“One that would turn you black and dead you in five minutes?” said Dimples. It was always the most awful thing that appealed to Dimples.

“Yes, I have seen some beastly creatures. Once in the Sudan I was dozing on the sand when I opened my eyes and there was a horrid creature like a big slug with horns, short and thick, about a foot long, moving away in front of me.”

“What was it, Daddy?” Six eager eyes were turned up to him.

“It was a death-adder. I expect that would dead you in five minutes, Dimples, if it got a bite at you.”

“Did you kill it?”

“No; it was gone before I could get to it.”

“Which is the horridest, Daddy—a snake or a shark?”

“I’m not very fond of either!”

“Did you ever see a man eaten by sharks?”

“No, dear, but I was not so far off being eaten myself.”