Modesty, where modesty is unknown, would have been absurd, if not fatal to my prestige.

Well, in all there were _sixty-eight black snakes_, _averaging about four feet six inches in length_.
I do not remember that I was fatigued; I think my excitement was too great for any such feeling to have made itself felt.

When at length I was able to get away, I and Bruno rushed off to the native camp a few miles away, and brought back the blacks to see what I had done.

The spectacle threw them into a state of great amazement, and from that time on I was looked upon with the greatest admiration.

The story of how I had killed the snakes soon spread abroad among the various tribes for miles round, and was chanted by many tribes, the means of inter-communication being the universal smoke-signals.