On to the Siwash 



wondered at the man s absorbed intensity in his 

 joke; and I was at great pains to smother in my 

 breast a violent burst of riotous merriment. Jones s 

 snores, however, were real enough, and this made 

 me enjoy the situation all the more; because if he 

 did not show a mild surprise when the catastrophe 

 fell, I would greatly miss my guess. I knew the 

 three wily conspirators were wide-awake. Suddenly 

 I felt a movement in the straw under me and a faint 

 rustling. It was so soft, so sinuous, that if I had 

 not known it was the lasso, I would assuredly have 

 been frightened. I gave a little jump, such as one 

 will make quickly in bed. Then the coil ran out 

 from under the straw. How subtly suggestive of a 

 snake! I made a slight outcry, a big jump, paused 

 a moment for effectiveness in which time Frank 

 forgot to snore then let out a tremendous yell, 

 grabbed my guns, sent twelve thundering shots 

 through the roof and pulled my lasso. 



Crash! the saddle came down, to be followed by 

 sounds not on Frank s programme and certainly not 

 calculated upon by me. But they were all the more 

 effective. I gathered that Lawson, who was not in 

 the secret, and who was a nightmare sort of sleeper 

 anyway, had knocked over Jim s table, with its array 

 of pots and pans and then, unfortunately for Jones, 

 had kicked that innocent person in the stomach. 



197 



