370 THE ADVENTURES OF 



" It is a female sitting on her eggs ; but look at this !" 



" Eight, ten, twelve little ones ! How pretty they are ! 

 One might well fancy that they were being led by the big 

 earwig, which keeps turning round to them. There ! now 

 she has stopped, and the little ones are crawling all round 

 her." 



I could hardly get Lucien away from his interesting 

 study ; but the hissing of a snake which I turned out from 

 under a stone soon brought the boy to me. 1 caught hold 

 of the reptile, which rolled itself with some force round my 

 arm. The boy, quite speechless with surprise, looked anx- 

 iously at me. 



" Oh father !" exclaimed he in terror, running towards me. 



" Don't be alarmed ; this reptile has no fangs, and it is 

 so small I can handle it quite safely." 



" But it will hurt you with its sting." 



" It has no sting ; there is no danger to be feared from 

 its tongue. Here, you take hold of it." 



The boy hesitated at first, but gradually growing bolder, 

 allowed the snake to wind round his arm. When close by 

 the fire, he held it out to PEncuerado, who shrank back ; 

 for he fully believed all reptiles to be venomous. Lucien 

 in vain urged him to handle it. 



"I shan't mind touching it," he said, "when you have 

 told me the words you say to make yourself invulnerable." 



" I am no more invulnerable than you are," replied Lu- 

 cien, smiling. " This snake is quite harmless, and I should 

 never touch one without taking papa's advice, even if it ex- 

 actly resembled this." 



" And you didn't repeat any words ?" 



"No; papa had it in his hands, and it coiled round his 

 arm." 



"I understand, then," murmured the Indian; "it is the 

 serpent that is charmed." 



