"Ow-w-w-ch!" sounded a howl from above.

Looking up at the cry, Anna discerned among the clustering leaves
of the black oak a huddled figure, with raccoon-like eyes, peering
down at the mounting snake, to escape from which he had, in fact,
climbed the tree.

"Willie," she shouted, "jump! The snake's coming! Jump!"

"Ow-w-w-ch!" he continued to wail.

The snake stopped, confused, craning its head upward at the new
complication, then downward at its known adversary. Its hesitation
would make Willie's escape practicable, if he could conquer his
crazy fear.

"Willie, break off a limb--beat it back! I can run!"

The snake undulated a few inches farther. The reiterated cry was
Willie's only response. Anna's quick eye saw another chance.

"There's that big limb on the redwood. You can reach it. Swing
across. It's easy. You must!" stamping. "O Willie, do it! Do it!"

Her sailor father had often reproved Anna for her delight in
climbing and swinging from tree to tree, by means of her long arms
and practised hands.

"It iss not goodt for you to be a monkey, mine Anna," he would say.
"Little girls need nefer to go to the masthead. Thou hast no call