In a moment we heard a low wail above the sound of the breeze that shook the leaves of the old "popple" tree above our roof.
"What's that?" I whispered.
"I guess it's ol' Kate ravin'," said Uncle Peabody.
It touched my heart and I lay listening for a time but heard only the loud whisper of the popple leaves.
CHAPTER VI
THE GREAT STRANGER
Some strangers came along the road those days—hunters, peddlers and the like—and their coming filled me with a joy which mostly went away with them, I regret to say. None of these, however, appealed to my imagination as did old Kate. But there was one stranger greater than she—greater, indeed, than any other who came into Rattleroad. He came rarely and would not be long detained. How curiously we looked at him, knowing his fame and power! This great stranger was Money.
I shall never forget the day that my uncle showed me a dollar bill and a little shiny, gold coin and three pieces of silver, nor can I forget how carefully he watched them while they lay in my hands and presently put them back into his wallet. That was long before the time of which I am writing. I remember hearing him say, one day of that year, when I asked him to take us to the Caravan of Wild Beasts which was coming to the village:
"I'm sorry, but it's been a hundred Sundays since I had a dollar in my wallet for more than ten minutes."