212 WANDERINGS IN 



It must be observed, we were now about twenty 

 yards from the snake's den. I now ranged the 

 negroes behind me, and told him who stood next 

 to me, to lay hold of the lance the moment I 

 struck the snake, and that the other must attend 

 my movements. It now only remained to take 

 their cutlasses from them, for I was sure, if I did 

 not disarm them, they would be tempted to strike 

 the snake in time of danger, and thus for ever 

 spoil his skin. On taking their cutlasses from 

 them, if I might judge from their physiognomy, 

 they seemed to consider it as a most intolerable 

 act of tyranny in me. Probably nothing kept 

 them from bolting, but the consolation that I was 

 to be betwixt them and the snake. Indeed, my 

 own heart, in spite of all I could do, beat quicker 

 than usual ; and I felt those sensations which one 

 has on board a merchant vessel in war time, when 

 the captain orders all hands on deck to prepare 

 for action, while a strange vessel is coming down 

 upon us under suspicious colours. 



We went slowly on in silence, without moving 

 our arms or heads, in order to prevent all alarm 

 as much as possible, lest the snake should glide 

 off, or attack us in self-defence. I carried the 

 lance perpendicularly before me, with the point 

 about a foot from the ground. The snake had 

 not moved ; and on getting up to him, I struck 

 him with the lance on the near side, just behind 

 the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That 



