THOSE HORSE-HAIR SNAKES 69 



the bet was promptly taken by several of the com- 

 pany, the " dead-horse " story-teller being the first 

 to rise to the bait. 



In a moment Amos had left the store, and with- 

 in a half-hour (barely long enough for him to have 

 reached his home and returned) he reappeared 

 with a box containing the " proofs " of his remark- 

 able statement. 



He won his bet, having introduced his sceptical 

 hearers to the two prime authorities that knew 

 more about hair snakes than all the rustic wise- 

 acres or scientific professors put together, for his 

 box was filled with grasshoppers and black crick- 

 ets, including one or two specimens specially pre- 

 served in a small vial of alcohol, to show the par- 

 asitic snake coiled in its close spiral. 



