The kite _could not get away_, and the snake _dared not let him go_! How, then, was the affair to end, in the event that no third party should interfere?
This was the conjecture of our adventurers, as with curious eyes they watched this singular contest.

The train of reasoning was as follows:-- By one or the other dying of hunger.

But which would starve first?
It was well-known that the kite could live for days without food.

Ha! but so too could the snake,--nay, more, for every day the bird could go without eating, the reptile could fast ten; besides, the snake had just dined--dined sumptuously upon the scorpion-lizard, that was now lying undigested in his stomach; whereas the kite had not tasted dinner,--nay, it was very certain he had not breakfasted either--and must have been very hungry indeed to have attempted preying upon a blood-snake full four feet long--for, as is well-known, his usual prey is the locust, the chameleon, and the little green snake (_Coluber aestivus_).

Under every view of the question then, the snake had the advantage of the bird, and would easily outstarve him.