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 bright 

 sunlight, it is the uninvited guest, the invisible 

 pedestrian who walks beside you in the crowded 

 street ceaselessly, without tiring. But even a 

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

 hammock devotees than diminish them; for the 

 three feet or more of elevation is as good as so 

 many miles between the two of you. And three 

 miles from any serpent is sufficient. 



It may be that the very word 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 wherein advantage is 

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

 ten by vampires would 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 5 to an ignorance, which is 



