The river bed was bare its width in places, and while the Kingfisher made merry with his family, and rattled, feasting from Abram Johnson's to the Gar-hole, the Black Bass sought its deep pool, and lay still.

It was a rare thing to hear it splash in those days.
The prickly heat burned until the souls of men were tried.

Mary slipped listlessly about or lay much of the time on a couch beside a window, where a breath of air stirred.

Despite the good beginning he had made in the spring, Jimmy slumped with the heat and exposures he had risked, and was hard to live with.
Dannie was not having a good time himself.

Since Jimmy's wedding, life had been all grind to Dannie, but he kept his reason, accepted his lot, and ground his grist with patience and such cheer as few men could have summoned to the aid of so poor a cause.