"Halloo!" came a voice in his dream. "Halloo! Halloo!"
Peter started rubbing his eyes, aware of the smoking cigarette in the grasses beside him.
Stupid, that! To do the very thing he had been warning Shad Wells against. He smeared the smoking stub out in the sand and sat up yawning and stretching his arms.
"Halloo!" said the voice in his dream, almost at his ear. "Tryin' to set the woods afire?"
The question had the curious dropping intonation at its end. But the purport annoyed him.
Nothing that she could have said could have provoked him more! Behind her he saw the dark face of Shad Wells break into a grin.
"I fell asleep," said Peter, getting to his feet.
Beth laughed. "Lucky you weren't burnt to death. Then how would the trees get along?"
Peter's toe burrowed after the defunct cigarette.
"I know what I'm about," he muttered, aware of further loss of dignity.