"Jest couldn't he? I'll take you down to the marsh some day an' show you how quick he kin kill a womper."
"Gollies! Is that so? Well he couldn't hurt the black snake; that's one sure thing."
"No, it ain't, 'cause he kin kill a black snake a sight easier than he kin a womper, an' I'll tell you why. Black-snakes have got teeth. They bite. But their backbone is easy broke. A womper hasn't any teeth. He strikes with his bony nose. You know what one of them snakes kin do? You saw that big one, down in Patterson's swamp lay open Moll's face with one slash. They're thick necked, an' take a lot of killin'. This crow kin kill a black-snake with one slash of his bill. He has to choke the womper to death."
Maurice scratched his head thoughtfully. "Say, you know a lot about snakes an' things, don't you?" he said admiringly.
"Maybe I do, but I ain't tellin' all I know," said Billy. "What's the good? Nobody 'ud believe me."
"What you mean, believe you?"
"Why, if I said I saw a fight between a little brown water-snake no bigger'n a garter snake, an' a fish-hawk, an' the snake licked the hawk, d'ye s'pose anyone 'ud believe that?"
"I dunno. Maybe, an' maybe not."
"Supposin' I said the snake killed the hawk?"
"Oh, gee whitticker! nobody 'ud believe that, Bill."