sound--not harsh, but mirthless.

"I _know!_" she said, "and it came--no matter what it is on The Ship,
and I 'low it will go--on The Ship."

"Gawd A'mighty!" Jed burst out, "you make me creep like I had pneumonia
fever." With this Jed turned to The Rock and confronted The Ship.

"Gawd!" he murmured, "I sho' am anxious and trubbled."

Then he turned, mounted the step of the creaky carriage, and gave his
whip that peculiar twist that only a born master of horses ever can.

It was like Jed to do that which he was ordained to do promptly.

Mary watched him out of sight and then went indoors. She was depressed
and nervous; her keen ear had heard much not intended for her to hear,
but not enough to control the imagination that was fired by
superstition.

"A happening" was looming near. Something grave threatened. The evil
crew of The Ship was but biding its time to strike, and Mary thrilled
and feared at once.

The bread, as Mary sniffed, was ready to be taken from the oven. The
first loaf was poised nicely on the girl's towel-covered hand when a
dark, bent old woman drifted, rather than walked, into the sunny
kitchen. She came noiselessly like a shadow; she was dirty and in rags;
she looked, all but her eyes, as if she might be a hundred years old,
but her eyes held so much fire and undying youth that they were terrible