“Safe! I shouldn’t like to risk going near him.”
“But you might; he’s held fast by that tail of his, and all he could do would be to thrash you with his long body.”
“And bite,” said Chris.
“Nay; his biting would go for nothing now.”
“What about his fangs?”
“Snapped off like points of glass. They were sharp enough and poisonous enough, but bound to say the poison’s all out on the stone, along with the teeth. Razors are very sharp and would make horrible cuts, but not after you’d been chopping a piece of stone with them like that, eh, doctor?”
“I think you are right, Griggs,” said the doctor, who seemed fascinated by the reptile’s impotent struggles.
“Well, you are a sneak,” cried Griggs. “Gahn with you! I’d put my tail between my legs if I were you, only you haven’t got none. That’s right; rattle away. I say, I hope he hasn’t gone to fetch a lot of his mates to pitch into us.”
“That’s not likely,” said the doctor, as he watched the bigger and free snake gliding swiftly away, heedless of the struggles of its companion, which was evidently growing exhausted by its furious efforts to release the lower portion of its body.
“What are you going to do?” said the doctor quickly, as Griggs handed him his horse’s rein again.