210 WANDERINGS IN 



JOURNET. 



THIRD O ther who had joined us. Aware that the day 



niiRWT *> 



was on the decline, and that the approach of 

 night would be detrimental to the dissection, a 

 thought struck me that I could take him alive. 

 I imagined if I could strike him with the lance 

 behind the head, and pin him to the ground, 

 I might succeed in capturing him. When I told 

 this to the negroes, they begged and entreated 

 me to let them go for a gun, and bring more 

 force, as they were sure the snake would kill 

 some of us. 



I had been at the siege of Troy for nine years, 

 and it would not do now to carry back to Greece, 

 " nil decimo nisi dedecus anno." I mean, I had 

 been in search of a large serpent for years, and 

 now having come up with one, it did not become 

 me to turn soft. So, taking a cutlass from one 

 of the negroes, and then ranging both the sable 

 slaves behind me, I told them to follow me, 

 and that I would cut them down if they offered 

 to fly. I smiled as I said this, but they shook 

 their heads in silence, and seemed to have but 

 a bad heart of it. 



When we got up to the place, the serpent 

 had not stirred, but I could see nothing of his 

 head, and I judged by the folds of his body that 

 it must be at the farthest side of his den. A 

 species of woodbine had formed a complete man- 

 tle over the branches of the fallen tree, almost 

 impervious to the rain, or the rays of the sun. 



