"They?" said Dred. "They are the hundred and forty and four thousand, that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. And the angels have charge, saying, 'Hurt not the earth till these are sealed in their forehead.'"
Fanny instinctively put her hand to her forehead. "Do you think they'll seal me?" she said.
"Yes," said Dred; "such as you are of the kingdom."
"Did the Spirit tell you that?" said Fanny, who felt some considerable anxiety.
"Yea, the Spirit hath shown me many such things," said Dred. "It hath also revealed to me the knowledge of the elements, the revolutions of the planets, the operations of the tide, and changes of the seasons."
Fanny looked doubtfully, and, taking up her basket of wild grapes, slowly moved off, thinking that she would ask Tiff about it.
At this moment there was a rustling in the branches of the oak-tree which overhung a part of the clearing near where Dred was lying, and Harry soon dropped from the branches on to the ground. Dred started up to receive him.
"How is it?" said he. "Will they come?"
"Yes; by midnight to-night they will be here. See here," he added, taking a letter from his pocket, "what I have received."