164 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP: 
“ Here by the bed,” he*cried:- -“ Bring “the gun, 
quickly.” 
I seized the shot-gun, which I always kept 
handy, and rushed to the tent, where, by the light 
of the lantern, I saw a great red snake, about seven 
feet long, gazing at me from the side of my camp- 
bed. I instantly fired at him, cutting him clean in 
half with the shot ; the tail part remained where it 
was, but the head half quickly wriggled off and 
disappeared in the gloom of the tent. The trail of 
blood, however, enabled us to track it, and we 
eventually found the snake, still full of fight, under 
the edge of the ground-sheet. He made a last 
vicious dart at one of the men who had run up, but 
was quickly given the happy despatch by a blow on 
the head. Rawson now picked it up and brought 
it to the light. He then put his foot on the back 
of its head and with a stick forced open the jaws, 
when suddenly we saw two perfectly clear jets of 
poison spurt out from the fangs. An Indian éadoo0 
(clerk), who happened to be standing near, got the 
full benefit of this, and the poor man was so panic- 
stricken that in a second he had torn off every atom 
of his clothing. We were very much amused at 
this, as of course we knew that although the poison 
was exceedingly venomous, it could do no harm 
unless it penetrated a cut or open wound in the 
flesh. I never found out the name of this snake, 
