“Stand back, Ebo,” cried my uncle, waving the black away, and then, as Ebo leaped back, preparing to fire. But he lowered his gun as I came up. “No,” he said, “you shall give him the coup de grace, Nat;” and feeling no fear now I finished the loading of my gun and went in among the trees.
“Fire at its head, Nat,” cried my uncle; but it was not easy to see it, for the creature kept on twining about in a wonderfully rapid way; but at last I caught it as the head came from behind a tree trunk, fired, and the monster leaped from the ground and fell back in a long straight line, perfectly motionless, till Ebo darted in to give it a final thump with his club, when, to my astonishment, the blow seemed to electrify the creature, which drew itself up into a series of waves, and kept on throbbing as it were from end to end.
“Shall I fire again, uncle?” I said excitedly.
“No, Nat,” he replied; “it would only be slaying the slain. Bravo, my boy! you did capitally.”
“But I ran away at first, uncle,” I said sorrowfully. “I did not stop when the serpent first came out.”
“It was enough to make a Saint George run away from such a dragon, Nat,” he said laughing. “I could not have believed such a serpent existed in these isles. Let’s see how long he is.”
“Thirty feet, uncle,” I cried excitedly.
“Your eyes magnify this morning, Nat,” he said merrily. “No, my boy,” he continued, after pacing along by the writhing creature’s side; “that serpent is barely fourteen feet long, but it is wonderfully thick for its size, and it proves that there must be animals here such as would form its prey.”
“Shall you have it skinned, uncle?” I asked.