It was piling in from the vast Barrens to the north and east and for a time it was accompanied by a stillness that was oppressive.

He could no longer distinguish a movement in the tops of the cedars and banskian pine beyond the corral.

In the corral itself he caught now and then the shadowy, flitting movement of the wolves.

He did not hear Celie when she came out of her room.

So intently was he straining his eyes to penetrate the thickening pall of gloom that he was unconscious of her presence until she stood close at his side.