“Taubada, true you talk,” broke in Koppi Koko, who was squatting on the ground close to us, chewing betel-nut most contentedly. “That puri-puri man, he take him snake all the time ’long one bamboo, carry him along him chest.”
“That accounts for the milk of the cocoanut,” I said. “What a pair of babies to be scared by a stick with a snake in it, hopping about! Of course, the thing heard people and was trying to get loose.”
“Yes, and the snake—the cold snake—that was the touch of death last night—not?”
“Very nearly,” I said. “The general smash you made saved your life, Marky.”
“And the little beautiful, and the piece cut out of her belt—yes, now one sees all,” said the Marquis, musingly. “Flint, this is a devil of a country of yours; but, on my soul, it is interesting. What adventures!”
“I take no stock in adventures,” I said. “I’d rather keep out of them. But I reckon, somehow, there’s more ahead before we get that stone.”
93
III
THE EMPTY DIVING DRESS