ments I could not eat for thinking of
the serpent. My fresh young appetite asserted itself though soon after,
and, forgetting the danger to come, I made one of the most delicious of
meals.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

MANY FEET OF UNPLEASANTRY.

It was only while I was scraping out the last of the delicate cream from
the inside of a huge cocoa-nut that I recalled the task we had to come,
and a curious shiver ran through me as I glanced in the direction of the
swamp where, nearly a mile away, the reptile lay.

Ebo knew nothing about it as yet, and I hardly conceived how he would be
made to understand what we had seen.

"Do you think he will be ready to help kill the serpent, uncle?" I
said, after waiting for some time to see if he would say anything about
the attack.

"I hardly know, Nat," he replied cheerily; "but we'll soon try him. By
the way, use the cartridges with the largest kind of shot, for we must
make up for this morning's mistakes. Here, Ebo, we've seen a snake," he
said.

"Ung-kul, Nat-mi-boi. Hal-lo, hal-lo hal-lo!" replied Ebo, laughing
merrily, and showing his white teeth.

"We shall not get at his understanding like that," said my uncle
quietly; and he sat thinking for a moment.

"Shall I try and draw a snake, uncle?" I said.

"To be sure, Nat," he replied, laughing; "but where are paper, pencil,
or chalk? Stop a minute--I have it."

We generally carried a stout piece of cord with us, ready for any
emergency, and this cord, about ten yards long and a little thicker than
clothes-line, my uncle now untwisted from his waist, where he had worn
it like a belt, and calling Ebo's attention to it he laid it out upon
the ground. Then holding one end he made it wave about and crawl and
curve and twine, ending by knotting it up in a heap and laying the end
carefully down as if it were a serpent asleep.

Ebo watched the process attentively, at first seriously and then as if
delighted, clapping his hands, dancing, and chattering away as if
telling my uncle how clever he was.

"But that does not show him what we want, uncle," I said.

"Well, then, you try."

I took up the rope, made it undulate a little, and then as Ebo looked on
I gave it a quick twist and wound it round him, pretending to make the
end bite.

He took to it directly, pretending that the reptile was crushing him,
fighting his way free of the folds, picking up his club and attacking it
in turn, beating the make-believe head w