Dey'd des bun de ole cabin en me in't ef dey knowed you's
dar. Bettah stop yo' mouf wid yo' supper."
This Scoville was well contented to do for a time, while Aun' Jinkey
smoked and listened with all her ears. Faint sounds came from the
house and the negro quarters, but all was still about the cabin.
Suddenly she took her pipe from her mouth and muttered, "Dar goes a
squinch-owl tootin'. Dat doan mean no good."
"Aunt Jinkey," said Scoville, who was watching her, "that screech-
owl worries you, doesn't it?"
"Dere's mo' kin's ob squinch-owls dan you 'lows on, mars'r. Some
toots fer de sake ob tootin' en some toots in warnin'."
"That one tooted in warning. Don't be surprised if you hear another
very near." He crawled to the cranny under the eaves and Aun' Jinkey
fairly jumped out of her chair as she heard an owl apparently
hooting on the roof with a vigor and truth to nature that utterly
deceived her senses. Scoville repeated the signal, and then crept
back to the chink in the floor. The old woman was trembling and
looking round in dismayed uncertainty.
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