o rustle through the bushes close
at hand.

"Mind you keep back, my lad, till I've got him safe," whispered Morgan,
"then hit him hard."

"Is it as dangerous as they say?" I asked.

"Worse, look you; that's why I want to pin him first. I might hit him a
good crack, but snakes are hard to kill, and he might throw his head
about and bite even then, though I arn't quite sure even now that they
don't sting with their tails."

"I'm sure they don't," I whispered back.

"Ah, that's all very well, Master George, but I don't see as you can
know much better than me. Anyhow, I'm going to risk it; so here goes,
and when I say `now,' bring down that rake-handle as big a whop as you
can with both hands, right on his back."

I nodded, and we stood out now on the barren, stony patch close to the
fir-trees, with the sun casting our shadows in a curious dumpy way on
the earth, and our enemy about thirty feet away.

Morgan signed to me to stand still, and I obeyed trembling with
excitement, and eagerly watching as he cautiously approached with his
pole extended before him, ready to make a dart at the snake, whose head
lay half turned for him, and its neck temptingly exposed, ready for the
fork which should hold it down.

On went Morgan, inch by inch, his shadow just before him, and in spite
of his injunction, I could not refrain from following, so as to get a
good view of the encounter; and besides, I argued with myself, how could
I be ready to help unless I was close at hand?

Consequently I stepped on nearer too, till I could see the reptile quite
clearly, distinguishing every scale and noting the dull, fixed look of
its eyes, which did not seem to be closed, for I was not familiar then
with the organisation of snakes.

As Morgan went on the stillness of the clearing seemed terrible, and
once more I could not help thinking of what a treacherous act it was to
steal upon the creature like that in its sleep.

But directly after, the killing instinct toward a dangerous enemy grew
strong within me, and I drew in my breath, my teeth were set fast, and
my fingers tightened about the rake-handle, ready to deliver a blow.

All this took very few minutes, but it seemed to me to last a long time,
and thought after thought ran through my mind, each one suggestive of
danger.

"Suppose Morgan misses it," I said to myself; "it will be frightened and
vicious, and strike at him, and if he is bitten I shall be obliged to
attack it the