`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.
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