“Oh, no!” cried the Dodo, “not for worlds. He is sure to be very sensitive on the point, and would doubtless resent it very much.”
“He ought to be made to sleep in another part of the train, or in a carriage by himself,” grumbled Dick, scrambling back to his berth just in time to meet Fidge, who was trying to get down at the risk of breaking his neck.
“Oh! Dick!” he cried, pointing to the further corner of the berth, “Look! Look! A snake!”
“What?” cried Marjorie, from below, with a little scream.
“A snake!” repeated Fidge. “Look, look, Dick!” he cried, pointing.
Dick looked in the direction indicated, and was horrified to see what he took to be a huge snake, slowly crawling over the partition which divided their berth from the next.
“Give me something to hit it with, quick!” he shouted, excitedly. And Marjorie, with another little frightened scream, handed him the Prehistoric Doctor’s umbrella, which was lying on the floor outside her berth.
Dick seized the umbrella, and, grasping it with both hands, aimed a mighty blow at what he took to be the snake.
An agonized scream from the next berth, and a hasty withdrawal of the snake, was followed by the appearance of the Palæotherium’s head over the top of the partition.
“Who did that?” he demanded, with tears in his eyes.