But Bateese
was in the stern, and Nepapinas was forever flitting in and out
among the shadows on the shore, like a shadow himself, and Andre,
the Broken Man, hovered near as night came on. At last he sat down
in the edge of the white sand of the beach, and there he remained,
a silent and lonely figure, as the twilight deepened. Over the
world hovered a sleepy quiet. Out of the forest came the droning
of the wood-crickets, the last twitterings of the day birds, and
the beginning of night sounds. A great shadow floated out over the
river close to the bateau, the first of the questing, blood-
seeking owls adventuring out like pirates from their hiding-places
of the day. One after another, as the darkness thickened, the
different tribes of the people of the night answered the summons
of the first stars. A mile down the river a loon gave its harsh
love-cry; far out of the west came the faint trail-song of a wolf;
in the river the night-feeding trout splashed like the tails of
beaver; over the roof of the wilderness came the coughing, moaning
challenge of a bull moose that yearned for battle. And over these
same forest tops rose the moon, the stars grew thicker and
brighter, and through the finger of hardwood glowed the fire of
St.
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