Nor were their meaningless vociferations the only sounds that broke the silence of the night.

For I could hear, now shrill and thrilling and now almost drowned, the note of a human voice that accompanied the uproar of the Roost.

I knew it for my kinsman's; and a great fear fell upon me of God's judgments, and the evil in the world.

I went back again into the darkness of the house as into a place of shelter, and lay long upon my bed, pondering these mysteries.
It was late when I again woke, and I leaped into my clothes and hurried to the kitchen.

No one was there; Rorie and the black had both stealthily departed long before; and my heart stood still at the discovery.