The snake turned and tried to catch up to him.
"Perhaps that creature also, is worried about the forest," thought Karr,
and waited.
Immediately the snake began to talk about the great disaster.
"There will be an end of peace and quiet in the forest when human beings
are called hither," said the snake.
"I'm afraid there will," the dog agreed; "but the oldest forest dwellers
know what they're about!" he added.
"I think I know a better plan," said the snake, "if I can get the reward
I wish."
"Are you not the one whom every one around here calls old Helpless?"
said the dog, sneeringly.
"I'm an old inhabitant of the forest," said the snake, "and I know how
to get rid of such plagues."
"If you clear the forest of that pest, I feel sure you can have anything
you ask for," said Karr.
The snake did not respond to this until he had crawled under a tree
stump, where he was well protected. Then he said:
"Tell Grayskin that if he will leave Liberty Forest forever, and go far
north, where no oak tree grows, I will send sickness and death to all
the creeping things that gnaw the pines and spruces!"
"What's that you say?" asked Karr, bristling up. "What harm has Grayskin
ever done you?"
"He has slain the one whom I loved best," the snake declared, "and I
want to be avenged."
Before the snake had finished speaking, Karr made a dash for him; but
the reptile lay safely hidden under the tree stump.
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