As David Penlogan and his family toiled in the fields in the light of the harvest moon they sometimes heard sounds of merry-making and laughter floating across the valley from distant farmsteads, and they wondered a little bit sadly where the next harvest-time would find them.
On the third Saturday night they stood still to listen to a familiar sound in that part of the country.
"Listen, Ralph," Ruth said, "they're cutting neck at Treligga."
Cutting neck means cutting the last shock of the year's corn, and is celebrated by a big shout in the field, and a special supper in the farmer's kitchen.
Ralph raised himself from his stooping posture, and his father did the same. Ruth took her mother's hand in hers, and all four stood and listened. Clear and distinct across the moonlit fields the words rang—
"What have 'ee? What have 'ee?"
"A neck! A neck!"
"Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!"
Slowly the echoes died over the hills, and then silence reigned again.
Ralph and David had also cut neck, but they raised no shout over it. They were in no mood for jubilation.