36 
THE SEA-SERPENT. 
coming in at the other door, half wild with pleas¬ 
ure ; goodness, gracious ! how they spin out of his 
way ! — while beyond all measure the ladies up 
stairs comfortably sitting, reading Longfellow’s 
last new book, or else a purse for a lover knit¬ 
ting, are frightened ; they run to the window and 
look to see what’s the matter, and, screaming, 
wonder whether it’s fire or whether its thunder. 
On rushed the snake, and, thundering after, came 
the boat with an awful crash, that shook the 
house from cellar to rafter, while boat and ser¬ 
pent together dash off to the left, and over the 
green that lies the hotel and the ocean between. 
IV. 
Just on the slope, with its rough stone walls, 
stands the billiard saloon on the brink of the sea. 
Some bucks from Boston w r ere knocking the balls 
about on the boards right merrily ; little cared 
they for serpents or snakes ; they were playing 
merely as gentlemen do, not for the sake of win¬ 
ning the stakes, but merely to see how sure and 
