`` He is calling , '' she cried , `` calling out there in the storm . Yes , yes , sweet , I am coming ! '' She opened the door and fled down the path to the shore . I snatched a lantern from the wall , lighted it , and followed . It was the blackest night I was ever out in , dark with the very darkness of death . The rain fell thickly and heavily . I overtook Josie , caught her hand , and stumbled along in her wake , for she went with the speed and recklessness of a distraught woman . We moved in the little flitting circle of light shed by the lantern . All around us and above us was a horrible , voiceless darkness , held , as it were , at bay by the friendly light . `` If I could only overtake him once , '' moaned Josie . `` If I could just kiss him once , and hold him close against my aching heart . This pain , that never leaves me , would leave me than . Oh , my pretty boy , wait for mother ! I am coming to you . Listen , David ; he cries -- he cries so pitifully ; listen ! Ca n't you hear it ? '' I DID hear it ! Clear and distinct , out of the deadly still darkness before us , came a faint , wailing cry . What was it ? Was I , too , going mad , or WAS there something out there -- something that cried and moaned -- longing for human love , yet ever retreating from human footsteps ?
I am not a superstitious man ; but my nerve had been shaken by my long trial , and I was weaker XXXXX I thought .
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