The poor little fellow, feeling that he had lost more than half his length, scuttled away, and hid himself among the logs.
It was well for him, as it proved afterwards, that he got off, even thus mutilated; and it would have been better for the skink had he remained in his hole.

The battle between the two had carried them some distance from the spot where it first commenced, and under the leafy, spreading branches of a mulberry-tree.

While the fight was raging, a slight movement in the leaves above had attracted the attention of the boys.
The next moment a red object was thrust downward, until a foot or so of it appeared hanging clear of the branches.

It was about the thickness of a walking-cane; but the glistening scales and the elegant curving form told that this singular object was a serpent.
It did not remain stationary.

It was slowly and gradually letting itself down--for more of its body was every moment becoming visible, until a full yard of it hung out from the leaves.