"Now," I said, "what enemy is it--an alligator?"
"No. You said you didn't believe there were any snakes here. I've got
one to show you now."
"Yes; but where?"
"Never you mind where. All you've got to do is to creep after me silent
like; and when you see me pin him down with this fork, you can kill
him."
"But what a cowardly way," I cried; "it isn't fair."
"Well, look you, I never did see such a boy as you are, Master George.
Do you know what sort of a snake it is?"
"How should I? You wouldn't tell me."
"Well, you talk as if it was a little adder, foot and half long, or a
snake at home that you might pick up in your hand. Why, it's a real
rattlesnake."
"Oh!" I exclaimed, excitedly.
"Over six foot long, and as thick as my wrist."
"Pooh!" I said, with my imagination full of boa-constrictors big enough
to entwine and crush us up. "That's nothing!"
"Nothing! Do you know one bite from a fellow like this will kill a man?
And you talk about fighting fair. Nice lot of fairness in the way they
fight. You come along, and promise to be very careful, or I shan't go."
"Oh, I'll be careful," I said.
"But if you feel afraid, say so, and I'll go alone."
"I don't feel afraid," I replied; "and if I did," I added with a laugh,
"I wouldn't say I was."
"Not you," he muttered, and he held up a finger, and led the way down by
the garden, and from thence into the uncleared forest, where a faint
track wandered in and out among the great, tall, pillar-like trunks
whose tops shut out the light of day, all but where at intervals what
seemed to us like rays of golden dust, or there were silvery-looking
lines of finest cobweb stretching from far on high, but which proved to
be only delicate threads of sunshine which had pierced the great canopy
of leaves.
Beyond this I knew that there was an opening where all was warm and
glowing that was subdued and gloomy now, and it was not long before I
saw, without a doubt, that Morgan was making for this clearing, and in
all probability for one of the patches of stony ground that lay full in
the sunshine, baked and hot.
It was very cool and silent in among the trees, whose great trunks
towered up so high, and though we could hear a chirp now and then far
above us in the leaves, all was as still as possible, not so much as a
beetle or fly breaking the silence with its hum.
There was the opening at last, and as we neared it, the tree-trunks
stood out like great black columns against the warm golden light.
Morgan held up his hand, and for the moment I felt as if we were going
to do something very treacherous, till I recalled reading about some one
having died twenty minutes after the bite of one of these snakes, and
that made me feel more merciless, as I followed my leader, who kept
picking his way, so that his feet should not light upon some dead twig
which would give forth a snap.
The next minute we were out in the sunshine, and here Morgan stopped for
me to overtake him, when he placed his lips close to my ear, and
whispered--
"I'd been over to the bathing-pool to get some o' that white sand out of
the bottom, when as I come back, I see my gentleman coiled up fast
asleep. He's over yonder, just this side of the pine-trees, left of
that big sugar-loaf--the light-green one."
He pointed to a tall cone-like cypress, and I felt that I knew the
rough, bare, stony place exactly.
"Ready?" he whispered again.