"Lord save us! There's a python got the yaller pullet under the house."
"Python!" cried Selwyn, clapping hands to the arms of his chair. "What size?"
"Ah! Like that!" Mrs. Nankervis threw her arms out right and left. "Twenty foot! Thirty foot!"
Selwyn scrambled to his feet. "What magnificent luck!"
"It don't go twenty foot, nor half it," said Neville, feeling for his stick. "The small ones turn up now and then. The big fellows sit tight in the bush. The pullet's gone. That's a pity. I reckoned on her turning out a good layer."
There was a pushing back of chairs. Somebody took the lanterns from the wall. Selwyn, Mrs. Nankervis and the dogs went through the door at the one moment. The rest of the company followed at their heels.
But, beyond the light thrown by the lanterns, the night showed very black, and the hurry of the party abated. The old man began to chuckle from the rear. "Go ahead," he said. "I can see satisfactory from here. You have got a lantern, Mr. Selwyn. Ye can get under the house. Put the lantern round about the piles first. Unless the snake is half way to Morning Springs, I reckon it's better to take the first look at him from the distance. Afterwards ye can wear him for a comforter round your neck. A-huh-huh-huh!"
"Hilton, I entreat you to moderate your excitement and consider what you are about. I don't know whether I am on my crown or my toes."
Selwyn trembled with anticipation. The cigar did a step-dance between his teeth. He seemed to grow lean before the eyes of the company. He held forward the lantern and re-gripped his stick. Step by step he advanced among the piles holding up the house. Bring all your eyes to look. The hunter has gone forth to slay. Pace by pace he made his ground. Inch by inch he obtained a more cunning hold of his staff. Gripper, the terrier, wrinkled at the nose and very stiff at tail, followed him to the field of battle; but Scabbyback the ancient pointer scratched in the shadows as though digging out the very sea-serpent itself.