favored better speed. He
spurred his horse to a gallop and had turned to call to the others, when
suddenly the animal he rode gave a snort of fear and stopped with braced
forefeet. Bob, caught off his guard, went over the horse's head with a
lurch and fell sprawling on the ground in front. Then he gave a scream,
for not two feet away he saw the short, cruel head of a coiled
rattlesnake.

Jeremy, riding close behind, pulled up beside the other horse and threw
himself off. Even as he touched the ground a sharp whirr met his ear
and he saw the fat, still body and vibrating tail of the snake. He
wrenched the pistol from the holster, took the quickest aim of his life
and pulled the trigger. After the shot apparently nothing had changed.
The whirr of the rattle went on for a second or two, then gradually
subsided. Bob lay white-faced, and still as death. Jeremy drew a step
closer and then gave a choked cry of relief. The snake's smooth,
diamond-marked body remained coiled for the spring. Its lithe forepart
was thrust forward from the top coil and the venemous, blunt head--but
the head was no more. Jeremy's ball had taken it short off.

Bob was unhurt, but badly shaken and frightened, and they followed the
trail slowly through the dusk. Then just as the shadows that obscured
their way were turning to the deep dark of night a small light became
visible straight ahead. They pushed on and soon were luxuriously
stretched before a log fire in the Curtis plantation house, while Mrs.
Robbins, the overseer's wife, poured them a cup of hot tea.

When bedtime came, Bob came over to Jeremy and gave him a long grip of
the hand, but said never a word. There was no need of words, for the New
England boy knew that his chum would never be quite happy till he could
repay his act in kind. Yet he could not tell Bob that the shooting of a
snake was but a small return for the gift of a vision of one of heaven's
angels. Each felt himself the other's debtor as they got into the great
feather bed side by side.

CHAPTER XXIV

Two boys turned loose on a present-day farm can find enough interesting
things to do to fill a book much larger than this. For me to go into the
details of that week's visit to Avon Dale would preclude any possible
chance of your hearing the end of this story. And there are still many
things that need telling.

But though no great or grave adventure befell the two boys while they
stayed at the plantation, you may i