By the afternoon of the fifth day they had made a quantity of
bricks which would, they calculated, be ample for the construction
of the partition walls of their house.
The boys had just deposited the last brick upon the drying ground,
and were moving away, when Hubert cried, "Stop, Charley, don't move
a step."
Startled by the suddenness and sharpness of the cry, Charley stood
without moving, and was surprised to see his brother pick up one of
the wet bricks in both hands, and dash it upon the ground
immediately in front of where they were walking.
"I've killed him!" Hubert cried triumphantly; and Charley, looking
down, saw a snake of about three feet long writhing in the grass,
his head being completely driven into the ground under the force of
the lump of wet clay. Two or three stamps of their heavy boots
completed the work. And the men coming up to see what was the
matter, Hans said that Charley, who would have trodden upon the
reptile in another instant had not his brother called out, had had
a very narrow escape, for that the snake was the _vivora de la
crux_, so called from a mark like a cross upon his head, and
that his bite was almost always mortal.
It was a pretty snake, with bands of red, white, and black upon his
body.
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