128 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 



above for any black, sinister shapes. Suddenly 

 Honey did a remarkable performance in the standing- 

 back-broad-jump, finishing by rolling clear to the 

 foot of the bank. Right where he had stood lay a 

 hale and hearty specimen of a blacksnake nearly 

 five feet long. Evidently it had only just awakened 

 from its winter-sleep, for there were clay-smears on 

 the smooth, satiny scales, and even a patch of clay 

 between the golden, unwinking eyes. Only the 

 flickering of a long, black, forked tongue showed 

 that his snakeship was alive. Then it was that the 

 Captain lived up to the requirements of his position 

 by picking up that blacksnake with what he fondly 

 believed to be an air of unconcern. He showed the 

 awe-stricken Band that the pupil of the snake's eye 

 was a circle, instead of the oval which is the hall- 

 mark of that fatal family of pit-vipers to which the 

 rattlesnake, copperhead, and moccasin belong. 



' 'If you have any doubt about a snake," lectured 

 the Captain, "pick it up and look it firmly in the eye. 

 If the pupil is oval — drop it. Perhaps, however," 

 he went on reflectively, "it would be better to get 

 someone else to do the picking-up part. " 



When the Band learned from the Captain that it 

 was the creditable custom of the Zoological Gardens 

 to give free entry to such as bore with them as a gift a 

 snake of size, their views toward the captive changed 

 considerably. Said snake was now legal tender, to 

 be cherished accordingly. It was the resourceful 

 First Lieutenant Trottie who solved all difficulties 

 in regard to transportation. He hurriedly removed 



