68 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



gazing downwards very fixedly ; he was gritting his teeth 

 and making those little sounds cats do at a bird which they 

 have marked as their own, thinking it to be within their 

 spring. Following his line of sight I saw a cobra coiled 

 round the front leg of the chair. It was also regarding 

 me ; its head — the never-to-be-mistaken spectacled head 

 — was a little uplifted, but not the hood. That gave me 

 courage and time. I dared not stir or call out for help 

 for fear of alarming or annoying my unwelcome visitor. 

 Nothing must excite it — that had always been impressed 

 on me with regard to a cobra. 



Now cats are not a scrap afraid of snakes, and my terror 

 was lest ' Chummy ' should make no more ado but pounce 

 down upon this one ! 



How to bring my feet to the ground so as to get away 

 without upsetting its temper I knew not ; but something 

 had to be done, and that quickly. Cobras are known to 

 be short-tempered ; as long as its hood lay flat all was 

 well, it was still in a good humour, but a change of position 

 on the cat's part or mine might be fatal. 



The mind moves quickly at times ; in those few seconds 

 it had occurred to me that possibly what I was dreading, 

 namely, the rustling of my skirts near the cobra if I stirred, 

 might in reality be the very thing that had fanned it into 

 placid drowsiness with their softness ; hence by a little 

 management of those skirts, quiet, slow movements might 

 serve me better than anything else. 



But ' Chummy ' could not be trusted to keep still and 

 watchful, as I could trust myself to do ; he must be made 

 sure of, so with him clutched firmly under my arm, and 

 a very fervent prayer for outward calm, wherein only lay 

 safety, I did put my feet to the ground within an inch or 

 two of the cobra, nothing but a scrap of muslin between 

 us. I then stood up and stepped past it without rousing 

 it at all ; indeed it had drawn its raised head back among 



