They sat in the shadow waiting.

It was a lonely place, and an hour made solemn by old traditions.

Spirits whispered in the rustling leaves, ghosts lurked in the murky nooks, the deep baying of a hound floated up out of the distance, an owl answered with his sepulchral note.

The boys were subdued by these solemnities, and talked little.

By and by they judged that twelve had come; they marked where the shadow fell, and began to dig.