Oh , I tried so hard to overtake it , but I could not . Once I saw a little white hand beckoning to me far ahead in the moonlight . But still I could not go fast enough . And then the cry ceased , and I was there all alone on that terrible , cold , gray shore . I was so tired and I came home . But I wish I could have found him . Perhaps he does not know that I tried to . Perhaps he thinks his mother never listened to his call . Oh , I would not have him think that . '' `` You have had a bad dream , dear , '' I said . I tried to say it naturally ; but it is hard for a man to speak naturally when he feels a mortal dread striking into his very vitals with its deadly chill . `` It was no dream , '' she answered reproachfully . `` I tell you I heard him calling me -- me , his mother . What could I do but go to him ? You can not understand -- you are only his father . It was not you who gave him birth . It was not you who paid the price of his dear life in pain . He would not call to you -- he wanted his mother . '' I got her back to the house and to her bed , whither she went obediently enough , and soon fell into the sleep of exhaustion . But there was no more sleep for me that night .
I kept a grim vigil XXXXX dread .
for in into night of on that to whither with