The old woman was short, broad, black and
wrinkled, with yellow fangs, red hanging lips, and wicked eyes. She
leered at them; the boy shrank before it, but stood his ground.
"Aunt Elspeth," he began, "Zora and I are going to plant and tend some
cotton to pay for her schooling--just the very best cotton we can
find--and I heard"--he hesitated,--"I heard you had some wonderful
seed."
"Yes," she mumbled, "I'se got the seed--I'se got it--wonder seed, sowed
wid the three spells of Obi in the old land ten tousand moons ago. But
you couldn't plant it," with a sudden shrillness, "it would kill you."
"But--" Bles tried to object, but she waved him away.
"Git the ground--git the ground; dig it--pet it, and we'll see what
we'll see." And she disappeared.
Zora was not sure that it had been wise to tell their secret.
"I was going to steal the seed," she said. "I knows where it is, and I
don't fear conjure."
"You mustn't steal, Zora," said Bles, gravely.
"Why?" Zora quickly asked.
But before he answered, they both forgot; for their faces were turned
toward the wonder of the swamp. The golden sun was pouring floods of
glory through the slim black trees, and the mystic sombre pools caught
and tossed back the glow in darker, duller crimson. Long echoing cries
leapt to and fro; silent footsteps crept hither and yonder; and the
girl's eyes gleamed with a wild new joy.
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