From each door men and boys, sometimes women and children, sallied forth eagerly into the cold night to see what was wanted, and to each inquiry the phlegmatic Turrif repeated Trenholme's tale.

Trenholme would have given a good deal to be able fully to understand what was said.

There was much conversation.

From each house one or two men joined them, and in one case, from a squalid-looking doorway, a loud-speaking and wilful girl came out and insisted on getting into the cart.

She talked to the men and shrieked loudly when any object, such as a barn or a tree, loomed dimly at the side of the road.