text:  From time to time only an upward-flung movement of two thin arms as if in the violent emotion of earnest prayer or deprecation showed that this object was a living thing; until when the moon rose from behind the old town-hall disengaging itself ever and anon from among the heavy clouds of a gathering storm its light fell full upon this indistinct apparition and revealed the form of a man curiously bent together in a half-squatting half-kneeling position