First I laughed, and then, seeing that she was about to throw herself
for protection like a mountain of flesh upon me, I turned and ran after
the snake--for I had observed that it belonged to a harmless species,
one of the innocuous Coronella genus--and I was anxious to annoy the
woman. I captured it in a moment; then, with the poor frightened
creature struggling in my hand and winding itself about my wrist, I
walked back to her.
"Did you ever see such lovely colours?" I cried. "Look at the delicate
primrose yellow on its neck, deepening into vivid crimson on the belly.
Talk of flowers and butterflies! And its eyes are bright as two small
diamonds--look closely at them, senora, for they are well worth your
admiration."
But she only turned and fled away screaming at my approach, and at
last, finding that I would not obey her and drop the terrible reptile,
she left me in a towering rage and went back to the house by herself.
After that I continued my walk in peace amongst the flowers; but my
little speckled captive had served me so well that I would not release
it. It occurred to me that if I kept it on my person it might serve
as a sort of talisman to protect me from the disagreeable attentions
of the senora. Finding that it was a very sly little snakey, and, like
Marcos Marco in captivity, full of subtle deceit, I put it into my
hat, which, when firmly pressed on to my head, left no opening for the
little arrowy head to insinuate itself through.
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