 »as there's lots of serpents there, so we shall come out, quite complete
and reg'lar.«
    So far from dwelling upon this agreeable piece of information with the least
dismay, Mark's face grew radiant as he called it to mind: so very radiant, that
a stranger might have supposed he had all his life been yearning for the society
of serpents, and now hailed with delight the approaching consummation of his
fondest wishes.
    »Who told you that?« asked Martin, sternly.
    »A military officer,« said Mark.
    »Confound you for a ridiculous fellow!« cried Martin, laughing heartily in
spite of himself. »What military officer? You know they spring up in every
field.«
    »As thick as scarecrows in England, sir,« interposed Mark, »which is a sort
of militia themselves, being entirely coat and wescoat, with a stick inside. Ha,
ha! Don't mind me, sir; it's my way sometimes. I can't help being jolly. Why it
was one of them inwading conquerors at Pawkins's, as told me. Am I rightly
informed, he says: not exactly through his nose, but as if he'd got a stoppage
in it, very high up: that you're a going to the Walley of Eden? I heard some
talk on it, I told him. Oh! says he, if you should ever happen to go to bed
there - you may, you know, he says, in course of time as civilisation progresses
- don't forget to take a axe with you. I looks at him tolerable hard. Fleas?
says I. And more, says he. Wampires? says I. And more, says he. Musquitoes,
perhaps? says I. And more, says he. What more? says I. Snakes more, says he;
rattlesnakes. You're right to a certain extent, stranger. There air some
catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong;
but don't mind them, they're company. It's snakes, he says, as you'll object to:
and whenever you wake and see one in a upright poster on your bed, he says, like
a corkscrew with the handle off a sittin' on its bottom ring, cut him down, for
he means wenom.«
    »Why didn't you tell me this before!« cried Martin, with an expression of
face which set off the cheerfulness of
