nly a day or so more, and he'd
come about. A leg to leeward, and he'd shake them off as a great ship
leaves behind it the troublesome traders' bumboats.

There came to him the shrill keening of the old woman as some one
brought her toward the house:

"Ochanee! Ochanee! Ochanee o! the Shepherd's lamb! She's gone from us!
The high branch on the pleasant little tree! And what's to become of me
in my latter days! Me that thought I'd have the beautiful house to live
in, and a horse and cart, and a wake would be the envy of many, and not
the curate, but the parish priest himself, to be at the head of the
funeral. And now I'm to be thrown against the great cruelty of the harsh
Northern men! Nine black curses against them and theirs, and on my bare
knees I say it. Och, white gull o' the harbor, why did you die? Ochanee!
Ochanee!"

The gabbled rosary, the low laughter in the kitchen, the clink of
glasses, the howling of the _cailleach_--all these noises repulsed him
like a forefront of battle. So he did not go into the house, but took
his hand from the half-door and returned to the haggard, to the grave,
understanding silence of the moon.

Section 4

Because he was so young, and thought he knew so much when in reality he
knew so little, young Shane had thought, when he met Moyra Dolan, that
he had discovered the morning star. Five and a half years at sea, as
apprentice and navigator, had shown his eyes much and his heart little.
He knew Bermuda and the harbor of Kingston. He had beaten up the China
Seas. He had seen the clouds over Table Mountain. He knew Baltimore. He
had seen the bowsprits of the great Indiamen thrust over the quays of
Poplar parish like muskets leveled over a barricade. And to him it was
just a wonder, a strange spectacle. The streets were strange as in a
dream, and the folk were strange as in a play. One wandered down an
avenue, seeing the queer commodities in the shops and booths. One
wandered to the right. One wandered to the left. And there was great
delight to finding a street one had seen before, maybe only five minutes
ago, and one felt one was getting somewhere, was understanding the new
country.

But one never did understand the new country. All the people were
strange. One could not imagine them about the daily business of life,
waking, eating, buying, and selling. Black men and ocher-colored folk.
There seemed to be a mystery somewhere. One imagined them gathering at
night in secret to be