Hone stood still. "There! Don't be scared!" he said soothingly. "What would it be at all? There's nothing but shadow." "But there is!" she gasped. "There is! There! On the bank above the boat! What is it, Pat? What is it?" Hone's eyes followed her quivering finger, discerning what appeared to be a blot of shadow close to the bush above the water. "Sure, it's only shadow--" he began. But she broke in feverishly. "It's not, Pat! It's not! There's nothing to cast it. It's in the full moonlight." "You stay here!" said Hone. "I'll go and have a look." "I won't!" she rejoined in a fierce whisper, holding him fast. "You--you shan't go a step nearer. We must get away somehow--somehow!" with a hunted glance around. "Not through the undergrowth, that's certain. We--we shall have to go back." Hone was still staring at the motionless blot in the moonlight. He resisted her frantic efforts to drag him away. "I must go and see," he said at last. "I'm sure there's nothing to alarm us. We can't run away from shadows, Princess. We should never hold up our heads again." "Oh, Pat, you fool!" she exclaimed, almost beside herself. "I tell you that is no shadow! It's a snake! Do you hear? It's a huge python! And it was a snake I trod on just now. And they are everywhere--everywhere! The whole place is rustling with them. They are closing in on us. I can hear them! I can feel them! I can smell them! Pat, what shall we do? Quick, quick! Think of something! See now! It's moving--uncoiling! Look, look! Did you ever see anything so horrible? Pat!" Her voice ended in a breathless shriek. She suddenly collapsed against him, her face hidden on his breast. And Hone, stooping impulsively, caught her up in his arms. "We'll get out of it somehow," he said. "Never fear!" But even his eyes had widened with a certain horror, for the blot in the moonlight was beyond question moving, elongating, quivering, subtly changing under his gaze. He held his companion pressed tightly to his heart. She made no further attempt to urge him. Only by the tense clinging of her arms about his neck did he know that she was conscious. Again he heard that vague rustling which he had set down to a sudden draught overhead. It seemed to come from all directions. "Ye gods!" he muttered softly to himself. And again, more softly, "Ye gods!" To the woman in his arms he uttered no word whatever. He only pressed the slender figure ever closer, while the blood surged and sang tumultuously in his veins. Though he stood in the midst of mortal danger, he was conscious of an exultation so mad as to be almost delirious. She was his--his--his! Something stirred in the undergrowth close to him, and in a moment his attention was diverted from the slow-moving monster ahead of him. He became aware of a dark object, but vaguely discernible, that swayed to and fro about three feet from the ground seeming to menace him.