AN UNPLEASANT BEDFELLOW. 339 



Dick spread his blanket in one corner, and flung himself upon it, the warmth of 

 the night preventing him from throwing the covering over his body. Mr. Godkin sat 

 in front of the structure for a long time with his hookah, or native pipe, while Dick, 

 with his rugged health unimpaired, soon sank into a sweet, refreshing slumber. 



This sleep of the boy lasted, probably, until midnight, when, without any ap- 

 parent cause so far as he could tell, he opened his eyes in the full possession of his 

 senses. 



He was lying partly on his left side, with his face toward the single opening in 

 the bamboos, which served as a door. There being really no door, of course the 

 opening was always there, so that it may be said that the name bungalow some- 

 times given to the building, was altogether undeserved. 



The moon was shining with unusual brightness, even for that country, where 

 the light of the orb sometimes turns night into day. It seemed to Dick that when 

 he looked through the opening on the other side that the sun was really out, though 

 a moment's thought convinced him it would be a number of hours before it rose. 



Probably one half of the interior was illuminated by a flood of moonlight, which 

 showed the form of Mr. Godkin lying on his blanket and sound asleep, as was 

 proven by his deep, heavy breathing. He was on the right-hand side of the lad, 

 there being a space of but a foot or two between them. 



"I wonder what made me wake?" was the thought that came to Dick, after he 

 had looked around the apartment and then noticed the form of his friend; " it must be 

 the climate is so hot in this part of the world that a person unaccustomed to it finds 

 it hard to sleep as he does in his own home." 



He recalled that just before falling asleep, he had drawn a portion of the blanket, 

 not over his body, but across his lower limbs, which were covered to the knees. 

 This act was in obedience to a habit, for, as I have shown, the temperature was 

 such that the thinnest clothing was a burden. 



He now noticed that the fold of the blanket, resting on the lower part of his 

 legs, felt strangely heavy. Mr. Godkin had related an incident to him the night 

 before, of one of his friends who had awoke in the night and found a hideous cobra 

 coiled over his breast. This incident instantly came to the mind of Dick, and for- 

 tunately prevented him from kicking his limbs free of the covering, as was his first 

 inclination to do. 



" It would be strange if one of those reptiles had located himself on my blanket," 

 reflected the boy, adding, the next instant: " I notice that smell like the odor of raw 

 potatoes, which the cobra gives out my gracious ! /'/ is a cobra I" 



The feet of the youth were turned toward the door, so that, looking through the 

 opening at the moonlit world beyond, his gaze was in a line with his own body. 

 Furthermore, the rays of the moon entered the bamboo building far enough to 

 strike the ground within a few inches of where his feet rested. 



Dick was looking intently at the irregular fold of the blanket and fancying that 

 he dimly saw something else mixed with the cloth, when an object slowly rose to 

 view between him and the door, and from the blanket across his ankles. 



