hat I could see the
soft down upon her lip playing under his breath!

He now commenced slowly vibrating from side to side, while a low,
hissing sound proceeded from his open jaws. His horns projected out,
adding to the hideousness of his appearance; and at intervals his forked
tongue shot forth, glancing in the sun like a purple diamond.

He appeared to be gloating over his victim, in the act of charming her
to death. I even fancied that her lips moved, and her head began to
stir backward and forward, following the oscillations of the reptile.

All this I witnessed without the power to move. My soul as well as my
body was chained; but, even had I been free, I could have offered no
help. I knew that the only hope of her safety lay in silence. Unless
disturbed and angered, the snake might not bite; but was he not at that
moment distilling some secret venom upon her lips?

"Oh, Heaven!" I gasped out, in the intensity of my fears, "is this the
fiend himself? She moves!--now he will strike! Not yet--she is still
again. Now--now!--mercy! she trembles!--the hammock shakes--she is
quivering under the fascin-- Ha!"

A shot rang from the walls--the snake suddenly jerked back his head--his
rings flew out, and he fell to the earth, writhing as if in pain!

The girls started with a scream, and sprang simultaneously from their
hammocks.

Grasping each other by the hand, with terrified looks they rushed from
the spot and disappeared.

Several men ran up, ending the snake with their sabres. One of them
stooped, and examining the carcase of the dead reptile, exclaimed:

"_Carai_! there is a hole in his head--he has been shot!"

A moment after, half a dozen of the guerilleros burst open the door and
rushed in, crying out as they entered:

"_Quien tira_?" (Who fired?)

"What do you mean?" angrily asked Raoul, who had been in ill-humour ever
since the guerillero had refused him a draught of water.

"I ask you who fired the shot?" repeated the man.

"Fired the shot!" echoed Raoul, knowing nothing of what had occurred
outside. "We look like firing a shot, don't we? If I possessed that
power, my gay friend, the first use I should make of it would be to send
a bullet through that clumsy skull of yours."

"_Santissima_!" ejaculated the Mexican, with a look of astonishment.
"It could not be these--they are all tied!"

And the Mexicans passed out again, leaving us to our reflections.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

TH