He generally carried a viper with him which he had made quite tame, and
from which he had extracted the poisonous fangs; it would dance and
perform various kinds of tricks. He was fond of telling me anecdotes
connected with his adventures with the reptile species. 'But,' said he
one day, sighing, 'I must shortly give up this business, I am no longer
the man I was, I am become timid, and when a person is timid in viper-
hunting, he had better leave off, as it is quite clear his virtue is
leaving him. I got a fright some years ago, which I am quite sure I
shall never get the better of; my hand has been shaky more or less ever
since.' 'What frightened you?' said I. 'I had better not tell you,'
said the old man, 'or you may be frightened too, lose your virtue, and be
no longer good for the business.' 'I don't care,' said I; 'I don't
intend to follow the business: I daresay I shall be an officer, like my
father.' 'Well,' said the old man, 'I once saw the king of the vipers,
and since then--' 'The king of the vipers!' said I, interrupting him;
'have the vipers a king?' 'As sure as we have,' said the old man--'as
sure as we have King George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king
to rule over them.' 'And where did you see him?' said I. 'I will tell
you,' said the old man, 'though I don't like talking about the matter. It
may be about seven years ago that I happened to be far down yonder to the
west, on the other side of England, nearly two hundred miles from here,
following my business. It was a very sultry day, I remember, and I had
been out several hours catching creatures. It might be about three
o'clock in the afternoon, when I found myself on some heathy land near
the sea, on the ridge of a hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as
the sea, was heath; but on the top there was arable ground, which had
been planted, and from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or
barley, I know not which--but I remember that the ground was covered with
stubble. Well, about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the
heat of the day and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I