And it was at this time, when I was awed by so much solitude, that there
came the first telling of life in all that wilderness. I heard it first
in the far distance, away inland--a curious, low, sobbing note it was,
and the rise and the fall of it was like to the sobbing of a lonesome
wind through a great forest. Yet was there no wind. Then, in a moment, it
had died, and the silence of the land was awesome by reason of the
contrast. And I looked about me at the men, both in the boat in which I
was and that which the bo'sun commanded; and not one was there but held
himself in a posture of listening. In this wise a minute of quietness
passed, and then one of the men gave out a laugh, born of the nervousness
which had taken him.

The bo'sun muttered to him to hush, and, in the same moment, there came
again the plaint of that wild sobbing. And abruptly it sounded away on
our right, and immediately was caught up, as it were, and echoed back
from some place beyond us afar up the creek. At that, I got me upon a
thwart, intending to take another look over the country about us; but
the banks of the creek had become higher; moreover the vegetation acted
as a screen, even had my stature and elevation enabled me to overlook
the banks.

And so, after a little while, the crying died away, and there was another
silence. Then, as we sat each one harking for what might next befall,
George, the youngest 'prentice boy, who had his seat beside me, plucked
me by the sleeve, inquiring in a troubled voice whether I had any
knowledge of that which the crying might portend; but I shook my head,
telling him that I had no knowing beyond his own; though, for his
comfort, I said that it might be the wind. Yet, at that, he shook his
head; for indeed, it was plain that it could not be by such agency, for
there was a stark calm.