沿着蛇咬河而下，那里是大陆人扎营的地方，那里有数百万条蛇，都是最致命的印记;在那里，几乎每次烤饼的时候，厨房的厨师都会惊恐地把半打毒蛇和面团混在一起;在那里，狡猾的自由选择者穿着镶有盔甲的裤子走路，不顾蝎子的叮咬和牛头犬蚂蚁的叮咬;在那里，蝰蛇和毒蛇互相撕扯着喉咙，?威廉·约翰逊就是在那里寻找他的蛇咬解药的。约翰逊是一个自由选择的人，他的头脑相当古怪，因为经常看到蛇使他充满了致命的恐惧;于是他从早到晚自由选择，寻找某种能治愈蛇的特效药?年代咬人。直到穆基族的比利国王，面粉袋头的酋长，告诉他，斯波斯?N蛇咬猪皮，猪皮大多倒地死亡;进行比较吗?蛇咬了老goanna，然后你看了一会儿，老goanna用吃小无花果树来治愈自己。? ?治疗方法是什么? said William Johnson, ?point me out this plant sublime,? But King Billy, feeling lazy, said he?d go another time. Thus it came to pass that Johnson, having got the tale by rote, Followed every stray goanna, seeking for the antidote. . . . . . Loafing once beside the river, while he thought his heart would break, There he saw a big goanna fighting with a tiger-snake, In and out they rolled and wriggled, bit each other, heart and soul, Till the valiant old goanna swallowed his opponent whole. Breathless, Johnson sat and watched him, saw him struggle up the bank, Saw him nibbling at the branches of some bushes, green and rank; Saw him, happy and contented, lick his lips, as off he crept, While the bulging in his stomach showed where his opponent slept. Then a cheer of exultation burst aloud from Johnson?s throat; ?Luck at last,? said he, ?I?ve struck it! ?tis the famous antidote. ?Here it is, the Grand Elixir, greatest blessing ever known,? Twenty thousand men in India die each year of snakes alone. Think of all the foreign nations, negro, chow, and blackamoor, Saved from sudden expiration, by my wondrous snakebite cure. It will bring me fame and fortune! In the happy days to be, Men of every clime and nation will be round to gaze on me? Scientific men in thousands, men of mark and men of note, Rushing down the Mooki River, after Johnson?s antidote. It will cure delirium tremens, when the patient?s eyeballs stare At imaginary spiders, snakes which really are not there. When he thinks he sees them wriggle, when he thinks he sees them bloat, It will cure him just to think of Johnson?s Snakebite Antidote.? Then he rushed to the museum, found a scientific man? ?Trot me out a deadly serpent, just the deadliest you can; I intend to let him bite me, all the risk I will endure, Just to prove the sterling value of my wondrous snakebite cure. Even though an adder bit me, back to life again I?d float; Snakes are out of date, I tell you, since I?ve found the antidote.? Said the scientific person, ?If you really want to die, Go ahead?but, if you?re doubtful, let your sheep-dog have a try. Get a pair of dogs and try it, let the snake give both a nip; Give your dog the snakebite mixture, let the other fellow rip; If he dies and yours survives him, then it proves the thing is good. Will you fetch your dog and try it?? Johnson rather thought he would. So he went and fetched his canine, hauled him forward by the throat. ?Stump, old man,? says he, ?we?ll show them we?ve the genwine antidote.? Both the dogs were duly loaded with the poison-gland?s contents; Johnson gave his dog the mixture, then sat down to wait events. ?Mark,? he said, ?in twenty minutes Stump?ll be a-rushing round, While the other wretched creature lies a corpse upon the ground.? But, alas for William Johnson! ere they?d watched a half-hour?s spell Stumpy was as dead as mutton, t?other dog was live and well. And the scientific person hurried off with utmost speed, Tested Johnson?s drug and found it was a deadly poison-weed; Half a tumbler killed an emu, half a spoonful killed a goat, All the snakes on earth were harmless to that awful antidote. . . . . . Down along the Mooki River, on the overlanders? camp, Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp, Wanders, daily, William Johnson, down among those poisonous hordes, Shooting every stray goanna, calls them ?black and yaller frauds?. And King Billy, of the Mooki, cadging for the cast-off coat, Somehow seems to dodge the subject of the snake-bite antidote.