"S-something bellowed out there in the swamp——" She shuddered unaffectedly at the recollection.
"A bull-alligator," he remarked.
"What?"
"Yes," he nodded, "it is terrifying, but they let you alone. I once heard one bellow on the Tomoka when I was a boy."
After a while she said with tremulous lips:
"There seem to be snakes here, too."
"Didn't you expect any?"
"Mr. Munsell said there were not any."
"Did he?"
"Not," she explained resolutely, "that the presence of snakes would have deterred me. They frighten me terribly, but—I would have come just the same."