Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/122

104 covered him with warm blankets and rubbed at his cold hands.

“Now try to lift him up a little,” she ordered, “while I get this pillow under his head. That is right, now—Billy, what is that?”

For the absolute silence of the empty mill had been broken by a sound. Above their heads was heard the creak of a board, then  the muffled noise of a quiet footfall and the  scraping of rusty hinges as a door was stealthily opened.