"I kin'er feel," she said, "dat ef de yearth is gwine ter swaller us, I'se like ter go down wid dis chile. Vilet shuah to go up ag'in, an' p'raps de Lawd ud say, 'You kin come too, Aun' Sheba.'"
The sound of her voice so far restored Uncle Sheba to his normal condition that he was able to creep on his hands and knees to a position just behind his wife, where he crouched as if she were a sort of general protection.
Vilet, roused at her grandmother's voice, looked around, and then asked in her plaintive voice, "Whar's daddy?"
"He's hep'n' put'n' out de fiahs, deah chile."
"My bref gittin' bery sho't, granny. I can't stay dis side ob de riber much longer; I wants ter see daddy 'fore I go."
"Po' chile and po' Kern," groaned Aun' Sheba. "We doesn't know whar he be, an' I'se 'feerd he couldn't lebe off puttin' out de fiahs."
From time to time Vilet wailed, "Daddy, come, come quick. I'se gwine fas, an' I wants to see you onst mo'."
Captain Bodine heard the cry, and, having rested himself a little, came to
Aun' Sheba and asked, "Do you know where Kern is?"
"I doan, Marse Cap'n, but he mought be at dis nighest fiah."
"I'll see," said the veteran, halting away with the feeling that he must do something to divert his torturing thoughts.