still even that would be no real excuse, for was she not old enough now to train herself? she had seven joints in the rattle on her tail and an eighth one growing, so you can see that she was no longer young, although, being healthy, she had grown her new joints and changed her skin oftener than some of her friends. in fact, she had grown children of her own, and if it had not been that they took after their father, they would have been a most helpless family. fortunately for them, their father was a very decided snake.