midday
More to the south , or more to the north , villages , hamlets , or plantations would not have been lacking , and long before this Mrs. Weldon and her companions would have found an asylum . But , if the country seemed to be abandoned by man , animals showed themselves more frequently during these last days . At times was heard a kind of long , plaintive cry , that Harris attributed to some of those large tardi-grades , habitual denizens of those vast wooded regions , named `` ais . '' On that day , also , during the midday halt , a hissing passed through the air , which made Mrs. Weldon very uneasy , because it was so strange . `` What is that ? '' ' she asked , rising hastily . `` A serpent ! ''