e sat there--a very pretty picture had
there been any spectator to appreciate it. A large-brimmed hat of
coarse straw lay on the ground beside her, and an aureole of golden
hair, brought low down on the forehead, framed a very uncommon and
striking face. If the smooth skin was a trifle sun-browned why that
only served to enhance the clearness of the thoughtful blue eyes.
These, lifting every now and then, in the process of her work--beneath
well defined brows--were wide, straight and fearless, and the delicate,
oval contour of the face, and the set of the full, expressive mouth,
left nothing to be desired.

The piping of the bird voices, and the hum and drone of winged insects
kept up unceasing chorus on the sunlit air, and then breaking in upon
them all came another sound. It was the grating chatter of the honey
bird--the _nomtyeketye_ of the natives. Clucking to and fro the
insignificant little brown bird kept up his ceaseless chatter, and the
girl looked up. She likewise looked round for something to throw at
him, for his persistency was becoming a bore. In her infantile days
when, with her brothers, this little friend would often pilot them to a
wild bees' nest, and, at the cost of a sting or two, an unexpected feast
of fat combs, he was welcome enough. Now his use had gone by. Yet he
persistently skipped hither and thither and chattered on.

The sun, now mounting above the trees, began to shed his rays, and that
with no uncertain touch, upon her uncovered head, fusing the aureole
with yet a more dazzling gold. Instinctively she picked up the large
hat, and, rising, proceeded to pin it on. This movement produced
another.

Produced another. Yes, and as startling as it was unexpected. Barely a
dozen feet distant, where the dense shaggy growth touched the open,
there shot up the head of a huge snake.

The girl stood as though turned to stone. She had no great fear of
snakes in general, but this: why she had never seen one like it before.
It was not a python, for it was of a strange, shining orange colour, and
it had the heart-shaped head of the venomous species: moreover on the
said head there was an erection of scales forming a kind of crest. It
was hissing hideously, and the sinuous coils beneath the uplifted neck
were squirming in a manner horribly suggestive of a rush and a spring.
The girl simply dared not move--no, not even a finger. Had it been an
ordinary snake, her course was easy, to retire