FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114  
115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   >>   >|  
tles stood up in front of us. Lucien and Sumichrast sat down, while the Indian and I, by means of our _machetes_, opened out a narrow path; at last we reached again the timber land, so we had now almost got out of our difficulties. The stalks of the nettles, cut off a few inches above the ground, served to give firmness to our footing. But l'Encuerado, always too confident, tripped up, and his right cheek was brushed by some of their leaves; it only needed this to render him perfectly unrecognizable. Although I pitied him, I could not help smiling at the grimaces produced on his sun-burnt visage by the painful stings. Even Sumichrast, when looking at him, forgot his own sufferings. Under a cypress, we observed five or six snakes, each about a yard and a half long. One, more courageous than the others, remained under the trees and steadily surveyed our party. Gringalet, furious in the extreme, barked and jumped all round the reptile, which, raising its head from the centre of the coil formed by its body, shot out its tongue. Its skin was of a golden yellow, dotted with green spots, and streaked by two almost imperceptible black lines. L'Encuerado called in the dog; the snake then coiled itself up, slowly turning its head in every direction, as if to select the best direction for retreat. Suddenly it unrolled its whole length, exposing to our view an unfortunate sparrow, which was still breathing. Leaving it unmolested, after a few minutes' delay it seized its victim by the head, by degrees the little feathered innocent disappeared, and the snake remained motionless as though exhausted by the exertion. "Is it a rattle-snake?" asked Lucien astonished. "No; it is a common snake--that is, a reptile which is not venomous. This one is called by the Indians the _Yellow-snake_, and, from ignorance, they are in very great dread of them. It is in the habit of climbing trees with great activity, and hunts birds. The statues of the Aztec god of war, the terrible Huitzilipochtli, to whom thousands of men were offered as living sacrifices, had their foreheads bound with a golden snake, and we have every reason to believe that the reptile which we have just seen is that which the Indians thus honored." A little farther on, Lucien fancied that he saw, stretched out upon the grass, a long white snake. Gringalet, much bolder than usual, seized the reptile in his mouth and brought it to us. But it was nothing but a serpent's skin
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114  
115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

reptile

 

Lucien

 

remained

 

Gringalet

 

seized

 
Encuerado
 

Indians

 

golden

 

called

 
Sumichrast

direction

 
rattle
 

disappeared

 

minutes

 

innocent

 

exertion

 

victim

 

feathered

 

motionless

 

exhausted


degrees

 

select

 

retreat

 

turning

 

slowly

 

coiled

 

Suddenly

 

unrolled

 

sparrow

 

breathing


Leaving

 
unmolested
 

unfortunate

 

length

 

exposing

 
astonished
 

honored

 

fancied

 

farther

 

sacrifices


living

 

foreheads

 

reason

 

brought

 

serpent

 

bolder

 
stretched
 

offered

 

ignorance

 

Yellow