She could scarcely realize her narrow escape when Leonidas stood by her side. “How did you do it?” she said eagerly.
“With a rattler!” said the boy gravely.
“With a what?”
“A rattlesnake—pizen snake, you know.”
“A rattlesnake?” she said, staring at Leonidas with a quick snatching away of her skirts.
The boy, who seemed to have forgotten her in his other abstraction of adventure, now turned quickly, with devoted eyes and a reassuring smile.
“Yes; but I wouldn't let him hurt you,” he said gently.
“But what did you DO?”
He looked at her curiously. “You won't be frightened if I show you?” he said doubtfully. “There's nothin' to be afeerd of s'long as you're with me,” he added proudly.
“Yes—that is”—she stammered, and then, her curiosity getting the better of her fear, she added in a whisper: “Show me quick!”