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Rh of the snake, and stood on it. The reptile squirmed, but could not get away, and in a few seconds more it was killed.

"That's the end of that snake," said Sam, breathing a sigh of relief. "And I am mighty glad of it."

"I am poisoned! I am poisoned!" screamed Nick Pell. "See, my hand is swelling up already!"

"Do you think he was really bitten?" whispered Tom.

"It looks like it," answered Dick. "Too bad—if the snake really was poisonous."

By this time Captain Putnam had come in. He glanced at the dead snake and gave a start.

"Did that thing bite you, Pell?" he questioned.

"Yes, sir, right here—in—the—the palm of the hand," cried the youth addressed. "See how it is swelling."

"I'll telephone for a doctor at once. Come to my office and I will see what I can do for you."

Nick had certainly been bitten and now the hand was twice its ordinary size, while the pain was acute. The boy shook like a leaf.

"I'm poisoned, I know I am!" he wailed. "It's all Tad Sobber's fault, too! Oh, if I should die!" And then of a sudden he fell to the floor in convulsions.