"There it is! I saw it move! That black thing!"

This time she pointed so carefully that Nan, letting her eye follow
along Flossie's finger, saw what the little girl meant. And Nan laughed.

"Why, that isn't a snake!" she cried. "It's only a crooked, black tree
branch! It does look a little like a snake, but it isn't really one,
Flossie."

"But what made it move?" the little girl asked.

"I think it was Freddie, though he didn't do it on purpose," went on
Nan. "Take another step, Freddie, as you did when you were looking for a
stone."

Freddie moved a little and then they all saw what it was that had caused
Flossie's fright. A long, dead branch of a tree lay on the ground. The
larger end of it was close to where Flossie had been sitting with Nan,
and this end did look somewhat like a snake, with a mouth and eyes. The
middle of the stick was covered with pine needles, and the lower end
stuck out beyond the needles and dried leaves close to where Freddie
stood.

When the little boy took a step his foot touched the thin end of the
branch, and made the thick end, near Flossie, move. Flossie took this
for the swaying of a snake's head, and so she had screamed in fright.

"There's your snake--only a tree branch!" laughed Nan, as she lifted the
dead limb and held it up.