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THE SERF A ATS.
175
self along the wooden frame of the glass
confine, looking at me rather inquisitively, and
wagging her tongue at me, I thought the pretty
creature meant to say, " Look at me; I am the
undulating line of beauty become alive!" And
then another turned herself languidly on the
ground, as much as to say, "We are the paragons
of grace !" But then when a third very large
serpent, which lay coiled and intertwined with
a batch of others, raised his sinister head and
gaped ferociously at me, a shudder stole over
my frame. "Angels preserve me!—the beast
is all throat!" I exclaimed, and comprehended
in a moment the feelings of little birds who
die from sheer fright when any one of these
monsters glares at them ; or why some of their
victims rush madly into their open jaws,
pre-fering a speedy death when they know they
cannot escape the fangs of their fell enemy.
Aye! and 1 can even understand how the
effluvium from these reptiles can act as an
attraction of magnetic influence upon the little
creatures whom they choose to envelop with
their luscious, sense-overpowering breath.
I know not how long I stood leaning on
my stick, gazing at this marvellous portion
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