abominable muscularity, his loathsome, fluid
motion, somehow made me sick. He was as
thick as my leg, and looked as if millstones
couldn't crush the disgusting vitality out of
him. He lifted his hideous little head, and
rattled. I didn't run because I didn't think
of it -- if my back had been against a stone
wall I couldn't have felt more cornered. I
saw his coils tighten -- now he would spring,
spring his length, I remembered. I ran up and
drove at his head with my spade, struck him
fairly across the neck, and in a minute he was
all about my feet in wavy loops. I struck now
from hate. Antonia, barefooted as she was,
ran up behind me. Even after I had pounded
his ugly head flat, his body kept on coiling
and winding, doubling and falling back on it-
self. I walked away and turned my back. I
felt seasick. Antonia came after me, crying,
"O Jimmy, he not bite you? You sure? Why
you not run when I say?"

"What did you jabber Bohunk for? You
might have told me there was a snake behind
me!" I said petulantly.

"I know I am just awful, Jim, I was so
scared." She took my handkerchief from my
pocket and tried to wipe my face with it, but

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v?