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" wrong, lad?"

"A snake! It has wound itself around my legs!"

"Ye don't say!" gasped Captain Jerry, and then leaped down to the hollow. "Well, by gosh! Take that, ye beast!"

"That" was a blow aimed at the reptile's head with the sailor's stick. Old Jerry's aim was both swift and true and the head of the reptile received a blow which knocked out one eye and bruised its fang. But the body wound itself around Dick tighter than ever.

Fortunately the youth had not lost his wits completely, and as the neck of the reptile came up, he grasped it in his hand with the strongest grip he could command.

"Cut it—cut its head off!" he panted. "Get your pocket-knife!"

At once Captain Jerry dropped his stick and pulled out his jack-knife, a big affair, such as