HAMMOCK NIGHTS 207 



the wilderness, since it is not customary for the 

 fer~de-lance to frequent the city and the town. 

 But this would give rise to a footless argument, 

 leading nowhere. For danger is everywhere — it 

 lurks in every shadow and is hidden in the hright 

 sunlight, it is the uninvited guest, the invisihle 

 pedestrian who walks heside you in the crowded 

 street ceaselessly, without tiring. But even a 

 fer-de-lance should rather add to the numher of 

 hammock devotees than diminish them; for the 

 three feet or more of elevation is as good as so 

 many miles betw^een the tw^o of you. And three 

 miles from any serpent is sufficient. 



It may be that the very w^ord danger is sub- 

 jected to a different interpretation in each one of 

 our mental dictionaries. It is elastic, compre- 

 hensive. To some it may include whatever is 

 terrible, terrifying; to others it may symbolize 

 a worthy antagonist, one who throws down the 

 gauntlet and asks no questions, but who will make 

 a good and fair fight wherem advantage is 

 neither taken nor given. I suppose, to be bit- 

 ten by vampires w^ould be thought a danger by 

 many who have not graduated from the mattress 

 of civilization to this cubiculum of the wilderness. 

 This is due, in part, to an ignorance, which is 



