Setting his teeth, Sam bent down and made a reach
for the slippery thing, and caught it tight.
With a hiss the snake raised its head, its diamond-like eyes
shining like twin stars.
"You'll be poisoned!" shrieked Fred, when whack I Sam gave the
body of the reptile a swing and brought the head down with great
force on the edge of the rock.
One blow was enough, for the head was mashed flat. Then Sam threw
the body into the bushes, there to quiver and twist for several
hours to come, although life was extinct.
Fred was as white as a sheet as he leaped to the ground. "I
couldn't have done that for a million dollars!" he declared.
"What a splendid nerve you have, Sam"
"My father told me how to catch a snake in that way," exclaimed
Sam. "But hurry, or the hounds will overtake us. I can hear them
coming."
"Your father must have been equally brave, then," answered Fred,
as they started off on, a run. "By the way, have you heard
anything of him yet?"
"Not a word, Fred."
"Don't it make you feel bad at times?"
"Does it, Fred! Why, some nights I can't go to sleep for thinking
of where he may be dead in the heart of Africa, or perhaps a
captive of some savage tribe.
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