ong, working slowly down a dead
log towards the water. Springing to his feet on the bow, he struck down
with his weapon, directing the fork at the neck of the reptile. The
outside of the log was nothing but punk, or the operation would have
been a failure. As it was, the two points of the implement sunk into the
wood, and the snake was pinned in the opening at the end of the stick.

"What have you got there, Mr. Belgrave?" asked Achang, hurrying to the
side of the operator.

"A snake; do you know him?" demanded Louis, as the reptile struggled to
escape.

"I saw one like it years ago;" and he gave a long Dyak name to it which
the others did not understand. "Wait a minute or two, and I will bring
him on board for you."

"I don't know that we want him on board," added Louis.

"He is not poison, and he won't hurt you," said the Bornean, as he made
a slip-noose at the end of a piece of cord.

Hanging over the bow, he passed the noose over the head of the snake,
and hauled it taut, and then made the end he held fast to the boat.
Louis lifted his implement from the neck of the snake, and he squirmed
and wriggled as though he "meant business." Achang leaped to the shore,
and seizing the serpent by the tail, tossed him into the boat. He struck
on one of the cushions, and the cord prevented him from going any
farther.

Scott and Morris had just reached the fore cabin at this moment, and
they started back as though they had been bitten by the snake. His head,
tail, and belly were bright red, with white stripes upon a dark ground
along his back and sides. No one but Achang had ever seen such a
serpent, even in a museum. His snakeship was disposed to make himself
comfortable on the cushion, and the Bornean loosed the cord around his
neck.

"I saw a small snake, not more than two feet long, swimming near the
shore of Lake Cobbosseecontee, in Maine, that had nearly all the colors
of the rainbow in his skin," said Morris. "I tried to knock him over
with my fishing-rod, and catch him; but I failed. I told the people
where we boarded about him, but no one had ever seen a snake like him."

"There are plenty of such snakes in South America, some that are not
poisonous, which the native women tame and wear as necklaces," added
Louis.

"Well, what are you going to do with him?" asked Captain Scott. "I think
you had better kill him, and throw him into the river, pretty as he is.
He isn't a very desirable fellow to have as a compa