She motioned the boy and girl away to the thicket at the edge, and stood still and black in the midst of the cleared island.
Bles slipped his arm protectingly around Zora, glancing fearfully about in the darkness.
Slowly a great cry rose and swept the island. It struck madly and sharply, and then died away to uneasy murmuring. From afar there seemed to come the echo or the answer to the call.
The form of Elspeth blurred the night dimly far off, almost disappearing, and then growing blacker and larger. They heard the whispering swish-swish of falling seed; they felt the heavy tread of a great coming body.
The form of the old woman suddenly loomed black above them, hovering a moment formless and vast then fading again away, and the swish-swish of the falling seed alone rose in the silence of the night.
At last all was still. A long silence. Then again the air seemed suddenly filled with that great and awful cry; its echoing answer screamed afar and they heard the raucous voice of Elspeth beating in their ears:
“ De seed done sowed! De seed done sowed! ”