344 



BANG.' BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG' 



lad was sure he meant to leave, possibly because he could not stand any more of his 

 music. But, no; when near the door, he moved back again, until he reached the same 

 spot on the blanket he was occupying when discovered, where he paused a moment, 

 rearing his head higher than before. 



At that instant Bang! bang! bang! bang! bang! 



Five reports rang out in quick succession, and the mischief was to pay. 



The first bullet from the revolver went straight through the neck of the cobra, 

 close to the head, and two of the remaining ones perforated the body lower down. 



There was fierce threshing of the ground, the snake twisting and untwisting 

 with furious quickness during the few seconds that his death-struggles lasted. 



Fortunately, its throes carried it toward the opening of the hut, out of which it 

 went as if kicked by an indignant foot, and came to rest just beyond the door, as 

 dead as Julius Caesar. 



" What under the sun is up ? " asked Mr. Godkin, raising his head from his 

 blanket on hearing the reports and peering into the gloom, with a feeling that 

 something dreadful must have caused the deafening shots of the revolver. 



" I found that big cobra in the room," replied Dick, springing from his couch, 

 "and I have been practicing a little on him with my pistol." 



" You're mighty lucky if he didn't practice on you," said his friend, who instantly 

 saw the snake and was only a second in rising to his feet ; " didn't he bite you ? " 



" Not that I am aware of," replied Dick, 

 who stepped to the door of the hut and looked at 

 the limp, rope-like mass ; " in my opinion, that 

 cobra de capello, considered strictly as a cobra 

 de capello, is of no further account." And then 

 he related the incident which I have told you. 



" You were fortunate indeed," said Mr. 

 Godkin, " for the slightest mo- 

 tion on your part, when you 

 awoke, wouid have caused him 

 to bury his fangs in you, and 

 then that would have been the 

 last of Master Richard Brow- 

 nell, from America." 



The nervous shock pro- 

 duced by the visit of the 

 serpent drove away all dis- 

 position to sleep on the part 

 of Mr. Godkin and Dick. 



They knew, too, that if 

 they lay down again, they 

 were liable to a visit from the 

 mate, or another of the hideous " FlVK RBPORT8 RA *G OUT." 



