But neither expressed his thought to the other.
Presently, the music ceased, and they sat for an hour, perhaps, in silence--as close friends may do--exchanging only now and then a word.
Suddenly, they were startled by a cry.

In the still darkness of the night, from the mysterious depths of the orange grove, the sound came with such a shock that the two men, for the moment, held their places, motionless--questioning each other sharply--"What was that ?" "Did you hear ?"--as though they doubted, almost, their own ears.
The cry came again; this time, undoubtedly, from that neighboring house to the west.

It was unmistakably the cry of a woman--a woman in fear and pain.
They leaped to their feet.
Again the cry came from the black depths of the orange grove--shuddering, horrible--in an agony of fear.
The two men sprang from the porch, and, through the darkness that in the orange grove was like a black wall, ran toward the spot from which the sound came--the dog at their heels.
Breathless, they broke into the little yard in front of the tiny box-like house.

Lights shone in the windows.

All seemed peaceful and still.