nation of fear and
venomous hate in loud hisses. John felt his position, as the beast in a
tortuous course slowly curled its body towards him, as being anything
but pleasant; and being only armed with an ordinary riding-whip,
considered that, if discretion was not the better part of valour, it was
certainly more conducive to his safety.

With this belief, and with his eyes fixed upon the reptile, he made a
retrograde movement to extricate himself from the unpleasantness of at
least his damp location; but he was not a little surprised to find the
snake approaching still nearer to him. This puzzled him exceedingly; he
could not understand the idea of a snake attacking a man, when there was
a chance open for it to escape; such a thing he had never heard of, and
had hitherto believed it never to have occurred. But such in this
instance was evidently (he thought) the intention of his opponent, or
why should it continue to diminish the distance between him and itself.
If John did not witness this diminution with alarm, he at least desired
to be better supplied with defence, and shouted to his companion to
procure a stout stick. Obtaining no reply, he cast a hasty glance over
his shoulder, to see what had become of the man; when the snake, taking
advantage of the momentary withdrawal of his eyes, made a rapid movement
towards him. This John instantly perceived, and believing the reptile
was determined to attack him, "he joined issue" at once, and gave a
furious cut at it with his whip. The brute, however, evaded the blow,
and once more erected itself in front of Ferguson, hissing its
malevolence almost in his very face. This movement decided its fate, for
with a motion as quick as thought he gave another cut with his whip;
which, with a whiz that discomposed the nerves of his horse, encircled
with its supple thong the extended neck of the reptile, and terminated
its existence by dislocation. He then effected another fulfilment of the
prognosticated command of an inscrutable divinity, by crushing its head
under his heel; when he was joined by his companion, who had been
searching for a weapon to aid in the strife. The snake thus destroyed
was of the brown species, and deadly venomous; it measured about six
feet, and, if it had been trodden upon by John Ferguson, would have in
all human probability saved us from the further pursuit of this
narrative. Its pertinacity in approaching to its destruction, we may
state, was owing to t