with both hands,
screaming--"he has to kill me with his own hands!"

So loud and piercing was her shriek that Shotaye was seized with sudden
fright. Rising quickly, she ran to the doorway and peeped outside to see
if the scream had attracted attention. But there appeared to be nobody
about, except a few children who were playing and romping in front of
the caves and whose cries had drowned the shriek. Reassured she returned
to Say, who was lying with her face on the floor, tearing her hair and
uttering low convulsive groans. Shotaye grew frightened, and brought
water in a gourd. She moistened her forehead and hands with the liquid,
rubbed her face, and thus finally brought her back to some composure.
After drinking some water Say sat on the robes again, shivering and
gasping. Her mind seemed entirely gone, the expression of her features
was akin to idiocy. The room had grown darker, night was approaching.

As soon as she appeared to be quiet, Shotaye felt tempted to resume her
questionings. But she bethought herself of the late hour, and of the
suspicion which might arise in case Say Koitza should not be home in
time. Still, she must ask some questions; her positive mind required
some additional knowledge which must be gained ere she could afford to
let her visitor return home. Shotaye returned to the entrance, looked
stealthily outside, and listened. Dusk had set in, and the bottom of the
gorge was wrapped in twilight. The shrubbery along the brook appeared
dim and pale, the lofty pines looked like black monuments. On the
southern declivity all detail had vanished, but the top of the southern
mesa glistened yet like a golden seam. In the recess formed by the angle
of the cliffs which contained her home, the usual bustle of the evening
hours prevailed; and laughter, merry and boisterous, issued from a cave
opposite that where Shotaye, concealed by folds of the half-lifted
curtain, stood watching with eye and ear. In those caves fronting hers
dwelt the family of Zashue, Say's husband. Thence sounded the merriment,
and the woman recognized familiar voices. Surely enough Hayoue was
there; and there could be no mistake, that clear good-natured laugh was
from Zashue himself. Shotaye dropped the curtain and turned back
considerably relieved. If Zashue was at his mother's and brother's
home, she reasoned, he would not return to the big house that night; and
since he was so gay, so merry, it was not likely that he knew anything