“Don’t hurt it,” said Philip. “Don’t poke the stick in.”
“Oh! I shan’t hurt anything,” said Harry brusquely. “Do you think I don’t know what I’m about? I’m only going to push it in a little way to see if there is a nest, and then I shall—”
“Ciss-s-s-s-s-s-s-s,” said something very sharply from the bottom of the hole, and back darted Harry, stick and all, as though he had been shot.
“Why, it’s a snake,” said Philip.
“How could a snake get there?” said Harry, looking rather discomposed.
“There must have been an egg laid in the hole,” said Fred; offering, as he thought, a very clever solution of the difficulty.
“Well, but how did the egg get there?” said Harry.
“Why, it was laid there, of course,” said Fred.
“Well, but,” said Philip, “if an egg could be laid there, a snake could have got there; and I don’t believe the English snakes could climb up the bark of a tree; and, besides, if there was one egg there would be more, for snakes’ eggs are all joined together like French rolls at the baker’s shop; and then there would have been a whole lot of snakes in the hole.”
“Perhaps there is a whole party of them there now,” said Fred. “I wish we could split the tree open. I shan’t eat any more cherries; they smell snaky.”