Sally winked at the older woman, while Marlin controlled his features with an effort.
"Ask her when we're gonna land—and where at?" suggested Link, peering hopefully.
"Pearlie will tell us everything in her own good time," retorted Maw, grandly. "Won't you darlin'? Don't you want to tell us where we're goin'?"
The girl smiled sweetly, and uttered the first words Marlin had heard from her lips.
"There are so many stones."
McGruder laughed hoarsely. Maw checked him with a ferocious look. "Go on, dearie," she urged. "Tell us more?"
The girl stared upward, as if visioning something in the distance. Her words slurred together; she seemed only half aware of speaking them.
"The world is a stone. There are many stones. So many lonely stones."
Marlin again experienced the uncanny sense of chills spiraling up his back—for no reason that he could comprehend. He looked uncertainly from one face to another. All were staring at the Sybil of the strange voyage.
Maw spoke with vague conviction. "That means something, and don't you mistake it. We'll have to figger it out. Pearlie don't always talk in plain words fer just ever'body to understand."