“Of course it will shoot; and it’s loaded now, so please do be careful. Here, I’ll show you how it works—see, you open it this way, and here’s the way to empty the shells out—you see there are six—this revolves so that when you’ve shot one the next one moves into place all ready; it’s quite as deadly as a big one, I assure you. Do you think you’ll feel quite safe with this?”
“It isn’t myself I want to protect,” she answered, and just then, she saw Prince Aglipogue returning, and some instinct prompted her to take the gun from his hands and put it back in its case and conceal it behind her. She need not have concealed it, for Prince Aglipogue was in no mood to observe details. His oily, black eyes were standing out in his head and his face had turned a sickly green. His three chins seemed to be trembling with fright.
“That nigger of Gloria’s; he’s in the baggage car with a snake—a snake as big as”—he threw out his fat arms as if he could think of no word to describe the size of the snake. His voice was a thin whisper. “You must the conductor tell—it is not allowed. They do not know the trunk’s contents—I tell you I am speaking truth—a snake—as big as the engine—will you do nothing?” He grasped Terry’s shoulder and shook him.
“It’s all right. We know all about it. Miss Mayfield knew he was bringing it. He uses it in his vaudeville stunts.”
“I tell you I will not go on—to travel with a snake—it is horrible.”
“He’s always had it,” soothed Terry. “It was in the house on Gramercy Square and never came out and bit any one. I guess you’re safe.”
“If I had known——” He shuddered through all his fat frame and rolled his eyes upward.
“How is he taking it?” asked Terry. “It’s bad enough to travel with a pet dog, but what one does with a pet snake I don’t know, and I’ve been curious.”
Prince Aglipogue, frightened into friendliness, broke into a torrent of words from which they gathered that George had the snake in a trunk, the sides of which were warmed by electricity; that the train officials had no idea of the contents of the trunk, that George had gained access to the baggage car though it was against the rules, and that the Prince, being still worried about his luggage, though he had seen it safely aboard, had claimed the right to follow him there and had found George kneeling beside the opened trunk, from which the snake, artificially warmed to activity, was rearing a head which the Prince protested was as large as that of a cow. As he saw that his hearers were unmoved and that they had known about the snake and seemed to consider it quite ordinary, he was a bit ashamed of his agitation, though by no means convinced that there was no cause for it.
“It’s a harmless variety,” Terry assured him. “If it were dangerous Gloria wouldn’t have allowed George to keep it in the house.”