A PYTHON HUNT. 177 



I was out in camp in the Eastern Doon with a party of 

 my regiment employed in cutting grass for barrack-thatching, 

 when one day I chanced to notice that one of the men at 

 work had adorned his head with a curious-looking turban. 

 A closer inspection showed it to be a portion of a huge 

 python's semi-transparent cast-off skin, which the lad, a 

 light-hearted Goorkha, had thus donned, much to the amuse- 

 ment of an admiring circle of his broad-faced companions, 

 who were regarding him with looks beaming with fun. On 

 questioning him as to where he got it, he told me he had 

 picked it up when out shooting in the neighbouring forest, 

 and that he had seen, close to the place where he had found 

 it, what must have been the snake that had shed it, as the 

 creature lay basking near the entrance to a big hole, into 

 which it had disappeared at his approach. As he said he 

 thought he could remember the spot, I proposed that he 

 should proceed there forthwith. 



For a long way my sturdy little guide trudged silently 

 ahead through the forest, until at length he appeared to be 

 drawing up to something, after the manner of a pointer on an 

 uncertain scent, as he " gingerly " (excuse the slang, as being 

 the most expressive term for the movement) advanced each 

 bare foot through the long dry grass. Presently he motioned 

 to me to stand still whilst he proceeded cautiously to climb a 

 small tree, in order to get a better view of the ground in front 

 of him. After a careful survey, he beckoned me to advance. 

 Just as I reached the tree, a dark-brown object, which I 

 recognised at once as a big snake, glided across a bare patch 

 of ground about fifteen or twenty yards in front. In a few 

 seconds the reptile was helplessly writhing and twisting in its 

 death-throes, with a bullet through the thickest part of its body. 



I now considered that I had secured the original wearer of 

 the cast-off skin, and that the business was at an end. But 

 the Goorkha positively asserted that this snake was not the 

 one he had seen before, which he declared was nearly twice 



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