Only the sharp call of a discordant trumpet broke the solitude and dumbness of the hills.

Everything about this woman showed an ardent soul, repressed by timidity and by a certain dumbness in the faculties of outward expression; but her eyes had, at times, that earnest, appealing language which is so pathetic in the silence of inferior animals.

And I am never one for brooding with private dumbness over my woes.

"I can lick you with one hand tied behind me!" He drew back his fist as if to strike me, and I wonder that I did not run from the cabin and jump ashore, but I stood my ground, more from stupor and what we Dutch call dumbness than anything else.