I now felt for the first time the joy of exploration . The The isle isle was was uninhabited uninhabited ; ; my my shipmates shipmates I I had had left left behind behind , , and and nothing nothing lived lived in in front front of of me me but but dumb dumb brutes brutes and and fowls fowls . . I turned hither and thither among the trees . Here Here and and there there were were flowering flowering plants plants , , unknown unknown to to me me ; ; here here and and there there I I saw saw snakes snakes , , and and one one raised raised his his head head from from a a ledge ledge of of rock rock and and hissed hissed at at me me with with a a noise noise not not unlike unlike the the spinning spinning of of a a top . . Little did I suppose that he was a deadly enemy and that the noise was the famous rattle .
Теперь я впервые ощутил радость исследования. Остров был необитаем; моих товарищей по кораблю я оставил позади, и передо мной не было ничего живого, кроме бессловесных животных и птиц. Я ходил туда-сюда среди деревьев. Тут и там виднелись цветущие растения, незнакомые мне; тут и там я видел змей, и один из них поднял голову с выступа скалы и зашипел на меня с шумом, похожим на вращение волчка. Я и не предполагал, что он был смертельным врагом и что шум был знаменитой трещоткой.