"Nonsense! Be a man. I am not going to hurt you. Did either of you
get a good sight of the snake?"

"I did, sir," said Buck, "and it must have been a poisonous one."

"Why must it?" said the doctor sharply.

"Because the niggers run away as soon as they saw it, sir," said Dan.
"Look at them up yonder;" and he pointed to where the two blacks were
perched on the top of the wall. "They know, sir."

"Oh, yes, they know a great deal," said the doctor, shortly, as he
busied himself pressing the sides of a little speck of a wound which
pierced the boy's skin, now with one nail, now with both at the same
time, and making Mark wince.

"You are hurting him a good deal," said Sir James.

"Do him good," said the doctor, shortly, "and take off the faintness.
Now, Buck, I want to make sure," continued the doctor, who from the
smattering of knowledge he had obtained from reading was looked up to by
everyone present as being master of the situation in the emergency.
"What sort of a head had the snake?"

"Nasty-looking head, sir! and it kept sticking out its sting with two
pyntes to it."

"Pooh!" ejaculated the doctor, as he busied himself over the tiny
puncture. "But was it a broad spade-shaped head?"

"Spade-shaped, sir? What, square? Oh, no, it warn't that."

"Bah!" ejaculated the doctor. "I meant spade-shaped--the spade that you
see on a pack of cards."

"I couldn't be sure, sir. It was so quick, you see. But I should say
it was more like a diamond."

"Beg pardon, sir," cried Dan; "I think that the place ought to be
sucked. I'll do it."

"Thanks. Good lad," said the doctor. "You are quite right;" and he
gave the little sailor a quick nod as he took the advice himself, held
Mark's index finger to his lips, and drew hard at the tiny puncture,
trying to draw out any noxious matter that might have been left in the
wound, and removing the finger from his lips from time to time to rid
his mouth of any poison.

"Here, you, Dean," he said, upon one of these occasions, "slip that silk
handkerchief from your neck, twist it a little, and now tie it round his
arm just above the elbow. That's right--no, no, don't play with it--tie
it as tightly as you can--never mind hurting him. I want to stop the
circulation."

He placed his lips to the wound again and drew hard; then speaking once
more--

"Harder. Now, you, Sir James; you are stronger. Tighten the ligature
as much as you can. You, Dean, put your hand