As winter progresses and the cold increases, witches become more and more active and there is much sickness in the town. Throughout the winter the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy in their efforts to counteract the evil powers of the witches who cause all serious diseases. Minor ailments, which the people can understand, are not considered to result from witchcraft. If a person gets a grain of sand in his eye, if a child gets a bone caught in its throat, or if a child has a sudden stomach-ache from overeating, it is considered to be the natural result of something the people can see and understand. But the serious illnesses, which strike so mysteriously, are not natural and are considered to result from the evil practices of witches. Only the medicine men, with their supernatural powers, can combat the witch-caused diseases and the medicine men and the medicine societies are busy with their healing ceremonies. During the winter witches always seem to be more active and as a result there is more sickness and death than at other times. The people are often uneasy and there is not the happiness which was so prevalent during the other seasons. It is not simply because there is sickness and suffering—it is more because of the fear which is in the hearts of the people. Any person may be a witch and usually it is impossible to tell who is causing the trouble. Children suffer a great deal and all through the winter they sniffle and cough with colds. Sometimes the colds settle in the sinuses, in the ears or even in the lungs, bringing complications against which the priests are powerless. Often the end is slow in coming. When a cold settles in the middle ear and an abscessed mastoid results, the terrible agony may last for weeks before the inevitable result brings an end to the suffering. Sometimes the end comes quickly and a mother hardly realizes that her baby is sick before it is gone.