“Not by a sting, my man,” said the doctor, “but by a bite from some small serpent that had poison fangs.”
“Then don’t no snakes have stings in their tails, sir?”
“No, my man; you must turn to insects or scorpions for dangers of that class.”
“Ho!” said Dan thoughtfully, as he stood looking down at the slowly heaving length at his feet. “Well, I never knowed that before. But if I had ha’ knowed that this ’ere customer had got his nest in among them ol’ stones just where I was digging I should have mutinied against orders and sent old Buck. Beg pardon, sir, but could you say if this ’ere was a cock or a hen?”
“No, I couldn’t,” said the doctor, laughing. “Why do you ask?”
“I was only wondering, sir, whether him or she had a messmate down in the hole.”
“You may take it for granted that if that serpent had a companion it has escaped by now.”
“Well, that’s a comfort, sir.”
“Oh, I see,” said the doctor, with a peculiar look at the boys; “you were thinking that we were wasting a good deal of time over this business instead of digging down.”
“That I warn’t, sir,” said the sailor indignantly; and then catching the twinkle in the doctor’s eye, he winked at him in return. “I wouldn’t be so unfair towards my messmates, sir,” he hastened to say. “There’s Buck Denham been for ever so long wanting to handle the shovel, and I was just a-going to say it would rest me a bit to take a turn with the basket when my gentleman here said he was at home. Now, Buck, mate, let’s get on.”