“O, no; you wouldn’t be afraid of a water-snake. They are just as harmless as toads,” said Clinton.
“I’m afraid of toads, too,—and I can’t help it,” replied Ella.
“If you should live in the country a little while you wouldn’t mind such things,” said Emily.
“Yes, I should,” replied her cousin. “I always had a perfect antipathy to snakes, and toads, and spiders, and all such creatures. I know they won’t hurt me; but I can’t help hating them.”
Seeing how little headway they made against her prejudices, Clinton and Emily dropped the subject. They were not yet out of the swamp, however; and soon another terror arose in the mind of the timid city girl.
“I shall get poisoned here!—I know I shall!” she said, in a tone of mingled alarm and resignation, as though she would have added, “You may do what you please with me,—I’m resigned.”
“There’s no danger of that,” replied Clinton, with a laugh. “You keep close to me, and I will look out for you.”
“Are there any poisonous plants in this swamp?” inquired Whistler, who had heard Ella’s remark.
“Yes, there’s plenty of poison ivy,” replied Clinton.
“O, yes; I see some now!” said Whistler, who was still at the head of the little party. “That’s poison ivy, isn’t it?” he continued, pointing to a luxuriant vine that was twining around the trunk of a dead tree.