That is, until within a few minutes.
Then it seemed to her that she heard some giant body threshing around near her; she heard a stifled scream and incoherent mutterings.

The thing was so close, the thumping and threshing so real, that she started and sat up in bed, staring wildly around.
She saw on the floor near her two men.

One had his hands buried in the other's throat, and the face of the latter was black and horribly bloated.
This scene, Peggy felt, was real, and again she tried to scream.
The effort was successful, though the sound was not loud.

One of the men turned, and she knew him.
"Ben," she said in an awed, scared voice, "what in God's name are you doing ?" "Killin' a snake!" he returned sullenly.
"Dale ?" she inquired wildly.

Her hands were clasped, the fingers working, twisting and untwisting.
"Maison," he told her, his face dark with passion.
"Because of me! O, Ben! Maison has done nothing to me.