Read these lines: "He seldom approached the spot where we were at work openly, if he could do it secretly. He always aimed at taking us by surprise. Such was his cunning, that we used to call him, among ourselves, the snake. This being his mode of attack, it was never safe to stop a single minute. His comings were like a thief in the night." The name the workers gave him captures his habit of

1. The quoted lines describe a man who approached secretly whenever he could and aimed at taking the workers by surprise. 2. The name they used among themselves follows from that behaviour, not from speed or volume. 3. The comparison to a thief in the night repeats the same idea, arrival without warning. 4. That is option C. 5. Option B describes an open approach, which is precisely what the quoted lines say he avoided. _Source: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), public domain_