It was a forest of magnolia, willow, and cypress, and of oaks, from which hung great solemn festoons of moss.

A deep still bayou cut across it, and here and there were pools of stagnant water, in which coiling black forms swam.
Night was deepening over the wilderness upon which the estate of Beaulieu had made only a scratch.

Pale moonlight fell over the drooping green forest and across the deep waters of the bayou.

The something that had stirred resolved itself into the shadowy figure of a man who came out of the heart of the forest toward its edge.

He walked with a singularly agile step.