Wacoba
(Jumping up.) I have seen something stirring in the alder bushes. I think the Chisera comes!
Seegooche
Do not be seen too near the hut. Come away, Tiawa.
Tiawa
Have you the presents ready? (The women take up their baskets hastily.) Hide your basket, Seegooche. It is not well to let all your gifts appear on the first showing, for if she is not persuaded at first, we shall have something of more worth.
(The Chisera comes out of the trail by the almond bushes, young and tall and comely, but of dignified, almost forbidding, carriage. She is dressed chiefly in skins; her hair is very long, braided with beads. She carries a small burden basket on her back, supported by a band about her forehead. She removes this, and drops it at the hut, coming forward.)
The Chisera
Friends, what have we to do with one another? Seegooche, has your meal fermented? Or has your baby the colic again, Wacoba?
Seegooche