The noise of the hissing steam prevented Miss Bruce from calling to her distracted handmaid. Cicely laughed and laughed. "I didn't expect anything half so funny," she said. The little _Altamaha_ now backed out from the pier into rough water again, and the hissing ceased. Besides the dark heaving waves, the tall light-house, and the beach, there was now nothing to be seen but a row of white sand-hills which blocked the view towards the north. "This is the sea-shore, isn't it?" said Eve. As she asked her question her voice had in her own ears a horribly false sound; she was speaking merely for the sake of saying something; Cicely's "I didn't expect anything half so funny" had hurt her like the edge of a knife. "Oh, no; this isn't the sea; this is the Sound," Cicely answered. "The sea is round on the other side. You will hear it often enough at Romney; it booms dreadfully after a storm." Plato and Pomp now emerged from the mist, each leading a mule; one of these animals was attached to a wagon which had two seats, and the other to a rough cart. "Will you get in, please?" said Cicely, going towards the wagon. "I reckon your maid had better come with us." "Meadows! Meadows!" called Miss Bruce. "Never mind the luggage; it is quite safe. You are to come with us in this wagon." "Yes, mem," responded the English voice. The girl had ceased running; but she still stood guard over the trunks. "And shall I bring the dressing-bags with me, mem?" she added. "She is bringing them whether or no," said her mistress; "I knew she would. She likes to pretend that one contains a gold-mounted dressing-case and the other a jewel-casket; she is accustomed to such things, and considers them the proper appendages of a lady." Her voice still had to herself a forced sound. But Cicely noticed nothing. The two ladies climbed into the wagon and placed themselves on the back seat; Meadows, still hugging the supposed treasures, mounted gingerly to her place beside Uncle Abram, disarmed a little by his low brows; and then, after some persuasion, the mule was induced to start, the cart with the luggage following behind, Plato and Pomp beside it. The road was deeply covered with sand; both mules could do no more than walk. At last, after passing the barrier of sand-hills, they came to firmer ground; bushes began to appear, and then low trees. The trees all slanted westward. "The wind," Cicely explained. The drive lasted half an hour. "Meadows, put down those bags," said Eve; "they are too heavy for you. But not too near Mrs. Bruce--to trouble her."