low, hesitating way; "here, hi! Keep your
tail still, will you, while you're being measured."

But the reptile seemed to thrash all the harder, dragging the noose
tight, and flogging at the rope in a way which promised, if time enough
was given, to wear it through.

"Oh, well, if you won't, I must guess. Yes, sir, he's quite seven feet
long--nearer eight; but he must be pretty young, for he's a lean,
lizardly-looking brute. Not nice things to tackle, are they? Look ye
here at the marks of his teeth."

As he said this, Morgan held up his broken pole, first one piece then
the other. "I say, Master George, he can nip. If that had been your
leg or my arm, we should have wanted a bit or two of sticking-plaster,
even if we hadn't had the bone cracked in two."

"It's a horribly ugly brute," I said, as I approached it a little
nearer, and examined it by the warm ruddy glow which shone down here and
there into the gloomy swamp forest.

"Yes; his mother ought to be very proud of him," said Morgan, laughing;
"wonder what his brothers and sisters are like. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"What are you laughing at?" I said.

"I was only thinking, Master George. The idea of me coming out of
Carnarvonshire across the sea to find things like that!"

"Yes; it's different to home," I said.

"This is home," replied Morgan, stolidly--"home now. I've set and
tended many a lot of eggs; but I say, Master George, only think of a
thing like that coming out of a new-laid egg. Do rattlesnakes!"

I could not help smiling at the idea, but my face felt strange, and
there was a twitching about my temples as the last words fell upon my
ears.

"Halloa! What's the matter, lad?"

"You--you said rattlesnakes," I whispered hoarsely.

"Well, what of it? This is 'gator country. Rattlesnakes, they tell me,
likes the high, dry, hot, stony places."

"Yes--father said so," I replied in a whisper, as I looked cautiously
round.

"Well then, what are you looking for?"

"Indians," I whispered, for I had recalled how the savages had
surrounded us while our attention was taken up by the last noxious
creature we had attacked.

At my words Morgan made a bound, and then began to move past a tree.
But he stopped short, and returned to my side, looking wildly round the
while.

"See 'em--see any of 'em?" he whispered.

"No; but suppose they have stolen upon us again as they did before!"

"Yah! What do you mean by frightening a man? I teclare to coo