HOME OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 319 



He had hardly forced his hand through, when he 

 uttered a shriek of terror and fell back, then ran 

 quickly to me and clung to my legs, trembling and 

 weeping. Pointing to the bushes, he faintly mur- 

 mured, " Fcr de Lance.'''' 



Cautiously approaching, I saw a wicked-looking 

 head, belonging to a snake as large around as my arm. 

 It was broad, triangular in shape, and flat, with gleam- 

 ing eyes, and thrust itself toward us savagely, murder 

 in its every look and motion. My gun was charged 

 for another humming-bird, and the load of small shot 

 I fired into the snake did not cause its death, and it 

 unwound itself and crawled rapidly toward us, its 

 eyes flashing fire, intent upon striking us with its 

 fangs, one blow of which would cause certain death. 

 When he got within reach of a stout cudgel my boy 

 handed me, I mauled him so severely that he gave up 

 the ghost after a short but severe fight ; for the 

 " Fer de Lance " is no coward, and, like the rattle- 

 snake, will fight even fire. 



I soon had the satisfaction of seeing him hanging 

 limp and lifeless from my stick, drops of deadly 

 poison dripping from his jaws. Between shot and 

 cudgel he got badly mangled, and made a sorry 

 specimen for preservation ; I substituted for him a 

 smaller one, killed later in the day, to send to "Wash- 

 ington. Nothing could induce my boy to retrieve 

 the bird, and, relying upon his sagacity, I did not 

 myself make the attempt. 



Finally, about eleven o'clock, we reached the sum- 

 mit of the hill overlooking the valley toward the bay. 

 I sat down upon a grassy knoll, beneath the shade of a 

 small tulip-tree, and feasted my eyes upon the pros- 



