In a moment she was in his arms, wide-awake and frightened; but the creeping creature the Indian boy had seen with its head erect and fangs exposed had vanished in the bushes, despoiled of its prey. Another instant, and they all had surrounded the little girl. Alarmed by Walter's shriek, for he also had seen the snake, they had run to the spot.
When everyone had grown calm again, they looked about for Francisco. While they were wondering where he had gone and why, the boy came crashing through the brushwood, carrying upon a stout stick a rattlesnake more than six feet long.
[F] Enchanted.
CHAPTER X.
THE ALMIRANTES.
When Nellie saw the reptile she grew white from fear and aversion.
"Oh, take it away! take it away!" she cried. "I can't bear to look at it."
Francisco flung it into the bushes.
"Some would stuff it and keep it," he said. "And some make belts of it. But you shall never see it again, my good little Nellie, if you do not wish." Later he told Walter that he would get the snake again, hide it in the wagon when the child was not looking, and sell it to someone at the Springs. It was unusually large and venomous, and loud were the thanks Francisco received on all sides for the rescue.