Leon found a pebble, stretched his arm back in an aiming motion, and let the pebble fly across the creek and into the bush. The humming-singing abruptly ceased. Floyd took up a stick and trailed it along the top of the water as if writing, before dropping the stick and letting it float away downstream.

Setting the bait jar steady between two roots, the boys checked the lines and sinkers on their fishing poles before baiting the hooks. Kneeling on the leafy bank, Leon swung his line lightly through the air and let it drop into the water. Floyd frowned and strolled a few paces along the bank before deciding on a spot to drop his line. The humming-singing started up again across the creek.

Finishing the tub of clothes she had been working on, Clovis did not go to one of the boiling pots and repeat her earlier procedure. She emptied the tub and left it on the old work table that had been in place so long its leg ends disappeared into the ground, seeming to grow there. Theresa, the senior washwoman of the group, saw her wander off, but did not question her, as Clovis had known she would not. Clovis had the reputation of being a good worker who never shirked her share like some of the others.

Following the way the boys had gone, she passed the outhouses and continued to the woods. Inside the woods she paused briefly, as they had done before her, then guessing at which path they might have taken, she went along it. A few minutes later, however, some instinct told her she was wrong. She went back to her starting point and took another path, confident this time, although she did not know why she was.

She walked, making no noise at all, stopping now and then to cock her head sideways and listen before continuing. The farther she got, the slower she walked, and the more often she paused. Finally she stopped and stood without moving for several minutes, statue-like, as the multitude of woods activity went on about her, mostly unseen and unheard, but nevertheless known by her to be transpiring.

Now she bent almost double and inched along. Finally she stopped altogether, knowing she was there, although no sound told her so, and she had not yet seen them. She found a dry seat on a fallen log that had lain there so long all its bark was gone, and green moss covered its lower sides. Cautiously, she pushed aside a leafy, supple twig cluster and saw them.

They sat on dry leaves a few yards apart, so still they might have been sleeping. Leon’s back was to her, but Floyd sat in clear profile. She gave them a thorough going-over with her eyes, gradually relaxing her body into a more comfortable position as she savored finding them.