Robert Champ's explanation doesn't seem at all far-fetched.  After all, Hank
is
mistaken for a fire-breathing dragon when he lights his pipe.  He may in
fact
be the serpent in the garden.  Look at the Edenic way in which Twain
describes
Arthurian England when Hank first arrives there.  At least, the description
of
the countryside approaching Camelot has Edenic overtones.

By the time the Boss is finished with England, it is in ruins.

Richard Tuerk