CHAPTER VI
HAWK AND PIGEON
At breakfast-time next morning Sir Nathaniel and Mr. Salton were seated when Adam came hurriedly into the room.
“ Any news?” asked his uncle mechanically.
“ Four.”
“ Four what?” asked Sir Nathaniel.
“ Snakes,” said Adam, helping himself to a grilled kidney.
“ Four snakes. I don’t understand.”
“ Mongoose,” said Adam, and then added explanatorily: “I was out with the mongoose just after three.”
“ Four snakes in one morning! Why, I didn’t know there were so many on the Brow”—the local name for the western cliff. “I hope that wasn’t the consequence of our talk of last night?”
“ It was, sir. But not directly.”
“ But, God bless my soul, you didn’t expect to get a snake like the Lambton worm, did you? Why, a mongoose, to tackle a monster like th
