Swiss Family Robinson

described; all animals, even horses newly brought from Europe, tremble at this noise, and try to escape.'
    `What is the best thing to be done for the bite of a serpent?' inquired Fritz.
    `Remedies are very various, very uncertain, and differ with the species inflicting the bite.
    `Suction, ammonia, oil, the use of the knife, application of fresh mold, lunar caustic, leaves of certain plants, all these and more are mentioned. There is a creeping plant, called Aristolodochia indica , the leaves of which have in repeated instances done wonders for fearful bites. It is found in many parts of the world but most plentifully in the hotter regions.
    `A mode of cure adopted by the natives of India , Ceylon , and parts of Africa , is by the application of a remarkable object called snake-stone. These are described as flattish, something like half an almond with squared ends, rather light, bearing a very high polish, and of an intense jetty black.
    `On being bitten by a cobra, the sufferer applies one of these stones to each puncture, where they adhere strongly for a time, five or six minutes being about the average. They seem to absorb the blood as it flows from the wound, and, at the last fall off, when the danger is considered to be over.
    `But now we must leave this fertile subject of discussion, and I can only say I sincerely trust we may never have cause to resume it from the appearance of another serpent here of any sort, size, or description.
    `But come, Ernest, can you not give us an epitaph for our unfortunate friend the donkey? We must afford him more honourable sepulture than he enjoys at present, when we proceed, as we speedily must, to disembowel his murderer.'
    Ernest took the matter quite seriously, and planting his elbows on his knees, he bent his thoughtful brow in his hands, and remained wrapt in poetic meditation for about two minutes.
    `I have it!' cried he. `But perhaps you will all laugh at me?'
    `No, no, don't be shy, old fellow; spit it out!' and thus encouraged by his brother, Ernest, with the blush of a modest author, began:
    `Beneath this stone poor Grizzle's bones are laid, ` A faithful ass he was, and loved by all. `At length, his master's voice he disobeyed, `And thereby came his melancholy fall.
    `A monstrous serpent, springing from the grass, `Seized, crushed, and swallowed him before our eyes. `But we, though yet we mourn our honest ass, `Are grateful; for he thereby saved the lives `Of all the human beings on this shore-- `A father, mother, and their children four.'
    `Hurrah for the epitaph! Well done, Ernest!' resounded on all sides, and taking out a large red pencil I used for marking wood, the lines were forthwith inscribed on a great flat stone, being, as I told the boy, the very best poetry that had ever been written on our coast.
    We then had dinner, and afterwards went to work with the serpent. The first operation was to recover the mangled remains of the ass, which being effected, he was buried in the soft marshy ground close by, and the hole filled up with fragments of rock.
    Then we yoked Storm and Grumble to the serpent, and dragged it to a convenient distance from Rockburg , where the process of skinning, stuffing, and sewing up again afforded occupation of the deepest interest to the boys for several days.
    We took great pains to coil it round a pole in the museum, arranging the head with the jaws wide open, so as to look as alarming as possible, and contriving to make eyes and tongue which were quite sufficient to represent nature; in fact, our dogs never passed the monster without growling, and must have wondered at our taste in keeping such a pet.
    Over the entrance leading to the museum and library were inscribed these words:
    NO ADMITTANCE FOR ASSES
    The double meaning of this sentence pleased us all immensely.

    Chapter 12

    The greatest danger to which we had yet been exposed was now over, but there remained much anxiety in my mind lest another serpent might, unseen by us, have entered the swamp, or might appear, as this had done, from the country beyond Falconhurst .
    I projected then two excursions, the first to make a thorough examination of the thicket and morass; the next right away to the Gap, through which alone the archenemy could have entered our territory.
    On summoning my sons to accompany me to the marsh, I found neither Ernest nor Jack very eager to do so, the latter vowing he had the cold shivers each time he thought how his ribs might have been smashed by the