The over-full river had backed up into the yard, however, and the line of
the dam could now only be guessed at by the wall of solemn cypress-trees
that edged the swamp. Still, the woman looked in this direction many times
and also toward the railway embankment, from which a path led toward the
house, crossing the heap of the swamp by a bridge made of two felled trees.
But look as she would, she evidently did not find what she sought, and
muttering "Lawd! Lawd!" she returned to the kitchen, shook the tied dog
into silence, and seating herself near the fire, gazed sombrely into its
depths. A covered pot hung from the crane over the blaze, making a thick
bubbling noise, as if what it contained had boiled itself almost dry, and a
coffee-pot on the hearth gave forth a pleasant smell. The woman from time
to time turned the spit of a tin kitchen wherein a fowl was roasting, and
moved about the coals on the top of a Dutch oven at one side. She had made
preparation for a comfortable supper, and evidently for others than
herself.
She went again to the open door and looked about, the dog springing up and
following to the end of his cord.
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