"I've got yer, yer varmint!" exclaimed Dicky, stooping joyfully over the reptile.
But no sooner did he clutch it than over he went, head over heels, with a bellow of pain, at the same time dropping the "critter" as if it was a candent thunderbolt.
"Don't give it up, Dicky! At him again!" roared Tony through his laughter.
"Bravo! Buena!" exclaimed the señor.
Smarting at the merriment which his mishap occasioned, Dicky picked himself up in a rage and again grabbed the reptile, which was making tracks for the water. But again he was knocked over by the electric shock, and the eel made its escape to the water.
The discomfited eel-catcher regained his feet, and slowly returned to his mule.
"Where's your specimen?" I asked.
Everybody else had something similar to say.
"Blast ther critter!" said Dicky, sulkily. "I never heer'd of a snake as was stuffed with red-hot needles afore."
With no other incident worthy of recording, our party soon arrived at the comfortable ranch of Don Jose.