Maloney's selfish
prayer had been favourably received. Nothing came to disturb or perplex.
There was not even the prowling of night animals to vex the rest of Mrs.
Maloney; for in previous camps it had often been her peculiar affliction
that she heard the porcupines scratching against the canvas, or the
squirrels dropping fir-cones in the early morning with a sound of
miniature thunder upon the roof of her tent. But on this island there
was not even a squirrel or a mouse. I think two toads and a small and
harmless snake were the only living creatures that had been discovered
during the whole of the first fortnight. And these two toads in all
probability were not two toads, but one toad.
Then, suddenly, came the terror that changed the whole aspect of the
place--the devastating terror.
It came, at first, gently, but from the very start it made me realise
the unpleasant loneliness of our situation, our remote isolation in this
wilderness of sea and rock, and how the islands in this tideless Baltic
ocean lay about us like the advance guard of a vast besieging army.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127