"I'm not, I tell ye."
"Go back to sleep."
The man settled again and breathed deeply.
The woman remained on her elbow, listening with every nerve strained in agony.
Again she heard a step on the gravel. This time another footfall joined the first. She gripped her husband's shoulders and shook him violently.
"John, John!" she whispered.
He had half roused himself this time, shocked into consciousness by her trembling grip on his shoulders. But above all by the tremor in her whispered call.
"What is it, Mahala?"
"For God's sake, get up quick and call the boys down outen the loft."
"No!" he growled.