"But you'd run too, wouldn't you, father?"
"Not if the snake threw one of its coils round me."
"Then I suppose I shall have to stay," said Harry slowly.
"Perhaps it would be as well," said Mr. Kenyon drily—"You won't run, will you?"
The young Siamese laughed merrily, and showed his white teeth.
"I don't know," he said; "I'm afraid I should. Snakes are so strong, and they bite. I think it would be best to go with Harry."
The hunter said something very humbly in the native tongue.
"He says that he and his men would hold tight on to the snake if it were angry, and shut it up again; but I don't believe they could. They would all run away too."
"I don't think there is any danger," said Mr. Kenyon gravely. "These things always try to escape back to the jungle, and they are, I believe, more frightened of us than we are of them. We'll have a look at the creature, then, out here, for I have no suitable place for it at present."
"You could turn the birds out of the little aviary and let it loose there, father."