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don’t want Shadow disturbing the snake. It might bite Blowhard.’

    Snook and I both stared at the metre-long snake, and then, hardly daring to breathe, I whispered again, ‘Do you know what kind it is? Is it poisonous?’ I had to ask that because coming from the Northern Territory, I wasn’t yet familiar with the Tasmanian varieties.
    â€˜All snakes are poisonous over ’ere,’ he said in a matter-of-fact voice, ‘but that one’s not too bad.’
    I asked him what he meant.
    â€˜We’ve got the tiger snake, the copperhead and the whip snake. The first two are real dangerous; the other one isn’t so bad.’ He looked over at Blowhard. ‘But I reckon we’d better wake ’im up, get ’im ready to slither off the rock while we try and distract the snake. Whaddya say?’
    â€˜Okay,’ I said, ‘let’s do it.’
    We were too late.
    Rubbing his eyes and frowning, Blowhard propped himself up on one elbow to a half-sitting position. Seeing us standing there gaping at him, he asked in a sleepy voice, ‘Wha-what?
    What’s the matter? Why are you two staring at me? Where are your manners?’
    As urgently as I could and trying not to panic him, I said, ‘Don’t move, Mr Blowhard but there’s a poisonous snake near you. Stay still and we’ll try to remove it.’
    It wasn’t to be.
    Quicker than any striking snake, Blowhard bolted upright. He then lowered his head very carefully till he could squint over his belly. He saw the sleeping snake that was enjoying the warm, comfortable spot that it had come across – between Blowhard’s outstretched legs.
    â€˜Yeggghhh! Unnh! Unnh! Unnh!’ Blowhard shrieked as though he was a hungry baby. Then, like an Olympic gymnast, he leaped into the air, arms spinning like a windmill until, half sliding, half scrambling, he fell off the boulder. Shadow scampered out of the way, not from the snake but from Blowhard’s tumbling figure.
    â€˜Gee, Mr Blowhard,’ Snook said, looking down at him as he lay on the ground. ‘The snake was poisonous, but not that poisonous. It was only a little ol’ whip snake. If it had bitten you, you’d have just got a little bit sick … most likely. But look, there it goes. It’s probably off to find a quieter spot now, one where it won’t be disturbed.’
    Blowhard looked up just in time to see the snake disappear into a clump of grass at the side of the cliff. ‘Humph,’ he said getting to his feet and brushing himself down. ‘I knew all the time that the snake wasn’t very poisonous. You shouldn’t have scared it away like that; it wasn’t doing any harm. You gave me quite a start too, waking me up like you did. You need to be more thoughtful in future.’
    I thought Snook was going to choke. Funny noises like a volcano erupting were suddenly coming from his throat and he was glaring at Blowhard.
    â€˜Were you saying something, young man?’ Blowhard asked. ‘I hope you weren’t making fun of me again, like you did at lunch time. If you were, then …’
    I could see Snook was fuming, that he was about to lose it. Blowhard was going just that little bit too far. I grabbed Snook by the arm. ‘Cool it,’ I whispered. ‘He’s not worth it.’ I turned to Blowhard, saying, as I tried not to choke on my words, ‘We’ll be more careful in the future, Mr Blowhard. Sorry for waking you.’ I winked across at Snook, and with both hands firmly planted on my hips, I added, ‘From now on we’ll let you handle any snakes you come across.’ Winking again, I said, ‘That’s only fair, eh, Snook?’
    Snook didn’t reply. He just grinned.
    Then, as if a blanket had been thrown over us, daylight suddenly turned into night, and Reginald Blowhard started to blubber like a baby – once again.

Chapter 15
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    R eginald