“He said he was near a watering hole close to where Widow Moore’s house was. That’s when he heard snakes in the grass coming his way.” Roscoe’s eyes darted around.

Paco hopped through the tall grass, following his nose. The others trailed him closely. He suddenly stopped short of a flattened patch of grass where hundreds of flies swarmed over the carcass of a dead, rotting snake.

“Ugh, gross!” Roscoe turned away.

Benjamin took a few cautious steps back. “What kind do you suppose that is?”

Paco nervously approached it. Black diamonds from head down to tail–with a rattle. “Rattlesnake, Sire.” He continued examining the long, stiff, twisted body as the flies buzzed his face. Then he saw bite marks and scratches up and down its decaying yellow belly. “From the looks of it, this snake was in a fight!”

“A fight? Who would fight with a rattlesnake?” Clementine asked.

“My dog.” Benjamin looked away from the others.

They all heard a slithering sound in the tall grass. Paco barked and a big bull snake popped out of the weeds, ready to strike.

“Yesss, a ssstupid dog fought this sssnake. One of my friendsss lived, but your king wasssn’t ssso lucky. The coward!” A whispering laugh swayed its body to and fro.

Paco jumped back and stood frozen, his bob tail tucked between his legs. In a panic Benjamin reached behind him and grabbed for anything in his backpack. With a trembling hand he pulled out a sparkler and took his lighter from his pocket. Clementine and Roscoe pounced on the ground in front of the snake, trying to intimidate it.

“Oh you don’t frighten me. I know what’sss coming for you!” The snake snapped at the goat’s hoof and Roscoe screamed. Clementine looked at Paco, still unmoving. The bull snake laughed again at the helpless goat and dog but never saw, behind the pig, the red, flaming sparkles on the end of the metal wire in Benjamin’s hand. Clementine shrieked as Benjamin threw it. The skinny burning wire whipped through the air and struck the middle of the snake’s long body.

The snake emitted a high-pitched scream as it twisted madly on the ground. The sparkling flame burned a small red glow on its black, scaly skin. As Clementine stomped on it, Roscoe rediscovered his courage and helped him. They mangled the snake until it was unrecognizable but were so frightened that they continued long after it was dead.

“Okay. You can stop. I think it’s dead.” Benjamin took a deep breath. They all looked at the remains. Clementine’s heart raced in his chest.

Roscoe looked in relief at his hoof. “Boy, that was close! If he’d bit me a little higher I’d be a dead goat!”

Benjamin said quietly, “The snake wasn’t poisonous, Roscoe, it was just a bull.”

“Yeah, well… well, at least we’re safe now!”