“How criminally stupid of me!” I cried, still determined to be consistent and find an explanation.  “I clean forgot to buy a loaf at Pressburg.  That chattering woman put everything out of my head, and I must have left it lying on the counter or——­”

“The oatmeal, too, is much less than it was this morning,” the Swede interrupted.

Why in the world need he draw attention to it?  I thought angrily.

“There’s enough for to-morrow,” I said, stirring vigorously, “and we can get lots more at Komorn or Gran.  In twenty-four hours we shall be miles from here.”

“I hope so—­to God,” he muttered, putting the things back into the sack, “unless we’re claimed first as victims for the sacrifice,” he added with a foolish laugh.  He dragged the sack into the tent, for safety’s sake, I suppose, and I heard him mumbling on to himself, but so indistinctly that it seemed quite natural for me to ignore his words.

Our meal was beyond question a gloomy one, and we ate it almost in silence, avoiding one another’s eyes, and keeping the fire bright.  Then we washed up and prepared for the night, and, once smoking, our minds unoccupied with any definite duties, the apprehension I had felt all day long became more and more acute.  It was not then active fear, I think, but the very vagueness of its origin distressed me far more than if I had been able to ticket and face it squarely.  The curious sound I have likened to the note of a gong became now almost incessant, and filled the stillness of the night with a faint, continuous ringing rather than a series of distinct notes.  At one time it was behind and at another time in front of us.  Sometimes I fancied it came from the bushes on our left, and then again from the clumps on our right.  More often it hovered directly overhead like the whirring of wings.  It was really everywhere at once, behind, in front, at our sides and over our heads, completely surrounding us.  The sound really defies description.  But nothing within my knowledge is like that ceaseless muffled humming rising off the deserted world of swamps and willows.

We sat smoking in comparative silence, the strain growing every minute greater.  The worst feature of the situation seemed to me that we did not know what to expect, and could therefore make no sort of preparation by way of defense.  We could anticipate nothing.  My explanations made in the sunshine, moreover, now came to haunt me with their foolish and wholly unsatisfactory nature, and it was more and more clear to me that some kind of plain talk with my companion was inevitable, whether I liked it or not.  After all, we had to spend the night together, and to sleep in the same tent side by side.  I saw that I could not get along much longer without the support of his mind, and for that, of course, plain talk was imperative.  As long as possible, however, I postponed this little climax, and tried to ignore or laugh at the occasional sentences he flung into the emptiness.