New York City's citizens were beginning to return home as the sun began to sink behind the skyscrapers. The main lights inside the national History Museum began to click loudly off as the museum director exited the building. After a few moments passed, a bright golden light emitted from a tablet that hung in a back room over a sarcophagus.

In the museum's Diorama room, a small wax cowboy suddenly shouted. "Alright boys! Let's do this!" The surrounding wax figures cheered. The cowboy's horse reared and neighed. He pulled back on the reigns and calmed the animal. He galloped toward the edge of the diorama, his horse leaped and landed heavily on the floor.

The shaggy headed cowboy turned back and waited for his men. Four ropes fell over the side and one cowboy repelled down to join him. As they yanked the ropes down, a man with a top hat and a curly mustache appeared at the edge.

"Good luck and Godspeed, Jedidiah!" He waved as the group headed to the diorama next to theirs.

"Hey, Occy! You coming!" Jedidiah called.

A roman general appeared. "We shall be right there, Jedidiah!"

Four roman fighters threw a single rope over the edge and repelled down to wait for their general with the western cowboys. As the last roman slid down the rope, there was a creaking sound and the rope snapped. The soldier fell, groaning as his back struck the floor.

"It seems we have run out of rope Jedidiah!" Octavius called. Jedidiah jumped off his horse and held out his arms.

"Jump, Buddy!" Octavius looked skeptically at Jedidiah.

"Are you kidding?"

"Don't worry. I'll catch ya'." He braced himself for Octavius' weight. "I may be small, but I'll catch ya'!" He said with determination

Octavius held onto his helmet with one hand and held his sword with the other and jumped. He landed in Jedidiah's arms; however, Jedidiah wasn't properly adjusted for the weight and the two fell.

Jedidiah quickly jumped back up and helped Octavius to his feet.

"Aw. I can't go anywhere like this! My tunic is ruined!"

"What's wrong with it?" Jedidiah asked.

"It is covered in smudies."

Jedidiah looked Octavius over. " 'smudgies' really?"

"General Octavius answers to no one therefore General Octavius can say 'smudgies' if he bloody wants to."

"oookaaay…. Well, buddy we'll take care of that later." He mounted his horse and headed out of the room, the others following. The group turned down a hall and found themselves standing in front of a room blocked off by tall wooden bars.

"Hmm. I wonder what they're trying to hide in here…" Jedidiah wondered aloud and hopped off his horse. The small cowboy slipped easily through the bars and called the others in. "It's okay fellas." The small group walked in and saw to either side of them were tall, bushy plants. They were standing on a shiny smooth floor and in the center of the room was a round pedestal that held only rocks.

An African mouse scurried across the floor to them. Everyone froze and watched the large animal nervously.

"Don't move." Octavius whispered.

Jedidiah drew his guns regardless of Octavius' warning. "Heck naw, we ain't scared. Are we men?" The cowboys cheered and drew their own guns. "Yeah, now you better get on outta here unless you want a stomach full of lead!"

The mouse squeaked and hurried away. "Yeah! You better run! And don't come back!" Jedidiah shouted after the mouse. He turned and his jaw dropped. The others turned and saw a large golden lion standing over them.

"Nice kitty." Octavius said quietly. The lion roared. Everyone screamed and ran off, taking cover in the green bushes, The lion sniffed around for a moment, then walked off. A relieved sigh came from Octavius.

"Yeah. He can sense bravery. He knows not to mess with ol' Jedidiah." Octavius jumped up.

"Jed. Did you hear that?" The two listened, but the room was silent.

"Which way did it come from, buddy?" Jedidiah asked. Octavius looked around.

"I think it came from the trees."

The group looked up nervously. They saw no sign of what had made the noise. After a moment there was a rustling sound and as the group turned around, a slimy black snake rose up above the grass. It's eyes were narrowed slits and watched the group without blinking.

Jedidiah let out a high pitched scream, which was cut off by Octavius covering his mouth. "Get a hold of yourself man. You're Jedidiah! You've made worse thing cower in fear." Octavius whispered. A look of determination entered Jedidiah's eyes.

"You're right, dangnabit!" He stepped toward the snake. He took off his brown cowboy hat and waved it through the air toward the snake. "Now go on git, you vile reptile!" The black reptile hissed and the cowboys and Romans froze.

"Take it back! Take it back!" Octavius whispered.

"Heck, I ain't gonna apologize to no stupid snake."

The snake hissed again and began slithering toward them. Jedidiah dropped his hat and started running away, flowed by the rest of his group.

After the group ran for half an hour, they came out of the bushes and trees, only to be confronted by another lion. They screamed and hightailed it back to the safety of the bushes.

"We're cornered…." Octavius groaned worriedly.

"At least, we'll go out fighting. Right, men?"

"Yeah!" the others cheered. There was an odd sound drifting from the trees.

"There's that sound again." Octavius muttered. "it sounds as though the trees themselves are laughing at us."

"You're just being paranoid, Occy. Trees don't laugh."

"Jed… your hats gone." Octavius said, noticing the cowboy no longer had his hat. One of Jedidiah's hands went to his head, a shocked look on his face.

"That rotten, yellow-bellied snake!"

Octavius drew his sword. "Fear not, Jedidiah, for I shall retrieve your hat."

"No, no, I can just get another one."

"Nonsense! You shall have your hat! We are not scared!"

"Really, it's just a hat."

"I say Jedidiah, are you scared?"

"I ain't scared. We should just think of our priorities."

The laughing rose again. Jedidiah looked up at the tree branches.

"The very trees are laughing at you Jedidiah, prove them wrong."

"That aint the trees." He paused for a moment. "Come on Occy! Let's go kill that thing. He will know the fury of Jedidiah!"

The group traveled back to where the snake had been, moving quietly through the grass that towered over their heads. After an hour had passed they came across the patch of grass that reached only to their knees. A few feet in front of them, the snake was curled up around Jedidiah's hat.

"That rotten-" Jedidiah began, but was cut off by Octavius covering his mouth.

"Shh. You'll wake it up."

"Snakes don't sleep."

"Well, this one does."

The group gathered to plan their retrieval. Another half an hour was gone before all the Romans and cowboys had climbed to the lowest branch above the snake. Jed took ten minutes to regain his breath.

"Okay men. Let's do this."

A roman soldier hung by his knees from the branch, and a cowboy climbed down him. The roman held onto the cowboy's legs as another roman climbed down. So it continued, alternating between each until Octavius was holding onto Jedidiah's legs.

"Can you reach the hat?" Octavius asked.

"Not quite, lower me down a bit more." Octavius stretched more until Jedidiah managed to grab his hat. "Got it!" The snake shifted and Jedidiah held his breath. The snake settled again and the cowboy breathed a sigh of relief.

Once again, laughter rose from the trees. "Shut up!" Jedidiah barked at the tree tops. Suddenly the snake uncurled and hissed, inches from Jedidiah's face. Again he dropped his hat and the rope of men screamed. The top roman slipped and everyone crashed onto the ground. Scrambling, they stood and ran.

"Head for the iron gate!" Octavius called.

"Don't stop till you hit home, fellas!" Jedidiah shouted. Everyone slipped through the bars and ran to the diorama room.

Once there, everyone stopped to regain their breath. Octavius approached Jedidiah.

"It is almost sun up my friend. But tomorrow, we shall reclaim your hat!"