"You go and kill it!"
"I haven't anything."
"Neither have I."
"Throw a book at it," suggested Tom, and let fly his Cæsar. His aim was good and the snake was hit in the neck and tumbled to the floor. Then the boys threw books, rulers and inkwells at the reptile, and it was driven into a corner. Dick took up a big geography, let it fall on top of the snake, and stood on it. The reptile squirmed, but could not get away, and in a few seconds more it was killed.
"That's the end of that snake," said Sam, breathing a sigh of relief. "And I am mighty glad of it."
"I am poisoned! I am poisoned!" screamed Nick Pell. "See, my hand is swelling up already!"
"Do you think he was really bitten?" whispered Tom.
"It looks like it," answered Dick. "Too bad—if the snake really was poisonous."
By this time Captain Putnam had come in. He glanced at the dead snake and gave a start.
"Did that thing bite you, Pell?" he questioned.