“Well, I don’t see anything to laugh at,” said Dean, and he looked rather discomfited, while the doctor went on, “Beautifully marked. Not unlike the Australian carpet snake; but quite spoiled as a specimen.”
“Not a nice thing to take home, doctor,” said Mark.
“The skin would not have been very heavy,” said the doctor, smiling.
“Well, no,” said Mark. “I say, Dean, carpet snake! How many skins would it take to make one carpet?”
“Beg pardon, sir,” said Dan; “think these ’ere have got any stings in their tails?”
“No. Why?”
“Because he managed to catch me a flip across the lynes, and I’ve got a sort of fancy that it’s beginning to prickle, though I can’t say as it warn’t a thorn.”
“Ha, ha!” laughed Mark.
“I don’t think about it, my lad,” said the doctor, “and you may just as well get rid of that popular fallacy.”
“But some of them do sting, sir,” said Buck, “because I did hear of a fellow being killed by one in a precious little time.”