104 SPORTING AND 



turning to where his eyes were fixed, I 

 saw, to my horror, a huge Cobra swing- 

 ing himself by his tail from a branch of 

 the very tree we were under, each swing 

 bringing him a little nearer our heads : 

 his forked tongue was out, and his red, 

 fiery eyes were fixed upon us with a most 

 malignant expression. I sank down on 

 my bed in mute stupefaction, thinking I 

 had done for ever with all the worries and 

 cares of this life, when a cry of joy from 

 my companion again rousqd me. It ap- 

 peared that just as the snake was about 

 to dart at one of us, he spied one of his 

 deadly enemies a mongoose quietly 

 taking stock of him, and this so upset his 

 nervous system that he could not stand it, 

 but sloped back, to the great relief of 

 myself and my dusky friend. 



We had received much too great a 



