ATTACKED BY A COBRA. 193 



The dogs were running about in some tall grass 

 and dwarf bushes. I suspected that a coran was squatted 

 in the vicinity, and they were endeavouring to flush it. 

 I had a few minutes before had the pony saddled, with 

 the intention of riding forward to examine a ford that 

 Jacob reported as very bad, and, if so, to seek out an 

 easier place for crossing. To encourage the pack's enthu- 

 siasm in hunting, I rode into their midst. In an instant 

 a snake reared its head up between three and four feet 

 from the ground and struck at my foot ; but the pony, 

 as much alarmed as myself, was so quick that he was 

 round on his heels and out of danger in a moment. 

 How the dogs did not get bitten I could not understand, 

 for they stood pottering round the reptile, while every 

 moment or two it made a dive at one or other. Till I 

 was nearly black in the face I shouted Feusach ! (the 

 Kaffir for " Get out "), still the beasts would not come 

 away. I next endeavoured to take sight on it off the 

 pony's back, but my nag would not stand still, so I 

 dismounted. But what between the rapidity of the 

 snake's motion, and the dogs always getting in the way, 

 I could not get a sufficiently accurate aim to use my 

 rifle with certainty. I now shouted for Jacob, who 

 rushed up with his long whip ; but the moment he dis- 

 covered what he been summoned for he bolted as if the 

 Evil One were after him. At length, after all this 

 bungling, the reptile escaped into a hole, from which 

 I could get no one to assist me to dislodge it. 



It was, as far as I could judge, about eight feet long, 

 as thick in the middle as the calf of a man's leg 

 and when its ruff was expanded the neck below the 

 head was as broad as my two hands ; in fact, it was very 

 much the largest cobra di capello I had ever seen. 



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