ith his club, and finally
indulging in a war-dance as he jumped round, dragging the imaginary
serpent after him, pretending all the while that it was very heavy,
before stooping down to smell it, making a grimace, and then throwing
down the rope, which he pretended to bury in the sand.

"It's all right, Nat. He understands, and has evidently encountered big
snakes. Now, then, to show him our enemy, for he will fight."

My uncle was right, for it was evident that Ebo quite understood us and
meant fighting, for, sticking his spear in the ground, he made signs to
me that I should lend him my hunting-knife, which I at once did, and
laughing and chattering away he looked about him a little, and then
proceeded to cut down a sapling tree about as thick as his arm, from
whose trunk he selected a piece a couple of feet in length and carefully
trimmed it into a formidable club with a smooth, small handle, while he
left the thick end jagged with the ugly places from which he had cut the
branches.

He was not long in getting it into shape, and no sooner had he satisfied
himself with his work than he returned my hunting-knife, making believe
that he was horribly afraid lest it should cut off his head, and then
proceeded to attack an imaginary serpent that was trying to escape
through the bushes. Now he was trying to strike it, now retreating, now
making blows at it upon the ground, now in the air, ending by dropping
his club and seizing the neck of the creature, which he pretended had
coiled round him; now he was down upon one knee, now overthrown and
rolling over and over in a fierce struggle; but at last his acting came
to a conclusion by his striking the reptile's head against a tree,
kicking off an imaginary coil from his leg, and strutting about proudly
to show how he had conquered.

The most surprising part of the affair was that he did not seem to be in
the slightest degree exhausted by his efforts, but picked up his club
and began chattering to us, and pointing to the marsh as if asking us to
come on.

"Well, Nat," said my uncle, "if he will only fight half as well as that
when we encounter the serpent, there ought to be nothing to fear. We
ought to master the brute easily."

"Would such a serpent be very strong, uncle?" I asked.

"Wonderfully strong," he replied. "Their muscles are tremendously
powerful. See what strength anything of similar form possesses; an eel,
for instance."

"Yes, uncle," I said thoug