This hint
of day gave rest to the tired ringers in church tower and convent
belfry. The bells died away, and stillness brooded on the water plain.
Hoarse roaring of the yellow current became a mere monotonous background
for other sounds. A breath stole from the east, bringing the scent of
rain-washed earth and foliage and sweet mints. There was no other wind;
and the boat shot easily on its course alongside a thicket made by
orchard treetops. Some birds, maybe proprietors of drowned nests, were
already complaining over these, or toppling experimentally down on
branch tips.
Kaskaskia had become a strange half-town, cut off around its middle. It
affected one like a man standing on his armpits. The capital of the
Territory was composed chiefly of roofs and dormer windows, of squatty
wooden islands in a boundless sea. The Church of the Immaculate
Conception was a laughable tent of masonry, top-heavy with its square
tower. As for cultivated fields and the pastures where the cattle
grazed, such vanished realities were forgotten.
Pages:
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161