More lights were lit, and Captain Putnam went off to get a shotgun.
"If I catch sight of it, I'll blow it to pieces," he said to George Strong.
A long search followed, and then came a sudden cry from a corner of the dormitory.
"There he is!"
"Shoot him, Captain Putnam!"
The master of the Hall took aim and came up slowly. Then he suddenly dropped the barrel of his shotgun, stepped forward, and took hold of the snake by the tail.
"It's a stuffed snake," he said. "It belongs in the case in the laboratory."
"A stuffed snake?" queried Tad Sobber, and when he realized the truth he was the maddest boy in that school.
"See here," said the master of the Hall, turning to Dick. "Was this what you saw last night?"
"No, sir," was the prompt reply. "What we saw was a real, live snake."