420 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



at me, I felt embarrassed. I tried to read my 

 paper, but I could feel all those eyes boring 

 through the paper. I twisted my mustache, wiped 

 off my chin, pulled down my vest, and went 

 through all the motions a man does when he is 

 embarrassed, but derived no relief from it. At 

 last I stood up to rearrange my clothes, and in 

 spreading my coat-tails preparatory to seating my- 

 self 



MY HAND STRUCK SOMETHING COLD. 



Looking down at my pocket I saw about a half- 

 yard of snake sticking out and swinging backward 

 and forward with vibrating tongue, fascinating my 

 fellow-passengers. I hastily thrust the snake back 

 in my pocket, put the other fur glove on top of 

 it, regained my composure and proceeded to 

 read my paper. Over in the starboard corner of 

 the cabin I noticed a friend of mine, a frequent 

 visitor to my studio, he was convulsed with 

 laughter, but I paid no attention to him. The next 

 day as I was standing on the bow of the same boat 

 with a group of gentlemen, all returning from their 

 day's work, among them was the man I had seen 

 in the corner of the cabin the night before, and 

 he entertained the crowd by a very humorous ac- 

 count of the occurrence, ending up by saying: "I 

 bet five dollars 



HE'S GOT A SNAKE IN HIS POCKET 



now/ 1 With that he thrust his hand in my over- 

 coat pocket and 



