him again, its round flat head and long smooth body making it look like a great black snake crawling towards him.  And all the time it kept on snarling and clicking its sharp teeth and uttering its low, buzzing growl.  Martin grew more and more afraid, it looked so strong and angry, so unspeakably fierce.  The creature looked as if he was speaking to Martin, saying something very easy to understand, and very dreadful to hear.  This is what it seemed to be saying:—­

“Ha, you came on me unawares, and startled me away from the nest I found!  You have eaten the last two eggs; and I found them, and they were mine!  Must I go hungry for you—­starveling, robber!  A miserable little boy alone and lost in the forest, naked, all scratched and bleeding with thorns, with no courage in his heart, no strength in his hands!  Look at me!  I am not weak, but strong and black and fierce; I live here—­this is my home; I fear nothing; I am like a serpent, and like brass and tempered steel—­nothing can bruise or break me:  my teeth are like fine daggers; when I strike them into the flesh of any creature I never loose my hold till I have sucked out all the blood in his heart.  But you, weak little wretch, I hate you!  I thirst for your blood for stealing my food from me!  What can you do to save yourself?  Down, down on the ground, chicken-heart, where I can get hold of you!  You shall pay me for the eggs with your life!  I shall hold you fast by the throat, and drink and drink until I see your glassy eyes close, and your cheeks turn whiter than ashes, and I feel your heart flutter like a leaf in your bosom!  Down, down!”

It was terrible to watch him and seem to hear such words.  He was nearer now—­scarcely a yard away, still with his beady glaring eyes fixed on Martin’s face:  and Martin was powerless to fly from him—­powerless even to stir a step or to lift a hand.  His heart jumped so that it choked him, his hair stood up on his head, and he trembled so that he was ready to fall.  And at last, when about to fall to the ground, in the extremity of his terror, he uttered a great scream of despair; and the sudden scream so startled the weasel, that he jumped up and scuttled away as fast as he could through the creepers and bushes, making a great rustling over the dead leaves and twigs; and Martin, recovering his strength, listened to that retreating sound as it passed away into the deep shadows, until it ceased altogether.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FLOWER AND THE SERPENT

His escape from the horrible black animal made Martin quite happy, in spite of hunger and fatigue, and he pushed on as bravely as ever.  But it was slow going and very difficult, even painful in places, on account of the rough thorny undergrowth, where he had to push and crawl through the close bushes, and tread on ground littered with old dead prickly leaves and dead thorny twigs.  After going on for about an