"Oh no, sir, not a bit; but—"
Mr. Kenyon shrugged his shoulders and strode into the house, while the two lads burst out laughing.
"I say, Mike, you are a brave one!" cried Harry.
"Now, look here," cried the man, "don't you go making the same mistake as the master. I'm not a bit afraid."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Phra.
"No, sir," said the man angrily; "not a bit afraid; but I've got a mother in England, and I don't like to be rash."
"You never are, Mike."
"No, sir, and I won't be. I'm sure every one ought to look before he leaps when it's over a dangerous place, and—Ah! look out; here he comes."
There was a yell, too, from Sree and his two men, who dashed forward together, as all at once the great serpent seemed to dart suddenly from under a fold of the palm-leaf thatch, make an effort to glide along the slope from the neighbourhood of those who were waiting for it, and then failing from the steepness of the incline, rolled over and over, writhing and twining, towards the edge where the bamboo supports formed the pillars of the verandah.
"Here, hi! stop!" roared the boys; but it was all in vain, for the excited Siamese men were deaf to everything save their own impulses, which prompted them to recover the escaped prize, and obtain their promised reward.