Bannertail 



within the measured length. Sprang with 

 his rows of teeth agape, clinched on her 

 neck, and in a trice the heavy coils, tense 

 with energy, ridged with muscle, flash- 

 lapped around her neck and loins, gripped 

 in an awful grip, while the lithe, live scaly 

 tail wrapped round a branch to anchor 

 both killer and victim to the place. One 

 shriek of "Qua," another fainter, and a 

 final gasp, and no more sound from Nyek- 

 nyek. But she struggled, a hopeless, 

 helpless struggle. The mother saw it all. 

 Fear of that terrible Snake was forgotten. 

 Not one moment did she pause. She did 

 not clamber down that tree. She leaped 

 to the next and a lower yet, and along a 

 log; five heart -beats put her on the spot; 

 and with all her force she drove her teeth 

 into the hard, scaly coil of the beast that 

 she held in mortal fear. With a jerk the 

 monster quit his neck hold on the young 

 one. She was helpless, bound in his coil, 



[ 236] 



