For a minute or two he stood it, squeezing harder and harder.

Then he wanted to let go.
"And this, I think, was where he made a mistake.

As he relaxed his deadly coils and swung his head round, the Little Sly One struck out with both forepaws at once, and succeeded in catching the hissing, darting head.

She caught it fairly, and her long, knife-sharp claws sank in, holding it like a carpenter's vise.

The next minute she had her teeth in the back of the snake's neck, chewing and tearing.
"Now, the snake's tail was still around the branch, so he tried furiously to swing the Little Sly One up and crush her against the branch.