terrupting him; "have the vipers a
king?" "As sure as we have," said the old man, "as sure as we have King
George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king to rule over them."
"And where did you see him?" said I. "I will tell you," said the old
man, "though I don't like talking about the matter. It may be about
seven years ago that I happened to be far down yonder to the west, on the
other side of England, nearly two hundred miles from here, following my
business. It was a very sultry day, I remember, and I had been out
several hours catching creatures. It might be about three o'clock in the
afternoon, when I found myself on some heathy land near the sea, on the
ridge of a hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as the sea, was
heath; but on the top there was arable ground, which had been planted,
and from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or barley, I know not
which--but I remember that the ground was covered with stubble. Well,
about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the heat of the day
and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I felt very tired;
so I determined to have a sleep, and I laid myself down, my head just on
the ridge of the hill, towards the field, and my body over the side down
amongst the heath; my bag, which was nearly filled with creatures, lay at
a little distance from my face; the creatures were struggling in it, I
remember, and I thought to myself, how much more comfortably off I was
than they; I was taking my ease on the nice open hill, cooled with the
breezes, whilst they were in the nasty close bag, coiling about one
another, and breaking their very hearts, all to no purpose; and I felt
quite comfortable and happy in the thought, and little by little closed
my eyes, and fell into the sweetest snooze that ever I was in in all my
life; and there I lay over the hill's side, with my head half in the
field, I don't know how long, all dead asleep. At last it seemed to me
that I heard a noise in my sleep, something like a thing moving, very
faint, however, far away; then it died, and then it came again upon my
ear as I slept, and now it appeared almost as if I heard crackle,
crackle; then it died again, or I became yet more dead asleep than
before, I know not which, but I certainly lay some time without hearing
it. All of a sudden I became awake, and there was I, on the ridge of the
hill, with my cheek on the ground towards the stubble, with a noise in my
ear