this objection with the assurance that the remedy was directed against the guilty ones only, and that she herself did not for a moment think that Zashue had participated in the evil manipulations against his wife; that consequently he was in no manner exposed to danger.  Say finally told her visitor that she would wait and see, and then decide.

Winter went and spring came.  Warm summer followed with a dark-blue sky and sporadic thunderclouds.  All the crops were planted, irrigated, and scantily weeded.  Now they awaited the rains in order to complete growth and prepare for maturity.  The great chayani had gone through their official fasts, they had made their sacrificial offerings in the sacred bowls dedicated to rain-medicine.  Every day clouds loomed up in the west, distant thunder rumbled, but not a drop of rain fell in the Rito and the people began to look gloomy.  The Koshare were therefore required to go to work earlier than usual.  They were to fast four consecutive days between two full moons.

The estufa in which the Delight Makers used to assemble is situated at the eastern end of the cliffs, and its access is difficult to-day.  It is a circular chamber in the rock twenty feet in diameter.  At present the outer wall has fallen in, but a crease in the floor indicates the place where a little port-hole led into the cave.  The cave lies high, so that from it a view of the whole valley presents itself, and at its feet opens a narrow chasm of considerable depth.  This is a mere fissure, so narrow that cross-beams were fastened into its sides like the rounds of a step-ladder; and on these the people ascended to a narrow trail leading up to the entrance.  Other cave-dwellings were scattered along this trail and farther below.  They were inhabited by the people of the Turquoise clan.