... said.Sitting there before the oven, side by side, hand innocently clasped in hand, we heard the drumming of the dew on the roof, the night-windstirring the palms, the muffled snoring of the professor, ... bark of the fox-squirrel, the whistle of the raccoon, ducks softly quacking or whimper-ing as they prepared for sleep among the reeds, the soft booming of bit-terns, the clattering gossip of the ... peering ahead into the dusky sea of pines.Fresher and fresher came the wind from the sea, in puffs, in mild,sweet breezes, in steady, freshening currents, blowing the featherycrowns of the pines,...