one night , after dinner , while cant was out for his nightly walk and the rest of the boys were seated around the fire , provoking each other and laughing - drewbell approached the group of young boys and tossed a live ground snake into andrew 's lap- ( she had caught it earlier in the day and kept it in a sack for such an occasion ) -all of the boys studied the object for a brief moment before realizing it was , in fact , alive , and it was , in fact , a snake , at which point there was an incredible panic and they all jumped up to run screaming into the darkness .