e than he had imagined, with
flattish head, and very large scales, lying loosely over one another--
quite a natural history prize, he felt.

They were moments of critical anxiety, as he softly extended his hand,
balancing himself firmly, and holding his breath, while he hesitated for
a moment as to whether he should trust to the grass giving way as he
snatched at the body, or seize the reptile by the head and neck, and so
make sure.

He had met with so many disappointments that he determined upon the
latter, and making a quick dart down with his hand, he seized the little
creature by the neck and head, grasping it tightly, and snatching it up,
to find to his horror that he had been deceived by the similarity of the
reptile's head, and instead of catching a lizard he had seized a little
serpent about eighteen inches long, whose head he felt moving within his
hand, while the body, which was flat and thick for the length, wound
tightly round his wrist, and compressed it with more force than could
have been expected from so small a creature.

He had uttered a shout of triumph as he caught his prize, but his voice
died out upon his lips, his blood seemed to rush to his heart, and a
horrible sensation of fear oppressed him, and made the cold dank
perspiration ooze out upon his brow.

For he knew as well as if he had been told that he had caught up one of
the dangerous serpents of the land.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

HOW TO DEAL WITH AN ASP.

For some minutes Lawrence Grange stood motionless as if turned to stone,
and though the sun was shining down with tremendous power, he felt cold
to a degree. His eyes were fixed upon the scaly creature which he held
out at arm's length, and he could neither withdraw them nor move his
arm, while the reptile twined and heaved and undulated in its efforts to
withdraw its head from the tightly closed hand.

The boy could think little, and yet, strange as it may sound, he thought
a great deal. But it was of people who had been bitten by reptiles of
this kind, and who had died in a few minutes or an hour or two at most.
He could not think of the best means of disembarrassing himself of the
deadly creature. He could do nothing but stand with his eyes fixed upon
the writhing beast.

It was an asp. He knew it was from the descriptions he had read of such
creatures, and then the desire to throw it off--as far as he could, came
over him, and his nerve began to return.

But only for