To understand this scene we must know that the two girls had been engaged in putting on the last coat of plaster to the walls of the abode of the Corn people, when Okoya suddenly came upon them.  At a glance they saw that he had been on a hunt, and also that he had hunted in vain.  Here was a welcome opportunity for jeering and mockery.  They interrupted their plastic labour, and turned against him with such merciless allusions to his ill-success, that unable any longer to reply to their sarcasm Okoya threatened them, in jest of course, with his bow.  Instead of desisting, the girls at once moved upon him with muddy hands.  The one who last appeared upon the scene, although assistant to the others, inasmuch as she carried the water needed in the preparation of the mud for plastering, had not seen the engagement just fought.  She looked at the group in blank surprise, stood still without lifting the bowl from her head, and presented thus the appearance of a handsome statue, dusky and graceful, whose lustrous black eyes alone moved, glancing from one of the members of the group to the other.  Those large expressive eyes plainly asked, “What does all this mean?”

The antagonists of Okoya and Shyuote were buxom lasses, rather short, thick-waisted, full-chested, with flat faces, prominent cheek-bones, and bright eyes.  The third maiden was taller and much more graceful:  her features were less coarse, less prominently distinctive.  The nose was well-proportioned, the mouth also, although the lips were rather heavy.  The eyes were large and beaming, soft yet not without an intelligent expression.  All three girls were dressed nearly alike.  A dark-blue cotton garment descended as far as the knees; it was tied over the left shoulder, and the right was exposed.  A red-tinged scarf served as belt around the waist.  Arms and feet were bare.  The long black hair streamed loosely.  Two of them wore heavy necklaces of green stones, red pebbles, and shell beads.  The last comer carried only a single string of shell beads with an iridescent conch fastened to it in front.  Ear-pendants of turquoises hung from the ears of all three.

The attention of the girl with the urn on her head soon rested on Shyuote, and she was the first to break the silence by a hearty peal of laughter.  This started her companions again, and the one nearest to Okoya exclaimed,—­

“Mitsha help us throw the water in your urn over the head of the boy.  Okoya began it all, give it to him, too.  You are strong enough.”

At the mention of Okoya’s name the maiden addressed as Mitsha started.  She threw a quick glance like a flash at him.  Her face quivered and coloured slightly.  Turning away, she deposited the water-urn at the foot of the wall, and remained standing, her eyes directed to the cliffs, her lithe fingers carelessly playing with the beads of her necklace.  She was disinclined to take any part in the fray, and her behaviour acted as a damper on the buoyancy of the others.