CHAPTER XXVII. 



THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE. 



|R. GODKIN carefully examined the stockade to make sure the captives 

 were secure, when he rejoined his friends, highly pleased at the success that 

 had attended their efforts. He gave it as his belief that if the good fortune 

 continued for two or three weeks longer, the expedition would be ready to start on 

 its return to Port Natal, or, possibly, to some point on the western coast. 



But he reminded his friends that the work already done was but play compared 

 with that before them. Although they had had a memorable brush with a couple 

 of lions, not to mention the encounter with the leopards, there were far more serious 

 tasks in encountering the elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, " and," he added, 

 " possibly the gorillas." 



When he came to tell about the boa-constrictor discovered in the edge of the 

 jungle, waiting for prey, the boys were all eagerness to see the reptile, which the 

 director pronounced the largest of the kind he had ever looked upon, and he had 

 met some big ones in India. 



"We have met. plenty of the smaller species," said Dick Brownell, "and I have 

 wondered why we haven't seen some of the big ones, since we are in a section where 

 there are plenty." 



"They are not so numerous here as nearer th; Equator, and I am glad of it : I 

 would be pleased if there were fewer." 



"I suppose you expect me to lasso the critter," said Jack Harvey, with such a 

 serious countenance that his hearers doubted whether he was in earnest or not. 



" I have been thinking about that," replied Mr. Godkin, without the trace of a 

 smile on his face, " but I'm afraid there will be some difficulty in dropping a coil 

 over the boa-constrictor's head." 



" Of course it would be difficult ior you, but what trouble can it be for me f n 



"Suppose the snake should lasso you at the same time? You know he is built 

 something on the order of a cable rope, and it doesn't take him long to coil himself 

 around his game." 



" In that case I'll give him a few lessons in the business ; I never yet met a 

 chap that could beat me with the lasso, and I don't propose to knock under to any 

 snake, if he is as big around as a barrel, and hooks his tail into a tree before he 

 sends out his noose." 



" Of course," said Bob Marshall, perceiving the drift of their friend's remarks, 

 " you wouldn't need to fasten the other end of the rope to your saddle." 



" Certainly not ; I would wind that round my arm, so if the critter tried to get 

 away, I could draw him to me." 



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