Then the party became aware of another strange thing.
This, too, like the odor, was a thing elemental; it was a
sound, a sound made up of ten thousand little sounds.
You scarcely noticed it at first -- it sunk into your con~
sciousness, a vague disturbance, a trouble. It was like
the murmuring of the bees in the spring, the whisperings
of the forest; it suggested endless activity, the rumblings
of a world in motion. It was only by an effort that one
could realize that it was made by animals, that it was the
distant lowing of ten thousand cattle, the distant grunting
of ten thousand swine.

They would have liked to follow it up, but, alas, they
had no time for adventures just then. The policeman on
the corner was beginning to watch them; and so, as usual,
they started up the street. Scarcely had they gone a
block, however, before Jonas was heard to give a cry, and
began pointing excitedly across the street. Before they
could gather the meaning of his breathless ejaculations he
had bounded away, and they saw him enter a shop, over
which was a sign: "J. Szedvilas, Delicatessen." When
he came out again it was in company with a very stout
gentleman in shirt sleeves and an apron, clasping Jonas
by both hands and laughing hilariously. Then Teta
Elzbieta recollected suddenly that Szedvilas had been the
name of the mythical friend who had made his fortune in
America. To find that he had been making it in the deli~
catessen business was an extraordinary piece of good for~
tune at this juncture; though it was well on in the
morning, they had not breakfasted, and the children were
beginning to whimper.

Thus was the happy ending of a woeful voyage. The
two families literally fell upon each other's necks -- for it
had been years since Jokubas Szedvilas had met a man
from his part of Lithuania. Before half the day they were
lifelong friends. Jokubas understood all the pitfalls of
this new world, and could explain all of its mysteries;
he could tell them the things they ought to have done in
the different emergencies -- and what was still more to the
point, he could tell them what to do now. He would

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p028 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p029w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p030

v?