I began to think
I might make some money of it, if it was a new thing. But I had hard
work to tell which way it came from, and for a good while I kept looking
up at the boughs. And then I thought it came from the ground; and there
was a lot of timber-choppings lying about, and loose pieces of turf, and
a trunk or two. And I looked about among them, but could find nothing,
and at last the cry stopped. So I was for giving it up, and I went on
about my business. But when I came back the same way pretty nigh an hour
after, I couldn't help laying down my stakes to have another look. And
just as I was stooping and laying down the stakes, I saw something odd
and round and whitish lying on the ground under a nut-bush by the side
of me. And I stooped down on hands and knees to pick it up. And I saw it
was a little baby's hand."
At these words a thrill ran through the court. Hetty was visibly
trembling; now, for the first time, she seemed to be listening to what a
witness said.
"There was a lot of timber-choppings put together just where the ground
went hollow, like, under the bush, and the hand came out from among
them. But there was a hole left in one place and I could see down it
and see the child's head; and I made haste and did away the turf and the
choppings, and took out the child.
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